Crackneck

After my DNF at UTA I was pretty bummed out, I didn’t want to go anywhere near the race finish line or even read about it on Facebook. But by far my biggest concern was when could I run again? I talked to my coach Matt Murphy whose advice was to stop running, start Reformer Pilates and look at getting a cortisone injection to get the inflammation down in my knee. I really wasn’t keen on cortisone and am still not keen on it, but at the same time I haven't ruled it out. However I have stopped running and have started Reformer Pilates.... What have I done so far? Reformer Pilates There was some initial confusion when Matt told me to go and do Pilates. The gym classes didn’t suit and I didn’t know why following a video wouldn’t work. That’s when he taught me about Reformer Pilates (Refer to the stock photo). It’s done on a moving bench thing, and is very hard. But hard in the concentration sense, muscle wise it’s fine. I also feel incredibly uncoordinated doing it. I found a Pilates...

This story starts 2 weeks ago when my knee pulled up “tight” after an easy 20k run out at Ourimbah State Forest. Matt immediately told me to rest. So rest, stretching, rolling, swimming, 2 massages and a chiro visit later I tried running again on the Thursday morning before my Saturday race. An easy, slow 5k and my knee felt…. okish. The next morning I headed for a slightly longer 7k run from home to Crackneck and back and I could definitely “feel” my knee. Then I could “feel” that it hurt while walking. This was bad news. Very bad news, I drove up the mountains as planned on Friday, pretty much constantly stressing about my knee. I went through check-in, checked out the race expo, wandered around Katoomba a bit and the whole time I could feel my knee pulling. Not pain, just tight pulling. That night we went to the Q&A were I had to sit on stage with the other elite females and answer a couple of questions. Then we watched the mens Q&A and the race briefing. The whole time I fe...

Thanks to Running Heroes & Under Armour I got some shiny new shoes to try out and review. The Brand new Under Armour SpeedForm Gemini 2’s! My initial thought when I opened the box containing the Gemini 2 ’s was “Wow, they are so shiny and clean!”. The Gemini 2 ’s are some very nice looking running shoes with the mesh on top, a solid heel, reflective dots on the front and back and a brightly coloured UA logo on the side. I immediately put them on and spent the rest of the work day strutting around the office in my shiny new shoes. They got their first real outing on the Saturday when I took them on an 11km run with Terrigal Trotters. It was pouring rain and while most of the run was on the road, there was also some beach and trails thrown in to mix it up. How ’d the shoes go? They cushioned my feet nicely on the road sections, were light enough to make the sand running almost enjoyable and had enough tread to handle the little trail sections. The mesh on top meant that they even d...