A Christmas miracle? 🤔

December 19, 2024

Do you believe in miracles? I’m not sure that I do, but I could be convinced otherwise, if this works.

If you’ve been reading these newsletters for a while, you might know about my injury.

Around four months ago I was told I’d never run again.

You can read about it here.

For obvious reasons, it’s especially tough when you actually own and run a running brand.

It’s painfully ironic, and cruel.

Over the last few months I’ve come to terms with it. To be honest, it’s been more like 12 months that I have truly known deep-down.

I’ve played sport at a fairly high level my whole life. I’ve had more injuries and niggles to fill a diary with.

But this one was different, I just knew.

Nothing I did worked.

No one could put their finger on what was really wrong.

It was, and is, the most debilitating injury I’ve experienced. It’s stopped me doing things I love, my legs have crumbled underneath me while walking down the street and it’s been a constant cycle of bouncing around specialists trying to figure it out.

It wasn’t until I finally had surgery to figure out what was really going on that everything became clear.

A crater sized gap in the cartilage where you can see straight into the bone. It's bone on bone basically.

On top of that, some meniscus damage, lots of floating cartilage and a busted PCL from my football days.

It’s a hot mess.

So, I’ve been coming to terms with it.

Even thinking about what else I can do to keep myself sane.

Basketball? I don’t think so.
Mountain biking? Good luck.
Tennis? Woah woah, take it easy.

I’ve been bounced around at least ten different specialists over the last 18 months to two years. It’s been painful. Emotionally.

But then things took a turn, for the better.

My sports doc said to me; Robbie, I know you’ve seen half of Melbourne looking for answers, but I want you to try one more person. Darren. He’s the head physio of an AFL club. I spoke to him and he’ll see you.

What did I have to lose? Absolutely nothing.

So I ventured over. I sat down in front of him and he was setting up his computer to start typing in anticipation of what I was going to tell him about my injury.

Nonchalantly, he said ‘hey so what’s your goal with this?’.

It was only a split second, but in that moment I thought, this guy doesn’t really know my backstory yet other than the scans and reports in front of him, it’s a clean slate. Let’s go for it.

I said, I want to run a 100km trail race.

Without a reaction, he just started typing it on his computer.

He swiveled around in his chair towards me, looked at me in the eyes and said;

’Yeah cool.’

I was shocked. This guy either has an incredible amount of confidence in himself to get this right, or he’s delusional.

It’s too early to tell.

After that, I gave him my story. I gave him the surgeon’s prognosis, a sentence that will likely ring in my ear for the rest of my days.

Nothing changed.

He was optimistic. He explained to me that there’s an AFL player out there that he specifically looks after, with at least a similar injury to mine, if not worse, and he’s still able to play.

Sure, he doesn’t train anywhere near the amount that his teammates do, but every week he’s able to get out there and perform.

And I mean look, I am not trying to be an elite athlete. I'm past that stage of my life. Like 99% of people reading this email, I just want to have fun, be fit & healthy and part of a community.

But unfortunately for me, cartilage doesn’t grow back or repair itself.

So he explained to me the key is to be able to get everything else firing, slowly, and hope that the body on its own accord will build up some resilience in that area.

It takes time, a long time, he explained to me. It could be one year, it could be two years. But it’s definitely possible.

For the first time in a long, long time I have a plan.

It’s a clear three-phase plan that he has created for me.

I’m coming towards the end of phase one now.

I’m two-months in and I am feeling stronger than I ever have. Sure, I haven’t run a single metre, but I feel like I’m closer than I’ve been.

But, a long way from running a 100km race. A long, long way off.

So, perhaps this is a Christmas miracle. If nothing else, I’ve got some hope.

The last time I wrote about this I had 20 or 30 replies from you guys with your own stories and injury frustrations.

It’s part of the journey. Keep at it.

Next time you’ll hear from me is on Boxing Day.

So have a fantastic holiday period.

Enjoy & run well,
Robbie