I can’t quite believe what I’ve done today and I’m quite cross with myself. I just do not know when to give in so I’ve obviously paid no heed to my reading on accepting that you sometimes have to stop and that’s not failure. Now I am a bit of a calamity when it comes to running, or any challenge really. I am better off having a chaperone to look after me and tell me when to stop. I’ve had to drive myself to Accident and Emergency before now to be stitched up after falling and cutting my arm open on rocks and have fallen down numerous times, I’m a bit of an accident waiting to happen.
Earlier this week I received a call from my cousin telling me he was coming to Yorkshire for the weekend and did I want to run Park Run with him this Saturday morning, a timed 5 kilometres around the local park and along the Trans Pennine trail and back. He lives four hours away from me now and we don’t get to see each other that often so I was so happy to hear from him and go and run with him.
With it only being two weeks to my mountain race weekend and being only a short course I thought I’d use it as an opportunity to do some speed work and run it as fast as possible. The last time I ran Park Run was before the pandemic almost three years ago and I was interested to know if I’m fitter at 51 than 48, and I have to say I was secretly thinking it might be a PB (Personal Best) opportunity despite there being a head wind on the way out and it having rained heavily five minutes before. Like I’ve said before I never race anyone else, but I do like to race myself.
The only slight problem was that since I went running on Tuesday night I’ve had a pain in the bottom of my left foot when I run. I could not work out where it was coming from. It felt like there was something in my shoe. I’ve washed my socks three times and could not feel anything, had the liners out of my running shoes but could not see anything and looked absolutely everywhere on the shoes.
Walking onto the course this morning I could feel it again so I took my socks off, shoes off, liners out and we both had a good look but could not see anything, so by now I’m thinking maybe it is a foot problem. I think the others were thinking I was slightly mad and imagining it but believe me when I say I have a really high pain threshold and if I say something is hurting, it really is hurting. But me being me I thought I’d run it anyway and still go for the PB. Why I have no idea. Well, I do know why, it’s because once I’ve decided I’m doing something I’m just driven to do it. I’ve always drummed it into my boys that through life you will get pushed aside, knocked down and things won’t always go your way but whatever you do, if you get knocked down 7 times, just make sure you get up 8………never give in or stop trying your best! But I do take it to the extreme and like to practice what I preach.
So basically I gave it my all and set off like a bullet out of a gun, or perhaps more like a rat up a drainpipe, and at various points along the route was in quite a bit of pain, to the point where I actually thought I was going to be sick at the end. I actually look in pain on the official photo below. The high level of my pain threshold and proof of my pain was confirmed when I hobbled back to the car, desperate to get my left trainer off, and my foot up on the steering wheel to examine it, to find a blood soaked trainer liner and a puncture wound in the bottom of my foot, but I still could not find the cause. I am as blind as a bat without my glasses on.
The cause was eventually found, by someone with better eyesight than me. Whilst out running on Tuesday night I must have stood on a very large, thick thorn from a hawthorn bush, like a nail now it’s out of the trainer. It was so big it had gone all through the thick spongy base of my Hokas, through the sole and when the pressure of my foot was on the liner, straight through the liner and into my foot, leaving quite a hole. It’s now been extracted from the shoe but the very tip of it is still in my foot so tonight’s delightful task after dinner is to try and extract it with a pair of tweezers as I daren’t show up at the hospital again with another self-inflicted running injury, wasting everyone’s time. Fortunately, I fall down that often my tetanus vaccination is up to date.
So the downside is I am hobbling around with a sore foot, so tomorrow looks like a gardening day or something less adventurous until it feels a bit better.
However, every cloud has a silver lining and I was overjoyed when my result came through. 27 minutes and 49 seconds!! A personal best by over 30 seconds, my first sub 28 minutes, under 9 minutes a mile and second in my age and gender category. And all with a thorn in my foot! So life really does begin at 50, not only have I moved up the queue for a Covid vaccination I’m like a fine wine maturing with age, just getting better and better…..hahaha! The only thing now is I’m wondering if I’m actually slower or faster than normal with a thorn in my foot so I am going to have to repeat the whole exercise just to see.
The other upside is because I’ve now had my wings clipped for a day or two, this afternoon was a steady afternoon, off my feet, and I got to spend the afternoon lunching with my Mum and Dad, my absolute world! Love them to bits. Fortunately she did not notice my slight hobble, does not read this blog, and will learn nothing of this incident because believe me, she might be tiny and over eighty but I still get told off on a very regular basis, I can’t think why?!?!
So every cloud really does have a silver lining, I’ve got a hole in my foot and a bit of tweezer surgery to perform tonight, but I got my PB and a lovely afternoon with Mum and Dad.
