Post-Marathon Post

Just to tie-up the last details...

Immediately post-marathon I limped my way to the Diabetes UK ‘cool down’ party (not more than 500m from the finish line) and met up with my supporters. I rehydrated, had some food, had a massage and then got taken home. I sat for a while with frozen peas on The Knee in an attempt to start the recovery, had a bath and then rolled into bed.

The next day I surprised myself by being able to walk around my flat without agony. Making old-person groans and grunts when I got up or sat down or moved too fast, yes. In a measure of pain, yes; but not agony. Intent on keeping the muscles moving a little, I ventured out to the corner shop. That was a bad plan, because the five minute walk there was more than enough exercise for the muscles, and then coming back was downhill. Which was very, very painful on the knees.

I was then ill for a week. I thought at first it was my body reacting to the nonsense of the marathon, but given that it knocked me out for the rest of the week I think it might just have been my immune system surrendering to the first bug that came along post-race. I spent several days curled up on the sofa, dozing under a blanket. With occasional old-person groans.

I have fully recovered now and normality is settling back in. Already it’s starting to feel slightly surreal that I ran a marathon.

I went back to the gym last week. I didn't go on the treadmill, didn't take my knee support, didn't even tape my toenails up. I spent ten minutes on the exercise bike; it felt good to break a sweat. The Knee felt a touch tender/achey for a day or so after, but not as if I’ve done any permanent damage. Running will begin again sometime in the near future, but not immediately; I probably need a new pair of running shoes, after all.

Including the 3-5k treadmill runs that I stopped recording on this graph, I've racked up nearly 300 miles.

Re-blog

Can't put it better myself: http://www.teamemandme.org/

Countdown

It's a little over a week to go until I run the London Marathon. 

http://www.justgiving.com/RhianChapman

That is a very scary thought.

A better thought is that I am suddenly so close to reaching my fundraising target! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I could never have raised so much money if I didn't know so many kind, generous people. Each and every person who has sponsored me has given me a push towards the finish line.

Besides which, I wouldn't be able to actually run the marathon if it weren't for the rest of the team doing it with me - and for the same cause. It's been a help, all the times I had to go out running, knowing I wasn't the only one going through it all.

The rest of TEAM! are doing so well, both in their training and their fundraising. Some of them will beat my goal time considerably, some of them are training much harder than me, some are much more stylish than me - but all of them are raising money for Diabetes UK, Em's chosen charity. 

It was a year ago that Emily died. I do hope that - wherever she is - she's getting some enjoyment out of watching us all slog our way to the marathon! 

Is It Nearly Spring Yet?

My friend [looking at the weather forecast for the weekend]: "But look, it'll probably be above zero. That's better than it has been some weeks recently."

Me: "I am tired of running in temperatures that are colder than the inside of my fridge."


Winter can go away already. Grumble, grumble. 


Edit: Since this conversation took place, the predicted temperature for Sunday is no longer above zero. Grumble, grumble, grumble.

Pre-Reading

Tomorrow I'm running the Reading Half Marathon. 

I have to get up ridiculously early for a Sunday, and it looks as if it'll be cold and raining for the whole time I'll be running. So that's something to look forward to. 

Also, despite having run (a bit) further than the half marathon distance in my training, I'm quite nervous about tomorrow. I think that's because it's a very different experience to psych myself up for - and on top of that it's not just outside my front door, there's a lot more planning required for this run. 

But, essentially, it's just another training run on the road towards the full marathon. So let's do this.

What? Isn't this how you prepare for a half marathon?

To Run Or Not To Run...

...that is the question.

Well, not really a question so much as a general musing. Obviously I have to keep running.

In fact, not only are my waking hours seemingly full of going running, thinking about running, talking about running and writing about running, I'm now dreaming about running. Yes, for the last two nights, I have had dreams about running. I ask you, is that fair?!

But in all honesty I'm taking a short break from the running this week to rest up my left foot. The pain I developed in my instep on Sunday was, I believe, due to a muscle cramping up and then me continuing to run on it, causing bruising across the sole of my foot. Consequently I haven't been able to run this week - I managed a gym session, although I was limping a bit - and instead I've been regularly massaging my foot. I'm hoping that a few days off will put me right for this weekend's long run.

In other developments, I've just passed the £1000 mark in my fundraising, which means I'm more than halfway towards my target. (Hooray! And thank you so much to all my wonderful, generous sponsors.) It feels very aptly timed, just as I turn to face the half marathon next week. 

If I look back a year ago, I could never have seen myself doing this. That all changed with the tragic event of Emily's death. Not long after she'd gone, I wondered if there was something I could do as a tribute to her life. Running the marathon did occur to me, but a quick bit of research convinced me that I just didn't have the strength or reserves of willpower to get through it. Obviously I changed my mind; it's amazing what a difference TEAMwork can make. 

When we're done, we'll have raised thousands of pounds for Em's chosen charity, Diabetes UK. Hopefully we'll have raised some awareness of the risks of diabetes, too. Em wanted to help fund research that worked towards curing diabetes. I hope that the money we raise in her memory will contribute towards that goal. 

Ups and Downs

This is a long road to the marathon. 

On the one hand, I am probably the fittest I've ever been in my adult life. Today I ran 2.43 km in 15 minutes. I ran something close to that around this time last year - and then I had to lie down for five minutes to recover. Today I simply carried on with my gym session. 

This is good for me...

Another benefit: I decided a little while ago that as I was training for a marathon I was going to eat whatever I damn well wanted to. No, I'm not eating junk food - my recipes at the moment include lots of pasta for the carbohydrates and lots of chicken for the lean protein. But I'm also not feeling even a shred of guilt about succumbing to a mid-afternoon chocolate bar. And I'm definitely eating more than I would normally. 

