My final blog entry; I completed the marathon in 3.31,22 my time was objectively somewhat off target and although not quite over the disappointment of not achieving my target for possibly the first time ever. I have learnt a lot from the whole experience.

The majority of my training went according to plan, my shorter race times were on target, my nutrition was a well balanced diet, and my carbo-loading in the last week was all on track. A major setback was a throat infection 5 days prior to the race including on the race day, probably contributing to my stomach problems due to the shear quantity of medication I consumed to try to rid myself of it.

The first 13 miles of the race seemed to roll by although a little slower than expected at 1 hour and 35 minutes at half way, I knew the course was downhill for most of the rest of the way. Then the problems began, I tired to take on a glucose gel and some drink but I couldn’t stomach it. Shortly after my legs had started to cramp up to my thighs. I tried a glucose tablet and a caffeine jelly block after a few more miles but had to immediately spit them out. As the magnitude of the problem started to dawn on me I knew I was helpless, rapidly dehydrating with the heat of the day, the running and unable to take on anything, every step was a painful struggle, I cant quite describe the experience. Pulling out was not an option I would allow myself, but the rest of the way was a delirious muddled memory of pain, with some recollection of being overtaken by countless women, as at one point in the race I had been the 4^th lady, as you know by now I am somewhat competitive to put it lightly and then to be overtaken by 4 superheroes, it is a memory I think I will never forget. At mile 26 when you would like to think that I was at the end of my treacherous journey somehow I found myself on the floor with my right calf in a severe cramp. Lay there for several minutes as people ran over me all I could think about was crossing the line, two women helped me up and supported me for a few meters I mustered up the will power, with the encouragement of another runner and the crowd, I jogged over the finish line, to be met by my anxious perplexed father, who had been expecting me half an hour earlier. The second half of the race had taken me just under 2 hours, as the dehydration had taken its toll on my body, the next few hours were a misty haze of a trip to the first aid team with my loving fathers support and a private double-decker bus journey back to our hotel.

A marathon, a journey, never again until the next time…

I don’t know how, but somehow three months have passed since my last blog entry.  A lot has happened I can assure you…a lot of miles, some injuries, a race debut and a dramatic change in weather.

Last time I wrote, I’d managed 46 miles and was stuck inside with 6 inches of snow outside.  After 104 days of the year, I’ve now run 683 miles with the small issue of 1327 miles still to go to finish my challenge of 2010 miles for the year.  I’m sure, like me, a lot of you will be enjoying the sunshine which is certainly making running in the evenings a lot more tempting.  However, it has forced me to look into my hydration a little more.  With my long runs now reaching 20 miles on a Sunday, I have found that I need to take on quite a bit of water now that it is warmer.  The only problem with this is that I get shoulder pain from carrying the bottle (clearly I’m such a finely tuned athlete, that a bottle of water is enough to cause problems!).  Apparently, this is not particularly unusual, and for anyone else who might have this problem, I suggest you invest in a “tool belt”…a belt similar to a bum bag that you can put your bottle in, and any gels, jelly babies etc…saves you carrying things and it makes you look much more professional.

As I mentioned, I have been struggling slightly with various minor injuries, all of which I could put down to increasing my mileage too quickly and not stretching sufficiently.  Despite my Physio background, I, like most of you, was doing a brief stretch prior to and after a run and that was about it, but I found that my quads, and ITB (band down the outside of your thigh) was getting increasingly tight causing me knee pain, which was painful enough to make me stop running.  Since this wake up call I have done a daily stretching regime, as well as dynamic stretches (stretches with movement) prior to a run, and static stretches (your old fashioned ones) after all my runs.  The difference has been huge…not only has my knee pain disappeared but also the general tightness and aches and pains I had put down to just doing lots of running have reduced massively!…try it..you will be surprised.

Having done lots of training (and stretching), I finally took part in my first race at the Wilmslow Half Marathon.  I was a little nervous, and not quite sure what to expect so probably started a little too far back in the crowds, and paid for it with a very slow first couple of miles trying to get passed some much slower runners.  I then spent the rest of the race trying to make up for lost time finishing in a time of 1 Hour 37 minutes and 47 seconds, which, although respectable, was not as fast as I’d hoped, mainly due to the poor start.  And so for my last words of wisdom for this blog entry…if you are even a vaguely serious runner (in that you are aiming for a particular time rather than just to finish), then make sure you start further forwards than you think you perhaps should.  This way you can run at your own pace and will not be tripping over others at the start.