It was the most amazing experience ever and I enjoyed every single millisecond of it. 

It was a lot easier than I was anticipating actually and that surprised me.  I didn’t get hung up on mileage, I just knew I had to sustain a decent pace for about 4 hours and I focussed on that.  The weather was perfect; sun shining down for the duration of it, yet it was crisp enough that you didn’t overheat.  I felt like a wild monkey at times because children were feeding me jellies from the sidelines on little plates.  When I ran past them, I grabbed such handfuls that their plates toppled and the remainder of their jellies fell onto the ground, as I stomped away stuffing them in my mouth… the people standing at the sidelines cheering us all on really makes the world of difference.  I found I ran faster in the designated cheering zones than anywhere else and it’s cuz they were shouting encouraging things and making us feel good about ourselves.  Encouragement does wonderful things for the psyche begorrah…

Whilst I was limping to the airport like an old woman, I got an email from my friend Tom, who informed me that I might qualify for automatic entry to the London Marathon, based on my time, sex and age.  Without further ado, I looked into it and it looks like I just might…  The cut off time was 3.45 and I did it in 3.44 and 54 seconds.  If I finished another 6 seconds later I wouldn’t qualify!  I then remembered the point where I was running through a cheering zone and I got an almerciful burst of energy; with 2.2 miles to go, I just started sprinting like a madwoman thinking I could sustain that until the end.  I heard people say “Jeeze yer wan is flying it!” ha!  I managed to keep it up for 2 minutes and then I went back to my usual pace, feeling a bit wobbly.  I think if I didn’t do that then, I would have come in later than 3.45

I am confused about one thing though and that’s the times.  Mine are as follows:

My results

I started my own watch timer as I crossed the black mat (the official starting point).  When I finished, my watch said: 3.43, the Marathon Timer Clock said 3.47.  

The race website said my finish time was 3.44 and my chip time was 3.47.  Surely they have the chip time and the finish time mixed up, do they?  How could your chip time be higher than your finish time? I can’t get my head ’round it at all… 

Anyway, well done to all of you who ran…

I just wanted to share my hope with you y’see.

My newfound hope that I may be running again soon!  My shin splints (self diagnosed with the help of google) seems to be healing.  I am lucky in the sense that the shin splints were like a delayed effect and came on the day after a run.  So I have never actually been running with the injury or through the injury as I know some people do.  I haven’t ran since the injury, allowing it the time to heal.  It was hard not to, but I had to keep reminding myself to listen to my body.  I had to summon up the physiotherapist in me and adhere to the advice.  Now if this persists, I am going to have to visit a physio but I am going to see if it will heal by itself first.

I did go to the gym and did 40 minutes on that elliptical trainer thing I spoke about in a previous blog.  I also did my usual 17 mile cycle and did the ‘climbing stairs machine’ in the gym also, all of which didn’t aggravate my injury.  The only thing that seems to aggravate it is the motion of walking and the contact my foot has with the ground, so running is out of the question.  Walking is being introduced gradually and today it feels a lot stronger.

When I did my running plan, I added in an extra two weeks in the event of injury or say, if I got swine flu or something that would prevent me from running.  So, I do have up to two weeks to rest without jeopardizing my training.

If it heals, I will start running again on grass or preferably sand.  I am off to Galway tomorrow for a couple of months.  I am sure there will be a beach there I can run on that will lessen the impact.

It’s funny but when you have been enjoying doing something for a long time, like running and it suddenly becomes a forbidden activity, you start to become a little obsessive about it.  I find myself rubbernecking when joggers pass me by and then filling up with envy.

I have got to get back out there soon and I have got to run in the Dublin City Marathon.

Fingers and toes and shin splints crossed.

I’ve been doing great with my training and for the last ten weeks I’ve been slowly building to my peak which was a sixteen mile run on Thursday.  I did it in good time so was in great spirits altogether. 

The run itself was hard work definitely and I felt where my weaknesses were by the end of it.  It was the first run in my training programme that actually had me aching after it.  I was also aware of the need to be more toned up and well compacted in the abs/core area and made a pact with myself to really strengthen up in that respect.

Then on Sunday, I did a four-miler on the treadmill to give my joints a rest from the concrete.  I like to combine the two, keeping the treadmill for short runs and while doing so, try and push myself a bit on time.  Anyway, On Monday I woke up to my worst nightmare… the dreaded shin splints.  Now I don’t know if it is shin splints, I kinda diagnosed myself. 

Shin Splints cover a range of different injuries in and around the shin bone and the surrounding muscles.  From my google self diagnosis, I know the pain is in my Tibial anterior muscle:

The most painful bit is that part that kinda narrows down as it reaches the ankle.  I can’t walk on it for long without it becoming painful.  The part where I have to lift my foot up to take another step is the tricky bit and then my foot sort of stomps down.  Banjaxed.

I can cycle fine, though I had the misfortune of getting a puncture on my way to work and had to walk with the shin splints and my punctured bike for about two miles.  We were like a double act, the bike and me and I was in agony by the time I got to work.  I haven’t run since Sunday and it is killing me to abstain.  I can’t figure out which is worse, the actual injury or having to stop training. 

