Tag: marathon

Colds, post Dopey and pre London thoughts

Jess Guth5 Comments

I cannot shake off the stupid cold and it is doing my head in. I actually want to be out there running. I also cannot decide whether or not this is life post Dopey or whether this is life pre London. Yep that’s right, London.

Some of you will know that as part of the Countdown to Christmas challenge run by The Fat Girls’ Guide to Running I ‘won’ a place for the London Marathon. As I understand it the fabulouse Julie had teamed up with the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund and had 5 places available for London. Well one of them came to me and as Kath was also still looking for a place, Julie agreed that another could go to her. We looked at the required fundraising etc and decided that in spite of having just done a challenge and asked for people’s support we could manage the fundraising. We paid our fees and got very excited, then tried to park any thoughts about London until after Dopey.

I am still in post Dopey blues I think. I keep checking the RunDisney site, the facebook group I joined and blogs I bookmarked. I pick up and hold my medal every now and again and I keep meaning to go through our photos but end up just flicking through them not really quite knowing what to do with myself. We drew up a training plan for the London marathon to start when we came back from Florida but we haven’t really got going with that yet because I have this silly cold. We’ve done a couple of runs but nothing major.

So I need to snap out of Dopey mode and into London mode. So here’s the revised plan which is based on me basically not being able to do anything much for this coming week as well as some weekend plans we’ve already made. Every week we will do two runs of 45 minutes and then the longer training runs at the weekend as follows

Week 1: 5 miles

Week 2: 6 x 1 mile (as fast as possible with 5 mins walking inbetween)

Week 3: 17 miles

Week 4: 6 miles

Week 5: Keighley 10km

Week 6: 20 miles

Week 7: 6 miles

Week 8: 20 miles

Week 9: 7 miles

week 10: 6 x 1 mile as above

week 11: 7 miles

week 12: MARATHON

More on the plans for London, the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund – charity we’ll be running for and some of our fundraising efforts soon but for now I need to find some more tissues.

Oh and it is Sunday – weigh in day. I am exactly the same as last week.

 

The Fat Girls’ Guide to Running Runner of the Month

Jess Guth9 Comments

Hm, so I’m The Fat Girls’ Guide to Running‘s Runner of the Month. I am absolutely chuffed to bits that someone in the Clubhouse nominated me and that everyone seemed to agree that I should be it. Chuffed to bits but bemused… so let me explain. Oh and just a warning – I have got a hideous cold, I haven’t been out running, I should have been going to a party to celebrate one of the most loveliest and most supportive people I know and I’m not because of this cold and I’m feeling a little overwhelmed and emotional and have been thinking too much.

I mentioned that before Christmas I decided to sign up for the Countdown to Christmas challenge run by Julie Creffield – the woman behind the too fat to run brand who runs the Fat Girls’ Guide to Running community and its virtual running club called the Clubhouse. I thought a challenge that had me doing something health and fitness related every day in December would give me something positive to focus on while I was off work sick and trying to get my head screwed on right. Well I loved the Countdown to Christmas – and I was surprised that I did. I am not a hugely sociable person. I roll my eyes at online clubs and communities and I wasn’t expecting to really like the people. I was there for the challenges… Anyway, the people on that countdown were just lovely and many already belonged to the Clubhouse – so I signed up.

What I got from the Clubhouse was immediate and unconditional support. Support from women who know what it is like to put your running gear on and then sit on the sofa and cry because you caught a glimpse of yourself in the mirror; women who have the same fears, anxieties and questions. I instantly felt that I could share that we were not only attempting the marathon but the Dopey Challenge – not something I had wanted to share with anyone else. I had been a member for less than a month – just a couple of weeks in fact when we did Dopey and the Clubhouse community made it less scary. I posted updates and comments about how I was feeling before and after every race and I drew a huge amount of energy from the supportive messages that came back. Not something I would have thought was possible before I joined. The group even tracked me on marathon day posting updates to keep the group informed. It’s hard to explain what that means to me – you know the me that was always always picked last at sports because nobody really wanted the crap fat kid on the team – suddenly there is a whole group of people who are right behind you, believe you can do it and desperately want you to succeed.

