2012 - a year of two halves...

Dailymile sent me an email yesterday that summed up my running in 2012, literally!

It was definitely a year of two halves. It started with some promise and progress (the first real progress since breaking my ankle in January 2010) and a 40 day streak into my 40th birthday. Things were looking on schedule for a respectable marathon debut but then the wheels (legs actually) came off. The marathon in June turned out to be a learning experience and I still hoped for a late summer or autumn rematch with the historic distance but since then things have gone steadily downhill.

July saw a back (disc) injury and since September I've been struggling with a "right calf issue" that now prevents me from running more than 2 miles every 2 weeks (or so).  I stubbornly decided not to seek professional advice in the hope that things would come right in the end.  It didn't!

So last week I finally coughed up some money and went to a physio.  Apparently my calf issue is a hangover from my broken ankle (something that I thought was long in the past!).  A biomechanical imbalance.  In truth and I've had an ongoing series of lower body issues since my initial recovery from my broken my ankle in late 2010/2011.  So this was probably something waiting to happen.  It's time for some massage, dry needling, joint manipulation, calf strengthening exercises and flexibility work.  I last tried to run on the 28th December and it'll probably be a couple more weeks before I'm able to start back.  Hopefully this time things will work out!

In the meantime I'm going to try some aerobic exercise and eat less in an attempt to shift the many pounds added to my person since last June!  Hopefully Spring 2013 will be the time of new beginnings.  I dare to hope that I'll be back to complete some unfinished business in Cork this year but......