Sònia López Iglesias | Topic that no runner wants to talk about: the dreaded sports injuries, which make you stop at the most inopportune moment, even to the point of ruining all kinds of sports goals and illusions to be fulfilled. So...What happens to runners when they suffer an injury? I'll tell you and detail it, because I have lived it in my own flesh. But above all, a positive message: there is always light at the end of the tunnel, and a long time later I am in " on mode" to prepare for the Zurich Maratón Barcelona 2020.
Undoubtedly, destiny is sometimes capricious, it tests you without warning. It puts you against the ropes with no option to reply in a snap. A few tenths of a second are enough for your life to take a 360º turn, for everything to come to a standstill, for you to have to start all over again.
An untimely sprain caused my left ankle to break in two, my ligaments to dislocate, my fibula to shift. I had to undergo surgery twice to put in and remove a plate and six screws. That the memory of more than thirty stitches will remain forever on my skin.
- No one wants to stop because of a serious injury that makes you feel fragile, that makes you feel vulnerable, that erases all your work and sports goals for a long, long time. It forces you to be dependent, to assume that you have a long and complicated recovery ahead of you in solitude.
- Nobody wants to stop, nobody is ready to stop doing what makes them really happy, to assume that a simple slip can deprive you forever to run a marathon again.
- Nobody wants to stop, to spend many months between physiotherapists, traumatologists, moving with crutches. Countless hours of repetitive exercises that test your perseverance, patience and mental strength. To fight, on many occasions, against your worst version.
- Nobody wants to stop without destiny asking for your permission, without someone being able to explain why it happened to you.
How does a runner deal with a serious sports injury?
An injury that made me fight daily against my own ghosts, recognizing my clumsiness to value things only when you can no longer do them. A setback that positively sculpted my character, renewed my preferences, made me much more grateful, humble, and tolerant.
A fracture that taught me that running era much more than putting on a pair of Running shoes or hanging up a bib. That running marathons had filled my life with challenges, with new opportunities, with chances to achieve my best version.
Now, more than two years later, I am back to prepare a marathon with Runnea Academy. With equal parts fear and confidence. I trust again in a coach, to schedule training, to visualize the goal of the Barcelona Marathon 2020.
Nobody wants to stop, nobody wants to stop doing what makes them feel special.
Sònia López Iglesias is a psychopedagogue, teacher and family trainer. Follow her on the Equilibrium Blog!
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