from competitive running which he admits has tortured him.

Donawa suffered a fractured collar bone in mid-January when he fell badly just half a mile into the International Race weekend 10K road race.

The injury not only forced him out of that race, but also dashed his hopes of competing for Bermuda in the CAC Cross Country Championships the week after.

He was forced to take a five-week break from training to allow the bone to mend properly -- a massive setback for an athlete who felt he had reached his peak at the time he suffered the injury.

Since resuming training he has opted out of a series of road races, in which, at his best, he could have expected to be a serious challenger. And that had been tough, he said.

"It's been killing me to be on the sidelines for the two months between then and now,'' said Donawa.

"But in terms of a comeback, it just depends on how long it takes to get back into reasonable shape. I don't want to embarrass myself.'' He ruled himself out of Sunday's Evian 10-miler down South Shore Road, adding that his weekly mileage needed to be much higher before he could make a reasonable attempt at that distance.

"I'm doing some light running, but I haven't really done anything serious.

I'm probably up to about 35 to 40 miles a week -- which is about half of what I want to be doing. I'm just trying to get my legs back.'' Donawa had trained from last summer to peak for Race Weekend and the CAC Cross Country Championships and his frustration at being robbed of the chance to captalise on all that hard work was still clear.

"Those two weekends were what I was peaking for and I think I would have been pushing for a sub-32-minute 10K -- that's how comfortable I felt,'' he said.

Had Donawa managed that, he would have been in with a chance of winning the International 10K. Only English winner Dave Lewis and three other overseas runners managed times between 31 and 32 minutes.

Donawa said he had no particular comeback date in mind, but one race he was adamant he would run was the May 24 half-marathon.

"May 24 is such a big race and that is such a special day for Bermuda I just want to be part of the event, even if I'm not back to 100 per cent.'' Last month Donawa started a new career as a firefighter -- another reason why he held back from his ardent desire to run when he knew only rest would mend his fracture.

"The new job is a big new challenge in my life and I didn't want to go out and do something silly which could put my future in jeopardy,'' added Donawa.

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