Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehah

Is that long enough for very very happy.

Saw the DR today and he said I was ok to snowski, which means I am ok to start running again.

Yes, I know start all over again very slowly.

I think I will be doing personal worst's for a while.

Thanks everyone for your advice and support over the last couple of months, I'm very grateful.

Found a Pfitzinger return from injury program that looks ok to use.

I might try and run a bit in NZ as we are staying on a golf resort, so the grass runs will help.

New Zealand High Altitude Training Camp

The plains of Canterbury New Zealand. Hopefully I will be ski-ing as well as playing golf. That's my sister in law currently over there.

Bone Scan

Went to Prince of Wales Hospital for the bone scan today.

It showed that I had a low grade stress fracture in the distal left tibia postero-medially.

Also showed that there is a small area of tracer accumulation on the posterior aspect of the right tibia, most likely due to a prior stress fracture.

I do remember have a feeling like I was kicked in the shin but I can't remember when, possibly last six months, but it went away after a couple of weeks. Obviously not as bad as the left leg.

Now just have to see the Doctor about when I can do any running or snow ski-ing for that matter.

Bone Scan booked

Now have a bone scan booked for this Wednesday.

Inject me with some liquid at Prince of Wales hospital and then come back 2 and half hours later.

Then stay there for an hour and eventually get the results.

Was also reading this off the web:

A particular type of tibial stress fracture occurs in the anterior cortex of the midshaft and is more typical in jumping athletes, such as dancers. Anterior cortex fractures are particularly prone to nonunion and progression to complete fracture.

Now I am pretty sure I wasn't dancing at the time except in pain. And as the pain felt like something in the muscle, that is the reason why I have been through all the medical procedures for this injury.
Although I could have skipped the MRI apparently and the only non medicare/Private health cost. Grrrr.

Sports Doctor-Worst kind of stress fracture

After getting the MRI done yesterday I had to see a Sports Doctor today to get his opinion.

He decided that MRI was not conclusive proof of a Stress Fracture and I needed a bone scan as well. Oh someone please shoot me. That will be the fourth and last one this Doctor promises.

As to keeping fit he suggests the bike and the pool. Champion triathlete in training. Yeah right...
I suggested long fast walks and got the NO. Too much impact stress.

He can't tell me until he gets the bone scan results whether I can go ski-ing or play a lot of golf on my holiday in NZ.

He said because my stress fracture is the anterior of the tibia that is the worst kind. But has to see the bone scan.

Have to try next week to get an appointment as you need 3 hrs in between visits as they inject you with god only knows what.

All I can say sports fans is nothing. I'm crying on the inside. I have no pain walking which is at least a start.
Stay tuned for further updates.

M R I

Finally got to have an MRI on my leg at lunchtime today.

Stick you in a room with headphones on for sound proofing and tell you to lie still for 20mins.

I went to sleep it was so relaxing. Felt like a mexican having a midday siesta.

Seriously being slid on your back into that huge machine freaked me out.

I do have some lovely MRI photos? I think and tomorrow I visit a Sports Doctor who also runs a bit so hopefully he knows the aggravation of wanting to get back into it.

Oh, and no medicare or private health fund rebate so cough up $250. Yes it is cheap Gnscon.

Do runners on our national team if injured in a race get workers comp? Footballers do.

City 2 Surf-Cheer Squad Duties

I actually arrived at Nth Bondi about 9:30 and started the stop watch only about 10 secs behind race time. Chatted to a couple of guys who were having moet and breakfast on the little island just sth of the golf club.Maybe I should have joined them for one.

Met up with Johnny Dark and Gronk as the unofficial cheer squad just near Nth Bondi Rsl corner(about 1k to go). Had a lot of fun yelling go striders(as the 3 of us are) and go cool runner to everyone we saw.As usual high and low points with some races. Looking for Vat_man at a certain time point but the flu had slowed him up.

Watched Fats blitz the course and run to the bar waiting for John Dawlings to catch up. Sorry John.Boof was in disguise so we missed him.Watching Action still chasing Vespa after 13ks at that point.

