Overview

Well, still alive (just about)!

don't know where to start...what an absolutely incredible experience!  Tough - particularly after the old injury flared up again about 13 miles in - but amazing.

the day went something like this.

3am, woke up in a cold sweat. Rubbish night’s sleep. I know the alarm is set for 4.55am. Doubt I’ll get anymore sleep before it goes off. Grrr. Dozed a bit but when the alarm finally went sprinted out of bed. Had breakfast – really paranoid about having enough time to digest and poo before the start.  5.45am leave house for Withdean Stadium. 6am board coach. Mixture or runners, supporters, running sisters and brighton and hove club runners volunteering at mile 14 water station. Very exciting. Still not pooed, there’s a bog on the coach but don’t really fancy it.

7.30ish coach drops us off near red and blue starts. Everyone seems to be on the blue start apart from me. Find one person who is red thought so we say our goodbyes to the blue and split off to the red start. How exciting. Get to red area about an hour and a half before the start. Located the loos first – pleasantly surprised to find no queue and very clean.  I poo!! Slightly dodgy nervous guts. Oh dear. Wander about a bit, sip some lucozade, locate the baggage trucks. Go to loo again. Guts still a bit dodge. Mobile going a bit crazy with good luck texts. Sit in the park and respond to them and watch the squirrels, eat  banana. Loo again. Still dodge. Argh. Drop off kit bag, put bin liner on, 9.25 head to pen 5. Stand in pen 5 for a bit. I need a wee. No i don’t. Yes i do. Argh. Shall i go, queues are long now. No i don’t need it’s fine.....stomach turns. I need a poo. Run to loos. Queue seems to take forever but finally get my turn at about 9.35. Guts aren’t great but not a lot to be done about it now...9.38 back at pen 5. Counting the minutes....

GO! Cross the start about 4 mins after the gun. OMIGOD I’m actually running the LONDON MARATHON!!!  Amazing.  Pace yourself, pace yourself. A mile in I hear ‘Hannah hannah’ – David a work colleague who lives in Blackheath is there, yay! See him a little later around mile 4 too, briliiant! Mile 1 came very quickly, and mile 2. 3, 4, 5, 6, all is well, steady goes tt -  8 minute miles - feel fine. Wow – spot my work mates Laura, Sarah, James, Rich and Julia with a huge ‘Go Hannah banana’ banner at around mile 6/7.  Brilliant!!! I think i may have screamed rather loudly in another runners ear.  Oops.

About 7 miles in am desperate for a wee – or so i think – and from then on every mile i’m looking out for the portaloos to see if any are vacant or how long the queues are. Very  envious of all the men able to nip off and wee by the side of the road. Keep telling myself i don’t really need it but the anxiety stays with me the whole time. Avoid drinking too much water, stick to lucozade. And gels. Mile 11, feeling a bit tired now. Mile 13, ouch,  groin pain is back. S--t. It doesn’t hurt, it’s fine, keep going... .

Tower bridge. Wow. The feeling of running over Tower Bridge will always stay with me, it was  breathtaking – literally – i had to force a deep breath and fight back the tears, really overwhelming!

Mile 14 water station – i can see my clubmates handing it over but can’t get over to the side in time, damn. Feeling OK again. Mile 15, 16. Bit tired again. Mile 21. Groin goes. Arrrrgh. It’s really a case of grin and bear it from now on. Really bloody hurts .

Finally at around mile 22 I see a vacant portaloo but by then my pulled muscle is sooo painful I know if I stop there’s no way i’ll ever  be able to get going again, so hold it in. Mile 23. Hadn’t planned to tale another lucozade but spot a pregnant woman at the side at the road – it’s Liz Yelling! I’ll have a lucozade from her then, ace! That gave me a boost.

Nearly there. Ahh it’s my work mates again, fantastic. Managed to swap by grimace for a smile momentarily. Finally Mile 25. Goes on FOREVER. 800 metres. 400 metres. How long does it takes me to run 400 metres on the track? No where near as long as this. 200 metres. FINISH!!  3 hrs 48, or 3.47.59 to be precise.

Start to cry. Can’t breathe. Calm down. Forgotten how to walk. Funnily enough the minute i cross the finish line the need for the loo completely disappears...

