Wow, the rollercoaster of my marathon training has kicked in something special in the last month!
At the start of March I joined 9,999 other runners at the Silverstone Half Marathon hoping the experience of running at a big event, with crowds and even a free goodie bag at the end, would be positive and something on which I would be able to take the training in March on to the next level. It most definitely wasn't to be like that!
I had been having sore knees for a couple of weeks but had been pushing through the pain thinking that that was what everybody would be doing and that it was just my body being completely unused to what I was asking it to do. The Silverstone race proved to be the race that broke the camel's back and I was absolutely gutted to finish much slower than I would have hoped and in tears with the pain (the photos taken on the day are hideous and must never see the light of day!) The following day I went for my first physiotherapy session and was told that my knee caps were both about an inch out of position and my knees were close to dislocation. Not the kind of news I wanted to hear six weeks before my first ever marathon attempt.
To say I was gutted would be an understatement and it suddenly became very clear how much completing this challenge meant to me. The thought that I wouldn't be able to start, let alone finish, was absolutely crushing. Who would have thought that being told not to do any exercise would be greeted with such disgust - times have certainly changed! All I could think was that I was letting everybody down and just wasn't trying hard enough but I had no choice but to follow the physio's advice, so a week of no exercise it was. I am pretty sure I was an absolute nightmare to be around that week and need to say a massive thank you to everyone who kept up my motivation and to Mum and Lana who put up with my tears.
Not only did I have to put up with no exercise, I had to suffer the ultimate indignity of having to wear my trainers in to work. Yep, big white trainers on the end of black tights and a pencil skirt - nice!! Embarrassing trainers and then daily work with a new torture device - a foam roller. If anyone heard any of the noises coming out of me in the gym or from my bedroom, this thing is evil!!
But anyhow, 3 weeks on and the physio is my new hero. Somehow she has taped me back together and I rattle from the truck loads of ibuprofen I have been taking but yesterday I completed my longest run of 18 miles, and quite bizarrely, I enjoyed every second. I've had to rethink my plans for the race and now it's about getting round in one piece rather than in any particular time but get round I will, even if I cross that line on my hands and knees! Although a couple of weeks behind schedule and having had to abandon hopes of making it to 20 miles in training, I have now entered the 'taper' where I get the pleasure of combining cutting down on the running with carb loading - the part of training that I seem to have taken to most easily!!
So with 20 days to go, my Iain Rennie running vest has arrived in the post and my sponsorship has exceeded all my hopes, it's genuinely overwhelming. I'm so excited about it and can't wait to get going now. I have a feeling that the next 3 weeks are going to be a bit weird with the anticipation of it all but roll on the 17th!!
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/AliceHarveylondonmarathon
Thank you,
Alice xx
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