Spotted 5 miners but they weren't minersrun.The dozen budgy smugglers in pink sluggos.Two guys running past covered in aluminum(usa speak) foil and cardboard airplane boxes. It was the space shuttle.Being recognised by Robin(batman) who ran past and waved at us, we had no idea who it was. Found out later it was Uncle Dave in disguise after losing his bet with Running Wolf.

Had a great time cheering, nice to do it from the other side sometimes when you can't run. Thanks to JD and Gronk for the company for 2 hours of cheering.

MPHaz went past us at about 47mins so I guess was 51-52?
And Blue Dog managed a 55:06. Maybe next year under 55mins.
Thanks for the Beer Blue Dog and the fire brigade, and the Striders for setting up at 3am. Wow.

Be back next year for Running duties.

Stress Fracture- No City 2 Surf

Had a chance this afternoon to get an x ray before seeing the leg specialist.

Xray confirmed that I had no break at all. But...

The leg Dr pressed his finger on the pain spot and I grimaced in pain.
I said did you press the muscle, he said no the bone.

He said 100% certain that I have a stress fracture but to confirm it I am booked for an MRI on thursday.

I also have an appointment with a Dr who is a sports physician who I happened to go to school with years ago. He is going to help with getting me back out on the track as soon as possible without the pain.

So if anyone wants a copy I will soon have an ultrasound, xray and an MRI of my lower leg.
When Buck Rogers gets here in the 25th century can we do all these at once, please.

So no city to surf for me this year. I want to keep running long term so I am not prepared to gamble with my legs for one race.
I may get to the Lake half but I doubt it. More likely late September after my altitude training camp at Mt Hutt(NZ) skiing and golfing.

I'll be joining Mr Dark and the guide dogs at the finish cheering for Striders and Cool Runners of course.

Leg specialist

Seeing a leg specialist on Friday afternoon to determine what is wrong with it.

The swelling has gone down but it is still sore to touch in the same place.

The specialist may send me for an x ray so to circumvent that I will try and get one this afternoon myself to save time.

Then he can look at both the ultrasound and the x ray and pray he then doesn't want a bone scan.

Physio late today

The physio saw my findings from the ultrasound which confirmed what he knew anyway.

But, he said if I only had a muscle strain I would not have this much pain and swelling.

So tomorrow he is calling a leg and ankle specialist to try and hurry an appointment for me.

Hope I can get in before the race and confirm one way or the other DNS or not.

Praying for good news.

Ultrasound on the leg

Another day another Dr.

All the ultrasound confirms is that I have strained my lower anterior left leg muscle(tibialis anterior I think). Can definitely see the strain on the muscle compared to the right leg.
Basically the area around where the fibula ends at the bottom of your leg.

The only recipe was rest and ice/heat.

The resting will have to wait until after C2S.

The ice and heat and a physio today, will go ahead to try and get the pain down.

I will be trying to go as hard as the pain allows on Sunday. Meaning under 55mins is still worth a shot.

Ice, Heat, Ice, Heat......

The joys of injury.
I did see a Dr again late this afternoon and he did say definitely do not have a stress fracture. The same Dr as last week by the way. I have an ultrasound booked for Wednesday morning which may show up the soft tissue injury that the Dr believes I have.

So all I can do is ice, heat and alternate. And try and stay off the leg as much as possible.

I will keep doing this the whole week and then just run the race on Sunday without any warmup in case the leg swells up again.

Woodstock Fun Run 7.75ks

By the time you get to woodstock.....

Drove out to Burwood this morning for a very chilly start. The car was reading 6 degrees at 8am. The Woodstock runners have been putting this race on in varying lengths since 1986, so this was the 20th and maybe the last race. There was also a short 4.26k race.

As is known I still have pain when I run, I knew today would be no different.
The leg feels ok when on the flat and uphill. The pain is manageable. But the downhills hurt like buggery.

The run felt ok in that I let a few people pass between the 2-3k mark to take them again between the 4-5k period.
Ran home in a time of 31:49 for the 7.75k race. Average pace of 4:06 per klm.
Not too bad as the last 2ks is virtually 2 long uphills to the finish and my little leg problem.

