Following a thoroughly pleasant week away from work during which the only poor weather was on Tuesday and having done far more mileage on my bike than I normally would in a desperate effort to maintain some form of fitness, I really wanted to go out for a run this evening if for no other reason than to see if I still could.
The podiatrist on Tuesday gave me hope for recovery and the bio-mechanical assessment and gait analysis gave me at least an indication of what’s wrong in my running form so I’ve taken it upon myself to start running again pretty much now. It’s been 6 weeks, after all – plenty long enough in my mind, if not my body!
The invalid insoles I was given have been put into my New Balance trainers – very lightweight racing shoes which I hope will encourage me to tread lightly, think about my stride and footfall and assist recovery without masking errors and further foot damage before it’s too late.
And on top of it all I selected a route along the Greensand Way, a (predominantly) off road footpath that is conveniently located by my front gate. Off road running with odd insoles and new(ish) trainers. Hmm…right back to the good old days of running cross country in the snow in Doc-Marten boots with Richard when he was getting fit for his entry into the army…completely mis-matched apparel for the terrain but all about the feel of the run, not the image! My hope is that a forced change in terrain as well as the podiatrist bits and pieces may change things for the better in the long term so mechanical aids can be dispensed with…cavemen didn’t need odd insoles, after all (who said cavemen normally died around my age, too…that’s simply not fair!),
And today, Matthew, it felt good.
I’m not running fit by any stretch (I did an out and back and took 28 seconds longer over the “back” than the “out”) but it wasn’t about the time or the effort involved, really, merely about the foot and the getting out there.
The little road bit went swiftly, the effort involved in running on dry trails was partly increased by me not being used to the change in stride needed to avoid holes, lumps and many, many stiles which, while prepared for, still amused the part of my brain that calls for steady running above all else. I wasn’t sure whether to do the last link that was explored on Wednesday and decided not to since I reckoned just over 3 miles was enough of an outing to see if I am up to running properly again yet.
It was hopefully a good choice.
My plan is to go for another short outing on Sunday and, next week, to investigate the path that surrounds the site in Rye – not sure how long that is but it has about a mile of pavement involved, I think, so may be a bit more of a test on the foot than this local one. I’ll see how it goes.
At the moment, though, all is feeling reasonable enough. Fingers crossed it remains that way tomorrow.
1613.16 miles to go.
Fingers crossed as requested.
Fingers and toes crossed. Sounds promising, anyway!