2010, January: the road to Molly Malone's

[El Gordo]

Postcard from Spain:

Thanks to all for your good wishes and thoughts.

The big story of the weekend is the tremendous result for Sweder and LR -- a just reward for their dedication during the snowy period, and general doggedness whatever the weather. From the icy South Downs to the unseasonal heat of Almeria, they seem to turn in amazing efforts. I'm absolutely delighted for them.

Me? I'm really not too unhappy with my truncated race. In a nutshell, I felt fine in the morning when I got up, though the briefest of warm ups at el stadio instantly roused the auld enemy. Did some pre-race stretching which seemed to help, then set off. Took it very steady at the back for about 3 miles, then the Rambla appeared, which seemed to annoy the leg. It woke up, and seemed in very tetchy mood. The downhill seemed worse, interestingly.

About 2 miles further on it really started to get to me, so I stopped and stretched for a couple of minutes. By the time I rejoined the race I was literally right at the back, just in front of the sweeper bike and a couple of stragglers. I trotted on for about a half mile, limping quite badly. I knew I would have to stop to stretch again, and took the decision to cut my race short at that point. I didn't see how I would be able to take the breaks I needed with the sweeper bike right on top of me. Instead I ducked out, stretched, took a stroll along the sea front, stretched again, then rejoined the race in the opposite direction, jogging back towards the finish. In the end, it was a 9.5 mile training run which actually isn't too bad. Disappointing of course not to have felt able to finish the race properly but if I'd managed that distance at home feeling as I do, I would have been pretty pleased. Really, it's no big deal. Considering that I was anxious I might not even be able to start, I'm OK with it.

Today (Monday) it feels absolutely fine, but I know that it will flare up again when I run, so have decided not to join the others on their mountain run. To be honest, the leg doesn't seem to get worse, but I don't know if I'm just inviting a difficult injury by running two days in a row, so am playing it safe.

I had an interesting and useful visit to the gait analysis clinic which I'll talk about in the main entry.