Grin and gurn it...

My last post closed with the completion of the first two events in my autumn challenge.  In the last two weeks as I’ve taken on two further half marathon events it’s been not so much “grin and bear it” as “grin and gurn it”!

Sunday 5^th October saw me lining up for event three of the challenge – the inaugural River Thames Half Marathon, a course starting and finishing adjacent to Walton on Thames Bridge.

With the memory of the previous week’s 1pm start at Windsor in a temperature of 20˚C plus, it was with unusual lightness of heart that I left the warmth of home in the early hours of a Sunday morning and found a heavy dew, not far from being a frost, covering my car. 

In fact, the event could hardly have been held in better conditions, an autumnal chill to the air combined with the brightness of morning sunshine in a near cloudless sky.  The scene along the Thames was a picture being enjoyed by numerous anglers who were soon probably not too amused by the pounding of a thousand runners scaring the fish!

 

Nevertheless the scenery was a side scene as I tried to work out my race plan.  The on-going problem in my right leg had left me abandoning plans of training runs between events and after the struggle at Windsor I had little idea what I would be capable of. 

It was with some relief that, on setting off, my leg didn’t feel too bad and I found myself settling into an ambitious but (unlike Richmond two weeks previously) not near suicidal pace of about 8 minute miles.  I was well satisfied as I kept this pace consistently for 7 miles and even started doing that dangerous thing of working out the possibility of a PB.  Mile eight put that thought firmly to bed as I found myself slowing and, I have to admit, I found myself drifting into a 5 mile spell of negativity.  This was initially kindled from frustration about my leg but then compounded by the loop in the final couple of miles of the course.  This took the course almost within arm’s reach of the finish line only to carry on by the river for a further mile and then loop back for the final mile along the road.  For good measure, there were even a couple of spiteful hills thrown in at this point! 

I just about found it in me to raise my pace for the last 50 metres, just on the off chance that it would make the difference between going over or under 1 hour 50 mins (I’d avoided checking my watch for most of the last mile so genuinely wasn’t sure). 

As it happens it didn’t have such a significant consequence on my chip time (1h51m28s) but the flurry at the end certainly would have helped me if I’d been in a gurning competition!

Overall, I had no complaints about the time but was disappointed with the manner of the run – I might even have been happier to have had a slightly slower time but run at an even pace throughout.  Nevertheless, such disappointments are totally inconsequential in the overall scheme of things, and there was no negativity in the mood of the numerous Bearcat Running Club team mates who began to find one another in the after race melee, particularly as there were some truly outstanding PBs to celebrate (especially for the legend that is Gareth Coombs, coming in at 1h36m!) and a pub not too far along the river bank with a table reserved for lunch!

 

With no improvement in my leg over the following week there was a certain sense of déjà vu as Sunday 12^th October drew closer - the day of the Royal Parks Half Marathon.  Things probably weren’t helped when a few kicks of a football while at the park on Saturday with grandson Harry left a throbbing pain for much of the rest of the afternoon! However, an evening of carb loading with Bearcat chums, never fails to lift the spirits and, on the back of that, even getting up at 5am on Sunday was less of a challenge than I’d expected.

 

It’s great when everything goes to plan and Sunday morning couldn’t have gone better.  The car park I had to use near a train station was pleasingly free on Sundays (I’d expected to pay £12) and despite engineering works closing off my originally planned route, the reserve route worked perfectly.  I therefore arrived in plenty of time to have no problem exchanging the ill-fitting souvenir Royal Parks shirt I’d been sent (somehow my original race entry had me down as a large female and there was no way I wanted to be considered a “big girl’s blouse”!). Once more there were no complaints about the weather  – cool with more than a few glimpses of sunshine (we were so lucky the torrential rain held off until the late afternoon!).  Of biggest importance, most of the Bearcat contingent found one another and my race plan fell firmly into place – start out with Gareth and Phil D (on his first half marathon aiming for sub 2hours) and hope my leg would allow me to keep up.

This turned out to be the run I’d been disappointed not to have at the River Thames event the previous week.  After a first mile at just over 8 minute mile pace we settled into a groove of 8m20 to 8m45 up to mile six and then marginally increased the pace from there until the final mile which we blew away in under 8 minutes.  I was more than happy with a chip time finish of 1h52m07s on the longest half marathon course I’d ever done (the amount of weaving necessary in a field of 15,000 probably contributed to the distance registering 13.35miles on my watch).

