I ran a half marathon on September 19, 2021, and I took a week off from running in order to recover from that effort. My plan was to run an easy 5K the following Saturday. Instead of running a 5K, I ended up in the ER and having emergency surgery to remove my gallbladder. My week off unexpectedly became much longer.
At first, I went a month without running, which for me at the time was an eternity. When I did my first run on October 19, following “The Comeback Run” on the Nike Run Club app, I was still unsure how it was going to go, and there were reasons swirling through my mind for me not to go. The run was relatively easy and only lasted for 15 minutes. I felt great when I got home but not later in the day. My incisions ached, even though I was three weeks out from surgery, and most of the instructions said wait at least two weeks to exercise. I waited another three weeks. A few times a week, I would do an informal self-evaluation to see if I thought I could run again. It took another three weeks before I felt like my body was ready.
This was one of the most challenging decisions. After surgery, I thought that I would take a few weeks off and be back to regular life, including my regular running schedule. I thought that I must be weak or out of shape in order for it to take so many additional weeks for me to recover. I was also fearful because running is one of the main ways that I manage my anxiety disorder. My fear was that if I wasn’t running, my anxiety would be overwhelming and I would not be able to manage my daily life. It took repeated encouragement from my husband to take the time I needed to rest. He is always my biggest fan, but he reminded me that if I pushed the running before my body was recovered, I could do longer term damage that could take me out of running completely.
On November 8th, I ran for 30 minutes. It was “The Worst Advice Ever” run, and I highly recommend it for anyone who uses the NRC app. It was entertaining, informative, and particularly helpful in my current situation. In my mind, I wanted my pace to be “good,” even though logically I knew that my pace should be much slower than normal. I didn’t need to be pushing it; I needed to be holding back and easing back into the routine. I made the smart decision and ran very, very slowly, remembering the goal was to complete the run the right way so that I would be able to run a second time that week. I could feel twinges in my abdomen as I ran up a longer hill, but other than that, I felt great, even though it took much longer to get there than I wanted it to take.
On November 11th, I did a 25 minute run, pushing myself a little bit and listening to the “The Best Advice Ever” run to counteract all the bad advice I heard earlier in the week – this one was just as entertaining and informative. I ran about two minutes per mile faster than I had a few days before and felt great at the end of the run. This was the first day I felt like I would actually be able to get back to running at my previous strength even though I had a long way to go after seven weeks off.
On November 16th, I did a 30 minute run called “Run with Charlie Rocket.” The audio guided run was inspiring as Charlie Jabaley shared his journey training to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I also decided that this would be a hill run. I have always loved running hills even before I knew they were great training. I loved the challenge. During my regular training, I choose a hill so big that I have to walk part of the way up the first time I take it on. Then I marvel at how consistency makes all the difference as each time I try the hill I am able to run more of it and walk less. The sense of victory the first time I crest the hill running the entire time is sweet, and then I marvel when a few months later when that hill has become part of my regular run and doesn’t even seem like a challenge anymore. I slowly ran up and down two of the smaller hills near my house to add some fun into my slower runs.
Saturdays are reserved for my longer runs, and I completed a 4 kilometer run on November 20th. I was so close to finishing that original easy 5K scheduled the day I had surgery. As I ran longer distances, I realized that I wasn’t back to my previous speed but that I was strong enough to get back to my previous schedule. In training for my half marathon, I ran four days a week: speed run on Monday, easy run on Tuesday, fun run on Thursday, and long run on Saturday. Eight weeks after surgery, when I had only expected it to take two, I was ready to get back on track.
The following Monday I did an intense speed run. I didn’t know it when I chose it from the app, but it was one of the hardest speed runs I had done to that point, even including all the speed runs during half marathon training. The next day my abs hurt, not my incisions from the surgery, but my abs, feeling like I had gotten a great workout the day before. It was the best feeling to know I was strong enough again to work out to the point where I could feel the results. I was elated.
On Tuesday, I did a 30 minute hill run, which are almost always my favorite runs.
That Thursday, which happened to be Thanksgiving Day, Ana Lia woke up at 5:15am and wanted to run with me. This was a tough decision for me. I want to model healthy life choices for the kids, and letting her run with me would have modeled that well. But I had chosen a speed run for this morning, and I was looking forward to running hard and focused…which would be impossible if I was running with my six year old. I decided the healthy life habit I needed to model this morning was boundary setting, so I told her no. She had to go back to bed with her dad and let me run alone. I did the “Funky Fartlek” run on the app, and it was hands down one fo the most fun runs I have done. I was glad I decided that I needed some time to myself so that I could be fully immersed in the run. That full immersion actually allows me to be more present for my kids the rest of the day, which is why I decided to leave her behind.
On November 27, 2021, I finally ran the easy 5K I had planned to run nine weeks earlier. It took me a long time to get there, much longer than I wanted. But each week of delay was necessary. I have no doubt that there are people who would be able to run a 5K two weeks after gallbladder surgery. I simply had to acknowledge that I was no one of those people. I had to make decisions that reflected the reality of my life, not what I wanted it to be. I am incredibly grateful for my support system through my recovery. My kids helped with anything I needed during the hardest times of recovery, and my husband always gave me the space to run when I was ready and the encouragement to rest when I needed to. It felt great to be back, even if that journey was a little more winding than I had planned.