I don’t really remember how I met Andy Zielinski, but I am very fucking glad I did. From an uncannily similar taste in music (queue: …Burn, Piano Island, Burn!) and an affinity for Land Cruisers, to similar a never-stop-exploring attitude towards life, Andy is one of those dudes you can instantly connect with and feel at ease talking to. Even when he decided to open up about his recent injury, the conversation was just fluid.
Usually, when I talk to people about their injuries, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel that’s already been seen, approached, and passed through. Usually. Then there are the cases where the wound is still fresh, the bone is still healing, the future is still a bit uncertain. And that’s the story we have here.
In a tower tag accident only recently, Andy’s running came to a halt when, on a very small patch of ice, his body went one way, his leg the other, and he ended up with a spiral fracture and broken tibia… the worst nightmare. Luckily, in some sort of bizarre-universe-manifestation-stroke-of-luck, the only other person on the trail that day, and who happened to see Andy fall, was an orthopedic nurse. WHAT.
“There were two primal screams that day on the trail
- FUUUUUUUCK – training is done
- FUUUUUUUCK – now I don’t have the mask of running to take me away from the stressors of my day to day.”
While the injury itself is devastating, Andy’s outlook on the future of his running is one we can all take lessons from. From dealing with the isolation of being injured to what this means for the identity and systems we build up as runners, Andy sees this injury as an opportunity to reevaluate his foundations.
“Life is a beautiful thing – Now you have a few hours given back to you – How do you make those hours meaningful?”
Andy will return to running. But it may be reframed. And that’s completely okay.
Thank you, Andy. You will run again. – Will
Leggggs 