Injury Challenges & Ultra Marathons

It’s been a while since the last update. I have been focussing on building distance over the last few months since the Mont St Michel marathon back in May. I have been training with some guys and was involved with the Team Jersey Trailwalker 100km challenge, and was set to take part on July 14^th but I unfortunately came down with IT band issues on my knee a few days before and had to withdraw. As it was a team event I felt that I wasn’t in good enough shape due to the knee and felt that I  would let the team down if not able to complete the challenge. Here is a great link to the story about the Team Jersey Trailwalker record attempt and you will see that they managed to be the first civilian team over the line and break the mixed team record by 20 minutes in horrendous conditions! http://www.takeachallenge.org/100km-Record-Attempt.aspx

After having to withdraw from the trailwalker it was quite a difficult time, I had intensive rehab and a cortisone injection in my knee to try and get back ready for Round The Rock 48 mile ultra marathon here in Jersey on 28^th July. I had a test run a few days before the event and the knee felt ok so I entered and my racing season was back on track!

The race itself started at 6am in St Helier and it was a beautiful sunny day. My goal for the race was to improve on the time of 9hours 25 I had set last year and if nothing else to finish due to the precarious nature of knee! I set off and made good progress but quickly realised my knee was going to be an issue. I had prepared for this and took ibuprofen which seemed to dull the pain and made good progress to the 25 mile mark and check point 2. I had a drop bag here and decided to wear a knee support which seemed to take the pressure off the IT band however I did find that if I stopped at check points for too long the knee seized up and took a while to get going again. I had an embarrassing moment at checkpoint 3 where I was running into the checkpoint tripped over a stone and faceplanted into the floor, cutting my hands open all in front of about 40 or so people!! I managed to carry on and whilst it was hot I managed to finish the race in 8 hours 26 and come 19^th place, which was an hours improvement on last years time. The legendary Daniel Doherty won the race in 6 hours 15 which is amazing and he said he had had a tough day!

So next for me now is my fundraising for Jersey Hospice for the Marathon des Sables in April of next year. I am not sure where all the time has gone but it seems scarily close! I am running this Saturday on a treadmill with a friend in the local M&S in St Helier to raise funds for Hospice as well as other events planned over the next few 
months to achieve my target of £5000.

My Just giving page is http://www.justgiving.com/Paulsdesertrun if you would like to donate, and it tells you a little more about the charity I am raising money for.