"Broken Toe!"

After a great run on Sunday I definitely came down to earth with a bump on Monday morning, or to be more precise down the stairs at home, slipping from top to bottom! The only thing hurt apart from my pride, was that as I fell my little toe caught the stair banister and went in the opposite direction to the rest of me! I'm still not sure if it is broken, dislocated or badly bruised. Medical advice is the same whatever, ice, anti-inflammatories and strapping to the toe next door!

After a couple of days of rest the toe felt much better and I went on a couple of easy runs which I know isn't what the doctor ordered or very sensible either, but a week on and although the injured area is still very swollen and bruised running isn't causing a problem so I may have an easy run out at the Wilmslow Half Marathon next weekend.

The highlight run of the week was on Saturday afternoon where I went out for an hour along the Ashton Canal which runs through the heart of Manchester. leaving my son Matt at the North West Pole Vault squad training at Sportcity, home of the 2002 Commonwealth games, I ran down into the centre of Manchester taking in over 200 years of industrial heritage that saw Manchester become the first city of the Industrial Revolution. Built in 1796 the canal was key to the successful rise of "Cottonopolis" and making Britain the world's leading economy. Several hundred years on the decline in the area is slowly being reversed as old factories are being converted to flats and although i know the city very well from my student days, it was great to keep popping up from the canal at bridges to realise that you were at the heart of what is still today a major international city.

Assuming the toe keeps recovering it is my intention to run the half at the weekend before the start of the track and field season kicks in in a couple of weeks time.