Basketball/Running

Hardwood

Greenway

Late nights at the park,

last to leave

Early mornings through the park,

first to arrive

Smell of leather

Freshly mowed grass

AI

Meb

Bum knees

Less bummy knees

My knees used to kill me on the court,

nobody asked

They feel fresh on the pavement,

“Don’t runners have bad knees?”

Mid-post fadeaway with the awkward shot

Picking up the pace with my limping trot

Arrhythmic sneaker squeaking

Keeping time with a pair of Brooks

Brain dead, unconscious, in the zone

Chasing the elusive runner’s high

Full court

Marathon

How many shots in a row

How far or fast I can go

Pass the rock

Other runners

“Bucket!”

“On your left!”

Painted lines

No boundaries

Crossover

Cross the finish line

 

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Things I’ve Noticed When I Don’t Run

I have been on the shelf for over a month now with a sprained ankle. I believe since February 9. My last basketball injury forced me to miss a race, but I’m determined to make this one, mainly because the medal is dope. I’ve got a month and a half left. I changed my distance from the full to the half marathon and I’ll limp all 13 miles if I have to for that medal.

Since I haven’t been running, here are a five things that have happened, a few which didn’t happen during my last running break.

1. Acne has started showing up on my forehead. Every morning I’ve got a new one to pop. Running decreases stress, while stress contributes to acne. During this break I’ve been preparing to publish my first novel, Little Big Brother. Makes sense.
2. I’m actually dreaming and they’ve been crazy. This started a week ago, along with terrible sleep. I never dream. Never. But this week I’ve dreamed about baking a chubby kid a cake, eating someone’s face and Laura speaking only in rhymes.
3. Sleepy. It’s harder to wake up and harder to stay awake at night.
4. All of my muscles are tight. I’m trying to stretch and work out, but it’s just not working.
5. Lack of appetite. I love to eat, but over the past few weeks there have been days I don’t eat breakfast or lunch because I’m just not hungry.

3 Weeks Off Because of a Sprained Foot

I haven’t run in 3 weeks. After 1 week of not running while on vacation. This latest break wasn’t a choice. I hurt my right foot playing basketball. Came down and tried going into my 2nd jump before landing. POP! I sprained my foot. (At least that’s my initial self-diagnosis). I hopped to the sideline trying not to curse in the church gym.

I thought I’d be back running in a week, playing ball in two. Nope. Now I’m in a state of overreaction, swearing I’ll never play again. Definitely not while training. The half-marathon I was training for is at the end of October. After the 1st week of my injury I was prepared to race even if my foot healed right before the race, lack of training be damned. The other night I accepted it’s realistic I won’t be ready and let myself cry for five minutes. (The runner info email got to me. Thanks to Laura for the shoulder).

I love running and am reminded how important it is for me to run. I’ve been more anxious. The sense of accomplishment after each run or a successful week is gone. I haven’t felt like myself. Yesterday I had my first episode in a while. I’m fine but running is an important part of me. I’ve been doing more exercises and riding the stationary bike and might take up swimming.

My foot is much better, the swelling has gone down. There’s discomfort when I try to run and hurts if I flex it a certain way. Every few days I’ll jog inside and think I’m fine until I plant a certain way and realize I’m not. Here I go.