I’ve never had a true injury — although I have had knee pain from time to time. Being injured (even though only slightly) has helped me get in tune with how my body is feeling and it helps make me feel ok with taking additional rest days if necessary.

Being injured (or at least having shin splints for 7 months straight) helps me to remember to take it easy on my body and be grateful for every single awesome thing that it accomplishes.

Like you, I’m kind of the queen of injuries. I wish I could avoid them, but they HAVE taught me about all the other great exercises out there. Once, while I was injured, I took a trampoline class (called Urban Rebounding) and a Hula Hoop class! I also got more into spinning and yoga during a very long break from running!

Like others have said, being injured has taught me to appreciate a greater variety of exercise. I couldn’t run for just over 2 months, but I began to really enjoy swimming, cycling and spinning.
The other major bonus for me is that I really appreciate what my body can do. I’m rapidly approaching 40, and I do worry about how often I will be able to push myself, and so rather than trying to constantly run faster and harder, I’m focusing on the experiences that I can have doing different activities, whether it’s a kick-ass spin class, a weekend hike through wildflowers or just a low-key walk with our dogs, I do try to appreciate each experience.
One final thing – I spent 9 months of last year in rehab after ACL surgery – there is a huge difference, I’ve found, between having to rehab post-surgery and between dealing with a nagging injury. The latter is actually more challenging emotionally, but I think that the ACL recovery also helped me with the foot injury which was much more minor but also more annoying for me and actually harder to deal with.

To start the process of finding out me…who I am really am. Without all the other stuff.

I’ve learned to invest in my fitness and health rather than chasing the instant gratification. Having an awesome run is instantly rewarding – you feel exhausted and happy and, especially if you’re on the brink of returning from an injury, you get an immediate runners high. Foam rolling, icing, etc. – not gratifying in the least. But, I’ve learned that it’s important to invest in my fitness by doing those things, and reaping the rewards LATER rather than NOW. And when I’m bouncing back from injury and can run a few miles without pain, I have finallyyyy learned that it is SO much better to step OFF the treadmill before the pain happens. That short run is an investment in future, pain-free runs, and banging out a 10-miler just because I feel “healed” on that one particular day is the fastest way to delay recovery and prolong the injury.

Zero to hero…love that! I might have to steal that sometime. 🙂

Being injured for 2 months taught me that it is never a good idea for me to run 6 days a week! It forced me to find my ‘happy place’ with running- no more than 4 days a week max. I feel my best running about 2-3 days a week. I also agree that x-training is key.

I would have never have found yoga if it weren’t for running injuries!

After injuring my groin in a car accident I really learned the importance of stretching, icing and resting. You have to learn to practice what you preach.

I’m still on the recovery from a stress fracture in my left tibia. I was able to complete the 25k I was training for but in a very a walk heavy fashion. Even though my time was my personal worst, the satisfaction and triumph I felt at the finish line was the most of any race!

I also re-learned the benefits of icing and stretching. I get sloppy about post-run icing and stretching when I feel okay, but I really need it after EVER run!

Injuries have taught me that any exercise and any form of movement that I can do with my body is a gift and a blessing, and that I should never take it for granted. For no matter how bad you think your injury may be, there is likely someone in worse condition. Can’t run? Be thankful you can walk. Can’t walk? Be thankful you have any use of your legs at all. And so on.

My injury last spring was a bad case of ITBS. I fortunately had a bad enough case that it caused stabbing pain, and barely allowed me to walk, let alone run. I say fortunately because the recovery time taught me a lot about myself and the athlete I want to be. I learned to listen to my body at the FIRST signs of an injury, not the second, third and fourth screaming warnings. It also taught me that I know best for my body and that I should incorporate my yoga mindset of not comparing myself to others and apply it to my running.

Being injured literally saved my life.
Last July I was deeply struggling with my eating disorder and had reached my lowest weight ever. My body was starting to shut down on me: I became anemic, my heartrate slowed, and I actually developed a lump on my thryoid (it turned out to be benign) due to all of the abuse. I had become so obsessed with exercising that I was doing at least 2 1/2 hours a day, sometimes more, every single day without fail and wasn’t eating enough to support those energy demands. This ensued for a full year. Then very gradually over those months I started noticing some peculiar changes. Suddenly, my knees would give out on me when I walked. They became stiff and sometimes locked up and forced me to walk slower. At first I thought that I was just tired but the more and more I noticed how much trouble I was having with walking, the more concerned I became.
But still I continued to overexercise.
Eventually the pain grew to be so unbearable that I could barely complete just a lap around my block. My knees would get extremely stiff and throb with this pulsing arthritic pain. Many nights I would just lie in agony, dreading the thought of having to be on my legs again the next day.