 Of course, the last mile had its gurning moments, as Gareth pushed Phil and me to our limits, but I’ve no doubt I was grinning ear to ear just moments after the finish line!  

 

So, that leaves me with just one more event to complete my autumn challenge – the Cabbage Patch 10.  Right now, the leg may be on ice but the spirit is on fire and I sense a steely look will be in my eye as race day approaches (even if it wasn't when I was in the cold bath)!

I close again with a note of great appreciation for the donations made to my fundraising for Shooting Star Chase, now over 80% of the way towards my target of £750.

Shooting Star Chase say about their work, “Whether lives are measured in days, weeks, months or years, we are here to make every moment count."  When I started planning my running schedule for the autumn the thought was very much in my mind of making as many as possible of my own moments count.  I very much hope the autumn running challenge I have set myself will inspire donations for Shooting Star Chase and help them to make more moments count for more children and young people.

To find out more about Shooting Star Chase and help me reach my fundraising target please visit my Just Giving page:  https://www.justgiving.com/John-Reece/

With very best wishes...

John

Quick, quick, slow...

My last couple of posts have focussed on the steps I’ve taken in preparing for my autumn challenge, taking things up to the completion of the Nuts Challenge at the end of August.  So, how have I shaped up in September and part one of the autumn challenge?

A week before the first of my half marathons, I somewhat naïvely got carried away with the conviction that, as I felt in pretty good shape, I should absolutely “go for broke” to achieve a personal best at Parkrun. 

For those not in the know, Parkrun has become something of a cult activity for the running fraternity.  In much the same way as congregations have come together on Sunday mornings for centuries across the land for the undertaking of religious worship, in recent years across the land on Saturdays mornings, runners head to their local parks to participate in the ritual challenge of a timed 5KM run. 

While not in their “Sunday best”, appearance is not unimportant at Parkrun…

 

… and though there is no direct equivalent to clerical robes there is certainly extra respect due to those who have earned the right to wear a specially presented top to confirm their completion of 50 or even 100 Parkrun events.

I am only a sporadic attender at Parkrun having participated in my local event at Crane Park just 10 times since my inaugural run about a year ago.  5KM is not a distance that I feel entirely at home with as I generally prefer a longer run at less frenetic pace.  Nevertheless, every now and again I sense a call to attend and, for whatever reason, I sensed such a calling on 13^th September.  I even restricted my alcohol intake to one glass of red wine on the evening before with a view to being in a good state to run (very restrained for me on a Friday night)!  Arriving at the start line and seeing a few BRC club mates waiting there, perhaps unwisely I announced to them my intention of going all out for a PB.   It’s difficult to go back on such a statement of intent and so, disregarding the subsequent discomfort, I pushed myself hard through the run and with encouragement from “Sir Alun” of the BRC who tracked me throughout (with relative ease on his part), I made it round the course in an official time of 22m17s, a whopping 35 seconds inside my previous best.

Achieving a PB is a pretty joyous occasion, however, there often seems to be a cost and on this occasion pay back came the next morning in the form of an annoying strain to my right calf and Achilles’ tendon.  Despite this, with the wish to do one more long training session, I pushed myself to complete a 10 mile run as part of the BRC’s second anniversary celebration (the 10 hour challenge).  With little improvement to the strain over the next few days, I took up the recommendation to try acupuncture for the first time and, whether or not this made the difference, by Sunday 21^st September I was pleased to wake up feeling in reasonable shape and raring to get my first HM of the autumn challenge underway. 

This was the “Visit Richmond” HM, part of the Richmond Running Festival.  Making this event all the more special for me was that my eldest daughter Carmella was competing in the Kew 10KM event at the Festival.

 

 

How did the run go?  On reflection, I think I did everything possible to screw it up, but thankfully managed to hold out and complete the course in 1h48m02s (pleasingly inside the 1h50m target time I’d originally set myself).  How did things nearly go wrong?  Partly I have the excuse that my watch didn’t start functioning until I was well over half a mile into the race.  A pretty poor excuse, as I knew only too well that I had set out far too fast, but even I was surprised to work out later that I must have set out at pretty much the same pace I’d run at Parkrun (which is less than quarter of the distance).  No surprise that by the 5 miles mark I was feeling a lot less comfortable than I would have liked and my pace began to seriously stall by mile 9.  However, it was a wonderful feeling when I crossed the finish line and great to have photos with Carmella of a double Reece triumph.

