Marathon Hurdle Number 3 - Done and Dusted! Woo hooooo! xxx

Who would have thought that running round an athletics track could be so rewarding?

Well, today, 15th July should have been marathon number 3 but my last minute decision to change the event to an endurance track run on Thursday instead was SO the right move.  If nothing else, having the freedom to lay in bed today having already completed a marathon this week felt REALLY good!  Although, my calves may have a different opinion of what 'really good' feels like for they, most certainly do not feel 'really good'.

However, my marathon number 3 of the year is now complete!  As of today, I have now ran for 29 of my scheduled 48 weeks and completed 3 of my marathons.  That's me being well and truly past the half way mark!  Woo hoo!

As planned a couple of weeks back, I'd made the decision to run on Thursday.  Very low key in many respects as it was me running during my school's annual sports festival.  Running round and round (and round and round) the West Suffolk athletics track.  As part of the festival's opening ceremony, my challenge for the day was announced to the students.  Where I have been casually raising sponsorship for Macmillan Cancer Support, I'd chosen that any funds raised that day would donated to Sports for Rwanda, in line with the basis on which our sports festivals are built.

The set up for the day is that the opening ceremony finishes at 10.20am whereby the 'games' begin which, with the lunch, the games continue until nearly 2.40.  Just in time for the closing ceremony.  Given that our closing ceremony included the welcoming of a couple of the Rwandan Olympic athletes, it was to be quite a big deal.  My running therefore was limited to a little over 4 hours. 

If the truth be known, this suited me to the very core!  As per my last updates, the past 6 or so weeks have been really tough in terms of maintaining the training and my recovery between runs (I wholly accept that running 21 miles TOO fast only 18 days after Edinburgh was more than a bit foolish... Oh, the beauty of hindsight).  With this in mind, anything I achieved on Thursday was going to be less than anything I am truly capable of and would, therefore, be an achievement in its own right.  I was set on completing a marathon but with the time allowance being a lot less than originally anticipated, I wasn't going to complete much more... although once I'd set off, I was still hoping that I could push for 120 laps (30 miles).

So, my first lap started at 10:25am, anti-clockwise around the track.  Before the end of my first lap, a sixth former joined me and the company began.  Sometimes I was joined by only 2-3 others (students and staff), others by entire tutor groups and more... I think (although I could have been slightly delirious) that there was in excess of 100 students/staff with me at one point.  I am especially grateful to Simon (teacher) who ran with me throughout what could have been a very lonely and quiet lunch hour; to Ali (teacher) who pushed himself harder than he had in years and completed 10 miles with me; to Brian (teacher)who has over the past few years lost 7 stone in weight and managed the last 9 miles with me.  More than this however, the many laps run by staff and students on and off.  Joe (Year 12) who also kept me company over lunch and beyond with nearly 10 miles of company and the Year 11 lads (Oli and Jordan) who completed the last 8 miles with me.  Over and above this was the overwhelming support by the many students and staff who kept me focused and positive with their many words of encouragement and cheers throughout the entire day.  The weather was far too hot for my liking (on the ONLY day of sunshine this week, it happened to be sun-burning hot - this transpires to be the day THE day that I ran a marathon).

I was slow, really slow and my calves hurt, really hurt!  My 'clicker-counter' for each lap became my new best friend.  Initially I counted in 20's up until 60 laps in.  I then counted to 70, to 80, to 85, to 90, to 92 and then stayed in 2's from thereon in.  I knew that 104 laps was 26 miles and once I'd reached 85 laps, I was just working towards the marathon or rather 105 laps to give me those important extra few hundred metres.

Once I'd reached 100 laps, it suddenly all felt easier.  Those last few laps seemed to fly by and I suspect that my mental state released chemicals that helped to kill the pain!  One or our students who had been selected as a torchbearer ran the last lap with me (this was meant to be the 105th lap) but being that I was part of a school event, things could never go quite to plan and at the end of this lap, the Year 6 Primary School dance was well underway... I was then told to run around again (actually, I think I was asked to stop but I didn't cotton on to the waving by other members of staff until too late) and then ran another lap... this felt amazingly easy!  So, I finished after 106 laps or 26.5miles.  Around 4hr 15 mins of very slow running but I loved it, really loved it.  (Apart from the times where it felt really hard and I kept snivelling to myself.  Oh, and the time that my left calf seemed to cramp up.  And the time that I bent down to get my sports drink and felt a sharp pain in my back when standing up again.)

I'd originally intended to change direction at various points throughout the day but I can't bear running clockwise around the track.  Psychologically, stopping to do an about turn was more than what I could handle.  This was absolutely fine on the day but my goodness, I felt the inner/outer abs on my left hand side come Friday!

So today, my abs feel fine.  My quads and hamstrings are amazingly fine but my calves are stinging like you wouldn't believe.  A gentle swim yesterday, a gentle walk today and lots of sleep has and continues to do me the power of good. 

Next steps - another week or so without any real runs and then a sensible training plan to build me up to Wolverhampton which is 7 weeks from now.  I think I'll walk, swim and use the rower over the next few days although my training this week is severely limited on the basis that I'm working, hosting tea-parties and have the girls everyday/night with the exception of Thursday.  Me, being me, thinks that this constraint is probably a good thing right now.  Recovery most certainly aides improved results... advice I really need to pay heed to!

So, 19 weeks to go and Wolverhampton is my next hurdle on the horizon.  Bring it on.  :o)