Previously on Hes not mental, hes an ultra runner.....
October: I ran the Lakes in a day ultra and finished =10th and took the rest of the month off to recoup.
November: I fitted a new kitchen at home (our old kitchen was 15 years old and was desperate for a replacement) but it took a lot longer than I though it would. It completely exhausted me by the end with many late night finishes! The final result was worth it but it took a lot out of me, much more than I realized.
The Kitchen before:
The Kitchen after:
December:
The screening of Star wars-The Force Awakens was absolutely AMAZING, it was everything I had wanted it to be and much, much more. We had a great night at the midnight screening.
With Christmas coming it was a very hard month. Oliver has a love / hate relationship with Christmas. As all kids do, he gets overexcited. But he also gets very stressed and anxious, often exploding in anger and frustration. We try to keep the run up as low key as possible but with all the hype our job is impossible. By the time Christmas eve came around he was so tired and angry he hit out and was extremely upset. On the big day, a day that is supposed to be "wonderful", Oliver really struggled. The randomness of family visits and the fact now hes getting older, the smaller gifts get (eg a game for his console) he couldnt understand why he only was getting a small amount of gifts.
He melted down a few times and I spendt nearly half the day in bed with him playing on his xbox, completely away from "Christmas". It was so hard seeing him like that and Joanne and I have discussed completely changing Christmas next year and either going away or nicely "banning" any visits on the day.
Joanne has been really ill throughout Christmas and new year, struggling with every thing. Its been really frustrating for her, even having to get other people to buy and wrap my present. Shes been really down again and spent most of Christmas resting.
Ive got to admit its not been a good time, Without my running I started drinking a bit more and struggled through. I was so exhausted and I had twisted my shoulder so I couldn't exercise at all. It was frustrating, infuriating and quite dark in my head. I didn't enjoy December one bit.
I did however enjoy Paul and Lauren Wilsons Wedding after Boxing Day. We had a great night and Joanne and I had treated ourselves to stay over so it was a nice break (and I got a bit pissed with the boot camp boys, a cracking night!)
After Christmas, Oliver got in a state on New years eve. We had been to my Sisters family party, but the busier and longer the night got, the more Oliver got wound up and tried to lash out. I had spotted it and whipped him away before he had a meltdown. Moments later we were home and he seemed to get worse , desperately tired but stubbornly wanting to see midnight. In the end he was so tired and angry we grabbed him and put him between us in bed and watched the Snowman film until midnight. He calmed down, as he always does when thats on, and we all watched Big Ben strike midnight and I took him to his bed where he was asleep in minutes. I was so glad to get that month over with!
January:
Hallelujah, my shoulder felt better, the rest had done me the world of good. I had a trail running weekend at the end of January and I could finally think about getting out for a run. Oliver had calmed down and after my first day back at work I was rearing to get stuck into my new season and training plan.
I got home from work that night, put my PJs on an came into the bedroom, barefoot as I always do. I spun slightly and smashed my little toe into the corner of the open door. I knew it was broken the second I did it. My world fell apart around me as cursed in pain. I had it on ice straight away but the damage was done.
After a few days I managed to walk without a limp but could not move fast or run on it. I finally made peace with my self and accepted the injury - there was nothing else I could do!. The weeks passed and I re-evaluated my training and race plans for the coming year. I realized I couldnt do the early events I had planned so I scrapped them all, looking at some other options to get me to the Lakeland 100 in July.
Joanne was still ill and her Arthritis has been playing up with the cold weather so I still had to care for my family, broken toe or not, so it was a bit hard for me to manage. My main focus was going on my Trail running Weekend. It was going to be the first time I had been away by myself for a "rest bite" and I desperately wanted to go. I rested my foot as much as I could and the week before my Basecamp I went for a rather tentative run. My toe was still a bit bruised and tender but I could move around on it ok.
I laced my trainers up and set off at a snails pace. My plan was simple - If I got to the end of the street and I was in pain, that was it - I was going to cancel the weekend. But luckily the pain never came and I pushed on to do a slow and easy 5k. It was physically tough but mentally uplifting as the weeks of not running melted away along with the months of tiredness and stress. I was back! I ran another couple of times that week, keeping the runs easy and light, getting me moving for my weekend away....
No comments:
Post a Comment