The Hatfield Broad Oak (HBO) 10k has become something of a tradition in our running calendar. This year is our third consecutive HBO 10k and the events 30th anniversary so it promised to be a good one. I was feeling the effects of running 10 km of hills on Saturday and had a really bad flare up of patellofemoral dysfunction (or runners knee as it's more commonly known) which seems to have been aggravated by the marathon a week ago. I decided to give the kinesiology tape a go to see if it could help my kneecap correctly track and reduce the irritation as I ran. My shin pain seemed to be back again so I also applied some tape to just my left shin. I worked out that it had taken £5 worth of KT tape to get me in some sort of shape to run, probably not wise or sustainable. I think following this run I may have to give some thought to recovery and treating old injuries.
Paul and I pre-race
We arrived well ahead of the race to get a parked and beat the road closures. The morning whilst starting off bright turned overcast and quite cold, not like previous years when the sun has almost made it too hot for running. We met up with our fellow Um Bongo team members Chris and Alec as well as a few of the guys from the Hatfield Forest parkrun. There was quite a bit of excitement and anticipation around the t-shirt design and medal as it was the 30th anniversary celebrations. We found the tent where the t-shirts would be handed out at the end and asked if we could get a sneak preview. They were grey much to my surprise or as Paul described them 'Gandalf' grey! When we asked about the medals we were told that they were only being handed out for the kiddies fun run. It was a bit of a shame as there had been some discussion on the HBO 10k social media pages about the race having a special finishers medal and t-shirt to celebrate the 30th anniversary. It didn't bother me too much but I felt sorry for those who may have been running their first 10k and had been expecting a medal for their efforts.
Team Um Bongo
The event had changed from previous years, the race HQ was at the school and the runners facilities were on the village green which made it a lot spacious. The course was a reverse loop starting and finishing on the high street which made it a lot better for both the runners and spectators. I'd heard rumours from other runners who had tested the route that they thought the new route was 5 minutes slower than the previous course.
The race was due to start at 11 am so we made our way to the start line. The field was split into predicted finish intervals, Paul and I were going to run together so placed ourselves in the 55 minute area expecting a gentle run. I am not sure I heard the starting gun but the crowd of runners started to surge forward so I knew that we'd soon be crossing the start line. The first couple of kilometres seemed very crowded and bunched to me, we spent much of the time dodging other runners and trying to pass people who had already stopped to walk. There was also a little elevation but nothing compared to what we had experienced during the Dark Ox a couple of days previously. Soon after we were able to settle into a steady rhythm, I wasn't looking at my watch to keep an eye on my pace, I was just running to what felt comfortable.
Just before the start
The Um Bongo vests were getting a lot of attention. At one point a kid shouted at me "GO HIPPOPOTAMUS!" now I know I am carrying a extra few pounds but... oh wait I forget there is a great big pink hippo on the back of the race vest! It was really nice, Paul and I hadn't invited anyone to come along and support us but we felt like we had our own fan club. The vests never fail to make people smile and lots of people comment and encourage us as we're running.
At the 5 km point Paul was unleashed and stretched his legs and ran off ahead. The field was a little more spread out now so I wasn't feeling quite as cramped. I was conscious that I didn't want to let the pace dip once I was running on my own. The scenery on the route was really quite pleasant, all of the race was on closed roads around the village of Hatfield Broad Oak. My painful knee was more or less a feature of the entire race and even though strapped with KT tape there didn't seem to be any relief. At around 7 km the arch of my right foot began to ache, this was a new one! Kilometres 6-9 were really consistent with only 3 seconds difference in the pacing. For the final kilometre I decided to begin to pick up the pace. I had been running on and off with a girl for most of the race so I kept her in my sight and made sure I kept up.
We turned onto the road back into the village which I recognised from when we drove in and I knew it wasn't far to go. One of the marshals shouted "final kilometre" which had got my hopes up but I didn't recall seeing the 9 km marker. We were still about a minute away from the 9 km marker! Luckily I hadn't sped up too much. I was quite impressed with my pace at this stage, I was not feeling too laboured and seemed to be over taking a lot of other runners. We turned onto the high street and I could see the finish line so opened up and sprinted overtaking about 12 people in the finishing funnel (which probably not very sporting of me). I finished with the official time of 53:45, almost exactly a minute slower than my efforts at the Flitch Way 10k in April and approximately 2 and a half minutes slower than my 2014 HBO time. I wasn't too disappointed though, I knew I had injuries which were perhaps holding me back and I had managed my expectations to accept that it was unlikely to be a PB day.
Happy finishers
From the finish line we queued to get back onto the village green. It was quite a long wait before we were able to get our t-shirt, it was no improvement on when the finish was by the village hall and meant standing around and getting cold. Paul, Chris and Alec had also finished so we regrouped and chatted to various people that we'd spotted. Despite having run the first 5 km with me, Paul managed to catch up with Alec and got him home in a sub 50. Chris finished about a minute ahead of me with a time of 52:37. It just goes to show how challenging the Dark Ox 10k was as we were 20 minutes faster at HBO just 2 days later! We went back to the car to get something warm to put on and went for a wander and our tradition of a post race ice cream.
Post race 99
Afterwards it was back to Chris' for a BBQ. Unfortunately the weather did not improve so we ended up sitting indoors to keep warm! I had made my BBQ speciality of guacamole and halloumi and vegetable skewers with a lemon, mint and chilli dressing. Chris had got us veggies some onion bhaji burgers which made for a strangely enjoyable combo with cheese, BBQ sauce and brioche bun! We ate a stupid amount of food and there was still plenty left over. We had a really nice afternoon with friends old and new chatting about running and various stuff.
