Gutted, that’s the only way to describe it.

It had been a fairly good month, with the NDW50 coming up I had run 10 miles on the 1st, cycled a total of 23 miles on the 2nd, a 2.25 mile running speed session on the 3rd and a reasonably paced trail run of 5.5 miles on the 5th. The plan had been to run a 10 miler on the 6th and continue to cycle for the rest of the week, tapering down for the 50.

I set out on my run on the Monday, with the weather perfect and feeling good. I had run out to a 5 mile point, taking in a section of the North Downs Way and was heading back to complete my run.

At about 6.5 miles I rolled my ankle, when I say rolled my ankle I mean ROLLED it. I was floored instantly, but I have rolled my ankles before and the pain subsided to allow me to jog slowly on. A few yards down the trail it rolled again and if the first time hurt, this was something else. I had to sit down, physically shaking with the pain and I knew that I had to call it a day and walk (the 3 miles) home.

Like buses these things come in three’s and about a mile into my trudge home it went for a third time and again I was floored. I eventually picked myself up again and grabbed a nearby stick and slowly got home.

The Damage:

Below is a sequence of photos showing the progression of the swelling and bruising on my ankle

I went to the hospital today and had an X-Ray and my ankle prodded and poked. The good (great) news is that it’s not broken, which is a huge plus. The nurse said there was a lot of tissue damage and was prodding to find any pain points but other than a little twinge it was pretty painless. She was moving the ankle through its range of motion and was pretty surprised that something which looked this bad didn’t cause more pain, hopefully indicating that the damage is not as severe as it could have been.

I have been given some crutches to keep the weight off it but I am actually able to walk on it, hold my foot flat on the ground and stand with weight on it. Despite these positives it’s not going to be a quick fix and will take 4-6 weeks before I can run again. Knowing this I had to withdraw from the NDW50 (hence being gutted).

It’s not all doom and gloom though, I have more desire than ever to get that 100 miles under my belt in August and am going to make sure I do everything to help me achieve that. So it’s now a full course of RICE then when able to some re-habilitation exercises and cycling and swimming.

I will be back up and running in no time!