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Be still my beating heart
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Going to get my best wishes out of the way early A as won't be around Boards the next week or so. The very best of luck next Sunday, you've put in savage training in preparation and I hope you run the race you want. Have a good one.
Waking up from a morphine haze in Beaumont. Jeepers you never know what's around the corner in this life.
Don't think I'll manage my 20 mile lsr today
but should still be ok for Conn. The next few days will reveal all.
Won't go into details but suffices to say that if I could endure the pain I've gone through over the last 24 hours and come out the other side in one piece, then it bodes very well for 24 hours in Belfast indeed!!!
Ps: issue is non-running induced thank fcukity fcuk! Now where's my next dose of morphine???? 😨0 -
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Hey thanks kind people!
All is good ☺
Got out late last night and the 'procedure' was a success. Will take it easy for a day or two and make a decision on Conn. Belfast is all that matters this year so won't be doing anything to possibly jepordise that.
Thanks again! Your concern is very very much appreciated
A little rave for 99% of the hospital staff I dealt with. They rushed me through as quickly as they could due to severity of pain and they did everything they could to make things as easy as possible for me. Fantastic bunch of people. I won't forget that in a hurry.0 -
Glad to hear all well - well, relatively! If you've had a general anaesthetic you may well be better off letting your body process that, i.e., miss Conn but am sure you have plenty of expert advice Take care and do as you're told! 0
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Chivito550 wrote: »What happened?
Hope you're ok.
Hey
It's all a bit.. ahem... delicate shall we say.. If you really want to know I'll pm you the details
Feel great folks. No residual pain whatsoever today. All good thanks again. And yes Mammy Dubgal, I will do what I am told (the surgeon did say that running is bad for my knees so I'll reserve a teeny bit of skepticism for all the advice she gave me ) In fairness though, Conn might be just a stretch too far. I found another marathon I can do in a few weeks' time if it doesn't work out next weekend. 0 -
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Chivito550 wrote: »What happened?
Hope you're ok.Hey
It's all a bit.. ahem... delicate shall we say.. If you really want to know I'll pm you the details
Ok, mystery solved everybody. I’ve just speed-read Osodramatic’s log from start to finish, and I reckon she was in her bedroom, in high heels, with a laptop, a rope, and the Sunday Business post, and she injured herself trying to locate her psoas while her neighbour looked on from the adjoining balcony.:D
Either that or something really delicate!
Your surgeon reminds me of the orthopedic specialist who told me in 1983 "if it hurts you can't run on it"...11 marathons later...
Rest up, you seem to be recovering well from your ordeal - please do mind yourself and don't be giving us all heart attacks!0 -
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Glad you're feeling better Rest up. If you really want to do Conn, I'm sure there's enough of us boardsies here in the West that could and would love to support and crew for you if you wanted to head West and do it solo in a few weeks when you're feeling better. 0
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Might as well use my non running time to update this!
Monday 21 March
5.5 miles @ 10:03
Canna remember much except it was a hilly run near my parents' place.
Tuesday 22 March
am: 6.4 @ 9:50
Kilkenny city run
pm: 3.6 @ 9:45
Countryside run. Horrible smells of pig slurry around the homeplace. Felt like getting sick at times. I grew up with this shight on my doorstep (literally!) but have grown a bit soft of late to the perils of countryside living!
Wednesday 23 March
23 mile long slow run @ 9:42
Had been hanging around 2 sick people for the previous 3 days so woke with a bit of a cold and slightly tender tonsils. Felt ok though to do the run.
Back to Dublin and to laps of my local park. Parked the car in the park like on the previous Saturday's 20 miler, and proceeded to do 23 laps of the park. A bit sluggish starting out, but felt better as the run progressed. Made a couple of stops to have a slug of sports drink. Felt great at 20 miles and last 3 were the fastest. Could have kept going for a lot longer and faster towards the end. Very happy with that effort and recovered really quickly from it!
Thursday - Saturday
My 2 planned days of rest turned into 3 days. I was travelling and find it easier to take days off running when I'm out of my usual routine so took advantage of that! It's the last scheduled break I'll be taking before Belfast in June.
Sunday 27 March
11.3 miles easy @ 9:48
First run back after my mini break, and it felt great. Ran the usual circles around my local park and coulda run all night.
