Return to racing at Egdon Easy

Well its been a while since I put a number on the front of my vest and stood on the start line of a race and it was good to finally race again last night after more than 5 months since my last outing at the Portsmouth Victory 5.

The lay off was down to some big trouble in my left thigh. In particular the vastas lateralis (the outside of the thigh muslces) had been rubbing up against the ITB (which passes over it). Over time the muscle because inflamed and frayed, the ITB was sticking to it and every time I ran again those adhesions flared up. Its taken a combination of accupuncture and some skilled massage using a technique called myofascial release from Simon Morris at Bath University to get everything moving again. The return to training has been a slow process with a couple of flare ups but last week I managed about 80 miles and felt healthy enough to tow the line last night.

The Egdon Easy is mixture of footpaths, gravel trail and road just behind the sea front at Weymouth. Before the start I was as nervous as i've been for some time. Some of my club mates were a bit surprised, after all a 29.47 guy shouldnt have too many problems in a local race. But as we know it doesn't work like that. A race is a race and after so long away from racing you need to know if its still there ! The first half of the race was pretty comfortable and I was in position to be able to put my foot down for the last 15 mins and push hard to the finish. The leg felt fine though the legs felt rubbish and I was blowing pretty hard by the finish. Still, 1st place, body intact and mission accomplished. Next stop the Crewkerne 9 Miles in a weeks time and one of the toughest road races in this part of the world.

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