It’s taken so long to process this and write my thoughts on it. One reason being it takes a few weeks for everything to settle, to return back to normal routine and to actually work out what you thought to it. The second reason is I’ve been busy having a new bathroom and working in my other role as glorified, unpaid personal assistant, also known as ‘Mum’. Because everyone turns to the organised, reliable family member (me😁) when they need something doing and want it doing properly.
Next week I’ll just have time to tell you about Asturias, and after that you might have to wait for the Picos de Europa update until September because I’ve run out of time and I’m having my usual two month hiatus from writing because I have lots of summer exploring planned and I don’t like to take my laptop or tablet, and don’t think I’ll have time to write. If I’m quiet and don’t have time to post, worry not, just like Arnie “I’ll be back”, hopefully with tales of some adventures.
So in ‘other news’, this week I have the eldest child back. There was me thinking he’d returned because he was missing me only to learn that he just needed a full time personal assistant for the week, one that he didn’t have to pay, fed him, did his washing and acted as taxi. 😂 It only took him 10 minutes to blurt out that he was going travelling and needed someone to help him plan his trip to Peru and Bolivia! He has two months to travel post University before he starts work so he’s going to explore a little more of South America.
Who is he going with…………………..just himself! He’s been to Ecuador with a group of friends before, fell in love with South America and is eager to return. Myself and his Dad are fine with it, but Grandma (my Mum) is mortified! And apparently, according to her, like most things, it’s dangerous and it’s all my fault for taking him travelling from being tiny to places like the Arctic Circle. 😂 But for me travelling is the best way to teach them and expand the mind. I’ve taken them both to all sorts of places. You can teach them history in a classroom I know, but I will never forget their little faces when I stood them in Tyne Cot cemetery to show them the reality of what war looks like, the true cost. So here I am, assisting in the planning of a trip to Peru and Bolivia, secretly proud that I have brought up a fellow explorer that is confident enough to embark on such a solo trip and has such a thirst for knowledge of other countries and cultures like his Mum, and secretly a little bit jealous because I want to go too!!!😂😂
In other news…………….I’ve had a new bathroom, so that’s taken a little of my time up. I’ve lived in the same house for over 20 years and never had a new bathroom. It was looking really dated and was falling apart. I got fed up of fixing the shower door which kept dropping off and what with the loss of friends recently I thought life is too short and you can’t take it with you, so have your new bathroom! So now, if I’m not busy doing anything else, I’m in my shower fiddling with my shiny knobs and lights. I love it! 😍😍 I’ve never been so clean!
I’ve also been doing my usual running which this week has included a 10k PB at just over 50 minutes which I’m quite pleased with at 53 years of age; a trophy for the Boundary Relay Race 1st place V50 Ladies team; and a silver medal for being the second placed ladies team at another race. So quite a good week for running, and therefore an appropriate time to tell you what I thought about marathon running!
Right then, the Paris Marathon. Am I glad I did it?……………….A resounding YES!
Would I do another?…………………ABSOLUTELY NOT……NO WAY! It’s not for me!
Everyone said “Oh you’ll get the marathon bug and be entering another”, but honestly, there is no way I would do it again.
The main reason is it just takes over your life. If I’m doing something I’m doing it properly and committing, I’m not the sort of person who can do anything half heartedly. So as soon as I signed up for it I took it seriously. But the only thing I can liken it to is having a baby. It’s nine months of nurturing and preparation, a good few hours of extreme pain and pushing yourself to the limit, then at the end out pops the medal and t-shirt! 😂
If you are hell bent on doing one, definitely do one in the Autumn. It’s five nights a week of training and doing that through the Spring and Summer has to be better than Autumn and Winter. I wouldn’t do another simply because of that. I have lots of hobbies, interests and friends, and having to put those on hold for months made me realise how important they all are, and I’m not willing to make that sacrifice again.
I did it in the first place as a personal challenge…….one of those bucket list items when you get older, when there’s that little niggle in the back of your mind which keeps saying “I wonder if I could?”.
I chose Paris simply because I hadn’t been there before, it’s quite close, fitted with the school holidays, I don’t really like London, and it’s easy to get into Paris marathon…..there’s no ballot.