50 miles weekly total
Monday 28 March
am: 6.1 @ 9:52
Local park. Can't remember much.
pm: 6 miles @ 9:49
Kilkenny Ring Road
Tueday 29 March
am: 4 miles @ 10:09
Kilkenny Ring Road.
pm: 6.8 @ 9:37
Wednesday 30 March
20 mins at LT (1hr race effort)
Back to the Phoenix Park for session. Didn't feel full of the joys after the drive from KK. Very sluggish and warm up was especially slow. No zip at all. Thought I'd do a good long warm up and if not feeling the love after the first mile at LT, I'd drop the session and attempt another day. Felt ok but not wonderful after a 4 mile w/u, so proceeded to do the session. Not my finests hour of running but I've had worse days. LT paces were 8:03, 8:02, 7:56 (4ish mins)
9.1 miles total @ 9:32
Had a really interesting evening posing questions about racing for 24 hours to Robbie Britton, 3rd in last year's World 24 Hours, and part of the British 24 hour racing team. He's involved in a new Strava group that my coach has set up, and he's been really helpful with my newbie queries. He gave me some great tips for how to approach the mental aspect of the event along with some other brilliant pacing and racing advice. Super nice guy. I was a fan already and now an even bigger one as he's been so helpful and generous with his time. He's on board to answer any more questions I have (that'll be about 2,933 questions
), so I shall be bending his ear a lot between now and June. This "journey" to Belfast is proving to be a very exciting one indeed and I am gaining so much new and useful knowledge each day!
Thursday 31 March
10 miles easy @ 9:53
Run from work to the car, and then did a little tour of the area. Most enjoyable and legs felt great after session the previous day.
March total: 311 miles
Friday 1 April
8.2 miles @ 9:59
Didn't run home from work as my neck was complaining a bit so needed to avoid straining it with the backpack in advance of Conn. By the time I got home, it was still really bright and the local park stays open now all night so I can eek out every last drop of daylight from now on which is super. 8 lovely loops around the demesne.
Saturday 2 April
am: 7 miles @ 9:53
Had a bit of discomfort... personal problem... which was hurting the previous night and all the next morning but eased out when running.
pm: 5 miles @ 9:54
Personal problem area very painful all day but I went for a jog anyway. Maybe I shouldn't have run, but kept it very slow and short.
Really hope I'm ok for my 20 tomorrow... ***
Sunday 3 April
***Ha ha famous last words above!
You all know what happened next. Or at least the gist of it. The memory of what I went through will be bottled up and carted off to Belfast, to remind me that I am capable of enduring an awful lot of pain and discomfort. The doctors actually told me I have a very high pain threshold which can only be a good thing when it comes to 24hour racing I'd imagine!
Weekly miles: 63
862 yearly total
Will make my decision about Conn by Wednesday...
Thanks again for the very kind messages.0 -
Glad you're feeling better Rest up. If you really want to do Conn, I'm sure there's enough of us boardsies here in the West that could and would love to support and crew for you if you wanted to head West and do it solo in a few weeks when you're feeling better.
Ah what a lovely offer! I'll keep that in mind if things don't work out for next weekend. Thanks Neady! Must pop over to the 'other side' to see what you've been up to!0 -
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Do look after yourself, A. There will always be races to do.
Did I mention that myself, Martyboy and probably Firedance are doing a 50 mile trail race in July, (details to be finalised).:-)
You can join us, get your fill of Connemara.
Ya what now? did I miss something? 50 mile race, sure yeah no problemo (I presume Marty is carrying me):D 0 -
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Belfast Energia 2016: Buildup
Log catch up: Training went quite well until I had a small medical issue which had to be dealt with in late April which was when I left the log go. Even though I felt I had recovered within a few days, I did notice in the following weeks and months, that my easy pace had slowed somewhat, and I don’t think it ever really got back to where it was. Early in the year, I was knocking out marathon training runs at paces of 9:30’s and 40’s, whereas by the time the race came around, my easy effort running was around 10min/mile. The issue I had caused me a lot of discomfort in training at times, but, improved close to the race and only caused minimal problems during the race.
