I’m beginning to get the impression that someone upstairs doesn’t want me to go and run in the Desert Ultra which starts on Sunday. There have been times over the last month where I really thought I would have to pull out, its been a real mixture of highs and lows.
It took me longer than I anticipated to recover from the Spartathlon and having had just over 2 weeks off from running I went back but the body wasn’t wanting to play games so I continued to take it slowly but was getting my knickers in a bit of a twist with the Desert race coming up and I needed to do some backpack training. Ray emailed me my two week programme which I was happy with, 5 sessions which included 2 long runs with my pack and a fast 25k run with my pack. Monday morning came and I did my first session then popped off to see Ken my Osteopath who tweaked me but said everything was OK.
With this great news and my “I love my trainers” feeling having returned I set off on the first of my long runs with pack. 3/4 of the run was good but the last section something was bothering my left leg so I cut the run short by 15 minutes, stretched and went home. I felt as though I couldn’t straighten my leg properly and each time it was extended it felt very painful – next stop sports massage – no further running – not happy (depressed, hacked off face)
Thankfully I managed to get an appointment with Ken the following Monday who said it was nothing serious and could try a 2 hour run without pack the following afternoon which I did and it felt much better but not perfect. The long and short of it is my leg is SO much better but this week I am also not able to run if I want to make the start line of the race on Sunday, frustrating yes but its more important to rest/recover now and be able to run.
There is always an upside if you can’t run – more time to organise my all my kit!
This week has been very exciting with the arrival of my new PINK very glamorous gaiters with thanks to Race Kit who have very kindly designed and made them up – you will have to agree they are spectacular and will look fabulous in the Desert!
HWMBO & I leave tomorrow for Namibia, I can’t tell you how excited I am to have the opportunity to run once again in such a stunning location, with the added bonus of all the wild life we will see; so close sometimes you could almost touch them. HWMBO is helping to crew and I am running or staggering depending on how my leg goes and plan to really enjoy the experience. My pink camera is charging and ready to go! One of the reasons I began running in the first place was to see amazing Countries like Africa.
Yippee goodbye to the lows and hello to the highs! I’m a very lucky lady; Africa here I come!
Happy Training and see you when I get back.