Can anyone run a marathon? ………………………I believe so yes, as long as they have no underlying medical conditions which means they can’t. I now realise that a marathon is only 30% physical………..70% is about mental strength and resilience. And this is the race that very nearly broke me in that respect! 😂
So first thing………….training! What a complete bore! I just run to enjoy. I bumble about, don’t care how fast or slow, and eat cake! I have only one speed really, and smile while I’m running. But forget that if you are training for a marathon. People start throwing words at you like form, strides, fartleks, intervals, splits, core training, nutrition…………….WHAT?!?! So, armed with a training plan, which I googled and found on ‘Runners World’, the first task was to find out what all these foreign words were and mix up my training plan. So Monday was interval training and speedwork (my worst day as I don’t have a ‘fast’ speed), Tuesday just a steady 10k, Wednesday was core training, Thursday was my favourite steady trot around the block, Friday was 5k or 10k as fast as I could (another horrid day), Saturday was rest day (my favourite day 😆) and Sunday was long run day (ok providing it was planned around a café lunch or cake at the end!).
I hated this regime! Believe me I can throw a better tantrum than a 2 year old you’ve just taken sweets off. If I’m cold, wet, hungry or in pain I’m horrible…….there’s no other way to describe me, I’m not the best version of me. Being in a running club and having runners in the family, I have a few running heroes in my life. Those running heroes have led me on training runs, been brave enough to point out my wrong doings and resilient enough to ignore the shit and abuse I’ve blurted out at them when 16 miles into a training run and I’ve lost the will to live. 😆 So to those people I would like to say two things……………….thank you and sorry! You definitely need people like these in your life as part of your training plan, who know what you are going through, have been there, and won’t take it personally!
Second thing…………………….food. I don’t think about it…..I just eat it! But I can now proudly declare that I can reel off the carb content of numerous items without looking. I can tell you that 4 Bassetts Jelly Babies contain 20g, a pack of Shot Blocks 50g, a Soreen mini malt loaf 20g………………I really am that sad! I know that I need 50g of carbs per hour to prevent the onset of a tantrum 😆, I learnt at my expense to take some caffeine free things. I spent many runs trying different foods, working out which didn’t upset my stomach and which were the most efficient to carry, being small in size and high in carbs. Never in my life did I imagine it would be so technical!
Third thing …………………. injury! I already have a small stomach hernia which meant I’d had to adjust and cut out some core weights training. But step up the distance and the speed on tarmac at 53 years of age and you will most likely pick up an injury. In my case the onset of piriformis syndrome and some general wear and tear and aggravation between my third and fourth vertebrae. That entailed, quite literally a pain, in my ass, lower back and down my left leg as my sciatic nerve was impacted. So January saw me visit the physio for the first time in my life when it got so bad I was in pain all the time, not just when running. So what followed were fortnightly visits to the physio for three months, half an hour of exercises twice a day every day, and a colour coordinated display of kinsio tape all over my back. I have to say though, I’m not complaining because when you get to a certain age a fortnightly bottom massage by a young male physio is a highlight! 🤭
So all this was going on for months………………training, nutition, physio. Everyone except myself thought I could do it. The only self doubt was my own. It all sort of fell apart about a month before the race.
Physio and training were going ok and I realised I was actually going to make it to the start line. So I had a little plan. I decided to raise a little bit of money for my chosen charity………UNICEF. Now this is where the 70% mental strength comes in because this is where the wheels fell off for want of a better term. I’d now gone and announced to everyone that I was running a marathon. Very few people knew until that point. Much to my delight the sponsorship money for UNICEF came flooding in. However, what I had done was just apply a huge amount of pressure over and above that pressure and self doubt I was already piling on myself. I started to fall apart mentally.
I’m normally Mrs Positive Pants! But I don’t know what happened. I’d had an horrendous training run…….my last big one, just over 20 miles in three hours twenty minutes. I had been in terrible pain for the last few miles. I’d kept going but tears were streaming down my face. I completely fell apart. On that particular day there was no way I could have run another 6 miles, I was absolutely broken. I also knew that I had run out of time to get another long run of that size in. I had a physio appointment the following week and he worked so hard…………..massage, acupuncture, taping………..everything.