However, Monday morning wasn’t so good as I found the problems of my right leg were significantly aggravated, to the point where walking was not at all straight forward, let alone running!  Through the rest of the week I stuck to a regime of strict avoidance of running, a foam roller workout at least twice a day, regular application of ice packs and a good few ibuprofen pills. 

Consequently I reached Sunday 28^th September, the day of the Windsor HM, just about ready to run!

Having said that, I have to say I felt a bit lousy as I headed off to Windsor and in other circumstances would have been very happy to have been heading back to bed!  My mood didn’t improve as my train journey was disrupted due to engineering works and I found myself on a standing room only journey followed by a walk from the station that turned out to be about 2 miles (twice the distance I’d anticipated).  A start time of 1pm and unseasonal heat (20 ͦ C plus) did not bode well.  Nevertheless, as I set off, I was pleased to note that the calf strain wasn’t a particular issue and I congratulated myself on keeping to a sensibly restrained starting pace of 8m30s/mile. 

Unfortunately, my confidence took a severe knock as I came to the first of a long succession of morale sapping hills!  This left me with the very strange sensation so early in the run (about mile two) of feeling like I’d “hit the wall”!  At this point, if my right leg could have been described as a coiled spring then sadly it was a “slinky” that had sloped off to the bottom of the stairs and run out of momentum!

From there on it felt to me that, rather than a half marathon, the event was more like the second half of a full marathon!  Thankfully the event was well served with water points and for most of these I slowed to a walk (not much slower than the pace I was running!) so I could take my time in drinking 2 or 3 cups rather than trying to gulp 1 cup on the run as per my usual practice.  This made each water point a blissful relief but I was pleased to retain sufficient resolve to overcome the immense temptation to slow to a walk on the seemingly ceaseless uphill sections of the course.  One hill at around the ten mile mark drew a particularly colourful expletive from a fellow runner which at least brought a smile to my face.

I sometimes ponder on what is the hardest part of a half marathon, the beginning, the middle or the end?  On this occasion I think it was a dead heat! Even the downhill section in the last mile, with a straight sight line to the finish, was pretty agonising until the last 20 metres.  To add to the sensation of being under the cosh, in the last two miles of the course I saw a couple of runners being put in the recovery position and a couple of ambulances also went by with sirens blaring. 

With a sense of huge relief, I finally made it to the end in a time of 2h07m40s which is by a significant margin the slowest half marathon I’ve run, even in training sessions! 

I don’t want to put too much of a downer on the event which was generally well organised and well attended (and in its 32^nd year) and I’m sure on another day I’d be able to complete the course in sub 2 hours.  Overall, I don’t think the course was more challenging than the Bacchus Half Marathon I did last year in 1h51m (I think Bacchus was no less hilly but was a more visually interesting course and with a wider range of running surfaces – Windsor was almost entirely on solid tarmac).

Despite feeling utterly spent in the immediate aftermath, I am pleased to say that a cold bath and a good refuelling session were very restorative and by the next day I was in better condition than I had been the week before, following the Visit Richmond Half.

 

I remain in contention to complete my autumn challenge!

I close with a note of appreciation for the donations made to my fundraising for Shooting Star Chase, now 70% of the way towards my target of £750.

Shooting Star Chase say about their work, “Whether lives are measured in days, weeks, months or years, we are here to make every moment count."  When I started planning my running schedule for the autumn the thought was very much in my mind of making as many as possible of my own moments count.  I very much hope the autumn running challenge I have set myself will inspire donations for Shooting Star Chase and help them to make more moments count for more children and young people.

To find out more about Shooting Star Chase and help me reach my fundraising target please visit my Just Giving page:

https://www.justgiving.com/John-Reece/

Small steps.... big steps....

My last post on Run Reece Run reported on the measures taken in my post London Marathon recovery programme, not least my Pilates initiation.

Since then I am pleased to say that a number of very noteworthy steps have been taken which feature in this latest post.

Perhaps the most important steps of all are first steps and I am thrilled to report that within the last month Evie (grandchild 3, in chronological order) has raised interest among those seeking to identify running stars of the future by literally taking her first steps! 

 

First steps of a different order with Lila-Rose (grandchild 2) starting Reception class at school within the last week – and with a smile on her face!





