235 Days, what kind of title is that?!

Soooooooo 235 Days, what kind of title is that for a running blog? It doesn't sound very runnery (note: this blog is likely to contain made up words), and you're right, it doesn't, it doesn't have the word RUN in it anywhere, not fitness, nor journey, or any other kind of words that you'd normally find in a running blog title that I can't think of right now. But there is a reason for it being called 235 days, ah a reason you cry, it better be a good one.

 Right, so I've been meaning to start writing a running blog for some time, since I started to enjoy running a whole year and a bit ago but never really got around to it, then I should have started writing a blog about the whole journey during my attempt to take part in the London 2 Brighton challenge, but no I didn't. Then just as I was starting to really enjoy my running a couple of months after L2B I got injured during a race and knackered my ankle….

THE ANKLE.

Those that know me through Twitter are well aware of the story of the ankle but seeing as there is life outside Twitter, and I'm still trying to explain the whole 235 thing, I shall regale you with this riveting story.
It was July, overcast, not your usu… ok I'll skip this stuff. Basically I was running a race, the excellent Bewl 15 with a friend, the lovely Kirsty, when 1 mile into the race I went over on my ankle while not really looking where I was going, it really hurt but I did the whole stop for a bit, give it a rub and miraculously it was better (it really wasn't), so I carried on running, it was pretty painful I'll admit, especially downhill (I kind of side stepped down hills) but I managed to run the rest of the 14 miles and complete the race, even with those bloody hills. Trudged over to St Johns after the race and said nonchalantly 'er,  I think I may have done something to my ankle' and then proceeded to roll down the sock, I'd been wearing calf guards so the majority of the swelling was being kept compressed but basically I had this bubble where my ankle bone should be.

They advised I should go to A&E the following day.

So, I iced it when I got in, had it elevated yadda yadda yadda and I could tell it was going to be bad as almost upto my knee was quite red and slightly swollen, this is what it looked like just before bed.



Anyway, as you can see it was not great. BUT I'll cut to the chase, it was a severe sprain and torn ligaments, I was given the whole 'it'd be better if you'd broken it' talk, something I would hear on a weekly basis from my dad and physios, runners and people giving their two pence worth.

BUT BASICALLY WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY IS THAT I'VE BEEN INJURED FOR 235 DAYS AND TODAY I GOT THE ALL CLEAR FROM THE PHYSIO!

So, that's the reason why the blog is called 235 days, mainly as a reminder to myself of my stupidity of continuing to run while obviously injured, just to get a medal, which is in a drawer with the rest. And hopefully as a sign to the rest of you to not do anything stupid if you get injured while running. There really is no point, you won't gain anything from it, apart from a collection of stretchy bits of elastic that physios gave you to do exercises with.

That's it, maybe not the amazing story you might have been expecting but it gives a reason for the title of the thing, and to be honest I couldn't really think of anything else.
I'll hopefully update reasonably regularly before the blog fades into nothing, being updated once a year with a 'I haven't done this for a while' blog update. The blog will hopefully be a non too serious look at my attempts to run quicker while getting fitter, doing some great races and no doubt plenty of mentions of Bourbon biscuits and Applewood cheese, not together, although now I've mentioned it…
It'll also hopefully have stuff including people who inspire me, probably some waffle about training and further mentions of biscuits.

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