Well, what a weekend!!

I decided at the last minute that I would go to Beachy Head after all. I wasn't going to run, only support Yumyum and the other forumites who would be there, but, of course, I packed my kit just in case I wanted a little walk with Yums at some point.

I drove there (after getting stuck in traffic it took 4 hours instead of 2) and by the time we got there, the calf felt ok still so I decided to walk half of it if I could and get the transport provided back to the start, for those who didn't want to do the full distance.
We got checked into our hotel then went to the pub (of course) to meet up with some of the others. We didn't stay there late as we wanted an early start and after a reasonable nights sleep we woke at 6.30am and were soon heading off for the start. We met up with Meldy, Barley, Bobbis and her running partner and Lurker at 8am - the official start time was 9am but we wanted to finish in daylight and knew some of us would be walking, not running.

The first hill was amazing, I had never been up anything so high without being in an aeroplane. We walked and walked and eventually got to the top. The weather was grey and cloudy with rain forcast for the afternoon and pretty windy but it wasn't too cold and we were walking as quickly as we could given the terrain.
At times it was grassy, stony, chalky, muddy, uphill, downhill but rarely flat, at least in the first half, which was the only part I was to see.
At about 4 miles I twisted my ankle on a stone, making my ankle sore for a while but it went off after about another mile and I thought it would be ok. We got to checkpoint 1 (mile 8.8) ok. It was a bit strange without any mile markers on the course to check our progress with but the time went pretty quickly. A little later I did the same thing again on the ankle but kept walking though by the time we got to mile 12 with the second checkpoint coming up the ache was radiating out to my calf and foot. There was a St. Johns ambulance at the checkpoint and I said to Yumyum that I would ask them to bandage my ankle for support and I would carry on until checkpoint 3 at mile 16 an see how it felt then.
Just as I had decided to carry on I stepped onto a large stone and the ankle went over big time. The pain was huge and I couldn't walk at all. I couldn't believe it. Yums took one arm and another lady who was behind us got my other arm and they helped me the 200 yards to the ambulace. Thank goodness we were so close to the checkpoint otherwise I don't know how I would have got to the next one.
The St. John's man iced and bandaged my ankle but that was me finished for that day. Yumyum was going to carry on as she felt good so I got the transport back to the start, fetched the car and went back to the hotel to sulk in the bath.
A couple of hours later I got a text from Yums who said she had 1 mile to go so I limped back to the car and went to the finish, where I saw Bobbs, friend, Lurks, Hippo and Yums who had all finished and were proudly showing off their medals and righlty so.
That evening we went back to the pub (where else?) and met up with some of the other forumites who had been there that day - about 15 in all. Then back to the hotel and back home in the morning.
Its a really tough course and anyone who completes it has every right to feel very proud of themselves. I am so pleased that I even managed to do half of it, considering the injuries I had been nursing in the preceeding couple of weeks.
The scenery is beautiful, the organisation excellent and as its now unfinished business, I will be back on the start line next year to get to the end.

Today the ankle is a lot better, the swelling almost gone and the bruising just yellow. I have a physio appointment tomorrow so will soon be back on the road, although slowly does it!

Thanks everyone, for the comments and encouragement.

The calf is still sore to touch, 8 days gone now. Counting down until I can run again. Its better for walking on though and I did 3 miles slowly yesterday without discomfort. It seems to be more painful after I have sat for a while and it has stiffened up.
I need to phone the physio for another appointment for next week. That's something I am not looking forward to as I know it will hurt a lot but its a necessary evil.
I had a trip to Aldi today - I know, I wasn't going to but I really needed that jacket and of course the hat, head band and socks were obviously going to jump into my hands as well.

I'm off for another walk now. Its a horrible day weatherwise and it keeps raining and blowing but it will seem better once I am out in it, rather than trying to think of excuses not to go out in it.

I spent some time with my fizzio yesterday and the upshot is that I can't plod for a while, not even cycle :0(A torn calf muscle has seen to that.But he has shed some light on why it keeps happening and all I may have to do is take more salt/magnesium in future. Apparently the cramp I've been getting while running has been so severe its tearing the muscle. He thinks I am sweating out the salt and not replacing it enough when I am on LSRs and that's causing the problems. I don't use salt for cooking or adding to food normally and although I drink plenty, it hasn't got salt added.
Plus some strengthening excercises of course.It would be good if it could be remedied that easily so I will be giving it a try.Yuk!
He did also mention a couple of other reasons I could be cramping up like this but the salt one is the easiest to remedy so I am going along with that for now. (compartment syndrome and thick blood were mentioned)
In the meantime, I will be trying to find something else to do and hope I don't lose too much fitness. Don't know what though!

Well, I have made an appointment for the physio for Saturday morning. I can't get there any sooner so that will have to do.
The calf is still painfull, especially when I have been sitting for a while then start to walk but its not as bad as it was a couple of days ago. I walked for a couple of miles this morning, slowly, but at least I got out for a while. I couldn't think of running on it at the moment though, it hurts most of the time.
I am trying to be phylosophical about it and think that I won't go to Beachy Head. Instead I will spend the money I would have spent there on my physio appointments and get this properly sorted and maybe I can work out a strengthening programme for the calves etc, so that this doesn't happen next time a long event is looming. There is the Neolothic Marathon in April and I will not miss that this time around.
I am sure I will be able to find something to enter to keep the training going before then too. And there is the Benfleet 15 - an off road, very testing course, at the end of January, which I also missed due to an injury (again!) this year.
I can't see myself concentrating on shorter events for long though, as its the distance ones that really excite me. If only I didn't keep getting injured, I could go for all sorts of things.
I will use this winter to try to combat whatever it is that is holding me back.

