31. One Small Step...

ParkRun Prosthetic Adventures

2 Quick ‘‘Housekeeping notices:
- Today’s blog, and the next one (32, soon to be published) will be out of sync. That’s because I have been very poor at actually writing them when I should’ve. And this one is time-sensitive because the ParkRun happened a few days ago. All will be readable and mostly standalone, but don’t expect any continuity! Just in case you are confused.
- This is the first blog in ‘words only’ format, which I mentioned wanting to try in my last blog. The idea is that photos and cheap thrills remain on my Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/tomstaniford , leaving this quiet little internet backwater exclusively for fast-loading text-based entertainment and deeper insights. Nicer for me to write these words. Hopefully nicer for you to enjoy them.

The Best Laid Plans…

Saturday just gone (11 July 2026), I completed my first/last?/target 5k at the Exeter Riverside Park Run - which was the culmination of my ambitious/reckless ‘Ouch to 5k’ personal training plan. Regular readers will need no introduction but, in a nutshell, I’m one of those irritating creatures who thrive on goal-setting so set myself a 9-week target starting from when I got my prosthetic legs to doing a 5k. Note, this is ‘doing a 5k’, not running one. The good people of ParkRun are extremely welcoming of walkers, which I took full advantage of in this ParkShuffle.

Completing the 5k was a tremendous weight off my mind for a number of reasons. When I enthusiastically set the target, I didn’t know the event would fall in the middle of our third heatwave of the summer. This is problematic for prosthetics-users, in ways I will detail shortly. Secondly, I didn’t foresee how my truncated 9 weeks of training would actually turn out to be no more than 4 weeks of consistent training, due to injuries sustained on an ill-advised gravel sortie, and the aforementioned 2 heatwaves we endured. So, prep was sub-optimal, shall we say.

The Sweat Situation

Alright, so it was hot, yeah? We get it. It’s hot for everyone, Tom. Stop whingeing. Get on with it. Probably true, but a bit of prosthetic context.

You don’t want sweat in a prosthetic. The prosthetic may slide/move/twist, causing damage, and may even come off. Stewing in a sweaty mess for prolonged periods may destabilise skin/tissues, risking damage. And the heat itself, with no respite, can cause residual limbs to swell, risking further damage to the tissues themselves and also from a swollen limb being jammed in a non-expanding socket. So… world of no.

I grew up mostly in hot countries- Cyprus and Kuwait. I have minimal body fat. I thrive in hot weather, and always have done. I am borderline lizard. So it was a great shock to discover, post-amputations, I have lost this superpower and for the first time in my life I am now reduced to a quivering albino wreck, haunting my darkened living room under the watchful yet soothing glare of an industrial fan.

Basically, when I cut off my lower legs, I effectively removed 10-15% of my surface area. Useful, when trying to sweat/dissipate body heat. 10 is a big chunk.
Additionally, a further 20% of my surface area (my remaining legs, from shin to upper thigh) are now enmeshed in several layers of thick silicone-based wetsuit-like material for shock absorption and retention. These materials do not breathe, and they also retain heat, turning my thighs into furnaces, effectively.
And if that is not enough, I’m also putting out a lot more body heat - Below Knee prosthetic users expend about 15-40% more energy when walking than their able-bodied counterparts. That’s for one prosthetic. I have 2. And I think it’s reasonable to assume that with core/stabilisation efforts, the sum is greater than its parts. So 40-100% more effort.
Combined, these effects are significant - risking heatshock to my poor residual stumps, sweat rash, tissue deterioration, etc etc.

I was not looking forward to the heat.

Heat Acclimation Training

Being the plucky can-do camper I am, we set about getting some practice in. I’m hoping most of you are vaguely aware that heat tolerance and performance under heat are skills which can be trained - you’ve no doubt seen the video montages of athletes training in clinical settings, or in extra clothing, sweating buckets. Well, there’s a limit to what we can do accurately outside of any pro setup, also with no funding, but we kept an eye on weather forecast and timed our walking ‘training’ (mostly at Haldon or down on the Quay where the 5k would be taking place), so we could get Trevor and Roger used to working in the heat at ‘stretch’ rather than ‘snap’ heats. Unpleasant, but I think successful. Sweat rates seemed largely unchanged, anecdotally, but seemed to kick in at increasingly higher atmospheric temperatures (translation: can walk in slightly warmer temps before sweat becomes an issue).

Pit-Stop Princess

So the sweat was going to be a physiological inevitability. What could we do to minimise the deleterious effects and allow me to keep shuffling/trundling the full distance? Pit-stops to drain the sweat, dry off Trevor and Roger, evaluate any damage, and decide whether to continue or call it a day. We practiced the pit-stop procedure (this is all getting a bit ridiculously F1) and Alice walked the 5k with me, pushing the wheelchair for pit-stop sitting and carrying of antibacterial wipes, flannels, towels, and fresh prosthetic socket liners. Working off the sort of pace we’ve been doing in ‘training’ we expected the 5k to come close under 2hrs, including stops. So realistically looking at 2-3 stops. Who knew there would be so much faff?

Unexplored Avenues

There’s a limit to how much time, effort, and headspace you can spend on any given problem. The easiest/biggest wins, to my mind, are those listed above. There are other (generally pricier/riskier) things we could’ve done to help manage the sweat situation.
There are numerous alternative sleeves and suspension sleeves on the market for ‘active lifestyles’ which boast some combination of better wicking, temperature regulation, etc. But often at ~£200 each, and needing two of them, it’s an expense I’m unable/unwilling to explore, and happy to see what we could do with my very decent ‘everyday’ NHS offerings.
There are also very high strength (and even prescription-only version) anti-perspirant creams, sprays, roll-ons which effectively cut off the sweating. So it doesn’t even happen in areas where the substance is applied. I am sure these products are safe and very rigorously tested, but I am wary about introducing a chemical to my body which prohibits a natural (and quite important) bodily process. I’d rather sweat and manage it in some way, than chemically and completely aborting the sweating. To me, I find that a bit philosophically unsettling and would rather avoid unless unavoidable. So I’ve got one such product (£15, not too bad) and might try a small test, but didn’t need to do so for this particular event.

