I always thought if I ever started a blog my first post would be about exercise or something I had cooked. Unfortunately life has had other ideas. Having put off starting the blog due to lack of time, I now have too much of it.
A few weeks ago I had a pretty innocuous accident, tripping over something and staving my toe. I do this all the time being slightly accident prone with a complete lack of spacial awareness. 😂 I was in my last week of marathon training, and although my foot was sore during the last week running up to the marathon, I decided it was a bearable level of pain. Like I say - tripping over things and banging into things is something I do a lot.
During that last week I did 2 short runs, 4 miles on the Tuesday and 3 on the Thursday. I was definitely aware of the pain in my foot, predominantly the outside of my left pinkie toe, but continued to believe it was nothing serious, and that the rest day prior to the marathon on the Saturday would help.
I was super excited about the Dramathon - a marathon that starts at Glenfarclas whisky distillery near Ballindalloch, and finishes at Glenfiddich whisky distillery near Dufftown in Speyside. I had trained really well, even deciding to pay for a coach and 12 week training plan for the event (Sophie Dunnett, Performance Endurance Training). Despite a couple of niggles and a ridiculous amount of money spent on sports massage and a chiropractor, I actually felt great in the 2 weeks leading up to the marathon. I would say I was the fittest I have ever been.
Myself and the other North Highland Harriers doing the event drove down on the Friday from Caithness, with some of us even getting to Glenfarclas in time to register on the Friday.
On the morning of the marathon I felt great, I knew I had trained really well and the weather forecast for the day was brilliant - around 12 degrees and a bit of wind coming from the south west. couldn't have asked for much better really. Myself and my fellow NHHers really enjoyed all of the pre race build up at the Glenfiddich Distillery.
The start of the race was exactly how I wanted it to go. My plan had been to run the first few miles where most of the downhill section was at between 9:00 - 9:30 mins per mile so I had a little time to play with on the hills to give me an average pace for the race of 10 mins per mile. The only problem was the pain in my foot was getting progressively worse with every mile I ran. By the time I got to around 7 miles (see pic below - still smiling but it is hiding the pain I was experiencing) I knew I was not in a good place. I was struggling to weight my foot correctly, and in all honesty I probably should have pulled out here. Instead I ran for another mile or so before I realised I needed to stop and make my way back to the last marshal I had seen about a mile back. I'm guessing adrenalin got me through that walk back because by the time the marshal drove me to the doctors at the finish area I could no longer weight my foot at all.
Sitting with ice on my foot waiting for the other Harriers to finish I knew I had done something serious, but at the time I thought it was maybe just a broken toe. A lot of folk helped me get first to Caithness General Hospital that day, and then home to Thurso, without them who knows where I would be! Unfortunately though, I was told after x-ray that I had broken the bone down the outside of my foot - my 5th metatarsal. Complete disaster. 6 weeks or more in a moon boot and on crutches, and most likely no running for the rest of the year! ðŸ˜
Physically and mentally I am in a great place, and my training went really well. I need to remember that during my recovery period.
Physically and mentally I am in a great place, and my training went really well. I need to remember that during my recovery period.
