The Knee Band Story
“Open your legs, Push, Push, come on, it’s too comfortable for your capacity!”
“Definitely no, You have not given your full potential!”
“Gargi, you still have the style in you! All you need is a little more practise”
“What has happened to your pace, why so rigid, when do we get to see our old “speedster” Gargi?”
Well, the scene here is a sprint practice for a competition with my running group.
Those are the diverse, invigorating yet pinching comments from my near and dear run-mates.
I understand where the expectations come from. I was shining as a lightning speed runner few years back.
As life took on its own course, varied sorts of traumatic incidents, pain, priorities engulfed me, resulting in lesser speed workouts.
It was a sprint practice after a very long time. Strengthening exercises, interval runs, freeform, running with free mind - I exercised almost most of them.
Despite that, however hard I try, my hamstrings tightened heavily, loading my lower leg, just after a few meters of sprint.
With all those retrospective thoughts during my cool-down walk, I was relaxing my legs by removing run-gears one by one including knee band.
*Adada Cha!*
I spotted the culprit - the knee band!
Ever since knee pain hit me in recent times, knee band has been my saviour, protecting me from knee injuries during long runs.
I continued holding onto knee cap, even on days with no pain.
Why? Well, it’s the fear of knee pain and what if it hinders my running journey.
The next day I got rid of knee band and just sprinted off.
Wow, what a relieving experience it was!
The knee band offered me all the comfort in the long runs.
Yet it was THE same shield secretly arresting my freeform motion in sprints.
More than anything, I regained the blissful experience of a sprint run without the band.
We act or decide in a certain way to safeguard ourselves from discomfort of fears, aches and pains from past experiences.
Trouble of forgiving ourselves or others; Dreadful of getting into new relationships;
Apprehensions of venturing into new projects;
Fright of exploring practices that shakes our foundational beliefs; the list is endless.
Those exhausting emotions make us resort to our comforting armours.
Without realising that those armours squeeze us all the more tight.
Not letting us feel the exhilarating experiences of bold forgiveness; endearing new relationships; insightful new ventures; liberating self; and so on.
Very beautifully written.
ReplyDeleteAt times we armour up our heart to feel safe. Safe from getting hurt, be vulnerable, hold on to grudges and the same armour push ourselves from light, to live this life with full potential. The longer we armour up the more we loose ourselves. So yes, we must identify the 'knee caps' and use till absolutely necessary.