Niggle: I developed inner thigh strain/tight muscles, in April which stayed with me until early June. I saw Vinny Mulvey, who did some dry needling on it and I took 4 days off in May, but it returned within a day or two of running, and stayed with me throughout most of my runs. The physio said it was fine to run on (just tight muscles), but it was quite painful and would have me wincing with discomfort on the first hour or so of all my long runs and was with me during all of my shorter runs, but he and my coach assured me it wasn’t doing damage to run on it, as it generally improved within the first 60-90 minutes of a long run as the muscles warmed up. A visit to an ART (Active Release Therapy) practitioner in Artane in early June (on my coach’s suggestion) worked like a dream and I ran pain free from then on. The guy I went to is not a runner (he does MMA to a high level) so that debunked the myth for me that runners should only see running physical therapists! He will be my ‘go-to’ guy for any issues I have in the future. Cheap, no nonsense treatment, and asked me about EVERY aspect of my training, from my diet, to my sleep, and my training.
So, due to the thigh niggle, and the medical thingy, my coach, told me to stop doing all speed work, and just to focus getting the miles in, so everything I ran from April to June was slow easy miles. This is where having someone keeping a close eye on what you are doing in training is invaluable. On my own, I probably would have tried to keep with the programme and would have ended up injured. For someone like me (inherently slow) speed work is very important, even in training for very long races, but in this situation it would have inevitably lead to a DNS for Belfast.
Weekly training (since the log was closed):
April 4 – 10 – 36.6 miles (recovery week)
April 11 – 17 – 76 miles (long run 17.5 miles)
April 18 – 24 – 68.4 miles (including Longford 53k Ultra. Great race, loved every minute. It was 5kish loops. I cruised around at my easy 10 min/mile pace, and the leg niggle didn’t bother me after the first hour, despite being very sore the night before the race. This was my first ultra race, and a great experience. I had lots left in the tank at the end and recovered very quickly. Can’t wait to do this race again and would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to go over marathon distance for the first time.
April 25 – May 1 – 31.2 miles weekly total (recovery)
May 2 – 8 – 60.3 miles weekly total (long run 15 miles)
May 9 – 15 – 70.4 miles weekly total (long run 20 miles)
May 16 – 22 – 80 miles weekly total (long run 22.7 miles)
May 23 – 29 – 80 miles weekly total (long run 23.2 miles)
May 30 – 5 June – 90 miles weekly total (long run 26.2 miles)
June 6 – 12 – 80.4 miles weekly total (long run 20 miles)
June 13 – 19 – 63.2 miles weekly total
Intermittent Fasting: I fasted (just drank water or tea/coffee) for, on average, about one 24 hour period each week which was to help develop my fat burning capabilities, but it also made me feel mentally better able to cope with running for a long period of time on very little fuelling. On days where I was fasting and commuting for work by foot, I was spending so little money it was fantastic:D
Sleep: Terrible in general (what’s new?), but it did improve in the lead up to the race, but I didn’t sleep much at all for the 2 nights prior to the race – maybe 4 hours on the Thursday night and 2 hours on the Friday night. In the photos on the morning of the race I look completely shattered with huge bags under my eyes but I didn’t feel too wrecked.
Race Prep: This was overwhelming. There was just so much to think about and it took up so much of my time between researching what I might need, making lists, shopping for stuff, thinking of what my crew might need etc etc.
I got loads of help from my coach, and Ed and Eoin and Thomas were fantastic here too, giving me practical suggestions about my gear etc. I spent a few weeks putting together my supplies. By the time the race came around, I had each item I could potentially need, in a clear plastic bag with a label on it, so if I needed my ‘purple long sleeved top’ I could just shout that out, and they’d have it ready for me on the next lap. I was so well prepared, or so I thought. The problem was, I hadn’t told my crew to go through my supplies on the day, to familiarise themselves as to what was in what bag, so most of the work was for nothing and it took them ages to find what I needed so a few lessons were learned here.
Fuelling: The plan was to avoid solids throughout as I find it impossible to eat and run (stitches) and to survive on Ucan drinks for carbs, and Nuun for electrolytes, which I had used in training since September. I started using Chocolate Protein Ucan in training a few months ago too, but sometimes felt a bit sick after taking it, so we reduced the amount I’d take on the day and I was only to take a very small amount every few hours. It didn’t cause me any problems in the last few long runs prior to the race. I had a very detailed fuelling plan drawn up for the team which they were to study beforehand.
Pacing: The pacing plan took so long to draw up and get right. The basic plan was to run the first 50k just under 10:30 pace and to allow for fade as the race went on. The first 50k at this pace should have felt like a walk in the park to me at that pace so definitely not an aggressive start and we allowed loads of time for toilet breaks etc. We knew that my solid training since September, would get me so far, but the biggest factor was the great unknown after 15, 18, 20 hours of running. How would my body and mind cope after that amount of hours running? Yes, I had put in the hours and miles, for months in training, but I was very inexperienced at the end of the day, having only ever run for 5 and a half hours max in one run. In hindsight, the 12 hour option would probably have been better for me this year with a view to 24 hours next year.
