Patience

Right, Saturday morning, I was determined to go for a run with my daughter, Abbie, who's just recovering from injury. We both needed to do some miles, so I planned this route which had a couple of hills/slopes in to give us a bit of a challenge. We had done over half of the 11 miles, and I thought we were going well and we were really enjoying it. In fact, I was determined to stretch it out a bit and put a bit more into my running. 

I had almost got to the top of another slope when I felt this tug in my left calf, and then pain. We stopped and walked home.

I had torn a calf muscle. Did all the wrong things, including having a hot bath. But it didn't feel too bad... thought I'd be back running in a week or two. Then I read up on pulled calves on the internet and I became much more concerned. I knew I didn't have a Stage 1 injury (minor taking 1 week or two to get it better) or a stage 3 injury (requiring surgery!!), so it must be a Stage 2...... prognosis, 4-6 weeks for full recovery after total rest.

I have the Brum Half in 6 weeks time. So now I feel really low, as I thought that I was on the way to being able to complete it and not completely flop. If I recover in 4 weeks, that might give me a chance of doing it.... but if it's 6 weeks.... no chance, not running.

My biggest fear is that I'll rush it and try running again before I've recovered and do some more damage. So I have to be patient and wait it out and do some stuff to aid recovery.. ibuprofen, ice and compression.. I think this is helping. What is not helping is seeing other people running around Brum. I want to be out there doing it!! In fact, I'm surprised at how much I do want to run..... So I have to be patient, and hope and pray that I recover quickly enough to be able to do some limited training before 21st October. Will wait and see!