LET IT BREATHE

Before going away my hols' I took some medical advice from Val.
Keep the dressing off the knee to give it some air and let it dry.

So. I packed my trendy blue cotton "Lofty shorts" and tootled off to Bruges looking every bit the trendy young "Euro poseur"!!

Problem is. My knee didn't really want to play by the rules and instead or drying up and healing went into weeping, gushing, suppurating mode....... big time. At times I could feel it running down the leg, while at others I forgot about it, but would wonder why "foreigners" were looking at me in awe. "Yes" I thought "I am indeed a trend setter". Then I would look down to see the mess of a leg dangling below the shorts and the reason for their gaze would become all too apparent.

I was wandering the narrow cobbled medieval streets of Bruges, looking like some latter day plague victim - complete with weeping boils. I ended up walking around with a collection of paper napkins from various coffee places, that I could use to mop up the mess.

However, on the plus side - it didn't stop me running! Nothing serious, just a couple of five mile "jogs" up by the canals.

We managed to find a fairly good route the first day there and just stuck to it. Within about a quarter of a mile from our hotel we could get onto a cycle/pedestrian path that runs alongside the main canal.

The first day we went about 5:30 in the afternoon and although it was quite busy it was still manageable without too much bother. Other days we went out before breakfast and it was very peaceful.

There are a few windmills along the route and Anne decided that running up to them would provide some good hill reps.

The runs all went surprisingly well and I got no bother from the knee at all. I did, strangely enough, get a bit of pain from my hams and niggles in my hips, but I put that down to the change in my gait these past few weeks.

Main thing was I was "back out there" and at the very least keeping the old heart rate in cake burning mode a few times (always handy when your on holiday).

Back home, but still off work, so I intend to up the mileage a bit and try to get back to where I was before the fall.

Going out with the club tonight. See if I can manage to stay upright.