Patience is a Virtue
Runner's World|January 2017

How to cope with the agony of not running.

Kim Penstone
Patience is a Virtue

Don’t overestimate me: this isn’t an uplifting story about overcoming all odds to achieve my dream. I’m neither a Somalian refugee with God-given talent and man-made poverty, nor a young, barefoot Afrikaans girl with wings on her feet and stars in her eyes. I’m not even an aspiring runner whose dreams were cut short by a horrific accident or an incurable disease.

And I definitely didn’t win the race.

I’m a white, 40-something mom with two young children and a husband. And I stumbled into running – but it wasn’t until I was faced with the prospect of not being able to do it anymore that I discovered it had filled a hole in my soul that I hadn’t known was there.

This is less a story of overcoming the odds than it is of good old-fashioned stubbornness. After I sustained an injury, I ignored professional advice that didn’t agree with my training goals – and as a consequence, prolonged my return to running.

If my parents are reading this, I picture them nodding their heads in sage agreement. My husband, having lived with me through my period of non-running, will be grinding his teeth. But also, quite possibly, thanking his lucky stars that I somehow managed to bleed, sweat and cry myself to the point where I could cross the finish line at the New York City Marathon – without at least one part of my body going on permanent and irreversible strike. You see, two years ago, experts told me I’d never run again.

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 2017-Ausgabe von Runner's World.

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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 2017-Ausgabe von Runner's World.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

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