My Gimp Foot

I hit my first road bump in my big 2009 running season on Saturday and that is my first (and hopefully only) injury of the year and at 2 weeks out from my first and highly anticipated race the timing could not have been worse.   Up until Saturday morning I was feeling very strong and confident in the weeks leading up, running the perfect mix of tempo, strength, speed and long workouts week in and week out to get in top shape for the big events in March, but the Dirty Duo orientation run would see that I would not end the day feeling as good about myself as I did when I started it.

It was a good turnout at Jaycee house for the 8.30am start, a few new faces and a few familiar ones and we set off relatively easy into a 3 hour LSD.  I chatted a little bit at the beginning, before setting into a rhythm and comfortable pace at the front and really just enjoyed the company of the early morning light breaking through the trees and the sounds of the forests and feet running through them.  I was running up front with Sam and Ray and no one really knew the route that well so there was plenty of stopping, reforming the group and then heading off again and it was after about an hour into the run after one of these group reformations that I did the damage.  I had just downed a pack of Honey Stinger’s as the group reformed and started to take off again. I found myself about 4 back in the pack and the pace was back to easy as we traversed over to Old Buck which I eagerly wanted to climb.  As the pace was easy and I was excited and still full of beans, I found myself running the edges of the trail and rather carelessly hopping from foot to foot and perhaps not even concentrating on where my feet were landing and it was then that I felt the familiar ankle roll to the outside of the foot.  I say familiar as you experience a lot of half rolled ankles running trails, especially technical trails, but usually you are lucky enough and light enough on your feet to stop the roll at the breaking point and keep on going.  Not today unfortunately, as my ankle rolled I continued to apply downward pressure and I actually felt and hear a little pop… Ouch… That wasn’t good.  I stopped immediately to let the runners behind me passed, luckily enough Ray was last in the group and held back with me.  Initially I tried to run it out, foolishly I might add, but it became blinding obvious very quickly that if I wanted to race at all in March, I needed to get out of the trails and off my foot.  I ended up walking to meet up with Sam, Nicola and Ray (who was kind enough to run ahead and report my gimp status to the leaders) and they directed me down a trail to which I could find a shopping centre and hail a cab, which was exactly what I did.  By the time I got back to my truck and then home, I literally could not take any weight on my foot at all.  I hopped down he street to London Drugs and spent up on Ice packs and rented a pair of crutches which unfortunately 3 days later I am still heavily dependent on.

So, as it sits right now, I cannot walk, or run, or even ride a bicycle.  I still have high hopes of racing on March the 7th so am religiously icing and elevating my ankle and sending out the right signals to the universe that come March 7th I will not only race the 25km leg for my Team but race it hard and finish competitively!

Gimp foot run route