Season summary

Season review

As most of you know it has been quite a difficult year for me with regards to racing and injuries and I have been pretty disappointed with how things have gone......however these things happen and lessons can be learnt from such times.

After a knee injury for most of last year which was put down to my ITband I was slowly building back up the mileage only to be hit with recurrent Bronchitis through January and February. After being given an asthma inhaler and lots of Antibiotics I seemed to be getting back on track again.

A decent run at Borrowdale in April confirmed that I seemed to be ok to start racing again so Scafell Pike Trail Marathon in May which had been the main aim for this year was there for me to have a crack at.

Success at Scafell with a comfortable win and no ill effects spurred me on to another marathon a couple of weeks later.

Success again at CODRC trail marathon with a few laps of the 31 lap course with Blizzard and a steady jog round in a time of 3.50 left me with a bit of a pain in my hip and glute but I just put it down to a bit of overuse.

Trail Marathon Wales was the next event ( In retrospect a bit of a silly choice!) as it was only a week later. I suffered with a pull in my glute at only one mile in and retired at 5 miles.

This seemed to be the start of the next 5 months of problems........  :-(
I seemed to have a pain in my hip that just would not go away. Rest didn't seem to help, and I had pain on every footstep even when just walking. The only way where the pain was becoming manageable was with strong ibuprofen and even then I could still feel it.

One of the positives to come out of this injury was that I met the most amazing Physios that I could ever have met. Andy Walling and Duncan Mason from Athlete Matters  (www.athletematters.co.uk) have become two of my favourite people on the planet! Treatment from them, core work and a programme of strengthening after an MRI confirmed there was no serious problem with my hip finally seems to be having some success at correcting my "wonky" pelvis.

This week I have hit 30 minutes of running without pain in my hip and I finally feel like I may be able to race again next year. Progress is slower than I would like but of course I am not renowned for my patience. I am "hammering the core work" and even on holiday last week at 630 every morning I could be found in the gym doing my exercises.

I have really learnt the benefits of having wonderful physios who can hopefully fix me up and then keep me running by sorting out any little problems before they become detrimental. A huge thank you to Athlete Matters for their support, fantastic treatment and excellent advice to get me back doing the sport that I love.

Throughout all of 2013 once again I have been fortunate enough to have been supported by the fantastic people at 9Bar. (www.9bar.com)  For this I am incredibly thankful and have loved being part of such a wonderful team once again. Being fuelled by 9bar and supported by them with generous amounts of kit, race entries and support throughout the year really brings a new element to my racing. I have always wanted to do well and be competitive as that is part of my nature but through the 9bar team I am inspired to try new challenges and give other things a go. The team and the wonderful gang at 9bar are a real "family" and have become close friends. I would just like to thank them all once again for all the help they have given me. It is a real privilege to be part of such a fantastic bunch of people and I love seeing the amazing achievements of the team members and feel very inadequate by all the success my team mates have!

So to summarise - this year.......

January 2013 - First Cyclocross race - 2nd female.
February 2013 - Epic Events - Formby Night Run - 2nd female.
April 2013 - Cliffcross Cyclocross Duathlon - 2nd female.
May 2013 - 6 Hour Mountain Bike Enduro.
May 2013 - Scafell Pike Trail Marathon - 1st female.
June 2013 - CODRC Holly Challenge Marathon - 1st female.
July 2013 - Women's Running 10k - 2nd female - new PB 40.49
September 2013 - Walkden 5 mile trail race - 1st female.
September 2013 - Buttermere Triathlon with Ed Clancy and Shaun O'Keefe. 3rd place.
October 2013 - Fun event with 9 bar - Born Survivor!

What is left for this year?.......

Get back to running!
Get fitter!
Plan next season's events!

And probably buy more trainers......!