If it persists, I am hoping to see a physio.  I am going to the gym this evening to do some leg presses and use that elliptical trainer thingy and see if I can do some strengthening exercises:

(That’s not me on it by the way! ha! no, I haven’t changed race)

I really hope this is a short term thing and that I can get back into training soon…

I like to go for my long distant runs as soon as I hop out of bed (after a decent stretch).  If I hang around any longer, then I run the risk of getting hungry and I’ve never been able to handle being hungry; I always get really shaky and weak. 

I’ve become kinda neurotic with the eating and running thing actually…  It’s just that I am very prone to getting stitches so I have to wait about 4 to 5 hours after eating, otherwise I am crippled.   The less food I have in my belly, the more enjoyable the run…  But, this means that at the beginning of a run, I am borderline hungry.  It’s a thin line.

Running first thing in the morning is perfect cuz I have nothing in my belly and the run always feels more comfortable.  I swear, when I get going I feel like a panther or something!  I am now doing longer runs in the build up to the marathon, so lately, my stomach starts rumbling mid way through and this has been making me feel a bit nervous.  Well, I have recently discovered the solution to this neurosis…  and it comes in the form of these energy gel packs…

They’re just the job.  You eat them while you’re running.  They keep the edge off the hunger and they’re light enough on my stomach that I don’t get a stitch.  The whole thing could be psychological, but I know I’m alright if I have my little gel pack with me. 

The run was good today but not great.  In the first half an hour, I got a few stones in my shoe.  I was too stubborn to stop and take them out.  There were about four small ones in my left shoe all rolling about and then embedding themselves in various locations on my foot before moving off again.  They niggled at me for most of the run.

Anyway, me and the stones did the run in 1 hour and 35 mins. 

That wasn’t too bad.  If I keep up that pace then maybe I can run the marathon in 4 hours.  That goal is beginning to surface now despite promising myself I wouldn’t set a time goal for the marathon.  I told myself I would be happy just to run the 26.2 miles. 

I don’t want to go over the 4 hours though. 

I will be happy running it in 4 hours or under…

This was the immediate sequence of events thereafter…

I ran 9 miles in the local park.

It was the furthest I ever ran and it felt great. 

I finished the 9 miles thinking I could easily have ran further…  Then I kinda thought that I should have pushed myself more.  I did it in 1 hour and 28 mins.  It’s not the best time but I am only 4 weeks into my training and I am not very confident with the whole distance thing yet. 

I have been doing a 3 mile run 3 times a week, as well as a long run on Saturdays.  I have really started pushing myself on the short runs.  I am down to 23 mins on the 3 mile run, I have been managing to whittle down the time bit by bit every week.  My immediate goal is to run 4 miles in 30 minutes and to sustain that pace for the short runs.

Here, this is my training plan:

I got it off the internet, It’s based on Hal Higdon’s Novice plan.  I reformatted it onto an excel spreadsheet and tweaked it to suit.  It was an 18 week plan but I had 20 weeks to go, so I added an extra two weeks in there (in red).  The plan is designed to increase the recommended 10% in distance each week.

I put it up on the pin board and we tick it off as we go! 

I usually run the short runs in the gym.  The treadmill is great because you set the pace and the time you want to do it and that’s it, there’s no cheating!   It gives my joints a break from running on concrete as well, that’s another plus.

 Running outdoors is far more enjoyable though…

4 weeks down and 16 to go!

Well as if my life isn’t hectic enough, I thought I’d add something more to the mix… A marathon!

Yip, I am now in training to run the Dublin City Marathon on the 26th of October 2009.  I am doing it because I have always wanted to run a marathon.

I specifically wanted to run the Dublin City Marathon cuz Dad ran that one and we have a photograph of him just finishing the race and the clock behind him declaring “3 hours and 5 minutes”.  I remember when he was training for it too, I was quite young at the time and I remember coming in from school and asking my mother where he was.
She said he was running over to Garrettstown and back again.  I remember thinking that was very strange altogether and I asked her if his car was broken or something (there were no local taxi’s then – ha!).

Well there’s no way I will beat the Walsh record…  Who knows what’ll happen in the future, but for now I just want to complete the floggin’ thing.

So I am midway through ‘Week Two’ of my 21 week intensive training programme.  At the moment it’s easy as I am just kind of doing what I normally would do, but every week it increases 10% .

In about 6 weeks time I will be foaming at the mouth I’d say and the ol’ joints will be giving me gyp, especially my knees.  I’m obsessed with my knees, I am afraid of getting a knee injury.  I might use some of them knee improving machines at the gym.

As it is, I cycle 83 miles a week in my commute to work.  This combined with 50 hours work and 20+ miles of running actually kinda makes me laugh in a kind of mental way.  I have given up the drink too as i know what I am like.  If I drink I will lose focus. 

My summer is therefore a social write off.

Oh, I am raising money for the Donkeys at the Donkey Sanctuary in Mallow:

http://www.thedonkeysanctuary.ie/

Can ye sponsor me?

Will be buggin’ ye all closer the time anyway…