Road to recovery

A few sports massages, physio, osteopath visit and countless painful stretches on the foam roller and I am running again. Kind of. It's not any more painful than before and resting did no real good so I'm attempting to get back to normal. I've ran most days since starting back at school 3 weeks ago - all relatively flat and slow but I'm on the road to recovery and that's what matters. A sub 4 marathon was definitely not going to happen in Amsterdam so I've managed to drop down to the half. Since 10 miles took me 1 hour 33 on Saturday a pb half won't happen either despite the city's fast and flat course. I'm just going to go and enjoy it!

This week has been slow to start due to what I like to think of as mokfest fatigue however I've settled back into my usual routine of 5.5 miles on Monday followed by spin. Tuesday I'd normally run a total of approx 8 miles, at least 6 with the club but I only managed to get in a quick flat 6 miles to the sheep fanks. This particular Tuesday was the handicap 3 mile race night at Westport, a hard run that I was quite glad I had an excuse not to make a fool out of myself coming in last place - I had been invited to a civic reception with the Scottish Cabinet during their visit to Campbeltown. It was an entertaining relaxed night where guests could mingle with the ministers. I was glad of the opportunity to highlight the need for sports facilities, namely a running track, as well as plugging mokrun and kintyre. I'm pleased that not only did MSP John Swinney love his morning run along Machrihanish beach but would hopefully attempt mokrun next year! My excuse for no combat on Wednesday was also good - the Cabinet had booked out my venue. Something I had a wee dig about when I met the first minister later that day!

Recently, in my obsessive internet research about my hip injury I discovered I was most definitely an under pronator. From comparing my well trodden Nike running shoes to pictures online I was quite shocked at how badly I'd worn in my trainers at the sides, so much so the rubber had came off the sides! After some investigating I decided on buying a new pair of asics cushioned gel trainers. The beauties arrived today and I tried them out on an easy 5 mile run down to the jetty. Love them! Pain still there but maybe it's manageable.