May 2014

[Sweder]

Running has taken a back seat this week as I mend my broken legs.
I turned up at the Pan Siro on Wednesday lunchtime, ostensibly to offer moral support to Sean McLeod and the club for their staging of the inaugural Mental Well-Being Tournament, an extension of the club's Football Therapy sessions. Clubs from all over the country took part, including teams from Wales, Brighton &Hove Albion, QPR and Blackburn Rovers.

On arrival I was greeted with the news that one of the teams had had to withdraw, and did I still have my boots? Thirty minutes later, decked out in running shoes and a Lewes FC away strip, I was lining up for the hurridly-cobbled-together Desperados against a QPR team apparently full of NFL Line-backers.

Six hours later I was still playing, having lost narrowly to the Rs, been buried by Blackburn but notching a notable 4-0 win against the Welsh. I was in goal by this time, both knees having seized up after some robust, if ultimately futile, defending. After the last match ended, not to be parted from my Lewes FC 'keeper's jersey, I stood in for a kids' penalty shoot-out. Unfortunately the kids were joined by beer-fuelled adults intent on smashing the ball - and me - through the back of the net. That's when I ripped the ligaments in my wrist. Happily there were pints of Harveys on hand to help with that, so I carried on until my battered body begged for mercy.

What fun, and what a brilliant tournament. More about it here.
Hopefully I'll stagger out for a run this evening, or perhaps early tomorrow.
I'll need to. My legs are like petrified oak.