So having backed out of the Edinburgh Marathon, I was aiming to run the Causeway Coastal Marathon in September to meet my Northern Ireland and my marathon target before the end of 2013. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be.
I’d been running with a niggle in my thigh for a few months and being the sensible medical professional that I am, I’d ignored it. However, during Run to the Beat in August, I really felt my leg giving me trouble. Speeding up, slowing down, having to stop mid-race a few times in bottle-necks had all made things ache a bit more than usual. The day after, I was hobbling around in quite a bit of pain and worried about my marathon looming a few weeks later, so googled “physios” and took myself to Balance Physiotherapy for an assessment. After poking and prodding, twisting and shifting, the lovely Jonathan told me I’d likely torn my adductor- bad times.
© Anatomy Chart courtesy of FCIT
The adductor magnus is a muscle that runs down the inner thigh and mostly looks after itself. Jonathan suggested racing RTTB had aggravated a small pull or tear in my muscle, that had taken places weeks beforehand, and I had only been able to continue running due to my hamstring taking the brunt of the leg bashing and compensating like crazy.
Initially I was hopeful that I could make a reasonable recovery and still run (crawl) my way round the Giant’s Causeway. I spent a lot of time squeezing a ball between my knees and icing my groin. Then I spent time planking, side planking, face-down planking, face-up planking and even one-legged planking. Then Jonathan broke my heart and told me that my body was too weak overall (WHADDAYA MEAN WEAK?! I’VE RUN THREE HALF MARATHONS THIS YEAR!!) and in a letter to my GP, he wrote, “Hannah has reduced abdominal and lumbopelvic control which may have predisposed her to the recent injury”. That’s not a good thing. In fact, it’s a pretty bad to thing to have reduced control if you’re a runner and he cautioned me that if I was to race the marathon I could risk long-term damage and any prospect of future running. Seriously bad times.
So, after several long and painful conversations, long and painful physio sessions and a short and very painful jog and LOTS of wobbly bottom lip, I decided to listen to good advice and pull out of the marathon.
But 3 out of 4 races and over £1000 raised ain’t bad right?! Not bad at all.
And it turns out NOT running a marathon is almost as lucrative as running a marathon, with over £250 donated after I dropped out.
ps. I’m incredibly thankful to thetrainline.com for refunding my non-refundable tickets to Ireland- a wonderful gesture of goodwill.
RUNNING RACES, IN DIFFERENT PLACES 