2/5/16 – What Kind of Week Has It Been?

I just went a whole week without running, possibly for the first time since I took it up three years ago.

It’s not that I didn’t have the inclination. I just wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do. Leaving aside from the physical discomfort of those last few miles, I’ve taken a lot longer to recover from this race than my longer training runs. That last 10K really took it out of me.

It’s that kind of feeling you get when you’ve been ill and have recovered the symptoms, but still don’t quite feel back to normal; a kind of dullness inside. It doesn’t stop you getting on with your life, you just don’t feel properly energised.

Other manifestations include wanted to eat everything in sight and falling deeply asleep at a moment’s notice, often at inconvenient times. It’s weird because the one thing I was happiest about with my training was ability to recover quickly and lack of tiredness. The gammy knee has been protesting a bit during this week too, I’m hoping it’ll settle down soon.

This period of relative inactivity has given me a chance to reflect of the whole six month experience and give you the dubious benefits of my thoughts in what I expect will be my final blog.

Firstly, I am in total awe of anyone who enters the Marathon who is in regular full time employment. Both Sue and I work at home, so we could be flexible about fitting in training session and also dealing with the admin side of the Fund Raising. Something not to be under-estimated.

The advice of experienced friends is invaluable for the first-time runner, even if occasionally it’s not quite what you expect to hear. And however much you prepare and take counsel, the actual day is far better/ weirder/ more inspiring/ more bewildering than you’ve been led to believe,

Whatever your expectations of your race performance, the race is so long, that it’s really ok if it doesn’t turn out quite the way you expect. The overall achievement will always outweigh whatever targets you may have not quite hit. It’s taken me a week to realise this.

The one thing I still can’t quite get my head around is the generosity of the people who sponsored us and the wonderful Carter USM fans bought the gig download in their hundreds. With both Sue and I running on charity places, it was always a concern about whether we would be able to raise the required for sums for our charities. We were both drawing from the same well and the amounts were not insignificant. We need not have worried, we have the most magnificent friends and family. We already knew this already, but are deeply touched all the same. We’d smashed those targets with over a month to go, more than doubling them by the day of the race,  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

My charity, Independent Age, were totally fantastic throughout the whole adventure – especially Lizzi, their Fundraising Officer. Her encouragement was both inspiring and cheerfully relentless – just what was needed. And all whilst she was also training for her own first marathon.

So, I finally stirred myself to get out for a run today, nothing spectacular, I chose a deliberately easy run around the classic course in exactly 35:00. Not quite feeling it, but then again not feeling any pains either, so I’m thankful for small mercies. Whilst running, my mind was pondering ‘What’s next?”.

Quite a few Palace friends have insisted that we both need to run a Marathon on the day of the FA Cup Final as it was so lucky last time… err, no chance, chaps. Although I might do a parkrun if you are very lucky.

Parkrun is something I’ve not done enough of this year, due in some part to the Marathon Training and not wanting to overdo things. That is something I shall be putting right over the next few months with the aim for trying to get back under 30 minutes at least once this summer.

Whilst Sue was straight in with another London Marathon ballot application today, I think that another 26.2 mile race is probably not for me. However I realise I’ve really come to enjoy Half Marathon’s.  I can see me trying to keep my legs in good enough shape to tackle a few more of these, together with the odd 10k. To achieve that, the longer weekend run will have to remain on the schedule.

My mind is also turning towards the other parts of my body. In focussing on my legs and core, I’ve not really paid attention to my arms, chest and, in the last few weeks, my weight. Sure, I’ve thrown a few dumbbells around at home, but nothing very structured. I need to go and see Steve in the gym to find out what he thinks will help.

You see I have one eye on a triathlon – the US variety – not it’s more brutal UK counterpart. Whilst we were on hols in Cocoa Beach we found an event perfect for first timers, held in April. Plenty of time for training and, in my case, learning how to swim properly. I don’t think the Granny’s breast-stroke is going to cut it somehow. It’s been a while since I rode a proper bike too.

And then there’s the John O’Groats to Lands End walk which has long been an ambition of mine. In theory, next summer would be a good time – no World Cups and Euro’s to worry about.

Lots of food for thought and all summer to digest it. I’m sure you’ll get to hear all about whatever challenges we eventually set ourselves.

Thanks for reading.

Neil.