A blizzard did not stop me that morning last February from going on my planned five-mile run. I had a busy day ahead and I badly wanted to start it off with 45 minutes of my favorite outdoor activity. I thought I would be alright if I ran slowly, sticking to quiet neighborhood streets and a familiar park. After a few minutes, however, I realized the snow was coming down hard and piling up fast. Still, I kept running. I was nearly home, completing the last stretch of the park, when a pickup truck approached. Carefully, I slowed my pace and moved to the side of the unplowed road. Just as the truck pulled alongside me, however, my right foot slipped. I sat down hard on my left ankle and felt something pop deep inside.

When I stood up, the ankle did not feel right. I limped the remaining half-mile home, humiliated and with a feeling worse than the physical pain—the feeling that I wouldn’t run again for a long time. A few blocks from my house, a woman offered me a ride home in her mini-van. She took one look at me and nodded. “I’m a runner,” she said. “That’s happened to me, too.”

Active women share a bond. Not only do we know the joy of physical activity; we know how hard it is when injury prevents us from doing those activities, especially when we’re hurt while doing the very thing we love. Some women have been slowed down by aging bodies or sickness, but many others have injured themselves by running too many miles, biking while fatigued, or straining during a yoga class. But even with the best prevention or the most cautious approach, injuries do occur.

Talk About the Passion

Tracy Lott, 31, from Atlanta, says that even though she’s currently injured, nothing could replace running. “I guess that’s part of being passionate about something,” she says. She’s taking a whole year off from running due to a knee problem that developed over years of too much training and not enough cross-training. A college runner and former marathoner, Lott had built up so much muscle in her legs from running, her kneecap was being pulled out of alignment. Her doctor said if she continued to run the way she had in the past, she soon wouldn’t be able to run at all.

Nothing can replace running for Tracy Lott

Lott is still recovering from her knee injury, but on the rare occasion she does run, she fees like a completely different runner. New core strength from yoga has made her body stronger while biking and elliptical machine workouts have kept her lungs and legs in shape. “It has taught me how important it is to keep running a part of my life,” she says. “Once upon a time my goals were focused around improving times and seeing how many marathons I could run. Now my number one priority is to stay healthy so running can continue to be a part of my life over the next few decades.

Identity Crisis

Bethany Harry, a 28-year-old physical therapist in Winston-Salem, NC, ruptured a tendon in her ankle during a run last July. She had surgery in September to repair the torn tendons and started physical therapy eight weeks after the surgery. As a physical therapist herself, she understood many aspects of the surgery and the recovery, but that didn’t make the time away from running any easier. “The knowledge does not suppress the emotional aspect of an injury,” she says. “Running has forever been a part of my identity.” Harry says that patiently waiting is the hardest part of being injured, but her perspective has changed over the years; now she is happy she can bike and swim while she works toward a full recovery.

New Balance

Laurie Mehler, a triathlete and race director with Richmond Multisports in Virginia, says that injury doesn’t have to stop you. In fact, a season of forced recovery can lead to new activities, and a new attitude. There are an infinite number of solutions for women who face injury, even if that means stepping back. Time off to focus on family, business, mind, and spirit can even be a gift.

Stephanie Lareau shifted to running after an accident kept her from mountain biking.

When Stephanie Lareau was a college freshman, she was hit by an SUV while road biking. The crash completely fractured her right forearm, halting her favorite outdoor activity, mountain biking. She couldn’t commute on a bike to class. She also missed out on a planned SCUBA trip to the Florida Keys, but she stayed active. “I shifted to running,” she says. She also rode stationary bikes at the gym. It took a long time to build up the arm strength needed to ride a mountain bike the way she had before, and to recover from the mental challenge of biking on the road, where cars became a source of worry. Now a fourth-year med student at Wake Forest University, Lareau suggests talking to experts who participate in a new sport before giving it a try. “They can often give you tips and make learning much easier since you can learn from their mistakes.”

Amy Mcginnis acheived balance through yoga

Amy McGinnis of Winston-Salem, NC, injured her back two years after getting serious about her yoga practice. “I was shocked,” she says. “Who knew you could get injured doing yoga?” New to yoga and enthusiastic, she had been pushing herself in class beyond the point her teacher recommended. Her weakened back gave out suddenly while she sat on the floor picking up her children’s toys. “You have to be mindful,” McGinnis says in retrospect. “I wasn’t being mindful.” After two months away from yoga, she slowly started back. She remains cautious about her practice, but she’s also wiser. “Sometimes you have to slow down your life,” she says. “Yoga teaches that.”

Betsy Armentrout, 36, of Winston-Salem, NC, developed a persistent soreness in her piriformis (a large pelvic muscle) nearly two years ago, but she didn’t stop running. “I ran with it or through it for several months,” she says, but the soreness didn’t go away; in fact it led to soreness elsewhere, such as in her hamstrings. Eventually it got to the point that she dreaded running. After running through the pain for a long time, Armentrout discovered that a more moderate approach and a new activity—yoga—would help keep her healthy. “If I don’t take that time away from running, I won’t be running at all,” she says. “You have to find a way to achieve that balance.”

An Ounce of Prevention

For Kathy Jacobs, 56, an exercise physiologist and personal trainer in High Point, NC, an existing strain turned into a sudden injury when, in a competitive situation, the pain suddenly moved to her hip. She has faced injury before, including chronic back pain, but in this case, she actually feared she would never run again because even walking was painful. “I tried to push myself and do too much speed when I was not ready for it,” says Jacobs. After being sidelined, it’s hard not to look back and wonder, like Jacobs did, what you could have done to prevent an injury.

“Common sense can help prevent most injuries,” says Dr. Daryl Rosenbaum, a physician and assistant professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Simple measures like starting a new activity slowly, increasing duration gradually and using the right equipment will go a long way to stopping an injury before it starts. It’s also important to pay attention to what your body is telling you. Pain, Rosenbaum says, is not a normal response to exercise but rather a sign that something is wrong. It’s never a bad idea to see a physician when you suspect you might have an injury.

The Healing Process

“It is tough to recommend one best way to treat all injuries,” says Rosenbaum, “but when in doubt, at the onset of an injury remember the acronym RICE.” Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation, he says, will prevent further aggravation of a sudden (or acute) injury, and the same techniques can treat symptoms of a stress injury.

Admitting that you need medical attention—that a sore knee or tight back won’t get better on its own—is often the first step to recovery. Then, after the diagnosis, a good attitude is a key component of a quick and thorough recovery, says Scott Oliaro, a staff athletic trainer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Oliaro tries to get his patients to accept the fact that they are injured and they need to take responsibility to get better. His best patients approach recovery with the same energy and positive attitude they might throw into a game or a race.

You can take a practical tip from me, the “expert” runner: don’t run in a blizzard. Now that my left ankle is fully recovered, except for a tiny lack of flexibility, I can honestly say my bout with injury last winter has made me a more balanced person. I no longer run every day, but mix in walking or yoga every other day. I’m also more cautious about taking risks on the road, remembering that one day off is a small price to pay for the joy and freedom of having a healthy body. •

Katherine Klein lives, writes and runs in Ithaca, New York.