Marathon Diary
PLANNING
Since a young age I can always remember enjoying the feeling of running. I remember cross country at school where being very competitive I used to get really annoyed when some of the girls would cheat and not run around the last field and there was me running as fast as I could sticking to the exact route desperately trying to catch them up and overtake them again!
I decided to do a marathon for two reasons, firstly I thought I’m doing all this running both on my own and with my clients but have no major goal at the end of it. It’s like running with no destination. It’s so much easier to achieve something, push yourself and stay motivated when you have a goal. Secondly I thought I needed a challenge, to push myself, to do one of those things to do before you die kind of things.
One of my clients was up for it as well; she enjoyed her running but like me fancied a challenge. We decided on the Venice Marathon as somewhere different to go but still affordable to get to and also the date of it gave us just the right amount of time to train.
TRAINING
The 20 weeks training gave me some of the highest highs and lowest lows of my life but it was worth all of it. Having a plan was so important I needed to see where I had to get to and how far I had come each week, without it I would have had no structure. I had to set aside time on a weekend to do my weekly long run, gradually building up the mileage or time each week. I tried to do my run first thing in the morning to get it out the way and also when the streets were quieter. Most weeks were fine I just got into the routine of getting up, having breakfast and then setting off with my ipod for my run. Running is great thinking or head clearing time, it’s mad what goes through your mind, you end up sorting problems out or coming up with some amazing idea. A couple of times though I’d have a really bad run, one morning I got up feeling tired and not in the mood for running as much as I love running I just didn’t want to do it, maybe I had over trained in the week, maybe I hadn’t had enough sleep, I put it off thinking I would feel better by the afternoon but I didn’t. In the end I set off feeling defeated and the whole run was a disaster, my legs felt heavy and my chest tight, I should have just listened to my body and rested or done an easy steady jog. One thing is for sure now I truly believe in the power of positive thinking, that day my head just wasn’t in the right place I kept thinking I couldn’t do it and so it turned out I couldn’t do it. In contrast another weekend I got up to the most awful torrential rain it was cold, windy and very, very wet and showed no signs of stopping. I thought I’m not going to let this stop me, because of the awful conditions it made me even more determined to get my run done because it would have been too easy to say the weather’s bad I’m not going. I set off and within minutes I was absolutely drenched, my trainers were full of water and the rain was dripping off my head into my eyes. As much as it was hard both physically and mentally I just kept thinking if I get through this think how good I will feel when I get home and I’ve done it and done it in these conditions. I did it and in a good time as well! It was such a great feeling and really set me up for the rest of the training. Despite the few horrible sessions I really enjoyed the training, it gave me something to aim for and when I reached my goals it gave me a real sense of achievement.
THE RACE
On the morning of the marathon I woke up to clear blue skies, I was so happy it wasn’t raining although I don’t mind running in the rain as soon as there is the slightest bit of wet on the ground I seem to slip and slide everywhere! There was a bus taking us all to the marathon start, I waited in what seemed like the longest queue in the world trying to get myself in ‘the zone’ and picture myself running through the finish line, it felt such a long, long way away.
Arriving at the start point my biggest concern was getting to the toilet! In fact all my worries had something to do with the toilet! I was worried about drinking too much, or the queues being too long or needing to go at the start line! Lining up at the start I started to feel excited again, I found a bit of space and did a few warm up stretches. It seemed like forever before we set off when the gun finally went it was a mad panic to try and find a space. It was hard to stride out for fear of treading on someone’s heels. I had my ipod with me which linked to my trainers so I knew what pace I was running at and how far I had gone, I felt so good it was really tempting to speed up especially as everyone seemed to start off very fast but I stuck to my pace. The atmosphere was amazing, way better than I could ever have anticipated, every little town or village we ran through was packed out with people shouting and cheering and even live bands playing outside in the street the music really helped me to push on. When someone shouted words of encouragement (in Italian of course!) it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up it, without it I honestly think the race would have been much, much harder. As the race went on I was obviously getting tired but mentally I felt strong I tried to make sure I was taking in my gels and water at the right time and when I needed it. It was very hot so I was even more aware of taking on enough fluids. Everyone in the race was very supportive of one another it made it so mush more enjoyable. With about 5 miles to go I could see Venice itself in the distance. It was a long lonely straight into Venice, there were no crowds and my legs started to feel really heavy and I felt a little sick. I had gone up to just over 21 miles in training so I knew I was going to have to dig deep for the last 5 miles, it was very hard but I was determined, again I kept picturing that finish line. As I came up to the cobbled streets of Venice with about 2 miles to go I felt excited until I saw the next sign which said there were 14 bridges to go, they had laid ramps over the bridge steps and although they were only little bridges they felt like Everest with my heavy legs. I was fighting so hard to stay strong and keep up with my pace I had set myself but my body was starting to give up on me. In my head I was putting in that much effort I was sprinting but in reality my legs were gone. I struggled on determined not to walk and the main thing that kept me going were the people shouting at me not to stop it really was amazing. My eyes started to glaze over and over every little bridge my legs got more and more wobbly and my run looked more ridiculous. With the end in sight a guy I had run past earlier in the race ran alongside me willing me to finish I powered with my arms for the last few metres and just made it over the line before collapsing in a heap on the floor!
I don’t remember much of the next hour but basically I had pushed that hard I passed out and was carried into the medical tent and put on a drip for about an hour. Of course as soon as I had some fluids back in me I was fine. I was just pleased I had done it in my target time of under 3 hours and I knew I had given it absolutely everything!
By Felicity Cole
Contact Felicity at [email protected]
See Felicity’s personal training company Pulse 8 on TBW Lifestyle.
She’s also coming to our Christmas party on Dec 13th so do ask her any fitness questions there.
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