I got back running today after a week off...tenderly gingerly but still managed 40 minutes run. Tomorrow I'll try for my 90 minute run a week later than planned. Now I'm off to icing up my calf and knee catch you later.

I suffered a calf strain yesterday so can't run for the next week or two. Gutted.

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Running the half marathon has always been one of my many ambitions. In my opinion, it represents one of the true ways by which one can test one's physical limits. Sadly, not all are able to. A few years ago a very close friend was diagniosed with Pernicious Anaemia. Her journey to getting diagnosed, and it was a journey, was a rather painful one that would require a lenghty explanation. But to summarise, she was misdiagnosed as the symptoms she showed were consistent with other more common diseases. You can learn more about Pernicious Anaemia here, http://www.pernicious-anaemia-society.org/sufferers/library/what_is_pernicious_anaemia

I don't think her diagnosis was helped by her ignorance of the disease either. There is not enough known about the disease by the GPs who form the first line of contact to sufferers, even much less is known by the general public. For a disease whose symptoms can be so debilitating and fatal if left untreated, doing something cannot come too soon!

The Pernicious Anaemia Society Charity is the only organisation in the UK providing the kind of support PA sufferers need. But they need help. There is so much more they can do to spread more awareness and contribute towards research on this disease. For example, the disease was wrongly understood to afflict certain racial groups more than others but with research we now know that is not the case. Now, my friend and other sufferers would like to know what her long term prognosis is being a young suffferer. She will also like to be running the half marathon with me. She can't. The pain she and other sufferers have had to go through would have been avoided if there was greater awareness and more reliable methods of diagnosis. 

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