There are moments in life that define you as a person. Likewise, in running there are moments that define who you are as a runner. I should have really enjoyed the race today, it's usually the highlight of my running year however I couldn't help but feel like something wasn't quite right. It may have been that I was injured and sulking but I had accepted earlier that I would run within my current limits. I very much feel like I have had the realisation that I am happiest when running in a small field of runners along the trail. Busy road races, regardless of how flat or fast they are supposed to be just do not do it for me! I think I am a trail runner...
I seem to be pretty good at making plans without fully thinking them through first. This weekend I would be running two 10k races 6 days after my first marathon. I guess it seemed like a good idea to me at the time! Fortunately my recovery this week has gone well, the start of the week I was a mess, shuffling around in a fashion not unlike E.T. but by Wednesday I was starting to feel human again. I gave myself a complete rest from running to allow my muscles to repair and my energy stores to recharge and Friday night I did a little restorative yoga to loosen up. Although the yoga was not so restorative for Paul who somehow managed to break a toe, it could only happen to him!
The first race of the weekend was on Saturday evening, the Dark Ox 10k. This was our second White Star Running (WSR) event, the first being the Larmer Tree half marathon back in March. We had absolutely loved the Larmer Tree event and soon after started looking at the other races that WSR organise. When Paul came across the details of the Dark Ox it didn't take a lot of persuasion before we'd parted with our money and signed up. Chris had run the Larmer Tree with us so we asked if he'd like to join us. We decided to make the 325 mile round trip in a day, setting off from Essex late afternoon and aiming to get back in the small hours of the morning.
The journey was kind to us and we made it to the Rushmore Estate with a couple of hours to spare. We even managed to find it without getting lost, unlike when we travelled to the Larmer Tree and missed a ninja sign. We followed the long driveway through to the gates occasionally stopping to allow a rogue sheep to cross the road or for me to coo over a lamb doing something ordinary like licking its leg!
We went straight to race HQ to collect our race numbers before having a little wander to stretch our legs and take in the fabulous views of the rolling Wiltshire countryside. It looked like it had been a glorious day in Wiltshire and we were able to enjoy the last of the late afternoon sun. The campsite was in full swing and the evening had a fantastic buzz about it. I have to admit for a moment I was actually quite envious of those who were camping and running the half/marathon/ultra Ox the following day, not to mention not having 162 miles to travel before getting into bed!
We couldn't find the flag of Congo...
Killing time before the race we made the most of the portaloos (on more than one occasion of course) and ate some pre-race snacks out of the picnic we'd packed. We had a hot meal at lunchtime as we knew that we were not going to get dinner before we ran. I had made some chia seed flapjacks to fuel the weekends running exploits. Having scoured the internet for a recipe I stumbled across one from the Ultra Plodder (follow link for recipe) who had used the flapjack for the NDW50. It was really simple to make and was super tasty with no less than 3 different types of sugar! We also had the opportunity to chat to a few people, including Kev (or 'Badger Man' as he's known to me) who had been one of the highlights of my Larmer Tree half marathon and were introduced to some other runners from the Nuclear Races team as mad as us to travel down from Essex for the day. We even adopted an honorary member of Team Um Bongo!
With our honorary member of Team Um Bongo
We gathered for the race briefing by the race HQ only to discover that we were in the wrong location and the briefing was taking place by the start/finish line, this should have been an indication for what was to come. Andy the WSR Event Director handed out some luminous face paint before the start. I opted for some standard stripes on my face and Chris suggested we write 'Um Bongo' on our arms. I got a far as writing 'Um' before I realised it was going to look a splodgy luminous mess and gave up! We knew that the race was going to be tough given our experience of the Larmer Tree HM, Chris was running another two races that weekend, Paul's training plan asked for an 'easy' recovery run and I was nursing some injuries left over from the marathon a week earlier so we decided we'd run together and enjoy the race. A drone was there to film some of the race for a WSR new promo video and shortly after 8:30 pm the inaugural Dark Ox 10k was under way and 139 runners headed into the woods.
Head torches and luminous face paint at the ready
From the field we went through a gate into Chase Woods and the pack turned left so everyone followed. At the end of the lane some spectators were shouting that we'd gone the wrong way. What followed was several minutes of chaos as we turned around and the race leaders tried to make their way through the pack back to the front. This section of the race was along a fairly narrow footpath so the pack was quite bunched and periodically stopped when a bottle neck was reached. Added to this was several runners tripping and falling on the uneven terrain and exposed tree roots. I heard one runner liken the situation to the stampede scene from the Lion King movie which was a pretty accurate metaphor! It was at this point we lost Paul, he was finding it difficult to stick with Chris and I and became separated.
Much of my recollection of the race was sketchy, I don't think I have ever run with such concentration. At the start of the race there was still adequate daylight and the head torches seemed to be a little redundant but once it got to dusk the head torches became essential in seeing what was underfoot. Hills seem to be a feature of all WSR events so I expected the Dark Ox to be no different, there will be hills, lots of lovely hills and it was only a matter of time until we encountered the first mountain. The first climb came at around 2 km and Chris and I tackled it with some ease. I had seen from one of the earlier WSR videos that there would be some wild garlic on the course through the woodland. It was quite a distinctive smell that you could hardly miss and given that it had been several hours since my last proper meal the smell of garlic was making me hungry! Chris suggested that we try and find a curry house somewhere after the race and this only made me more ravenous. There was very little flat on the course, it was either up or down. Following on from the first climb came a rapid descent. Chris flew down, however I was conscious that I did not want my legs overtaking my body and took a more controlled route to the bottom. As if by coincidence there was an ambulance strategically positioned at the bottom of the hill! This must have been what had been advertised as the free corpse retrieval service!
