I love this photo, I took it while in South Africa as I couldn’t believe that this marvellous lady was walking around with a hammer on her head! She was delighted to have her picture taken and giggled when she saw what she looked like!
My running is slowly slowly returning to normal after my return from Namibia. On Monday I saw my osteopath who was absolutely delighted and impressed that I had made the decision not to continue running in the Desert Ultra; he said had I decided to keep running I wouldn’t be running now or for a few more weeks as I would have caused a huge amount of damage to my already very weak ankle.
Over the next week I can build my distances up from 10k to 25k and do exercises on my wobble board 3 times a day then he will make a decision at my next appointment next Monday. I’m not very good at the wobble board and at the moment need to be supported by a chair either side of me, even then I have fallen off a couple of times. He did say that eventually I would be able to do the exercises with no support, we shall see! I am looking forward to being able to train properly for The Spine.
Talking of The Spine Race, my spare-room bed is covered in clothes and equipment I will possibly need for the race. After reading a blog about care of compasses I have purchased a new one as mine are years old (any excuse). I have also purchased a second hand laser tent from Joe which is marvellous so over the next few weeks will be practicing putting it up and down (especially at night) so it becomes second nature during the race should I need to use it. My next task is to work out how the dickens the front pouch attaches to my INOV-8 pack, it doesn’t seem to fit flat against my front at the moment so I must be doing something wrong. If anyone knows how the front pouch attaches to the main pack I would love to know!
Next week I’m going to sit down and work out my “race” or survival plan for the race. I find for me this is always a good thing to do as it helps me get out of a CP when its cold and wet outside and keeps me on track (as much as I can be). I have booked myself into the Masterclass on the Friday before the race as I need all the advice and tips I can get having not done a race like this for a long time. My GPS now has the route on and I’m about to mark up my maps with the CP’s – I’m getting very excited and can’t wait for it to start, its going to be a hell of a tough event. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to get up to the Pennine Way to do any recces as I had originally planned due to racing or other commitments – the last time I was there was in 2006 when I took part in the inaugural Pennine Way 100 Race.
Excited about tomorrows run it will be a grand distance of 16km! Onwards and Upwards is what I say.
Happy Training.
