It was time for my 4th run of my 14runs charity campaign and this time it was the Rock'n'Roll Liverpool Marathon weekend. For me the half marathon was my run of choice as I wanted to play it safe after the Excalibur hill/mountain marathon only 2 weeks earlier.
Believe it or not or tragically or not it wasn't the Excalibur that caused me injury problems, it was a little innocent fast paced 5k training run 4 days before around the Marine Lake in Southport.
I managed to develop a slightly painful twinge in my Hamstring on that run and I carried on thinking it was fairly innocent as I have encountered it before and it has always gone away quickly. This time I rested it and massaged it with heat lotions etc and muscle rubs and in general it felt a bit better but I could still feel a s slight pain and knew deep down that it may be a problem on a longer run i.e. a 13.1 mile half marathon.
I tried Ibuprofen gel a few times and that felt quite good, and I foam rollered it a few times but the muscle didn't feel tight so it was never going to help it.
The day itself...
On the day it was compression gear on and hope the compression shorts would hold my hamstring comfortably and keep it happy.
I got the train no problem and walked around no problem, said my hello's to friends and shortly was ready to go at the start line...
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| On starters orders. |
Off we went at 9am, I was in wave 2 as I had put 1hr 40min down as my estimated target time months and months ago as 1hr 41mins would naturally be my next PB time target after my current 1hr 41min 36sec PB I currently held.
I had set my Garmin pacer at 1:40 as a target if I miraculously had a good day, but I had pretty much told myself don't be stupid and just try and hold it all together and get through this in one piece as I had lots of bigger runs to go in my running campaign.
A mile in I pretty much could feel the familiar pain down the back of my hamstring so knew it was going to be a painful struggle. I pushed as much as I could without getting puffed out or getting a more painful response from my leg. It seemed to hold so I pushed on.
It was a warm day and I had a compression top layer on under my THHN charity vest and this now was distracting me as I tried to decide if it was worth it to strip it off and then run on whilst carrying it with me for the entire remainder of the run. It often makes me feel ill if I get too hot on runs and if it's a hot or sunny day in general I can run a serious risk of feeling like passing out, and being too hot also taxes your energy usage and directs blood away from vital organs to cool your blood when you really need it to stay in your organs to run efficiently. I decided to leave it on as I was confident I would slowly cool as the run progressed.
We ran through the usual roads and routes that you do if you regularly run BTR Liverpool events or indeed these new Rock'n'roll Liverpool events.There were several landmarks involved including the Liver Buildings, Cavern Walks, Chinatown, Penny Lane and several of the parks and open spaces that are fastly becoming a regular place for parkruns to take place. Last year I ran the full version of this event and I have never been so glad to of chosen the easy option this time around with the half.
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| Half Marathon route for 2015. |
The pain stayed and I was worrying whether I would or could get to the end even though in my self I felt good it was just the Hamstring that was killing me, but stopping was never going to be an option for me unless it stopped me first.
I ran on and counted the mile markers and was looking forward to seeing the higher numbers and getting them behind me and starting the countdown for the second half of the run. I eventually got to the the 9-10 mile markers and was counting the minutes til I finally hit the Otterspool promenade and the 3-4 mile run up the Promenade to the finish.
At this point a guy running next to me commented about this is where it gets tough etc..etc..and he asked me what time I was going for? in truth until this point I hadn't looked at my pace at all as I didn't want to find myself behind target and stubbornly up my pace to catch up and end up with permanent injury through stubbornness and pride.
I had told myself I would push a bit without risking further injury and I was happy that I felt I had, although I was sure my pace was rather too comfortable to be on for a PB time.
I was amazed to find upon glancing at my Garmin that I was actually on target for a new PB and 37 seconds ahead of the pacer on my Garmin. This meant if I could maintain my current pace I would indeed crack a new PB time.
But there was still 3-4 miles to go and it was windy and it was the long long long run back up the Promenade and if ever I was going to slow and tire it was going to be here.Quite frankly a 7:38 min per mile pace or less was a big ask from here.
A big thanks to the same said guy I was running with as he was also on for a 1:40 as well and he pushed on with me, and some times I seemed to push on with him when my pace dropped. If he hadn't been there I genuinely think I would of slowed and probably just gone sod it it's not worth it.
We eventually got to the last mile and a bit and he wished me luck as I upped the pace for the last mile as I usually have something left in the tank for the last mile once I know that is all that is left, and usually a little more left for the last 200 metres or so for a sprint finish attempt.
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| Finish line crowd support for tired runners. |
Well I hung on for dear life and got over the line in....1hr 39mins and 07 secs!! a new PB for me and I was well chuffed although you wouldn't of thought so if you saw a finish line picture as quite frankly I was buggered and in serious pain.
I managed a subtle limp into the Echo Arena for my memento T-shirt and race medal bling and a bag of refreshments and then I took myself a comfy seat in the Arena seating area and watched people come in as I chilled out and rested.
Post race....
So that was it run done, I almost got away with the injury but I was now limping badly and made my way to the outdoor stage area outside the Arena and spent a couple of hours with fellow running friends and running friends in particular from my charity running group I have set up recently.
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| Some of my great running friends. |
They did a great job of distracting me from my woes, and while I was stood up or sat down I honestly couldn't feel the pain so I was confident it was not serious damage like a muscle tear as it was not tender or sore to touch at all, merely painful upon movement.This made me confident it was a slightly pulled hamstring and gave me confidence a couple of days or so would cure it.
I eventually wandered to a friendly runners pub called Rigby's in Liverpool city centre where I had arranged a meet up of our group, and I enjoyed good company and a few pints whilst trying my best not to move as the pain was getting worse unfortunately, as no doubt the inflammation was getting worse, but as said sitting down was no problem.
Getting up to go to the loo every half an hour or so was a serious problem as this entailed a Journey down and then back up the infamous Rigby's runners revenge steps, but it's always a good gauge as to how your legs are recovering as they seem to get slightly less painful as you drink more.
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| Some of the great friends from my running group. |
Long story short it got worse, I eventually struggled like hell to walk to the train station and indeed from the train station to home without looking like a constipated penguin, but I got home and stayed home, via a visit to my local Italian take away of course as I didn't fancy walking to and fro my kitchen making my tea and supper etc, plus it's runners law to reward yourself after a hard run event.
I had to arrange with work for an additional day off as the one I had booked was not going to be enough.
When I got up on the first day it felt a bit better, and as I'm typing this blog now it's going between numb and then painful again when I get up, but overall it's on the mend and I'm taking a week or two off from running to give it a good chance to heal up.
Thank you to everyone on the day at the Liverpool Rock'n'Roll half&full marathon event for putting on such a good event and in particular the race director Rob Griffiths and all his staff and marshals and volunteers on the day, including lots of local running clubs who manned some of the water stations, Penny Lane Striders and Wallasey Athletics Club to name a few.
Next run event and charity run for me and my campaign is the BTR Tour of Merseyside 6 day running tour, it's going to be tough and I need to watch my hamstring now and stay safe because all my tough runs are coming up in July,Aug and Sept so bear with me folks, keep your fingers crossed for me and thanks for all your ongoing support.
Donations as ever can be made at the following link:
https://www.justgiving.com/14runsthesequel
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