The vast majority of the race was on a woodland trail with the odd interchange between wood and golf course. The course was very well marked out with arrows and flashing lights. When we were not running up or down a hill our focus was very much on our feet and concentrating on not tripping over. Every so often we'd call out to the runners behind us to watch their footing, however I am not sure my call of "watch out for the thing" was particularly helpful and by the time I had blurted it out the hazard had long passed! One runner behind me suggested simply calling out "root!" which seemed far more effective.
The final 4 km of the race was an uphill climb. My legs were beginning to feel heavy at this point and my runners knee has well and truly flared up burning with every step. The more challenging hills we chose to walk up to try and conserve some energy although Chris' walking stride was not dissimilar to my running stride so I had to run a little every so often to keep up. With about 1 km to go all I could do was think about finishing, however the little detour at start and knowing the course was 10 km-ish left me unsure of just how much further there was to go. We seemed to be heading out of the woods and I began to hear distant cheering which told me there could not be much further to go. Lifted by the realisation that we were close to the finish I put my knee pain out of my head and focussed on the finish. Soon after we emerged from the woods into the field we'd started in and the lights of the finish line were is sight. Chris ditched me (although he was very apologetic) for a sprint finish, I tried to keep up but he had the edge on me, we finished with a second separating us. My official time was 1:12:55.
The finish lit up like a landing strip
We were greeted at the finish line by Paul who had finished 8th with a time of 52:09. Quite incredible considering he did not push himself, had been nursing a broken toe and also had a fall during the race. We were given our medal and finisher t-shirt both of which were first class. WSR events have some of the best medals around. The medal is truly unique, each of the Ox races (dark, half marathon, marathon and ultra) had a different medal design. The Dark Ox was a rather mean looking ox head with the eyes highlighted in glow in the dark purple colouring, a dog tag with the year and a chain, yes a chain not a ribbon! I can honestly say I have nothing else quite like it in my collection!
Mr T medal and awesome race t-shirt
We decided that we would head home straight after the race and look for something to eat on the way back. Strangely enough the smell of garlic had put me off of going for a curry! We stopped at the Fleet services on the M3 about half way home. By this point it was gone midnight, the choice was between McDonalds and Burger King. Burger King was my preferred choice as I like their veggie burger but a motorway bridge stood between me and their Veggie Bean Burger so McDonalds won. We walked into the services wearing our finishers t-shirts complete with medal bling around our necks. I was feeling only ever so slightly self conscious but then I noticed that we were not alone and another two girls who had also completed the race were sitting in McDonalds still in face paint. We ordered a Veggie Spicy Deli sandwich complete with a side of fries and a Sprite. It was dirty, filthy food but it was probably what was needed to get us through the last leg of our journey.
We eventually crawled into bed at 3am after having a shower. Some might think we were mad to travel all that way in a day to do a 10k race. It wasn't any race though, it was probably one of my favourite of that distance so far. WSR had delivered the goods once again. Besides it sure beat spending the evening watching what some call Saturday night entertainment on TV! I was mortified that I had missed Eurovision... NOT!
Tapering is about winding down your mileage, replenishing energy stores and healing any injuries. In my case, injury meant I went from running a total of 21 miles in a week to 0 for the next two weeks. This bought on a mild panic as I knew I was already behind with my training but in reality there wasn't much more I could do to change that. Two weeks rest was probably exactly what my body needed, during this time I got treatment for my shin splints and I ate a lot of carbohydrates!
The carb loading was in full swing by the Thursday before the marathon, no foods were off limits as everything we ate would be fuel to ensure our glycogen stores were full. We started to think about increasing the carb intake not just at dinner but for lunch too. As a lover of carbs things couldn't have been better but the closer we got to Sunday, the fuller and more bloated I started to feel! I think we may have taken this part of our training a little too seriously! Saturday may have been a carb too far, lunch we had gnocchi with mozzarella and a tomato and basil sauce. Then in the evening we went round to our friends Joe and Anne's where Paul and I shared a large Papa Johns pizza and ate a lot of crumble. A couple of weeks before we had given Joe and Anne some rhubarb from our allotment and at that moment 'crumble wars' was conceived. We made a crumble (ours was rhubarb and strawberry) to bring round with us, although in my usual fashion I managed to get something wrong. I grabbed the first bag of flour in the cupboard which happened to be self-raising an not plain. I was concerned that I would end up making a cake rather than a crumble but somehow it worked out OK! There were 3 crumbles on offer in total and of course we had to try a bit of everyones to judge the winner (it wasn't mine)!
Gnocchi, mozzarella and basil for lunch
The morning of the race I was awake at 4am, I don't know why, it may have been the anticipation of the day ahead or that was the time it started to get light and the cats were stirring. I lay in bed as long as I could, we had house guests who weren't running so didn't really want to get up and make noise too early. I started preparing myself for the race, applying KT Tape to both shins and for my IT band. The physio had advised to tape both of my shins and wear compression sleeves over the top to provide some extra support. I wasn't hungry but I knew I couldn't skip breakfast so forced down some porridge and started sipping on Lucozade. Despite having laid out all of my kit the night before I was still running around and finding additions for my running vest. Mum arrived to pick us up, she had kindly offered to drop us off and collect us expecting us to be incapable of driving ourselves later on!
