The good news is that it looks as if Thomas is going to make the start of the Devil. He is easing himself back into running and training slowly and hopes to be o.k. for the Devil.
Even though the Triple Crown contest is not for him - now that he DNF the WHW-Race - a good and enjoyable Devil’s run should bring back a lot of motivation and fun into his running.
So in order to avoid further disappointment (for him) I decided to employ scare tactics.
I have enlisted the help of my parents and my mother in particular. They are due to visit us for a long weekend at the time of the Devil. They have now been upgraded to support crew members. Surely the sight of his mother-in-law will make Tom NOT want to stop at a checkpoint but will just make him run away from it as fast as he can. Don’t get me wrong. I love my parents dearly, but the positions of mother-in-law/son-in-law seem to come with certain tensions. Well, I hope to make good use of them and get Thomas to the finish. Maybe even in a great time?! I am sure my mother won’t mind. They think he is mad anyway.
By the way, we will all be staying at the Kingshouse Hotel for 2 nights and hope to celebrate a FINISH on Saturday night in family unity!
The other part of the pre-Devil and in fact pre-WHWR 2009 preparation is hopefully a visit to an orthopaedic specialist when we are in Germany at the end of July.
He mainly deals with pretty serious runners and comes highly recommended… The chronic hamstring injury Thomas has been nursing since August last year when he was training for the Berlin Marathon is surely not helping any long-term training plan.
From finding out if it maybe was a tiny muscle tear with ongoing scar tissue, a tendon problem or maybe even is a sciatic nerve problem with pressure on the nerve in the hamstring region, any second/third/fourth opinion will help. Though it doesn’t hinder his running as such, speed work is impossible. After seeing a couple of physios over the past 6 months, having acupuncture and even using homoeopathy (Ruta Grav 30c if anyone is interested), this is just another angle.
I have a few other people I could send him to including a retired GP who now does hypno-healing! Well so far he has resisted any of these weirder suggestions.
Watch the space!
