The returning runner
Act 7b - Tsedale Tomlinson’s amazing comeback
My note: This blog is a continuation from Act 7. Tsedale K. Tomlinson is a world-class female masters distance runner. Her accolades include nomination as NYRR Runner of the Year, a 1:29 in the Brooklyn Half Marathon, and 7th place in the World Masters Championships for the 45-49 age, and 5th American Woman overall at the same event, across all age groups 35 years and up.
After surgery, the serious pain and the reality set in. It was awful. The full leg brace hurt every part of my incision and leg, my crutches were hard to manage. My concussion was hard to manage. The legal aspect (and eventual court case against the driver, and trial) was hard to manage. My full-time job became physical therapy and doctor’s appointments. PT was 4 times a week, one of them being a swim therapy session. I threw myself into it, pain, sweat, tears. The soft tissue damage was becoming apparent, and everything hurt. The concussion made it impossible to read or watch TV. I had severe PTSD and could not cross streets for a long time without reliving flashes of my experience over and over (that was a challenge, living in a city!). Every car was a car hitting me. To put it mildly, it was a very dark time. My medical team felt I might not be able to return to running. And if I did, I might face very early problems with arthritis. But they didn’t know how much of a lifeline running has always been to me, and how much I would do to get that back. There were far too many obstacles to recount in this short story, but fast forward a tiny bit and I had a second surgery a year post accident, this time to remove the hardware that was giving me some trouble. It had done its job, to hold things together at first, and now it was time to remove them.
In the end, I did 2 years of intensive physical therapy. I can’t remember anymore, but I think I was maybe able to do a tiny bit of running at the end of the 2nd year. The PT didn’t end there, it continued, but at least no longer a full-time job. Over time, I learned that as long as I strength trained and kept the muscles in my leg strong, I could run without pain. Don’t keep those muscles, and the pain comes back, even to this day. So, I still continue to do PT and check in on my leg every handful of years. In those first few months in the brace/cast and crutches, with no weight bearing, my right leg shrunk to almost the circumference of just my bones. It was astonishing to see how that could be possible. It takes work to keep this leg strong. But now, at 47, my leg is the healthiest it has been since my accident, and I give thanks for that, and to my body, every day. I run on average around 50 miles per week, give or take. I work hard. And as long as I keep strength training, my leg is good. In order to recover from a serious injury I feel you need to:
· Believe in yourself, and if you want something, work extremely hard for it. Even if doctors don’t believe you can, if YOU believe you can, I think it can be.
· Have a very strong fighting spirit. It is hard and painful at times, and you have to believe, and then do the hard, hard work.
· Patience. It won’t happen right away. It could take years. For me, decades. 4) if you’re lucky, you will find the right fit of doctors and PT and have a great medical team that believes in you as much as you do, and that understands sports and athletes. Where there is a will, there really is a way.
I only recently decided to give races a try when I decided that I wanted to meet more people that were as passionate about running as I was, and to get involved in the running community and have it be a bigger part of my life. My life really changed when I joined my competitive running team Central Park Track Club (CPTC). I also met two of my best friends there, one of them in the photo with me (Rebekah on the right). Before Worlds, I was running all the NYRR races in NYC. Now, with the introduction of this next level of World Championship style running, I have entered a new and exciting level of running and I certainly plan to continue on with this. I’m just beginning! My running goals are to keep increasing my speed in the Half Marathon and seeing what I am capable of.