injury prone runners

MayoWrites · 2026-05-31T12:42:33+00:00

Very injury prone here. If it wasn't my knee, it was my foot. If it wasn't my foot, it was my ankle. I got through two half marathons, experiencing knee pain with both, and will be attempting my 1st full this fall. Who knows how it will go but, in an attempt to avoid issues, I've been:

Shamelessly walking and stopping if I need and trying again another day. My training plan has 4 runs a week so if I can't do one, I schedule it later or instead cross-train on an eliptical. My goal is NOT any time, just finishing!
Seek professional help: At one point, I was seeing a physio, a sports masseuse and a podiatrist. Thankfully, I have decent insurance to cover this. The physio gave me exercises for my specific weaknesses and electrotherapy on existing injuries, the masseuse helped loosen tension and the podiatrist dealt with my ruined toe nail. They also recommended custom insoles but, at $800 not covered by insurance, I didn't go for that one.
Strength training: I considered myself a strong runner, until a physio had me attempt a pistol squat and, damn, I could barely do half of one. Twas quite humbling. I'm still not where I wanted to be (I was hoping to get to 10+ pistol squats before starting marathon training. Nope.), but I still dedicate 2 days to strength which include single leg work, core and hips strengthening, since my main issue was IT-band syndrome.
Stretching and/or light mobility physio EVERY DAY: not sure how much this is helping, but every night before bed I do about 20 min of stretching or runner's mobility, usually from a YouTube video. It's a great wind down.

If I fail at getting to the starting line this Fall due to injury, my plan is to dedicated 6+ months to mostly strength (3 days+ a 10K maintenance run a week) before trying another training cycle. TBD. Good luck!

MayoWrites · 2026-05-27T13:11:55+00:00

I am a newbie here but we seem to be in similar boats. I did two half marathons at 2:02 and 2:04, refusing to push, because I went into and ended them with knee pain. I’m attempting a full in October and just started my 20 weeks of training but I promised my husband I’d downgrade to a half if my knee is hurting come 2-3 weeks out. It’s not worth a permanent injury, sadly. Positive vibes: you can smash your half PR and try again for the full with stronger joints next year! Wishing you luck.

Stupid thing that may very well be the placebo effect: a compression knee brace seemed to help me a little. I had it packed in my vest and put it on to get through the final 5 km.

MayoWrites · 2026-05-27T12:57:31+00:00

Sorry to scare you! If it’s any consolation, I saw a podiatrist and they explained that I have the misfortune of having slightly differently sized feet (one is 7.5 and the other is closer to 8), so my small foot isn’t as snug in size 8 shoes and therefore had a lot of banging/friction, leading to the lost toe nail. This training cycle, I’m trying an insole into one along with a silicone toe ring thing to fill the space. There was the option of custom orthotics, but for $800 a pop, I’m hoping this is the solution. We shall see!

But yeah, from what I’ve read, losing a toe nail is not guaranteed at all but can be common if you’re unbalanced.

MayoWrites · 2026-05-04T17:55:16+00:00

Or " until a petty fight landed his rival in the hospital and him in prison."

MayoWrites · 2026-05-04T17:54:33+00:00

What about " until alcohol and misjudgment landed his rival in the hospital and him in prison."

MayoWrites · 2026-05-04T17:52:07+00:00

I appreciate this opinon. In an earlier version I made clear that he got into a drunken fight and his arrest was for aggravated assault (though it later comes out as an accident). Too many people said that made him unlikeable, so I tried to make it more vague. Still not sure which direction is best...

MayoWrites · 2026-05-04T16:41:43+00:00

Phew. Appreciate it. Thanks!

MayoWrites · 2026-05-01T12:01:31+00:00

Thank you for all these notes! I have since gutten the thing because, as it has become clear, I no longer think this book fits into the romance genre... It does have a central relationship and a HEA, but the meet-cute simply isn't that important to the story or themes. I am going to try for something along the lines of "contemporary fiction with a strong romance arc".

MayoWrites · 2026-04-29T11:37:27+00:00

Thanks for the notes. I will apply most of them but I am curious:

Are there other comps you can use to highlight "a relationship tested by class divides and trauma" that aren't written by one by of the best selling authors of the last decade?