Almost mummified in KT Tape!
We arrived at the Great Notley Country Park which was the start/finish for the Flitch Way Spring Marathon. We bumped into Lindley (Run Director - Challenge Running) who was putting out some signage and promptly gave me some stick for getting my excuses in early in my previous blog post! Excuses or not I still felt massively disadvantaged by injury and lack of training. 26.2 miles seemed like a massive mountain to climb from where I was standing. We headed in to collect our race numbers and get ourselves ready to run. Paul had said some while ago that if I was going to go ahead and run the marathon that he would run with me as it was my first. I was really grateful that he was going to be by my side, he'd run two 30 mile races so was aware of the common pitfalls and was there to ensure I finished.
Around 20 minutes before the start we decided to go outside and begin our warm up. I started to jog with some trepidation as it was the first test for the shin splints. It was a little painful to begin with but nowhere near as painful as it had been 2 weeks ago when I had stopped running, however I was still unsure if it was enough to get me to the finish. As we were stretching other runners began to gather ready for the race briefing. It was going to be a small field of runners, around 50 in total. I scanned the field and felt vastly inferior, the crowd looked full of experienced runners who made running a marathon look like a stroll in the park. There were a couple of people sporting 100 Marathon Club gear, one lady I overheard was running marathon 199 that day! Then there was little me, first timer and not even sure I was capable of finishing.
Looking fresh at the start!
The briefing was pretty standard given that we were more than familiar with the Flitch Way although we did listen carefully to the instructions for when we reached Great Dunmow as the route was slightly different to how we knew to rejoin the Flitch Way and at the New Years Eve Flitch Way Marathon some runners had got lost at this point. We headed to the start line and waited for a few minutes for the clock to strike 10, I said goodbye to Mum shortly before the airhorn sounded and we were off.
We had placed ourselves nearer the back of the pack to avoid getting carried along and going off too quick. The first part of the race takes you out of the park, over the Braintree bypass bridge before joining the Flitch about a mile out. The first mile was clocked 10:08, more or less spot on pace. I had said that I wanted to aim for around 10 minute miles as this was roughly the pace I had been training for. We were soon at Rayne Station where we were expecting to see Paul's parents. Paul's Dad was hiding behind a tree with his iPad ready to catch the moment (it turns out his thumb was over the lens though). Also cheering us on were the group we run with on a Sunday, who gave us enthusiastic cheers and shouts of encouragement. Then just a short way further along we bumped into Joe and Anne who were out walking the dog and also gave us some cheers. We were not expecting to see so many people, we were really grateful for the support from everyone.
The Flitch Way was engorged in sunshine and looking glorious, spring was in full swing with everything in a perfumed blossom and looking green and lush. We had certainly been given the pick of the weather. Although it was slightly unexpected, according to the Met Office it was supposed to be cloudy from 9 am so we had left the running sunglasses at home not wanting the extra baggage and we'd not even considered sunscreen! Still it shouldn't cause us any issues, we just had to ensure we were taking on plenty of water. Fortunately much of the Flitch is covered by trees and hedgerows so we were given a break from the sun periodically.
We were passed on the run by approximately 25 scouts out for a bike ride, the Um Bongo vests got noticed by a couple of the kids. I love how these vests bring a smile to so many people. Around 4 miles I took on the first gel. I didn't want to wait until I had already started depleting the body's glycogen stores before trying to replenish. At this stage everything seemed to be going well, a quick scan from head to toe and I was probably the more comfortable I'd felt running in a long while. A short while later we had a slightly strange encounter! We found a man at the side of the Flitch stood in a field playing blues on the harmonica. I say it was strange but then we were the ones running 26.2 miles for 'fun' on a Sunday morning, so it's debatable exactly who the strange one is! Just after Felsted we reached the first check point which came as a welcome sight, it felt like a long 5.5 miles to get this far. One of the volunteers was dressed in a chicken suit which bought a smile to my face! We stocked up on some fig rolls, grabbed a Freddo Frog for later and refilled our water bottles before being on our way again.
From here we headed towards the town of Dunmow. We emerged from the hedgerow to cross the road and run a short part of the run on pavement before picking the Flitch up again through a hedge at the back of an industrial estate. This was probably the muddiest part of the course which was still covered in puddles from the weeks earlier rain, it didn't cause the road shoes too much trouble, it just made my pretties a little dirty! Paul was fantastic, he was constantly on the case asking if I had been drinking enough water and managing my energy intake. Although I have to admit at this stage I was getting a little sick of eating, I was starting to feel like I was being force fed, I was feeling bloated and full. In fact I couldn't wait to feel hungry again so I could enjoy eating. Paul had asked me to think about what I'd like to eat post race but I couldn't bare to think about it, I would have been quite content with a piece of toast for my dinner at that moment in time.
At mile 9 I started to feel some minor issues, my calf muscles started to tighten just enough so that I was aware of them. This was to be expected with the issues I'd been having with the shin splints. I also had a very painful kneecap which seemed to be a new problem. When we reached check point 2 at mile 10 we stopped, took on some food and water and had a stretch out. Check point 2 was manned by the familiar faces of Dan and Mark from Great Notley parkrun. Not that there was any competition between the check points but it was a welcome stop, they had some music as well as a few additional goodies of gels and electrolyte tablets which they had kindly provided themselves. I had a few cheese and onion Mini Cheddar crinkles, whilst the flavour would most likely repeat on me for the next few miles I figured eating something salty at this point may help my tight muscles in case it was a bit of cramp.
