Day 310 – EU – France [Rest Day in Vesoul]

08/02/21

 Rest day in Vesoul (France, Europe)

Snowing again, great company and working on fixing the first injury of the world run

I met Etienne at the local Press Office of Vesoul late morning. I had some shopping to do and Etienne had offered to drive me around. As it turned out, the shopping was a small part of the day. We ended up driving around town, the lake and the countryside, that was beautifully covered in snow. We also recce’d tomorrow’s itinerary around the Green Corridor and shared lunch. Etienne is not only a journalist, he runs, cycles and also has a music radio-show – plenty to talk about! Picture #2 depicts a street-art portrait of Jacques Brel, famous Belgian artist, singer, writer, actor, beloved in all of France and Belgium. He famously wrote a song paying tribute to many towns he was fond of, including that of Vesoul.

The first injury of the world run… There had to be one! Back in November, I started feeling stiffness and issues with the middle finger on my right hand. It would get stuck in a bent position. It was annoying but that stopped at that. But in December, when I restarted the world run, it started being painful too. Then over the past few weeks, the ring finger of the right hand started suffering the same issue, closely followed by the middle finger of the left hand – and now the left ring finger too. 4 fingers in a crisis, I declare a state of emergency!

I referred to Didier, the sports Doc I met in Pont-a-Mousson last week, who also fixed BoB the stroller with brand new rivets. He recommended a variety of actions to address the issue. One is to enlarge the diameter of the handlebar so my fingers won’t have to close so tightly on it as they currently do. The picture depicts my first attempt, fitting two layers of isolation foam around the right and left side of the handlebar. This way my fingers will be closing at a very mild angle. That’s just a start. Massages and stretches of the fingers are also in order. From time to time I may also support the fingers with a splint. The key, Didier insists, is to understand and vary the solutions, so as to allow a healthy movement to happen. I am glad I have referred the issue and am on the way to sorting it out. There is a certain irony in the fact that, running a marathon a day, my first injury shall involve… my fingers!