Not much doing

My foot repair is turning out to be a bit more of a chore than I thought, even in my worst scenario imaginings.

Since the last run I’ve had pretty consistently located pain every day, starting much worse than the day ends. It’s worst as I swing my legs out of bed (unless Cathy’s cat puts herself under my feet, when the soft cushioning effect is undone by the screaming, scratching, biting sensations that follow…I’ll take the foot pain most days, to be honest!), doesn’t improve at all as I drive to work (operating the clutch seems to spread the foot, aggravating the sharpness of the ouch) and (now that I’ve remembered my more supporting site boots and it’s not a total swampy soup I’m strolling about in so I can switch footwear) then gradually improves over the day until I can almost walk normally when I get home.

I’m having a week off at the beginning of April and am going to book in to see a podiatrist during the week, my aim being to get some decent advice before I start running properly again. The last 3 years have now seen a badly torn calf, a stress fracture of the shin and whatever’s wrong with the foot (from my previous broken bones,  I think that the way it’s healing that it may well be a small fracture but I’ll find out if I’m being a drama queen when I go along in a few weeks) so any advice has got to be better than almost recovering, getting fit-ish again and then breaking down once more. I’m bored with wanting to run but not being able to.

Anyway, the upshot is that I’ve been increasing my cycling. I rode to work for the first time this week. The ride home was awful – straight into a constant headwind (not really a strong wind…just one of those that makes constant searching for a smaller gear a priority) which, as the road is basically straight and flat, then uphill and bendy, then straight and flat…all in the same direction, was nasty for a grand total of 16 miles.

The good thing is that, with a shopping trip to buy a paper (8 miles was a bit extravagant but it felt nice to be out in not many layers) and another to buy eggs (at 7 miles for the trip, again there are closer egg houses but none in such a scenic location), my mileage for this week alone has been 47, so while it’s not looking good, the 2011 challege isn’t quite a basket case yet.

Next update will probably be when I’m a year older, no wiser but a bit poorer with (hopefully) a way forward in running without crippling myself.

Great to see so many race reports on other blogs at the moment. Be better if one or two were mine, but hey. At least my garden’s looking good!

1732.95 miles to go.