Yesterday, at about 8:15, I broke my toe. It didn’t happen while I was doing something epic. Nope. I was crossing a crowded restaurant dining area, tripped on a step as I was avoiding a table and my toe was wrenched into a bad position. I fell, with my chest hitting a pole and my elbow getting scrapped.
My toe was clearly sticking out to the side. It didn’t hurt too bad, but it started aching soon enough. From previous experience, I know that the best medical thing to do was to buddy tape it to the other toe. I procured some bandages and did just that.
The next day, first thing in the morning, I went to the Urgent Care. This would be my first experience with the American medical system. (Thankfully, my work insurance covered all emergencies.) I got an X-ray and it was discovered that I had completely broken the toe. My past experience was just a crack.
So now I am not allowed to run, or hike, or bicycle.
Of course this means my run streak is officially dead. 1250 consecutive days of running are over. I’ve tried to bargain with it in my head; thinking that if I walked/hobbled 5km every day I could pretend I was still running. But I have to be adult and take care of myself.
This makes me sad on multiple levels. My run streak is over, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do it again. If I tried, I’ll always know I’ve done better in the past, and too much could go wrong in the three years it would take to get back up to a the same number. And let’s face it, it is hard on my body. I probably shouldn’t be doing daily runs in the first place. Certainly not at the distance I’ve been doing.
I also eat a lot, because I was constantly burning calories. But my body will not realize I’ve stopped running and will still want to eat. I’m going to have to train myself to eat less.
But running is very core to my identity. If I’m not a runner, who am I? I realize this makes me a boring person because I only talk about running.
On the plus side, my body probably has been needing a break for some time.
This also wrecks this vacation because the plan was to go hiking every day. So today I spent the day reading in the rental, while everyone else went off exploring the wilderness.
2022-7-27 22:51 CDT