Met Easy Tiger(Gary), Silver Fox and Johnny Dark and Timerenko before the race and met Grandpa(Dennis) after the race.
Silver Fox ran pushing the rabbit in pram so the last 2ks uphill would have been a bit hard.
And Grandpa ending up winning his age group in 29:49. Excellent day.

There were a couple of other Striders at the race but I don't who they were/are.

Jamie Harrison won the mens in 25:19 with Sergio Carvalho 2nd. I didn't get 3rd.
Sue Thompson(Mrs Andrew Lloyd) won the womens I didn't hear a time.
Jamie Harrison won the first 5 Woodstock fun runs and came back for the 20th to try and win again. He also has some 2nds and 3rds.

Thanks to the Woodstock runners for organising the race it had marshalls at every corner and this race has a lot of them. I hope you get to have the 21st I would love to run better next year.

East Met Cross Country 6ks

After being told by a doctor that I don't have a stress fracture, although still in pain, I headed for a grassy race this afternoon missing my favourite Striders course due to work this morning. Damn.

Randwick Botany harriers had an organised 2k cross country circuit at Mutch Park at Pagewood.
A couple of decent hills and a bit of dirt running in one section.

The schedule had a 2k,4k and an 8k but we ended up only doing the 6k.

Had splits of 8:05, 16:53 to finish in 25:31. Happy to not let that last one blow out even more.

The leg hurt from the moment I started running, still hurts to walk so nothing unusual there.
Tried to keep 4min k pace but found on my first run, let alone race, in ten days that I had no lung capacity and struggled with my breathing.

How easy is it lose aerobic capacity so quickly.
Legs were sore after the race,but I still think I could coast around the C2S course in a decent time. I may be restricted in my breathing so a shot at sub55 is probably out now.

Met CR's Mohammad, BrightShoes and Chonky doing the race.
I think the winner did 19:19 for the 6k.

Will have a go at Woodstock fun run tomorrow, apparently 120 long race(7.75k) starters.

Leg update. Heartbreak hill here I come

The physio recomended seeing a Dr and getting an xray/bone scan done.

I saw a DR tonight who pushed my fibula hard and told me that no way did I have a stress fracture. This Dr has no fibula after having it removed years ago apparently. Nice scar.

He said what I have is probably an oedema.

Oedema means that too much fluid, mainly water, has accumulated in the body. The term comes from a Greek word meaning ‘a swollen condition’.
The accumulation of fluid may be in a particular location or it may be in several places in the body.

So it's back to lots of hot and cold to try and get rid of the swelling and a long taper for C2S for me to be on the safe side.

I knew myself the pain couldn't be bad enough to be a break, but it just looks horridly swollen like a really bad rolled ankle.

You may see me at a race before C2S, depends on how I am feeling. Good news anyway.

Thanks everyone for your concern.

Physio not good news

Went to see the physio again this afternoon.
He's not happy. Seems to think my bruise has gone up since the last time I saw him.
I think it is still the same.

Still have to do the same exercises for the leg/glute area.

He wants me to get an x-ray/bone scan done as soon as possible to rule out it being a stress fracture.
He believes unless some dramatic improvement occurs I won't be running C2S.
I told him I would crawl to the start run for 55mins and then collapse on the hill at Bondi with a beer. He didn't think it was funny.

The leg feels worse after taking the pressure of me all day, but better in the morning.
If I don't do much morning of C2S then it won't hurt much during the race. Yeah right.

I have to ring my normal GP tomorrow to try and get an x-ray done.

City 2 Surf Number arrives

After emailing last Thursday the City 2 Surf people and getting no response I rang them this morning.

My longshot grovelling attempt at Preferred has failed.
I knew I was no chance anyway.

Starting in the A start Sun Herald edition, that's the first start if you don't know.

Aiming to get under 55mins to get preferred for next year.

Leg update

Feels like crap after a day at work standing on it and walking around.
I still have the same size bruise/bump in the same area.

Still hurts just as much and does not appear to be getting better to me anyway.

I hope it is only muscle soreness. Have another physio appointment on Wednesday to find out more.

Praying and still waiting for my C2S race number. Where is it?