Tokyo Marathon

Tomorrow I start to run again. Regular readers ( thanks mum ) will recall that it has been a long time, almost 11 months, since I injured my knee.

Since then I’ve tried some Nike compression bandages, any amount of anti-imflammatory drugs, new shoes, new watch ( alright that was an indulgence .. ) and just recently MRI. This was an experience – horizontally sliding into a giant pulsating cigar tube. I could physically feel my body moving as the magnetic waves did their thing. The outcome was a beautiful set of photos of my knee, appallingly re-photographed slyly by me in the doctors room using my mobile phone :

Problem diagnosed : illiotibial band syndrome. That band is the dark one on the left as you look at the photos, most visible on the top set. Connecting upper and lower leg muscles, the band in my case is just grazing the bone.. hence the ouch. Fix is generally stretching exercises and more even development of leg muscles. Or just some development, in my case.

So why the confessional headline ? The best stretching exercise I have found is the first 15 mins or so of “Billy’s Bootcamp”

I’m serious. It’s phenomenal. Of course, I can’t get much further than the first 15 mins without risking permanent extinction, so I can’t comment on the rest of the video. But I will report back if this shameful secret stretching has paid off after tomorrow’s attempt…

.. no not by Joe this time. Ethiopian runner and 10,000m Olympic record holder Haile Gebrselassie managed the Berlin marathon in a world record time of 2:04.26. That was 29 seconds faster than Paul Tergat’s record standing since 2003, also set in Berlin.

Picture and report ( BBC )

In contrast I think I had managed about 15K by that time. It is time to start training again …