FIRST POST INJURY RUN AGAIN!!

Have you been wondering where I've been? I'm sure you have, well, for the last 6 weeks I've been having physiotherapy for my Achilles problem. Yes, I've moved on from calf problems and I'm working my way down my body so Achilles it is now. The expensive physiotherapy who is a slip of a girl, 14 yrs old at the most, seems to know what shes on about though. She diagnosed my problem as tendinitis of the Achilles, this she did by making me stand on my tiptoes, bending forward at the ankles and tickling my feet. She gave me 1 exercise to do and put on her Dick Turpin mask and charged me well for it. The exercise was a simple one, finding a stair or a curb for when I'm out working and standing on it on the balls of my feet then dropping my ankle as far as it will go, then raise the ankle to a neutral position, do this 3x15 sets 3 times a day, I succeeded at that for 12 days then 2 days before I was due back to see her it got very painful, i rested it and she said that was good that i did.

on the second visit to her I had more ultrasound, which basically is rubbing cold jelly like goo into my Achilles with a plastic implement, could be a spoon for all I know as I'm flat on my tummy. Once again Adam Ant was playing Stand and deliver in the background as she took my money and ran, lucky her i couldn't run yet!!

Sent away to exercise again, but this time I was told to walk at least 4 times a week, which i have managed to do, Ive had a new friend to walk with, his name is Angus and he's a bearded collie lurcher cross and is a handful to say the least. He is very affectionate and everyone say he's a handsome lad just like me(yeah right). So I've been walking at least 1.6 miles a night, I have also sneakily run a few times, only 30-50 yards once a night with Angus pulling me along, Ive continued with the exercising but I have let slip on the calf stretches, I must get back to doing them and I've also got a new book called  Running Anatomy, I'm hopeless at reading, not that I can't read, my mind wanders, this book has a lot of pictures which explain which muscle is being trained in the exercises so it isn't too bad for me, maybe I should search google and see if Janet and John do a running book.

So now, we are in the present, the 6th May, it's bank holiday Monday and when i woke up the sun was shining and I had a dog's feet in my back, not massaging me just digging his bloody claws in, so I decided to get up, don my running shorts and t shirt, turn the Garmin on and get out there and try this running lark again. I walked the first quarter mile then jogged slowly for about 100 yards, straight away I felt the Achilles giving me some pain so I walked down the hill to the River Weaver, once down there I started to jog again slowly, the pain had eased and I carried on a bit further and then walked again, by the time I had started to run for the 3rd time the pain wasn't there, Yes I could still feel the Achilles wasn't right but there was no pain, I ran on the flat by the side of the river, I did my longest run which was about 400m then I walked again for a short while. I kept the pace slow and ran pain free for the rest of the time, I'm as happy as the bunnies I saw along the route, if you like nature and I do, then this route is for you, Heron's, ducks of various varieties, bunnies, sparrowhawks and jumping fish as well as a million gnats, mosquitoes and Tsetse flies, you can see the route HERE

 

I am always apprehensive and probably negative too, this comes from being injured so long I think, first it was the calf of my right leg, then it was the calf of my left leg and now it is the Achilles of my left leg, hopefully this strengthening of the muscles around it and the stretching will help massively and I will be able to run pain free and increase my distances. I've paid for and missed out on 3 runs lately including next weeks Chester half marathon which is so annoying, I have the BUPA Manchester 10k in 20 days, I aim to just get round that in one piece, no time pressures, just get round and experience a great event. In the meantime, in 10 days time I am in Chester visiting a specialist about my tendinitis injury, hopefully he will sort it out once and for all and I can take part in the 2 great events I have been lucky enough to get in to, in July I am running at the same stadium where the London Olympics were run, how amazing will that be running 5 miles and entering the stadium with a crowd of 20,000 people cheering me on,

and then in September I am not only doing the English half marathon in Warrington but also The Greatest half Marathon in the world, THE GREAT NORTH RUN, magic fingers crossed for an injury free summer so I can train properly for these events.