The Highs and Lows Of A Runner's Life - And How They Got Me To Run The London Marathon
As I was writing last week’s blog post on ultrarunning, that got me to think a bit about my running journey through the years. See, running and I have been married for most of 30 years now and, like most couples, we’ve been through a couple of tricky patches, but somehow we never got divorced. So this week I wanted to share a little bit about our relationship, and how I got over the lows and discovered some really good highs.
So here are all my running highs and lows over the years, all in a nice chronological order…
Running the Paris Cross du Figaro Junior (high)
My dad used to do lots of running, and was a regular at the Paris Marathon, but another one of his favourite races was the Cross du Figaro. Organised by the French newspaper Le Figaro, it is an annual cross country race held in West Paris. I remember running it covered in mud (I think the muddy conditions were part of the experience, at least that’s how I saw it at the time). One particularity I specifically remember was that the results were announced a few days later in the newspaper with a special insert and I recall spending a bit of time sieving through the pages with my dad to try and spot our names. I had fond memories of what was my introduction to running.
2. Not particularly enjoying running at school (low)
I remember not being very skilled at any sport at school. I tried different ones, but I was too shy to really join in the team sports (so I would always avoid touching the ball in case I messed up, which invariably resulted in me messing up, so a self-fulfilling prophecy). I remember being pretty much terrible at athletics and my PE teacher looking up the grading table and me not even fitting in the low category. That was my sports career over before I started. I was tall but still hopeless at sprinting. So long distance running should have been the obvious choice but I found it very hard work. I just didn’t have the stamina. That didn't overly worry me at the time, I just accepted the fact that I had no great future in sport. Skiing was probably the one I was best at but there was never any hope of me winning an Olympic medal there either. However, I remember a school-wide competition when I was about 16 or so. There was this boy I wanted to impress and he was a fast runner so I decided to go for it and I think I finished 11th. I remember feeling like throwing up afterwards but thinking it had been well worth it. Unfortunately that hadn’t been enough to impress the boy!
3. Taking up running more regularly as a student (high)
I don’t really know why I picked up running again when a student. I don’t think I did it very frequently, but I do remember going for 30min-ish runs at the weekend when I was in my first year in Marseilles and studying engineering. And then again when moving to Edinburgh as an Erasmus student, trying to go up Arthur’s Seat before giving up thinking it was way too hilly.
The seed must have been planted for me to randomly start running again in the middle of the excitement of student life.
4. Upping the running in Wimbledon (high)
I remember running laps of a local park on my own when I first moved to Swindon. That didn’t last long. I didn't find much enjoyment in running in the city. However when I had the opportunity to move to South West London a few years later I ensure I picked a location where I would enjoy running. Wimbledon Common just looked like the perfect spot.
I then met my boyfriend, who was to become my husband, and we started running together at the weekend pre-breakfast. It seemed like a nice thing to be doing, although we were both competitive and I remember only one occurrence where I beat him during a race.
4. Training for the London Marathon in Boston (high and low)
We moved to Boston, Massachusetts, in 2009. Ironically this is the year I received the ‘You’re In’ magazine from the London Marathon, after about 3 consecutive years of applying for the ballot. Running a marathon was something I had been wanting to do not only because my dad had done it but also more specifically because he suffered from a stroke in 2005, which left him disabled, and that made running a marathon something even more special in my eyes, like a way to continue what he had started. I couldn’t miss the opportunity to run London in 2010, so I started to train in the harsh Boston winter, on ice and snow, and logged some painful miles on the treadmill in the gym after work when it felt just too dark and creepy to run outside. My record is 10 miles on the treadmill, a record I vouch never to break - ugh, that was dull! Training for the London Marathon had the bonus side effect of getting me into half-marathons, which is still to this day my favourite road race distance (because the training required doesn’t take over your life like for a marathon).