Headquartering

The day dawned, bright and ominously warm. Forecast 25 deg C at 0900 start, climbing to 28/29 deg C by my 11am predicted finish. Our homegrown testing showed sweat becomes an increasing issue above about 20 deg C. Oh dear.
We found the event start (I don’t want to say Race Start or Race HQ because for so many people it is not a race but a wonderful, welcoming inclusive opportunity to stretch your legs and embrace using your body) and met some of the volunteers delivering the event.
ParkRuns are almost 100% volunteer-led and volunteer-supported.
I need to make that absolutely clear because every single person we spoke to was genuine, enthusiastic, supportive and could not have been more positive. They freely gave up their Saturday morning (and often a great many of their Saturdays), for no recompense, so other people could go and have a good time. Champions all.

I was astonished as more and more people began to arrive before the start. I had, completely naively, assumed there would be a few handfuls of participants, maybe 60-80. Turned out to be 380. Despite all the discouraging effects of the heatwave. The week before, they had just over 500. I couldn’t, and still can’t, get my head round such crushingly well-supported community activity. This isn’t a one-off event, with well-funded specific advertising/marketing. This is just ‘usual’. Routine figures. Every Saturday. Year round (subject to some changes due to inclement weather). Also, this is one event in Exeter. There are 4 other Park Runs within about 7 miles of the wider Exeter locale. Incredible. Anyhow…

I had spoken, via email, with the volunteer event organiser who had very kindly connected me with the volunteer who would be ‘tail walker’ for the day. Because I would be walking, very slowly and with questionable completion success, I wanted to be Tail-End Charlie - and Rob very kindly offered to be the organisation’s human resource to support that aim. He also wrote a very nice LinkedIn post on the experience, so do show him some love. And so we began…

Strategic Shading

I don’t think there is huge value in a minutely-detailed blow-by-blow account of the actual walk, and neither does your wordcount tolerance. It was hot. Things went to plan. We kept to a steady pace. We had our first sweat pit-stop at 3k, and again at 4k (and again after we’d crossed the 5k finishline).

Things which really worked in my/our favour: the grassy sections of the route were more grassy than I’d been led to believe (foolishly did not do a ‘course recce’… schoolboy error). However, while they were grassy, they were also quite stable underfoot and consistent in surface so while some care was needed, not ambling along willy-nilly on my unsteady pins, I didn’t need to apply a hawk-like focus and these extended sections were a lot more forgiving than the tarmac sections for shock absorption. Trevor and Roger thank you.
Secondly, shade opportunities were fairly regular. And heavily shaded bits were conveniently where we ended up doing our pitstops. Shade is always cooler than exposed, but whether through some fluke of topography or divine breeze, our pitstop locations were not just a bit but massively cooler. So cool it felt almost chilled. And Trevor and Roger were delighted because they actually got to cool down, rejuvenating and restoring the clock on the walking time before they’d need another sweatstop.

When we began the walk, I planned to do ‘as much as possible before the stumps got to such a point that I was causing damage’. Because damage, as detailed in previous blogs, means a cessation of all prosthetic use, and most training, until they are fully healed. And I really don’t want that, considering the ego-massaging ambitious targets I have a habit of setting. Yet whether through good preparation, fortuitous breezes, or forgiving grass, each pitstop evaluation was positive, so we just kept going.

Loose stats for the numbers geeks (who may hyperventilate at such looseness):
Total time: 1hr 41
Total sweatstop time: 11 min
Total shuffling: 1hr 30
Total distance: 3 miles
Avg shuffle rate: 30 min/mile

Voluntary Role Modelling

Starting, never mind completing, this 5k would not have been possible without the selfless support and commitment of many volunteers. I do not have all your names, as you were overwhelming in both number and enthusiasm. If you are reading this, thank you.

And to wider readership: get onto the ParkRun website, browse the event(s) near you, and sign-up to either take part in one or volunteer at one. Or both. Ideally both. It’s an incredible community scheme and very special and you will not regret being involved in one, or several, or many. This section has been highlighted to convey urgent seriousness. Quick, quick, go. Now.

My own illustrious running career (*snicker*) has unfortunately probably come to a close, as I would like to spend some time re-focussing on my cycling training (unfinished business etc etc), but this event and its volunteers made a real impact on us and I want to continue to be involved and help repay some of that goodness. So, while Alice is still in the throes of a pernicious running habit, we’ve agreed she can tackle local events as a runner, and I will tackle them as volunteer.
Due to aforementioned goal-setting obsession and coveting of ‘full set’ collections, we hope to hit ALL the local events to us, at least once: Exeter Riverside of course, then Cranbrook Country Park, Greendale Farmshop, Killerton Estate, and Haldon Forest. We may even extend explorations to Exmouth and the (whisper it quietly) planned future route at Crediton.

Coming to a humanned course corner near you. Maybe we’ll see some of you out there.

Aftermath

Trevor and Roger were a little beaten-up, and showed some small signs of heat stress, but really quite superficial. In the days following, they’ve been good and we’re almost back to 100%. This is much more than I hoped for. Especially in light of the fact that during the event I realised this 5k was the longest I’ve walked in a single session/day since I did the Black Mountains Challenge 24 years ago. When I was 12. If that’s not an advertisement for the quality of life and mobility improvements offered (in some cases) by amputations and prosthetics, I don’t know what is.

Thank you for reading.