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23 March 2011

 

I'm attempting my first marathon on 10th April, to raise funds for the Alzheimers Society.

 

Here are two short videos that give an idea of what the Society does:

 

Getting diagnosed with dementia: Christine and Jennifer-Rose (3 mins)

Singing for the brain (4 mins)

 

I've been a recreational jogger ever since my cross-country running days as a teenager, but I took up running more seriously in January 2010. Three months later the stories in the running magazines gave me the idea of running in the Brighton Marathon (my local) to raise money for Alzheimers care and research. I've been training towards that goal ever since.

 

Unfortunately I pulled a calf muscle at the start of this February, and had to substitute cycling for running for nearly a month. I thought I would have to pull out of the marathon, but I have been gradually building up my running again since the start of March, and on the 20th I managed to run the Hasting Half Marathon without damage. So I am launching my fundraising drive now: late, but I hope not too late to each my goal of £1,500.

 

What time am I aiming for? I've been told that on your first marathon you shouldn't aim for a time, but secretly I'm hoping to break 4 hours.

I hope you would like to contribute to this effort by sponsoring me. Just click on 'Donate now'. (Please put in for Gift Aid if you can.)

 

Meanwhile I'll be updating this message as 10th April gets closer.

 

Wish me luck!

 

Update: 28 March

 

Thank you so much to everyone who has sponsored me so far, both for the donations and for your messages of support. You have contributed an amazing £430 in the first five days of fundraising.

 

The after-effects of the Hastings Half Marathon last Sunday were not too severe, and by Thursday I was able to get up and down the stairs without people noticing too much amiss. So yesterday I took on my longest training run yet: 18 miles along the top of the Downs. I felt surprisingly well at the end, considering that this was the longest distance I had ever run, and this morning the stairs don't seem to be presenting a major obstacle. So I am cautiously optimistic for April 10th.

 

Thanks again.

 

Update: 9 April

 

Less than 24 hours to go now and I am somewhat nervous. However this month's Running Fitness Magazine tells me that physiologically speaking nervousness and excitement are identical and it's all about how you interpret it, so I am reinterpreting. My calf is complaining a bit, but otherwise the flesh seems to be willing.

 

I did my last long training run last Sunday, a 10 mile circuit around the Downs. Unfortunately I got a bit lost for a while up there so it ended up nearer 12, but no harm done. Since then I have been 'tapering', with only a couple of 3 mile jogs, and a focus on eating pasta and trying to sleep a lot.

Thanks again to everyone who has donated. At the time of writing the total is £1100, almost 75% of my target. The end is in sight!

 

Race report: 10 April
(slightly revised 9 May)
 

Race day dawned brilliantly clear. We got to the starting field three quarters of an hour in advance, in time for a warm-up routine led from the stage by the Fit Bitch Boot Camp, and a short interview with Steve Cram in which he advised us to take it very easy today in view of the heat. Then I was into the red corral, which I later found out was for all runners who had put predicted times of under four hours on their entry form, fenced in with my fellow runners like immigrants in a detention centre. Nine o'clock neared, everyone started to surge forwards, a siren sounded, and we were off.

I felt pretty good and decided to aim for 3 hours 50 minutes. I had read that 85% of marathon runners go off too fast, so my aim was to stick to 8:45 minutes per mile, which would bring me in on time. But the runners around me were oblivious to my plans, and indeed to Steve Cram's advice. Everyone went barrelling off and the pace never slackened. I spent the first 10 miles trying to slow down, but the sheer momentum of the runners around me seemed to carry me along, even though I allowed them to pour past me by the hundred. The adrenalin was heightened by the enthusiastic crowds lining the streets and yelling 'Go, go!' - which is just what runners should not be told three miles into a marathon.

Eventually I got my pace down to something sustainable and the river of running humanity around me thinned out a bit. I eavesdropped on the odd conversation (I swear I heard one man tell another that this was his 85th marathon) and caught a glimpse of the three leading runners, Kenyan and Ethiopian, loping back towards city centre along the seafront drive as I was going out. I was at the 7 mile point; they were at 11. Much later I was in their footsteps, then running past the half-way point in the centre of town where Chris, Alex and Jo were in the crowds cheering. I still felt surprisingly good, at least for someone who has been running continuously for two hours.

Then it was out onto the long streets of Hove. At about 16 miles (I think this was where I saw the first of three runners lying beside the edge of the road) people stopped overtaking me. For a couple of miles I neither overtook nor got overtaken. Then I found myself starting to overtake others, first in dribs and drabs, then in droves. Many were walking. The temperature was now climbing rapidly and the sun was starting to blaze rather than shine, though the organisers had thought to erect a batteries of cold showers at two points for us to run through, and one man stood outside his garden and obligingly sprayed us with his hosepipe as we passed.

Up to about 21 miles I was still feeling quite good, but maintaining a pace of 8:45 was becoming more testing. We finished our turn around the industrial wasteland that is Portslade Power Station (where a small group of policemen and women offered us Vaseline as we passed) and headed back towards the finish at the Palace Pier. The last 5 miles seemed to last a very long time. It was gratifying to be overtaking so many people, but it seemed to get tougher and tougher to keep to 8:45, despite the number of Shot Bloks (essentially cubical jelly babies with added minerals) I was now eating from the store in my pockets. By this time the temperature was around 20C and my legs began to feel like pieces of brittle concrete that were about to crack into a dozen pieces. At 25 miles I passed Chris, Alex and Jo again, cheering madly, which gave me a big boost. Soon after that I recognised someone from my running club ahead, and then saw him slow down to a walk. I caught up with him and urged him on, and he broke into a run - not just any run but quite a fast one. So from there to the finish I was fully occupied with keeping up with him to avoid humiliation, and had no time to think about whether my legs would actually give up. 

I finished in 3 hours 48 minutes 42 seconds, well inside my ambition, and happy as a sandboy. The endorphin high lasted for hours afterwards and when we went to the Pizza Hut for something to eat I got looks of respect I hadn't encountered for years - well, so it seemed to me anyway - even though my legs were so sore that it took me a full five seconds to sit down in a chair.

All in all a great day, although it was surely the hardest single thing I have ever done. As a result of it I have managed to raise over £2000. Thank you to everyone who has helped with my fundraising effort; to the Alzheimer's Society for giving me a place and to everyone at their 'cheering points' on the route; to the organisers of the Brighton Marathon and their volunteers for making such a well-organised festival of it; to the bands and DJs on the sound stages all round the course; to the crowds of indefatigable and creative supporters; to the people who made my shoes (Saucony Kinvaras - wonderful) and those Shot Bloks; to Malcolm Balk and Korina Biggs for the Alexander-Technique-and-running sessions and Bridgette Lee for the physiotherapy on my calf; to everyone at Lewes Athletic Club, especially David Foster, John Coleman, Pete Masters and Maria Judd, for all their encouragement and training over the last year; and to Chris, Alex and Jo for their unstinting support.

I've already signed up for Brighton 2012.

 

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