Team: 2 teams of 2 people. J was the Team Leader and was assisted by N on the A team. They were on duty from the set-up at 10am to 7pm, and A & S were on the B team were to take over then, and everyone would be on-hand from early Sunday morning to the finish. The teams got a bit mixed up and that didn’t really happen as planned. They were all remarkable in their own ways, with maybe some more remarkable than others J as Team Leader, did an outstanding job, despite having never raced a step in his life. You held the whole show together and I can’t thank you enough . N as the most experienced runner on the crew, was in charge of blisters and chaffing and sore muscles (didn’t have any issues with blisters and chaffing but did have a tender hamstring later in the race), A was in charge of motivating me, and S was in charge of keeping my running form in check and looking out for any warning signs– physical and mental ones. We had a meeting a week before the race and I showed them all how to mix my drinks and some other practical stuff and gave them all folders which included a copy of my very detailed pacing and fuelling plan, and each individual pack included information on their “specialised areas” so they could read up beforehand and be well prepared:). Even though I must have been the most annoying person EVER, with my hand-outs and my demos and my meetings:o, all 4 members of my crew said they'd crew for me again in a heartbeat! I warned them beforehand that I might get mean and nasty as the race went on, but they said afterwards, that I kept asking them how they were all coping and was worrying about their breaks etc throughout, so I was a lot nicer than I expected I would be! They were all told to be tough with me, and that I wasn't allowed to drop out of the race, unless a medical person had advised it.
Diet: Really good since January, and I gave up alcohol completely since January too, with one exception in March, and one in April but I didn't go mad on either of these occasions either. This was no half-hearted attempt at this race, I was giving it 100% from the outset
part 2 on the way...0 -
Am so delighted for you Oso! what a fantastic achievement and despite the few setbacks that came your way, both mental and physical. You're a strong person and a great motivation for other female runners or runners in general for that matter! Really really well done on getting your 100 miles jacket and becoming a multi ultra runner in the process.
Delighted to see the log back up and running and look forward to drawing inspiration from you again in the coming months
Look forward to the race report proper now!!!
+1^.
Patience FD, did you really expect Oso to fit the whole thing in one post? It has to be as epic as the race itself. Maybe "Ososlo" refers to the typing, as it can't be referring to the running anymore.0 -
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+1^.
Patience FD, did you really expect Oso to fit the whole thing in one post? It has to be as epic as the race itself. Maybe "Ososlo" refers to the typing, as it can't be referring to the running anymore.
Ha! yep I deleted it once I realised I'd sprinted to the finish too quickly :pac::pac: Sorry Oso I'm just so excited!! Looking forward to the report proper! 0 -
Part 2!
Race day morning: Breakfast of a protein bar (couldn’t face the planned meal of scrambled eggs but I had eaten this bar many times previously with no issues) and a croissant at 6am, and then another croissant at about 9am. Ucan at 10am (1.5) and Ucan again at 11:30 (1). Sipped on a bit of Nuun too but not very much. Coffee at 6am. Might drop this the next time as it tends to make my stomach feel a bit sick when I drink it very early in the morning, but it does help other things… so still a bit torn about this one. The above food and drink, was exactly what I had had in training many times prior to long runs with no problems.
Nervousness! A huge issue for me normally in races, but it didn’t overwhelm me this time, like it does for shorter faster races. I was actually quite calm in the lead up. I did get a little nervous in the car on the way up, but it a good healthy way. It didn’t have me in a quivering pukey mess like I would be prior to racing a 5k Parkrun!
Set up: Got to the venue with plenty of time to spare and saw lots of familiar looking internet faces so introduced myself. Met the lovely MrsMc and the equally charming HelenAnne, both of whom I recognised from Strava and race photos on Boards. Set up tents etc beside Ed McG, met his team (super bunch, thanks lads for all the help and advice to my crew throughout) and I went over some stuff with my own crew. Saw some of the familiar faces in the world of Irish Ultra running, many of whom I was later to share some interesting chats with. This was starting to look like a lot of fun and I was very comfortable and felt at home! Attended the race briefing and we were off.
Race: I am really bad at remembering what happened when in races so it’s all going to be quite vague and probably mixed up and a bit contradictory I’m afraid.
