Pain is Good!

With that being said (previous post), I have been running with this heel problem. When you "baby" an injury, as I have been, other parts of your body suffer. Thus, my whole left foot now hurts with each step--I still hold to my "running injured can be good for you" mind-set, though.

An injured body part affecting other body parts also has potential for one of "life's little lessons"(maybe on another day). But for now, I want to talk about something that happend on my last run.

I was a wimp and didn't want to run in the cold or darkness, so I chose to run at the gym on the treadmill. I only made it seven miles instead of my planned ten. The reason wasn't because of pain--I felt great. The reason I stopped was because of the lack of pain. "What," you ask?

Around mile four, my whole left foot went numb. I enjoyed running pain free for the next couple of miles, but then I began to worry. That "tingly" numbness is our brain's way of telling us: "Something really should be hurting you, but to provide you with some comfort, I'm going to shut off that pain signal and give you this fuzzy feeling now."(Okay, maybe I am over simplifying a bit). I started to worry about what damage I could be doing unknowingly. In short, maybe pain really is good!

My life application: In our lives sometimes we grow "numb." Sometimes relationships, passions, convictions--things that use to heat us up and/or break our hearts--don't seem to matter as much sometimes as they use to or as they should. Let this be a warning, not that everything is okay, but that something is wrong and the problem needs to be addressed. If we don't address it quickly, who knows what damage we may be doing.

For my foot, this means a couple days rest, ice treatments, and extra cushioning in my shoe. But don't worry; by the end of the week I plan on running a 20-30 miler. My training must continue!

More on this later. Rocky