Re-building slowly...

Firstly, thanks so much to everyone for your kind words and messages about my Grandad. I'm sad to report that a matter of minutes after finishing that last post, I had a phone call from my Mum to say he had just passed away. Needless to say, its been a rather difficult time for us all since then. My Mum has taken it very hard and naturally looked to me for support. Telling Courtney was one of the hardest things I have had to do in her life so far... they were really close and as she was his first great-grandchild, she was always his 'special one'. She was absolutely devastated, despite knowing that he had been sick for a while. The fact that he was 3 days off his 93rd birthday and on the whole had a great, healthy life, was of little comfort to them, but I am just glad that he did not suffer for too long and was surrounded by loved ones in his final hours.

My Mum stayed down in Waihi and Tauranga where he lived and her brother lives, until today. My sister flew in from Aust on Friday night and her, Courtney and I drove down to the funeral on Saturday morning. It was a sad but lovely service held in his Catholic church - my Mum was one of the pall-bearers, I did a reading, my sister delivered one of the three eulogy's - which was excellent - and Courtney helped serve Communion, so everyone played a part. It was great to catch up with so many family and extended family members, despite the occasion. My time and thoughts have been dominated with this since then. I have been very fortunate to have the care and support of the lovely Daryll, it's certainly made it all a little easier to cope with.

I have managed two runs since my last post and they have also been excellent for clearing my head... I would like to be doing a lot more, but I am still being very cautious about my injured leg, which is still not 100%...

Thursday 17/05/07:
In trying to keep something of a routine going for her sake, I took Courtney to gymnastics on Thursday night as per usual - despite the fact that neither of us had slept very well for two nights and were both rather upset... I knew a run would do me the world of good, so while she was there I headed out on a short loop to see how the leg would feel and get some fresh air. At 6pm it was dark but fine and clear, with only a slight breeze.

Brisk walk warmup: 5mins
Easy paced run: 30.28mins, 6.07km, Ave 5.01min/kms, Max 4.32min/km.
Brisk walk cooldown: 5mins

Things felt pretty good, just a little bit of tightness around the inner ankle area and Achilles, but no pain what so ever. Plenty of stretching afterwards, particularly the calves and Achilles, then iced upon my return home for a good 10mins.

Sunday 20/05/07:
It was Sunday before I had another opportunity to run. After the driving and the emotion of Saturday, I was absolutely exhausted and drained by that evening. But after a good nights sleep I woke up on Sunday feeling much better and actually had time to lounge around and relax. At 9.30am, I headed out with Daryll and Courtney on her bike, we walked up to the park, where I left them and headed off for my run.

Brisk walk warmup: 10mins
Steady paced run: 39.19mins, 8.94kms, Ave 4.23min/kms, Max 3.49min/km.
Brisk walk cooldown: 10mins - some of which including jogging along pushing Courtney on her bike!

I have to say, I again noticed a fair amount of tightness in the injury area, but it was not painful at all. I go back to the physio on Wednesday and hope that she can do a bit more to dissipate the last of this injury. It has been a little tight and sore ever since, and I know that I probably over-did things a bit both in pace and distance - but at the time it just felt so darn good and I badly needed to blow out the cobwebs and lose myself... It did wonders for my mental state, if not my physical one...

Have rested today and plan to head out again in the morning, even if it is only for 5-6kms.
Ended up with 21kms last week, that's better than the big fat zero of the week before... which was preceded by a 11.5km week and a 16.5km week... its all progress I suppose.

Tomorrow is my Mums 63rd birthday, so a bit of a celebration and a dinner out is organised, both to cheer her up and before my sister flies home on Wednesday.

My heart goes out to Em after reading about her stress fracture diagnosis... Having suffered from a femoral stress fracture in 2004, I know how frustrating it can be. I wish her a speedy recovery and a great six pack from all of the pool and core work in the meantime!

Thanks again for all of your comments and support, its much appreciated.