 Zombified am ‘processed’ through. Chip off, shiny medal, smile for the finish photo, collect goodie bag, retrieve kit bag, turn phone on, hobble to meet and greet area.

My mum spots me first and bursts into tears. I don’t know why since I’m the one who’s just run 26 miles and is in pain. Then my dad, my cousin Vanessa, and Chris (who finished in 3.34). Then my friend Anna turned up and my work mates a bit later. Ate goodie bag contents and chatted for a while before saying our goodbyes and heading over to the brighton lot for the coach home.

 Walking back to the coach I realised just how much pain i was actually in, my groin really really hurt now and I couldn’t put any weight on the right leg at all. When we got home I literally had to crawl up the stairs on my hands and knees.  Had a hot arnica bath and some dinner before heading out to the pub to meet the other finishers and supporters.  Didn’t plan to stay out to long as figured one G&T would go to my head and send me to sleep but actually after 3 of them I was still fine and had a bit of a second wind so stayed til about 12 before taxi-ing home again. Then fell asleep as soon as I hit the sofa. Chris woke me up about an an hour later and was just about to go to bed when my stomach churned and I had the worst guts ever. Reckon it must have been all those carb gels and lucozade. Ugh.

Pretty uncomfortable night’s sleep as the slightest movement really hurt. Fortunately i had the Monday morning off so went straight to the doc who obviously prescribed more rest but also some painkillers. Was in a lot of pain all of Monday and Monday night but Tuesday was much better – until i caught  post-marathon cold and also stubbed by toe of the left foot. So now i’m snotting all over the place and hobbling on both sides. But at least i;m off on holiday this afternoon, phew!

 So anyway, all in all it was brilliant, and i’d do it all over again tomorrow (if i could walk!). To be honest I was hoping for a bit better time, and am frustrated that i just missed out on the 'good for age' by 2mins 59, but under the circumstances I guess i'm ok with it, and at least have my first marathon underway and something solid to aim to beat for the next one! The crowds were amazing - especially my fantastic colleagues, friends and family scattered around the course with brilliant banners and screams of encouragement and  gave me a real boost, particularly in those final few miles when I needed it most.

Once again a HUGE thanks to everyone who has supported me over the past few months and helped to raise over £2000 so far for ACTSA!

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ooh so excited now, and nervous, and full of carbs!

can't believe the day has nearly come!

feeling a lot more positive since i picked up my number (33675, red start, pen 5) at the Expo on wednesday. Injury has calmed down and is just a niggle now. Petrified it will flare up again during the run but hoping the adrenalin will be pumping hard enough to get me through!

Just soo excited and want it to be sunday now! Can't think about anything else. Everyone at work has been great and wishing me good luck all day. My office gave me a lovely good luck card too. And the fundraising has had a boost in the past few days too - now passed the £2000 mark - double my original target!

started the carbo loading in earnest last night. Went a bit overboard on the noodles i think as couldn't move afterwards and still felt fit to burst when i went to bed and when i woke up. Stuffed myself wth pasta at lunch - still feel bloated and  am about to go out for a friend's birthday meal - Thai food - this evening. Ugh, i love Thai but sure I can stuff much more down.. but will try! Will lay off the booze tonight though - maybe just one glass of wine but no more!

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So the doc and physio said rest it for a week, so i actually gave it 9 days. Then thought it was better so went for a gentle 3 miles on thursday and - arrgh!- it played up again ater that. Gutted. So haven't run since. Was supossed  to be doing my last longish 12mile run with the group this morning but decided against it in case it makes it worse. Will just give it as much chance to get better this week and not do any running - maybe a bit of cycling - until the big day now. It's a pretty scary thought to do 26 miles after absolutely nothing for 2 weeks but people say you can't lose all that much fitness in two weeks, and i would rather it flares up on the day and then just grin and bear it than make it worse this week and totally screw my chances for sunday. Have just resigned myself to not getting the good time I've been hoping for - there will be other marathons for that!
 
Oooh ... this time next week....!!!!

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not blogged for a few days as there hasn't been much running - in fact none whatsover - to blog about. I've been a good girl and followed doctors orders - no running since last tuesday and it's driving me crazy!

But  it's done me good i'm sure - it's been feeling better little by little since friday, with little flare ups now and then that would get me panicked all over again, but it hasn't ever got as bad as it was on thursday when it was definitely at its worst.

