Has anyone else destroyed their lives over running?

Not really. Dude, I can understand how this could happen but lighten up.

Go volunteer to help others someway, get a girlfriend, coach a youth sports team somewhere. Find something to be thankful for.

"I am only one, but still I am one.

I can not do everything, but I can do something.

I will not refuse to do the something I can do. "

- Helen Keller

as quoted in Juggernauts - The Making of A Runner and A Team in The First American Running Boom

http://www.juggernautsthebook.com

I find it sometimes laughable when I receive similar advice while feeling down. I certainly think your message is a good one, very relevant, and with good intention. But perhaps you fail to understand how involved with running the OP (or others who suffer the same fate) was. I wouldn't say running destroyed my life, but 99% of my regrets stem from mistakes that would not affect me had I not devoted so much time, effort, and emotion into my training/racing. After twelve years of running with very few injuries, plenty of adversity due to various situations and my own inability to "just run," and rarely meeting my capabilities, I can fairly say there is no way I could quit. Regardless of what else is going on around me--and believe me I do plenty of other things--I feel empty without my daily run. Although I agree there is much that can be done by someone who believes their live "destroyed," I also understand and sympathize because running, or any other ONE thing for that matter, can be THAT important.

I lightened up a long time ago. This shit happened in 2006. I'm just asking whether anyone else has a similar story. And I have no interest in helping anyone apart from myself, so bug off. Just because I am crippled doesn't mean I need to start giving money to bums.

I wouldn't say that it destroyed my life but it used to take over my life. I moved to another college and lost alot of my motivation, I used to be incredibly motivated and the running would take over and I couldn't do anything unless I ran that day. I missed alot of my first years of college because I always had to run and could never go to parties or what not. Then when I moved here I had no friends for the longest time because I had come accustomed to just hanging out with the guys on the team and also thats how I met girls. I had to learn how to all this stuff by myself, which to be honest was a good thing. But it was definitely an uphill battle because I had little friends that I could go out with. I think its pretty common for runners to get trapped in their running world I tell all my friends on xc teams how hard it is once you leave the team to meet people and run like you used to and no one ever believes me until they graduate and see for themselves.

How did you get crippled by running?

frozen north wrote:

How did you get crippled by running?

It's a long and complicated story. To put it as succinctly as possible, I attempted to resume running too aggressively following a period of extreme disuse, causing permanent damage to my weakened joints. So now I'm crippled for life.

Wait...Are we talking physically crippled? Could we have some details as to how this happened?

Yeah, I've never heard of this happening to anyone.

No way wrote:

Wait...Are we talking physically crippled? Could we have some details as to how this happened?

um, yeah. Playing football for years ruins your joints. Being an army paratrooper ruins your joints. Running "aggressively" (is that you, 430miler?) after "extreme" disuse does not cause permanent damage to weakened joints.

dd wrote:

Running "aggressively" (is that you, 430miler?) after "extreme" disuse does not cause permanent damage to weakened joints.

Actually, it does. You getting into a complicated academic debate, and there are there are multiple schools of thought on the subject, but I found out the hard way which one is correct. A short period of extreme disuse, or even a chronic state of merely inadequade use, causes the articulat cartilage to soften or "weaken." This process is reversible through rehab, but if you return to activity too aggressively while your cartilage is weak, you can damage the weakened cartilage, which is what I did. Rather than arguing with me, you should take a lesson and do everything possible to avoid repeating my mistake.

It can. I think someone posted here a while ago about how he went for a 7 mile run the day after getting his foot out of a boot and now he can never run again.

So you went from sedentary to all out running, ran through all of the soreness associated with such an act until your cartilage was permanently damaged and refuse to share a single detail about what actually happened?

I remember a guy posting here a long time ago who had a similar story (maybe the same dude). His leg was in plaster for months. When he finally got it off, he just went out and ran something like 6 miles all out. Well, his bones were still not 100%, and his cartilidge was weak, and he pretty much gnarled the shit out of his foot by running on it before it was ready. Damaged cartilidge = permenant.

