Marathon - AnnaTheApple

December 23, 2015

Christmas and the year ahead

Not long now! Hopefully you’re nice and organised with wrapped presents, cards sent, food bought… (if you are indeed celebrating Christmas, of course). I personally love, love, love Christmas. I’m not religious so I don’t observe Christmas as a religious celebration but I see it as a great time to spend with the family, eat copious amounts of food and just generally get into the good cheer of it all.

Christmas eve (after I’ve finished work, boo!) I’ll be at my parent’s house for the traditional takeaway (Indian for me, obviously ;-)) and then I’ll head home as I plan on doing parkrun in the morning and it’s closer to my flat.

Then, after smashing out a PB at parkrun (hahaha) I’ll be spending Christmas day with my parent’s and granddad at their house and we’ll be having turkey with all the trimmings. I’m beyond excited I can tell you. I’ll be helping my dad cook and then in the afternoon, after presents and food, we’ll all play some board games and probably watch a cheesy film. It’ll be a strange Christmas for me but I’m looking forward to it nonetheless.

I thought I’d have a little time of reflection on my year. Apart from one injury recently, my year of running went amazingly. I PB’ed at 5k, 10k, half marathon and marathon, and I had my longest no-injury streak (<– that was the best part). I trained really well for my first marathon of the year, Liverpool. I was super strict, on the ball and listened to my body. I worked hard at the gym to strength train and I loved that marathon so much and got my Boston Qualifier.

Then I sort of forgot to be as sensible and got greedy. I did two more marathons too close together. That said, I loved the Cheddar Gorge marathon. It was awesome, freeing and just one big adventure as it was off-road and crazy hard terrain. On the other hand, Bournemouth marathon sucked royally but it taught me a lot.

This is a chart of my year that I made a week or so ago from Strava (miles on the y axis):

Next year I have the Boston marathon in April and Chester marathon in the autumn. It is highly tempting to do the Cheddar Gorge marathon again in August but I just don’t know. It doesn’t sell out so I’m playing it by ear. I know it’s very similar to what I did this year which caused me then to get injured but the marathons are a bit more spaced out this time. I think if I did do it I’d need to take proper time off before building the miles back up again for Chester. But anyway, two marathons (all being well) is my plan.

Another race in the plan is the Cakeathon in May (one of my favourite races and my favourite medals). I’m also signed up to the Marathon Talk Run Camp in February (with which I’m also signed up to the New Forest Heartbreak Half). So I’m quite excited about the year ahead. I just need to stay sensible, keep focused and listen to my body.

Aside from running, this year obviously wasn’t that great for me personally. This time last year if you’d have told me I would be living in a flat with Alfie on my own and Ben living in Switzerland I’d have laughed at you. But I’ve grown stronger and more independent because of it. Life doesn’t always go how you think it will and you have to roll with the punches and get out alive. I have no idea what my life will look like this time next year but I’m excited, optimistic and ready for the challenges ahead.

Have a lovely Christmas, and I’ll see you on the other side!

What are your Christmas plans?

What do you hope to achieve in 2016?

What races do you have planned?

November 27, 2015September 17, 2020

Injury update and SimplySupplements Review

Friday! I love Fridays as you know you just have to get through the working day and then you’re freeeeee to enjoy whatever. I like my job but I like weekends more 😉 And happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers. Thanks for clogging up my social media with ridiculously amazing looking food. It was tough scrolling through all of that while I munched on my lettuce and tuna!

Just a quick update on my running and then on to a review. I’m really really hoping my injury is on its way out for good. I’ve run twice more since that grumpy parkrun I did at the weekend. One was three miles on Monday and another three miles on Wednesday.

My usual route around work is a bit of an annoying one as it’s so hilly so the first mile is always feeling amazing as it’s mostly downhill… then the second mile is pretty much a slog uphill. But it’s a nice variation to just a flat run.

On Monday I felt some discomfort and tightness around my knee, but no pain. Then for Wednesday’s run the discomfort was a lot less. Things are looking good! I won’t lie though, the running is hard work. I’ve lost all my endurance and speed. Strangely though I don’t mind. For my Liverpool marathon last year this is how I started and I was able to gradually improve. It’s quite exciting getting faster and running longer as the weeks go on. It’s a far more enjoyable process for me than being top of my game and sharpening the point to hit faster and faster times. That might not sound that believable but genuinely this is how I feel. When you’re at your PB level, hitting those faster and faster times becomes quite painful for me so having a gentle build up like this is a bit more relaxed! Progress is far easier 😉

My plan for now is just to continue running 3-5 miles nice and easily three times a week. Sometime mid-December I’ll start to increase things gradually as I start heading towards marathon training for Boston.

On to the review. This is my third review with SimplySupplements I believe. I like the company and I like their products. I don’t take a vast amount of supplements as I’m big believer in getting valuable nutrients and vitamins from your food.

SimplySupplements sent me Glucosamine 500mg and Chondroitin 400mg:

Glucosamine is naturally found in the body and helps support joints and connective tissues. This natural production can decrease though with age as well as injuries negatively impacting on the body’s cartilage. Chondroitin is also included in this supplement as it’s been found that the combination is more effective when taken together in terms of the body absorbing glucosamine. The glucosamine and chondroitin are high quality marine sourced (and therefore not vegetarian or vegan unfortunately).