So the time had come to depart to Paris on the Wednesday before the Marathon on Sunday and the marathon demons had well and truly taken over. “I know what I’ll do”, I thought, “I’ll have my nails done!” 😂😂 Because that was really going to help wasn’t it?!?! Well actually it did because every girl likes a little pamper……………….I’m no exception to that rule………….. and having my nails painted a lovely positive pretty pink for Paris did make me feel better. A bit of self love never hurts.
The journey to Paris went to plan and I thought I might settle a bit when I got there but I didn’t. I was so anxious. Anxious like I have never felt before. I’m not a road runner, I’m a trail runner. Trail runners are a different breed. We forget to stop our watches as we don’t really care about the time. Road runners are obsessed by time…………I wish I had a £ for everytime I’ve been asked “How quick do you want to do it?” or afterwards, “What was your time?” So I’d just mumbled that I hoped to do it in 4 hours 30 minutes, I’d completely made it up as I didn’t even know if I could finish. I just wanted to run it all without stopping and finish! That was the goal.
But then you become obsessed. I started googling “What is the average marathon finish time for a 53 year old women?” But then something really interesting popped up it said “The average 50 year old women does not run a marathon, you’ll be faster than the 99% of the population that have never run a marathon.” So very true! “Pull yourself together”, I thought.
So I spent a couple of days wandering around Paris which I’ve already told you about. But it was a bit like being on a roller-coaster. I cried into my breakfast every morning, then I got myself together, then I fell apart again, and so it went on. Carbohydrate loading in Paris was good. I think my favourite was the galette with stewed apples, caramel sauce and ice cream. I did get into trouble when I asked for a ‘crepe’ though. I got a little eye roll and that “she’s obviously British look”. But it looked like a crepe to me! Apparently a galette is made with buckwheat flour, not regular flour like a crepe. How was I to know?! At least I didn’t ask for a ‘pancake’ which is what we call them at home, that would have really been the end of the straw for the waiter I think, and confirmation that the Brits are in town! 😆
Anyway…….the day of the marathon arrived. I’d slept quite well, forced some breakfast down, had my protein porridge, taken some anti- inflammatories and been to the toilet arout 15 times! 😂That’s quite usual for me………I have a very intense flight or flight response. The hotel was around 4 miles from the start and unfortunately all the roads were closed by now, I couldn’t get a taxi and the metro was heaving. So I had a cunning plan………I downloaded an app, unlocked one of those city bikes complete with bell and basket and and off I went whizzing through Paris on my bike like Mary Poppins. I only had to run 26.2 miles so a 4 mile warm up on a bike wouldn’t hurt! 😂I’d not anticipated the cobbles and arrived at the start a little shaken (literally). I was a bit early so dashed in a café to grab a coffee, sort myself out and use the toilet (again!).
I arrived at the start in a complete and utter mess, there is no other way to describe it. I’d been in every portaloo from the entrance shute to the start line, felt physically sick and had tears streaming down my face. I have honestly never been so terrified in my life. I don’t think I’ve ever felt like it before and I hope I never feel like it again. I’m not 100% sure what it was, I think it was a number of things. The thought of not finishing, the thought of not running it all, the thought of the pain, the thought that everyone was tracking me (I’d had to turn off my phone the night before), I just hate being the centre of attention but you can’t raise money without telling anyone what you are doing can you!😆 It was the most bizarre feeling and so out of character because I’m normally very brave.
And then you start looking around and everyone else looks like they are an Olympic runner. They’ve got all this equipment on and all these accessories strapped to them and all these fancy food supplements. I’ve got half a sharing pack of Jelly Babies, some Soreen and my calf sleeves on (which the lovely girls at work bought for me for my birthday because I kept getting cramp😍). And then they all start stretching and doing a workout routine, at which point I need the toilet again!
So I had my last visit to the toilet, started my watch, and set off. I can’t explain what happened but as soon as I went over the start line the anxiety just lifted. It was just the anxiety of anticipation. I’d got my strategy, it was so well practiced, I just had to stick to it. And I think that is the key to running a marathon for me……….have a strategy, make sure it’s your strategy and no-one elses, and stick to it. Everyone will run a marathon differently and I think that was my problem, there were so many people telling me all different things and I was getting myself in a real panic as I did not know who to listen to. But they key is………listen to you and no-one else………because only you knows you the best!
