Well I'd like to start this instalment of the Marathon Diary with news of long, enjoyable beachside runs in the surroundings of the Playa Blanca promenade in Lanzarote amongst the other people who escaped the UK ice & snow and headed out overseas for Christmas.
Unfortunately the day before travelling, with itchy feet the previous week due to prolongued days of no runs thanks to the treacherous ice, I decided to head to the Penweddig fields for an easy lunchtime session in the snowy field. The rest is comedy...
After getting ready in the car at Plascrug car park, which took a good 10 minutes due to the shear amount of layers needed not to freeze to death in the -4 temperatures, I trotted off past the Leisure Centre and around the back of the swimming pool and on past Penweddig School. I remembered there was an access gate to the field somewhere, oh there it is I've gone past it, stop, turn, slip, CRACK, ouch, really ouch!
After feeling sick for a second, I'd realised I'd slipped in front of a window containing a class of schoolchildren and thought better of rolling around in agony which is what i wanted to do, so I got up, put some weight on it and pretended to be OK. I was more annoyed with the fact that I'd taken so long to get dressed, and now, 1 minute into my 'run' it was over.
The bus drivers who were parked up waiting to take the kids home were looking at proceedings with interest as was the class. Bugger it I thought, I've come this far, I'm gonna try and run.....So I climbed the gate and hobbled into the field.
I realised that I could just about put weight down if I landed on my heel, so thats what I did for three laps. The generous snow dropping cushioned my strides and the adrenaline I guess hid the pain a little. In hindsight I suppose this was a stupid thing to do, especially as I heard the crack, despite wearing an i-pod shuffle playing Metallica, later the physio would tell me that cracks are often heard 'through the body' in these situations. Great!
Driving back to work was difficult, my left ankle was the one I hurt and so clutch control made me laugh for some strange reason. The pain was a kind of 'i stubbed my toe' pain which although bad, just gave me the giggles. I know, thats weird!
Touch wood I've never been proper injured before, and after a distress call to fellow crock Helen Marshall, I managed to get an appointment with her physio the very next day. The pain wasn't actually that bad when I visited him but he diagnosed a grade 1 or 2 ankle ligament tear, on the inside and outer ligaments. I hobbled home feeling sorry for myself. We were flying out to Lanzarote the next day where I had planned some serious marathon mileage.
Running was definately out (and still is two weeks later), and so I located the hotel gym and strapped myself in to the gym bike in true Kevin Costner putting his boots back on in Dances with Wolves style.
I was limping like a good un, but thankfully the motion of pedalling wasnt too bad and I got some good bike sessions in.
So all is not lost. The marathon training schedule was supposed to start in earnest on Jan 1st, hopefully I'll be able to manage a trot in a weeks time. I'm off to get that confirmed with the physio now.
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