I was really enjoying the route, I was on parts of the Flitch Way that we rarely venture out to so it provided me with a welcome distraction. We passed Takeley Station and knew we were close to the check point 3 where we'd have our numbers recorded and turn around. I could see the Challenge Running flag in the distance and knew we had made it! I also spied our friend Chris who had decided to surprise us, he also very kindly had bought some Jaffa Cakes. Unfortunately I was feeling too full to take on any food of substance and just ate a couple more Mini Cheddars to try and help replace lost salts. We allowed ourselves a good 5 minutes rest to ensure we were ready to tackle the next half.
Feeling good at the halfway point
We set off from the check point knowing that every step we took was one step closer to the finish line. On the home stretch I had said to Paul that I will be walking all hills as a way to conserve my energy as I was becoming very aware that if my body was going to break down it would be anytime soon. We reached the 15 mile mark, I knew anything above this and I would be in unchartered territory and this terrified me slightly. When we reach check point 4 we stopped again for a breather and I gladly took up the offer of the electrolyte tablet knowing that cramp could be setting in. The miles started ticking down until we hit the dreaded mile 18. I had heard many runners talk about the 'wheels falling off' at this stage of the race and I do believe this was starting to happen to me. By mile 19 I was exhausted, my muscles were feeling tired and like they'd been rinsed of any energy they had left. I don't think this was down to my fuelling strategy as I had been piling in the calories with each mile but more likely the effect of having only ever reached 15 miles in training. I knew that to get to the finish I was going to have to adopt a new strategy, I walked at pace and ran for as long as I could before needing to take another active recovery. It made the final 7-8 miles of the race really drag.
We were soon back on familiar territory between Felsted and Rayne, a stretch of the Flitch we run regularly. Psychologically I felt strong as I knew exactly what was ahead of me, however the fatigue was getting the better of me. All of a sudden I found myself getting confused about which landmarks came next as I tried to picture how close I was to home. The final 4 miles felt longer than the previous 22 I had just run as I continued to walk/jog, by this stage I felt like I was wading through treacle and I could tell my form was getting sloppy the more tired I got. Had I been alone at this point I could have easily drifted into a bad place. The burning sensation on my kneecap was making itself known with each stride. Paul kept telling me how proud he was of me and what a fantastic effort I had put into running this marathon. With the adage "pain is temporary, pride is forever" I persevered and pushed on knowing that I had got this far and I wasn't going to allow the last few miles to defeat me. Plus I knew Mum was waiting for us at the finish and I didn't want to keep her waiting for us too long.
We reached Rayne Station and I knew we were just a mile away from the finish. The station was buzzing with families, cyclists and walkers taking advantage of the glorious sunshine. Although there was no one there cheering for us it still gave me a temporary lift as this was probably the most people we'd seen over the past 5 hours of running! I could just about see another runner ahead of us who was also walk/jogging and there was the temptation to try and catch him up. I quickly realised there was no chance and turned my focus onto the finish. Paul suggested that we hold hands as we crossed the finish line just as Paula Radcliffe had done weeks previously at the London Marathon (paying homage to the 1981 finish). We walked the final bridge on our way back into the Great Notley Country Park saving one last burst of energy for the hill of doom. As we ran towards the hill we spotted two familiar figures in the distance, it was Colm and Michelle from the Sunday running group who had waved us off in the morning! Seems they had tracked our progress through Mark (one of the marshals) on check point 4 (mile 16) and timed their arrival for the finish. Paul and I were truly touched by the gesture as it was completely unexpected.
Conquering the hill of doom hand in hand
Given a boost we started our ascent up the hill of doom and joined hands. Colm sped up the hill ahead of us to get some photographs which just seemed like showing off as we put every last ounce of effort into making it up the hill. Mark also captured us on video crossing the line, you can watch it here:
We crossed the finish line and touched the bird sculpture to stop the watch at 5:09:53. I had half expected to be crying like a baby especially as I saw Mum at the finish line waving and cheering us but the only emotion I felt was joy, I did it, I was a marathoner! With a smile beaming from ear to ear Lindley presented us with our finishers medal, the second in a collection of 3 for the Flitch Way series.
Happy, relieved and proud!
For what I had anticipated to be a journey to hell and back actually turned out to be one of my most enjoyable race experiences to date. It wasn't to be underestimated, it was physically very tough and for me an ultimate show in my stubbornness! I don't think I could have done it without Paul's help, he was a star and ensured I was at the best I could possibly be to concentrate on running and completing the race. The show of support from my family and friends was really touching and helped us through the race, I can't thank every one of them enough for being there for us. The volunteers were all amazing, friendly and supportive. I have done a few trail races now and found it to have a much more pleasant vibe than there seems to be in road racing, you really do feel part of a family. Even Mum commented on what a pleasure it was to watch the race, she had arrived way too early for our finish and enjoyed sitting at the top of the hill watching the other runners finish. A huge thanks to Challenge Running for putting on another seamless, well organised event, everything was perfect and I could not have wished for a better first marathon.
I have no shame in admitting I spent the evening wearing my t-shirt and medal!
