Off games again

Over recent months my left heel has been niggling away at me.  It would generally ache after running, and I noticed it most when I got out of bed in the morning and the first few steps would be really hard work.  By last Monday it was really getting quite sore all the time, and that evening I led my first Romsey Road Runners session - 4 x 1km intervals around Braishfield.  Right from the off I knew it wasn't feeling clever, but I like an idiot I pushed with a grimace.  By the warm down at the end I was hobbling, and so it continued through the next day at work.

Kate at Romsey Physiotherapy Centre saw me on Wednesday.  It's acute tendinitis, which means no running for a while.  Goodbye RR10, and goodbye to the 2014 Thunder Run... I feel terrible about letting the OS team down.

It's a real disappointment, and no mistake.  Two off-games notes in six months - it sucks.  On the other hand........ I'm quite philosophical about this. The last time I had a running induced injury was in 2011, when my left hip seized up - it was essentially the results of two decades of running without ever bothering to stretch.  I can still cycle, and I'm learning about stability-giving muscles I've never heard of (specifically the gluteus medius) and how to exercise them.  I'm doing a bunch of new exercises every day which will, I trust, make me more resilient to this sort of thing.  This has got to be a great opportunity to learn something new and come out the other end a bit stronger.