Started dosing up on ibruprofen yesterday and today is the first day since getting the injury that i haven't felt anything at all, so feeling a lot better about things. The sports therapist said cycling would be a good activity to do whilst easing back into the running soi  got my parents to bring my bike back down to brighton for me when they visited at the weekend as it's been in their shed for the past two years. My helmet had disintegrated so invested in a new one on monday too. Haven't been out on it yet but hope to go out on it tomorrow evening, and then hopefully try a gentle run on friday. CAN'T WAIT!

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Saw a sports physio yesterday. Not Kader this time - couldn't get hold of him, maybe still in Paris - but Mitchel Phillips, based at David Lloyd at the marina. The good news is he reckons it's all down to my fleixibility - i.e. i'm not very flexible but that's something i can work on. Particulary glutes, quads and calves. Hmm, basically my whole legs! He gave me a massage, made me do some stretches, and showed me some others i can do at home with this foam roller thing - a big tube of foam that cost £15 and you stretch by rolling different parts of your body on it - but it kind of squashes the muscle stretching it deeper than you would doing normal stretches - feels kinda like a deep tissues massage. Like the doctor, he said I need to rest it for bit, maybe do a bit of cycling before easing back into running, and should be ok for the marathon. Phew! It was such a relief to hear that!! I will be very good and stretch religiously now. It feels better again so far today. Still uncomfortable, but not as painful, so fingers crossed.

Chris has gone running - the final 20miler before the taper.  I should be there too, didn't want to start my taper a week earlier. Grrr. sooo bored! Can't remember what I used to do on sunday mornings before running ;-( 

I think i'll bake a cake.

happy easter people!

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feeling sorry for myself today. apparently owing to a pulled/strained adductor muscle.

Just before the hill session on tuesday i had an odd feeling sort of at the front of my pelvis, just felt a bit strange, kind of tight, but not painful, so i ddn't think anything of it really, had a good tough hill session, felt fine. Until later on in the evening when the tightness felt more like a twinge, pinching, when i bent over or walked. Was a bit painful the following morning as well but then calmed down during the day. Did a bit of research and discovered it might be a bit of a groin strain, but not enough to merit a trip to the doctors. Then last night it started being quite painful again, also in the side of my thigh, and this morning was pretty bad - struggled to walk to the train station in the morning and walking up the stairs at work was very tough, really sharp pinching that made me wince. So did more internet research - I know self diagnosis is a baad idea but didn't know what else to do. panic panic panic. Why NOW?! with 17 days to go??! some sites i read said 4-6 weeks rest, aargh!! panic panic panic. A colleague found me crying in the loo on the phone to Chris. I don't usually do crying at work. Calmed down, called my GP, explained, lovely receptionist said if i called back after 3pm i could maybe get an emergency evening appointment but she couldn't open the afternoon appointment book until 3pm. Counted the hours, set my alarm, couldn't concentrate on my work. Called back as soon as the clock struck 3 and got an appointment for 7.10. Phew, felt a little better, but still terrified about what the doctor would say.

Turns out my self diagnosis actually wasn't far off and the doc reckons it is groin strain. But said with rest it should heal itself in a week or so. Phew! I was so relieved I cried when he said it, so pathetic. I'm not usually this neurotic but for the past 6 months i've thought of little else, get emotional with excitement thinking about it, every time i'm nearing the end of a long run i think about crossing that london finish line - the thought of after all this training not being able to do that is too overwhelming. It HAS to get better!!!

So no Running sisters tonight - feel very bad as i was meant to be leading it tonight. Feel bad too cos Chris has stayed in with me instead of running with Jack and Mark (tried to persuade him to go but he wouldn't). Jack, Mark and Barbora are coming over for dinner after their run so gonna take it easy, and chill out, think positive, be sensible. No Good Friday run (been really looking forward to it but will go along and watch from the sidelines instead), no final 20 miler this sunday, but I HAVE to be better for the marathon. Even if i crawl it!

Tags: adductor muscle, groin strain

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can't believe it's been a week since my last blog....

not particularly looking forward to the hill session tonight but nevermind. Activity since i last blogged:
- Wednesday: had the day off so started off very well - 7.2 miles in the morning, then did lots of wholesome stuff like baking, cleaning the flat, grocery shopping etc. In the evening we were invited over to friends (Mark and Barbora - old housemate and now running buddies) for dinner. All very civilised. I didn't think I'd drunk all that much but then...