Seeing as this blog is about food as well as running, I thought it would be fun to work out what I had eaten for the race so here it is:
The fuel
Porridge with chia seeds, banana, honey
x1 bottle Lucozade Sport (Caribbean Burst)
x1 Banana
x2 fig rolls
x3 Freddo Frogs
x2 cups of flat coke
x4 energy gels
x1 packet Honey Stinger energy chews
Handful of Mini Cheddar crinkles
Handful of salt and vinegar crisps
Handful of salted Hula Hoops
Electrolyte tablet
1.8 litres of water
My Garmin reliably told me that I had burnt 2291 kcal. I worked out that this equates to the equivalent of 81 Party Rings! I have had a little bit of an obsession this week with Party Rings as I discovered that they are now vegetarian so have been scoffing rather a lot of them, is it me or have they gotten smaller?!
I got home and dived in the shower before I seized up too much. I needn't have worried about my appetite as it soon came back and my mind turned to the victory dinner. Given that we had pizza the night before it had to be a Chinese takeaway so we placed our order and impatiently waited for the delivery. After we'd eaten, the rest of the evening consisted of me sleeping through films on the sofa before we decided to call it a night at 9:15 and head to bed!
Victory dinner tasted so good!
I had booked the following day off of work as I had expected to be unable to walk. I wasn't doing too bad to be honest, I expecting a lot worse. I didn't need to resort to bum shuffling down the stairs which was good and even managed to hobble out to Tesco to do the weekly food shop. To my total surprise my shin splints had behaved themselves throughout the entire race, not the slightest whinge from them. A week of physio and the KT Tape really did the trick! Here is the recorded damage:
Triage list
Armpit chaffing
Boob chaffing
Matching blisters on inside of each heel
Swelling and redness of right kneecap
Sun burn
Plantar Fasciitis grumbles
DOMS of all DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness)
It was always about the finish line and not the finish time but a little bit of me can't help but think had I not spent so long resting and chatting at the check points (approximately 20 minutes) I would have probably got a sub 5 hour finish time. That's perhaps my goal for the next one. Just a couple of days on I am already looking for my next marathon, preferably another in 2015...
I realise when you have to ask someone whether something is a bad idea, you have probably already answered your own question. This is certainly the case when it comes to my decision to go ahead and run the Flitch Way Spring Marathon next weekend. Rather than asking my physio or a running coach whether they think I should go ahead with my plan to run, I have decided to go ahead regardless rather than ask them for their opinion and ignore their (sensible) advice! It's only my left leg from about the knee down that seems to be problematic, what's the worst that can happen? The run hurts and my leg drops off. I at least have another leg and with any luck some race bling and a finishers t-shirt to go with it come Sunday evening!
My journey to this marathon hasn't been without its problems. If you Googled the top 10 most common running injuries I can guarantee that I could tick off a fair few of them. I signed up back at the turn of the year wanting to challenge myself like I had never done before. At the time I had conquered two half marathons, the first was completed with very little training (as I hadn't a clue) and hurt like hell, the second I made a better effort with the training and accomplished my goal of a sub 2 hour finish plus raising some cash for the RNLI. I am pretty sure both times my sentiments were that it was tough and there was no way I could ever run a marathon. I unfortunately have a very short memory which is probably how I have entered myself into several races this year over the 13.1 mile distance.
Oxford HM 2013 - A determined sprint finish to finish under 2 hours
At the time of entering what will be my first marathon I had a good 5 months to train which seemed more than generous given my existing level of running fitness. I think my first training mistake was knowing that I could already run 13.1 miles and trying to get myself straight to that distance in training and then to try and build on the half marathon distance. I should have realised when I got stuck at around 11-12 miles before having to stop my run due to knee pain (bought on by Illotibial Band Syndrome) that it was my body telling me that I was trying to push too hard too soon. If only I had recognised the signs all those months ago and scaled back my training, I may be in better shape now to take on the 26.2 miles. Hindsight is all very well and good but right now it's not going to help dwelling on what I should have done, after the marathon I will reflect, learn and adapt before I take on the next challenge.
I also realise that biomechanically I am perhaps not that well set up for running. 18 years of football has held me in good stead with my ambient fitness levels but is an entirely different type of running placing different physical strains on the body. I think I have suffered more injuries in the short 10 months I have been fully focused on running than I had experienced in the 18 years of football! When I knew that I would be doing more road running I decided to get a second pair of trainers as the pair I was wearing had already seen me through my half marathon and training back in 2013.
I thought a gait analysis would be a good place to start as if I was to train for a marathon I needed my trainer choice to be reliable. I hopped onto the treadmill with a pair of the low support neutral trainers, no sooner than I had jogged my first few steps the store assistant said "STOP! Argh, that is horrible". He ushered me round to the laptop to playback the video. To me I looked like I was running, I didn't see what was so terrible. Then he slowed down the footage and could see it straight away, my ankles were rolling inwards as my foot was planting on the ground. He got a card with a straight edge and held it 90° to my ankle to demonstrate how much my ankle was rolling inwards. It was confirmed I was an over pronator. Knowing that I was going to need shoes with some stability control and support we tried a number of trainers geared towards over pronation until we found a pair that corrected the motion to an acceptable level. In total I must have tried over half a dozen pairs of trainers. The most suitable were a pair of Asics GT-2000 v3, in bright orange and pink with fluorescent yellow lining no less. I have worn Asics before but the pairs I had were far more understated. I asked whether there were any other colours I could choose from only to get the reply "no, you get what you're given when you have feet like yours!". Accepting that I had to put fashion and my personal preference aside I decided to buy the trainers. Despite hating the colour initially, I am now converted and love the fact that they are so in your face! I don't think I can go back to normal trainers now, the more lairy and garish the better!
