Running 51st

1977 Cross-country Garrett Mountain 

Today marks my entering the 51st year of distance running... I've Raced over 500 events... Was told multiple times I shouldn't run long distance or at all... Birth defects: missing disc in my lower back was not discovered till age 30. I was told it was bad for my feet, especially my left foot. Left fibula was twisted on my talus. Doctor told my mother when I was nearing age 15, that if I stopped running by age 18 my heart would be okay.  I was told a couple times that because of heart murmur, an enlarged heart, defect in left ventricle I'd be dead if I ran a marathon in 1985 just after my 23rd birthday... I ran it anyway. 

I was told at age 21 after severe knee pains I'd never run again, eight months later I was back running. Both ankles had issues. My left constantly was sprained(20x). I ran through most of that. They wanted to surgically remove the sesamoid bones in both big toes... I avoided what I felt was the problem causing the pain in both feet. I was told because of my back to stop running or not run more than 6 miles a day and that my running days were numbered... that was 1986, 1987. I had a good amount of pelvic pain since age six, hip cramping ensued for decades. 

I had internal issues due to my status as a DES ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diethylstilbestrol ) daughter.  I had multiple achilles tendon and calf issues throughout most of my running years.  Hamstring issues as well began after my first year of running. Stomach issues persisted throughout my childhood and throughout my life, yet running long distance helped me deal with those issues and still does. 

I survived an abduction while out for a training run on a sunny weekday morning. Detectives and a couple police chiefs who knew the attacker were surprised I survived, he had a rap sheet... He had seven arrests before his attack on me. My attacker, now deceased weighed 260+ to my 102lbs then. I guess after fifteen years of running back then and people telling me to stop running and some even telling me that they wanted me raped to stop me from running... wonder now why I trust no blood relations. It so pissed me off, so during the attack, I survived having head slammed to the pavement multiple times only to remain conscious and clear headed enough to wear down my attacker, escape and get him arrested less than 20 hours later... And that is why I now have cuts on my lower back and hip... it was eight hours to repair the damage I'd sustained in the attack back then (1991). The surgeries were done in 1993, after six misdiagnoses; then another orthopedic understood the problem with the first six sets of x-rays taken by the hospital on the day of the abduction and other doctors I'd seen covering eighteen months.

I was quite close to qualifying for the Olympic Trials Marathon... That attack took away 75% of who I was. Changing my career from finance/accounting to a more comfortable job where I could stand full time, sitting was painful for over a decade. Because of what happened, my husband and I were delayed in becoming parents, as we had to figure out how to find another way to become parents. We were able to create a family as we opted for adoption. It's a good thing..

I had ten years post operative in and out of physical therapy.  And still I deal with the repercussions of the six misdiagnoses after the attack... and because of the attack. About 25 years ago I'd calculated that I lost over 4 years of running days due to illness and injury.  So, you the reader who may have seen me running, or racing... the commitment I've had to my running and health were never about 'luck'. It had been and about discipline and integrity to squeeze the most in life that has benefited others, not just my life through running long distance. Soon approaching 183,000 life time miles.---Jody-Lynn Reicher