Delighted to find inspiration from all my grandchildren, Harry hasn’t been outshone by his two sisters as he put aside his football interests in order to show off his running prowess, joining me last weekend at the Bearcat Running Club.  He remains insistent that he beat me in the run we did together!

In my endeavour to remain at least one pace ahead of the chasing pack of grandchildren, I have stepped up my own training on the back of all the stretching, Pilates and chiro that has been a significant feature of my life over the last couple of months.  While my right leg still feels some way short of firing on all cylinders I seem recently to have received fewer comments about lopsided running and my pace is definitely heading in the right direction.

Bearing in mind my objective of running four half marathons in successive weeks beginning on 21^st September to be followed in week five by the Cabbage Patch 10 mile race, the focus of my training has been on increasing distance.  Once or twice as I’ve got ready for my longer training runs I’ve felt genuinely nervous with the underlying worry that one or other of my old injuries would flare up again.  In particular, four weeks ago, during the course of my first ten mile run since the London Marathon, I went through a whole range of emotions which thankfully ended in elation as I maintained a pace at comfortably sub 9 minute miles throughout.  Since then I even managed to cover the full half marathon distance in a time of just under 1h56m so I feel I’m ready to take on my autumn challenge, though I’m not planning on trying to push for a PB (1h44m for HM and 1h19m for 10 miles).

One other achievement in the last month has been to complete the Nuts Challenge again, taking part with friends from the Bearcat Running Club.  To have taken part in the event once this year was pretty nuts (check out the March post of Run Reece Run) – I’m not sure what the description is for someone who goes back for more, six months later!  Having said that, while I remain happy at one 7KM lap of the course, there are many who do two laps and some do as many as four laps – truly breath-taking nuts!

 

I’m looking forward to my next post, by which time I hope to be reporting on a couple of completed half marathons and looking forward to the main focus of my autumn challenge – the Royal Parks Half Marathon on 12^th October (I feel I have some unfinished business in London!).

I close with a note of appreciation for the donations made to my fundraising for Shooting Star Chase, now getting close to £500.

Shooting Star Chase say about their work, “Whether lives are measured in days, weeks, months or years, we are here to make every moment count."  When I started planning my running schedule for the autumn the thought was very much in my mind of making as many as possible of my own moments count.  I very much hope the autumn running challenge I have set myself will inspire donations for Shooting Star Chase and help them to make even more moments count for children and young people.

To find out more about Shooting Star Chase and help me reach my fundraising target please visit my Just Giving page: 

https://www.justgiving.com/John-Reece/

With very best wishes...

John

Let the running resume...

It’s been a while since Run Reece Run signed off after the London Marathon as I limped over the proverbial horizon with the newly acquired bling hung proudly round my neck.

So what’s been going on over the last three months?  One thing for sure is there hasn’t been that much running!

After London, it took only a day or two before I was able to return the walking stick my 90 year old neighbour lent me and as I headed to my first physiotherapy
appointment I was secretly still holding onto the possibility of being OK to take up my entry in the Edinburgh Marathon (six weeks after London).  My reckoning was that if I could get back running after two or three weeks I’d be able to do a couple of longish training runs and be ready.  [I kept these thoughts to myself as I knew only too well what Lesley would have to say…!]

I started the beginning of week three after the marathon still walking with a limp but I set myself the goal of running 3 miles on  the Friday of that week, 5 miles on the Saturday and 10 miles on the Monday.  Friday came and I enthusiastically kitted up,
went through my warm up routine and impatiently waited for my watch to “catch
a satellite”.  Off I went but within 10 paces I had a strong sense the dream was over!
I just about completed two miles.  No sharp, intense pain but an ache from start to finish and the disconcerting sensation that my right leg had no spring in it.  The rest of the evening I was limping around with a pretty long face!

So much for my 5 and 10 mile plans that weekend!  Instead I took grandson Harry to the Bearcat Running Club on the Sunday (and found myself aching in just trying to keep up with him!).

Meanwhile my physio appointments were continuing.  With the multitude of body parts that were prodded and described as “very stiff”, you’d have thought rigor mortis had set in!

On 9^th May, exactly one week after my first 2 mile effort I set out once more.  Again, it took about 30 seconds before I recognised the dull pain in my right leg each time my right foot struck the ground and pushed off.  I managed the two miles again and tried to take a little comfort that there was a less obvious reaction immediately after
the run.  However, in further efforts made through the rest of May, there was no noticeable improvement.

