Road to the 2024 Hilton Head Marathon! - Disaster Has Already Struck... (Ep. 3) 

Through highs and lows, stay composed

Your struggle sounds so very similar to what I went through. I highly recommend you go to a physical therapist and have them assess you, especially since you are limited on time with your race coming up. No amount of time off improved my knee pain the slightest bit. The pain would fluctuate, I had some days where it was gone, but it always came back within a week. I had several runs where I knew within 0.2 miles that I wouldn’t be able to complete the run that day. Nothing I tried made any sort of sustainable difference, not even “exercises for runner’s knee” from the internet. Until I finally went to PT. They identified immediately that I had structural patella issues caused by a combination of my anatomy and running form, and exacerbated by my ignorance of the problem. I would never have been able to figure any of that out on my own, and unfortunately I feel that I wasted a lot of time trying. The knee is such a complex joint that “runner’s knee” is just too much of a generalization for most of us. My husband and I love your channel and we’d love to see you crush this race, so this is just a friendly suggestion based on what worked for me.

Hey Zach I know you may not be feeling the best at the moment but know within time, it will heal brotha. Stay positive, rest up and let your body figure out what’s going on. Let it do its thing, you got this! Also want to let you know, that you’ve had such a great positive impact on me. I’m fairly new to running and just recently came across your page. It’s so refreshing seeing someone who’s not this..perfect running influencer? Lol you’re a real person, living a real life with real problems. Absolutely love being on this journey with you, and here for all the highs and all the lows! I’ll be running my second marathon this Sunday and when I’m in the pain cave I’ll be thinking, “Do it for Walter…and Zach.” But mainly Walter, ahaha jk Rest up and take care brotha 💪🏽

Sucks man! Be patient! Give it time, you'll be back at it before you know it

I kept running with shin splints until I ended up with stress fractures, because I refused to take some time off 😂. I’m horrible about ignoring injuries until I can’t ignore it anymore!

I will never understand why people try to push through Injuries. Maybe it's just me but I've never personally experienced a time where that was a good thing.

go pokes