Three Types of Pain

According to my book of running, there are three types of pain that we runners have to deal with.

Type One is like a whining kid behind you in the checkout line of the grocery store. He's whining and whining and whining and whining and whining and whining and ... and just will.not.shut.up. Man is this annoying — until you just tune it out and concentrate on something else: a magazine on the rack next to you, the different types of gum for sale, the woman running the cash register, anything that you can focus on. Likewise, as you're running along, a pain shows up somewhere. But, once you focus on something else, like your breath, the road going by under your feet, or the scenery around you, the pain disappears. No big deal.

Type Two is like a whining kid, one of your own kids, at the dinner table. She's whining and whining and whining and whining and whining and whining and ... and just will.not.shut.up. Problem is, it's your kid and your dinner table so it is impossible to tune out and you certainly can't just leave. You can threaten, you can swear revenge, you can cajole, you can plead, but until the whining stops, you are stuck listening to it. Or, figuring out what is really wrong and solving it, in which case it will stop. Likewise, as you're running along another pain shows up. This time no matter what you focus on it won't go away. You now have to make a decision — it's a bother, i can't seem to ignore it, but can i tolerate it until i get home? It will be with me for the entire run, is that OK? And that's where you leave it; you come to a temporary truce and agree that the two of you will have to share the run because you aren't going to stop and it isn't going to go away. But that's OK because you know there won't be any real harm done.

Type Three is like a whining spouse. He/She's in your face, and whining up a storm. You turn this way, he/she follows. You turn that way, he/she follows. You say you're busy and promise to listen later, he/she gets closer and whines louder. There is no compromise and there is no way out. You know that if you don't stop what you're doing RIGHT NOW and deal with it, your butt may get kicked from here to the equator. If you don't focus on what's being said, you are in for bodily damage. You know that if you value your life you have to stop and find a solution before taking two more breaths. Before the next breath if you can stop what you are doing quickly enough.

A type three pain showed up in my right hamstring during today's run. By the time i got to my two mile marker i knew that i was being stupid to think i could gut it out; one more step could mean trouble. It took me 19 minutes to run that far, it took most of an hour to turn around and walk back to the house. Sigghhhhhh......

I guess i'll take the rest of the week off and start running again next Monday.