Putting one foot in front of the other

So my poor dad passed away on Saturday 10 August 2019. I was lucky enough to be with him, with my sister, and we told him we loved him and that it was ok to go. I know he could hear us, even though he was on a lot of drugs at the end. It’s all still very sad and unreal and I really think it’s only starting to hit me now.

Despite that I have been running in the last four weeks, sticking to the plan as best I can. I ran the morning he died, 12 miles which were extremely tough. I didn’t know obviously that Saturday would be the day, but knew it was close, so I wanted to get out. He took us by surprise really. I did 14, 15 and 16 on the following Saturdays and they were generally good, as I had company, though some knee issues have arisen. However I think it’s just tightness in the quads that is the culprit, and I have been working on that.

I was supposed to do 17 yesterday, but instead spent the whole day at work, till 7 pm. So my excuse is I was very tired after a long week. I basically wanted to stop running as soon as I started. It was after 10am before I got started as well, which is way too late for the longer distances. My knees were ok for the first five miles I think. After that my right knee was sore, but the pain was helped by stretching which I did every mile or so. I was basically running in circles around my house as I didn’t have the energy to plot a longer out and back route. So in the end I did just over 11 miles. I will try and do the remaining 6 tomorrow evening. The fact that the stretching helped my knee gives me hope that I can deal with it, so I’m not going to panic. The good news is that my back was ok.

So that’s my tale of woe. It’s been a weird few weeks, but running has helped me feel kind of normal and I know my dad would want me to keep going and run the marathon. It’s only 7 weeks away but I should be ok. My fitness is fine so it’s just the body now. Keep putting one foot in front of the other. That’s what I’m doing. Love you Dad.