First 3 hours or so I was feeling good, and I took my fuelling from the crew as planned and was feeling v happy with the pace. It felt so comfortable and definitely felt like my ‘run all day’ pace and I remembered Robbie Britton’s advice to me from a few months back, that for the first few hours, nothing should feel like ‘work’ and it didn’t. Things changed quickly however…
I think it was in about hour 4 that I started telling my crew that I didn’t want to take the Ucan or Nuun as my stomch wasn’t feeling good. They had been warned beforehand, not to listen to my nonsense and to give me everything as prescribed, but I just couldn’t take it. I took the bottle anyway and forced it into me for a few miles, but it was making me feel worse and worse. I started to panic and not to really enjoy the race. Here I was only a few hours into the race I’ve been dreaming about for the last few years, and it was all falling apart as I couldn’t take on my fuelling and it was affecting my pace. Eventually I had to tell the crew that I was going to vomit if I took anymore and that I had to stick to water for a few laps. The crew liaised with my coach on the phone and he revised the nutrition/fuelling strategy and the crew watered down stuff to make it easier on me. It helped in a big way, but I did still have to stop and walk to drink it, especially the Ucan which was still turning my stomach (never had any problems in training). They stopped giving me the protein chocolate Ucan completely, as it was clearly not agreeing with me at all today. It also meant now that I was taking on a big amount of liquid as everything was watered down so much, and I found myself stopping for a quick pee on almost every single lap which was a bit ridiculous. My pace was also slowing even more, probably as I wasn’t getting enough nutrition on board, and it was also very warm, so I had to really stick to crawling pace so the stomach wouldn’t get too upset. So the pattern for the laps when I had to take on my nutrition was the following: - pick up the Ucan bottle - walk for a bit and sip on it -jog an bit -walk a bit and sip - jog a bit, etc etc - drop bottle back to table - sip on water for a few laps - take a bottle of heavily diluted Nuun - jog a bit - walk a bit when consuming - etc etc and back to water again to clear the stomach. So sadly, I wasn’t enjoying the actual experience as much as I should have been, as I was just so focused on managing the stomach problems as best I could. The nausea lasted the whole race but it was just about manageable once I used the above strategy. When I wasn’t taking on any of my fuelling and just water, my stomach was ok and I was able to jog normally.
So my A goal of hitting 120ish miles was gone from very early on. I was leaking so much time now that I knew I couldn’t make up later on, as from what I’ve read, everyone seems to slow as a race of this length progresses, especially inexperienced people like me who tend to slow dramatically which we had allowed for in the pacing plan, but that was gone out the window now as it was a case of doing the best I could under the circumstances. I had another 4 target goals listed prior to the race, but being very honest, I hadn’t really given them a whole lot of thought and didn’t really focus too much on anything only the A goal prior to the race. In hindsight, this was a terrible mistake. In a race of this length, you have to have established very firm c,d,e,f,g goals and be prepared to ‘settle’ and fight for them if the initial strategy doesn’t go to plan. Here I was, maybe 5 or 6 hours into the race and I was frustrated and unhappy (despite all the smiling). It took a huge amount of mental strength to try to turn around my thinking into being happy now to chase the B goal, or to at least fool myself into thinking I’d be happy to achieve my B goal. Then the race turned around for me. It really just took one small word – RELAX. My coach had been on to the team and he sent a message to me about how proud he was of me and how well I was doing, and that I was to enjoy the race and most importantly, I was to relax. I took lots of deep breaths, had a severe talking to myself, relaxed and then I started to enjoy it. There was no way I could have continued with that negative mind-set from so early on. The B goal – 100 miles, was now the 100% focus.
When the sun went down it helped even more as I just find it hard to handle any kind of heat. I still had the nauseous stomach, but I accepted now that I had to walk whilst ingesting my fluids, and I was allowing myself to feel OK about doing that. It helped a lot that even some the pros and experienced folks were walking bits in the night time hours and I didn’t feel so disappointed in myself for having to do that. The body felt good in general and the mind was really good once I knew the B goal was still possible. I had a lovely chats with so many running legends like our own Killerz and Ed McG (who was an amazingly supportive force to me throughout), Eddie Gallen, John O’Regan and many other super people who were all so encouraging and of course FBOT whizzing past us all at lightning speed on so many occasions, and without fail had an uplifting few jovial words for me which gave me a great boost when it was badly needed. As for the Raheny support crews for Killerz and FBOT, they were outstanding in their support for me and I felt like a celebrity with all the cheering I was getting on every single lap as I passed. It really felt like I had a second support crew of my own out there. When things got really hard for me, I made a pact with myself that no matter how bad I felt, I’d make myself smile and wave to them on each lap, and to try to be RUNNING at a decent clip, and it actually immediately made me feel better as the little cheer I got was so worth it. Thanks again guys
Watching dawn break was an wonderful experience and the park was stunning from noon to noon. I never got bored running around in the little one mile loops. I had music ready to go if I wanted it, but I never bothered with it throughout. Boredom just never set in which bodes well for me for the future for these races.
