Another Year Over......
Yesterday I completed my goal of running 1000 miles in 2021. In many ways this has been a stressful year for us and I've lost running days due to everything from post-vaccine fever, to building-related stress and toothache, so finally reaching my target felt like quite an achievement this year. It's a reminder too of how running continues to be my rock during difficult times.
In many respects it has been a more 'normal' running year than 2020. We have seen the return of parkrun, which has been wonderful. I will never forget the emotion of that first post-lockdown parkrun when we returned to Huddersfield. All those smiling faces and a feeling of optimism in the air! It was really very special. Later on, I remembered the excitement of how it feels to do a bit of parkrun 'tourism', trying out a new route for the first time. We took on the challenging course at Frickley Country Park and conquered the dreaded zig-zag hill. Races got back to normal too. I ran the York 10K in August and the Hubble Bubble Halloween 10K in October (winning a trophy for 2nd lady) and Rory and I took part in a summer canal evening series hosted by Its Grim Up North Running. Also this year I ran my first sub-2 half marathon (albeit on my own and not in an official race setting) but it was an absolute dream come true for me, something I never thought I would achieve. I got there by the skin of my teeth but a sub-2 is a sub-2, so I'm not complaining.
I've been looking towards 2022 and have downloaded a marathon training plan. I'm still unsure whether it's actually going to happen, but I intend to follow the plan and see how I get on. It will be good to have the focus of a plan to tell me what to do. I've not had that since Couch to 5K. If I only get halfway through, then at least I'll be ready to have a stab at running a half again. If I get further, well, we will see. There's the Yorkshire Marathon in October. I'm thinking that if I did any marathon, it ought to be that one. I suppose I should do what other people seem to do and just sign myself up so that I commit myself to going through with the training, but I can't bring myself to do that. Recent events at home have made me nervous and disinclined to look too far into the future.
A couple of weeks ago my husband started to experience really bad back pain. It got worse and worse to the point where he could barely walk. Some alarming symptoms resulted in him going by ambulance to A&E and after a hugely scary day when we were anticipating that he may need emergency surgery, an MRI scan finally revealed that he had a herniated disc. Fortunately, as there was no nerve compression, immediate surgery was not necessary, but he was warned that his recovery might take as long as a year. He's now at home and is still struggling with pain and mobility.
Seeing your partner struggling with pain is always incredibly hard and it's particularly upsetting to see how the retirement he had planned and looked forward to for so long has been cruelly snatched away from him. Just when he was falling in love with golf again and building up his running, this had to happen and now he's having to adapt to a completely different lifestyle where managing pain is the biggest challenge. It's frightening how quickly things can change, how suddenly dreams can come crashing down. Of course, there are people going through a lot worse, we both know this, and we're incredibly thankful that this is a condition that he can and will recover from, but it's impossible not to feel low at the moment.
How much worse it would be though if Rory lived alone and didn't have anyone to look after him. It's made me determined to do everything I can to remain healthy and uninjured. How dreadful it would be if I were to pick up an injury too right now. I've been lucky this year not to have any falls or injuries, but the fear is always there and right now I'm especially conscious of how devastating injuries can be. The thought of two of us being immobile and pain-ridden doesn't bear thinking about. One of us has to stay strong to look after the other. Of course, nothing is risk-free and many people, as we have learned from social media, only had to bend down to tie their shoe laces, or sneeze a bit too violently, to suffer agonizing back injuries, so staying at home doesn't automatically make you immune from such disasters! And of course I must balance the risks of running injuries with the benefits running gives me. The headspace it has given me these last few weeks has been so precious and kept me sane and I wouldn't be without it. But Marathon training? We all know it can be tough on the body? Is it a risk I shouldn't be taking at this time?
I'm going to see how I feel in the New Year. I don't need to decide right now. But whatever happens I am sure I will be planning some new running adventures.
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