I’m in the latter category now. And I’m really suffering — not from the pain of a serious sprain to my left ankle, but the fact that I’m grounded for 4, maybe 6 weeks ….. sigh. No biking, no running or any activity that imposes a load on the joint; besides walking, that is.

It all happened in a split second — while trail-running inside the lush  Kota Damansara Forest where a newly-built biking/hiking trail had just opened for public use.

The plan was simple — mountain bike a few rounds then run a few rounds around the 2 km or so tight and twisty circuit. The biking was great, after which, I loaded the bike back onto the pick-up and swapped the SPDs for running shoes. So far, so good.

As I reached the end of the trail, coming down a gentle incline, my left foot slipped and the ankle twisted outwards. A sharp pain coursed through it, and I had to sit down for a few minutes. The only thought that came to my mind – ‘darn, there goes Xterra … and I was so looking forward to it’

This wasn’t the first time I had sprained my ankle, but it was the worst I had ever experienced. According to runner-doctor, William Chan, whom I consulted the next day, it was a grade 3 inversion sprain — the worst … compounded by torn ligaments.

Oh well, relax la … at least I can still swim, albeit with a pull-buoy.

Nice calcium

Getting ready for the ice-pack and the 'electric shock' treatment

Cold and shocking at the same time... quite nice, actually.