Sprained Ankle

I sprained my ankle. I wish I could say I did it running over rough terrain down a mountainside or trying to jump over a river whilst on a 10k run. Or even just running around the block on my way home. It would be great if I could say I had been doing some other other crazy sporting activity when it had happened. I'd been rock climbing the day before and came away completely unscathed. Hands were a bit sore, but no sprained ankle.

No, I'd been on Porthcurno Beach in Cornwall all day with my girls. If anyone knows this beach it is simply amazing - it has to be one of the best beaches in the UK. We'd had a fantastic day enjoying the sunshine.

We'd walked all the way back to Treen Farm Campsite with all our beach gear. You name it we had it. Boogie boards, wetsuits, buckets and spades and a backpack full of food. Muggings here carried everything all the way back along the rocky path without the slightest fall or trip.

When we got back to the campervan I dumped everything on the ground, kicked off my shoes and put my youngest daughter into bed for a nap. I turned…… stepped down out of the campervan….. and that was it. I stepped on to my trainer, twisted my ankle and collapsed to the ground. It all happened in slow motion, like it wasn't really me. Perhaps this was my first out-of-body experience. I found myself lying on the floor and then before my eyes a golfball lump appeared by my ankle. That was when I screamed. I felt physically sick and really stupid.

My eldest daughter, bless her, ran into the campervan and got me a cold, wet flannel. I called across the campsite to some friends staying near by. I think they thought I was joking when I first called out, but then when I didn't move they came running over. Next thing I knew everyone in the campsite had gathered round. It's amazing when there's a crisis there is often someone close by that has medical knowledge. Despite being in the middle of nowhere in Cornwall fellow campers gathered round. Amongst the crowd there was a retired nurse, a part-time physio and someone else who seemed to know a lot about injuries. I was bombarded with advice. The overall opinion was that it wasn't broken, thanks goodness, so I wouldn't need to go to hospital, but it was a bad sprain. I was gutted. A load of us had planned to go to the beach in the evening for a barbecue and I couldn't even walk to the edge of the field. Life's not fair sometimes.

So that put a stop to my running for a while and now I'm really careful getting out of the campervan.