From Ambassador Angela:

Last year was full of exciting achievements and firsts. In February I was featured in Fitness Magazine as a weight loss success story.  April saw some sick strong bouldering at Cooper’s Rock and later that same month I ran my first half-marathon. As the year progressed I completed my first GoRuck Challenge, my first Full Marathon, and about a dozen OCRs. By the end of the year I ran enough Spartan Races to make my way into the Top 20 Female Spartans in the point rankings.

I was psyched to start 2013 with a Spartan Race season pass in hand!!!!

What I had not anticipated was what would be my first challenge of 2013. On January 1^st I couldn’t walk home from the Philadelphia New Year’s Day Mummers Parade. I limped back to my parents’ house with the assistance of my husband. There was something wrong with my left knee.

I scaled back on my running and followed up with doctors, x-rays, and finally, at the end of January had MRI results. The diagnosis: a “signal in the medial meniscus related to a degenerative basis or intrasubstance tear.”

This is my first attempt at blogging. This effort was supposed to recap the excitement that would surround celebrating my birthday weekend running the Miami Spartan Sprint in February. Given the pain in my knee and my doctor’s instruction, 4-6 weeks of no impact activity, my plans were cancelled. I did my best not to throw my own little birthday pity-party but… being injured sucks.

So, here I am with my first entry about injury. In a way I’m finding writing this therapeutic. I did some internet research on the psychology of injured athletes. Being injured feels just as mental as it does physical. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that I’m still the same person whether I’m racing through an obstacle course like a super-hero or spending time with family and friends. It’s also helpful to remind myself that it’s okay to feel sad, angry, and a little bitter that I’m sidelined – it’s natural. The real strength lies in how I chose to respond to these feelings.

I’ve been using the elliptical trainer at the gym and started keeping a food diary – a holiday season followed by the inability to run is not the kindest of combinations.

Almost 6 weeks have passed. I have an upcoming follow up appointment with the doctor to discuss my plans to return to running. Until then, I’ll keep focusing on what I can do.

 “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, ‘I’ll try again tomorrow.’” 

Mary Anne Radmacher