10 Best Marathon Shoes Neutral

Best Marathon Shoes Neutral in 2023

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Marathon Countdown - Coping with Injuries

Marathon training requires dedication, a rigorous physical and mental regimen, and also good decision-making all along the way. One of the hardest decisions to make can be whether or not to continue.

Ask any runner how s/he is feeling as marathon time draws near and you will undoubtedly hear that some part of the body is in pain. Though this may color the whole phenomenon of marathon-running as a somewhat unhealthy enterprise, it is the price we runners pay to achieve what we thought once was almost impossible.

Many of those in training come upon a juncture, disconcertedly near marathon day, when they have to decide whether or not to stop their running due to an injury. Two of my running partners at Team For Kids had told me that this was their second time around training for their first marathon. My heart went out for them since they were working so hard hoping, this time, they wouldn't get hurt and fall short of making it to their goal.

But as we ran along together, I wondered if being able to make the wise decision to stop training when your body calls for it was a greater victory than actually completing the marathon.

How can you give up on a goal you'd been fighting for so suddenly? How do you let go of what had been fueling a considerable part of your life this year?

During the process of deciding, there are endless questions running through one's mind. Can I withstand the pain just enough to make it to the finish line? Can a cortisone shot alleviate the pain enough for me to make it through? How can I come to terms with the fact that I'd spent so many seasons running on mornings, nights, weekends, through snow and rain and ridiculous heat, for this one goal?

But all that training isn't just to reach one goal. Marathon Day is a glorious event, a time for the successful culmination of your diligent work and focused energies. But it is the commitment to the difficult training process that shaped you and made you a stronger person for all that.

The days sweating and swearing, evenings spent taking it easy or foregoing alcohol in favor of the early morning long run the next day weren't wasted. You probably learned a great deal about yourself in terms of how far - in mileage and in exhaustion factor - you could push yourself to go. Hopefully the discipline it takes in order to do that has been put towards other efforts as well, from how you work to how you approach relationships. A goal can be achieved by small steps and by sheer mental determination. Where there is a will, there is a way.

I was surprised several times at how far my feet could carry me during this year's marathon training process. Having never run over 6 miles before deciding to participate in the marathon, it was a struggle to get to 8 miles comfortably, and then 10. After that slight mileage increase, I felt like death. After 14 miles, that feeling revisited. But after that, 15, 16, 17 and then 18 miles flowed along. It was as if the body knew how to acclimate now that the mind was calling the shots.

But after a second 20-miler, two and a half weeks from the New York City Marathon, I felt a sudden pain in my hip. I tried to run through it with a few more steps but couldn't go any further and I limped home in the drizzle, head down, feeling utterly defeated. The pain meant business, and I could not imagine running with it for 26 miles.

Runners can experience a myriad of war wounds while out there on the road. Most common ones are IT band syndrome, which is what I've been experiencing, runners' knee, bursitis, shin splints, fractures in the hip or foot, sciatica, and plantar fasciitis, which is a painful inflammation of tissues in the sole of the foot. It's usually not a question of what, but when, one of these will happen to a serious runner.

If you find yourself limping or in any way functioning differently because of an injury, that's a sign to not run through it. Some injuries such as the all-too-common shin splint can be heroically endured during training. But for more serious or painful injuries, usually the best course of action is to visit a sports doctor or specialist of the injured area. It's hard to self-diagnose a small stress fracture versus a tear in the hip muscle tissue. Once properly diagnosed, physical therapy can help greatly, as does adequate rest and eating well to speed up the recovery process. Perhaps in time to participate in the marathon you'd been dreaming of.

But during this period of healing, there is a psychological recovery too that needs to happen. When faced with a setback in training, friends, family, colleagues are needed to support the runner who is temporarily sidelined. Focusing on any other interest, catching up on books you'd been meaning to read, or friends you'd been meaning to see, taking time to savor your surroundings, can make the recovery time pass by quicker. Stretching thoroughly, if able, can help alleviate pain and speed up the healing of some injuries such as ITBS and hamstring pulls. A good stretching habit can also prevent these from happening in the first place.

But like many things in life, it's how you face the challenging times that makes you who you are. The ability to acknowledge and accept your limits is yet another of life's lessons that can be attributed to running.

At some point near the marathon date, you may find yourself questioning if this endeavor will cause irreparable harm to your body, versus considerable harm to your psyche. All too many runners persist despite knowing their conditions will worsen if they follow through with the race. There is a mental momentum that seems so hard to break. But if you can make a wise choice, knowing when to step back from marathon training and acquiescing to your body's need to heal, it will probably be one of the hardest decisions of your life. It's one that I'm struggling with now.

A source of comfort is remembering that every year without fail, there is always another marathon to shoot for.

Yuki Kaneshige is a multimedia journalist in New York City who is training for her first marathon with Team For Kids, an organization that promotes youth running programs for underserved communities.