– GUEST CONTENT –
This was certainly a week of 2 halves. The injuries continued to plague me, with my hamstrings & knees pinching at me all through the first half of the week. Even though I’d felt a huge sense of achievement running 14 miles the Sunday before my mind started getting to me & I began to convince myself that maybe I couldn’t do this… It’s a funny thing, coming into this experience as fairly new to running & completely new to London marathon training I didn’t know where my mind was going to take me. I did expect it to take me to this place at least once if not more but that didn’t make it any easier when it happened. These thoughts stood in front of me, holding me down like a weighted shadow. My mind was saying, ‘is this worth the pain?‘ and ‘why did you ever think this would be a good idea?’, ‘you’re hardly over half the distance & you’re already struggling, why bother?‘. The thoughts were not positive ones.
So what got me through this?
Well, I did say it was a week of 2 halves & unexpectedly it was my long 16 mile run of the week that turned that frown upside down! My brother Andrew had come back for a few days from America & we had arranged to have Sunday lunch at our parent’s in Ascot. So once again I decided to do my long run there. However, this time something was different. The weather conditions still weren’t great & my hamstring was still not back to 100% but this time Andrew had agreed to join me for the last 3 miles of the run to give me that extra support. And what a difference it made! It almost took my focus off how many miles I’d been running as I was just excited to have someone join me on my run. Mile 13 hit & off we went – I’m sure he thought I was insanely slow by that point but he plodded on with me, giving me support & telling me how amazing I had been doing. It really made me reflect on just how far I have come & at that point what had been a week of doubt & disappointment turned into a week of you’ve come this far, I have no doubt I can get to the finish line now.
I’m sure I’m going to experience these points again in my training, but it’s important to not dwell on each run you miss or each niggle you pick up. As a novice runner, I would be a fool not to think that I wouldn’t pick up pains or miss runs, but the most important thing is to listen to my body, rest if I need to & to keep that determined little voice running with me the whole way. Because that little voice & training smart (whether running or resting) will be what gets me around on Marathon Day. That & knowing that I am raising money to help the lives of so many families that need it. And finally, knowing that my Grandad will be looking down on me on the day with pride & telling me how crazy I am for doing this. Here’s a summary of my runs:
Week 10 Run 1
No run – boo!
Week 10 Run 2 – 09/03/19
Still trying to take it easy on the hamstrings & my knees still don’t feel right… Only very small niggles on this run & it actually felt amazing being back out! My timings were much better too.
Week 10 Run 3 – 10/03/19
What a turnaround! An amazing 16-mile run was accomplished but the highlight was my big brother joining me for the last 3 miles! He really got me through it.
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Do you know someone doing the London Marathon? Let me know in the comments below.
