Fat Man Ran

I did it! And it was an amazing experience, one of the best of my life. My family and friends were there to support me and told me how proud they were of me, a really emotional time for me.

I read this blog before leaving for London and thought ‘that’s just about pain!’ I had intended not to write about how successful my training was because I thought that that would be boring but I did the reverse! And I didn’t write anything towards the end because it would have been more about my concerns and worries.

Beforehand people divided into two groups; a) you’re mad, you don’t need to do it and b) you’ll do it, I have every confidence. But it wasn’t so simple for me. I thought I could, but I really wasn’t sure. I was very anxious in the few days beforehand, so much so that despite going to be early the night before I only got three hours sleep. After finally getting to sleep after 2.30am, I woke up and 5.30am – an hour before I needed to get ready for breakfast and catch the bus to Greenwich at 7am.

Two things really made a difference in London. The first was at a meeting for the runners at my hotel where an experienced ultra runner called Ian gave us a talk in the hotel; he said anyone can complete a marathon – walk at 4mph for 7 hours and you’ll do it. He also said that it doesn’t matter what time you hope to complete it in, it’s all about pace because a marathon is a 10k race after a 20 mile run, and your job is to get yourself to 20 miles feeling that you can do another 6.

The second and real piece of serendipity was that I put myself in the wrong place at the start and asked the lady next to me, who was called Jo, where we should be, only to find she had done the same thing. So we went to our area at the back. It was, admittedly, quite demoralising to have to walk so far from the start knowing that you’ve only got to go back again before starting your marathon running.

One of the questions novices ask is ‘how much training have you done?’ Jo told me that she had done 20 miles a couple of times; I kept quiet. We chatted an inane nervous chatter as we shuffled 25 minutes to the start of our marathon. She told me she could run at 12 minute miles for 20 miles, and was planning to do that until the end. I thought that might suit me so we started and chatted as we went. It was great to have some company on the way and as we ran behind the bloke in the rhino suit we both realised that a bit of support and encouragement on the way would be fantastic. Someone to say; ‘come on, keep going – you’ll make it!’ makes a big difference when you cramp up. I had never run more than 12.5 miles in training and on Tower Bridge after 12 miles I had a real wobbly moment when my left leg cramped up. I thought; ‘oh no, this is it!’ but I massaged it a bit then walked for a while, and it went. Jo waited, and encouraged me to carry on. As we continued, we chatted more and decided that finishing feeling good was the key thing. So we ran, walked some, but most importantly completed it – its a bloody long way and on the way round you are constantly asking yourself how you feel, how is my knee/ankle/calf, can I do a bit more, go a bit faster…

Everyone’s marathon is different and I believe just as individually challenging whether you plan to do it in 2 hours or 8. I saw a lady with a false leg marching along at a great pace and later on people with intense grimaces on their faces limping, determined to get to the end. On reflection I admire those that get their medal for charity who are not runners, who are not aiming to improve a personal best but are committing themselves to months of training through the winter with the sole aim of raising money for a good cause.

Would I do it again? Yes, it was fantastic, but would I be motivated to train enough to make it easier, would I be able to do it without injury and would I want to put my family and friends through the obsession and anxiety of the process… No.

I have to thank Jo for accompanying me on the way round, and especially I have to thank Mark Endacott, my physiotherapist, who was unremittingly positive and optimistic. Even on the days when I had too much pain to run 100 metres, he told me I would do it.

I also thank my wife and family for their love and support, and my friends for being so encouraging.

Now I can look back and think was a bit of a stupid thing to do, but I have raised lots of money for my charity, Children with Cancer, and I have a marathon medal.

And if I can do it you can too!

Fat Man Limping

Today I am limping. Since late January there have only been two or three days when I haven’t had pain in either my calf or my knee. This has severely restricted the exercise that I have been able to do, consequently I have spent lots of time on my bike and the cross trainer. I would have swum more but it’s too boring and anyway the local pool has been closed for refurbishment. I also usually like to listen to an audio book on my iPod when training – difficult to do in the pool.

I have been waiting for my leg to get better – which it has, but slowly. As I’ve said, I have been reluctant to completely rest as I have been driven by the thought of running 26 miles in the not too distant future.

Last week it was getting better. On Sunday, after lots of time on the cross trainer, I had a couple of little exploratory runs; a mile, then a couple of miles… And whilst I would feel tightness in the side of my calf, it was OK. I didn’t know whether it would get better or worse if I had run further though.

With this in mind I thought that a visit to Mark – my physio – would be a good idea; an improving visit rather than a recovery visit, I thought. So yesterday I ran round to see Mark, about a mile, and explained the situation. Mark is incredibly optimistic for me and tell me he is sure I’ll do it. He gives me great encouragement and confidence.

During my visit I had lots of deep manipulation of my calf which was pretty painful, but at the end the pain went. I then had bits of tape stuck all over my leg to relieve the tension in various areas, which are still there, and at the end of the visit my leg felt better. I ran home, halfway it was as painful as before, but didn’t seize up, which if I’m honest is what I fear most because I can’t even walk then. Yesterday afternoon it improved to the point that I can walk normally but it remains painful every step.