So the Clubhouse is currently the best £10 per month I spend on my health and wellbeing but I am totally bemused by the Runner of the Month thing. The intro calls me incredible and speaks of determination and grit, amazing and awesome are other words used. Words I struggle to link to me or me running Dopey. Yes I ran Dopey, I really did, and I go look at the medal every now and again to check I didn’t dream it – but I just did what I did. I’m not special, I don’t warrant all this… when I think about this my brain just refuses to acknowledge that Dopey is a big deal. But it is. 48.6 miles in 4 days a year after not being able to run at all is a massive deal and I would be so so proud of anyone who did that. In fact I am so proud of Kath who took every single step with me, so proud of each and every one of my fellow 2016 Dopeys, so proud of the lovely Jacqui who ran the last third of the half marathon with us and yet I am somehow not really proud of myself. You see I’m just me and I’m not an awesome, amazing incredible woman with grit and determination, I’m just me. And maybe that’s the point that’s important here.

You see, if  little (ok large) average me can complete the Dopey Challenge then you can too – whoever you are and whatever you think you can and can’t do right now. So I’m trying to welcome the limelight and attention from being Runner of the Month but I’d like to think of it like this: What I did was awesome, what I did was amazing and incredible, what all of us Dopeys did over those 4 days three weeks ago was a fucking huge deal BUT and you better be paying attention to this – BUT I am no different to you. I have the same self-doubt, the same anxieties, the same ‘I can’t do this’ days and the same ‘fuck it I’ll have a glass of wine and another chocolate’ attitude. You see, if you see me as some sort of superwoman you are giving yourself permission to not try, to keep sitting on the sofa, to not change – if you recognise me for what I really am, just another overweight woman giving it a go, then we can go on this rollercoaster of a running journey together just putting one foot in front of the other as fast or slow as we want for as long as we want and that is fucking awesome.

More Dopey reflections

Jess Guth6 Comments

A week ago I ran, well walked mostly, a marathon. Hm. Doesn’t seem real at all. In fact, the idea that I completed the Dopey Challenge seems utterly bizzare. Me?! I can’t run! I can’t do that. But I did and here’s the proof:

Dopey cert JG

So if it feels like I am milking this a bit – I am  – but this is a huge deal. I went from not being able to run 100metres without hyperventilating and being in pain after to running 48.6 miles in 4 days in just about 12 months. I think I have earned the right to go on about it a bit. I’d also like to say thank you so much to all those of you who supported me through the running and who sponsored us. Our sponsorship page is still open if anyone would like to acknowledge our achievement and support Panthera. Thank you!

So, a week on and any muscle soreness (not that there was that much) has gone and my mega blister on my little toe has settled down; I am back home, it’s been snowing and tomorrow I go back to work. With a little bit of distance, here’s what I think and feel about the Dopey Challenge and what I learned.

