It was the 2nd of January.

It was the 2nd of January. The ground was hard and littered with frost. The lines of trees like sentinels stood ominously, aloof watching me as I ran a planned 8km training run.

At the 2. 5km mark I tripped of a piece of wood disgarded by the tree. I landed rumpled on the ground and my knee hurt. My instinctive reaction was too look around to see if anyone saw what happened, but the park was empty.

With noone to converse with my first thought was “fuck it, get up and go one”. I finished the 8km and the next few days my knee ached with what I thought was a meniscus tear.

Weeks went by and the ‘knee problem dogged me but my 30km a week training plan didn’t change. I even ran a 10km in about 51 minutes. However it was the 3rd of March in a race with my running girlfriend where the knee suddenly felt worse. Foolishly I ran in and completed the race in around 51 minute but had such extreme pain I couldn’t walk. I hobbled with pain.

I lived in a neighbouring town from my girlfriend and stayed with her for the race. The day after the race I was in crutches and my girlfriend left me. I had to call a friend to pick me up and I stayed at their house. To cap a miserable spring the injury cost me my job too.

Initially diagnosed as a meniscus tear, after 6 weeks on crutches I was informed it was actually a femur break and I needed another 6 weeks on crutches. Look through the internet and stories that compare injury to divorce and there I was suffering from a triple blow.

What do you do at a low point? I reached for my laptop and devised a 14 week training plan. My aim? After injury to run 10km under 50 minutes. My last close race to that was 2012 when I ran 50m 11s.

The last 4 weeks on crutches I was out speed crutch walking. 10 to15 km daily to boost mymetabolism. The day tzhe doctor said i could try a bit of walking I went out and ran 3km- oit was a good pace. FGrom that moment on i was a possessed man. I ran 25 to 30 km a week and ev ery friday I ran 5 or 6 single 1000m with a 3 monute break. my aim, to run each under 5 minutes — race pace. Over the next 10 weeks on fridays I did the speed training and to my surprise my times got slowly by seconds faster each week.

After 12 weeks training at 30 km a week, I ran 3x 5km at race pace, i.e. under 25 minutes.

The week before the race I did no running just cycling. I felt tired but the internet says that tspering causes tiredness, iots the bodies ways of telling you its usong the time to rpair you and makle you stronger.

I visited a tpwn on gthe edge of a mountain. TZhe 3rd and 89th km were slow rising gradients. by the 8th km I was a minute under my desired time, but i was so exhausted that m,y brtain wanted to stop. I kept telling myself, “get to the top of this hill and its all level, you have a minute to play with”.

I crossed the finish line in 49m 29s. I was elated, absolutely elated. I cried, and was happy at the same time. That is my story of how an injury can inspire you to greatness. I also recorded a 5km time of 24m09s. That was my fastest 5km since 2012.

Since then I have only raced once in a race that was large and the first 2 km I was blocked by other runners and couldnt run the seed I wanted to. Im now not so interested in chasing times, bit I know that I needed that plan to get my through the time on crutches, and I had to work hard to deliver it, and it gave me strength that I could use in other parts of my life.

i now have a new job, and Im looking for a better one as I write. Im single and I get lonely, but, then I go for a run, and try and enjoy the process of running.