2020 has not got off to the best start for me. In some ways
I feel that my running has been stopped even before it has begun this year, so
in all honesty there isn’t really much to report on for my running in January 2020.
If I had one sentence to summarise my running in January, it would be one damn
thing after another.
After Valencia, and reflecting on the year I had in 2019, I
felt energised and ready to take on 2020. I didn’t really have the same
problems that I did after London 2019. My hamstrings seemed to be fine and it
was only my right ankle that seemed to be stiff/ sore. Unfortunately it was that
ankle, or rather the sole of my foot, that was to become the problem for me in
January. When I started returning to training in late December 2019, the sole
of my foot started to become increasingly painful. Of course I did the smart
thing and ignored it, thinking that I could just keep on running. Luckily for
my sake I had pre-arranged a physio appointment, and casually mentioned the
pain in the sole of my foot. With one swift and precise pressure point of the
physio’s thumb just above my heel, I nervously enquired as to what the severe
jolt of pain was; his reply was soul
destroying (see what I did there?): I had plantar fasciitis. The best way
to describe this problem, I wouldn’t technically call it an injury, is insidious.
It lurks in the shadows waiting for you to think that you are on the mend,
until you think you can quickly run for the train and then you are unpleasantly
reminded that there is no way you are running for a while.
This has meant for most of January I have been
cross-training, which is incredibly boring. I just can’t find myself being able
to mentally make the switch from ticking over the miles on a treadmill to
sitting on a bike. It gave me a new respect and a certain sense of envy to
triathletes, even making me consider how I could get into triathlon, that someone
could consider swimming in a pool or being on a bike for that long. Though they
would probably say the same about me running on a treadmill. What the
cross-training did allow me was time to think of as many puns on my new found
problem: I have been soul searching, save our souls, I think I might have put
my foot in it, etc. I should probably keep the jokes to myself. I managed to
keep the consistency going with my cross training, though I think I definitely
need to buy cycling shorts if I have to do anymore cycling sessions over an
hour. I even grew to like cycling and rowing. I began to start gingerly running
again with a good 12 – 14 week window to prepare for the Virgin London Marathon
2020.
My hopes for this comeback were dashed as I then succumbed
to a chest infection, which wiped out that cushioned training window for London.
Speaking with my coach, he still seems to think that I could prepare for London
and that we can reassess at the end of February. I am secretly hoping that I
have some fitness that has carried over from Valencia, though at this stage I don’t
want to get my hopes up. During the Summer of 2019 I saw this article from the
Trail Runner Magazine called: Dream
Big and Go For It. I had saved it on my phone for this very moment that I
am going through now. Whilst I love
running, I am slowly coming to realise that when you are passionate about
something you have to take the rough with the smooth. There will be moments
when things don’t seem to be going your way and you can’t see a way out, that’s
what happens when you care about something. David Roche- the article’s author-
talks about how it’s in our deepest, darkest moments that we learn about
ourselves; far away from the motivational quotes we see on the marketing of the
big sports brands and Instagram feeds. It’s in those moments that we can build
and grow. I hope I can treat my foot in this way and give London a pretty good
shot, isn’t it worth taking the risk and seeing what happens?
