OK, so the comeback kid made some premature declarations. I've spent the last couple of weeks stretching and strengthening, but without a lot of success. So onto a different tack - acupuncture. I had my first treatment tonight and now feel as if a tractor backed into the back of my right leg. Apparently this is normal - pain does equal gain in this game. If it just felt like a horse kicked it then I'd be disappointed (apparently). The practitioner is a lovely guy who is confused about the point of the whole Kepler thing but when I told him it's a 60 km run he laughed and said "Ok - I see you many many times in this year."
I've given away the 25km event at the end of the month. Even if my Achilles was OK by now, I'm worried that going out for even 25km on very little recent mileage might give just cause other problems that come from too much, too soon. So, the plan now is to build up very slowly with my eye on the Christchurch half marathon in June. It's a flat course, fast and hard, and usually run in the kind of of nipple-shriveling temperatures that make warming up impossible, until you're 10km in, that is. Last year it snowed - running in a winter wonderland! Hopefully it'll suit me in terms of time, distance, and a great run - not a race but a good long weekend trot with lots of other people on a course I haven't done before. It's good to have a new goal on the way to Kepler.
Bring on the winter!