I remember sometime around dawn, looking up into the sky and just laughing out loud to think still had so many hours left to go. I could only laugh and try not to think about what might lie ahead as it was too daunting. The bizarreness of it all… Looking at my Garmin watch hitting, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 miles just seemed very other-worldly. I smiled an awful lot during this race. Not always smiles of happiness, but sometimes maybe smiles of pain, craziness, confusion, senselessness…some kind of coping mechanism.. I don’t know. But it did help. #crazygal
I think it was at about 85 miles that I changed my shoes. I felt a sensation with the nails on the toes of my left foot. Not pain, just a sensation that they were lifting or something – ugh I decided to change into the size 7 stability shoes (normally wear 6.5). I had bought these bigger shoes as a precaution a few weeks before and was delighted I did now, as my feet had probably swollen a lot, so they gave a bit more room for the toenail area. I wore the same pair of socks throughout and unlike some fashionistas (who shall remain nameless), I didn’t change my clothes, except for throwing on a long sleeved top in the night time and a jacket over that when it was raining. I also had to change my shorts once late in the race, as crouching down to pee after running 80 miles or whatever, was just not possible, so you ‘go’ whatever way possible and things happen…. Nothing prepares you for this kind of ‘stuff’- only experience. The portaloos got increasingly more difficult for me to manage as time went on, so I pee’d in the bushes - bloke-style when I had to:) I noticed a lot of the women wearing skorts, and I’m definitely going to investigate this option before the next one, as technically, it makes sense
My legs started to get very stiff and tired about 85-90 miles in and a sore spot developed on my right hamstring, and it was at this point that I feel my inexperience really kicked in. My body just wasn’t well enough prepared to get me any way ‘comfortably’ through those last 15 miles. I never really knew where my hamstring was before:) but it was bothering me a bit now when jogging. I got N on my crew to massage it a bit by hand as the hand roller I brought was too aggressive and my legs were very delicate and unsteady at this point, and I felt I could easily fallen over with the vibrations from the hand-roller. I did actually trip at one point and stubbed my toe on a tiny little step-up on the course, so was very wary of my footing in the latter stages and tried to lift my feet a bit more as the tiredness really kicked in, which wasn’t easy.
The last 8 miles were really a death march and I clearly need a lot more training and experience to deal with these latter stages better. I walked way too much of this portion, which I hate doing when it’s a running race, but I did what I had to do to get through. I was still peeing every lap. In hindsight I was drinking way too much liquid so I need to work on this. I made the cardinal sin at mile 92 I think when I sat down for a rest for the first time in the race. Terrible idea and the biggest lesson of the day learned here. No matter how bad you feel, do not sit down. I was in the horrors for a good while and felt so bad at one point that I didn’t actually care about hitting the 100 anymore. It was my team who got me through those last 8 miles and for that I am ever grateful. N on my team, came into his own at this point. Being the most experienced runner on the team, he pushed me and practically dragged me around the course for those last few miles. I couldn’t have cared less about the 100 mile jacket they all kept talking about as I felt so bad, or so I thought…. They knew that deep down I did care. A lot. I was just being a wuss. When I was running the last lap and had actually hit the 100 miles out on the course, A on Team B, came running up to me bawling crying and I thought something terrible had happened. I said ‘has someone had an accident?’ She was just crying as she was so proud of me. I didn’t get it however. I wished I could have felt way about my achievement, but I just didn’t think it was that big a deal.
Amazingly, I managed this sprint finish from 400m to the end (I could barely walk for the last mile and here I was sprinting??? ) and crossed the line in once piece and very happy. Happy because I was finished ‘running’, not really because of my achievement… I got my 100 mile jacked from Ed, the race director, and he presented me with my medal and everyone was congratulating me and telling me what an amazing achievement it was and this was coming from experienced runners. I just still didn’t get it.
