I’ve Seen the Nike and the Damage Done

Trigger Warning!  This was written from a place of pain – self inflicted – so I have no one else to blame.

“You’re into pain and suffering, aren’t you?” asked the physical therapist.  He was kneading my calf so hard, beads of sweat were running down my face, or were they tears.  “If it doesn’t hurt, it’s not worth it, right?” he added.  When I told him I’d signed up for a 50K running race, he asked “Why would you want to do that?” 

The issue was the acute pain in my right calf.  On Monday, April 13th, I set out for an easy six mile run after work.  I soon noticed a sharp twinge in my calf.  Even though I stopped at the first sign of pain, a half mile into the run, the damage was done. 

The reason I went for a run that fateful Monday was because I missed my morning swim workout.  Had I swum 5,000 yards as planned, I would not have been running.  I had run hills the previous two days, so my calves were tired.  The result was a tear in my Achilles tendon. 

The Achilles is a large and prominent tendon that connects the gastrocnomius and soleus muscles to the heel bone.  The Achilles is the thickest tendon in the human body and can handle a load stress 7.7 times the body’s weight when running.

Here’s a little back-story:

In Greek mythology, when Achilles was a baby, his mother Thetis dipped his body into the River Styx, which was supposed to offer powers of invulnerability.  But as she held Achilles by the heel, his heel was not washed over by the water of the magical river.  Achilles grew up to be a man of war who survived many great battles.  But one day, a poisonous arrow shot at him was lodged in his heel, killing him shortly thereafter.  Metaphorically, an Achilles heel is a weakness in spite of overall strength, which can potentially lead to downfall.  

My athletic success comes not from great innate skill nor flexibility nor a high anaerobic threshold.  It comes from my ability to withstand a great amount of discomfort, during both training and racing.  That is also my weakness. 

Here are the steps I took to try to heal the injury:

Dry Needling – It is what I imagine it would feel like sitting on the sofa in Keith Richards’ living room.  Yes, my calf felt better, but it is hard to say if it was due to dry-needling or just not running for a week.

Elastic therapeutic tape or kinesio-tape – is supposed to correct the alignment of weak muscles as well as facilitating joint motion.  I found no benefit from kinesio-taping.

Duct tape – did about as much good as the kinesio tape.

 

Trainer’s Tape – Tried and true.  I used the brute force method of trainer’s tape to immobilize my calf, to support the calf so it could withstand the pounding of running.  With this approach I was able to run, clubfoot-like. 

I changed my registration in the Greenland 50K race to the 8 mile event.  If there’d been a 1 mile fun run, I’d have switched to that.  I was extremely pleased to have finished – 3^rd place in my age group. 

The bigger issue is that I don’t know when to back off the training.  One mile is too many and 1,000 not enough.  We’ve heard the old saw “the older you get, the more rest you need.”  If you don’t heed that advice, you’ll end up having to take extended time off from running, like I will. 

I am fortunate that I have other physical activities that I enjoy, namely swimming and roller-skiing.  But since I identify as a runner and am not able to run, my psyche is taking a hit.  The fact that my athletic reach exceeds my grasp IS what motivates me.  It also leads to injuries that probably could be avoided.  My body is telling me to take a break.  This time I’m listening. 

Adieu.

We Met After a Race

It was 9 A.M. on Thursday, June 8^th, 1989 and Fred Lebow had problems; about 13,000 to be accurate.  As race director for that evening's Manufacturers Hanover Corporate Challenge, Lebow was responsible for the safety of that many runners.  The temperature in Central Park was 83 degrees and the humidity was 80 percent, a combination the American College of Sports Medicine considers to be between ''high risk'' and ''very high risk'' for runners.  

The Corporate Challenge, an annual series of 3.5 mile races, was founded in 1977 by the New York Road Runners with a single race in New York City that attracted 200 runners from 50 companies.  It is now held in 13 cities, in 7 countries on 5 continents.  The Manhattan edition started and finished at The Tavern on the Green.  Little did I know I would be attending my wedding reception there in 18 months.

Take 13,000 competitive corporate types, many who had never run a race, add heat and humidity, and you have a recipe for – death.  In recent years four participants had died – two of heart attacks and two from heat stroke – not the outcomes you want for an event that promotes "fitness in the workplace."   I signed a release stating I wouldn’t hold SmithBarney (my employer) or the New York Road Runners responsible if I croaked. 

Lebow, citing concerns about the hazards of running in high heat and humidity, changed the event into a "non-competitive" ''fun run'' and removed the clock so the competitors would not be tempted to overexert themselves; a reasonable idea.  You can remove the clock, but two or more people running a course at the same time IS the definition of a race. 

Another idea was to implement a two-wave start.  Runners were asked to sort themselves into fast and slow waves.  I hadn’t run in over two years so I joined the mass of B-Wave runners. 

If they had asked a 3^rd grader how to slow down the runners, they might have said “put a rope across the road.”  If you were Lebow, you might have said “Great idea.”  And so, mid-way through the event, a couple of burly dudes ran a rope across the road – I kid you not.  By the time I got to that point in the run, there were a few thousand people piling on top of one another.  The rope served its purpose, but several people fell and were stepped upon. 

Participants had to be “sponsored” by a company in order to be eligible to race.  It was an honor to be asked to represent your company.  It may be difficult to imagine, but it was a different era of corporate pride and the Corporate Challenge was a big deal.  Executives of major Wall Street firms (some in their seventies) ran the race.  The Corporate Challenge was broadcast – on network television.  Olympians and World Boxing Champions announced that they were going to run the race.  Grete Waitz was the official starter for the 1990 edition. 

I have no idea how long it took me to run the course, but I can tell you I beat Jerry, a corporate bond trader, and Clark from the OTC trading desk.  Serious bragging rights were at stake. 

At an after-race party, at an Upper East Side watering hole with a very unfortunate name, I met a lovely long-legged runner from Deloitte & Touche.  She said her name was Mary.  I asked her where she was from.  “Colorado” she replied.  The rest is a story for another day.  

Mementos from the night we met: