INJURY MANAGEMENT!

I have a hard time sitting on the sidelines while my son is playing goalie. I typically find myself pacing aimlessly or casually standing behind the goalie offering unsolicited advice to my kid. I refuse to be one of those dads who is screaming and yelling at every kid on the field willing a win with my sideline coaching.

Last week as he was playing, an opposing player sailed in a shot that smacked the crossbar and dropped down right on the goal line. From my pacing position, I was the only one in a good enough position to see that by the second bounce, the ball had actually gone in and the other team had scored. The other team didn't know that yet and came crashing into the goal, knocking over my son sending him smashing to the ground. I could tell he was in pain but sometimes you have to let your kids feel pain. You can't go rushing in every time to wipe their tears and kiss their boo boos. They need to figure life out for themselves...(My daughter may or may not be watching 'Inside Out 2' in the background making me more sentimental than usual.)

Today, I was planning on another 8 mile run, but I needed to stay home for injury management. Not my injury, but for my son who needed to go get an x-ray. That means I'm on babysitting duties!

Having turned 40, rest days and injury management are a real thing! Whenever I start to feel an ache or pain, I have to be brutally honest with the answer to the question I ask almost daily, "How much further can I go, to ensure I'm able to get out here and run again tomorrow?" Sometimes aches are part of the process. There are days that you need to fight through the laziness and the soreness to keep going. Other times, you know you need to stop, rest, and recover.

This dandy of a shot happened one morning on a trail run up the canyon. I hit a rock and the momentum did the rest. When these things happen, the key is to stay calm and evaluate. Any severe pain? Anything in a position it shouldn't be? All good? Cool! Let's go! On this day, I had nothing but a few scapes and a cool story. Other times, have been different. It takes a lot of mental strength to push through pain and struggle when faced with hard things, but it takes even more strength to know when to stop doing the thing that brings you joy! The injury management could be the thing that allows you to work into your 90's! Mean Grit!