Fish Marathon Blog by Fish1980

When I entered this the same question kept being asked by me and most people that know me, would my knee stand up to the test? My right knee has been a major problem since I was around 12 and 2 operations and 2 detached cruciates later I thought it was now stronger than ever, although I am always very careful with it.

The training always seemed to be making my knee stronger and although at the start it used to ache a lot after my longer runs, it now seemed to be completely over that and almost back to "normal".

Anyway back to this week a fairly usual couple of short treadmill efforts passed without incident and Friday I was due to play squash, however Friday morning I was getting dressed and I felt my back go. This also happened to me around Christmas time and left me in pain for a couple of weeks, so I was obviously very concerned, I went into the office and experienced various feelings of being stabbed while sitting at my desk however when I ran up and down the stairs it felt fine. With this in mind I agreed to go ahead with squash as it was paid for anyway but on the basis I might not last. Everything felt fine and I chalked up a comfortable win without any side effects. My back continued to then hurts as it does now when I am sitting or laying down but it is fine when I am running around - very bizarre

On to the run, I filled myself up with carbs and drove round to put the drinks in a safe place and off I set much earlier for a minimum 18 but fairly confident today would be the 20 miles. Slightly chilly day but fairly bright and decent weather for my longest run so far, my ipod was fully charged and I set off at a conservative pace.

That is when my biggest fear became a reality, my weak knee was tightening up and didn't feel good at all, I blocked it out and put it down to my mind playing tricks trying to get out of the task ahead but it was becoming very apparent I had a problem. Nothing had snapped or twisted or jarred (like the pine cone incident) which I was used to in the past with my knee problems, it was just randomly seizing up. I stopped on a couple of occasion and stretched and tried to work out the problem and started again with a leisurely jog, it was no use though I couldn't manage more than 2 strides. I disconsolately walked home wondering what the hell had happened, I had managed just 4 miles.

I don't know why but I am very still confident that I am going to be fine, I think because there wasn't a snap or twist it can'tbe serious but going down stairs is providing me with pain at the moment, I haven't got the usual other pain that have gone with my previous knee issues, getting in and out the car and all twisting. I have 3 weeks left to recover and without last weeks run I would feel a lot worse but I know I have 20 miles in me already and if need be I can get round by resting until the event.

I will take it very easy and keep a very close eye on it this week but hopefully in a couple of days normal service will be resumed

Fingers crossed