Written by Babs Pinheiro
Let me start by saying that I've been telling everyone I know (and sometimes even strangers) that I'm doing the London Marathon at the end of April. And I mean everyone!! It pops out of my mouth before I can help myself! At work, most people now know that I'm training for London - although some of them thought I'd done it before - probably because they know I've done A marathon before so thought it had to be London, in the blissful ignorance that it's easier to get struck by lightning than getting a ballot place for that race.
Last week, I mentioned it to a couple of colleagues and they were so excited you'd think they got a place themselves and we'd all be running London together! It's almost that picture of Phoebe and Rachel jumping excitedly together in an episode of Friends - if you've watched the show, you know the reference! For non-runners, like I was one 7 years ago, knowing someone that is running London is like being invited to meet the Queen (or should I say the King, now...). So, one of them told me this week that I'm her claim to fame, she's been telling all of her friends that she knows someone who's running London at the end of April! So funny!
By the time that this is posted, I'll be into the 8th week of Marathon training, which also means we're almost halfway the 16 training plan for London. WOW, that is daunting and exciting at the same time!
Week 7 of training came with a bit of a struggle. Training load has increased and my body is relearning to deal with it after some easy months post EHM last year. The constant fear that one of my injuries is making a comeback is all too real so I've been trying to keep an eye on things while doing everything that I can to prevent it, between stretching, strength and conditioning and rest.
The struggle was also a mental one, trying to juggle a busy work diary, life admin (mainly back at home in Portugal) and the training. BUT training ends up being the easy part, since I know what I need to do when and my brain appreciates that "easy" structure!
I did skip a 5k run that week because my body was drained of energy after a full day at the England XC Nationals on Saturday 22nd Feb - it was for a good cause so I didn't feel too bad about it. The people who ran/were at Parliament Hill will attest, the ground was a mud bath and it was a struggle to walk around or even "stand" around, officiating. Despite the long day, it was a very fun way to be involved in the XC Champs as a non-runner! I was on "Walkie Talkie team" duties and, my role, along with another official, was to report the lead runners and the back markers to control so that they could keep track of them and also pass it onto the announcers. It turns out I was (along with at least the back to Stuart Pugh) on telly quite a bit since there was a camera near our area. You can see a photo below - that's Stuart's hat at the bottom of the shot!
There was an almost incident as a gorgeous, gentle Dalmatian ran into the route as the Senior Men were flying towards us and suddenly I just heard Stuart shout "Babs, grab that dog"! So, for a good 10 minutes, Willow the Dalmatian and I got acquainted while hundreds of men ran/skidded their way past us and I tried to keep her safe and calm. Eventually, her owner made it across the lane and rescued her and I could go back to lead runner spotting duties. That was a bit of unexpected excitement that was only topped by all the cheering I did especially when I could see one of our Eagles run past me! I'm not sure I saw everyone, especially in the men's race because there were SOOOOO many people running!
So, almost halfway there, rock on the 2nd half of the training now!