relief at last

I cannot begin to describe how relieved I was to wake this morning to a relatively new sensation of late - no pain in my heel whatsoever.This is 95% thanks to my new orthotics that I picked up on thursday. I cannot put into words how elated I am now able to run, walk and arise pain free. To Andy Bull you are a genius, thank you.

Being injured is a very testing place to be between the ears because the reality is that you are never 100% certain about when you are actually going to be able to do so without discomfort or worse still, doing more and/or permanent damage. The biggest lesson I learnt is that knowledge is great however sometimes you need guidance via an expert. Find someone you can trust, let go a little and let someone else help guide you down the path of recovery. The second biggest lesson is to remain patient - and this was difficult. Lastly know your limitations. I know this sounds a bit trite however running with an injury doesnt turn you into superman and make you stronger, it just makes your recovery that much longer.

Meantime whilst finally running pain free in the foot I stepped out 4 times last week, tuesday morning, wednesday evening, sat morning and late sunday afternoon. I also ran at lunchtme today. I am really struggling to get some strength back in the legs and I am carrying a couple of unwanted kgs around the lumox which isnt helping.

It was 3 months to the day that I ran 83 minutes at the SMC half. Today I would be absolutely rapped to crack 100 minutes. Despite the lack of pace I am hoping that if I build up my kms gradually I can worry about speed in a month or so when the weather cools and I am not carrying any spare baggage with love handles!

Most of my runs have been around the bay (how I have missed the bay) and I am not even close to running it under 30 minutes at present. Last year sub 30 was the benchmark even on easy efforts or on double laps.

I also did a 17km in around 90 minutes with '26' on saturday morning. Thankfully 26 took the conversation reigns as I was struggling to breath let alone talk! But it was just nice to do something I had taken for granted for so long. The run really hurt but it felt like business as usual once I got home, recovering quickly and getting into the day.

Without getting too caught up too soon, I am now looking at setting some goals for the year. At this stage I ahve 3 runs in my sights, with hopefully a natural progression, herald half, kempsey marathon and then a red hot go at Sydney, it would be pretty special to run sub 3 hours there. Along with the striders 10km runs this plan of attack allows me to build up gradually to where I want to be in September.

Last November through impatience I tied a great noose around the neck of my Canberra aspirations. I will endeavour not to make the same mistakes again. But who knows whats around the corner, all we can do is take charge of what we are capable and trusting in the big bloke to keep an eye out. He doesnt look out for blatant acts of stupidity however, he leaves that for us to work out! Whether we choose the smart or dumb path is in our hands entirely. That for me I think is the main attraction to running, choosing our destiny.