THE NEXT CHAPTER

"I am afraid that you are not going to be able to run the London Marathon"

I looked over at the words coming from the doctors mouth and my face paled.

I had to train for 120 weeks and only had another 5 to go and I was there. That really hurts, but thats life, sometimes things don't work out the way you hope.

The MRI scan showed up a couple of areas of fluid in the sheath of the achilles tendon. Every time I ran for more then 20 minutes it would rub inside the sheath against the achilles and become painfully inflamed and forming the dreaded "crepitis" a crunching sound in felt when the heel is flexed.

The stupid thing about this is that it all started with a blister on my other foot. Having not had a single one for nearly 2 years I completed a 20 mile run to find a huge blister had developed due to the bunching of the sock.

It happend just before heading to Ethiopia and because I was away in the home of distance running I did more training then I would or should have done had I been in the UK. At that stage the problem was just about manageable and I booked an appointment with the physio which resulted in a cortisone injection to calm the problem.

Problem fixed and I jumped back into the running... too much too soon. The problem came back in a mild form and after a week of cross training I eased cautiously back into the running. Again the problem raised it ugly head and back to the aqua jogging I went. This happend for a third time, 3 days into the running program and I ended back at square one.

Those few weeks were torture. Would I be able to run in London? Have I done enough training even if I can? Will we be able to sort out the visa for Mengsitu my Ethiopian friend? Will we be able to arrange permission from the BBC to film the race and will the London Marathon agree to accept his entry.

Now that I am out for 4 - 6 weeks of proper training which will include some very easy running and cross training, these troublesome questions have become irrelevant.

Was I going to qualify even if I had stayed injury free? The answer to that it no way. For the last year of the project my aim has been to run under 2:30 and the classification as an elite marathon runner.

On a personal level not being able to run in London is hugely disappointing as so much of my efforts were directed to this race in my home town. I might be out of London and "The Road to Beijing" title might be irrelevant but the project has strangely evolved and taken a turn towards the documentary that I wanted to produce in the first place. At the time I did not have the funds or contacts to make it happen, but now this further setback could prove to be just the necessary change in direction the documentary needed.

At this time I can't go into too much detail as a few things need to be arranged but I can tell you that the documentary will be following two more stories in addition to Mengsitu and my own and will most likely be culminating at the Amsterdam Marathon in October 2008.

Finally thanks very much from everyone that has written to me. I will try to get back to as many of you as I can as it is really appreciated

Off to get in the pool for another hour of aqua jogging. For those of you that think running is boring the times that by ten and you will have some idea about aqua jogging.

My PC has a virus and is away being fixed but will endevour to update the website as soon as I can.

Thanks

Alex