Sunday 3 September 2017

Late scare

My blog is meant to be a journal following my journey over the last 8 years.  However in the last two years it's become more of a medical journal which is disappointing.  I have promised myself that after my recovery from G2G I will be rebuilding my body to reduce the chance of injury going forward.  As you know I "weaned" myself off my Hoka's on advice of my physio.  I was always worried about the toe box being too narrow which would have caused a problem with my feet expanding in the heat of the desert.  I switched to Brooks which were wider but caused blisters and the shoes fell to pieces - certainly wouldn't last 170 miles.  So onto Inov8 which I was enjoying running in. Till Friday.
My pal Derek Boyd took me for a 28km run/walk, my longest yet, along a trail which didn't involve boggy ground.  My left foot (my good one!) felt uncomfortable across the top and on three occasions I stopped and checked the shoe and my sock - nothing.  But towards the end of the trail my foot was in a lot of discomfort.  I woke in the morning with a bruise on my foot and when I tried to run I stopped after 50 yards - extremely painful.  Was it the shoes, the socks, the hard trail or the length of the trail (I hope not or I'm really screwed!).  I agreed with my coach to take a two day break which was ideal as we were taking my daughter to university so it was a welcome break.
My foot has felt fine since but we'll see what happens tomorrow when I pull the shoes on and go a run.  I might have to find myself another pair of trail shoes which wouldn't give me enough time to get used to them plus I need to get gaiters stitched into them which will take a couple of days.  Time's running out, tick tock.
I've also got to finalise my food and get the rest of my gear.  The food tasting is next weekend which I'm not looking forward to - it tastes completely different sitting in the comfort of your kitchen in comparison to sitting in the middle of a dust bowl!  I'll be posting a link to my JustGiving page tomorrow and hope if you can spare some cash you will donate to Maggies - the charity I have been raising funds for in the last 8 years.  If you know someone affected by cancer, please visit a Maggies centre.