It has been a while. A long while. I'm not sure what happened, life just became 'normal' and it felt a bit weird to blog about it after that. But this week I looked back over the last posts and thought "it is really nice to be able to look back and remember what happened back then". So, I have decided to boot myself in the backside, and boot this thing back up, if only to serve as an aid to my flailing memory as I become ever older.
So, quick recap then on the last three years:
- Did the marathon, albeit slowly and painfully
- Stopped running
- Proposed
- Got a bit fat
- Got married
- Worked a lot
- Travelled a lot
- Ate a LOT
- Started running again
- Got slightly less fat
..and that gets you pretty much up to speed!
After the marathon, I never felt like running again. The whole experience of training, getting up at 4.30am to do 30km practice runs, and the event itself broke me quite hard. During the race, which was an absolutely sweltering day by the way, I got to about 28km and my body just said "yeah right, what in the HELL do you think you are doing? Stop right now". And I couldn't move for a moment or two. I was just rooted to the spot, starting to panic. I've got 14 more kilometres to go, and I can't even take a step. I stood there for a couple of minutes and composed myself, and started walking. It felt so slow. I just wanted to go home right then. But I remembered the reasons I was doing this for. I'd harassed, harangued and hounded everyone I knew for months to sponsor me to do this, I was running for a charity close to my heart. I summoned every last ounce of energy I had, and pushed on. The next 14kms were an excrutiating mix of walking and slow jogging, speeding up for a minute when my body would allow it before crashing back to walking pace again. I'm not entirely sure how long it took me from that point exactly, probably more than two and a half hours. I limped over the line with a total time of 4 hours and 42 minutes.
My mum and B had been watching the event, I had seen them a few times along the route, but I didn't see them at the end, so I had to stumble around looking for them after I got past the furore at the finish line, as I didn't have my phone. After a couple of minutes I saw them both walking away from where I was, about 30 metres away. Just trying to catch up to them was a nightmare, I had nothing left. I couldn't even shout out to them, so bereft of energy I was. When I finally got to them, and B turned around, I couldn't help but let out a few tears. It was an odd feeling, a mix of relief, happiness, and bitter disappointment. The day really had not gone according to plan, having set out to finish in under 4 hours.
I think I only went out for a few runs that year after my torturous ordeal, the whole thing just put me off running. Then, in January the next year, I finally popped the big question to B (thankfully she knew the right answer) and I just wanted to focus on being together, enjoying the build up to the wedding as much as possible. It was wonderful not to have to think about those long, early runs any more.
Well, as you might imagine, the body kind of gets used to burning a certain amount of calories per week, and when it doesn't, and you don't adjust your eating habits accordingly, a funny thing happens. This kind of soft pudgey stuff starts appearing around your body. Weird huh? I probably put on around 10kg over the year, which is not such a huge amount, but come the end of 2015 I had decided it probably best I get those running shoes back on. So I started to hit the tarmac again, quite sporadically but fairly regular, and with the incentive of a team run with work, I managed to get back some semblance of shape and form.
Fast forward to this year however, and I have really got the bug. I have been consistently running at least twice a week since week one, usually three times, and sometimes more, with the exception of 4 weeks break when my body was temporarily rendered useless by some dodgy Indian food we ate in Dharamshala. I may write more about this later if I feel particularly cruel. Currently I am running around 55kms per week, and I love it every time I go out. I also started going swimming once a week and doing some TRX, which really helps the running performance by building core strength. I have seen some really decent improvements in the last 8 weeks since I started these. I should say sorry to everyone I am currently boring to death with details of my latest runs etc, but here is a typical example of one of my more recent longer runs.
I am signed up for the Wizz Air Half Marathon in Budapest on 10th September, and I am super excited about it. I will be happy to run anywhere under 1hr 45 mins, but delighted if I can beat my 2014 PB of 1hr 41mins. I will need to be sensible on the day, pace myself and not get too carried away with the atmosphere. Wish me luck!
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