I know that God allowed me to experience this pain because it forced me to cut back on my exercise. It also forced me into the recovery that I was avoiding.

Without a doubt, if I did not have that pain to motivate me to decrease my exercise, I would not be alive today.

This year I am in a much better place, both physically and mentally. I have reached my healthy weight and have found a healthy exercise routine. Unfortunately I still live with the knee pain today. It is always there and serves as a constant reminder of the abuse that I put my body through and just how fragile I have become. Although it can be very debillatating at times and makes me very depressed, in a way I am grateful for the pain because it reminds me that I need to treat my body with respect.
Now I no longer wish to ever put my body through that abuse again. When I exercise I listen to what my body is telling me and stop when I know that I am hurting it. In fact just recently I have completely cut out an unneccessary chunk of cardio time and replaced it with strength and weight training. The freedom I feel is liberating.
I cannot stress how important it is to never take our bodies for granted. We need to love them, and nurture them, and treat them with the utmost of respect. The damage I have done to my body is most likely irreversible. I will probably never be able to walk or run without some kind of pain ever again. It makes me cry but it was necessary in order for me to overcome my eating disorder.
“This is your life, treat yourself right.”

Injuries are rough and I had to work myself back up from taking 6 weeks off due to a shin splint. I wrote a guest post for Matt (The Athlete’s Plate) a few weeks ago about coming back from an injury. In my post, I wrote that I learned a few valuable things: build up mileage gradually (I didn’t adhere to the 10% rule), it’s ok to take a little time off from running, if you are coming back from an injury… be patient! Embrace other forms of exercise!, if it hurts. STOP!, and finally Figure out WHY or HOW you got injured in the first place.

I’m trying to deal with pain right now. I’ve had on/off pain in my right knee for 2+ years. Sometimes bad – sometimes not so much. Right now I am in a bad period. I am planning on getting a PT appt this week, and find out what I need to do. I want to see if I can get beyond this.

I was injured while training for my first marathon, and while I do wish it hadn’t happened when it happened, I was able to go to an amazing physical therapist who taught me so much about taking care of my body – so much more than just treating my injury. I walked away with so much knowledge about running, cross training, injury prevention and treatment that I would not otherwise have gotten.

After twelve weeks of serious marathon training, I started having hip pain and ended up being told that I need to stay away from impact activities while I am in physical therapy.

Because of this, I joined a triathlon team. After two years of “thinking about it”, but being too intimidated, I finally did it! And even better, I found out that I can bike and swim much farther than I ever thought.

While sometimes it is still frustrating that I can’t run, it has taught me to be more patient and respectful of my body. And it gave me the push to go for a dream!

Oh being injured – often times so bittersweet because it DOES teach you so much! Before my knee injury a couple years ago, I was wayyy over-exerting my body, running 6-10 milers day after day with no rest. I felt that I NEEDED to exercise/run every single day, and runs less than 5 or 6 miles did not suffice or burn enough calories. Throughout my resting time, I learned that LIFE GOES ON if you don’t get a workout in for 1…2…6 days (surprise!!). It showed me how much I was underfueling when I was running so much more since I was eating the same amount while resting, and pretty much maintaining. It taught me that sometimes having a social life and having a few drinks is way more important than that run the next morning 😉 (sometimes!). And it also taught me how little things are just as important as actual running. It’s hard for me to take 20-30 minutes to foam roll, stretch, and do hip/ankle exercises since they aren’t cardio and show no “results” (like muscle tone). Who wants to spend 15 minutes doing hip exercises when you could be bulking up those biceps? 😉 But they are VERY important to running!

Obviously, injuries have shown me to appreciate running and appreciate everything your body can do. Coming back from my knee injury I was ECSTATIC over 6, 7, and 10 milers (normal everyday runs for me in the past). I teared up at the end of my half-marathon (even though I had already ran a full and a half in the past).

Not that that’s said, I’m still sick of injuries!! haha