Carrie on running: Trails and challenges

My last blog was about my injury wasn’t it? Oh yes, I remember now, sore leg and panic that I’d have to give up running for a while! Well I did – almost two weeks I was off and in that time I felt myself gradually sinking back into lethargic oblivion.

But the painkillers did their job and made the pain go away so I assumed my leg had managed to mend itself in the mean time.

A week past Sunday (17th) I hit two glorious milestones in one day – I ran my first 10km event which also happened to be my first trail run. I did the Great Trail Challenge across in Keswick with Jane – the first ever, and I have to say I enjoyed every second of it.

I didn’t manage to run the whole thing mind you – the ascent up Latrigg was too much even for those running the marathon that day so I didn’t beat myself up at all for having to walk a section and it meant that the descent down the other side back into Keswick was so much fun – the faster runners were positively whizzing past me all the way down and it was great calling out to them and shouting encouragement as they flew down the hill.

So our first trail run went really well which meant we were psyched up for the second of our trail runs – the Alnwick Trail Runner held on Sunday 24th. Once again this run was so much fun and we were bouncing with excitement at the finish line. I think I’ve found a secret love in trail running – it’s far easier on my joints and provides far nicer scenery than city runs. I’m obviously a country girl at heart.

Despite these two runs going very well, I couldn’t get through them without dosing myself up on ibuprofen and wearing a tight fitting tubigrip around my shin. My leg is still quite sore, especially early in the morning but with a bit of walking around and some pain pills it’s much better. I’m beginning to wonder whether it’s something other than muscle ache though so I’m toying with the idea of doing to see a podiatrist to see if there’s anything else which may be causing it.

Do any of you have any experience of podiatry/biomechanical assessments or orthotics you care to share? Am I wasting my money or am I being sensible? Feel free to comment below!