And I will try to keep blogging, don't want to get all down about not running this time.

Thanks everyone, for the comments. - and sympathy. It helps a lot.

I really was having a good run yesterday. Only a short one and the knee had just stopped hurting (is that now my definition of a good run??) when Wham! I got a big pain in the lower half of my calf muscle and that was my running finished for the day and probably quite a few after that. I couldn't walk properly and limped the mile and a half home. I spent much of the day with the leg up and on ice and today its slightly improved but not enough to walk without limping and shuffling. Not looking good.
I am more than midly pissed off and even a curry and a couple of beers didn't settle that angry feeling that's bubbling away inside. Yesterday was probably the most I have wanted a cigarette since I stopped smoking in January and I even got Hubby to light one so I could have a sniff.
The only reason I can think of as to why this has happened is that I have been compensating for the poorly knee and putting more weight on the front of the foot and the calf muscle as it makes the knee hurt to land midfoot some of the time. Maybe there is no explanation. Maybe I need to make my calves stronger because the long runs during marathon training are too much for them and break down the muscles too much. This happened last year with the other leg 3 weeks before the marathon, earlier this year. It seems to be a critical time, the heaviest training done then "ping", something snaps.
So, lessons to be learnt maybe. Until I can get back to running at least I have the bike to x train on and the dogs to be walked.

I hadn't run since Sunday as I wanted to rest the knee after the long run. It has felt much better this week so I went for a run with the club last night. I have been doing the stretches and excercises every day.

The run was good, but the knee protested for the first 2 or 3 miles, not exactly pain but pretty uncomfortable, then suddenly for the rest of the run it settled down and was no more trouble. Weird. I iced it when I got home and this morning it feels ok again. Today I will cycle to give it a rest again and the sun's shining so I can't resist going out in it.

I had a good run, going quicker than I thought I had. I haven't run that quickly over 6 miles for such a long time. It just shows what running with someone faster than me can do, and I was chatting for a lot of the time too. I was faster than my 10k PB of this time last year.

I didn't take my HRM as it goes up such a lot on the hills and I don't slow down to lower it on club runs (I would never catch them up if I did) , but it doesn't matter.

6 miles
57.33 mintes
Average pace 9.55

I have been doing lots of excercises and stretches as prescribed by my phizzio and so yesterday decided that a LSR was in order, just to see if I could get further than 3 or 4 miles.

The atrocious weather of the last couple of days had eased into windy sunshine and so I breakfasted on porridge and honey and took an energy drink with me and set off with my MP3 for company. I decided to do a 6 mile route on the road and see how the knee felt after that and then decide if I could do more.
The first 6 miles went by quite eneventfully, a little uncomfortable at times in the knee but nothing bad so when I got home after that I changed into my trail shoes and grabbed some water and jelly babies and set off for a hike round the sea wall. My knee behaved even better during this next 6 miles and I got back home pleased with my efforts but getting a bit tired and my legs aching from the long grass and stones. I changed back into my Nike Frees and set off again, slower but still enthusiastic and covered another 3.25 miles before I got back to the house and decided that I had done enough for that day. I did suffer rather badly with cramp in the feet and legs for the last mile and that carried for an hour after I had finished the run. Most unusual for me to cramp while running, maybe I hadn't drunk enough the day before. I had certainly not been deydrated on the run.
After a bath and some food I did my knee excercises and stretches and am happy to say that the knee didn't feel any worse than before the run.

This morning my hamstrings and lower back are stiff but that is all and my Pilates class tonight will help stretch that out.
I am smiling again and now looking forward to Beachy Head, knowing I haven't run as far as I would have liked to but I will be as prepared as possible.

15.25 miles
didn't time it
:0))

I haven't been very good at updating my Blog recently. This happens when I am feeling a little fed up with things and needs to be adressed now as its negative and doesn't help with the running at all.
(Thanks OSN :0) )

I rested for a week after seeing the physiotherapist and then had a 3.5 mile run on Monday( 2nd October) of this week, during which my right knee was very painful to start with but settled down after about half a mile. I didn't go further because I am so worried about messing it up with Beachy Head looming so close.

I went out again on Wednesday 4th and did 4 miles, again the knee hurt during the first half a mile then more or less felt ok for the remainder of the run. The left knee is also feeling a little strange but I am hoping that the excercises and stretches I am doing will sort out anything before it starts to play up. I think that the left knee has been over compensating for the right one and that is why its giving me a little gyp.

The injury is definitely getting better, but I suppose I need the confidence to get out and run again. I keep thinking "not another unjury, how many times is this going to happen before a big event" and suppose its dampened my enthusiasm, temporarily.

Its raining and very windy here today and that doesn't help but I may venture outside, even if its for a mile, just so I can say I have run today.

I have decided not to do the Southend 10k on Sunday as I don't think the hard effort needed to do that race will be good for my knees at all and so I will go out for a gentle run instead and with any luck will be back at the club next week too.

Monday
3.5 miles

Wednesday
4 miles
11.5 min miles
Age HR 144