Assignment 21: David Butler

 The great feeling of being injured and sidelined in your sport. It's a feeling known to almost every athlete whether they are a linebacker, runner or swimmer. I run cross country and Track and for the last 3 years i've been in and out of injury almost constantly. Whether that is shin splints, stress fractures, tendonitis, knee problems, or my current injury(bad hip flexors), its been problematic. In summation, I will have arthritis at about 25. Anyways, not until my current injury did I ever take them seriously, I simply tried to push through them so I did not look weak but in the long run it only furthered my injuries. Due to this long process I have finally figured out how to take care of my injuries and for the first time in 3 years they have gotten better. I thought that if i took time off from running then I would get behind but I have found ways around that by swimming in the mornings, doing a mile at track(less than the rest of the team, only the warm up), then going to the trainer to work on mobility and hip flexor strength, and then biking in the afternoons. Plus what was truly getting me behind was not being able to run from destroying my body and putting myself out of commission for longer periods of time. This has taught me to be patient in my progress and to be smart about what I throw myself into, physically and intellectually.