I had some nice training runs around Wellesley, Needham and around Lake Waban. But as the marathon approached the long runs became longer and I remember my husband joining me for half the distance and then heading home. This was a mental breaker. Towards the end of my training, I was pretty much done with running. Marathon training had sucked the love out of running for me. I was going to run London, have a nice running break and then focus on half-marathons only afterwards.
5. Running the London Marathon (high)
The London Marathon finally got closer and I was satisfied I had done all the training and really pretty happy to start tapering and not have to face yet another 3hr long training run. My husband and I were due to land in London on Friday afternoon, giving me the whole Saturday to get over the jetlag and rest. Perfect plan. But flawed, thanks to Grimsvotn, the Icelandic volcano, that decided to cause havoc around that time. Fast forward and after much speculation about whether we would be able to fly at all we arrived in London on Saturday afternoon. I was pretty shattered, but so happy to have made it to London and be able to run so just had an early dinner and early night and hoped for the best.
I woke up on Sunday morning after a decent night sleep and very excited about running my first marathon. I had no injury, I felt good. The weather was pretty cool and I shivered on the starting line amidst the showers but that made for pretty ideal running conditions. Based on my training I thought I could break 4 hours, so anything under 3:59:59 was a win. The start was pretty crowded and I couldn’t stick to my pace for the first mile or two but after that I managed to get into a rhythm and draw energy from the fabulous crowds. I was running in support of Cancer Research UK and had my name printed on my shirt, and it was amazing to see total strangers cheering me on. I felt so grateful to be part of this. I followed my nutrition (mainly a mix of gels and jelly beans) and hydration (a mix of water and my homemade isotonic drink) plan to a tick, I stuck to my splits (spelt out by my wrist band) and everything went incredibly smoothly. I never hit the wall and felt energised towards the end to know I was getting so near to the finish. When I saw the photographer in the last mile or so I just had a massive grin on my face. I crossed the finish line in 3:54:46, a time I was delighted with for my first marathon! I couldn’t easily go up or down the stairs or sit on the loo afterwards but it had been all so worth it!
6. Meeting Roger Wright (high)
When living in Boston, my husband and I joined the Needham Boston Sports Club. It had everything we could wish for including an indoor swimming pool, and fancy exercise bikes where you could select the scenery (a definite plus for me who hates the exercise bike with a passion). The club had just set up a running club and we decided to join it. That’s where I met Roger Wright, and found out about his story. Roger was 47 and weighing 276.7 pounds when he decided to try out running in 2008 with the goal to follow his dad’s foot steps and run the Boston Marathon. The following year, he achieved his goal by running non stop and crossing the finish line in 4:45. But that was only the start of his running journey. I met Roger the following year, in 2010, and by then he not only had got to a very healthy weight but he had also a number of marathons. His enthusiasm for running was obvious and he and his lovely wife, Mary, became good friends, who we try to meet up with whenever our travel plans allow. Roger is one of the people I look up to in the running world and it shows that you don’t have to be an elite athlete to be a source of inspiration to other people. Check out his website RFME (Running For My Existence), I am sure you will take something away from it!
7. Touring the US to run half-marathons (high)
I’ve previously said that one of the things I like most about running is the fact that you can pretty much do it anywhere. So hubby and I decided to take it to the letter when we were living in the US and used running as an excuse to do a bit of touring. We looked up list of half-marathons and booked our weekends away around these. That took us to Washington DC, New York City, Denver, Las Vegas. We particularly enjoyed Denver and Las Vegas because the races were part of the RocknRoll series and these guys know how to put on a good show (literally, as they had lined up Semisonic and Brett Michaels from Poison)!
All that was achieved before we even had children! The post-children story will be for another time, as I have found lots of running new highs since (and I am probably fitter now than I was then).
Chances are, your own running journey will also be full of highs and lows. You have to be able to embrace the lows to really appreciate the highs (and those get pretty high!!). There will be times where lacing up your shoes just sucks. But keep at it, there is a big bright sunshine awaiting you at the end of the tunnel!
Happy running!