Injury, Running, and Learning to Listen

I’ve learned this the hard way: runners are really good at pushing through things we probably shouldn’t.

Running teaches you to tolerate discomfort. You learn that heavy legs don’t mean stop, that bad days still count, and that showing up matters more than feeling great. That mindset has carried me through long runs, tough races, and seasons where quitting would’ve been easier.

But it’s also gotten me hurt.

Injury doesn’t always show up dramatically. Sometimes it’s a tight spot you keep stretching, a nagging ache that “warms up,” or a small change in stride you convince yourself isn’t worth worrying about. I’ve told myself it’s fine more times than I can count—right up until it wasn’t.

What I’m learning is that pushing through discomfort and ignoring pain aren’t the same thing. Normal training stress usually eases with movement or recovery. Injury tends to linger. It follows you from one run to the next and slowly asks for more attention.

For a long time, asking for help felt like giving up. Now I see it as part of staying in the sport. Sometimes the smartest thing a runner can do is pause, adjust, and get a second set of eyes on what’s going on.

There’s no award for running yourself into the ground. The goal isn’t to prove how much pain you can handle—it’s to keep running, year after year.

If something has been hanging around longer than it should, it may be worth paying attention to. A small check-in, a conversation, or a thoughtful adjustment now can often prevent a much bigger setback later. Listening sooner is often what keeps you moving in the long run.