The man in uniform kept asking me if I could walk.
Thats my first memory from after I collapsed while running the2016 Boston Marathon.
Can you walk over there?
He pointed, and placed me on my feet.
And then the world went black.
Growing up, my mom frequently joked that I was allergic to exercise.
Earlier that spring, my mother had initiate the 2013 Boston Marathon, her first.
When the bombs went off, they were mere feet from the first explosion.
Miraculously, they were physically unharmed.
To this day, I have trouble watching or reading coverage of the Marathon attack.
It reminds me of how close I came to losing two people I love most in this world.
Wouldnt it be cool if I could run with my mom?
Ibought a pair of sneakersand signed up for a5K.
I hated every minute of training until the moment I crossed the finish line.
With that rush of energy, I was hooked.
That was in 2014.
I continued to run andit turned into therapy.
I was going to trigger the Boston Marathon.
A week before Boston, asmall, throbbing painbegan in my left thigh.
I wasnt very concerned at first, but I did stop running.
With some rest, I thought, the pain would eventually disappear.
It was too deep an emotional pull.
People had accomplished more through worse injury, I told myself.
It wasnt, of course, a muscle pull.
It really is related to how much stress youre putting on your bone.
By stress, we mean the mechanical loading of bone-impact exercises.
Running is a perfect example, because youre constantly pounding on your lower extremities, explains Pandarinath.
“When those three go together, youre a higher risk for stress fractures.
The doctors at the hospital explained that this meant I didnt immediately require surgery.
Slowly, I began to get around on crutches, but I struggled with basic activity.
I couldnt do it.
I felt like an imposter in my own body.
Essentially immobilized, it became frighteningly easy to fall into a cycle of self-pity.
Every waking moment, I was met with pain.
I needed help going to the bathroom, bathing myself, and getting dressed.
Collapsing on the course ofmy dream marathondid, too.
I visited the therapist three times a week, an hour and a half each time.
As my strength grewto my surprisewe mixed in mobility exercises includinglunges,squats, andBosu ballmoves.
Also key, Heiderscheit added, is patience in recovery.
A lot of stress fractures [symptoms] disappear in the first two or three weeks.
If you push yourself too quickly, it’s possible for you to easily re-injure it, he said.
I slowly began to mark off physical accomplishments.
That apprehension is a common response to traumatic injuries like mine, Heiderscheit said.
We work with patients to go through post-injury imaging to show the extent of recovery, Heiderscheit said.
Then, you have the confidence [knowing] that the structure is there.
One morning in September, I decided it was time.
I was worried I would fall and worried my leg would give way.
But my rhythm returned, subconsciously.
I felt my body leaning into the climbs, and I felt my strides lengthening as my confidence grew.
I tucked my head down and just ran.
At the finish line of my first race since shattering my hip, I was too breathless to cry.
All I wanted to do was smile, anyway.
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