Aaarrrrgggh!

Bad news I’m afraid.  I’ve been back to Physio with a calf strain caused by trying to run too fast.  What can I say…. I’m competitive.

Unfortunately I made things a lot worse by trying to be smart….never a good idea!  I took Sydney (our lunatic chocolate Australian Labradoodle) with me to see my friend, Charlotte, on Wednesday morning.  Sydney had a great ‘play date’ with Charlotte’s black Lab., Cooper.  Whilst Charlotte and I remained inside, Sydney and Cooper got up to high jinks outside and every so often would whistle past the french windows … each time it was clear that Sydney was enjoying the mud a little too much.  Honestly, you should have seen the state of him by the time it was time to leave.  His long, curly coat was dripping with mud and decorated with twigs, leaves and various detritus.  He looked like a canine ‘Stig of the Dump.’

What has this got to do with anything?

Well I couldn’t leave Sydney in that state.  So later that evening I herded him up upstairs (trying not to obsess about the amount of dry mud he was shedding) and into the shower cubicle.  Hosing him down with the shower seemed the only option.  However, Sydney wasn’t so keen on my plans and after several attempts to escape, I was using all my weight to hold him back with one hand whilst grappling with the shower-head with the other.  And then it happened … one bid for freedom too many and I felt my left calf muscle (the bad one obviously) go twang.

I limped into Physio this morning and, after much prodding and poking, my left leg was scanned.  There it was … a torn calf muscle complete with an area filled with blood and fluid.  A serious conversation ensued covering keywords P.R.I.C.E. = Protection, Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.  Crutches were next on the list!  I didn’t even have to ask the question that was in my mind … ‘No, you can’t run the Kilomathon.’

I’m feeling very down.