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Friday 13 January 2012

Getting old and decrepit



Yesterday was a rest day as I had to make a trip into the Big Smoke for a meeting with Diabetes UK. Actually, it would have been a rest day anyway, because my legs were still sore from the previous day’s run – that’s what you get for not keeping up with things for several days! I’m already starting to feel as though I’m running out of time, as the race is now just over eight weeks away, and at the end of Wednesday’s run I would still have had another ten miles to go!

I had considered going for a run this morning, as I’m all fired up for it, but I still have some niggling twinges at the back of my right calf, which is the area most prone to injury. It’s so frustrating because prior to breaking my leg I could happily run for 6 days a week with no problems. Now, the biomechanics of my leg have altered slightly so that my foot placement and angle is just that little bit different from what it had got used to over the 45 years prior to the break. I don’t call it an accident, because there was no accident. I didn’t fall or hit anything, and nothing ran into me, I just put my foot down for the umpteenth time in the race to take me one step closer to finishing the marathon and my leg snapped! I dare say age enters into the equation too, although I don’t feel I’ve succumbed yet to the loss of muscle mass that you are supposed to experience after 50.

Anyway, enough rambling about that and making excuses for why I didn’t venture outside this freezing January morning! I was determined to do something, so I blew the dust off my exercise bike and determined to put in a few non-impact kilometres on that to burn off some calories and keep up the aerobic fitness. It’s quite a good quality bike – a Kettler Golf E – that I bought as part of my rehabilitation after my leg broke. Since 2004 I have done just under 1500 kilometres, which isn’t a great deal considering the timeframe! The main reason I don’t use it much nowadays is that I much prefer to go outside for a run, with all the sights, sounds and smells (apart from the sewage plant!) it brings. I find cycling on a static bike incredibly boring – the only thing worse is a treadmill in a gym – so I thought I would dig out my Steps Gold DVD and  move my legs along to the beat of four of their finest!

This morning I chose ‘Chain Reaction’, which has the lovely Faye Tozer dressed as a nurse, followed by ‘Here and Now’, which isn’t one of my favourites, so couldn’t wait for that one to end! Next up was ‘You’ll be Sorry’, which is quite an obscure ‘hit’, and finally ‘It’s the way you make me feel’, which wasn’t bad, but couldn’t wait for it to end as my legs were starting to tire and I was perspiring profusely! Should have turned off the heating before getting on the bike! Glancing down at the display (I try not to look at it whilst I’m pedalling!), I see that I did 9.3k in 15’ 04”, burning a total of 324 calories – thought it would be more! Fifteen minutes is laughable really, but it is slightly different to running and I haven’t used the bike for ages. Perhaps if Claire and co. had entertained me with some of their more popular hits then I would have done better – I blame Steps!

I can’t believe how well the fundraising is going! After launching my appeal on Tuesday evening, by last night I was up to 92% of my target, with several pledges of donations to come when people get paid at the end of the month! Oh dear! I wonder how much of the rush of donations is due to my tantalising ‘special secret’ that I have promised to reveal?  Well, it seems to have added a good element of fun, although whether I will appreciate the humour when I have to divulge the dreadful truth remains to be seen! Hope to get back out for a proper run tomorrow!

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