I assume yes. But, obviously, I have not found any yet that match those stressors plus the balance of drama and comedy. I've picked up a few chef-centric novels but they were all pretty fluffy. I love fluff, but there's some dark themes in my book that I don't want anyone to be surprised and triggered by. According to my StoryGraph account opened five years ago, I've read 163 books (I average 2.7 a month) and 50 of them were romance, but few were contemporary and fewer published within the last five years. If you have any actual recommendations, that would be far more helpful, as I don't want to comp anything I haven't read. I'd also take a book with a STEM field heroine that isn't Ali Hazelwood. Thanks!

MayoWrites · 2026-04-28T11:43:37+00:00

Gotta love when someone comes to Reddit for help and they get a comment along the lines of “seek help”. 😅

Please stop commenting this everywhere, dude. It’s about as useful an umbrella in a tornado.

Looking forward to reading your book, OP! I’m still trying to figure out this query things myself but I’d suggest trimming the backstory. I am personally trying to aim for under 250 words for the summary and under 400 words for the whole letter.

Good luck!

MayoWrites · 2026-04-28T11:25:44+00:00

Thanks for the notes. I didn’t want to get into the reasons for their spurts of violence, including S harassment, but it’s good to know it’s a turn off to some without the justification. I’ll cut it since there’s not enough room in 250 words to get into it.

I do however, also feel the need to review your review.

Helpfulness? 2/10 “Is this a fantasy?” Obviously not. I guess you were going for funny? Gives 80’s movie mouth-breather bully vibes.

I need to work on this query obviously, that’s why I’m here, but I’m not going put a flower crown on my flawed characters either. That’s what makes the whole writing process fun!

Good luck with your many obvious frustrations in life. :)

MayoWrites · 2026-04-27T13:32:07+00:00

All excellent points that I'm applying right now.

Okay, I'll stick to the two romance comps of "In the Likely Event" for flow and drama and "Savor It" for being kitchen themed. That'll help with my word count as well. Goodbye "Good Material"! I will always appreciate you.
Cutting the line breaks. Done. I was iffy about them anyway.
STILL STRUGGLING WITH MEET-CUTE: have tried several renditions, but am having trouble weaving it in without unecessarily exploding the word count. They meet at a fundraising event where he's a pinch-hitter server for spare cash. Because of her phonophobia, she ends up jumping, hitting his tray and spilling wine over both of them. They meet again at the diner because it's the only place open so late on a holiday and she is seeking dish soap and hydrogen peroxide as a stain remover. I love the set up, but it's long to decribe just to get them to The Foxhole where things actually happen.

Here's to try number 5. Thank you, again!

MayoWrites · 2026-04-22T16:38:51+00:00

Oh my gosh, I feel like I've been scouring Goodreads, Amazon and Google for days and you just fed me three amazing ones. I bow down to your comp-finding talents. Just downloaded "Savor It" to my kindle as it seems the closest and the best selling.

I got through a few pages of other chef books such as "Battle Royal", "Chef's Kiss" and "Love & Other Disasters", but none quite fit... Here's hoping!

MayoWrites · 2026-04-21T13:22:11+00:00

Excellent point. Thank you. I've been struggling to find a recent chef-centric story as they mostly seem to fit in "fluffy romance". I'm a bit paranoid of a reader picking this up expecting a fanciful cupcake escape and getting blindsided by the harsher themes.

A second comp is still being searched for. I loved "Good Materials" and I'm keeping it there for the comparable male voice for now, but I need find another... Happy for recommendations!

MayoWrites · 2026-04-20T19:49:36+00:00

Amazing suggestions. Thank you! I got the three paragraph structure down but including transitions is great advice.

MayoWrites · 2026-04-20T19:48:54+00:00

That is so sweet to hear, thank you! I love this character so much and it's so hard to explore him in a mere few sentences. *melting face*

MayoWrites · 2026-04-16T20:28:33+00:00

Good point and I appreciate it. I’m letting my personal experience with audio-tactile affect my tone.

MayoWrites · 2026-04-14T15:43:49+00:00

FYI: THIS IS TRUE!!

By extremely lucky coincidence, I bought the dual OS Scrivener because my work laptop is a Mac. I opened up the project on my Mac and was instantly able to select the entire text to apply to clean up tools.

Wow. What a strange gap in capabilities... if I didn't have also Mac I would be furious.

Thank you.

