Hills Of Passion - Overcoming Injury

by Christina Digan (Canada)

Making a local connection Vietnam

I was so far out of my comfort zone as my husband Cris and I approached a group standing in front of the bus station in Hanoi. We were on a six week long trip around South East Asia and in the final week of our trip, we were scheduled to travel overnight to Ha Giang Province to run a half marathon. The registration was complicated from Canada and despite my best efforts, our payments and accommodation reservations had gotten lost in the world of cyber mistakes. They hurriedly registered us again and we got the last two spots on the bus and the last bed and breakfast room available in the small village where the marathon was held. I wanted so badly to run this new and notoriously hard course. The marathon was right on the Chinese border in a mountainous area with rough roads and hot weather. I was excited and terrified to do this. This trip meant a lot to me from the beginning. I knew it was going to be the hardest thing I had ever done, and I was just coming back from a double injury I sustained during a Spartan run. This would be my first half marathon back. I wasn’t sure if I would even be able to finish this course much less make any decent time on it. The morning of the marathon I was terrified with anticipation. Would I be able to make it up those switchback trails? To add to my anxiety, my toenail had ripped off the night before leaving my big toe as a weird, pink exposed nub that would be banging on my shoe for over two hours. The race took off slowly and almost immediately was an upward slope. My leg felt it immediately and I willed my IT band not to give out and my shoulder not to ache from the impact. Each mile seemed to be a little steeper all of it going up the mountains. The scenery was stunning, and I forced myself to focus on that and not my throbbing leg at only the 4-mile marker. All the way up people waved and cheered, and other runners would run with us for a bit and ask where we were from. You could feel the magic in the air as we ran the winding roads up the mountain. At the 5-mile mark I was so sore I wasn’t sure this was a good idea after all. I was discouraged and near tears. My training had been dodgy at best and with the 5 weeks in Asia before the marathon, I had missed some of the most important runs but still I pushed on. “You can do it” I heard from behind me and a girl jogged up beside me smiling from ear to ear. “I’m Trang.” She said, “I’ll run with you. You can do this” Trang and I talked about everything from our jobs, to our families to our hopes and dreams on the rest of that half marathon. She cheered me on when I slowed down, and I did the same for her. She told me of her financial insecurity and how she overcame it to be able to be here to run this course and I told her of my multiple injuries. The entire course seemed to be uphill! We finished in decent time and everyone cheered as we crossed the finish line. Trang, Cris and I held hands as we finished. She hugged me on the other side and told me she was my friend now and I must come back and run with her again. We both cried little tears of joy, of accomplishment. I promised her I will and next year I will make good on that promise. I walked away surer of myself than I had ever been. I had successfully come back from two injuries and conquered the Ha Giang mountainous terrain. My toe was bloody and sore, and my IT band hurt but I felt exhilarated. I had overcome my own odds. Trang had overcome hers. And together, we were an unstoppable team and I had made a new, lifelong friend.