~ In the end we only regret the chances we didn't dare to take ~
When you first hear you might never be able to do the sports you used to do before then injury, your world collapses for a while. You can't understand why something like this happened, or more, specifically, why it happened to you. You shake your head, can't believe what you have just heard, probably cry a bit too. Well, at least I did.
At first, it feels really like there's nothing left, it's like a carpet would've been pulled away from under your feet. The first few days you don't really understand what has happened. Withing the next weeks that follow the reality hits hard and you start realizing you had a serious injury that completely changed your life.
I've been lucky to have close friends and family and experts close to me pretty much at all times. But like everyone knows, the true passion and desire to get better has to come from yourself, you have to believe in it and want it. Of course I have days where I hope this would've happened to someone else, or easier, to no one. And there are days that I look at my old team pictures from football and track&field asnd I cry by myself and days I watch games and hope I could jump in on the field. Like nothing had happened, like I used to do before.
As time has past and I'm 3,5 years post-op my first accident I have finally begun to accept the fact that there's life beyond football and track&field too, and that there are plenty of sports I can still do and that I have to appreciate everything I can still do. And that's why I have started to be interested in a whole new sport: triathlon.
Triathlon is a sport that combines three elements that I have been doing through different stages of my recovery; swimmin, biking and running. It combines strength, endurance and speed. And it combines happiness, joy and competitiveness. Sounds pretty perfect to me. Biking and swimming have both been part of my rehab in all five surgeries and they are good for the knee; the movement is stable and there's not too much pressure on the newly constructed joints and ligaments. Running is a bit trickier since it is pretty tough on your lower body especially and most runs are done on pavements. Running is the only activity that really causes troubles with my knee because but thast's why I've been working on getting strength in my knee and get my knee more functional.
I have really enjoyed the feeling you get from triathlon and actually this May (5.5) I did a triathlon with one of my very best friends, Maija ♥ It was our second triathlon we complete together. Our triathlon was composed of 8,5km of running + 50,6km cycling + 1000m swimming and a honeydew melon cut in half to finish off the great day. Doing triathlons I've felt the same kind of happiness I felt playing football or competing in tarck&field; the feeling when you feel you more alive than anywhere else. The passion and euphoria you feel are something hard to find from anywhere else.
I am very happy that I've found a sport that brings happiness like football and track&field did. Of course I still hope deep in my heart that one day I could compete in heptathlon in track&field and play football but somehow I have learnt that if I couldn't it's not the end of the world. The world is full of amazing sports I can still do and full of sports I can find happiness from. Nothing will ever replace the hole football and track&field left in my heart but when you I've seen that I didn't learn to appreciate what I had and what I was able to do before the injury happened to me.
Life is a journey that will never stop because every day is a new chance to grow as a person, learn something new about yourself and about others. Life doesn't have a finish line either. It's not about surviving through the moments, it's appreciating the moments as they come whether they were good or bad because we always have something to learn.
In order to keep close of my own sports, football and track&field, I started coaching last fall. It has been a way for me to prevent a mental breakdown because cosaching means keeping the sport close to my heart. Recently I also started coaching a more competitive track&field group and now coach 5 days/week which has been awesome. I haven't started coaching football yet because it is stil la weak spot for me mentally. In track&field I still have a slight chance to get back on the track but in football as time goes by and I see how my knee is it is very unlikely, read almost impossible, for me to get back on the field and that is one of the reasons I haven't been ready yet to start coaching football. But I think that in the future thast will be an option for me.
I'm especially glad to be able to share my passion and my knowledge to other young future athletes nand it is great to see the effort they put into training. Of course it is hard sometimes to see them doing something you used to do and are not able to do today but most of the time I'm just happy to be able to spend time on the track and if and when I have the time working out myself, for who knows, maybe a future greater interest and investment in triathlon.
I've been lucky to have close friends and family and experts close to me pretty much at all times. But like everyone knows, the true passion and desire to get better has to come from yourself, you have to believe in it and want it. Of course I have days where I hope this would've happened to someone else, or easier, to no one. And there are days that I look at my old team pictures from football and track&field asnd I cry by myself and days I watch games and hope I could jump in on the field. Like nothing had happened, like I used to do before.
As time has past and I'm 3,5 years post-op my first accident I have finally begun to accept the fact that there's life beyond football and track&field too, and that there are plenty of sports I can still do and that I have to appreciate everything I can still do. And that's why I have started to be interested in a whole new sport: triathlon.
Triathlon is a sport that combines three elements that I have been doing through different stages of my recovery; swimmin, biking and running. It combines strength, endurance and speed. And it combines happiness, joy and competitiveness. Sounds pretty perfect to me. Biking and swimming have both been part of my rehab in all five surgeries and they are good for the knee; the movement is stable and there's not too much pressure on the newly constructed joints and ligaments. Running is a bit trickier since it is pretty tough on your lower body especially and most runs are done on pavements. Running is the only activity that really causes troubles with my knee because but thast's why I've been working on getting strength in my knee and get my knee more functional. |
| ~After a successful triathlon we deserve a tasty melon ~ |
I am very happy that I've found a sport that brings happiness like football and track&field did. Of course I still hope deep in my heart that one day I could compete in heptathlon in track&field and play football but somehow I have learnt that if I couldn't it's not the end of the world. The world is full of amazing sports I can still do and full of sports I can find happiness from. Nothing will ever replace the hole football and track&field left in my heart but when you I've seen that I didn't learn to appreciate what I had and what I was able to do before the injury happened to me.
Life is a journey that will never stop because every day is a new chance to grow as a person, learn something new about yourself and about others. Life doesn't have a finish line either. It's not about surviving through the moments, it's appreciating the moments as they come whether they were good or bad because we always have something to learn.
I'm especially glad to be able to share my passion and my knowledge to other young future athletes nand it is great to see the effort they put into training. Of course it is hard sometimes to see them doing something you used to do and are not able to do today but most of the time I'm just happy to be able to spend time on the track and if and when I have the time working out myself, for who knows, maybe a future greater interest and investment in triathlon.