- Thursday: woke up at about 5.30 with a banging headache, seriously bad, could get back to sleep. Downed a load of water and a couple of paracetamol. Usually a banana helps me with a hangover so tried that. Then tried a bit of tea but struggled. Had a bite of my cereal and - ugh - straight to the loo and heaved. Could keep anything down. Thought i was going to have to call in sick, felt soo bad, but once i'd stopped being sick managed to drag myself in. Felt hideous all day. Missed Running sisters as had arranged the week before to meet a mate after work - had a hair of the dog glass of wine which actually made me feel a bit better.

- Friday: No running again. Went back to my parents in berks for a chilled evening, sensible drinking, and looked forward to a few miles around Cookham

- Saturday: was just about to leave the house for a run at about 11am when my next door neighbour called - really distressed - she'd been woken up at about 5am by some guy trying to kick her door down. He was yelling and kicking and she was naturally terrified - in fact paralysed with fear for over 5 hours. Too scared to move to even pick up the phone for fear of the floorboards creaking or making any noise that would let this guy know there was anyone in. So she stayed like that for hours until finally plucked up the courage toopen the door and fortunately he was gone. Then she rang me an explained, she'd also noticed our door handle was stuck down, not in the same position it usually is, so was worried it had ben tampered with and perhaps we'd been burgled but was obviously too scared to look in case whoever it was was still the. So my parents drove Chris and I straight back to brighton to see what the hell was going on. To cut a very long story short it's turns out this guy then returned, just before we arrived, to find his keys which he'd dropped by our door, and apparently to apologise to our neighbour and find out what had happened - he was an 18 year old lad, schizophrenic, forgotten to take his medication, got bladdered, lives about a mile away, but had no recollection of where he'd been, what he'd done, but must have ended up in our building after a long session. He said he'd pay for any damage (there's a big hole in our neighbour's door), but the police say he has lots of previous convictions and not a very good track record of paying up. Anyway, at least there was some form of explanation for what had happened now. Our neighbour was so shaken by it though so Chris and my dad set about putting on additional lock on the door that separates our 2 flats from the st of the building to make it feel safer, and fixed viewers in the doors. Getting the stuff from Wickes and fixing it all took most of the day so we had to cancel a dinner at friends in london that we had been looking forward to for literally months, and also cancel coffee with other friends in bourne end that we had planned to see after the run (which also didn't happen) and before heading to london. Grrr.
In the end my parents stayed the night and our neighbour came over and we talked through the days extraordinary events over a few too many glasses of wine, I feel asleep on the living room floor and Chris and my mum had to put me to bed. I realise I must soung like a hopeless alkie by now but honestly i'm not - it's just been an exceptional week!

- Sunday: felt a bit rough when I woke (but nowhere near as bad as on thursday morning). Was extremely relieved when we arrived at brighton marina for our penultimate 20miler to find that all of the super fast runners in our group weren't there this time - all off doing various races in milton keynes and worthing. So I wouldn't be straggling at the back desperately trying to keep up as usual, which would have been particularly uncomfortable with a hangover. Although in fact when we finished we realised we were probably only about 5 mins slower than usual. It was a tough but good rin, and the most beautiful sunny day day we've had on a sunday run so far.

- Monday: no running but I held a bake-off at work - spent sunday evening baking and some colleagues made cakes too and we put them all up in the canteen at tea time for people to eat in return for donations - it made £101.31 in half hour so was rather pleased with that!

And now it's tuesday again. Better get my kit on and pysche myself up for this hill session!

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Sunday's 20 miles were tougher than last week for some reason but got through it ok. This week's training is so far so good - 10 miles up on where I would usually be this time most weeks as went for a short 3 and a bit at lunchtime around the common yesterday, 7 miles before work this morning, and have tonight completed by first hill session. Track is off for the next few weeks as Withdean stadium is closed now and will be for most of April so instead we're doing hill sessions at Withdean Park. It was pretty hard going, i'm not good on hills!

The session was:

6 x 40 secs as far/fast as you can up a hill

1k circuit

6 x 40 secs

1k circuit

Good to do something different though.

I have  tomorrow off work so plan to do a slightly longer route than usual, 10 miles or so.

bed time, night night folks!

Tags: hill training

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