I missed out on the Dubai Marathon; thinking Michelle would not be too pleased with me abandoning her in Riyadh for her and Jess’ last weekend in Kingdom while I sauntered off for a run and a party! I did however sustain a fairly heavy work-rate in the gym and dropped a few more pounds. Chris returned from Dubai after finishing in a good time for his first ever marathon attempt, and regaled stories of outstanding efforts by Mo and Iain from Riyadh Road Runners. They both came within the top 60 finishers; which confirmed that Iain would be leaving me for dead on MdS.
Chris had managed to get Iain’s business card and put me in touch – Iain and I soon had a meeting arranged for a bimble around the Diplomatic Quarter together. On Monday night we set off as the sun was setting (very romantic), expectations managed by me complaining of a heavy pack, and Iain still be a bit stiff from running a very fast marathon 3 days prior. To be fair we were travelling at an unexpectedly fast rate (for me) and we were on for at most an 85 minute loop until disaster struck. At about the 10km point the sun had disappeared and I was taken by surprise by a speed bump. My knee snapped back the wrong way and catapulted me into the air, fortunately I managed to push out a half decent roll to avoid any other damage, but suffered swellings to my right knee and ankle. Iain was initially a little concerned that he may have to carry me back to the car, and at about 65kg to my 90kg; that would have been a greater feat that his Dubai time! I made it to my feet and managed a gentle limp for another kilometre of so and Iain said he’d run on to the North Entrance Car Park and collect his car and would meet me at the South Entrance, which was only a few hundred metres further on for me. We went straight for emergency aid at the Starbucks where I sank a vanilla latte!
The tendons in my knee are feeling pretty tender after 3 days of rest and ibuprofen, but the ankle is fine. I anticipate being back on the exercise bike by Saturday and running by next Thursday. I have taken great inspiration and comfort from reading ‘Feet n the Clouds’ by Richard Askwith, kindly lent to me by Nick from riyadh Road Runners, and happened to read chapter 6 whilst recuperating by the pool yesterday. Anyone that has the book may read back and recount the torturous injuries that Askwith and many other fell runners suffer on a routine basis and just crack on and ignore them. My knee hurts, and it is a hugely annoying time to have an injury, but I will get over it, and I will be training again in a few days. I’ll take the opportunity to get some conditioning done – skin conditioning sat by the pool and getting a base tan!
Fund-raising is going well and I‘m up to £1700 so far. Thank you for the support, and if you have any suggestions for potential sources of sponsorship; let me know.
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