10 days later

Its been 10 days since I posted owt and complaints have been coming my way so here's the craic.

All was going very well with my return to running. I had been on the road a bit and upped the distance gradually over the first two weeks back. But last Saturday after an hours run in Gelt woods I felt a familiar sharp pain in my leg. Reaching down to press the area I felt physically sick as I realised that the fracture must have opened up again. This was the worst possible news as surely it would mean ANOTHER 8 weeks out of action?

The following day I was event photographer at a duathlon race in Whinlatter Forest. After taking all my photos I had a couple of miles downhill to get back to the van. Wearing wellies and carrying all my gear I jogged along the soft forest track.  Strangely there was no hint of a sore leg.

Next day I met up with Milly who was running 36minutes at 6 pace. I knew I couldn't possibly keep up with him so ran just 2 miles at this pace then jogged around while  he carried on to the turnpoint. Then I ran another 2 miles with him to the finish. This felt hard (obviously because I have lost fitness). Again no trouble from my leg though.

Then on the Wednesday and again on the Friday I ran my 3 mile test. 19:30 and 19:09 were my times (6:30  and 6:23 pace). I knew I would soon knock chunks off the time I first tried this the previous week (19:46)

My leg was still aching a lot and if I poked about at it I could pinpoint the sore bit. I made an appointment with the physio for next Tuesday for his expert opinion. In the meantime though I had to decide whether or not to run the Brampton to Carlisle 10 mile road race. Clearly, 10 miles on road should be avoided if only just coming back from injury and whilst unsure if its properly healed - so I ran it anyway (wouldn't we all?)

It was nice to see so many familiar faces at the start in Brampton, and not from behind my camera lens for a change. Soon we were lined up at the top of the hill and the gun went off. I had thought about running a mile with Milly and Penrith Stu but in reality it seemed too fast to do this even from the start.
I settled into a very unfamiliar position in the middle of the pack  and ran with a steady effort.

At halfway  the clock said 31.30 but I knew the tough uphill at 8 miles and fatigue would prevent a 63 minute result. I finished inside 65 minutes though which I suppose isn't bad for my first 'proper' road run in more than 10 weeks.


Plucky used my camera and insists the results are fantastic. I would go so far as to say they are not rubbish photos and some are usable.

Also running were Milly, and Penrith Stu

Who both ran Pbs. If you want to hear about Penrith Stu's race click here.

Afterwards I had no problems from leg, so as if I wanted to force it to crack open as wide as  chocolate egg at Easter I went for a three hour fellrun today. My legs hurt right now - but it's that good hurt that you get from training.

I will continue with my three mile steady effort runs this week, possibly moving up to four miles and hopefully much nearer to six minute miling. Then, all I have to do is keep upping the distance without dropping the pace and I will run London Marathon in 2:37. Maybe not though eh?