Anyway, I know how the OP feels. Running pretty much controlled my life for several years. I had some simply incredible highs, and I had some dreadfully low lows, however, I always ran (when physically able). I had to take several months off of running this summer, but once I was healed, I started running again. Running is my passion, so even though no one else in the world believed in me or cared about what I was doing, I ran. I slowly built up my mileage for 3 months until I was at 80mpw, feeling great, and looking very fit. I then got two injuries that combined make any form of cross training counterproductive. I haven't run since December, and I'm not sure when I'll run again. Honestly, my life has no purpose and if I died tomorrow, it wouldn't bother me (if that makes any sense). Whether healthy or not, running is my addiction. Without it I have a very large void that nothing else can fill. I'm a better person with running in my life. Without it, I am nothing.

Yes, OP, I know how you feel. I'm sorry for you because you have it worse than me. I hope things are as well for you as they can be.

I have a situation similar to the OP in that through a variety of running related injuries that I continued to run through I have messed up my body to the point that I haven't been able to run for the last couple of years. I have undergone three surgeries, and I'm hoping I will eventually get to the point where I can run again but I am not sure it is possible. I biked for a while but that eventually became impossible too. Now I lift weights a lot, which helps fill some of the running void.

To the OP, take some solace in the hope that medicine is advancing every day, and it may not be long before they are able to regrow the damaged cartilage in your knees. My father's knees are bone on bone, but he had a procedure done where platelet rich plasma was injected into his knees and it has helped quite a bit. There is also microfracture surgery as an option. They have successfully regrown hip cartilage in dogs now, it is only a matter of time before there will be something to fix you.

Link to story?

No way wrote:

So you went from sedentary to all out running, ran through all of the soreness associated with such an act until your cartilage was permanently damaged and refuse to share a single detail about what actually happened?

It's not that I refuse to share details, it's that the story is long and complicated to the degree that it's almost incommuncable, and on top of that, I'm posting from my iPhone. Maybe another night.

I wouldn't say I "destroyed" my life over running, but I definitely hurt a few years of it. It consumed 7 years of my life. It hurt my education and my relationship with my family. They've forgiven me now, thankfully. Graduate school has now shown me how much more I can achieve when I don't have to: run for 60+ minutes each day, sleep for 9 hours, and be constantly exhausted.

I'm in my mid 20's, and I don't run anymore. I consider it a "good day" when I can walk without pain. I worry about what my legs will be like when I hit middle age. I talk with my wife about how we should purchase a ranch-style home, because stairs might be difficult when I'm older.

I did this to myself by running. I have 2 surgically repaired joints that will never be the same, and may need additional repair in the future. This was not something I knowingly did. One day I felt fine, and then the next day something was clearly wrong. This happened again a few years later, after I quit running competitively. I didn't stupidly run on injuries, but I did stupidly let myself be consumed by running.

Some of my best memories are of races I've run, or scenic long runs in foreign wilderness, but some of my worst also involve running. I would get sick far more frequently than I do now.

If I could turn back time, I would still run, but I would take a few more easy days. When it's 35F and pouring rain, I would take a day off instead of running 13 miles. I would also remember that cartilage doesn't grow back.

Bringer of news.. wrote:

Link to story?

I saw something about it on the news a while back, but I don't have a link.

I had a close call one time. Let me tell u a story: I stopped in a workout, and coach told me to see the trainer right away.. The trainer did some tests, and noticed I couldn't lift my big toe at all. They did some more tests, and concluded I had a minor rupture in my Tibialis anterior, Peronus Longus/Brevis ligament/muscle which stretches from knee to big toe. The Trainer said we need to put you in a cast right away. My Trainer said "If you continued to run on it there was a good chance you might not ever be able to run again or walk right again." (is that right)I asked how long it would take before I can run again, she said it depends on how fast your body heals... It could be 2 months, it could be a year. I was crushed and my senior year of x-c in College was done sauce.... Or was it?

I was out from early August to mid Oct. They sped up rehab to 3 times a day in OCt. I was finally able to jog/trot 16 days before conference (10 min) I had one workout in and averaged 2:40 on a 3x800 workout a week before race, and was 15 lbs overweight. Conference came and the longest run I've been on was 5 miles and the race was an 8k. I got 6th on the team and ran 25:05. At regionals I was 5th on team and made it to Nats. I shouldn't even have been on the starting line for any of these races let alone beat someone at Conference.