I’ve had to make the difficult decision not to run the Frankfurt marathon at the end of the month.
On 19th September, I celebrated my birthday with a 29km run (one kilometre for every year) around Oxford as part of my marathon training plan. It went well, and although I was tired and sore that evening, it was to be expected over such distances. However, the next day my right foot felt terrible and I could barely walk. I spent Sunday afternoon with a bag of frozen peas on my foot. I assured myself that it would be fine. I’d recover and be up and running again soon.
Three weeks later and it was still fucked. I had a steady ache on the outside of my foot that wasn’t getting any better. I visited a physiotherapist who diagnosed me with tendinitis, gave me a sports massage and fired ultrasound at my foot – pretty cool, eh? – with some remedial stretches and exercises. He reckoned it would get better in a week, but two weeks later, I’ve not fully recovered. I went for a short one mile run last Thursday, and my foot was OK at the time, but painful the next day.
I’ve now missed a month of my training and am unprepared for the race ahead, risking permanent damage if I try to run on my injury. All of the sporting sentiment about Never Giving Up might work in Hollywood, but in real life, sometimes you’re just not ready. Never Giving Up can be stubborn and stupid, and I am often both those things, just not this time. I am gutted that I’m going to miss the race after putting all that work and money in, but it’s better to admit defeat this time and live to run another day.
The good news is that in the long run, I am Not Giving Up. Once I’ve recovered I will start running again, and am thinking about where to attempt my first marathon next spring . If you’ve sponsored my fundraising efforts, thank you so much for your support, and thank you for being the first to sponsor my next run – the funds will carry over.
