Cow Loop 25-Sep-12

I promise I won't bore you with all the details of every run I do, and besides I have Fetch for recording that stuff, but I had to share this photo from my run today.

I had a really busy and somewhat stressful day, felt like I didn't get a chance to breathe after one query before the next one came in, and so my run which had been scheduled for lunch time was put back to 5pm.  Just as well, because it was heaving it down with rain at lunch time but at 5pm the sun was out!

Anyway, just after 2 miles in, I had to come to a stop for a few minutes as my path was blocked, as you can see from the photo below!

It made me giggle anyway!  I got some confused looks from the cows!  This run is affectionately known as the Cow Loop for good reason - it passes the University Dairy Farm so I often see the cows in being milked (you should be pleased this photo isn't scratch and sniff!).  I have changed the route from the original 5 mile Cow Loop that Sarah had mapped out, because that route involved a bit of road which can sometimes be a bit busy.  Now the Cow Loop is just under 6 miles, with very little of it on roads (and even then, they are only neighbourhood streets so not busy).  In the early days of my training, we used to have to climb over these gates (and some further on), but now there is a gap in the fences making this less of an obstacle course.  Probably good given my track record!

Speaking of my track record, I learnt something new today - you can drop an iPhone 4S from waist height into a stony muddy puddle and get away with it.  Not that I am advising you do of course ;-)

Battles Won and Lost

The 5k race for life around Dorney was a turning point in my half marathon training.  I had already run a 10k race by this point (I came last, but still loved it!) and so struggling to complete a 5k had not been part of the plan!
Luckily for me (although it sounds horrible to say it) the half marathon I planned on entering (Windsor) was cancelled due to Foot and Mouth.  This was lucky for the sole reason that the next local half marathon with spaces available was a month after the one I was supposed to be running.  So a month of extra training time, which I now realised I needed more than I had thought!

I have a nasty habit of not being able to see beyond the things I haven't done so well when I'm feeling down, and with all the health worries, I had allowed myself to get into a rut.  I had lost the rhythm and routine of running, and had forgotten the release and joy it would give me.  I had to drag myself out running, I just didn't want to do it.  Every time I ran I would focus on the fact that I was slower than last time, or I hadn't gone on the day I planned, or whatever I could think of to kick myself about.  I had to change the way I was thinking, and fast!  And I only achieved this with the help of my running buddies who I turned to in my hour of need.  That and remembering why I was doing this in the first place.  My health worries were nothing compared to what Kat was going through!

So, spreadsheets were updated and a new determination kicked in.  And thanks to those running buddies - Sarah and Sui, and all of those on the Inspire running forum - I found myself standing next to Sarah at the start line of the Henley Half Marathon on October 14th 2007.

It was one of the best experiences of my life!  I grimaced and grinned in pretty much equal measure.  At one point I was so knackered trying to get up 'heartbreak hill' that I found walking almost impossible, but I carried on.  Helped by emptying a cup of water over my head, and Sarah's never-ending stash of curiously all orange jelly babies,  I found strength I didn't know I had, I got past some weaknesses, and with the help of my family and friends, I ran my first half marathon.  In doing so I also managed to raise just under £400 for Cancer Research.

See my justgiving page here

After the race I was on such a high!  I had done it!  I felt like I had battled my demons and won!

Unfortunately my joy was short-lived, as almost exactly a month later I received news of Kat's condition.  And the news wasn't good.  The chemo wasn't working and a trial she had hoped to be part of at the Royal Marsden was no longer possible because the cancer had spread to her bones.  She was being treated for the pain and to help her sleep, but there was nothing more to be done.  A few days later, on November 18th 2007, aged just 31, she lost her battle.

The Injury Bench - Part 1

Being a runner has its ups and downs.  I have spent my fair share of time on the injury bench at various points in my life as a runner.  Some as a result of running, but most not!

When I started to up my mileage in 2007 in preparation for my first half marathon, I decided to also join the gym for a bit of cross-training in the form of a pilates class.  I thought the gym pre-joining checks would be a formality, however I was soon to learn some things about myself which I am only just now really dealing with properly.
Turned out my blood pressure was high.  So high Rocci took it several times, thinking there might be an issue with the monitor.  Unable to get a reading that didn't cause him concern, he wouldn't sign me off to join the gym, and recommended I get myself checked out ASAP with my GP.  I was still relatively unperturbed by this, thinking that probably it was just his machine or I was having an off day or something.  After all, I was getting myself fit again and losing a bit of weight and just didn't really believe that I had a problem.  So I went along to my GP, who to my surprise advised me to take a break from exercising and referred me to a cardiac specialist for some tests.
Thankfully I had private healthcare through work, so I thought I would just get this all out of the way and sorted quickly, and get back to my running.
Before I knew it I was having a whole load of tests.  Ultrasound, 24 hour BP monitoring, 24 hour ECG, a barrage of blood tests, urine tests and eventually, my first MRI.  I seemed to have some sort of doctors appointment each week!  When I went to get the results from the MRI, the news was so unexpected and surreal I thought the doc was joking - turns out I only have one kidney!  Well that explained why we could only find one on the DVD I had been given and had snuck a peek at on my laptop.  It also explained why I had been in the MRI machine for a lot longer than I was told I would be - the cardiac specialists words to me were 'How to freak out an MRI technician'.  And so began a whole new raft of tests with a kidney specialist.  All the while, I was still not running and my fitness was fading further and further away.

