Ouch!! London Winter Run to leg in plaster, all in a few short hours – Race Recap

I am not really sure I am eligible to write a race recap for this event seeing as I didn’t even make it to the start line, but its a race I had been excited about for a long while and well, even though the day couldn’t have ended more badly for me, the marshall’s and first aiders at this event definitely deserve my thanks

The race was billed as an Arctic Adventure with iconic London landmarks lining the route & the organisers couldn’t have chosen a better day for the race, it was minus 1 when I left home with beautiful bright blue skies

Ever since I had joined Human Race Events, Cancer Research UK & European 10,000m Gold Medalist Jo Pavey for a 5k run around London in October to help promote the event I had been looking forward to seeing the St Bernard’s at the end of the race & collecting my Polar Bear hug along with my pretty cool bling

But alas that pretty bling was not destined to be mine

The day started so well, as I am training for the London Marathon I decided to add a few miles onto my run, starting with a short run from my house to the station, then I jumped off the train  at Liverpool st and planned to run the 4.5km to the start at Westminster, taking me to 9 miles for the day

My run started beautifully, I love running through London but 9am on a Sunday morning running the streets alone is even more amazing, it was totally peaceful & I immediately settled into a really nice pace, running along Bishopsgate, Lombard St, Bank and towards Blackfriars when something went pop in my left calf, causing me to stop in my tracks

As luck would have it, I had just entered part of the race course and was just approaching a marshall as it happened, the look on his face as he asked me if that noise was me, and I whimpered yes said it all this wasn’t good, he helped me limp to a wall so I could sit for a second, after  few minutes it still didn’t feel any better so he radioed for help, within a few minutes two first aiders were coming down the road with a wheelchair, I wouldn’t need that surely, I wasn’t even in any pain unless I tried to lower my heel

But I did, I couldn’t lower my heel so before I knew it I was strapped into the wheelchair blankets wrapped around me and being escorted to the first aid tent at St Paul’s

The care I received from the event marshalls and the British Red Cross was fantastic & I can not thank them enough, I was seen by a First Aider immediately and was advised I may need to be transferred to their main first aid tent near the start, but in the end the Dr was sent to me on the back of a motorcycle, I felt so guilty, I hadn’t even made it to the start line yet all these people where chasing around after me, the Dr looked at my leg and said that it looked like a calf tear but it was possible it was an achilles rupture which is a lot more serious, I was given pain relief, an ice pack was applied and I was told to wait for 20 mins to see if I could lower, my heel, I couldn’t so they asked me to stay for a little longer, by this time the race had started so they allowed me to sit outside to cheer on the runners

I manged to spot a few familiar faces, Julia, Steve & Dean from Run For Fun, and Charlie & Lissy from the Team Naturally Run team at the Spitfire Scramble & also Julie from The Fat Girls Guide to Running, what really amazed me were the runner that asked if I was ok, I am not ashamed to admit a few tears were shed after receiving runner love, runners really are like a big family always looking out for one another

Before I was checked again and received the news I really didn’t want to hear, I need to be transferred to hospital, they offered to transfer me to a hospital in London but I just wanted to get home so they helped me get to St Paul’s I was helped onto a train and it was arranged that my husband could collect me at the other end

I’m not sure what I dreaded more about going to hospital, what news I would hear or the queues I would face but again this was faultless (must be a first for the NHS), I had called ahead to my local minor injuries unit to see if this is something they would deal with, they said yes, I registered when I arrived sat down, and was called within seconds, it had been around an hour since I called and they were concerned that I was still unable to put weight on my foot, I was ushered into a cubicle where a nurse done the same tests carried out in the BRC tent, she called a Dr who confirmed it looked more like an achillies tear but I would need an MRI scan to confirm so less than 10 minutes after I arrived I had been seen and was now on my way to a larger hospitals A & E unit, again as soon as I arrived and gave my name they knew me and sent me straight down to the Urgent Care Unit, I had a short wait of around 20 minutes before I was seen, for the first time that day I had time to sit quietly and think about what had happened, how did I go from a nice comfortable Sunday morning run where I had covered my fasted Km in months to potentially having a very serious injury

Nothing could have prepared me for the next hour, I honestly expected to be sent home with some tablets and some support/compression wear, the pop hadn’t even been painful, it actually just felt like a release of pressure as I had had an ache in the same spot for a week or so and no amount of stretching, rolling or massage had helped, but again it was a dull ache, not a pain, it didn’t hurt anymore running than it did walking so there had been nothing alerting me to stop or seek medical treatment

90 minutes after entering the hospital I was leaving, without an MRI scan, the Dr said he would get a clearer picture of the injury in a few days time after my leg has rested so that is booked for Friday but what I did get was a plaster cast, I have never heard of someone being in plaster without having a break

I’m on day 3 of living with the cast and if I am honest I am not coping well with it, my upper body strength has always been pretty non existent but that is more apparent than ever, my hands, arms & good leg are all aching like a b!tch because of the crutches, so I am praying that Friday after the scan that the cast does not have to be reset, I am also praying whatever news I received is good news as I only have 11.5 weeks until the London Marathon, I really can’t afford to not be training for more than a few weeks but worse still would be the news that its game over for the marathon, at the moment I am really trying hard not to consider that as an option, SO PLEASE EVERYONE KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED FOR ME xxx

I had lots of friends that did complete the London Winter Run and every single one of them loved it & heaped praise on the organisation, especially at the bag drop (and when you have 15,000 runners to get that right at your first attempt deserves a round of applause)

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