After worrying about my painful knee and my niggley quadriceps muscles in my left leg, I found that my knee had improved by Tuesday 21st March to be able to run on it - I ran about three miles, followed by two on the Wednesday and four on the Thursday, which set me up for running the Cranleigh 15 and 21 last Sunday.

Bearing in mind I had not run properly for a week or so, I think that I had lost fitness, because I felt very tired after the first four miles. I soldiered on, running tired for the remaining 11 miles, and finished in a time of 1:53:10, which on reflection I should be pleased with. Having finished the 15 mile race rather than going on running the 21 mile course, I tried to extend the run a bit, but after another half a mile my legs felt very tired and tied up, so I called it a day. I was very pleased to be able to complete the 15 mile distance without a problem from my knee or hip, although I did have a little discomfort from my left piriformis muscle I think.

The funny thing is that I could still feel a slight discomfort from my knee when walking around before I ran the Cranleigh 15, even though it was allowing me to run, but the race mysteriously seemed to have actually improved it, and after the race felt no discomfort at all. For the following three days after the race my calf muscles felt very stiff, and my legs had obviously done something they're not used to.

This week has been hard - 1 mile on Monday, 3 miles on Tuesday, 2 miles on Wednesday, nothing yesterday, and I've started with a cold. Very annoying. It doesn't seem to be a bad one though, and I'm hoping to be able to run 5 miles later today.