For those that had to give up running due to injury, what sport did you move to?

Rock climbing doesn't involve much falling to the ground, I'm pretty sure.

Biking is a good option although it takes more room and just feels a little more dangerous. If you have good paths and open neighborhoods it works well though.

Got myself a bird dog. Spend most of the year training them all while keeping myself in shape. I "road" them by running or while riding the bike. They remind me to take them out every day. I hunt dusky grouse in the mountains and pheasants on the plains. It gets me outside practically every day and gets me outside every weekend. I lift a little here and there and run enough to keep me in shape.

Whenever I get injured, I do cross training to the point where I might be training for another sport. I swim and bike for as long as I can basically and they seem to fill the void for a while. That is mostly short term, but I have thought about it before and I would definitely turn to biking if I had to. Good luck with whatever you find!

I would recommend climbing. It is not hard on your knees. If you are roped at a climbing gym you can lower slowly, if you are bouldering there is usually a soft surface. i would also check out mountain biking if you like trails. I suck but its nice to get an and hour or so in the woods.

Also xc skiing is a great workout with very little impact on your knees.

I was an ex lifter who migrated to running. Now I'm on the outside of running, looking in due to injury.

Swimming-sucks, well I suck at it

Biking-pretty cool but too seasonal as I haven't yet migrated to the trails for winter. Too many douche bags also

Tri's- I can still outrun all of them but they make bikers look sane

Snow skiing downhill and xc love it

Water skiing/wake boarding love it

Knees went South at 22 and took up rock climbing/mountaineering. Took a decade, but became the equivalent of a 13:56 5K guy who works at a running shoe store, puts on events and coaches on the side, with all gear sponsored. Have written several guidebooks and had tons of awesome adventures. One of the best thing I ever did, considering I never broke 16:00/2:38 despite hard training in my youth. It actually helped with knees as it built strength and flexibility, and now enjoy a solid masters running career.

Whatever you do, make sure you truly love it like you did running. I tried many other sports (skiing, kayak,cycling, etc.) before finding my "new" love.

thanks for the replies. I did most of the things mentioned (except swimming) seriously at one point in time in the past. I liked rock climbing but it eats up alot of time. You also gotta be doing it regularly like almost everyday if you want to get good. Unfortunately, the nearest climbing gym is too far to be doing everyday. I think it's most similar to running in that you know how good you are by the rating of the climbs you're doing. Kinda like knowing what pace you're running.

I didn't give up running due to injury and I was never a good runner, but I got into mountaineering and rock climbing. I like trekking too now. I've done some famous ones.

There's a feeling of accomplishment getting to the top of a mountain or completing a famous trek. And then later you look back at it and you kind of think to yourself, "wow, I did that". It's not something that everybody can do. I'd like to get into AT skiing. I've skied down mountains after carrying my regular skis. I climb at a gym. I lift weights also.

Also, the team aspect of mountaineering is pretty nice. You can make some good friends and have some nice memories.

Maybe you should consider moving to a place that has a climbing gym and some mountains.

haha. I was gonna jump in and say "rock climbing" and then I saw how many other people have already suggested that. Apparently a lot of runners, or ex-runners at least, are into rock climbing. I wonder why.

I got into racewalking. I had sucked as a runner, and still sucked as a walker, but for a few years I probably ended up in the top 100 Americans for 50km walk. It never felt as good as running, though.

yeah, maybe i should get back into climbing. I think you have to be a little nuts in order to get good at it though. It's more mental than physical. Lots of good memories but I also could have gotten myself killed or seriously hurt a few times looking back at it.

Ultimate for several years, while still running about 20 miles a week. I've found it easier to work in whole-body fitness instead of just running 60 miles a week, and I'm a lot less injury prone now. With summer jobs in Washington came backpacking and mountaineering. The last year or so I've gotten into disc golf.

Never seen anybody get killed on an eliptical. You can track workouts just like running and set up all out "races" against the machine that track how your training is progressing. If you like to compete against others, there are many not very physical sports you can do like bowling, golf, darts, semi-automatic assault rifle competitions, and billiards.

Plantar fascia problems led to my competing bike racing. I was fortunate in that I was very good climbing and there were a lot of climbing races around southern California at the time.

If you do it, you will have to learn to spin which puts less pressure on the knees. By spin, I mean you need to turn over 100 revolutions a minute, possibly faster. Having clip-in pedals will be a must. Mountain biking might be a bit harder because you will repeatedly get into situations where you have to push a big gear for a bit, so that might be an issue (but if it only lasts a brief while and does not have the peak forces that jumping down does, mountain biking might work).

Cycling is the next best thing. You get outside, can do it on roads or trails, it's very aerobic and you can get in the zone, etc, but it really sucks in the winter time if you live anywhere cold. Actually, it's pretty much impossible in the winter if there's much snow. It also never brought the same sort of pleasure as running for me, but everyone is different.

Sorry to hear about your injuries. I would just try out different things. I've found it helps to do several different "sports" because then if one goes amok it's not as big of a deal, plus there're more opportunities to get out and have fun if you do a lot of different things. You could try cycling, swimming, weights, yogo, pilates, rock climbing, various classes, martial arts, etc.

Olympic Lifting

Hobby jogging and trail running.

i kinda like running wrote:

Apparently a lot of runners, or ex-runners at least, are into rock climbing. I wonder why.

Climbing is the yang for running's yin. Works entirely different systems and skills, yet has a similar reference scale of achievement/performance. If you do both you are a very complete athlete.