I'm not my usual self of late.
Since late October I have been off road.. No no the ultra marathon kind but sidelined due to injury.
Approaching 45 and never before been injured. And it has happened...again. Race withdrawal but not just ANY race.. Boston.
Now I have to admit that since 27th November (my last post) I have had shockwave therapy. Did it work?
Firstly I should say that it felt like having a metal ball bearing rammed into your heel - not great but then it did feel like it was dissipating the problem (or so I thought).
So did it work? In short "No".
It is now end January and I have cancelled my flights to Boston, cancelled the hotel and written to Boston advising them of my withdrawal.. I also bailed on London Marathon as that too was off limits.
My heart goes out to anyone who has been sidelined through injury. IT SUCKS.
You do need to go through the grieving process as something that has become part of you vanishes overnight. I have come through the other side and having foolishly tried to "test" whether I was getting better with brazen 5k's - I have to concede defeat.
I have been off my feet now for 26 days I have not run.
25 days ago, the day after my last run I could not walk. I managed to walk though - to an osteopath.
I have realised that I have spent ages trying to address the symptoms rather than the cause.
My leg is completely tight, to such an extent that my flexibility had gone down to c30% on my foot.
So prognosis: Swimming, cross training (no foot impact) and stretching....lots and lots of stretching. And deep tissue pain (not even a massage when someone is digging their elbow or knee right into the most painful of painful places and pulling you around in an effort to right many years of wrong).
I am hopeful of a full recovery but need to be patient and embrace the downtime knowing that one day soon, maybe even this spring I will rise like a phoenix and run my 10th (and final?) marathon. There will be nothing left to prove at that point and I can maybe go back to being an ordinary bloke who once was not bad at running.
Wishing all you sidelined folks a speedy recovery - keep positive!