So what was my strategy:
- To run no faster than a 9:30 mile pace, but to run it consistently for 26.2 miles. I knew from experience that to run faster would mean my pain would start sooner. Running at this pace I knew I should be relatively pain free until around mile 18 and would have a better chance of running to the finish.
- To eat 25g of carbs every 30 minutes and take them on board 1k before every 5k aid station.
- To take a little water to wash down my carbs every 5k and make sure I stayed hydrated without drinking to much in one go and having it all sloshing around.
- To take anti inflammtories again at 15k then they’d be working by 20k and would give me 3 hours of reduced pain.
To try and enjoy it and shut myself off from the ‘negative Nellies’ and all the ‘noise’.
So that’s the key………………….RUN YOUR OWN RACE!
That’s what I did. I trotted around Paris and tried to enjoy it as best as I could. I entered this rather surreal parallel mindset……..call it a zone, a focus, call it what you want, I’m not sure. It’s written on my face in most of the pictures…………………I think it must be my ‘race face’. 😂 I am completely unaware of my surroundings…………………….I ran 26.2 miles without speaking to anyone and missed all the sights including the Eiffel Tower! 😂 At one point, around 15 miles in I even felt quite giddy, excited and out of my own body. I can’t really explain it and thought it might have been too much caffeine. I explained it to a friend who suggested I might have experienced a ‘runners high’. 😂 We both found that absolutely hilarious because the last person you would expect to get a ‘runners high’ is me!!!!! I’ve had plenty of ‘runners lows’ but never a ‘high’!
When I look back now I realise I had no need to be nervous…………………I was so well prepared. I was unprepared for cobblestones, and as a result my toe nails have taken a bit of a beating but other than one blister on the ball of my right foot I was pretty unscathed. It is an uphill marathon from 35k which is not the best place for the elevation to start gaining, but it’s not uphill by Yorkshire standards. My pace slowed slightly between 35k and 40k and there were a lot of people walking but I did not notice the hill too much. My splits were pretty even and I’m pleased with them.
You will see some people in some real states of difficulty. I never realised how much roadside vomiting occurred in a marathon! 😂But pace yourself and you should keep everything in your tummy. I look a bit pale and green in my finish photo and I did feel sick but my final 3k were my fastest and I was in a huge amount of pain, which I think is what made me feel sick. I was exhausted but I sprinted the last kilometre as fast as I could because to be quite honest with you, I just wanted it over with, I’d well and truly had enough. I don’t think I realised at the time how much I was hurting but the photos from the final kilometre do tell the tale, I’m not at my most photogenic!! 😆
So it is done…………….4 hours 24 minutes and 36 seconds……………..not that that matters to me at all, but it seems to matter to everyone else! 🤭
I can see what people mean now when they say that courage is not running a marathon, it’s getting to the start line. For me the four day lead up to the race was 100 times harder than the race itself.
So I might have lost 5 toe nails in total and 5 months of my life. But I got my medal and more importantly UNICEF got almost £800 which was my priority.
Oh and even better (better even than the medal)………………….I got cake! I have the best work team ever! A cake waiting on my desk on Monday morning! 😍 But even the opportunity to wear my slippers for work and eat cake won’t persuade me to do another! My marathon days are complete!
I also learnt a lot about me too as it’s been a bit of a journey. I learnt a lot about resilience, about positive thinking, about the power of the mind over adversity. I don’t think I realised how strong I was mentally or physically. It was also never far from my mind how extremely lucky I was to be there, running. All through the marathon, and particularly when the going got tough, I thought of my two lovely friends, who sadly are no longer with us and able to run a marathon. So as always, in addition to being for UNICEF, this one was for Karen, as was my first ever 10k for Cancer Research all those years ago, I still miss her so much. And for Gill too………..who at the time was still fighting……..my pain was nothing by comparison and I realise that. And for my boys too ……… I hope that the crazy lunatic of a mother that they laugh at and torment daily has made them proud and taught them a little about resilience ……………I’ll shall be racing them to the pub when they are home………………last one there buys the drinks and it won’t be me! 😂