Rooted for Christmas

Last post saw me cursing about an overuse injury. As foreshadowed in that post, I gave it the royal treatment with rest, stretching, self massage and anti-inflammataries. I also had a session in a gym that gave me confidence that I could substitute some running with gym machines and swimming.

By Saturday night the leg was feeling pretty good and I felt confident that it would stand up to a trail run being organized by Jay from Namban. I had a quick chat with my supportive wife and she sent me off with her blessing (well, a kind of through-clenched-teeth blessing, but you take what you can get).

The photo shows that it was an absolutely beautiful, though crisp, day out in western Tokyo. By the way, that is still technically Tokyo that we are standing in despite the mountainous and forested surroundings. Note also the prominent snow-capped peak in the background. I'd tell you its name if only I could remember it! I wonder if you can help me...

Well, the trails were firm, the company was good. The christmas carols on the uphills not quite so good as nobody could remember enough words, though Mika was in pretty good voice on some of the downhill sections -- the tunes were familiar, but I could swear she was singing in Japanese. Who would have thought there was a Japanese version of "Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer!" Well, I can now assure you there is.

In many parts of the trail, there were countless erosion-exposed roots of the surrounding sugi trees. Just as I was thinking what a sure-footed fellow I am, my foot caught one. I lurched, regained my balance, then came to a short sharp drop that threw me off balance again, but after a fight with gravity, eventually came back to a safe equilibrium with dignity mostly intact. Phew, close call. My running partners said it was an impressive performance over a good ten or fifteen metres; something to rival the Bolshoy (what was that about dignity?)

Well, we were then discussing our various past near misses and mishaps and how you always have falls just when you think how clever you are...and then bang, my foot caught another tree root and this time there was no chance to recover. Hit the ground like a sack of spuds. I rolled nicely and, again, my pals said it was quite a good visual display. I would have got out of it unscathed but for a vicious tree root to the thigh on initial impact. After a bit of a stop I was able to continue, but the damn thing was bloody sore, and for the rest of the run it was quite a challenge to keep up with people I would be normally galloping ahead of. Today I am sporting a classic corked thigh that is helping me relive some of the least pleasant moments of my rugby league playing days. It was quite a hobble to the train station this morning. So if anybody has tips on how to quickly recover from a corked thigh, I'm all ears. At least it has given me something to take my mind off the knee niggle.

When I got home I showered and applied ice to the injury and then joined the wife in completing preparations for our Christmas dinner. We had a friend and her daughter over for traditional roast chicken (my job was stuffing and roasting the birds) with a mix of traditional (peas, carrots, gravy) and not so traditional (chips, egg salad) accompaniments. Afterwards we did our presents (Xmas day here, today, is just business as usual) and there were some smiling faces with a Play Station Portable, a Creative Zen V Plus, Buffalo Air Station for the Nintendo DS...and I think there was even some stuff for the kids too ;-) I scored a nice looking backpack for running and my wife got an o-cha pot and cups decorated with images of Totoro, her favourite character.

Well fed and with a few drinks through the evening and a body weary from the 24 km of trails, I ran out of steam at 11:00, and, once asleep, enjoyed the sleep of a dead guy.