Result: 100.6 miles in 23 hours
Regrets: I stopped running at 23 hours as I had hit my B goal. If I had run/walked/crawled for the last hour I would have jumped up many places in the ranking and actually run a 24 hour race, and not a 23 hour race. This will be a main goal next time – to run for the full 24 hours. I know it’s easy for me to say now I should have kept going. I was in a world of pain at 23 hours, but in hindsight I think a lot of it was in my head. I think that because so many people stopped at 100, I felt I had a right to do so too, but I wish I didn’t now. I was able to walk back to the clubhouse and then to the car, so I was still capable of walking. I should have used that walking time on the actual course to squeeze out a few more miles. Idiot…
Recovery: I got back to Dublin about 2pm and went straight to bed and turned on the match. I was in a lot of pain, mainly with stiffness and tiredness, not injury. I didn’t really sleep butI didn’t/couldn’t move much at all. Trying to get out of the bed to the loo was almost harder to do than run 100 miles. I’d put my feet on the floor and try to get up but I couldn’t – there was no power there. I felt like an invalid for the next 24 hours or more. We ordered pizza that evening, but I only ate a slice. I hadn’t eaten anything really from Saturday morning until Monday morning when I woke up with an uncontrollable appetite and it was cold pizza for breakfast! Yum! I lost about 7lbs in this period and was visibly thinner according to my crew.
For the first few days after the race, my left big toe nail area was very painful. I could only wear flat:eek::( open-toe sandalsfor about 6 days but it’s a lot better now. A few toenails have gone a funny colour so I’m not sure what’ll happen there. My right hamstring is still a bit tender but feels better after a few miles of running. I’d say I’ll be back to where I was pre-race in about 2 weeks, but will be taking it as easy as the body wants until I know I am 100%. I’ll gradually build back up and hopefully between now and Castleisland 12 hour at the end of September, I’ll be able to include some kind of speedwork in my training, to try to inject a little bit of pace into my legs again.
Thanks so much to all of my crew, but especially to JD, who had to put up with an awful lot from me and has given me so much support and encouragement throughout. You played a blinder on the day and I know you wouldn’t have let me sit down that fatal time if you had been there, and I know that if you had still been in control at the end, you would have made me crawl for that last hour!
And more thanks than I can express to my coach for getting me through the last few months, especially the difficult times, and getting me to the start line as fit and healthy as I could possibly be under the circumstances. The fact that someone would put bother investing so much energy and effort into coaching a runner like me speaks volumes about you. No question was ever too stupid, and I imagine I tested you to your limits at times too. And thanks, not just the running advice, but the advice about every single aspect of my training, and for making it all so much fun, and most importantly, making me believe that I could actually achieve something worthwhile. I could go on, but I’ll stop there…
And finally: It was only the day after really, when I was (still) lying in bed not able to move that I started thinking about my achievement. I was getting all these messages about how amazing I was and what an outstanding achievement it was from runners and non-runners alike and messages from people here who I had never been in touch with before, telling me what a great achievement it was for a first 24 hour race. I started thinking about it all properly for the first time and I finally started to appreciate it. It’s not really ‘just’ about running 100 miles on the day. To dedicate yourself 100% towards achieving a goal, and to work through the months and months of hard graft, to never even consider using an excuse not to do a training run, is the real achievement. To get out of bed at 5.30am after maybe 2 nights of not sleeping, just to fit in an hour of running before a full day at work, and then when you’re finished work, to go out and do another hour. To sacrifice alcohol and foods you love and to try to get excited by the stuff you don’t love so much. To try to think up the millionth excuse for not doing social things with friends and families at the weekends even though you’d love to join them sometimes. To sacrifice all of those things to allow you work towards a goal –a goal to really test yourself, and a goal that really pushes you to the limits of what your body can cope with, without breaking, and to arrive at the start line in one (fairly healthy) piece, well, that’s the real achievement. And then of course, to top it off – to actually go out and run 100 miles, which I am now allowing myself to be a little bit proud of. It’s a long long distance to run, whatever way you look at it. But really, I had already won before the race even started
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Wow.. that's even tougher than I was expecting it to be. You really are an inspiration - MASSIVE well done on your Osoamazing achievement, am truly delighted for you on reaching the 100 miles and even more so seeing the level of discomfort you were in. Congratulations again and thanks for taking the time to post a report for us 0
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