Oooops, I did it again!

Ah well, maybe that's the falling out of the way for the year?!  I certainly hope so!



Photo by John Kynaston / WHW Race Family

It was the annual West Highland Way race January training weekend last weekend, and always a great opportunity to catch up with a big group of lovely people, run on the best trail in Scotland, and have a good scoff at the Oak Tree Inn, who are not averse to hosting a bunch of sweaty ultra runners in various states of joy, despair, sobriety and drunkenness!
My plan was to join on the Saturday and do a 20 mile out and back.  The 'full' run is 30 miles to Inversnaid and back, but I've not done that distance in January for a few years, and felt that 20 would be plenty for this weekend.  I was going to be running with Carol, which meant good company for the day, and an opportunity to explore 'the low road' which I hadn't yet been on!

I was also mostly planning to take the van, and stay over, if the run went well, and the lure of chat and a wee glass of wine got the better of me....

I don't have pretty knees at the best of times

However......this happened.....(I do wish I'd picked that bit of skin off my left knee before the pic.....)

After a lovely 11 miles out to cover most of the low road - which is lovely, and has some interesting steps and climbs on it, and is much more in keeping with the true feel of the further lochside path....covered mainly with Carol, and chats with others, including Lorna and Kirsteen, who had run Rowardennan to Millarochy to join us...we ventured on the return, and just shy of Rowardennan....BOOM....down I went!

I'd had a few stumbles earlier in the day, so it shouldn't have come as much surprise.  And boy, did this one sting!!   Both knees, both thighs, both forearms (somehow my brain told my body to not put my hands out to save me)....and luckily not my face (Carol's first question!  Mine was 'have I smashed my Garmin??').  Carol was a great first responder and made sure I didn't get up too soon, and that nothing was hanging off.....

Photo by Fiona Rennie

When I managed to get up (with Carol using her unbroken collarbone side to help me), I had a rush of blurred vision and nausea and needed support to walk along a short while to a big rock, where we could administer some paracetamol and get some big gloves (by this point I was proper Baltic!).  Carol phoned Lorna to come rescue me, and I felt ok-ish to start walking for a few minutes, and then an adrenaline fuelled shuffle.  Come Sallochy, and Lorna wasn't quite there, so I opted to push on (feeling super guilty for wasting Lorna's time (however she managed to rescue someone else later, so not a totally lost cause)).

Made it back, to complete 22 lovely miles!  And straight into the Oak Tree for a seat by the fire, and big cup of coffee (thanks Julie, I owe you one!), and then remembered my emergency £10 and got some soup, while Laura (first aider) checked out the bleeding knees (another ruined pair of XBionic tights :-().  Decided I wasn't dying, nor did I need antiseptic scrubbing!  After a shower (thanks Helen), and the challenge of getting into my skinny jeans(!) Sean also checked me out when he got back from sweeping, and we decided, other than having had my second set of painkillers too soon, I was ok to drive home (I was still feeling a bit puggled and needing a rest with my feet up!).

Photo by Fiona Rennie

3 days of rest...Sunday and Monday suffering extremely pounding head (we think there was some concussion), Tuesday a little more 'normal', so back to some training on Wednesday with hot yoga before work (postures involving kneeling were a bit of a challenge) and a short, flat run after work...decided there is not material damage, and with arnica pills, massaging with arnica lotion, and taking care, I will focus on getting on with it.  There's nothing else for it!

Thinking about my gait on today's run, I think I have a bit of a roll out on my right foot, probably from the historic medial ligament damage, weak adductors, tight IT, probably some glute issues.....aaaah, plenty to work on then!  Plenty of time to make progress, and I've treated myself to some shiny new Hoka Speedgoats...just in case!

More another day.....