Marathon Day, Part 2

I’ve asked people before to describe running a marathon to me, especially The London Marathon, and the answers I’ve gotten have always been pretty vague.  “Once in a lifetime experience”  “Emotional”  “Life Changing”.

If someone asked me the same question now, all of the above statements would be true and more.

I’d watched The Boston Marathon and where there was a crowd the cheers obviously picked up the runners and helped them along.  Because The London Marathon is all inside London the cheering crowd was continuous and the noise was deafening.  I had been told to put my name on the front of my shirt to get a few cheers, I even started to count the number of cheers to take my mind of the pain.  The count reached 200 within the first 2 miles so I stopped counting.  I’m getting all emotional again just writing about it.  Even near the end where people had been standing for 6 or 7 hours the cheering never stopped and for the back of the field runners it was exactly what we needed.  There is something about someone calling your name that gives you the energy to stumble on a little bit further.  Seeing my family at 22 miles was emotional and spurred me on.

As for the race itself, what a nightmare!  I fell at a drinks station at around mile 3, a carelessly discarded drinks bottle sending me to the ground.  After 5 miles my knee went as I had been running compensating for my ankle.  It was only thanks to the St John Ambulance medics that I completed the race at all.  They gave me massages at 2 mile intervals just to keep my knee moving.  There was no way that I wasn’t going to cross that finish line.

At the end of a long day I’ve run a marathon, I’m almost 100% certain that I will never run another one.  Maybe couch to marathon in under a year was ambitious but I have the medal that says that I did it.

My time was 5 hours 56 minutes and while I would have loved to be faster, the finish line was always the goal.

Marathon Day, Part 1

It’s 5am and it’s raining.  I wanted a bit of rain just to cool off the weather we’d been having but I only wanted a bit.  The old adage of being careful what you wish for comes to mind as I grab a few bin bags to keep me dry before the race.

I’m as ready as I’m ever going to be to run this marathon.  It’s been an incredible journey and now as the end gets closer I had time yesterday to take a quick look back.

360 days ago I started all this and I don’t really feel any different.  Yes, I’m healthier but anyone who gives up a 40 cigarettes a day smoking habit will be healthier.  Running for the bus would be much easier if I ever ran for a bus, where I live you can miss one and another will arrive within 5 minutes.  🙂  I was a Fat Git before running and I’m still a Fat Git but I’m a Fat Git that can run and I’ve run some distance, training for 26.2 miles.  In fact I’ve totaled 1220 km in my journey towards today.

Through Facebook and the Internet I’ve “met” many people in the last year and a lot of those are runners.  Now the best thing about runners is the support you get from them.  Maybe it’s because no one is competing against anyone else, but maybe it’s because running isn’t really a competitive sport in the true sense of being competitive.  Yes, there are winners but there are no losers.  The majority of runners are only trying to beat themselves and beat the clock.  I know that I’ll get a Personal Best today, that’s guaranteed as it’s my first time running a marathon.  Yes I’ll be pleased just to finish but I also need the feeling that I gave it everything and that’s been the same for 1k as for 30k.  It’s a personal thing but because my journey has been public, and that was a very deliberate decision, I feel that I need to justify the support I have received.

There are too many people to mention them all individually that have been influential in ensuring that I leave my house today and head towards the start line of The London Marathon in the best mental state I could achieve, but I will mention a few that, knowingly or not, have helped the most.  Matt, Sandi and Sara, for always being first to like my posts, Tom and Michael for just being Ultra Dudes running in crazy weather, just awe inspiring, Tim and the whole of the IRUN4 Family, runners and buddies alike who inspire each other to be better at life and especially to Karen and Addey who have been the backbone of my support and inspire me to do anything I put my mind to.

Day 345, just 15 more.

Day 345 and we’re still alive!!  It’s a miracle.   LOL 🙂

Always wanted to write something like that as if I’ve been stranded on a desert island.

Two weeks to go and it’s starting to be all I can think about.  The same thoughts go through my head every day.

Have I trained enough?  Have I done enough Miles?  Should I have lost more weight?  Did I really need all the doughnut treats?  And those Pizzas?  Am I ready?  etc…..

To be honest I just don’t know.  I’ve done loads of miles and loads of runs but maybe they weren’t the right kind of runs, maybe this whole year has been a waste of time.   I’d like to think that starting this year long exercise has been good for me, certainly I feel fitter and I feel better.

Is it possible for a 220lbs man, almost 50 years old who smoked 40 cigarettes a day, 5 takeaways a week and had never exercised to train enough to run a marathon in one year?  We will find out soon.  🙂

The one thing I am certain of is that on April 26th I will finish The London Marathon, it may take me longer than originally planned, I may not run it all but I owe it to all that have sponsored me, I owe it to everyone that has watched countless notifications of runs completed on Facebook and Twitter.  I owe it to Addey, to my children, to PCRF and to myself.

Let the Taper Begin

18 days to go and the Tapering begins.

I missed my longest run due to illness last weekend.  I did manage 18km but it should have been 32km.  I made the decision not to push it as I was having problems breathing.  As it was I had a great relaxing run early in the morning running in the mist.

What is concerning me is the sudden change in the weather.  Having trained in the cold and the damp for the last six months the change is unexpected and, to be frank, unwelcome.  Yes, the temperature has jumped from low 50’s to high 70’s and the humidity has climbed as well.  I haven’t run further than 10k in any kind of heat and I’m worried how I’ll deal with it.

I’ve been going through a few days of worry, not sleeping well, not eating as well as I wanted even the last run out went badly.  Hopefully the runs that I have left to do should be easier and give me more confidence in my ability to do this.

Of course I look back and wish I’d lost weight, oh how much easier it would be to run lighter but I do so love my food 🙂

On the Charity side I’ve hit my target, many thanks to all of you that have sponsored me, if you haven’t, you still can you know.  🙂   Picking up my Charity shirt from the printers hopefully tomorrow, otherwise I’m ready, or as ready as I’m ever going to be.

Running out of time

I had to pull out of running the Silverstone Half Marathon last weekend.  It wasn’t a decision made lightly and I’m still not sure if I made the right choice.  Let me elaborate a little.

I signed up for this Half Marathon way back in May last year.  At the time it seemed to fit in with training for The London Marathon; it was six weeks before and the general consensus agreed that it would be good for me.

It was only when the race got closer that I realised that maybe I had made a mistake.  The timing was good and did fit into my training plan, but I hadn’t allowed for time traveling to and from the venue, parking, etc, and once I had worked out that I would need to get up at 5am and not return until 7pm for a race that would take me about 2 and a half hours it just didn’t make sense.  Instead I ran 16 miles that Sunday and was all finished by 9am.

The one major thing missing from my training has been people.  Sure I run a 5k most Saturdays with about 1000 people, but that’s over in 30 minutes and most of them are ahead of me.  I need the practice of running with a large amount of people for 3 – 4 hours with all the jostling that takes place and avoiding drinks bottles and weaving around people that happens in big races.

I have found my marathon pace and can run it, so far, for 2 hours before fading a bit.  I need to get that up to 4 hours at a constant pace and I just don’t have the time remaining to get there.  I’ve been told that the atmosphere on race day can push you on when you’re tired and I’m really hoping that’s true.

I run at 5am and usually only see a few runners that early, through the winter I could run for days without ever seeing anyone.  Running with 50,000 other runners is going to be a completely different scenario, one that I am both dreading and looking forward to.

On a fantastic positive note, donations that have come in over the last few weeks have taken me ever so close to my target and that is one less thing for me to worry about.  Of course there’s still time to donate.