First Race of 2010

It’s been touch and go whether I’d make it to this Sunday’s Sheffield Half Marathon but it’s looking like I’ll be lining up with 5,499 others for the 13.1 miles through Sheffield’s streets.

My last post before Christmas promised more effort, more focus, more training. In the immortal words of Meatloaf, two out of three ain’t bad. I’ve certainly been pretty focused, and it’s seemed like a lot of effort but as for more training, well……..

It all started so well with regular runs to and from work in January, despite the snow. I took it nice and steady, with a good slow build up, and then in early Feb something happened inside my knee which meant I was unable to run for a month. Trips to physio, GP and knee specialist determined it’s most likely a meniscal tear. I’m awaiting the results of a recent MRI scan on it to determine the next steps (excuse the pun).

Despite this, a long weekend of snowboarding, a bout of tonsillitis and further winter ailments, I’m back running and hoping for the best. There’s no pain as such now when I run (not in the knee at least) but it feels a bit odd, kind of tight and a bit tender. I gave it a real wallop when snowboarding too which hasn’t helped so I’m not sure if it’s the aftermath of that, or something linked to the original injury. I’ve only stretched the training runs to 75 mins max so far so the half marathon should be an interesting test – I’m certainly not aiming for a PB.