  1. I ran a marathon! Well I walked a marathon mostly but I completed it within pacing requirements  – less than 16 minutes per mile – just.
  2. Conditions matter, they really matter. I knew it could well be hot and humid for the running but that still didn’t prepare me for how the humidity would impact on me. Heat on its own isn’t as bad but humidity even when it isn’t that warm is just something else. I couldn’t breathe
  3. The support from the crowds and from people supporting on facebook or by text messages etc make a huge difference and can be the difference between managing another little jog and giving up. Thank you to all those people who shouted encouragement along the routes
  4. I can walk pretty fast for a very long time
  5. I really would like to have run much more than I did in the marathon
  6. Half marathon is a good distance – it’s a real challenge and it comes with bragging rights but it’s not so bloody endless. I’d like to do a couple more half marathons
  7. Star Wars music is just the best for crossing a finish line.
  8. I don’t think I could do a marathon somewhere where there is nothing of interest to me to see. I had my major wobbles and nearly giving up points along long stretches of road where there was just nothingness. The theme parks saved me because they broke it up and gave me stuff to look at. So I could probably run something like Berlin, Hamburg or of course London because there are places there of historical or personal significance that I can focus on
  9. I have to remind myself that doing the Dopey is a big deal  – I struggle with that. I did it, therefore it can’t be that big a deal.
  10. However tired you are and however impossible it seems, it is always possible to run the finishing stretch and cross the line running. Always.
  11. Usually when I know I am not going to be good at something I just don’t do it or I find an excuse to give up early… not this time. It never crossed my mind to actually stop. Not once. I struggled badly from mile 5 of the 26.2. I thought I might not be able to complete the marathon and I was almost sure I wouldn’t make Dopey pace but I never thought I might actually stop. I thought I might be swept or possibly even taken off the course by medics if things got really bad but it never occured to me to actually stop.
  12. Every now and again I giggle to myself because I did it! I’m proper Dopey
  13. I haven’t run since Dopey but I did do a lot of walking in the theme parks and my next training plan starts with a 45 minute run on Tuesday – very possibly in the snow.
  14. I feel oddly calm about everything. Running the marathon after having run the 5k, 1ok and half marathon on the preceeding 3 days was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Physically that’s obvious but mentally too. It’s all fine – you just have to breathe through it.
  15. Running long distance takes you through all sorts of emotions – mostly for the marathon there was a mixture of self-doubt and determination with splashes of total desperation and despair and sprinkles of excitement and elation. I was sobbing from the minute I crossed the finish line and I had to hold my breath for the finisher photo to get myself under control. I wasn’t excited to cross the finish line, I was relieved! Being excited came later.
  16. I’m looking forward to running again

And there we have it – it was all a pretty amazing experience – from day 1 at the expo picking up our race packs with all the shirts and the bib numbers etc to day 5 – the marathon. The early starts somehow add to the occassion and the events are so massive that it is hard not to get caught up on the occassion. I won’t promise that this will be my last Dopey post – in fact it won’t be because there are photos to sort through yet and I wanted to tell you about the race retreat and the runners world challenge package etc but for now I’ll leave you with this – hower unlikely that seems to me :

badge_dopey

Quick reflections on Dopey

Jess Guth5 Comments

i have been meaning to post some reflections on the Dopey Challenge but I’ve been too busy going on rides (the ones for kids mostly, nothing fast, scary or motion sickness inducing), eating cake and drinking wine, mojitos and beer

It is our last full day in Florida today and a week since we started the Dopey Challenge with that amazing 5k run. So what are my reflections so far.

  1. I still don’t feel like I am a runner, you know, one of them. I’m just not.
  2. eventhough I know I did all 4 races legitimately and within pacing requirements I feel a little niggle every time someone says congratulations (and that happens a lot here), like somehow I don’t deserve it because I’m not really a runner.
  3. Being told ‘well done’ and ‘awesome’ and ‘congratulations’ over and over is pretty fun and good for the soul but… See above.
  4. I was amazed that I could move after Dopey. Yes my legs were a little tired and achey but not really sore. My hamstring on the right was tight but nothing more and when I walked for a while my hips tightened but that only lasted 2 days.
  5. Blisters are bitches. I so rarely get nasty ones but the one on my left little toe is the most painful thing ever!
  6. running is 99% in the mind – I just completed Dopey but right now am fairly convinced I wouldn’t make it a mile if I went for a run.
  7. I am mentally incredibly weak and incredibly strong at the same time. Weak because I didn’t manage to power through the poor start to the marathon and a poor start in poor conditions determined my race. The first few minutes set the tone and I couldn’t recover from that. Strong for actually finishing at all.
  8. I think I might be done with Dopey
  9. The impossible is possible
  10. I am quite proud of myself (but see 1 and 2)

The Marathon

Jess Guth13 Comments

MickeyI am going to keep this short I think because I am really tired after the 4 days of really early starts and running. Today was marathon day. It was mainly just bloody awful.

