Date: Saturday/Sunday, May 11/12, 2019
Distance: 26.2 miles/42 km – the MoonWalk London 2019
Listened to: My friend Amanda singing, backed up with a Satchmo impression from her sister Suzie, the chat of my other friends, the dawn chorus…and not a lot else
It’s been a bit quiet on the running front recently. I virus took me out of action for over three weeks that meant even the six stairs in our split-level bungalow were an effort! However, I had committed to doing the MoonWalk with five lovely friends and knew I needed to get myself back into gear for some serious walking.
Although, when you mention the MoonWalk, people often dismiss it as “just a long walk”. They are right, of course, it is a long walk, but does that make it any easier? Even though I consider myself mediocre fit and live in Devon where hills are in abundance, I can tell you walking a marathon distance on the easy terrain of flat paths is hard; harder than I thought it would be.
Of course, we did start walking at 11.45pm when normally most of us would be tucked up in bed. While we did not think that really affected us, I am not sure out bodies felt the same way. The first eight miles were just a long walk…pleasant almost. We took in multiple city sights with the pink-lit London Eye the stand-out feature. By halfway, we all needed the toilet, but even after a relatively short stop, the cold and stiffness were setting in. From that point on, we got our heads down and marched through it with our feet and lower limbs (everything below our fanny packs) aching like hell.
At this point, I would like to pay homage to my teammates:
Emma – had run the London Marathon two weeks beforehand so was essentially doing her second marathon in as many weeks
Emily – had walked 18 miles as a practice and knew it would be hard and was not really that keen, but was incredibly stoic and just cracked on, despite the knee support
Lisa – was in pain from step one with cracked heels and blisters forming – she never slowed her pace or complained once #legend
Suzie – a serene teeny tiny yoga teacher in her normal life, she suffered the most from the cold with her foil blanket well and truly in use from an early stage
Amanda – older sister of Suzie (they were both walking to remember their beloved auntie) drifted along in a haze of determination…singing most of the way
All five were absolute troopers and put up with my walking pace (when they must have cursed me at times) and we raised more than £2,500 in the process for breast cancer charities. Job done.
The experience did get me thinking about walking in general. It was already something I was pondering having watched Emma and thousands of other complete heroes in the London Marathon and having read a few running books and listened to a few podcasts lately.
As a novice runner, I am put off entering races by the fact that I may need to walk some of the distance. All the races I have completed have featured a bit of walking…and my sensible head tells me that’s completely ok. Then someone will ask you: “Did you run all the way?” or says they would not want to do a race unless they could run it all, and I have a complete wibble. Add to that, the pressure of cut-off times, and I am stress on toast.
In Lisa Jackson’s book Your Pace Or Mine? What Running Taught Me About Life, Laughter and Coming Last though, she is a great advocate for the chat-run – a pace you can run at while still chatting. For super athletes, like most of my friends, that is achievable at quite high speeds, but Lisa is referring to people who finish nearer the back.
When I watched Emma (and lovely Leanne) at the London Marathon, I was was stood at the 22-mile point with the 13-mile point on the other side of the street. As Emma passed 22 miles, there were people crossing the 13-mile stage. That blew my mind. Emma had been running for over three hours at that point, which meant they had at least three more hours to do. Their marathon was going to take at least six hours, if not seven.
While I am in complete awe if anyone who can run a marathon in a super speedy time, I am also bewildered by the mental fortitude of anyone who keeps their body going for six or seven hours. There was some fallout after the London Marathon when slower runners were seemingly abused despite the event laying on slower pace-setters for the first time. I think the the London Marathon is trying to be very inclusive of slower runners, but anyone who abused those runners should give it a go themselves and appreciate the thousands of pounds they are probably raising for charity. Believe me, ‘just’ walking that distance is no picnic!
In a small way, this happened to me when I ran my first 10km. I was determined to high-five all the kids along the way to try to release some happy endorphins. One kid withdrew his hand from mine while I was having a little walk though and said to me: “You should be running.” Brutal! Even at such a young age, he was judging me and my efforts. You can see why people get hung up about walking.
I listened to a refreshing podcast from Runner’s World (March 2019) just before the London Marathon. Even though I was not doing it, I like listening to people who have done it and the advice they give. One feature was an interview with a professor of sports psychology, Tony Lane, of the University of Wolverhampton, who was trying to give advice on how to overcome hitting ‘the wall’. He was quite animated about the scorn people heap on walking for short spells. It was so refreshing to hear. In fact, he referred to running guru Jeff Galloway who uses a Run-Walk-Run method.
If someone told me I had to run a marathon tomorrow using the Run-Walk-Run, I would be weirdly fine with it. If they told me, I would have to run all the way, I would be stress on a toasted loaf! I think I would prefer the Run-Walk-Run method to just walking to be honest.
This blog brings me full circle to the first 10km I ran on May 13th last year. A memory hop popped up on my Facebook feed, where I said: “I am not sure I will do that again!” Since then, I have completed the Kingsbridge 10km and a half marathon. I walked bits of all three…deal with it!
The reason for starting to run was to run for people who could not. At the time, it was my poorly, since deceased, Dad in hospital, but I could add so many more to the list. I will never be a super fast runner and I am not sure I will go beyond a half marathon, but I am going to try…at my pace.
If you want to sponsor my/our MoonWalk efforts, you still can here: https://moonwalklondon2019.everydayhero.com/uk/caroline-moore. I promise I will not ask for sponsorship for while now…unless I do a marathon!
#slowrunningisstillrunning #runningfordad #walkifyouwant
Running for Dad 