Born to Run

I’ve always ran; while playing football or British Bulldog, or trying to shake off that feeling of euphoria you get after seeing a really good action film at the cinema. However, I’ve never been a runner. As a sport, plodding around an oval or across country never really appealed to me.

And then I began to to experience the strangest desire to run. I’m not sure when it started, but I think it was after watching joggers bob along the pathways in Central Park in New York in the spring 0f 2008. And if I’m being honest, I think it was a reaction to the fact I’d recently developed shin splints. Now you want to run?

However, for the next five years, the very thought of being able to go out for a five km run that didn’t involve chasing a ball seemed unlikely. Playing five a side twice a week caused my lower legs to ache, to the point where I was barely able to run during games. I had x-rays done, orthotic insoles fitted, even an MRI; nothing unusual showed up.

Then, last summer, my right knee swelled up apropos of nothing. When it returned to its normal dimensions, it did so with a cadence of sharp pain, most noticeable when I climbed stairs. I went back to the doctor, who referred me to the physiotherapy department at the hospital. They diagnosed bursitis and referred me to the physiotherapist at the local health centre. He diagnosed a muscular imbalance and gave me acupuncture and exercises.

I started playing football again, but before long the knee was tender and swollen after games. Nearing the end of my tether, I booked an appointment with Achilles Heel Sports Injuries Clinic in Glasgow. Shona there suspected I’d suffered anterior cruciate ligament damage, and also had some scar tissue behind the knee cap, but that it wasn’t anything I couldn’t compensate for. Over the course of four or five months, she helped me work out a programme of exercises to strengthen the knee, and as my confidence grew, the notion of running returned.

I bought a pair of £95 running shoes, that allegedly address my over-pronation issues, downloaded a running coaching app, and started pounding the streets of my hometown on Saturday mornings. Initially, it was hard work, but my legs felt okay. Distance running is a very different beast to the sort of running I was used to in football, which is more of a mixture of sprints, short bursts, jogging, and the occasional standing still waiting on Davey retrieving the ball from the other side of the fence. It was around this time I saw the Paisley 10k advertised, and the idea of entering a race took hold again.

With something to aim for, I continued training, although this was interrupted in June when I managed to trip over the ball at football and twist my good knee. I rested for five or so weeks, which ate into my preparation time, and only returned to training three weeks ago. Last week I ran at Parkrun in Pollok Park for the first time, and completed the five kilometre course in a time of 33 minutes. I’d done about as much as I could.

I did buy a magazine book on how to get started in running last week, but aside from that I didn’t do a great deal of research into how to maximise my performance. I was willing to write today’s event off to an extent, due to my knee, and the fact it was my first race. I was more concerned about lasting the course than doing it in style.

I did okay, I guess. 1 hour and seven minutes, which represents an age grade of 39.85%, which according to the Runner’s World website represents

Your age-graded score is the ratio of the approximate world-record time for your age and gender divided by your actual time.

To score 100% you would need a time of 27:10.

Your age-graded time is your finish time adjusted to that of an open division participant using a factor for age and gender. Thus, the times for women and older participants are adjusted downward, while the times for most open division participants (such as 25-year-old men) remain the same.

That actually represents a slight improvement on my performance at last week’s 5k, where I scored 39.55%.

The best thing about today’s race was crossing the finishing line, getting a medal, and knowing I’d finished the damn thing. The best thing about today was the shower I had about an hour after I finished. As I type this, I have a compression bandage and anti-inflammatory gel on my left knee, and an ice pack freezing in the kitchen. Everything below my waist hurts; my hips, my quads, my knees, my hamstrings, my feet. I have half a notion to enter another 10k this year to see if I can improve my time, but I have a physio appointment on Wednesday that may dictate if I’m forced to rest up for the foreseeable, or if I can keep running.

Right now, I’m sore but I’m happy. I’ve achieved something that I set out to do, and I did so by working my arse off, and trying not to get too despondent with the litany of niggling injuries I’ve had the last five years. I haven’t always been able to see those sort of rewards for my endeavours, so this is definitely a boon.

August 2013 Update

The comeback continues. In my last update, I wrote about how I’d sprained my knee playing football, and how I was worried it had jeopardised my participation in the upcoming 10k road race run and 75km cycle to Edinburgh I’d signed up for.

Thankfully, the knee appears to have healed quite well over the last nine weeks, due mostly to a period of enforced rest from exercise I guess. Four weeks after the original injury, I’d attempted to play football again, and I just didn’t feel right the following day. However, two and a half weeks ago, lying on my bed on a comfortably warm and sunny Sunday afternoon, I decided that it was too nice a day not to get out for half an hour or so on the bike.

Thankfully, there was no major reaction from the joint this time. Encouraged by that, I’ve logged 118.3km in the last 18 days. 50.4km of that was accounted for by a 3 hour long ride out to Lochwinnoch and back last Sunday, which equates to roughly two-thirds of the distance of the Pedal for Scotland course. With that challenge being less than five weeks away, I’m now feeling a little more confident about my ability to last the distance than I was in July.

I managed to get out for a run as well last Saturday. I’m still making quite a slow pace, but I’m more wary about what running will do to my knees than the cycling. In fact, the app I use suggest I should be running three times a week, rather than the once I’m currently managing. We’ll see if that changes over time, but at the moment I’m working towards completing the 10k in less than an hour. I’ve potentially only another two training sessions before the race though.

In other fitness news, my college assignment is (hopefully) done and dusted, so I’m getting back into the gym, and last night my sister and I attended our first Muay Thai class. I’m still not sure where I stand on pugilism, but her neighbour runs the class, and she asked me if I wanted to go…

I did karate for six months or so last year, and I am intrigued by the notion of being able to handle myself, ostensibly for self-defence purposes, but…I do like punching things. This may represent a way for me to dissipate my permanently tumultuous anger in a controlled fashion.

Interestingly, the instructor asked me what hand and foot I preferred, and when I told him the left, he suggested I adopt the southpaw stance. However, the vestiges of the karate training led me to continually fall naturally into an orthodox stance (you learn the orthodox stance in karate, regardless of your limb dominance). My sister also suggested that my right hand was more powerful, although I don’t know if that’s because I was attempting to punch harder with that hand. Anyway, aside from the combat element, it was an extremely good hour’s workout.

I won’t update again until the second week of September. By then I should have completed both my 10k and my bike ride. Wish me luck!