Morning! Happy Bank Holiday!

How has your week been? For those not following my social media streams, this has been one of my most challenging weeks as a runner. Here’s why.

Last Sunday I headed out with Alison, Morag and Kathleen to recce the middle section of the Kintyre Way relay. The weather was perfect, I was properly fuelled and rested. The first four miles were great, the scenery was simply stunning:

But then disaster struck! I tripped over a boulder and fell 😩. No big drama, no huge incident, just a trip. I scraped my arm pretty well, and my right knee was bleeding a little but my tights weren’t ripped so I wasn’t too concerned.

Morag had a bandage with her so she helped patch up my arm and we headed off once again. We soon realised that we were on the wrong path- we had missed a turn. We got back on track and finished our run- over 11 miles in total. I felt pretty good! My knee was still bleeding, but physically I felt strong and that I could run much longer.

After a detour to the shop to pick up some antiseptic for my arm I headed home and straight for a shower to clean out my graze- only to find that under my tights my knee was pretty mashed up.

So I spent the remainder of Sunday afternoon and evening at A&E, leaving at 7.30 with stitches, x rays, antibiotics, painkillers, crutches and strict instructions to rest. Not how I planned to spend my day!

The excellent news is that nothing is broken, so our upcoming trip to Florida is still firmly on. But the bad news? No running, no exercise for a while. 😭

I was back at the hospital on Tuesday and everything was healing well, and I was back on Sunday as the plan was to have my stitches removed then. They didn’t take them out, largely because of where my cut is in my knee, so I’m back again this Thursday to get them out then.

Meanwhile my graze has been bruising up well:

I’m not showing you my leg as it’s a bit too gory!

Things could be worse- though I’ve had to withdraw from the Kintyre Way Relay which I’m devastated about. All of that training, and I was feeling so good about it! But @TheWelshWookie is stepping in to fill the gap. Rob, the organiser of the Kintyre Way runs has been very understanding so I’m very grateful to them for their help with this. I’m also very grateful to the A&E staff at the Mid Argyll hospital, they have been ace.

It’s true why they say- you don’t appreciate what you have until it’s taken away. At least I’ll be back at it in a few weeks, so I need to focus on that.

Kintyre Way Relay- I have unfinished business with you!