Well thought that this might happen, but you always think you can tough it out, sadly this was not to be.  I hate pulling out of races, and although my achilles was sore last week I still felt that when I was in racing mode then I could put the pain to one side and get on with the job.  Last week was a nitemare all round really.  My achilles fared up and I was sidelined from doing any training, taking a few days off and anti-inflammatory pills.  I was due to travel to Germany on Thursday and race in Kassel on the Friday night.  As I had already spent a couple of hundred franks on the train I was determined to race and I was still confident that training had been going ok, despite not being able to train the few days leading up to the race.  Wednesday night came round and I looked online to see the start list, although my name was not on it!  Now I had emails from the organiser to my agent John Bicourt saying great shall see Neil in Kassel, please confirm which event he wants to do, which we duly did, yet no name on the list.  Then I and John spent Wednesday ringing all the contact details we had, sending emails and all we could think of to get the organisor so we knew what was going on, but to no avail.  So I made the decision to go anyway, as the train was paid for and at least I could look at them face to face for an answer.  After 5 hours on the train, I was travelling with Philip Bandi a Swiss guy, we arrived but I was not on the list to get to the hotel.  So I dived in the car as quick as possible, which is just as well as there were other athletes waiting, who were on the list!  As there was no room for all of us I was not going take the risk of being left.  Onto the hotel, and again no record of me running, but I eventually managed to get a room and go for a little jog and the leg felt fine.  It wasn't until about 9pm that I got told I could race and was given a number, not the hassle you want before racing trust me.  The race director still did not speak or come to me, but another official sorted it out, but I was not very impressed.  I have no idea why anyone would want to be a race director if they don't answer their phone, don't respond to emails and don't bother to introduce themselves to the athletes, seems very strange to me.

So finally I was set to race.  Had a little jog in the morning and again leg seemed ok, although a little stiff nothing to write home about.  The track was a 20 min drive to a beautiful stadium, and although the weather had not been that good, the clouds parted, the sun came out and the wind died for the race-great news.  The only problem was my foot was starting to stiffen up and my calf felt like it wanted to cramp, even though it didn't.  When we got to the track for the race, due to various reasons and false starts the program was 20 mins behind and so as I tried to stay loose, do some strides and keep relaxed my foot was getting worse and worse.  What was even more worrying was my right achilles was also starting to throb, something that has never happened!  I shall write about the race in the report, but needless to say it didn't go very well and I finished way down the field, in a rubbish time nursing two sore achilles and limping!  I sat and ate dinner with some 5k runner who had dropped out, as there were no other brits at the race and then sat for two and a half hours waiting to speak to the organiser about travel expenses (which they had agreed to pay) sadly at 1.30 am I gave up as I was just too tired and there were still people in front of me in the cue.  Most there to pick up winnings, but there has got to be a better way of doing this.  Telling athletes to turn up at a room at 11pm just causes carnage and a waste of time for many people, including the race organisors, yet it goes on at most meetings around europe!

7am wake up call and 5 odd hours back to Bern, which actually was quite nice, the trains are clean, efficient, and comfortable, so after doing some work on my website and watching Fast and Furious 4 I was home, depressed, tired and wanting a new set of tendons!

Sp8y