Post Race Report

Well I made it to the start line which I think was an achievement in itself!
We arrived on Friday morning, pretty early and spent the day having a bit of a look around.  I have to see my knee was already feeling 'a bit wrong' which didn't bode well, but I just ignored it...
On the Saturday we found our way out to the sports centre next to the Olypic arena where we had a bit of a look around the marathon expo and picked up my bib number, chip, map and free running shirt.  It was absolutely rammed but seemed really well organised, I spent quite a bit of time scanning the crowd looking for people who I thought might be slower than me and really I struggled to find any.
Infact I didn't realise this was such a 'serious' event.  There was a grand total of 2 people in fancy dress, one was batman and the other may well have just been (as Paul described) a bad tranny, we weren't sure. 
I think I look a bit daft in my seal hat so passed it over to Paul before the start on the day.

 

(missguided confidence at the start)

So on the day itself Paul and I got up stupidly early for breakfast and paranoid it would take ages to get to the stadium set off on th emetro before it got light outside, we were there before they even opened and it was freezing!

I started in the final group (F) and I couldn't believe how many people were there, met some lovely ladies at the start line one of which told me about a marathon in France which sounds more up my street, you get wine instead of water every 5k, and food on the way around, oysters, mussles, cheeze and bread - AMAZING!

Anyway the speedy ones at the front set off at 9.30...

(the pros hadn't come out yet but these were the next best super speedy amateur types)

It took us at the back about 20 mins to get out of the stadium and then we were off around the park doing an 8k loop before moving further out of the city.  Paul had spent the previous evening planning, over pasta, where he might see me if he fully utilised his travel card.

As we started to be abl eto run freely it felt like the whole world overtook me, so whenever I managed to overtake some one (very rarely) I felt a small victory inside.

I saw Paul first before I'd hit 10k then he managed to get back to the stadium to see the winner coming in, it would be another 3 and a half hours before I made it back there...

My knee started to go before 5 k and at about 16k I first thought of giving up, a minibus had come past me to pick up some poor wounded bloke and seeing me limping along they drove along side me and asked if I had a problem and needed to get in, I soooo wanted to get in but didn't, they followed me for 5 minutes like vultures waiting for their prey to die.

I started texting Paul, mostly words that I don't care to repeat on here but I knew that I'd see a friendly face again at 26k so though I might as well keep going till then, in the meantime there was some great entertainment along the way and some lovely families who had set up their own refreshment stalls on the route giving out home made lemonade and gingerbread men, not quite merlot and oysters but it was gratefully recieved.  

It was around this time that a woman puked banana and energy gell right next to me and another chap swayed off the course into a hedge.

I got past the half way point literally 6 minutes before the gate cut off time and thought I'd have a little walk for 1k and see if it helped... it didn't but a nice lady (runner) gave me some codine (or at least I hope it was codine) and it actually took the edge off for a while.  So anyway I carried on thinking just 1 more k then see how you feel, just 1 more k...

About 7k fron the end I was walking (limping) intermittantly and had been for a while but I saw mum, dad and Paul and Paul decided to run alongside me on the path by the route until the end, I think I would have given up if he hadn't.  By this time the half marathon speedy ones were wooshing past me, and me and the fellow slow/ fat/ old/ injured marathon flaggers carried on amongst the crowd.  It was easy for Paul for a while but as we got near the end it was really crowded and he had to keep taking detours through cafe bars, hurdling dogs and children and weaving through the crowds, I was pretty much crying by this point.

I had a brief moment of insanity at the last 500m mark and decided that I needed to beat someone so there was another marathon runner ahead of me that I'd been tailing for miles and I decided to sprint to the end.

I can't believe I made it but I'm so glad I didn't give up! Yes my knee is completely buggered (since coming home I've been to minor injuries and been diagnosed with a stress fracture which is why it hurt so much and why the injection didn't make it better, there is also potentially some carlidge damage)... but I don't care, it was worth it.

 

I can tick this marathon lark off the bucket list now, I think I'll keep running when my knee heals and might even have another go at some point to see what I could achieve without a fracture and a cold, but thats for another year, the next thing will have to be a bit more low impact.. suggestions on a postcard

xxx

This shit just got real...

Packing up the kit, (note all the various forms of drugs and performance enhancers, and stupid seal hat - thanks Dr Paul) heading up to the airport tonight after dropping off the gremlin...

 

He is not impressed.

Flying before the crack of dawn in the wee small hours of the morning.  I'm feeling anxious, got a horrid cold, still got a black eye from my little 'episode' last week and my knee... well... not even worth bothering with.  BUT am I going to let that stop me AM I BOLLOCKS!

I might not get round but I'll have a bloody good go at it.