Most frustratingly, at the end of all of this, the decision from all the specialists was just to do nothing.  I was told to continue with my exercise and weight loss and they would monitor my blood pressure.  The 'mono-kidney-itis' as it has become affectionately known in our household, is from birth and has thus far caused me no issues, and the hypertension is probably just hereditary as they could find no issues with any of my bloods or other tests they ran.

On that note I set out to run a 5k race for life around Dorney Lake that I had entered some months before, and found it incredibly hard.  I only just finished it, and I felt sick at the end, despite it being a slow time.  It was a massive knock in my confidence with only a few months to go before my first half marathon.  I just couldn't see how I would ever be able to do it.

The Next Steps (or Plods, more accurately!)

After successfully running the 5k santa fun run, I carried on with the odd plodding session to keep my fitness ticking over, whilst I decided which 5k race for life to enter.  I was already thinking to myself that maybe, just maybe, I could run further than 5k if I really trained hard and kept going.  I was thinking it to myself but I didn't have the guts to say it aloud!!
Not until one day in March 2007.  Pete and I were heading into Reading to do some shopping at the Oracle, and we noticed that we were passing a few people walking along wearing foil blankets and medals and looking very happy.  We saw some signs along the A33 and soon realised that earlier in the day, the Reading Half Marathon had taken place, and these were obviously all the happy people who had finished the race.  A completely crazy thought crossed my mind that maybe I could run a half marathon, but I quickly shook it off when I thought about how it must feel physically and mentally to run 13.1 miles. That's 10 whole miles further than I had ever managed to run before.  No way!
But the idea wouldn't leave me and I had all these thoughts flitting around my head like butterflies.

Imagine how amazing it would feel to achieve that!  Imagine how much money you could raise for Cancer Research!  Just think how much fitter you would be, you might even lose some weight along the way!

And so it came to be that I found myself writing an email to Sarah in which I tentatively mentioned my thoughts about about whether it might be possible for me to ever run that far.  I was thinking, maybe if I trained really hard I might be able to run the Reading Half the following year.  The response I got from Sarah left me excited and terrified in equal measure!!  Having been one of those people walking around in a foil blanket grinning inanely with a medal round her neck that day, the email she sent me contained a load of information about training plans, possible races and a forum I should visit on the Runners World website called Inspire.  It would seem that Sarah was more confident in my abilities than I was, as she was adamant I would be running a half marathon before the year was out!

I joined the forum, printed off the training plans, entered various races, bought myself proper running clothes and got my gait analysed for the right pair of trainers at a proper running shop (I was advised that the £10 kids ones I had at the time were not going to cut it!).

And just like that I had become a runner.  Not because I had the kit or because I posted on a running forum, but because something in me had changed, and been gripped by this sport and the sense of achievement, and possibilities it presented to me.  You see, once it has you hooked, it doesn't matter if you go long periods of time without running.  You are still a runner.  You will more than likely go running again one day soon.  The reason for this?  Well I'm sure it's different for other people but for me it is escapism, it is challenging, it is a sense of achievement like no other.  It is the things you see when you're running, like beautiful sunrises and sunsets, frosty fields, wildlife, rainbows, hail and torrential rain.  It is the sense of camaraderie and the knowing look and nod you get from other runners when you're plodding along.  It is the way it feels when you have one of those runs where you feel like you are flying!  And how you get through the ones where you feel like you're dragging a dead weight.  As one of my running friends recently posted on facebook;

Where It All Began.....

It started with my friend Kat.  Well, more specifically it started when she told me she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.  It was autumn 2005.  I was 25 and she was 28, soon to turn 29.  It was my first experience of knowing someone with cancer, and it knocked me for six when I found out.  I didn't really know how to react (googling is not to be advised I soon learnt) but I figured that as she was young, she was more than likely going to be OK.
Fast forward a year and you could have forgiven me for thinking I was right!  Kat celebrated her 30th birthday with a big party at Syngenta, which is where we had met when we had both worked there, and (more importantly) was in remission.  Unfortunately, she wasn't in remission for very long and soon afterwards we got the news that her cancer had returned.

It was this news that made me stop and look at my own life.  I enjoyed my job, had good friends and lovely family, but felt like there was something missing.  I was a latecomer to the joys of exercise, but had spent a few years going rock climbing regularly and doing lots of walking.  I had also done a bit of running with some old colleagues but nothing too serious.  Since leaving my job in the lab and starting an office job, I had started to put on weight and was feeling really unhealthy and lethargic, and was no longer regularly climbing, walking or running.  I thought to myself that this was my opportunity to make a change.  I decided that Kat would be my inspiration to get myself fit again and run a 5k race for life, in aid of Cancer Research.
I contacted my friends Sarah and Sui whom I had been running with before, and Sarah began meeting me for training runs after work.  We had set our sights on a santa fun run taking place in Marlow in a couple of months time, and were following one of the race for life training schedules.  I should point out that Sarah was already more than capable of running that distance but was happy to help me achieve my goal, for which I am still grateful - I don't think I would still be running if she hadn't kept me going in the early days!

It soon became clear just how unfit I was.  I couldn't even run for a few minutes and had to rely on an inhaler to help me.  I found it really tough going and contemplated giving up a few times, but Kat was my inspiration and I really wanted to do this for her.

And so it came to be that a few months later, somehow, I managed to run my first 5k race through Marlow, with Sarah, dressed as Santa.  As you do!
The plan then was to continue running and complete one of the official 5k race for life events the following year.

And with that, my life as a sort-of runner began!