The Fairfield Horseshoe

The trouble with setting out to go for a run every single day, especially when you've been doing it without break since August 2011, is that it becomes a right pain in the back side when you're ill or injured............. or, in my case come the end of last week, a (right) pain in the right side of my back! At the same time, the running streak must continue and you 'have to' bash on.

At the beginning of the week I jarred my back stepping off a curb (that I somehow didn't notice) and, all through the week, it got progressively worse, not helped by two long business days stuck in my car for hours on end. On Friday evening, just as I left work in Leeds to meet my younger daughter for a Nandos, the muscles in my back then decided to up the anti and go into spasm which, amongst other things, made it almost impossible for me to sit down. (It also made me groan out loud and grimace every now and then too, not that I made a drama of it or anything. Noooo, not me!).

That meant that, yep, I had to stand up in Nando's to eat my chicken burger and corn on the cob, much to the embarressment of my daughter, with the occasional groan and grimace thrown in not particularly helping. Worse still, I still had to drive the 40 odd miles home after our Nandos! Luckily my daughter convinced me to buy some nurofen (I don't do pain killers and hadn't ever taken them or anything like them before) and, thankfully, a couple of those just about made driving home possible, especially after the 40 minutes that it seemed to take them to kick in.

Having got home though there was still the minor problem of going out for a run. My back was feeling a little better by this point and wasn't spasming quite so much so I got changed and managed to take Harry out for my most pathetic run ever. Just one mile but, jeeeeesus, did it hurt!

Which kind of made going for a run in the Lakes with Hester and Harry on Saturday as arranged kind of questionable and, going to bed on Friday night, I was far from sure I'd make it. My back was painful over night but luckily the half bottle of red wine and nurofen cocktail I had consumed in the evening (not something I'd recommend to be honest) did help me sleep and, come Saturday morning, hey presto, my back felt okay for a run and it was off to the Lakes for a tootle round the Fairfield Horseshoe from Rydal with H and H.

It was a fabulous run too, with my back feeling not too bad while I was moving. We even managed to get round quite speedily, despite the bitterly cold and gusting wind and low cloud with us all around the top half of the Horseshoe. 

Hester climbing Nab Scar, with Windermere catching the sun in the background

Looking towards Ambleside and Windermere, with Rydal water immediately below

H and H giving it some welly, with the bowl of the Horseshoe beyond

Me in Leeds Rhino mode with Harry charging along behind

Hitting the slushy snow line

Hester whizzing down one of the best descents in the whole of the Lake District

Looking svelte!

Me modelling my Virgin London Marathon running vest, provided courtesy of my employer Investec

Hester and Harry leaving me behind

Looking back up the Horseshoe

Harry's swimming pool near the finish

Ze route

Epilogue:

After holding up for all of the 10 and a bit miles and 3,000 odd feet of ascent of the Fairfield Horseshoe, my back did stiffen up alarmingly later in the day and then became agony over night on Saturday. Luckily it was nurofen, and a fantastic (and fantastically painful) back massage from Hester, to the rescue and, incredibly, my back has been almost perfect ever since then. 

Just goes to show, don't give in to injuries and bash on!