Letter from Your Race Medical Director

By: Dr. Jason M. McHugh, DO, CAQSM
Bon Secours Sports Medicine
Western Branch Family Practice

In general, the thing that runners tend to overlook the most often is that they ask their bodies to do some amazing things, but very rarely do anything to help the body recover from the activity. I am referring mostly to stretching. If runners spent 10-15 minutes a day stretching, they would feel much better, and I would be a lot less busy at my practice.

Running is like a committed relationship. Usually, when we do something mean or inconsiderate to our spouse or other loved one, we apologize. If the thing we did is bad enough (forgetting a wedding anniversary or birthday, for example), it often takes much more than one apology to be forgiven.

The same is true of runners’ relationships with the muscles that allow them to run. If you are getting stiff and sore, it will take more than one stretching session to convince those muscles to forgive you for what was done to them. Once a muscle is upset (calves, hamstrings, and hip flexors being the most frequently upset), it takes dedicated effort consistently to recover the relationship and allow for normal performance again.

And even better than waiting until after you have disappointed your muscles by not doing anything for them, stretching after you train/run will make you much less likely to offend your hard working muscles, which will allow you to achieve the distances you desire. It is truly wiser to prepare for the event beforehand (rather a run or an anniversary) than beg for forgiveness after having forgotten…

And as always, Live. Love. Run.