Events and injuries

I've let too many races slip by without recording the times or even doing a random race recap, bad blogging form!!!  One of the many perks of joining a running club here is that we get several races per year for free in the BDL leagues and there is almost always a discount of at least £2 on other types of races.  Of course there is the bigger picture of having like minded people to hang out and train with at least twice a week, that camaraderie is priceless. So that brings me back to the first sentence of this post, there are too many races for me to recall! I've done several BDL races, one of which I managed to get a top 3 age category place in--something I didn't think I was ever going to see here in the UK, the competition is FIERCE--, a couple of parkruns, a half marathon, a fell race, a 5k I Nordic walked and I also got to tag along on an Orienteering event.

Along the way I also managed to sprain my  right ankle near the end of May right when my training was starting to fall into place and the times were falling again.  The sprain was actually the 2nd incident of the run, at around 1.5 miles in I caught some jagged shrub branches from where the canal trail had just been groomed that sent me sprawling (haze and sun combined made it difficult to see and I may have been watching a hot air balloon instead of paying attention to the trail).  Got up, looked around to make sure no one was around to see my mishap, assessed the damage and decided to keep on trucking........big mistake, another couple of miles in I took a detour to avoid ankle deep water and slipped into a hole and there was the all too familiar sound and feel of things popping.

Damages from the first fall

Sprained foot

This time around I took a proactive approach to rehabbing the sprain because I didn't want to be out several months like I was a few years ago when I did the traditional method of rest. I also knew it wasn't broken because I was able to stand on it with full weight with no pain three days after, if there had continued to be pain I would have gone for an x-ray at that point.  Lots of stretching, flexing, calf raises, and balance board work started just as soon as I could handle load bearing and I also utilized ice far less because research I had done indicated that it would prolong the healing process rather than help it.  Not saying anyone else should do what I've done but this time my strategy towards rehabbing the ankle worked.  

Events pre-injury

Derby 10k 

runNTU 5k group pic

runNTU 5k near the finish

Wirksworth Wiggle 10k

Best splits ever. May club handicap race

Favorite bib number

World Nordic Walking Day

Events after injury

Ramathon Half Marathon at start

Ramathon finish line

Ramathon medal

Ilkeston Running Club at the Hairy Helmet Real Ale Relays 

Best race swag!

First orienteering event (where I sprained my thumb!)

Funny face after the Derwent River Relays

Quick note, the Ramathon half marathon was my personal worst at the distance but I knew going doing it 3 weeks after the sprain that it wasn't going to be a speedy race.  I simply ran what I could and walked when I needed to, I stopped and stretched several times, talked to volunteers and other participants and generally made the best of the situation, I was going to get a finisher's medal regardless of my time :-).  One of the best conversations came towards the end when I started chatting with a girl for whom this was her first ever half and I loved being able to share in the joy at her achievement.