Those of you who read Damien's parkrun post every Saturday will be aware that I was diagnosed with a hernia in February. I was told that it wasn't linked with running and the type I had (inguinal) is not uncommon among 'older' men. It was only occasionally painful but often uncomfortable, so initially I didn't feel able to run. As well as being frustrating, this resulted in me putting on a bit of weight - not a good thing for someone with type 2 diabetes, and my blood sugar level also went up slightly. I was referred for surgery but there was no clear timescale, so in the end my GP agreed to write asking for me to be dealt with more urgently.
My hernia repair took place on 27 September and I was discharged that evening - all went according to plan (apart from needing to have a catheter fitted temporarily - don't ask!). As you might expect, everything was a bit sore afterwards3, but that has gradually subsided. I'd asked the surgeon how soon after the surgery could I start running again and he'd said 4 weeks - so today was the day!
Towards the end of my time waiting for the op I had felt able to experiment with some gentle jogging and short walk/runs, so it wasn't a full 8 months since I'd last done any running. I decided to try 3 minutes run, 2 minutes walk for 5k and after a warm up and a few stretches, I was off! I was a little anxious but all went well with no unexpected after-effects and a time of 37.53. It certainly felt good to be back - but I must continue to take things easy for a while!
The other issue I've recently realised is that up until the diagnosis I was doing a range of exercises for various bits of my anatomy every day when I wasn't running. I started to do them again the other day and realised that my memory of most of them is somewhat lacking or nonexistent! Oh well, back to the drawing board……
Written by
JonathanP
Graduate10
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Oh, it must feel so good to be back running Jonathan! I developed an inguinal hernia after the birth of my first son (so, not always an ‘older man’s’ condition!) My repair was also very straightforward and no problems since. 👍
Great news Jonathan. Good to see you completing 5k. As we know, there are no prizes for shortcuts on the way to recovery; sufficient that you are an active runner again 👏👏👏
Thanks BC, absolutely! Have just read your post about what us older runners should be doing. Sounds like I need to make some changes so the loss of my exercise routine might be a blessing in disguise.
🙂 My post was just the start of a process for me JP. Challenging an assumption that I can just keep going with my current regime and working out what I need to do as a 72 year old to extend my running life. I will report back when I have seen the physio tomorrow. 👍
So pleased you are running again. I found it hard to get back to it after illness (twice this year!) and it can be disheartening to lose fitness, but it will come back if you persevere and if you don’t push yourself to soon. I just found it easier to dive back into Couch to 5K, Week 3. For me, it took the decision making away from me. Building up again with running and walking breaks is the way to go to start with! Happy running 😊
great to hear that the first run went well JonathanP . This is just the start of another journey and I’m sure that you’ll soon be losing these extra pounds again. Nice to see you back again.
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