It hasn’t been all plain sailing since my last post on January 29th. Thursday the 8th February, on a routine morning 3km run, soreness in my right Achilles sharpened in one blow, tearing the right calf in a split second of excruciating pain. A grade two tear has kept me firstly in rest and recuperation building from total rest to light walking (strolling) to brisk walking and after three weeks, some light running.
I certainly didn’t want to come back early, and make it worse. Which make me very nervous as our first “fun-run” approached on Sunday the 4th March. Right up until the morning of, I wasn’t sure of me taking it on but I chose to. Here I was in prior to the run with my wife Sharon and daughter Tayla.
And I survived. My wife and daughter killed and I completed which was my major objective and ran for most of the course which was beyond what I thought was possible. The first kilometer was the toughest and as always you get carried away with the crowd, and after just 500m my Achilles was in ache mode. My mind went to a bad place and I contemplated pulling out, but instead chose to stop, stretch and walk to keep warm.
I again started a slow, light jog at the 3km mark and alternated for the next couple of kms until finally achieving completion and an average time of over 7 minutes a kilometer. At that rate, I could plan a time for the 42kms of the New York Marathon of just under five hours. Something to aim for.
I will rest for the next day or so, as the calves will tighten up but stoked with the foundation that and the confidence that run brought. The next run is in six weeks and my goal will be to be running again and to aim for the full ten kilometers. Fingers crossed the dodgy calves and the tight achilles holds me up.
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