Stopped in my tracks

Disaster has struck. I injured my left foot last Thursday.

I ran for an hour, it was a nice run, I didn't get any stitches, it was all fine. And then, an hour later, I started to feel a sharp pain on the outer region of the foot.

By the time I finished dinner, I was seriously limping around.

Six days, much rest and an ankle guard later (yes, the pain spread), I went to see the doctor. And he has insisted that I will risk further injury to an already strained foot, especially if I stopped now and then went out to do 21km.

Ray of course is adamant that I not run; I'd thought that Marathon Man Martin would say just do it, but sigh, even he said to write it off and come back stronger.

So............................

I've emailed the organiser to defer my place (hopefully not too late), and start looking out for year-end HMs. Maybe I will recover in time.

Just feel very frustrated! It's been my only real goal for the year, and I've been gaining real momentum, feeling good about my small progress, actually looking to it despite the butterflies and trepidation, then this.

Please wish me a speedy recovery.

Saturday's run

Tyres pon-cheh. I only ran 40 mins. Ran to Blackheath, and then through the Cator Estate, came out on Lee Road, ran back into Blackheath Village, and then back home.

Not sure how long I ran, but I didn't enjoy it. I kept wanting to stop, and shuffled most of it. My (lack of) motivation to check the Google pedometer shows how much I enjoyed it. Not.

Having somebody run with me rather than in front of me, and then back to wait for me, is a far more effective tool. Sigh. I guess I can't ask for too much. At least he came with me. Will we ever be running buddies? I have my doubts. Serene says she cannot run with her BF; she has a hard time catching up, and he'd cramped if he slowed down for her. Ok, so even Iron(wo)Men types don't expect their life partners to partner them on the run. I'd have to keep that in mind and say it's okay lah. At least I get to sleep with him ;)

Longest run ever

On Wednesday, I ran for 1 hr 25 mins. The distance? 12km. I've done 13km on the treadmill before, but I don't think that quite counts, does it?

Pace was slower than the 10km, but I lasted for longer, and I did not stop. I know. I couldn't believe it either...

We ran along the canal near his house at Old Street, and then around Victoria Park, and then back. Felt surprisingly okay, but I did start to develop a bunion or corn on the side of my right toe. Ouch ouch ouch.

Took a quick shower and was late for dinner with Becky and Yvonne. Ate less than I'd expected/usually do after long runs. Guess my brains were pretty much fried...

I gave myself a silent pat on the back. Question is, how am I gonna do much longer than this, and without my trusty wing man on the day itself? I am still hoping that Martin will change his mind about running the Great North Run and come see history in the making (i.e. me doing the half-mar).

Running mojo

After not running for almost a year thanks to three surgeries, a move to a different country and a vast assortment of excuses, I finally took part in my first race in a long time.

The Nike Human Race was held at London's Wembley Park on 30 August. I was very nervous about it; I had only trained for two weeks, we took off almost two hours after we got to the venue, I was very cold (it was held at night) and I'd only had a light lunch and half a granola bar afterwards.

To make things worse, the so-called performance (Moby and some band called Pendulum) took ages - and then the emcees had us do warm-ups! Good grief. Do the organisers run themselves? It was so badly organised and communicated... But that would take an entire post altogether.

Just when I thought it could not get any worse, it started to DUMP with rain, while we were in the pit waiting for Wave 3 to be flagged off. I was utterly miserable. "What the heck am I doing here?" I groaned.

But anyhow it was too late, so off we went. Miraculously, I ran it in 1:04:06. A better time than back home, and certainly better than I'd expected given my lack of prep work. Having a running mate and the cool weather (ironically) helped tremendously. Also, I didn't get stitches until about the 7km point which allowed me to gain some distance with (relatively) less pain.

So.......................

Now I've to somehow (more than) double the distance and try not to die on the way to the finish line, in time for the Run to The Beat half-marathon on 5 Oct!

I have resolved to use this blog as a way to chart my agony, I mean progress, and share the pain of trying to find my running mojo back.

Today I got on the treadmill and did 6km in 47 very painful minutes. Oh crap.

I guess I just need to not look back and soldier on. Wish me luck!