Catching a Third Wind

Exactly 16 years ago, I was up in the Boston area running my very first marathon. (Yes, that one!) It was the 100th running of that fabled race, and to celebrate the occasion, the Boston Athletic Association, the race organizer, opened up 5,000 spots to a lottery. So running novices like myself could race alongside the world’s top thoroughbreds. (I had the good fortune of getting in through connections at work.)

I finished the 1996 Boston Marathon with a great big smile on my face, and since then have completed eight more marathons and one marathon relay. It was during the training for what would have been my 10th marathon, in New York City in 2010, that I encountered the painful hip injuries that resulted in two arthroscopic surgeries (the first in July and the second in December) and sidelined me for about a year and a half.

It would be nice to some day do another marathon. (O.K., maybe half marathons might be more appropriate.) But today I am back to basics: I am learning how to run all over again.

My “training” began only three weeks ago on the treadmill in physical therapy, where I would alternately run and walk for 10 to 12 minutes. Each time I would slightly increase the running portion. I have had to make a few changes in the process, like modifying my gait so that I land more on my mid-foot than heel. (Heel-strikers, like myself, are more prone to injuries than runners who land on their forefront or mid-foot, as pointed out in a recent New York Times article.)

Trying to unlearn years of bad habits is tough, though equally as difficult (and disheartening) is building up endurance again. In my first trip to a local track, where I am now training once a week, I found myself “winded” after just a quarter of a mile. (Only a couple of years ago 10 miles was a snap.) But I am improving, thanks in part to the weekly spin classes that I am also taking. This past weekend I managed to run just over a mile without needing to stop.

I just need to remember: slow and steady. Like my very first marathon.

Fifteen and a half weeks since my second arthroscopic surgery, on my right hip (the left was scoped in July) and I am thrilled to report that my surgeon has given me the go-ahead to resume all normal activities. That means running (oops, I’ve already been doing a little bit of that), outdoor cycling, spinning, yoga and swimming. With one caveat: I’m to engage in these activities gradually and slowly. “Just don’t overdo it,” he said, noting that my range of motion is nearly normal in both legs, but the level of strength has not yet fully returned.

Both the doctor and his assistant said that I should be prepared for little aches and pains to surface as I increase my activity. (Shin splints are a common complaint among runners, they said.) “You just have to come full circle,” the assistant said, which means a year for each surgery. Which is about four more months for my left side and eight months for my right.