Monday, June 16, 2008

With a Little Help from my Friends!!


Dinner at Cape Cod to celebrate Tony Booth's 70 birthday - congratulations Tony!
And today is Mr B's birthday so we had our family celebrations last night and a lovely lunch today.
Back to Saturday and the reason for the title of this post. Mr B and I both met up with CJ, Steve and Michael (the mountain goats) at Molonglo Reach for a scheduled 2hour 30mins run over "gentle" (!!) undulations. We ran out past the golf course, Campbell Park Offices and to the saddle between Mt Ainslie and Mt Majura. We also followed part of the course of the Bush Capital Marathon and the Mt Ainslie and Majura monthly handicap courses. Some of those undulations did not feel gentle at all although compared to last week's effort it was definitely a lot more "runnable". However, the cold southerly wind did tend to make us glad we had taken our long sleeved running tops.
About 19km into the run my foot hit a rock on the very uneven surface and I felt the ground coming up to meet me and with a very loud heavy thump I landed face down in the dust and lay there very still not daring to move just thinking "damn, damn, damn (or words to that effect) - the Gold Coast is in 3 weeks"! Mr B was nearby fortunately and helped me up when I decided to lift my head and gave me a much-needed hug and assisted me to walk very slowly until I managed to start running again with blood dripping from my knee and elbow and dirt all over my face, which he kindly brushed off! We caught up with the others who were waiting patiently at the top of the hill and after stopping to admire the blood we all continued on our way for the remainder of our 27km run.
Back at Molonglo the mountain goats and I stood thigh deep in the icy cold water where I could wash off the blood and last five minutes until the numbness set in and we clambered out again. At this stage I didn't feel too bad and thought the cold water aided recovery.
Distance: 27km
Time taken: 2hrs 54mins (approx) - I kept forgetting to turn my garmin on!
Average pace per km: 6:20
Calories burned: approx 1500
In the afternoon I went out for coffee in Kingston with friends but while driving there I felt my knee stiffen up and it was difficult to limp to the table. During coffee I started to feel worse, the pain increased and those dear friends of mine had to help me to the car and drive me home to lie flat on my back with my leg raised and an ice pack. Needless to say not much sleep was had that night and my knee swelled up like a balloon! The pain subsided yesterday somewhat and although it is still stiff the swelling is going down and I think I'll live!! However, I will rest it for a couple of days before running again - dammit! With only three weeks to the Gold Coast here's hoping I can run again by Wednesday!
Yesterday Mr B drove me out to meet up with Marg, Barb and Carol for a final coffee before Barb returns to live in Aotearoa. I will miss her heaps. It's great having another kiwi accent around. I spent the rest of the day preparing Mr B's birthday dinner very slowly!!
Today the interesting part was negotiating the 48 steps to my office - hmmm. However, I definitely feel improvement happening. I will be back!

6 comments:

  1. Hills? Why don't you do it in the road?

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  2. There were no hills, CJ fell over last year on a bike path and did more damage than that. Have a look at the image of Mt Tennent I posted, my 2nd attempt, and Ewen says I owe you $50 for an hour's instruction. Your've worth more, just get it from Ewen.
    Three weeks to GC, plenty of time to recover, the taper has started, and the reason you need a big base of kms in case something goes wrong.

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  3. Goodness me, Strewth, what on earth are you up to??!! Or should that be 'down to'?

    You'll be fine for the Gold Coast. Almost time to taper anyway, so just be more careful when you next go out running...please!

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  4. Oh no Strewth!!!! That's CJ's trick.

    Hope its healing quickly. 3 weeks is loads of time, you've done all the hard work already.

    Take care now!

    PS Tony Booth ... the name rings a bell. Is he ex Social Security?

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  5. Mr B buggered up by not taking a phone photo of your dusty face and bleeding knee - it might have topped CJ's "CJ" from last year!

    Oh yes... Happy B-lated Bidet Mr B!

    I can run from home tomorrow.

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  6. We don't need to know the exact words, since we've been there and done that.


    Best wishes for a Healthy recovery.

    ReplyDelete