Until this past week I hadn't gone on a run in 2 1/2 months.

In late June I had an incident with a soccer ball that left me with some really bad stress fractures in my right foot.  I'd like to say that said "incident" occurred during a very serious game of soccer, during which I skidded into another player in an attempt to make a miraculous goal...  But alas, it didn't.  The sad truth is I slipped on a soccer ball.

My horrible skills as a soccer player resulted 2 ½ months of emergency rooms, doctor visits, XRays, MRIs, and constant teasing from coworkers.  Yeaaa…  Try walking around an office full of athletes with a large snazzy boot.  Not so fun…

This is the first time I’ve ever semi-seriously injured myself, and the longest I’ve gone without the ability to run.  And through this experience I’ve learned two very important lessons:

1.)     1. I will never have career as professional soccer superstar.  Yea, I kind of knew this       already…  But I could hope, couldn’t I?

   2. Not being able to run sucks.

Let me explain…

We’ve all gone through times where we just feel the need to hang up the shoes for a while and take a break.  Believe me I’ve gone through my share of ups and downs with running and sometimes I just needed a break.

There will be times that you’re in pain and tired, and you’ll question why you picked a sport like this…  Wouldn’t Badminton have been easier?

But the truth is, you don’t realize how much you love running until it’s gone. 

It only took a few weeks after the accident for me to realize that I was really going to miss running during my recovery.  As the weeks past I found myself counting down the days until the doctor said I could go on my first run.  As the Spike Bus went into Camp season I felt myself anxious as I watched runners go out for beautiful trail runs and pound it out on mile repeats.  I wanted to be back in the game so bad I started having dreams about awesome runs!  I know, ridiculous…

I got the okay from my doctor to try out running this week.  And so, while we were upstate visiting Shaker, Shen, and Queensbury I went for my first runs back!

It felt amazing!  And although my foot felt a little sore, I am so excited to be back, even if it’s just very short runs for now.  Although running just a couple miles feels soooo short, I’ll take whatever I can get for now!

Wish me luck!

Julia