“It’s plantar fasciitis” said Clare calmly, as she inspected my sore foot. I’d been ramping up my running distance as I approached the Marathon Eryri, and my foot had getting steadily worse. It was time to go to the Pediatrist. Its planta facitis said Clare again. “Ok, great…..so now we have a name for it - how can we fix it, and when can I start running again?”.  

Every setback in training is like a mini challenge. There’s a new mini-goal and something new to learn. Knowing I actually had a plantar fascia running from my heel to my toes was the first thing I leant. I enthusiastically went through the exercise sheet and thought it would only be matter of days, before I went running again. Well it didn’t get better, not well enough to go running (a bit like having a pebble, under my heel) which is why I ended up walking the whole marathon. 

I thought about postponing, but secretly hoped it would recover in time if I just rested and worked through the exercise sheet. I checked marathon T&Cs and saw it was a generous cut off time - and as long as I could walk 4miles an hour I would be fine. And the weather forecast was gorgeous. 

In the end I walked almost 4.5miles an hour and finished in under 6hrs. There were still 200 ‘runners’ behind me, the slowest taking almost 8hrs. I did suffer afterwards, and hobbled around for a few days before it calmed down again. But I did it - I’d completed my first ever road marathon. One of the toughest, but with amazing views.