Date: Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Distance: 6 miles
Listened to: BBC Radio 4 Desert Island Discs – Dame Kelly Holmes and Colin Firth
Although I have plumbed for this date, this blog covers the day before and countless runs afterwards. The date represents a year after Dad died, so my husband John and I hit Eastbourne seafront again for a precious flat 10km (or 6 miles – you will see why this is important later). I wanted to get under the hour to honour Dad’s memory but the legs were dead by 6km and I had to be content with completing the distance.
I preceded this run with a lolloping lope around the area I spent many holidays at Dad’s former home. I had completed this route when I had spent a week looking after Dad a few years ago. Rather irritatingly, I cannot find the earlier run in my tracking app, but I know I have improved since I last did it. Progress maybe…at last!
The sub-hour 10km would have been nice but, as running has always been for me, at least I could do it when plenty of others can’t. That said, even though I love my Dad dearly, I am not sure his illness and death can inspire me to run forever. I need something else; maybe something a little more upbeat! Sad running or pinning your emotional survival on a run can be debilitating.
I have found three main new sources of running inspiration: books, virtual races and the a half marathon.
I have become THAT person. The person with all the books about running on her bookshelf. I am a sports fan and ex-rugby reporter, so reading about running is a natural step for me. I also love books. Having read a few now, the standout would have to be Marathon Woman by Kathrine Switzer. It ticked a lot of boxes for me. She was brave, she was a determined, she was an accidental rebel, she led the way for women runners…and, like me, she worked in PR. She was the embodiment of women’s lib in bad sneakers and a tennis dress.
I am fully aware that I am not going to become a sub-three-hour marathon runner overnight by just reading about one, but it makes you appreciate what has gone before (in my lifetime) and that you are lucky to be able to enter races, buy trainers that fit you and shorts that account for womanly curves. Give it a go. John liked it too.
Kathrine gave me inspiration to run in Italy in 38-degree heat this summer, but it was the virtual races that got me off my backside previously and for the rest of August and now into September. There are different types of virtual races but I use the ones where you commit to a number of miles to run in a month and pay £10 to get a medal at the end. I have generally opted for 50 miles, with a crazy 75 last October. I can honestly say that I would not have run those miles if it was not for the medal and deadline it set me. For both June and August, I crammed in 10 miles in the last two days of the month. The deadline works every time and I have never missed one.
Sure, it is not a real race, but if you fear races (like me), this feels like an achievement because you have had to consistently go out running to rack up the miles. Anything that gets people moving has to be a good thing. One of the leading benefits of the virtual races is that it makes you think in miles not kilometres. You record the miles and then send your evidence as a screen grab from your tracker app. Running miles makes me run further. Whereas before I would have been happy with 3km, three miles is now a short run – a whole 2km further than I was happy with before. It’s a subtle shift but an important one.
I am aiming for 65 miles this month, but I do not really need the motivation. John (God love that man!) has set me a programme for our impending half marathon in October. If I stick to the programme, I will easily get to 75 miles this month and I am determined to stick to it. I want to give myself a good chance of getting through this half without wanting to chop my legs off at about nine miles. My preparation looks a bit like this:
- New, bigger trainers – my toes are a mess – I need more space!
- Sports drinks – to take with me on longer runs so I do not lack crucial energy and replace the nutrients I lose through sweating…a lot
- Four runs a week – I have never done more than three before
- Being kind to myself – allowing a few walks uphill when I need them
- Being positive – being proper chuffed when I do run up hills and complete a longer run
With the programme stuck on the fridge, I tick off the runs as I go. I try not to think about the runs or to fear them, and just get out and do them. If I have dead legs, I run slowly. I just get the miles done. Fingers crossed it does the trick.
Running for Dad 