The Beginning

"Man never made any material as resilient as the human spirit." - Bern Williams

I've come to believe a very important  thing in the past couple of weeks. It didn't hit me hard though until this weekend. This is almost as hard for me to type out as it is for me to believe. Nontheless here it is. Breaking my foot is absolutely the best thing that's ever happened to me. This is my chance to rebuild from the very bottom and come back stronger, better, more determined. It's my chance to not give up on my dreams. I wrote a post awhile back about how and why I was somehow always meant to be a runner. But maybe, just maybe, I was always meant to be an injured runner...because in reality I was always meant to swim, to bike. Maybe, I was always meant to be a triathlete. 

That said it's a new month and I have a whole new list of goals SET IN PLACE AND OUT IN THE OPEN!!!!  Because I'm not afraid to set goals anymore. 

But let's start with January first shall we?

 January:

1. GET RID OF CRUTCHES. DANG IT! I WILL do this. 

2. Walk before I see my doctor again Walk before New Year's dang it!  Done and Done

3. Bike ride by the end of January. It wasn't pretty. But I did it. 

4. Start doing legit pool workouts Done, conquered, and then some.

5. Start off the new semester  on the right foot (pun intended) no more slacking in school just because you can't run. Yup :)

6. Calcium. So. Much. Calcium. Trying.....

7. Find a yoga class and get your strength back. Yoga classes are expensive. Plus I can't do this until I'm cleared to walk again. 

8. Be really really smart about food choices. Eat things that will make foot better. Trying....

9. Try to start sleeping more Ohhh yeah. 

10. Find will to run again Soon, Soon, Soon

February: 

1. GET RID OF CRUTCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!

2. Walk. All. The. Time.

3. Start biking outside. 

4. Start 2-a-day pool workouts

5. Faithfully take calcium and vitamins.

6. See a nutritionist. 

7. Get good grades :)

8. Start weight lifting. 
9. Stop complaining about weight lifting

10. Find will to run again. 

How unfortunate that numbers 1 and 10 are basically the same. All I have to say is that  number 1 better go. And number 10 will come. I have big plans for number 10 actually. My foot broke on November 12. Almost 5 months later on April 2nd I'm going to go on my first run. April 2nd is my 22nd birthday. I'm giving myself the greatest gift I can. 

Back to the beginning of this post. Breaking my foot was a horrible, horrible thing. But it's the best thing that's ever happened to me. I wouldn't take it back for the world. It's like breaking my foot gave me a whole new chance. This is, as I've come to realize, my chance to rebuild  myself from the bottom up, to have a fresh new outlook, to start over.  The way I was running, and (not) taking care of myself. The way running and winning ruled my life. The way that I was running away from things and not towards things...For all of these reasons it was only a matter of time before something broke. I'm just glad that it was my foot and not my spirit. 

The first two months of this injury I thought of as the end. It was the end of fast running. It was the end of running period. It was the end of all of my dreams. It was the end being a hard core instead of a recreational runner. It was the end of life as I knew it. None of this is true, except for the last one. It IS the end of life as I previously knew it. But that's O.K. Because while it is the end, it's also just the beginning of so much more.