Giving myself the run-around (Monday)

On Sunday I sprained my right ankle.  I wasn’t running at the time either.  It was Kim’s birthday and we were in town and I just happened to trip up a kerb.  I’m always doing things like that, I’m used to it.  But I had a bad landing, bruised my foot (black and blue) and pulled the tendons on my ankle and up the side of my leg.  I could barely speak with the pain and insisted I sit in the car while Kim and his dad carried on with their wander.  I probably shouldn’t have gone for a run on Monday then.  And I definitely should have given it a miss on Tuesday.  But I didn’t.

Monday was a cold and frosty morning, bright and clear and perfect for running.  I put a support on my ankle and decided I’d take it steady.  Trouble is I was enjoying myself so much I just kept going and probably went much farther than I should have.  I followed a familiar road but then decided to veer off the usual route and crossed the fields to Chacewater, where I then ended up having to run up a very steep hill.  By the time I got back home I’d covered about 5 miles.  Ooops.

It was so chilly even the horses had their coats on!

Peeking through the hedge. I spied strangers in the camp, and they'd run an American flag up their mobile flag pole. That's a dangerous thing to do in these parts. Unless you're flying the flag of St Piran you're inviting some vigilante action. And woe betide anyone that hoists an English flag, that's likely to incite a burning You probably don't believe me, but trust me Cornwall is a very proud, wannabe independent place. It has a culture very distinct from the rest of the UK. I love it.

Cross country running - not for girls! Not content with one leg in quite serious pain after the run I probably shouldn't have done, the other leg decided to get in on the action too. Still, no excuses accepted: Tuesday was a running day too.

I kept Tuesday’s run to a minimum, just over 2 miles. The return leg home, up a steep bridlepath, was agony on the poorly ankle. I had to walk more than I usually would, which felt like a failure. I decided to take today (Wed) off completely; maybe I’m trying to do too much before my ankle’s healed properly.  So with my spare time I took a look at a site I heard about over on Monica’s blog. The website’s called map my run and it’s brilliant!  You can literally map your runs, which gives you the distances of routes that you’ve devised; you can create a training journal where you can add routes, and personal details that tell you how many calories you’ve burned.  You can keep a record of your heart rate, your weight, how many times you train, what the weather was like; you can even search runs other people have added to the site.  It has a lovely feeling of community, which is great when you’re largely running on your own and need some motivation!  I even downloaded a half-marathon training programme and I’m dangerously close to signing up for one in October *shudders at the thought, but decided to feel the fear and do it anyway*!  It’s odd, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m the only person alive that hasn’t heard of this site.  Hey ho!

Anyway, now I have a dilemma.  I have a training schedule, but should I continue to rest my painful ankle or just run through the pain barrier?  I was planning on a short run tomorrow, but now I’m not so sure.  What would you do?  Run or not I do have a walk along the north cliffs planned for tomorrow, so some exercise is guaranteed!  Right oh my darlings, I’m going now (going to see if I can get an ‘early’ night!); if you have any suggestions for tomorrow, don’t be shy and let me know