Nevertheless, I remained determined to run in the Turks Head 10KM race on 8^th June.  Things didn’t look good on Monday 2^nd June when I found myself having to
walk at half way into a planned 3 mile run.  However, I did manage to resume running for the last half mile of my route and didn’t suffer a significant reaction afterwards.  The following day I tried again and made it right through to 3 miles.  On the Thursday I really felt I’d made a breakthrough when I completed a 5 mile run with only moderate discomfort.  For my final warm up on Saturday I did a 27½ minute Parkrun (5KM) and on the Sunday I was thrilled to hit my target of completing the Turks Head race.

A couple of weeks later (21^st June) and my 5KM Parkrun time was heading in the right direction at 26 minutes and over the next couple of weeks things progressed sufficiently that by 12^th July my Parkrun time was back down to 23½ minutes, within 30 seconds of the PB I’d set during my marathon training in February.

One of the issues noted in my physiotherapy treatment has been that my running posture has been unbalanced.  I’ve been recommended to take up Pilates to help address this.  My first beginner class was a bit of an ordeal - a real struggle to take on board all the instructions.  I found it difficult enough  to keep up with when I was supposed to inhale and when to exhale, let alone the physical manoeuvres!  Nevertheless, I have been sufficiently motivated to buy the “Pilates for Dummies” DVD (or Pilates for Idiots as I inadvertently
referred to it in a recent conversation!) and since then my living room has regularly been converted to an exercise studio! I was pleased that my next visit to the class was considerably less embarrassing than the first.

So I’m feeling just about back to normal except that there’s a fair amount of work to do to get my distance running back to scratch.  This is something I’m going to have to put my mind to over the next month as I’ve only gone and set myself the goal of
completing four half marathons in successive weeks from 21^st September followed by the Cabbage Patch 10 mile race on the fifth week!  The four HMs are Richmond Running Festival, Windsor, Thames (starting/finishing at Walton on Thames) and The Royal Parks.  My entry for The Royal Parks Half Marathon is as part of the fundraising team for Shooting Star Chase which is a leading children’s hospice charity. 

Shooting Star Chase say about their work, “Whether lives are measured in days, weeks, months or years, we are here to make every moment count."  When I started planning my running schedule for the autumn the thought was very much in my mind of making as many of my moments count.  When Shooting Star Chase gave me the chance for the fourth half marathon in my programme it provided that extra focus - I very much hope my autumn running challenge will inspire donations for Shooting Star Chase and help them to make more moments count for more children and young people.

To find out more about Shooting Star Chase and help me reach my fundraising target please visit my Just Giving page: 

https://www.justgiving.com/John-Reece/

Finally for this month, a big thank you to all who helped get my fundraising for Shooting Star Chase underway with contributions totalling
£355 at or associated with the “200 Year Spectacular” event held to celebrate
the birthdays of Lesley, her mum and me.

Very best wishes!

John

Run Reece Run... walk... hobble

Before the story of my London Marathon day – a message of thanks for the fantastic support I have received for my fundraising for The Outward Bound Trust.  It was a particularly special moment when on the evening before the race, my fundraising total reached and exceeded the target figure set by the Trust (£1,750) and, as I write this post, I am short of the target I set myself by only £150.  I am hoping to make a final sprint to or even beyond that last line and, to help with this, donations can be made via my Money Giving site:  http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JohnReece

And now to the London Marathon itself…

You don’t get a London Marathon medal for completing 4 months of training involving almost 400 miles of running, weekly sweat sessions at the gym, the taking of cold baths and the abstinence of alcohol.  You get the medal for completing 26.2 miles on the day, on the course and in the event.  If anything was going to bring that point home to me it was the dilemma I faced at just over 2½ hours into my race, almost at mile 16 – the point where I “disappeared from the screen.”

As reported in the last instalment of Run Reece Run, an injury sustained two weeks before the race had left me in a position of hoping that complete rest from running, regular stretching and rolling exercises and liberal application of anti-inflammatory gel would bring about sufficient improvement to enable me to last out the whole 26.2 miles.  Not having the test of a run over the previous week meant that, as I stood in the starting pen, I had no real basis to know what sort of shape I was in for the challenge ahead.  Apart from the unwelcome need to get up at 5.30am, the morning could not have gone better and I even managed a last minute toilet trip that I was sure would save me a minute compared to last year’s marathon experience at Brighton (when I’d needed a “Paula Radcliffe” stop at mile 9)!

