Anna writes:
When Jane messaged me to say could we have a chat and that she was pulling out of London, I was really sad for her. I also had never expected to run this year because I knew how determined she was having run New York against all the odds only a few months before (and how many years Terena has tried for a place). We had a conversation about it and I knew that was the right decision for her, she’s such a strong runner and personality I hope she’ll be back fighting fit soon. Jane will get her points rolled over in the ballot next year for giving up the place which we were both glad of.
This left me apprehensive, I hadn’t been training for a marathon as I wasn’t planning on a spring marathon and had only entered the club ballot to run London rather than wanting to run any marathon. I’d also decided to give my body a break and take it easy for the first part of the year and haven’t done much mixed training just easy running. London was now only 8 weeks away, effectively 6 weeks to train and then a two week taper. 6 weeks felt very short to train for a marathon!
To explain a little more with a slight digression. For those of you who know me a bit better, you’ll know that I haven’t been well. I haven’t been well really for a very long time (almost two years). When Jane messaged I’d had surgery two weeks prior, ridiculously the fourth general anaesthetic surgical procedure I’ve had in just over a year, and this training block would totally overlap with a seven week block where I am getting weekly hospital treatment and with scans and tests on top I’d be in hospital twice a week for most of last and the next few weeks. Not a great start!
I had run Farnborough half a month before so wasn’t starting from nothing albeit it was not a huge base.
I asked a few friends in the club who know my situation a bit more what they thought I should do. It’s fair to say their reactions ranged from: “well you shouldn’t be able to do any of the stuff you’re doing so why stop now” too “I’m sure you could get round it but you’re insane to even consider it”. A few have not wanted me to push myself and I understand why and do agree on one level. Not hugely helpful to being torn about the decision though.
In the end, I asked for a bit of time to think, speak to the hospital and run a 15 mile run that week to see how it all felt. Risky to make a decision based on one long run but the deadline to transfer places was only a few days away.
After a lot of reflecting, I figured that I’ve been not fully well for three of the four marathons I’ve run and they worked out OK. In Amsterdam where I funnily enough also took Jane’s place, I took 30 mins off my PB but got a text as I landed there confirming I had an infection in my pelvis. Many people afterwards congratulated me on running very even splits. You wouldn’t know I spent the day before hunting for suncream, hard to find in the middle of October as the two strong antibiotics I’d been put on that week meant I wasn’t supposed to be out in sunlight and I had to take some of the pills at regular intervals during the run.
This time I’m determined to be as easy on my body as possible but I also don’t really have enough information. I know based on what I’ve currently been told that I’m likely to continue to need regular hospital treatment and surgery. So I may be in the exactly this situation running at another stage and I may not get the opportunity to run London (especially without extra fund raising stress). I could wait and see health wise but I’ve also thought I’ve been close to answers many times over the last 21 months without that being true and having false hope. I also keep being told treatments may not work. I could be feeling better in seven weeks but in a situation that involves chronic pain it may be that doesn’t improve much from any of this, I just don’t know. So I’m just going to carry on carrying on as much as possible. Given in all likelihood the doctors currently think I have a chronic condition, and at least now I am monitored much more closely, getting some treatment that hopefully helps and checked for infections every week, I’m in a better position than I’ve been for a lot of the last year or so and I decided to give London a shot. I haven’t really come to terms with everything going on, it’s hard to when you don’t have confirmed information or control of the situation. I’m waiting for follow up with the surgeon and possible alternatives but I’m also not ready to put life on hold again for who knows how long given how long this has taken so far or be defined by what I can’t do. Equally if I stop exercising and running, it doesn’t make me significantly better. The symptoms and pain are there either way. It’s a bit of an unknown currently what makes it better or worse which makes it harder to deal with.
I will try and prioritise decent rest over the training as much as possible. I’m not running for a time (I don’t think you could on six weeks training anyway) but if there’s a race to just enjoy the atmosphere then London should definitely be that! As one friend said to me, she’s hopes it’s my slowest marathon ever. That may not happen but I won’t be trying to run my fastest either. I’m not great at not putting pressure on myself but I’m hoping that by explaining this a bit more in the blog it will mean fewer people ask about times you’re aiming for and pressure from others in the club. I also think it’s important to say that appearances can be deceptive and that running fast by some people’s standards doesn’t necessarily give you the full picture of what’s going on for someone. Given it’s a hobby for all of us, running should also be about enjoyment not just results. For me it’s given me some structure while much of my life has been slightly falling apart. I was a bit reluctant to take a club place and not give it 100% given the pressure of mile 23 and London but I do hope I can run as well as possible on such a short training block but more importantly enjoy the run and take in mile 23 and the club support.
Enough of the health challenges it won’t be a focus for the rest of the blogging. That week after speaking to Jane I tried some night orienteering for the first time during one run. I knew doing that on Wimbledon common as a first attempt would be difficult as it’s a huge open space and there are a lot of unmarked paths on the map. I’ve done quite a bit of the Street orienteering but knowing you need to take the second road on the left and look for something like a lamppost number is quite different from trying to find a tree or dip in the ground in the middle of the common! The organisers were super friendly and helpful with some tips at the start but they neglected to tell us that the common was essentially underwater:
This picture was one of the paths right at the start. Nick and I essentially went for a swim that evening and it took many showers to get clean feet. We both came away with some cuts from brambles, XC in the dark is a different beast! Also pretty limited depth perception in the dark to know how deep some of the water was or how much you were going to slide.
Later in the week I ran the Regents Park 10k club champs where I got a bit carried away in the race given I was also running home. Thankfully Babs joined me for the run home, nine more miles along the canal and kept me at a much more sensible pace to make 15 miles for the day. It also gave us a chance for a much overdue catch up which was lovely. 24 miles for the week and I felt ok. I did a yin yoga class post 15 miler and also went and sat in the sauna and steam room at the gym. The results of which meant it felt like I hadn’t run my furthest distance in a good few months the next morning which was a nice surprise.
The following week was pretty busy with a couple of evenings working, I snuck a run in round Hyde park before heading to one evening event and managed to run home the next day with a group of Eagles who work in central London and often run commute home. The group keeps growing and that week seven of us ran back to the club social at the Castle which was just over nine miles for me. The rest of the week was just managing to run where I had time and some volunteering at the juniors XC at the weekend. I’d intended to run from there but I had such cold wet feet I ended up coming home to warm up and running on the treadmill. I’m not following a plan for London, not surprisingly there aren’t many six week training plans out there so am mainly trying to add some miles to a long run without ramping the mileage up too much from where I started. I ran 27 miles that week but the run commute was the longest one.