Hmmm, well that wasn't quite what I'd planned as part of my comeback from injury - another injury! What had started out as an easy Sunday morning run last weekend ended up as anything but. I was bowling along quite steadily on a stretch of towpath that I've run on thousands of times over the last 30 years with absolutely no problem at all. All of a sudden, about 2 miles into the run, my toe caught a piece of rock / concrete protruding from the path and the next thing I knew I was flat on my face! I'd fallen quite heavily on the rather unforgiving gravely surface and, inevitably, ended up with bloodied hands, elbows, knees, thighs and tummy (well, if I will wear a crop top!). A combination of pain and shock, or perhaps a slight bang to my head, then caused me to pass out! Luckily a few passers by stopped to help and check I was OK, which was really kind of them. I did have to have a little chuckle to myself, though, when one lady, who I'd just passed minutes before, said "I saw your legs sticking out across the path but thought you'd just stopped for a rest"! Little did she know that I have, in the past, run 62 miles without stopping for a rest! She then went on to say "you're the lady who wins everything aren't you - I recognise you from the paper"! I found that rather amusing too! Anyway, I eventually staggered to my feet and managed to hobble / walk / jog the 2 miles back home and then spent the next hour or so picking bits of gravel out of my wounds!
So the upshot of this little mishap is a very sore knee, which I hope is just bruising and nothing more serious, and a slight setback to my attempt at returning to fitness. Luckily it hasn't come at a crucial time and I guess that I've been relatively lucky regarding trips and falls during my 30 years of running (in fact I can't actually remember any), so in all honesty I was probably due one! After a couple of days off I'm now back doing some very easy, short runs and have even faced my demons and run on the same stretch of towpath again! Providing my knee is just bruised, and nothing more, it may even have been a blessing in disguise - stopping me from trying to do too much too soon in my in build-up from the hamstring / stress reaction injury.
So with my running being less intensive at the moment I've had more time for other things, including taking part in some events to help promote the Aviva Women's Cycle Tour, prior to it passing through Warwickshire on its second stage. It was fantastic to see top class international women's sport on my doorstep. I was also very honoured and privileged when, a few weeks ago, I was invited back to my old school, Stratford Grammar School for Girls, as guest speaker at their Sports Awards evening. It was a fabulous evening and I thoroughly enjoyed presenting so many girls with awards for their achievements in such a wide variety of sports; and it's great that their achievements have been given the recognition they deserve. It's clear from the awards I presented that there are some extremely talented sportswomen at the school, but it's also fantastic that all the girls have the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of sports, at all levels. I hope, too, that my speech might just have inspired them in some small way - the fact that I went from an average runner to Great Britain international by having dreams and ambitions and working towards them with hard work, dedication, commitment, patience and perseverance. I told them there are many opportunities out there waiting for them, and I hope they take them and get as much fun, fulfilment and satisfaction as I have had from my own running career.
From my own point of view, I was delighted to have had the opportunity to 'give something back' to the school where, really, my athletics career began with huge encouragement from Miss Lawton, my PE teacher at the time. It was while there that I first had the opportunity to try the 800m and 1500m, and found that I enjoyed those events and was better at them than sprints, jumps and definitely throws! So I then joined Leamington C&AC and haven't looked back since! Then, when I was in the sixth-form, I started a lunchtime cross-country running club as up until then we didn't do cross-country at school. I'd started running cross-country for the club, really enjoyed it, and wanted to do schools events too! We went on to win medals in the Warwickshire Schools Cross-country Championships and I'm really happy to say that my legacy is still going strong. The school still competes successfully at cross-country races nearly 30 years later.
So that's about all at the moment really. I guess it's a case of seeing how my knee is over the next few days and trying to steadily build back up to the hour's running that I'd got to just before the towpath incident. With regard to the hamstring tendinopathy / stress reaction, I don't feel I'm completely out of the woods with that yet as I'm still getting some pain / achiness, but am following my physio's advice and working closely with him both in terms of building the running up and specific hamstring strength exercises. I'm also working on addressing a strength imbalance between my right and left legs. So I guess it's a case of 'watch this space' for further progress updates!
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