As we set off I was amazed that immediately, despite the press of the large field of runners, I was going at the pace I’d originally planned to run.  Everyone around me was moving at a pretty uniform pace of 9 minutes per mile and I was delighted that no problems were being reported from ankles, shins and calves.  However, I was aware that my right upper leg definitely wasn’t firing on all cylinders.  For a start there was a semi “dead leg” sensation about it and secondly at each strike of my right foot there was a feeling like I’d just prodded a bruise.  My hope remained that this would settle down or at least get no worse during the run and there was certainly no immediate moment of crisis.  My initial frustration was that as the three starting routes merged at about the 3 mile mark I somehow found myself behind a large group that were following pacers aiming for a time about 30 minutes behind the mark I was hoping for.  This slowed me down by about 10 seconds per mile for a while and then having got past the pacers I found it hard to pick up my earlier speed. 

Nevertheless my mood was pretty bright as I waved in acknowledgement to the Cutty Sark, the second of my revised priorities as set out in last week’s post on my blog (the first priority having been to reach the start line!).  My trouble in sustaining my early pace (which on the face of it wasn’t too ambitious bearing in mind it was a minute per mile slower than I’d sustained throughout the Richmond Half Marathon, just three weeks previously) was reflected by the fact that after completing mile 8 I found my pace slowed to about 9 minutes 20 seconds per mile.  Again I found it hard to shift out of this pattern and I decided that it was sensible to go with the flow and aim at 9m20s to 9m30s per mile pace.  All this while I was increasingly aware of the ache in my right upper leg but doing my best to draw inspiration from the act of crossing Tower Bridge and reaching half way.  Looking back, I’m amazed at how quickly the first half seemed to go by, however this might be a matter of perspective around what was just about to occur!

 

Mile 14 was not a comfortable one for me – my pace slowed further, down to 9m40s per mile, and the ache in my leg was now distinctly getting on my nerves!  This continued into mile 15 where my pace dropped to 10 minutes per mile and as I approached the 16 mile mark I knew I was in trouble.  In a moment of genuine confusion I slowed to a walk (or hobble) and a nearby marshal obviously sensing something wasn’t right pointed out a first aid station further along the course.  At that point one suggestion that had been made to me beforehand came to mind – seek out some Deep Heat gel! I went to the First Aid point but was told they didn’t have Deep Heat.  Instead I was shown a stretching exercise and I gave profuse thanks, though privately I reached the conclusion it was about as effective as sticking plaster and a couple of aspirin in a major surgical operation!

Having reached the moment of dilemma a few quick points of reference went through my mind – chiefly, I was over half way and secondly, I badly wanted to finish!  I think if it had been wet and/or cold a few other points would have come into the reckoning but one thing was for certain -  the weather was about as perfect as it could have been for a Sunday afternoon “stroll”!  Having come off road for just over 5 minutes I re-entered the fray, limping along at about 3mph clutching at a point somewhere to the right of my backside where the pain seemed to be seated.  Some more calculations had me working out that at the rate I was moving it was going to take me over 3 hours to reach the finish.  I wasn’t too happy at this conclusion so thought I would give a walk/run strategy a go.  Possibly as a result of seizing up a bit I found this even more painful than my running had been earlier and worse, within seconds I felt spasms going through my right calf!  This brought that effort to an abrupt end as I reckoned a calf strain would be a fatal shot to my chances of finishing.  A little later, having tried to pick up a bit more momentum, I tried one more effort at breaking into something a bit faster than a hobble.  I seem to recall this raised a rousing cheer from the crowd but sadly even their enthusiasm wasn’t making the difference and I felt the red alert from my calf almost immediately.  Nothing else for it then – three hours of limping around Docklands and over to The Mall!

There was something very surreal about the next few hours.  It was very odd having a constant wave of people running or walking past me.  It must have been into my third hour of hobbling that the wave dissipated a little but it was still constant and was increasingly occupied by fancy dress clad runners.  I concluded that sleep would come easy that night as I would be able to count rhinos as an alternative to sheep.  In all, I think 5 runners in rhino costumes overtook me and I was particularly impressed by a man carrying a fridge and at least a couple of soldiers accelerating past me with fully laden backpacks.  One thing about my predicament was it probably gave me the most 360% experience of the London Marathon that you could expect to have.

