Life as an injured athlete
Although I may think there’s a lot more to life than just running, it will probably not surprise you that it’s the thing I like to do most. I got this weird heelbone problem that suddenly kicked me out of the game. Right now I can finally start building up slowly, but that took me over three months. In the meantime I decided that I did want to go away for a while. Therefore, I went on trainingcamp to Bad Dürrheim in Germany to go cycling and aqua jogging, so I could maintain my endurance-level. My first day on the bike I managed to fall and create a small fracture in the left elbow and an effusion of blood in the right elbow.
I was born on a Sunday, and most of the time that seems to make sense in terms of luck. This year though, everything went wrong so far. You might think my luck is through, but somehow I’ve still been smiling for almost all of these 4 months.
How can you be happy, getting set back for months and seeing others do what you love most? That’s the question I’m trying to answer today.
Part of the answer is just experience, I haven’t always been like this but over the years I learned to accept things the way they are. Though some things may have been a little harder to accept, I’ve used everything to my advantage. Basically, after a lot of hard work, I seem to have found that general state of happiness.

Think of life like this: how do you know what opportunities a certain event creates? Right, you don’t. Every little event in life creates a stream of new possibility’s, both good and bad. An event itself may be bad, but there may as well be a very positive event coming your way because of it. That’s why I saw no reason to be sad about having to recover for such a long time. Instead, I used it to improve on other aspects in life. For instance: I created some better habits, made more music and joined in extra social activities.
When I was on trainingcamp, it basically turned into a weird holiday as I wasn’t allowed to train for a week with my slightly broken elbow. I just decided to let go a little and spend some extra time exploring the settings of my camera.
So what did I think, seeing others run while being sidelined? I actually didn’t bother that much. One year ago (maybe even less) I would have felt like absolute shit, but not now. After all these years, I know exactly what I want and how to get it. It may take time, but I’m patient enough to trust my coach and the process we set out. My races in the spring of 2021 showed me that there’s already more in there for the marathon, and in the last months of this year I’ll still get a chance to show it. All I need to do now is remain calm and reservated; look at the plan; execute every detail without complaining, and then….
See you in the second half of 2022, and no matter what: keep smiling.

Pacing 32k for the 2:11:30 group during the Amsterdam Marathon