Understanding that my old trainers had not been giving me the support I had needed made me realise that it was probably the extra load on my calf muscles from the over pronation that had been causing a lot of the calf pain and tightness that I had been experiencing as I had been getting up to the longer runs. This combined with the over training is most likely how I have ended up with shin splints which is the main injury preventing me from running in the lead up to the marathon. Thinking back on it I have suffering from tightness in the calf muscles for several months and had not really registered the significance.
The earlier Bank Holiday Monday run was painful enough for me to realise that I needed to listen to what my body was telling me. I knew from that point that there would be no more running until I had seen the physio so the following morning I was on the phone to make an appointment. Unfortunately my physio seems to be an in demand man so I had to wait until the following Monday to get an appointment. His advice was as I had thought though, no more running until I'd had an assessment. I knew that I had to heed to his advice, even walking the short distance from my car to my office with a heavy laptop bag sent agonising shooting pains radiating down my shins.
I tried my best to keep my fitness levels up that week. I got back into the gym to do some light cardio and some weights. Getting reacquainted with the gym was painful, I managed to give myself 3 day DOMS from doing a seemingly easy TRX routine. My fear was that in two weeks I could reverse the months of running fitness that I built up. I cleared it with the physio that it was OK to attend my weekly RPM (indoor cycling) class to add some high intensity training to the mix. It was a difficult week leading up to my physio appointment. Part of me didn't want to contemplate not being able to run the marathon but whilst my mind was telling me that it would be fine my body was telling the contrary. I decided to remain optimistic and start preparing mentally for the challenge that lay ahead.
The physio session on the Monday confirmed my suspicions, it was indeed shin splints. Prodding along the inside of my shin bone identified the tighter parts of my calf muscle which were almost rock like in places with knots. The treatment began with some deep tissue massage which is safe to say one of the more painful experiences I have had, it was easily up there on the pain scale with IT Band massage! The treatment was finished with some dry needling to encourage my knotty calves to relax. The needles were inserted into the trigger points, two on my left leg and one on the right.
Trigger point dry needling
With time firmly against me the physio wanted to see me again on Wednesday and Friday for further treatment to ensure that my legs would be in the best possible state to run. The day between treatments was nowhere near enough time to allow the bruising to settle which made the final two sessions eye wateringly painful! On the final session I was taped up to provide some relief to the shins. Pleased with the progress I had made in the space of a week I was given the all clear to attempt to run. The physio recommended that I tape all of my niggling injuries with kinesiology tape to give me some extra support. All I can do now is stretch out my calves as much as possible and hope for the best.
So it looks like I am running a marathon on Sunday! I am both excited and terrified in equal parts. I know it is not going to be 26.2 miles of smiles and laughter, there will no doubt be some very difficult and painful times. I have therefore found a mantra to repeat to myself when the doubt sets in, "finish lines, not finish times" and I will be elated should I happen to see that finish line against all odds.
It's a Bank Holiday weekend which means we have an extra day to enjoy, for some this means DIY, visiting family, a Netflix marathon, laying in bed all day, a BBQ or in my case a long weekend of running.
My Saturday morning parkrun plans had been disrupted, I'd hoped to go to Hatfield Forest and better my 27 minute course time but forgotten that I had booked a haircut that morning so had to postpone my run until later in the day. It was a beautifully sunny afternoon when I remembered the post I had seen earlier on the Rayne Booking Hall Cafe Facebook page advertising their new gelato ice creams. That's when I hatched the perfect plan, I suggested to Paul that we do our 5 km along the Flitch Way and end up back at the cafe for ice cream, perfect! Paul was aiming to do a 23 minute 5k time so I agreed I'd meet him back at the station where we'd get our ice cream. I spent the whole 5k thinking about ice cream, what flavour I'd have (I was dreaming of salted caramel) and how cooling it would be. I'd convinced myself that it would be the perfect running recovery food, a little salt to replenish the electrolytes lost through sweat and a good carbohydrate to protein ratio from the sugar and diary content. The run went pretty quick whilst my mind was occupied obsessing about my post run reward. My body wasn't capable of being pushed too hard so it was a comfortable 5k completed in 27:41. Back at the station cafe we queued for our ice cream only to discover that the ice cream menu was not starting until Monday (I obviously just read the word ice cream and stopped at that!) and they didn't even have the ice cream in stock yet! The standard ice cream offerings were just not the same so we left disappointed and empty handed.
Standard post run practice these days, trainers off, compression socks on!
Sunday is usually a long run, I woke up feeling a little dehydrated from the beer and Indian food from the night before. I got out of bed and realised that the self massage I had done on my uber tight calf muscles the night before had made very little difference, if not they felt tighter and with every step I took I felt pain in my shins. It was going to take me some while to have breakfast and stretch and roll my calves until they would be ready to take the strain of a long run. Paul went off regardless and I decided to put my run off until later on pending the state of my legs. When I eventually got out of bed and looked out the window it was pouring with rain and I was quite grateful for having the excuse not to run! The last couple of days I have experienced some unpleasant pain radiating from the bottom of my knees down my shins, there is also a very tender spot on the inside of my shin where the muscle feels knotted. I am fairly certain that it is shin splints (or Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome to give it its proper name), it's been building up for a few weeks now and worsens after running. I had got myself some calf compression sleeves having read it helps prevent shin splints but having used them for my last few runs I feared I was fighting a losing battle.