The crowd were brilliant, not 5 minutes went by without a call of “Come on JR” and I was just disappointed that all I could do was offer a “thumbs up” when I wanted to respond by breaking out into a run.   Inevitably a lot of people were asking “Who shot JR?” and my stock answer became, “Mo Farah did – he shot me in the backside”.   For the most part I managed to keep fairly positive with just the occasional moment when I felt frustration building up in me.  I think I was helped in coping with the emotion of the situation by the fact that I’d had time for mental preparation between originally getting injured and the day of the race.  I don’t know if I would have coped so well if the injury had come unexpectedly on the day itself.

I began ticking off objectives.  Firstly, looking out for “number one fan” Lesley and close friends Marilyn and Jan who I was hoping to see in the crowd at mile 17 – didn’t see them but at least looking for them had kept me occupied!  Secondly, Canary Wharf (priority 4 from the last week’s blog entry).  In between these, I remember feeling particularly pleased to go over the 30km marker which was supposed to send an update about my progress to those tracking me on-line.  As I crossed this point, I wondered whether in different parts of the country there might be the raising of cheers in recognition that I was still “in the race”.  Sadly it transpires that there were no cheers for me at this point as the technology failed to register that I had reached 30km and, in effect, I had “disappeared from the screen” over an hour earlier.

On route I was spotted by Moni and Gillian from the Bearcat Running Club as each in turn paused from their own efforts to give words of encouragement before running on (to complete their own fantastic achievements).  Thankfully at last I saw Lesley, Marilyn and Jan in the crowd at mile 21 (Limehouse).  A quick hug and words of encouragement and off I limped again with just over 5 miles to complete.  My next priority was the Tower of London at around mile 23 and in reaching that point I was certain I would make it all the way.

 

 
At mile 24, I remember thinking how strange it was that a particular group of people seemed to be cheering me with massive enthusiasm.  That was one of those embarrassing moments when you have a strong feeling you should be recognising someone but can’t for the life of you think who it is and then, just too late, the penny dropped as I realised it had been The Outward Bound cheer team!   Somewhere near mile 25 I was thrilled to see (and hear) a crowd that I had no problem in recognising – The Bearcat Running Club cheer team. 

This came in the midst of a number of awesome landmarks - the London Eye, Big Ben, the Palace of Westminster and Buckingham Palace.  Then finally the finish line was in sight along The Mall.  A fleeting thought went through my mind of trying to raise a run for the last bit – but I dismissed the thought almost immediately!

My thoughts as I finally sat down at The Outward Bound reception with my medal hung round my neck?  One way of looking at the experience was thinking of it as a minor league football team that unexpectedly gets to a major cup final, holds out at 0-0 until half time against a Premier League team and then takes a hammering in the second half!  Whatever, I had my medal and it was brilliant to see friends and particularly Lesley.

Without doubt I have a certain amount of regret that on the day I was unable to challenge my sub 4 hour target or even my personal best – but the marathon experience isn’t about the one day, it is about the months that lead to that day.  The four months of my training were amazing in their own right.  The experience of sharing with club mates the aim of running a marathon this April (whether London, Brighton or Paris) has been inspiring.  Seeing so many achieve their goals (and sadly some fall short because of illness or injury) has filled me with more emotions than just pride.  In terms of personal goals, I had the satisfaction of achieving two officially timed personal bests in this period (5K and Half Marathon) and hitting times in training that I’d never hit before (at 17 and 20 miles). 

My London Marathon medal doesn’t mark just the one day it sums up the whole experience – that’s why I carried on at mile 16 and that’s why, as I write this entry with my medal round my neck, I don’t want to take it off!

With the very best of wishes…

John

Reece rallies...!

Trying to stand up out of a bath and finding you can’t put any weight on your right leg is not a welcome experience at any time but two weeks before a marathon it is particularly tiresome!  Making the whole thing all the more bewildering was that this seemed to come completely out of the blue. 

As seasoned readers of Run Reece Run will know all too well, a backdrop to my running is the regular “industrial relations” problems I have with my ankles, calves and shins as they frequently “work to rule”. The groin, a sensitive “industrial heartland” has also been known to bring production to a halt with the occasional “walk out”!  But what was the cause of this new “all out strike”?

