Being a healthy runner

     The definition of injury itself can be quite tricky to a runner. What is an injury? Does it qualify as something that keeps you out of what you're doing? Is it something different and new to you that you would call painful? Is it a simple bruise? A pulled muscle? There's no exact definition, the determining factor is up to each individual as a runner. However, pain is pain, doctor visits are doctor visits, and sore muscles are indeed sore muscles.
    Breaking it down, it's an absolute no-brainer that the most common way to get injured is doing too much, or over-exercising. We tend to ignore our own bodies when they tell us to give it a rest. It's simple logic: the harder your workout is and the more you ask of your body, the more time you're going to need to take some time to recover. You may or may not have learned that as runner you  build muscle, and muscle is built by causing tiny tears (barely an injury but nontheless still one) and you will need time to recover. If you're in pain, take it into consideration and give yourself some resting time, no matter how hard it is to go a day or two without running. Don't train harder than your tendons will allow.
     Warming up helps to avoid injury. Typically you are supposed to "walk" according to all those articles you read from "the experts" however walking barely does anything for me as I feel it does for many others I know, especially because a runner's resting heart rate can be a little bit harder to raise by such a simple and everyday task as walking. If you're (especially) a distance runner consider lightly jogging for a mile or two, and that should do the trick. Listen to your body as you warm up. If you're in pain, take it easy, maybe just let your warm up be your workout. This is something I do quite often when my legs are hurting. Sometimes we think that pain will just go away after our warm up, but is that a good thing? It's like running with shin splints, eventually around the third or fourth mile they'll go numb, but most would not consider that anywhere near a good thing. While it isn't the greatest (but not absolutely awful) that you keep going during warm up, it is more important to stop if you are in pain after your warm up. This is one of the most clear signs that your body is not okay and you actually do need to rest. (435)