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Today we share the story of Adria DeLaune...

By: Adria DeLaune

Sometimes it's the scars we can't see that have left the deepest indentations on who we are as people. 

A year and a half ago, one night brought everything I thought I knew about life crashing down.  But first, let me rewind a bit. 

Several years ago, I suffered a hamstring tear that pulled me away from running, one of the things I love most, for almost two years. After months of careful rehab and doctor's visits, in January of 2016, I was cleared to start running again. I did what any sane person who was accustomed to running 5Ks and 10Ks would do...I signed up for an ultra-marathon.  I trained with a group and the training sessions became my respite from the stressors of life and my reward for working so hard to get back to 100% physically. 

Several months later, I met a tall, handsome, charming guy who swept me off of my feet. He was kind and chivalrous and unlike anyone I had ever met. Until he wasn't. 

A few weeks into dating, I found myself on the receiving end of a fairly violent assault.  He and I wanted different things and he used force to try to get his way.  I left the situation with bruises on my collarbone, abdomen and hip.  What I didn't realize in the early days after that night was the magnitude and weight of the hidden scar that the incident would leave on me.  For weeks, I shied away from social activity, avoiding spending time with friends, staying in bed whenever possible and falling into a dark depression.  After two months in that spiral, I took a job with a recording artist and headed out on a tour that allowed me to see the entire country over the course of 6 months.  I had experiences that would make even the most seasoned traveler jealous. I got to have more once-in-a-lifetime moments than one person should be allowed. And while I seemed on the outside to be living my best life, on the inside I was numb. Even now, looking back at photos from that part of my life, I barely recognize that girl. 

Once the tour wrapped and I moved on to a different job, I realized that I hadn't healed from the emotional injury, I had just postponed recovery.  Determined to not relapse into the sullen depressed shell of myself that I became immediately following the incident, I set out searching for solutions.  What I found was that my emotional injury was so much like my physical injury.  I needed to rehab, to allow myself to feel the feelings that were flowing through me, to give myself small goals to reach in order to accomplish the bigger goal, and to have a plan to stick to so that I wouldn't backslide.  

So that's just what I did.  I reached out to friends I hadn't seen in ages. I watched sunrises and sunsets and started noticing the beauty in everyday life.  But perhaps most importantly, I started running again.  I began training for a second ultra-distance race and, though I knew the process would be much tougher than training for my first ultra-marathon, I also knew that this go-round would have more meaning.  And it did!  Recently, I finished my second ultra-marathon.  And with it came the realization that, though I may never be fully healed from either my massive hamstring tear or the night that changed my life forever, I am well on my way.  

The La Clé Rebound bracelet has a permanent home on my wrist to remind me that some days I can move mountains but some days all I can ask of myself is to take a few baby steps. 

And that's perfectly okay, because absolutely everything is progress. Absolutely everything.