Finished with February

I would like to give a narrative of how I overcame the plantar fasciitis, that my running became easier in February and that- as I write this blog- I am relishing the prospect of getting stuck into some hard training. Unfortunately for me things have not worked out that way. Life has a habit of showing the sometimes vast that lies between how you want something to and how it actually turns out, whilst in the process providing an incredibly humbling experience. Many positive catchphrases refer to these moments as passing storms or learning experiences, which they can be; however it certainly feels like I am in the middle of it and it is starting to become ever harder to see how things will play out. What I do know in this present moment is that I am going to have to take a step back in my running and focus on healing myself before I can stuck into serious training and racing. This in turn has led to the hard but relatively straightforward decision to not run the London Marathon 2020.



I have always been a fan of the London Marathon, since watching my brother-in-law run it in 2013 and being blown away at the power of running to bring people together in a positive way. Since that date I trained hard to obtain a good-for-age spot to secure my spot at the London Marathon, which I did in 2015. Only actually running London in 2017, as I managed to injure myself in 2016. It is this experience in 2016 that has influenced my decision. Back then my calf injury meant that I was knew that there was no way I could even run a few miles, let alone a 26.2. This time my problems are more ambiguous and not so easy to tackle head-on.

My plantar fasciitis became more manageable as January 2020 drew to a close I thought that were as an opportunity to still get in a decent amount of training for London, and then enjoy the experience. I then started to feel familiar problems with my left hamstring, which after a trip to the physio turned out to be my back. With that sorted I started to return to training, only to get a persistent cough; which did not get any worse but meant I stayed clear of running so as not to aggravate it. Slowly but surely, along with glute strengthening exercises, I started to string together continuous days of running. However my back has started to become problematic again, with what feel like issues down the side of my left leg. Since then most of February has been about managing this back issue along with trying to maintain my running.

This is what led to the decision to pull out of running the London Marathon 2020; I simply wasn’t in the shape to start doing the mileage- especially the long runs- and the sessions to be able to enjoy the marathon. That’s not about to a certain time, it’s about being fit enough to get round the course. Of course there was an element of ego involved but it was more than that. I realised that it would have been more egotistical to attempt the marathon, simply because I believe that I had to do a marathon each year. One of the reasons I started this blog was to record my journey to working towards running at London. I have always enjoyed London and every time I have ran it, it has taught me something about my running.

Whilst my running is gradually increasing, my main aim is to get fit for serious specific training and to return to that comfortable feeling; where you can just go out the door and take a nice slow run without thinking about any niggles. With all this going I have noticed that I gone three different levels of approaching my running:
1) Being disappointed about not being able to run at the London Marathon, and thinking about what races I will have to miss out in Spring 2020;
2) Getting perspective on not being able to run a marathon in Spring, and thinking about what shorter races I can attack instead;
3) Realising that even serious training is becoming difficult and adjusting my expectations significantly to understand that the aim now is heal my body.

I think the most frustrating thing with all of this is that I feel like each week there is something that I need to recover. It doesn’t engender the most positive mindset, but I have learnt a lot from my hamstring injury last year and am determined to not let it affect me as it did before. There is a part of me that wonders if this is a way of my body letting me know that I need a rest, after training hard for two marathons in 2019. Maybe I need to look at my running in a different way? Rather than trying to smash through each workout, instead trying be flexible and adjust to what is going on in my life. I certainly know that the continuing legal problems with my house have not helped, but then life is always going to be like that. Nothing will ever be perfect, and sometimes it’s about learning to thrive in the presence of challenges. Just maybe not this time.

Right now my main aim is to heal my body and enjoy my running again. I just want to recapture that feeling of going out the door, going along my usual running route and then realising that all I am paying attention to is world around me rather than the thoughts in my head. It may take a while, but I am prepared to hang in there. Hopefully I can look back at this episode in the latter part of 2020, have a chuckle and think what I learned from it.