We got up at 2.30am and left by 3am. Today the queue for security etc was much better – possibly because we were earlier. We got the the retreat tent and had plenty of time to have a bagel and peanut butter, check our bags and then walk out to the coral with the rest of the runners world people. That meant a much shorter walk there so I didn’t hit my 10000 steps until just after mile 1!

We sat for a bit and I was a bit overwhelmed with it all. I did cry a little. The start was delayed slightly, not sure why so we eventually crossed the startline about 8 minutes past 6am. They say you hit a wall during a marathon. Well I guess I hit mine then! I was ok for a bout half a mile, that’s something, right? We stopped for loos at the first opportunity again  and then kept plodding. Mile 1 was sort of ok, mile 2 seemed endless and I was convinced we should be at mile 3 by then. I got a little boost running through the magic kingdom arches and just kept plodding. By mile 5 my hips were sore, my back was sore, my knees creaky and I just wanted to curl up and cry.

Luckily we entered the Magic Kingdome park just after and running through that was great. Then we started the long stretch of just road. By mile 7 I needed extra walk breaks, by mile 8 I had switched the intervals to running a minu and walking two. Finishing seemed utterly impossible. Kath refused to leave me. And I became increasingly conscious that I might not make the required pace for Dopey.

Mickey2I can’t remember at what mile the animal kingdom came but running through the park was a welcome distraction. Running through one of the backlots the staff had brought out animals to see us including a donkey which was awesome (I like donkeys) and a vulture who was perched next to a sign saying ‘run faster, vultures are circling’. Onwards, slowly and painfully onwards.

after the animal kingdom came another long stretch of road that seemed to go on for ever and eventually we hit ESPN wide world of sports which covers roughly miles 17-20 but seemed to take ages to loop round playing fields and through the stadium. I felt awful. At this point I was pretty much just walking and pretty much resigned to the fact that I wouldn’t manage Dopey pace.

more road. Every time something new started hurting it took my mind of what had been hurting before. I had a few stretches where I went dizzy and my vision blurred but it never lasted long. I stopped at every water stop on course and I think I fuelled ok but the last 3 days and the humidity at the start made it a really tough one.

After what seemed like an eternity we reached Hollywood Studios. That was just fantastic. I managed a couple of little jogs through the park and began to hope that maybe, just maybe I might make it. Mile 23 came and went as did 24. Then we entered Epcot and ran round the world showcase. mile 25. I kept repeating ‘just keep walking’ to myself. It didn’t seem possible but somehow I kept moving forward. Then came mile 26. I suddenly believed. I managed what felt like the fastest run ever (but was actually barely faster than a slow walk) along the finishing straight and Kath and I crossed the finish line hand in hand.

We got our marathon medal, had our picture taken and went to the a Challenge tent where we had to have our time checked. we made it. 6.55.04. We had 4 minutes and 56 seconds to spare! We got our medals for the entire Dopey a Challenge and also for the Goofy Challenge which is for completing the half and the full marathons back to back.Goofy

we did it. I couldn’t have completed it without Kath’s constant encouragement. she just kept talking to me, telling me how awesome we were and that we were going to finish.

We just got into the race retreat before they started clearing up, got some food, our bags and then left to get back to the hotel, get a cold bath and then head out for dinner.

It is now 8.15 pm and I am ready for bed and so looking forward to not having to get up in the middle of the night. I’m sore but I don’t think anything is injured. I have done a marathon! And yes it was awful for the most part but it has also given me some great memories and a huge massive sense of achievement!

Reflections on the whole thing in the next few days!

Dopey c