Recovery from A Leg Injury

Running a marathon is a long journey, and there are lots of ups and downs before you cross the start and finish lines. For me, I have gone through a significant leg injury in the winter of 2015/16. The recovery was a long but rewarding path. In this post, I will be sharing with you about my journey through this injury.

In early October, I suffered a leg injury during a hockey game. My right leg's fibula got an oblique fracture from a freak accident. Fortunately, the break wasn't too complex, so no surgery was required. I was put on a cast to let the bone heal up naturally. It was a devastating blow to my marathon training, as I was prepared to go run in the NYC Marathon a month later. Fortunately, I was able to defer the entry to NYC Marathon for a year and focused on the recovery.

Normally, for this type of leg injury, it will take about 8 to 12 weeks for a complete recovery. However, my bone was taking its time to heal up. Every two weeks I would stop by the doctor's office for a new X-ray, and the image would look almost the same as the one before. The doctor and I were both perplexed on the slow recovery progress. I have gone through at least 6 casts. To get me through the long Alaskan winter, I decided to perform alternative workouts without using my leg. These exercises include push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, planks, etc.  It took me almost 6 months before I can walk normally. I then moved on to starting the next phase of recovery with physical therapy.

By the summer of 2016, about 9 months after the injury, I was able to run normally. I gradually increased the mileage during the summer. In October, I completed a half marathon in 1 hour 32 minutes. In November and December, I completed the NYC Marathon and the California International Marathon. After more than a year after my leg injury, I feel that I am making some good progress towards full recovery. I am still suffering from poor balance, but I will be taking some yoga classes to improve on my weakness.

One of the main lessons I learned from this leg injury is being patient. 26.2 miles is a long way to go. Training for being able to run 26.2 miles also takes time. One will have the patience to go through 3 months of marathon training before the race. During the race, patience is key to not going too fast in the beginning and saving some energy for the second half.

Thanks for reading. In the next blog, I will be talking about how I use marathon to help me see different parts of the world.