Hurpling…

In my previous blog post I doubted that I would ever run again following my multiple fracture accident in December 2014. Now, I am more positive. I feel like a runner again

I am using a new term for my “style” of “running”. Hurpling, noun – hurple, verb to hurple. According to my Scottish sheep farming friend, hurpling is the word used to describe the way a lame sheep tries to run. Hopefully my own hurpling will not result in the deployment of a 12 bore…

Anyway, I’ve come on here to post a new post accident, post conversion of Birmingham Hip Resurfacing to  total hip replacement (THR) 5k PB of 43:32 Doesn’t sound much, but on June 7th I posted this on Facebook – “First Garmin recorded training event today – 26 days post hip replacement. 0.64mi/1.03 km in 24 min. Two crutches. The journey begins”.

Today, Sept 4th, I “ran” the first mile, then 4 more segments with 0.10 mile walks in between. I’ve changed my gait in order to minimise impact on my hips so I’m running on tiptoes, without a stick although I still need one for walking (Rt leg is about 3cm shorter than left thanks to the injury sustained last December).
Of course, the temptation is to try too hard now and end up worse off than ever. Plan is to stick to 6 days exercise a week – 3 in the gym and 3 on the road. Goal now is to run 5k without walking and once that has happened a few times I will do a Park Run and increase the distance of one of the road sessions (gradually) to 5miles. The third road session is going to stay as a 5 mile walk for the foreseeable future – certainly until I’m back on a bike

Today, and for the last fortnight – I have been donning the full running kit when I go for a hurple. It makes an immense and very positive psychological difference – slow as I am I feel like a runner again!