Taking on Osaka 2011: On the Road to Recovery

by Harper Cornell on October 27, 2011

So it’s almost Wednesday, and I’m almost ready to get on that plane! My running gear is all set (it always is), laundry is drying and I’m heading to the bank to pick up some Yen.

I endured an unbelievable massage earlier today with Bob at the Toronto Athletic Club as part of my pre-race ritual; however this massage was a bit more specific than my usual fare.

As I mentioned earlier, there was an unfortunate encounter with an overzealous cab driver late in my training and about 5 weeks ago at this point. Since that incident, my entire right side from the waist down hasn’t been working so well, but with the help of Ian Murray and Bob (Toronto Athletic Club), things are a lot better than they were. Bob worked his magic today and although very sore…  I feel looser than I have in weeks.

It was last week that I finally broke down and emailed the good people at Mizuno and admitted that I wasn’t sure how I would perform on Sunday. Being the incredible hosts that they are, they assured me it didn’t matter and that together we would all go to Osaka and represent the energy and spirit that they stand for, regardless of finish times.

Amazing right?  I was so relieved and can now concentrate on making sure I’m getting better rather than getting through.

As for the “cab incident”, it’s actually a rather puzzling funny incident to hear recounted:

As I was running along the sidewalk, a cab came out of a hotel driveway rather hastily looking the opposite direction in order to pull into traffic. I saw the car easily and slightly altered my course to the left to get around back of the moving car. It’s that human instinct of just switching gears to avoid trouble. However given the two rates of speed we were traveling, I was unable to prepare or foresee the cabbie slamming on his breaks at the last minute. Technically, I ran into the cab’s trunk side and rolled over the back. Landing on my feet, and rather shocked at the entire 2 seconds it all took… I looked at the driver with a very stunned “WTF-look”, with which he gave me a shruggy sorry, and we both went our separate ways. I ran the rest of the way home completing the 18 miles and quickly hydrated and ate something. About an hour later while sitting upstairs checking emails, I jumped up to answer my phone, and my leg was locked tight. From that point on, it’s been a series of ups and downs with progression, but very little distance.

Having said that I assure you all, between myself and the amazing people making this journey, there will be enough energy and laughter on the course to run 10 marathons.  I can’t wait to be back in a race atmosphere representing the folks at Mizuno and the shoes that got me there, AND finally giving myself the ultimate test of seeing how far I can get with 5 weeks of physio and serious leg work.

Bob asked me what my goal was on Sunday… I said “to finish”. He said, “Starting is pretty amazing as well.”

I smiled in agreement.

-=Ryan