Injury got you stuck on the sidelines? Don’t fret, there’s always next year.

 

By Linzay Logan

As runners around the world get ready for two of the world’s biggest marathons, The Boston Marathon on Monday April 18 and the London Marathon on Sunday April 17, some would-be racers will be forced to watch from the sidelines. If an injury is keeping you from the course on race day, try not to fret; you aren’t alone. An injury is one of the most commonalities among runners and even though we all suffer from injuries at some point or another it probably doesn’t make you feel any better when the gun goes off and you aren’t there.

The best approach is to stay positive and remember:

After resting and kicking that injury in the butt, if you train just as hard for the race the following year you will do just as well, or maybe even better.

You can transfer those Boston plane tickets to another great race in a few months when you’re healthy and will run just as awesome.

There are plenty of other ways to get your endorphin kick that don’t aggravate your injury. Jump on a road bike and maybe you will find out you are the next Lance Armstrong.

You now have an excuse to sit back and relax at a race. It’s more fun than you probably think to cheer on runners and give them morale-boosting high fives.

 

****   Linzay Logan is the copy editor for Competitor magazine and cares about punctuation probably a little too much. She particularly loves to avoid commas as well as add exclamation points whenever she can get away with it! She also loves to run marathons and half-marathons—probably a little too much. Don’t let her small size fool you; she’ll still try to outrun you anytime. Even though chances are she probably can’t. Have a question or comment for Linzay? Email her at Llogan@competitorgroup.com.