danny crates

Well as I am sure many of you are now aware.  Beijing did not quite work out as planned.  After many months of battling injury I finally succumbed to a 2cm tear in my right soleous, ruling me out of the race I had worked so hard for.

Sadly all this came less than 24hrs after one of the biggest highs, and proudest moments in my career.  Carrying the flag, and leading Paralympics GB out into the opening ceremony.

It is hard to describe the emotions of the Opening Ceremony, it is something that as an athlete you dream of, that honor.  But whilst I enjoyed and cherished every moment, I had that 1% doubt in my mind.

 Just knowing how much I had been through, just to be there.

After I realized that I would not be able to compete, I took the toughest of decisions, I Left early and returned home.

So what now, well I am back in training and hoping to put the demons of Beijing 2008 behind me.  I have the small matter of going back after the 800m World record I held since 2004.  I do not believe a middle distance World record belongs in Poland!!!!!!!

When I last updated you I had just had another injection.  Well at first it did not seem that it had worked, then things started to progress.  Much faster than anyone could have imagined.

I did my first tentative grass jog on Sunday 27th July followed by another during the week.  I did my first track session since march on Monday 4th Aug., 2nd on wed 6th and raced on that Sat 9th, where I ran 1:59,  securing my place.  A very fast progression.

From then on training went from strength to strength and I improved with every session.  So much so that on wed 20th I ran my second race.  Clocking 1min 57.54sec, which showed that I was getting back and looking like I could once again dream of the medal.  All seemed well and I felt no pain.

I went for a run the next day and felt some pain in my achilies again, so rested ready for the flight on sun 24th.

Once I arrived in Maccau, sadly things got worse, the injury has re-appeared and I have been unable to run.  The medical team are working hard on me, and I have had a series of 3 injections again and another ultra sound scan.

The original plan to get some good training in has now gone.  although as always I am training hard, just not running, and as always I  have not given up the hope and dream.  The focus now is to get me on the start line, and able to run. They can put a local anasthetic in the area for the races, but, to do this for training would run the risk of injury, and I still plan to compete next year and further.

Not the build up I had hoped or dreamed of.  I can safely say that this has been the toughest season of my career and very hard to deal with mentally.

Believe me there can be no one more upset and hurt than me.  But it is not over yet, and I have not endured the last 5 months to give up just two weeks short. and I have not endured the last 5 months to not put up a fight in the race.

my races are on 14th and 15th sept.  I will keep you posted on how things progress and hopefully the 15th can shed some light over my season

Good news has yet to come..

Well, Once again I was hoping to give you some good news, and be able to say that I was running again, and catching up fast. Sadly this is not the case. After 5 injections I am still unable to run.
That does not mean that I am not training though. I am working hard, in the gym, pool and out on my bike. The latest tool in my armory is the G-Trainer.

The G-trainer is a weight compensating treadmill, which in basic terms lightens the load. This enables me to run without inflaming the Achilles too much. The treadmill is based at St Mary’s Uni in Teddington. Whilst there I also have use of the altitude chamber. This reduces the oxygen I breathe whilst training. Which increases my workload and helps speed up fitness.

I am in for what will be my final injection, and shot at fitness for Beijing on Monday. I can assure you that I, and all the UK Athletics support team are doing all that we can to get me, repaired and prepared in time for Beijing.

View the new brand advert, for the Great Britain Paralympic team.

Since returning from South Africa in February, I could safely say that Feb. and March was a period of highs and lows, or to steal a much over used phrase, a roller coaster of emotions.

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