HOPES AND FEARS

Run
It feels like yesterday, but its not, its almost a year ago since I injured my knee and was put to rest for 6 months, 6 MONTHS! To be honest, it was quite a hard time for me, because exercise is a part of who I am and its a tool I use to be able to cope with stress, a defense mechanism per se, I have had this all my life.
I remember my track and field days, it doesn’t feel like yesterday at all, and it has been over a decade from that. Being a High Jumper was both good and bad for me, good because I cant think of a better thing for me to do in track and field, it was perfect for my body structure and I was also good at it, I freaking loved it! It was bad because it gave me “jumpers knee”, a term I didn’t even know existed to be honest. Working with my trainers in the past few months taught me a lot, about the positives and about the negatives regarding my own personal fitness routine and how to always improve. It also made me realize a lot of things I haven’t before and having a jumpers knee is one of those. What it basically means is that because of high jump and the fact tat we develop a certain running technique (you can see the example on this video), one of my knees got more strained than the other one, which translates on possible knee injuries. I have to be extremely careful when I run to prevent getting injured again and thats why I saw running “We Own The Night” as such a big personal challenge for me, I wanted to prove to myself I could run it.
Coming from a knee injury and a break of 6 months hasn’t been easy but I have tried my hardest, I really have. Maybe you have seen a glimpse of this through my instagram in the past few months. The problem is that I haven’t been able to train consistently due to all the trips I have had to do in the past few months and few weeks ago, my knee injury came back, so we had to stop all running from my training for almost an entire month. It felt like such a step back and I felt incredibly frustrated, because its not something I could control.
The race is on Saturday and I feel like time came on top of me and swallowed me whole. I feel strong and I feel ready but I hope my knee doesn’t let me down on the day. My mom has been texting me asking me how I feel, she knows me, she knows my track and field days, when I used to compete for the national team and I used to get incredibly nervous before championships. She knows my perfectionist self must be freaking out. I know this is just a race but man, it feels like so much more to me, its a personal challenge to prove myself that an injury cant stop me. I hope I can make myself proud, myself and all the people who believe in me, who have been helping me prepare. I hope I can come the finish like with my head held high. Just 2 days to go…

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A

80 Responses

  1. I never knew you had a knee injury. Its amazing you were able to run the 10k, congrats! A month ago I had a stupid accident and torn my anterior cruciate ligament ACL. When it happened I never thought its was nothing I had to worry about but when I went to the doctor just to make sure everything was ok, it turned out I had to get surgery. I was devastated because im super active. Ran every day and went swimming 3 times a week. This surgery meant no running for the next 6 months and basically no sports of high impact. I had surgery 3 weeks ago and im still recovering going to physiotherapy twice a day. so I make sure ill be able to run again next year. Its never easy to stop doing sports when you are used to it! how did you deal with it and what type of knee injury did you have?

    Felicitaciones otra vez y me imagino la felicidad que tuviste al terminar la carrera. Espero tener ese mismo sentimiento muy pronto!

  2. “Because our largest weakness reside in give up. The best way for be successful is always try one more time.”
    Come on!! You can :)
    Good luck

  3. I am sorry to hear that the injury came back but i strongly believe you will do the run and be awesome as ever!
    we will all keep our fingers crossed.
    Nitabiti

  4. I did the race in in Milan one week ago,

    I was running with the official water and they gave me these news about 3 weeks before.
    I started training although I was kind of out of shape. After 3 days I did my first 5km! I got to the race and did my first 10 km in about 1h and 10 minutes, which is not great but such an achievement!

    You’ll do so good! Good luck Andy!

    http://www.OntoMyWardrobe.com

  5. Good job in getting back into the groove. I know that feeling because I went through the same…tore my hamstring & itb kicked in bad. go easy. listen to your body. understand the difference between pain and discomfort. stop when it’s painful. live with the discomfort but rest it out post race. And yes…you will complete with your head up & smiling!

  6. you’ll be awesome, Andy!!! you are already for doing it regardless uncertainty with the knee, way to go!

    I ran the race myself last week in Milan and – victory – me, that could not stand 1k, now 10 and with a decent speed and having all the fun in the world!!!

  7. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you! As long as in your head you believe you can do it, this is all that’s necessary to succeed. :)

  8. If you have a bad knee, you shouldn’t be wearing Nikes! They don’t give enough support, they’ll only damage it further!

  9. Tu puedes Andy! yo apenas empecé a correr hace tres meses y hace un mes fue mi primera carrera, no hay mejor sentimiento que saber que llegaste a la meta *o*.

    Cuidate mucho, y no hagas cosas riegosas :)!

    BESOS DESDE MÉXICO!
    http://thefantastico.blogspot.mx/

  10. Don’t worry Andy everything is gonna be fine! I’m sure you will enjoy the race and your knee will behave! jajaja, I know what you mean, I also have an injury in my knee from when I use to be a Fencer. I’m not anymore, but I’m still do sport and some times my knee hurts, but now is ok. If you have a minute visit my blog, new post up today!

    http://themaiddiction.wordpress.com/

    Xoxo Mai

  11. Fingers crossed for you and the race. I have started to run this year and I know how big personal challenge it is but you should know better than me that when you run it gives you so much more than just a good result and physical condition. Running is more about a strength of spirit and I am sure that yours is strong enough.

  12. Good luck! The best thing about the race is that you get to be out doing what you love again – just remember that!! Xo, S

  13. andy!!! leyéndote me ha dado nostalgia, yo fui atleta igual que tú y también en salto de altura y salto de longitud. son pocos los atletas de alto rendimiento que no tienen lesiones, en mi caso es la espalda baja. Pero quiero decirte que este es un solo reto más, lo superarás con éxito, te has preparado y solo tienes que confiar en ti. Te deseo toda la suerte del mundo, manténte concentrada en lo que quieres, administra bien tu carrera y sobre todo disfrútala, eso es lo más importante. yo siempre me digo una frase que me ha ayudado mucho y es: piensa, hazlo, confía y termina lo que te te has propuesto!!! El domingo será un gran día, Besos!!!

    http://klausstrofobia.com/

  14. Good luck dear, surely it will go awesome!!! Been following your journey working out, didn’t know you had the background in high jumping, wow! Seeing new sides of you everyday, easily my fav blogger. Just one thing I noticed, there is no category on the blog with fitness, workouts, running or similiar, which I kind of miss. Would this be possible to add?
    Have a lovely day! xx Kristina in stockholm

  15. Great to see you are tackling and taking on this challenge! All the best for Saturday.

    Avanti
    xxx
    Avantigarde.wordpress.com

  16. Ya sé que vas a correr superbien! Tu mente esta fuertisimo y tu cuerpo va a estarlo también. Una vez atleta, siempre atleta! Animo y mucho exito Andy!

  17. I am coming to Amsterdam for the first time to run We Own the Night. I am so looking forward to it. I ran my PB in the London one last month! See you there maybe x

  18. Ciao Andy

    I just ran my “we own the night” in Milan last Friday! It has been an amazing experience!
    I wish good luck and don’t be afraid about your knee! I am sure everything will be fine!
    Enjoy it!!!

    Kisses from Italy
    L3

  19. No matter what happens, Im pretty sure that all your readers will be damn proud of you! :)
    xo

  20. Good luck on Saturday, Andy! And best of luck to all the other girls participating!

  21. You can totally do it! You have a strong will, and I’m sure your knee won’t let you down! If it does, at least you tried and you came so far! You’re running again, which is a huge accomplishment on its own. I wish you all the luck in the world for the race, although I know you won’t need it!
    x Savannah
    http://mividabonitaa.blogspot.nl/