I like being this fit. I like having lost 5kg since I started training. I like fitting back into those trousers. I like eating what I want. 

On the other hand, I'm blooming tired of exercising. 

Every other day I'm going out for a run, or climbing onto the treadmill for a run, or going to the gym to do my cross-training and strength work to support my running. Sometimes - especially after a long day at work and when it's a cold evening - I really just want to go home and curl up on the sofa. But I go to the gym and run. 

... this is not.

I'm also sick of the winter. Last weekend's weather was lovely for running as far as I was concerned: sunshine and cool air. This weekend is looking much more wintery. I will be running in layers, hat and gloves again. Bah, humbug. 

Still, I have recently begun to rethink my stance on never running again after April. I have no doubt that immediately following the marathon I will be extremely anti-running. But after that... Well, being able to run five miles in an hour without curling up and gasping for breath is a nice level of fitness to be at. Running is probably the best way to keep it up. 

No promises, though.

Totalled

As requested by one of my favourite people, I've created a cumulative distance graph that totals up all of my training runs so far: 

Can you spot when the post-summer "serious" training began?

To date I have covered 112 miles. Apparently that's most of the way from Luton to Portsmouth.

It'll be interesting to see how many miles I can accumulate by M-Day (as I will now be referring to the 21st of April...).

Injury Check

In case anyone is wondering why there's an injury check at the top of all my running posts, here's the background you need to play "guess which body part will fail next" for the rest of my training. And because there aren't any pictures of me running* I picked an inspirational shot to use as a visual aid:

For future reference, this is the pose I intend to pull when I cross the marathon finish line.

The Knee
First injured when I was 11 years old, it's been weaker than my right knee ever since. It finally failed me three years ago and I had surgery to fix the incorrect sideways pull on my kneecap. It's still not as strong as my right side but at least I can run now, albeit with a certain amount of strapping. 

The Ankle
Two years ago I sprained my ankle. Badly. And then again, a year later. (The second time playing netball, which I don't even enjoy...) I was on crutches the first time and it was almost as bad the second time. It's never been quite the same since, which apparently can be the case with ankles.

The Collarbone
This one was entirely my own fault. I was learning how to ride a motorbike a year ago and I went flying over the handlebars and broke my collarbone. That's painful, I can tell you. Anyway, this hasn't actually affected my running and I don't expect it will - broken bones seem to heal much more cleanly than muscular injuries - I just thought I'd include it for completeness. 

So there we have the injury summary to date. Wish me luck, folks.

*That's a lie, there are pictures of me running. But, annoyingly, they were all taken at moments when it looked as if I barely had any pace on me at all, which is just unfair. As soon as I have a picture of me sprinting, I'll post it here. 

It's a Plan!

The 16 week countdown begins...

Plan. Colour-coded and everything.

TEAM!

Today was our first Team Em And Me (a.k.a. TEAM!) meet-up. There are 15 of us in the team together but although we all knew Em we don't all know each other, so the TEAM instigators arranged a lunch gathering and even provided homemade cookies. 

Yes, potentially we could all have met up for a run - but there is a vast disparity of abilities across our group, and I'm not sure how successful a mass run would be! Maybe we'll try something along those lines closer to the Real Thing, once we've all got a bit more training under our belts. 

Anyway, we didn't get everyone there but it was good to put a few more faces to names and chat about the various trials and tribulations of long distance running. Several of the team have run marathons before as well, so they had some tips and tricks, and I will definitely be hitting them up for more advice in the future.

Also, it turns out that one of our TEAM members is a bit of a Master Baker - look at this:

Purple laces and everything! (Also, it's a healthy snack, so there's no guilt attached.)

Onwards, TEAM!

__________

P.S. In checking that the links in this post worked I discovered that our TEAM effort so far has raised nearly £4,000. That's one hell of a tribute to Em already - and we're nowhere near done yet. 

Purple and Lovely

I'm running the marathon as part of Team Em And Me - see here for why we're all doing it and meet us all here. 

Our first full TEAM meet-up is now in the calendar, and to keep us motivated through the many (potentially lonely) miles of training the Chief Instigators have issued us all with some matching laces to help remind us that we aren't alone:

Ready to go

They are indeed purple and lovely and I will wear them with pride. 

It's Official

So, it's really happening.

Tick your life away

Ok then. 

Bring it on.

Group Therapy

There are times when friends have to support each other through thick and thin.


There are also, apparently, times when friends realise that they have all agreed to do the marathon, and gather together to commiserate over the fact that they have evidently taken leave of their senses. And also to shop. 


First there was brunch, and then it was on to the running shop to get fitted for new trainers - because going on a treadmill was exactly what we all felt like doing after tucking into these delicious brunch goods:

The breakfast of lunatics

But running gear had to be purchased, so on we went. After three out of four of us walking around barefoot in the shop (and all three being told we had feet that try to roll inwards on us), and trying on at least five pairs of trainers each (and going for mini test-runs out of the shop and back each time), we finally bought the shoes. And then rewarded ourselves with coffee.


In all honesty, I wasn't really planning on buying trainers, I just thought I'd see what the man said about my feet/walk/run. But seeing as I bought my current pair of trainers on the basis that they were the least expensive pair I could get in the last running I shop I visited (two years ago), maybe splashing out a bit on the right pair of shoes will be the sensible thing to do before embarking on a full training regime. That makes sense, right? Good. 


Also, I like buying things for me...