I’d decided to have one last long run on Saturday 29^th March, two weeks before the marathon, with the aim of covering a distance of between 16 and 20 miles depending on how I felt.  With careful monitoring of how my potentially mutinous parts were doing,  I remember congratulating myself at the 12 mile point about how comfortably I was cruising at a pace of just under 9 minutes per mile.  At the 16 mile point I felt suitably in shape to carry on my extended route which has the potential to go to 20 miles.  With a bit of fatigue beginning to set in and pain in my left foot I thought I’d reached a reasonable deal with my body at 18.44 miles by slowing to a walk and taking a short cut home.  I thought I was being particularly sensible as I knew that with a bit of a push I had a 20 mile run of under 3 hours in the bag - but I wanted to avoid the temptation of pushing myself too hard so close to the main event. 

 

While I can clearly remember the soreness of my left foot and the normal stiffness that sets in after any long run, I can’t remember any problem with my right leg until the moment of getting out of the bath!

Having reflected on my condition I came to the conclusion that I’d strained my IT Band (the muscle between the hip and knee) and over the following week I went through a regime of rest, ice packs, anti-inflammatory gels, stretching exercises and use of a foam roller.  By the following Friday things had improved sufficiently that I figured I’d try a very controlled “cross trainer” session in the gym supplemented with just 10 minutes of slow running on a treadmill.  Clearly this was not a wise negotiating tactic and industrial strife was re-escalated over the next 24 hours as I found myself profoundly limping through the next day with renewed pain in the right leg!

Thankfully the Sunday saw some improvement and with inspiration provided by a day of cheering on Bearcat Running Club friends who were competing in the Brighton Marathon, I felt all the more resolved that I would get to the London Marathon start line.

The whole running strategy that I’ve been planning and fine tuning over the last four months has suddenly been thrown out of the window and replaced with total obsession about pain management and trying to work out how I will make a judgement call on the day, if I have to, about pulling out before or during the race.

Conclusions as they stood yesterday afternoon:

-        No point in risking any further running before the Marathon.

-        Only withdraw beforehand in the unlikely event that I am in very significant pain from just walking.

-        Abandon the priority of a target time.

-        First priority - be at the start line and therefore part of the event.

-        Second priority – get to the Cutty Sark, near mile 7 (to see at least one iconic landmark)

-        Third priority – get to Tower Bridge, near mile 13 (will definitely feel I’ve been involved if I get over the bridge)

-        Fourth priority – get to Canary Warf at about mile 19

-        Fifth priority – get to Tower of London, at about mile 23

-        Sixth priority –  reach The London Eye, Big Ben, The Mall – the last mile

-        Key ambition - cross the finish line.

-        Tactics?  Aim to set off at 9m30s pace (over 30 seconds slower than originally planned) and moderate pace thereafter on the basis of pain, etc.

-        Be ready to hit abort if I reach a point where I am certain I would be unable to tolerate the pain through to the finish line or if I’m convinced I’m doing myself serious harm.

-        Keep everything crossed!!!

Thanks so much to everyone who has supported me through my fundraising campaign and helped me go through the £1,400 mark.  The generosity shown and messages of support mean so much to me and will be very much in my mind during the marathon.  I am still aiming to raise £2,000 for The Outward Bound Trust and hope that no one still considering whether to make a donation will be put off by my reduced ambitions.  Donations can be made via my Virgin Money Giving site: 

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JohnReece

My training started in December.  In terms of road miles run, I’ve reached 343 which is less than I originally envisaged but this was supplemented by 15 pretty intense sessions at the gym to break up the pounding on my ankles, calves and shins!  I’ve reached some landmark moments in the last four months including officially timed PBs at 5KM and half marathon and personally timed PBs at 17 miles and 20 miles.

Some photo highlights of my London Marathon journey…

Finishing the Spitfire 20 on 16^th March with fellow Bearcat runner Laura in a time just over 3h06m which on a hilly course and a hot day gave me belief that a time of sub 4 hours in the marathon was a real possibility…

Accelerating to the finish line at the Richmond Half Marathon of 23^rd March and achieving a personal best time of 1h44m03s (over 2½ minutes inside my previous PB). 

 

 
With hopes still alive of completing a “lap of honour” in London on Sunday…

Best wishes - John