For quite a few months now I have been struggling with a recurring injury to my right ankle after running. I know many of my non-running friends say the solution is simple … don’t run! Running for me, however, is something that helps me in a variety of ways and I have written about its impact a number of times.

I have no problem with the pain when I am actually running, but almost immediately after I stop I can only walk with a limp and it lasts for a number of days. Ice didn’t help, heat didn’t help, massage didn’t help and so eventually I thought I would try my GP to seek his opinion.

His initial suggestion was that I needed to rest it, take some strong anti-inflammatory medication and have an ultrasound and x-ray to try and see what was going on. Hated all of those suggestions, so reluctantly cut back my running to only Saturday Parkrun 5kms, took 1 tablet per day (instead of the prescribed 3 per day) and went for the scans.

The tests revealed that I had an inflamed toe joint. That made no sense at all to me as my pain was in my ankle. I persevered in my own recovery plan to no avail and after another few months I sought a referral to a sports physiotherapist to try and find a way I could continue to run in a way that didn’t cause such discomfort.

His verdict? He believes the inflammation in the toe is only a part of the story, and in actual fact I have a vertical tear in a tendon that is not healing because I re-injure it every time I run. He has identified some issues in other muscles in my lower leg that impact the ankle but gave me a plan to try and gain back my stamina and physical capacity in a slow and measured way.

Initially, I was allowed to do a number of runs where I do 100m of running per km. After I can manage that without residual pain over a number of days I can increase that to 2 x 100m per km etc.

So, equipped with this information I managed a week of 100m/per km runs and then progressed to some 2 x 100m/per km efforts. When they also went well I decided that I knew exactly what I was doing and so my next venture out for 5km I walked 250m then ran 250m. 50% of my activity was running. Surely I was ready for that? Ummm … no. No I was not.

The pain I felt was as if I had returned to square one and I had an added inclusion of swelling in my ankle. Back to the physio I went, sheepishly admitting my enthusiastic attempts to short circuit the slower recovery plan. Fortunately it has only set back the timeline a small amount, as long as I return to the more measured increases and not try to believe I know better than the expert.

The question I need to consider through all of this is: what is the lesson to learn here? Is it that I tend to be impatient? Already knew that. Is it that I don’t like being told what to do? Again, not a huge revelation, but it feels closer to the mark. I am wondering how many times I dismiss advice or guidance because I believe I know myself better.

Then I start wondering about how many times I might do that with God’s direction for my life. I try to take a shorter route to understanding, or I believe I know what I need better than the one who created me. Countless times I have ended up making a bit of a mess of the whole situation and return to the expert’s advice and grand plan.

One of the greatest Biblical texts that hones in on just how well God knows us is Psalm 139. The first verse says, “You have searched me, LORD, and you know me.” It then goes on to highlight how well He knows our thoughts (v2), our speech (v4), our location (v2-3) and anxieties (v 23) and He even knew us while still in-utero (v13). This kind of expert knowledge is worth paying attention to.

So, as I try to be more disciplined on my journey of injury recovery I will do my best to continue to listen to the experts and I am grateful of the reminder to be sure to listen to the one who knows me best as well.

How good are you at listening to His plan for you?

Be blessed.