Devil's Burdens

23rd January 2010

Yesterday I took part in the Devil's Burdens Relay for the 10th year in a row, but for me it wasn't the best of days. Since 20th December, I've had an adductor strain that was only made worse by attempting to race Leg 1. I guess I'll be out of action for a while now, and expect to hand back my Carnethy 5 entry, and will probably defer London Marathon until 2011.

Anyhow, we did manage to get 6 almost complete Westies teams around the course, ably assisted by John Bell of Springburn and 2 speedy East Kilbride juniors, courtesy of Don Reid.

Race Results

Taking stock

Having been ill for around a month now means I haven't run or raced since the Scottish National Cross Country Relays back in October at Cumbernauld, and in fact running and exercise have slipped off my radar altogether for now. Looking longer term, I hope to be back racing in 2010.

In 2009 I managed 74 races but without any exceptional results.

In 2010, if I can get my act together, I would like to clock a useful marathon PB and perhaps get a bit quicker on the road. I also hope to complete a large number of long hill races, but more for fun than expecting to get any decent results.

Overseas, I would like to run the GR20 in Corsica again, for example in June 2010, or perhaps to hike a long section of the GR11 in the Pyrenees, or maybe try the complete route from Atlantic to Mediterranean which should take about 3 weeks, but might be tricky to organise logistically.

Gout!

NHS Direct on Gout | BUPA on Gout

My running activities have been brought to a crashing halt by a sudden and excrutiatingly painful attack of gout. I've never had anything like this before, and it came completely out of the blue on Monday with a slightly sore right foot, feeling like a trapped nerve. But by Tuesday night the pain was unbelievable, and my foot became so inflamed so that I couldn't weightbear or bend my toes.

Hopefully it won't last too long.