Of Motivation and A Crepe Bandage

“…and as I can see from the X Ray, it would take around 6-8 weeks or may be a little more and by then ‘it should recover well’ and yes you need to take rest and complete care…else the damage can worsen!”.

All this talk about my ‘left foot’ now wrapped cozily in a crepe bandage by the Orthopedic, having suffered ‘stress fracture’, thanks to my antics of beginning with ‘bare foot running’.

Now what? No running, no much exercise and above all carry-on with the crepe bandage, everywhere. “Hmmm…” I said to myself, “it could get worse”; just to think I had to stop running the way I do if didn’t care enough and for a moment thought, “what if it was a wake-up call?”. Well, well, well; let me now ‘enjoy’ this time, I thought (as if I had options to choose from)…what else could I do but, take rest, enough care and pray for my foot to heal faster and so I did.

One fine evening, a little over 5 weeks of trudging with the crepe bandage on my foot, a Senior Marathon Runner from Mumbai calls, “the 6 Hour Night Run would be announced anytime, shall I register your name too?”….eekss…as if all this wasn’t enough, the run would also happen earlier than last year. After listening to my story, all he said was, let’s register and you try with all possibilities to make it; run slow, walk, stop, run again; but try and make it.

By the time Doctor freed me from the crepe bandage with all riders of what all is permitted and what isn’t, it was 7 weeks. And all I thought during those days is, maybe I overdid it, maybe I had to slow down & therefore this and what all I need to do to get back ‘on track’.

With little over a month for the run I said to myself ‘let me try’, this is what I can do…'try'..and let me do it. I approached a Trainer to help me build strength to sustain the 6 Hour duration. Each passing day drove me closer to ‘run day’ and on occasions I had to wear the crepe bandage for keeping my foot tidy. With 2 days to go, my Trainer advised I run with the crepe bandage on!!!! I popped the question, “but how do I run then?”...”As you have been doing, but now, with more caution. Run only as much you feel comfortable and make sure you take enough care of your foot”.

It was ‘D-Day’ or should I say, ‘D-Night’ and while getting ready for the run, I layered crepe bandage on ‘the foot’ and a sock on the other! This was to remind me that I needed to exercise caution; yet I took it as my motivation to do better than I possibly could…and with caution. As time ticked by, I began to pace differently in each hour, did mid-run recovery with support from a Physiotherapist and continued thereafter. The last 2.5 hours was the time in which I fervently communicated with myself…’you have made it thus far, it is going good, you can do better’. And better I did; registering a new milestone of '44 kms', the longest distance I covered till date!

Those 7 weeks and crepe bandage taught me of a situation where one needs to pause, reflect and then take the next stride, if one wishes to pursue upon something. More importantly not all ‘bondage or bandage as in my case’ are limiters to what you wish to do, sometimes they are stimuli to help bring out the better in you…it’s the way you to choose to look at!