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After running the Kielder Marathon in October, I decided to take a long break to get myself sorted.
It's a long story. I have a long term hip injury/condition which first surfaced in the guise of some general tightness way back in March of last year. As the miles increased, so did the pain to the point where some days it was just too difficult to even walk.
Then, as the Summer progressed, so did my general tiredness and lethargy - mainly brought about by many sleepless nights due to the painful hip - until eventually my body suffered one big burnout. Ten weeks before the marathon it was assumed I had adrenal exhaustion, not helped by the fact that I'd trained through the increasing fatigue for weeks making it worse. I say 'assumed' because apparently there is no definitive test which confirms this condition, just a series of elimination tests to say that it's not something else. Bit embarrassed by this and can't help thinking I should just pull myself together and push on.

Not the greatest preparation in the world a few weeks away from my A race of the season. I immediately reduced the mileage and went into a 6 week taper, clocking around 2 runs per week of no more than 45mins each.

Against all advice (nearly culminating in divorce) and with the odds stacked massively against me, I lined up on the shores of a very cold (minus 4) Kielder Water on the 17th of October to tackle 26.2 miles of off road madness with 5000ft of ascent.

The race went as well as can be expected, better in fact. I started very slowly and capped the pace so that I was running well within myself. The course was a rude awakening - not only for me either who had done no training let alone specific hill training, but for my 1600 fellow nutters as well - and frustratingly one where it was impossible to hit a constant pace as there were numerous uphills which went up, and up, and up....and many very steep descents with acutely sharp bends at the bottom.
Despite this, I felt surprisingly great. However, my lack of mileage/training showed itself at just over 20 miles. Up until then I was on for a comfortable 4:10 but the last 10k took us over the open moors and with a tremendous cold headwind - which had oddly been present since the gun despite the route being of a circular nature - my 'race' was effectively over. There was no point pushing on, and to be quite honest I was completely frozen to the core, totally bored, and just not interested anymore. I slowed to an even more comfortable pace and enjoyed the scenery whilst eating a packet of sweets.

I ended up with 4:27, no sore legs, and no DOMS....result. I had no right to be running that sort of time given the illness, injury, and route, but I'm not complaining and was very pleased with the outcome.

So, I've had the last 3 months off any exercise completely. Nothing has changed. My hip is still incredibly sore, even after a stroll around town, and any type of exercise which raises my heart rate into zone 2 leaves me exhausted. I have been told that adrenal fatigue can take up to, if not more than, a year to recover from.

It all sounds downbeat but it's not. Running is something that I've done for the last 30 years so naturally I feel a bit sad that it's come down to the one thing I love doing which is making me fall to bits. However, I'm not just a runner, I'm me, and there's a whole other world out there for me to explore. I just have to re-evaluate and find something else to do which won't leave me so tired to function, or in so much pain that I can't move.

This year is going to be about 'Zen' and mindfulness. I will take things slowly and I'm determined to get healthy again as opposed to fit. The last year has taught me that there is a big difference between the two and just because you're fit, doesn't necessarily mean that you're healthy.

In summary, it's back to basics, and starting from scratch, but it's all good and I'm looking forward to the new challenges which may or may not come my way :-)