Over & Out

x

 

'roids

I've just been to the clinic for the steroid injection in my knee.  I hate needles and almost always faint or get very woozy and always have to take Paul with me to distract me.
I am putting it up there as one of the most unpleasant feelings ever.  I am a massive woosy wimp with needles but I do have quite a high pain threshold but this was just horrid.
You sort of half sit/ half lay while he paints on iodine, then you get the pre injection (I was not informed about this!) to numb the are (which it doesn't so it must just be for fun) then the big one, I couldn't look...
I'd already made some wimpy squeels at the feeling of the local anasthetic but this next one (and after he said I wouldn't feel it) I had a very bad reaction to.
I have never sworn so much in less that a minute, even after it had finished it felt so odd (and still does a bit)
I'm laid there all woozy shouting "is it supposed to feel so f!"£$**g wierd, why does it feel so f*%&*!g wierd"
I feel a little ashamed, he was a perfectly nice man just doing his job.  Anyway it did feel wierd like my kneecap had slipped off to the left, like there wasn't enough space for that stuff in there and that as a result it had displaced something vital, wierd pressure, not pain just very wierd discomfort.
So after sitting and waiting (and apologising) for 20 minutes I calmed down regained composure and left.... and now the anasthetic has worked and I can't feel my knee.

This had better be worth it

Knee fail

First of all I got this through the post yesterday...

WHAT HAVE I DONE!!!

Anyway, I didn't go out for a run at all today, last weeks 20 miler totally broke my knee and its still feeling very sore, under the guidence (expert) of Dr Paul I am not to run until I have my special strap (patella thingmy that makes my kneecap stay where its supposed to be)

To demonstrate how bloody much I want to do this I am having a steroid injection in my knee so that I can run, anyone who knows me knows that I detest the needle, in fact I faint every time and have not had a vaccination since I was 12.  I have in the past tried to run away when faced with the prospect of an injection and it is because of this that I haven't been to the dentist in 13 years...

BUT this one I am going for of my own free will, its actually my decision, and to top it off I'm paying one hundred and thirty boody quid for it. So there, you will not only be sponsoring me (not a runner) to run a marathonbut also me to sit through something that makes my brain literally switch off.
If thats not worth a fiver I don't know what is

2 weeks aaaagggghhhhh

ps. I also have to give up drinking, and I love drinking

ode to my left knee

Oh left knee, why can't you be like my right knee, so strong and functional, why must you sabotage my efforts?

Sundays 20 mile run ended in much pain and hobbling because of my stupidly fragile left knee which seems to have a strict cut off point of 15 miles whereby it ceases to function as a bending joint and becomes more like a pirates wooden leg...

So back to the pysio and we'll see if I can get in another 20 mile run before taper time in a week, might have to run this marathon drunk, wine seems to kill the pain!

3 weeks left!!!!

This weekend I'll be coming to to final distance in my training, 20 miles, so I decided to read back where I started, can't quite believe how chuffed I was to have run 3 whole miles... non stop...
I am actually amazed at how I have improved with perseverance, I'm no faster than when I started but now I can just run and run and run for hours at a steady pace without even getting out of breath at all.

I really did not believe it when all those running types (you know who you are) said you CAN do it you just need to get past that initial pain, I though BOLLOCKS, some people just CAN'T run and I am one of them, now I find myself being one of those people encouraging others.

I remember thinking that it felt as if my lungs were on fire when I first started this training and being certain that the feeling would never go away, well it actually does, I mean really, propperly, so if you're using that as an excuse then get a better one!

I'll be running my 20 miles around Castle Howard/ Malton/ Terring so if you see me give me a wave!

This is where I'll be heading....

5 weeks!

Actually starting to get a bit scared now.  Had to do a shorter run this morning because I had to work, on a Sunday, seriously!
Finally though I have been reunited with my ipod and bum bag (never thought I'd miss it so much).  I think I've done permanant damage to my phone shoving it down my bra and using it to listen to the radio while I was ipodless - 4 hours down a sports bra doesn't really do well for my crappy old nokia!

So it really isn't long now until the marathon and as I was running it dawned on me that I only have 3 long runs left as you're supposed to do your last long run 2 weeks before the race and taper down to about 5 a few days before it.
So thats an 18 mile next weekend, then 2 x 20 mile runs then taper time, then off to the airport!

I'm up to 52% of my target for sponsorship, people who I don't even know have been sponsoring me which is just so lovely.

I'll be going to the BDMLR confrence soon which I'm really looking forward to, its at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle on October the 6th, hopefully Paul will come too and we will get to meet some of the brilliant volunteer Marine Mammal Medics, there are also some great speakers lined up including people from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society and the Born Free Foundation.
Hopefully I might be able to sell some of my prints!

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