Recalculating...

A few more donations have come in, bringing the total so far to £1,405.50 - 56% of my target. I have begun to distribute publicity and sponsor forms around the circuit, and a couple more fundraising ideas are in the pipeline.  I am confident that the £2,500 will be passed.  That's the good news....

The bad news is that I've only run 11 miles this week.... because just over a mile into my second run of the week, my calf muscle went again.  This time I stopped running immediately and walked home, feeling somewhat disconsolate.

If you have a certain sort of SatNav,  you may have had the following experience:  you are following the instructions and then for some reason you go off the planned route.  Perhaps you missed the turning, or were in the wrong lane.  So you aren't going where you wanted to go, but then that calm voice says "Recalculating....."  A few seconds later gives you the instruction which will bring you towards your destination.  You may take a little longer to get there that originally planned, and no doubt you will get a bit anxious.  But you know you will get there.

And it's a bit like that for me at the moment - some of my plans will have to be changed.  I need to rest this calf, and when I start running again, I will have to be even more cautious than I was last time. This probably means sticking with Run-Walk-Run for all of my running (not just the long runs) - at least for longer than I did last time, possibly all the way to marathon day.   I will have to revisit my long run schedule, I may not get up to the ideal 20 miles, and almost certainly not more than once.  I may have to reduce my running and do more cross-training to build my cardiovascular endurance without overstressing my muscles.  All of this I intend to discuss with the sports physio next week.  In particular, I need to talk to him about the possibility that I have an underlying weakness or imbalance which needs to be addressed.

If this had happened just a week or two before marathon day, the only sensible thing to do would be withdraw.  But with 11 weeks to go, there is every reason to believe that there is enough time for this injury to heal - properly this time - and for me still to get enough training in that I am physically capable of completing the distance.

Of course I will have to be very determined as well - but you know by now that I am that.  I suspect that I will also have to be very disciplined, in the sense of staying within whatever limits the physio prescribes on my running, and doing whatever exercise or stretches he gives me to do.  I'm not so good at that part!  But I know what is at stake.

I remember my confirmation by Bishop David Sheppard, who in his sermon talked about a train journey he had recently taken from London to Liverpool.  There were problems on the line, the train got diverted, then broke down, and after several unscheduled changes and interruptions, the tired passengers arrived several hours late - but safe.  He said that God's plan for our lives is like that - there is a perfect plan, but when things happen to push us off course, God recalculates, and brings us back on course.  We get there in the end - perhaps by a harder and longer route than God originally planned.  But he never gives up on us.  And I'm not giving up on the marathon.

Thank you for your encouragement and support - it means a great deal, especially now.