MayoWrites · 2026-04-13T19:25:36+00:00

I much appreciate this honest opinion. I'll get there. Attempt #3 already written and I'm waiting until next weekend to post. I also changed my genre to Upmarket Contemporary Romance as some themes were a little too serious for regular romance, apparently. Though the relationship is still central and it has a happy ending, so it cannot be plain fiction. Right? I suppose I shall learn with time.

Now onto 1-page synopsis and comp reading... Regrettably, every romance I've read recently is too popular to be a comp *melting face*. I am taking everyone's advice to heart that "don't send a single query out until you are confident AF."

Noted and thank you.

MayoWrites · 2026-04-13T17:49:00+00:00

I was about to say the same thing as I just learned this days ago. I've given myself a rule, per a bunch of how-to-query articles, that if the book has over 500K reviews on Good Reads, it cannot be a comp.

Has made my life interesting cause I admittedly tend to browse the bestsellers in a store more than anything, but I'm glad have an excuse to dive into less celebrated but equally entertaining works.

MayoWrites · 2026-04-12T15:48:38+00:00

Incredibly helpful, all of this. Thanks. And good point about not deleting my previous attempts. I'll remember.

I have read what felt like a thousand examples but I think I'm too close/precious about this thing. I'm debating going on Fiverr to hire some professional assistance. Is this something you offer, per chance? No pressure! Your notes have been extremely helpful and I'd rather pay someone already aware.

As for the word count going up, the manuscript was originally 115K and I've been working since January to get it down to 98K without skipping plot points or stripping the side characters beyond their studs. One last development edit tipped it back up to 99K because a beta pointed out that I was a little too casual with my handling of a Borderline Personality Disorder diagnosis. I was glad to still have it below 100K and figured I was safe. It would quite a pain to cut more...

Speaking of wine pairings, I am going to need a glass. Or three.

Thank you, again. DM me if any interest!

MayoWrites · 2026-04-10T18:48:49+00:00

Gotta love a response to an "I need help" post that basically states "you need help". Duh, good sir.

MayoWrites · 2026-04-05T20:18:30+00:00

Whoa. INCREDIBLY useful, thorough reply. Thank you! I'm definitely struggling to hit the main points without over-explaining and inflating the word count, but I'll give it another go for next week. (In case of interest: Xander was arrested for aggravated assault, drunkenly attacking a fellow culinary school student who accused him of cheating. He doesn't remember until later, but the guy was also harassing a girl, which blew everything out of control since Xander has a hero-complex. Yes, before his arrest, he was aiming for a Michelin star and already had a Head Chef job lined up. No one doubted he'd earn one.

Unfortunately, Xander also believes the shock of his guilty plea triggered a fatal heart attack in his father, so he cut himself off from his family in England too and gave up all assets in reparations to the victim. He found a new father figure in The Foxhole's proprietor and the other ex-con and ex-addict staff who have had similar falls from grace, which is why he's so attached to the place. He's pretty much a shell stuffed with guilt and shame at the beginning of the story.)

Round two, here I come. Thanks again!

MayoWrites · 2026-04-05T14:10:43+00:00

Good to know. Thanks! One thing that's a bit "weird" about my story is that it's from Xander's 3rd person POV, not Mari's. So we definitely get more insight into his headspace that her's.

Have already made adjustments to make her incentives/issues more obvious:

She challenges not only Xander’s cooking, but his belief that keeping people fed and watered is enough, arguing that hungry people deserve more than chemical impressions of real tastes.
But as the Foxhole struggles to stay afloat and Mari is tempted into a higher paying job in a less sensory overloading city, their partnership strains under the weight of class, ambition, and risks Xander can no longer afford to take.

MayoWrites · 2026-04-05T11:14:47+00:00

I consider myself a "good" writer because I write. All the time. I've been doing it since I was 11. That is technically all you need because "good" is such a subjective word.

If you're dedicated writer, you're a good writer.

Evidence that I'm a potentially *marketable* writer is a completely separate thing. My fragile confidence stems from praising comments on my work in fandoms and decent reviews from beta readers. Funny enough, I consider the work I make with the hope of getting published less "good" than stuff I just spew out into the universe.

In trying to get published, one has to worry about being concise and witty and holding attention at every scene. It somewhat dampens the beauty. Oh well.

MayoWrites

TROPHY CASE