Live. Give. Run. Blog
To Inspire and Move the Human Spirt, One Sole at a Time
Let me throw some numbers at you – I mean, runners love numbers, right?
During a 5k, your feet strike the ground an average of 4800 times.
For a 10k, this number jumps to 9500.
And, for a marathon, there are an average of over 39,000 foot contacts. (Much more if you’re running at a below average pace).
When you look at these numbers, it’s clear that there’s a lot of stress that needs to be absorbed through the knees, hips, lower back, spine, and ego.
My running journey started in middle school when I would compete in the fitness testing and would break all the records for my age. Seeing that I had a natural talent, I began running on my own and thought about high school cross country and track and field. I even joined a middle school running club to enjoy running and spending time with my friends.
“What are you going to do – stop? No way.” That is what my teammate said to our relay squad right before the gun went off for the 4x800 at the New England Division 3 Indoor Championships. We stood huddled in our group overflowing with nerves and excitement while the rest of our team lined the track waiting to cheer us on. But with my teammate’s words, I was instantly brought back to one of my first runs ever. My dad had taken me to run the “Barn Loop” – a wooded trail that the entire Hereford cross country and track teams know by heart. As we ran, my eight-year-old self kept thinking, “I’m not going to stop, I’m not going to stop.”
Returning to running postpartum can be a challenging journey, but with patience, dedication, and the right approach, it can be an empowering experience. Remember to listen to your body, start slow, and prioritize core and pelvic floor strengthening exercises. Above all, be kind to yourself and celebrate every step forward in your postpartum running journey.
As a Physical Therapist and Running Program Specialist for MedStar Health, I spend the majority of my clinical hours working with injured runners. Virtually all of them want to return to comfortable and healthy running ASAP; preferably sooner. Every injured runner wants to find out what went wrong and how to fix it. And if we can help make them a better runner in addition, all the better.
I arrived at the first training session, shaking in my shoes, just so sure I was going to stick out like a sore thumb. I was definitely the largest person there, but no one laughed. We gave introductions and our running background. Many others were already runners and were just getting back into running. I stated that I had never run before in my life. No one laughed. All were encouraging.
Often when we think about goals around running or exercise, the focus is entirely on our body and the physicality of the movement. How can I lose weight? How can I tone or cut? Should I run or lift weights? What will give me the best results? But what doesn’t come up is how our mental and emotional health play into these decisions.
One of the most common mistakes I see with athletes of all kinds is under fueling. This mistake is not just eating too little food/calories or skipping meal, but it can also mean that an athlete is eating a diet that lacks balance or adequate nutrient, vitamin and mineral intake. So, for athletes I like for them to think about their diet like their training plan.