A day of procrastination seemed to pass with very little being accomplished. The weather cleared up in the afternoon and I decided I ought to at least attempt a run. I had been hoping to cover around 10 miles but really couldn't find the motivation to go out and spend a lonely 2 hours running and feared that I cut my run short as soon as felt any pain. Luckily my friend Chris was in a similar predicament having been put off by the earlier rain so we arranged to run together. I drove to Stansted to meet Chris, as I set off the sun was beaming brightly in the sky, however as I approached Stansted the sky turned from blue to grey and I drove through monsoon like conditions with the car being buffeted by the wind and rain! I emerged the other side of the rain and aside there being rivers running down the roads it was bright and sunny once more. I had packed my rain jacket in my hydration vest as I thought the chances to it staying dry were slim, I thought bringing sunglasses with me may be too optimistic! Chris had a number of route options which would suit us both, his plan said 12 miles and I was happy to run the little extra if I could. It was really nice running in mostly unfamiliar surroundings (I recognised a little from the 2014 Stansted 10k) and it provided a welcome distraction from thinking about the shin pain which made itself known with every step I took. The run was mostly on quiet rural roads surrounded by countryside, it was a really scenic route through Stansted, Manuden, Ugley and Elsenham. There were quite a number of hills on the route, some gradual climbs that came and went fairly unnoticed but there was one particular hill (it could have been a mountain) around mile 3 which was particularly nasty. Chris had pre-warned me about it and we agreed that during the accent that it was ok that we stopped talking and conserved our oxygen! A lot of the run was fairly open with little shelter from the afternoon sun that was generating a reasonable amount of heat (19°c). It's said that running with friends helps the run pass quicker and I'd usually say that was true but it seemed we were both struggling with a few niggling injuries. It felt like we had been running forever at the 5 mile mark and knew I had to double my efforts to get anywhere near the desired distance. We covered 11 miles in total taking 1:50 which was a reasonable effort, looking at our split time we were consistent but slower on the second half of the run which would probably explain why we didn't squeeze out one last mile.
After a glass of water and a chat with Chris I decided to head home before I started to seize up and getting out of the car the other end resembled the evolution of (wo)man! I was pleased that I had made the effort to run but on the journey home I came over feeling quite peculiar, cold and nauseous. I put it down to the fact that I was wearing a long sleeve top which was sodden with cold sweat and it had done more than an effective job of cooling my body temperature disturbing my equilibrium. To my surprise I discovered some interesting watch and compression sleeve tan lines in the shower, it just goes to show that the sun was strong when it was out.
With no work the following day I had suggested that I cooked something from scratch for dinner that we ordinarily wouldn't have time to prepare. From my recipe vault I decided to cook a leek and lentil lasagne, something of a favourite handed down to me from my Mum. It's deliciously hearty and filling, with leek, brown lentils, carrot, tomato and bechamel sauce layered between lasagne sheets with a cheese and seed topping. It was gone 6 pm by the time I had got home from my run, Paul true to form was hungry and couldn't wait for me to get home and finish my faff before preparing the dinner so had taken it upon himself to get dinner ready for my return. I felt guilty that my day of procrastination had meant that I wasn't around to cook the dinner but kudos to him though, it's quite an involved recipe and he had prepared and cooked it beautifully (and dare I say may be even better than I could have done myself!).
Paul's delicious leek and lentil lasagne
Monday running club was a morning rather than an evening session due to the bank holiday so Paul and I thought it would be a great way to start the day. The first few steps I took in the morning were exceedingly painful and the previous two days of running had taken its toll on my shins and calf muscles. I stubbornly insisted that I would still be ok to run and slathered myself in Voltarol gel hoping it may provide some temporary pain relief. The session was fairly relaxed and free flowing, after the initial warm up and some running drills the sessions started running on the green doing a few intervals. I found myself really struggling just with running over a short distance and I very nearly decided to drop out. I probably should have done in hindsight but persevered on for the rest of the session which involved pyramids of 30/40/50/40/30 reps and 5 minutes jogging a circuit on the grass with a hill thrown in. The last 5 minutes was probably the most comfortable I'd been the whole session, I think the pain was still there but it either eased being on grass or I had just got to the point where I'd blocked it from my mind! It was nice to see so many people from the group out enjoying bank holiday runday!
Michelle's Running Group out in force
Later that morning we took advantage of the morning yoga class at the gym followed by a relax in the sauna and steam room. We usually only attend yoga on a Friday night as we're both at work during the day. It was nice to have an active recovery after a busy weekend of running and to stretch out tired and tight muscles. Yoga has shown me just how poor my flexibility is in particular my hamstrings, it's something I have learnt to embrace as part of my run routine and I am hoping will make me a stronger runner.
In hindsight running on Monday was probably a mistake, I had already aggravated my shin pain further and it looks like to the point where I may have to take some forced rest to still be in with a chance of attempting the marathon. With just 2 weeks remaining, I needed to make a decision as to whether I would be running or deferring my entry to another event. I immediately decided one thing was certain and that was I needed some time off running to try and allow the pain to subside. I would have preferred to make this decision after an assessment from the physio but I was going to have to wait a week for the next available appointment. For now I'll just take care of the injury as best as I can and hope for the best!
