My first run in over 9 months 🏃

Hey guys,

Last week I did my first run in over 9 months. Let me tell you about it, why I haven't run for so long, and potentially why I won't be able to run again.

Also keep reading 'til the end, as we've got a special offer for the inaugural Southern Rail Trail Run.

If you've been around here for a while, and read a few of my emails, you'd likely know that I haven't run for quite a while.

I had been suffering with some chronic knee pain for about three years.

Countless doctors, physios and surgeons. Around eight different scans, an injection, and many different recovery plans.

I went under the knife around August last year to really see what was going on.

The surgeon came out after and said, look I'm not going to speak to you now while you're still groggy. Book in to come see me in a few days and I'll tell you everything.

Way to keep me hanging.

I wandered over to his consult rooms a few days later.

He shut the door, sat me down and told me in no uncertain terms;

'Robbie, I don't think you'll be able to run again'.

The problem was worse than we imagined. There was a hole in my cartilage. Every stride was basically bone on bone.

Not only that, in this same knee I had completely ruptured my PCL playing football years ago, which was causing havoc including a tear in the medial.

As you can imagine, I was completely deflated. I felt like part of my identity was stripped away in that very moment.

Imagine being the founder of a running brand and well, not being able to run.

I'm a pretty resilient person, and I came to terms with what I'd heard. 

I had been in positions like this before, where you feel like your identity was a rug being pulled from under your feet.

But thankfully I learned that lesson years ago, albeit the hard way.

I'm not defined by whether I can run or not. Most of you probably had no idea that that was the case, and probably every single person who did know wouldn't care.

But of course, I wasn't going to let it go.

I went back to the sports doc, and I said Andrew, if there's any hope at all of making this work, let's give it a go. 

After all, what have I got to lose now.

He said, go and see Darren, he's the one for you.

So I went and saw Darren, the recommended physio. And straight away he instilled trust in his process, he understood the issue and he was confident we could put together a 12-month plan to see if this could work.

It was the kind of confidence I had not had with any physio or doctor prior. A realistic ambition, no guarantees but importantly, a glimmer of hope.

We spent 5 months doing nothing but strength training, with the idea of building up the muscles around the knee to be able to take on more of the load.

And then last week he said to me, it's time to run.

It's a bit of a test. Can I keep form? What's the pain like?

Now, please lower your expectations about what this run looked like.

It was literally a 1.5km run, with me stopping every 100m to reduce the fatigue.

Although I looked like a baby giraffe, and my form was atrocious, I did it.

If I'm being honest, it felt really good to move. Albeit, only for a short period.

Since that first run I've done another three. I've pulled up a bit sore, but I also haven't done any running for a long time.

This might not work. But what if it does?

I won't regret giving it a go.

SOUTHERN RAIL TRAIL RUN - SPECIAL OFFER

We partner with a number of events around the country. One of them being the Southern Rail Trail run in Gippsland, Victoria.

Sometimes event organisers are kind enough to provide our runners with a discount code to use on entries. I don't really have any way to share them, but sometimes I put them into our TEAM RUNLY Strava Group.

But I figure, this newsletter would be a great place to give you access to some race discounts now and then that our event partners offer to us. We'll also look to create a page on our website where we can share some race offers.

Southern Rail Trail Festival takes you along the breathtaking Great Southern Rail Trail in Gippsland, through rolling countryside, historic railway bridges, and charming country towns.

Runly fam gets 20% off entries. Use code RUNLY20 at checkout.

Event Date: May 31, 2025
Location: Southern Rail Trail, VIC
Distances: 100km, 72km, Marathon, Half Marathon, 10km, 5km & FREE 2km Dash

Register here: SRT website

That's all for this week.

Run well,
Robbie