Sunday 15 February 2015

2015- The Year of the Leg Break for Liam

Liam's 2015 Over Before it Started?

I was on course in my training for my first Marathon. The CTS (Coastal Trail Series) Anglesey on January 17th. I'd got up to running 3.5 hours despite the snow we faced over Christmas and the cold conditions and was beginning to enjoy heading out for those long, sapping runs, even if the warmth was being created thanks to the use of windproof winter cycling jackets and thicker roubaix-lycra tights.

Then on Sunday January 4th disaster happened. My ankle literally gave way on me and the sole of my shoe ended up facing me and I knew there was a serious problem. I'd turned my ankle before but nothing like this.

An initial trip to Accident and Emergency showed that I have a fracture at my heel and I needed to return the following day to fracture clinic for assessment. It started to dawn on me slowly that I had broken my leg
The swelling on my ankle when the initial plaster cast was removed

The next day at fracture clinic unearthed a little more as the Doctor began looking a little deeper he established that ideal fractured the top of my Fibula, base of my Tibia and I would subsequently need a operation to pin the ankle back into place as the gap between the bones had widened. The only reason they advised I wouldn't be staying in hospital was a lack of beds. I'd be back by the end of the week for my operation.

The two pins in my ankle to push the Tibia and Fibula back together
6 weeks later my ankle is still in a cast and I'm contemplating just what I may be able to achieve this season. I've seen reports of people with similar issues not running for 4-6 months. Fortunately the good people at Ratrace.com have allowed me to start my year long season ticket when I'm ready to get back into racing but I wasn't so lucky with the people at Endurancelife who run the CTS series as it was less than 2 weeks from the race when I let them know of the issue so they couldn't transfer my entry which is an annoyance but I'll hopefully be back to Anglesey in future.

I was hoping to be racing the Mighty Deerstalker in early March. Maybe I'll be able to head up there and spectate (Jemma will be racing anyways).

2015 for me was due to be all about long distance endurance events. I had a number of adventure races planned. My first Ultramarathon and a number of long distance cycling events. For now they're all off the menu.

After some reflection on my circumstances it looks like I'll be able to still get involved with many events as a marshall/ helper. At present I'm hoping to be able to help at the Dash of the Titan event at Clumber Park and Ratrace's Dirty Weekend in May. I'll also be able to get the camera out at some events too. 2015 isn't over for me but it's taken some time to adjust to new horizons.

If you see me at an event feel free to say hello as I continue my recovery from a broken leg.

Liam


No comments:

Post a Comment