My wife still thinks I’m stupid to do this, even more so now, and lots of friends advise me not to, and yet many say ‘yes, you’ll do it, you’re determined enough.’ I feel I have to give it a go and do the best I can, and I really don’t want to let my sponsors down.

So my plan is essentially the same as it was at the very beginning; ‘start running, keep running until someone gives me a tin foil blanket, lay down’ but in reality it’s probably going to be more like ‘start walking, run a bit – especially if I see a camera, limp some distance, crawl over the finish line, lay down.’

Getting Back to Basics

It has taken 3 weeks for me to get back to running again. I’ve been doing some other things instead though, like spending time on the cross trainer and I once swam 1.25Km in the pool, but in reality I haven’t done very much and my weight has waxed rather than waned. It’s been a bit depressing as my knee has been hurting so much that I’ve been limping around of late. Sometimes it’s felt like it would just give-way. But during my last visit to Mark he decided that the problem probably isn’t to do with the cartilage and is muscular around the knee. So last weekend I got back to running after two weekends away and the recent fall of snow.

I joined the gym during the snow so I could run indoors. Now gyms are strange places I think, or maybe it’s just the ones that I’ve been to. I mean why do they have to have that inane jiggy poppy music blaring out? Has anyone been asked? Does the usual collection of overweight odd sized gym inmates pushing, pulling, pumping and jogging at various levels of effort and enthusiasm want this? Or is just what those who organise and work in the gym think that it’s what they must do?

I like to think that a serious gym full of toned serious fit people would be a relatively silent place, just the regular tread of feet on the treadmill and a sort background machine noise as all the equipment is operated at maximum efficiency and the occasional gasp as someone lifts their own bodyweight with one arm.

And is it just me or is it normal that most gym-goers drive there, faff around for 30mins, and barely break into a sweat?

Anyway back to running, I ran 5 miles on Sunday, 6 miles on Tuesday, 4 miles yesterday and I plan a longer run at the weekend. The advice I’ve been given is that I have to build up slowly again, but I haven’t got much time; its 9 weeks on Sunday!

However the good news is that running has gone well this week; see the breaking news for yourself: http://bit.ly/yPOu8s

If I were you though, I wouldn’t rush round to the bookies and invest your spare cash on me winning the London Marathon; go to the sponsorship page and give it to Children with Cancer where it will do some good! http://bit.ly/xU0MfV

Old Enough To Know Better

I had a busy weekend; I ran 6 miles on Friday evening, played golf on Saturday morning – for me that’s a 6 mile walk – then ran 12 miles on Sunday. But it’s not all good news; when I did my last 12 mile run a week before my left knee began to hurt after 6 miles. It gradually got worse and was hurting on every step. I kept running as I was still 6 miles from my car and didn’t want the embarrassment of wimping out and calling for help, and after about 9 miles it miraculously got better and the pain went.

Last Sunday the pain in my started after just 3 miles, and I thought ‘oh, it’ll go like it did before, and if I run like this (with one leg straight and then sort of hop on the other), it’s not too bad’. In the end I ran the 12 miles. I’m not the sort of person to be held hostage by my knees or calves, as you can probably tell by now. However I paid for my stubbornness with a very swollen knee on Monday.

So, off to Mark again, who luckily could see me the following day. After much poking, prodding and discussion, we decided the problem was the golf.

In reality my golf swing is not a thing of beauty, poise or balance and in truth it is not efficient or consistent either. But of all the bits that should move and don’t, and don’t move and should, it’s my left knee that’s put out of sorts. So it’s either play golf or run; I either face the mental anguish and disappoint of golf or the physical torture and pain of running. What a choice!

As I said it was a busy weekend and on top of all this another thing I have learned is that a few pints of bitter at the rugby club followed by a very hot chilli is not good preparation for a long run the next day. I view of my previous blog post I really really should have known better. But like a lot of things in life, including accepting invitations to play golf, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

FB

It’s already mid-January, and also there are only 13 weeks until the London marathon ALREADY – not that I’m counting. Recently the diet has not been going well. Actually it’s kind of stopped really, but the running is getting better. Before Christmas I ran 10.5 miles, smashing my self imposed 7 mile limit. I regularly do 5 mile runs, which I now consider a relatively short run, and on Christmas Eve I achieved the planned 12 mile run.

The diet has stopped partly because I keep telling myself ‘you can’t run on empty’, but I’m hoping to wane naturally anyway because the distances are increasing. Adding to the reinvigorated training, I got my running vest from Children with Cancer the other day, so I put it on – it wasn’t snug but it wasn’t free and easy either. Man boobs notwithstanding, I have had jogger’s nipple, and it’s not to be taken lightly. So I rang the nice people at Children with Cancer asked if I could swap it as it was too tight: “What size do you have?” the nice lady said.

“XL” said I

“Well what do you want?” she said tersely

I replied with “do you have FB?”

I’m not sure she got it. Maybe time to get the diet back on track?!