You take three tablets a day with food. The capsules are nice and small and easy to take. I will put my hands up and say I don’t have a science background or know the research for whether or not these are effective supplements to take but what I will say is that from speaking to other people (like my mum, who’s a nurse) they agree that glucoasamine is supposed to be good for joints. As a runner this is obviously very important to me! I also have a history of arthritis in my family so I’m also aware that I need to take good care of my joints as I grow older – and as I continue running. It’s actually one of the most popular supplements, other than Omega 3, that is regularly taken as well. Anyway, I’ve been more than happy to take this as I come back from injury!

What supplements do you take regularly?

When do you start marathon training for a spring marathon?

**Full Disclosure: I was sent the supplements for free in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own honest ones.**

November 4, 2015

Running Survey

As I can’t blog about any current running, I can do a running survey instead! This is stolen from Mary’s blog and I love the questions so thought I’d steal it…

Would you rather run along a beach path or on a mountain trail? I’d much prefer a mountain trail. This is probably because I live by the sea at the moment so I’m quite used to running along beach paths. Also I detest running against wind and it can get very windy along the coast. It just feels so demoralising to be putting in so much effort and not getting anywhere fast. You could argue that mountains are, well, hilly but at least you can get to the top and feel like superman/woman. And the views are amazing.

If you could choose the flavour of Gatorade at your next race’s aid stations, what would it be? I’ve never had Gatorade. I’m really not a fan of the sugary sports drinks. I know they work for some people, especially for those who don’t want to take gels, but they make me feel a bit sick and I don’t feel they quench my thirst. I love plain water or nuun/High5 water.

If I gave you a £100 gift card to a running store, what would be the first thing that you would purchase with it? Where do I start?? I could be sensible like Mary and say trainers…but I just love fitness clothes. For running I tend to go with more sensible gear in terms of fabric, technical spec, fit and survival in different weathers.

When it comes to the gym I like to spruce things up a bit with colours and style as I have a bit more freedom as weather doesn’t matter. But back to running, I would probably buy a couple of Nike or Adidas items as they’re such good quality and last forever. Though you wouldn’t get much from the price! Ka-ching!

Do you prefer to follow a training plan or wake up and decide then how far and how fast you want to run? I don’t follow a strict plan per se, but I do plan out the weeks in terms of what I want to achieve. It depends if I have a marathon coming up or a race of course but I will never go out on a run without knowing how far I’m going to go. But if the run goes awfully (niggles, illness, tiredness) I’ll cut it short, I’ll never force myself to finish a set of miles purely for the sake of ticking a box. Though I’m quite neurotic and like to plan ahead. I use a spreadsheet to track things. When it comes to marathons I tend to look at online plans and see where the long runs fall and then do my own thing for the other runs.

Would you rather start your run with the uphill and end on the downhill or start your run with the downhill and end with the uphill? Definitely get the uphill done and dusted first. That way I can run it when I’m fresh and then focus on the rest of the course afterwards without dreading the oncoming hill. That said, I don’t really mind as long as I know where the hill is so at least I’m mentally prepared. For Bournemouth I was well aware of two significant hills (miles 12 & 18) so IN THEORY I could have adjusted my strategy accordingly. Well, we all know how that turned out in reality.

When you can’t run, what type of cross-training do you choose to do? I like Mary’s answer of sulking. I’m getting an A* for that at the moment 😉 But, like I said in my previous post, I’m focused on building strength at the gym. I had previously been following the New Rules of Lifting For Women but I’ve put it on hold at the moment as Stage 2 requires a lot of lunges which I’m avoiding for the moment as I want to give my knee some TLC.

Cardio-wise…*sighs* I suppose spinning and rowing. Boring and purely for the purpose of keeping fit.

What is your preference—> Out and back, point to point or loop runs? Oooh I’m just not sure. I like an out and back because you get to know the course and nothing’s a surprise in the second half of the race. I also like that you can think you’re running back to the finish. But I like loops as well (Cheddar Gorge marathon was great for this, mentally I could segment the two halves). Again, the course is no surprise in the second loop. I’m not a big fan of point to points as it feels like one big trek to the finish. Mentally I find that a lot harder. Hello, Boston 😉

If you could recommend ANY running related item to a new runner, it would be a—> BodyGlide. Chafing is a bitch. It takes two seconds to put on but days of pain if forgotten. It’s small to pack in your pre-race bag and I personally find it lasts a bit longer than good old Vaseline. That said, it’s better than nothing!

Do you ever see any wild animals while out on your runs? I love how random this question is. Not really as I tend to run around residential areas. This is such a boring answer sorry!

Ever gotten lost while out on a run? Surprisingly not as much as I probably should do considering how little of a sense of direction I have. I’ve run in quite a few places that I’ve never run before and just made the route up as I went, but most of the time when I do that I play it safe and do an out and back. It also helps doing that when I have a set distance I want to hit. I hate having to think too much about my route when running which is why, unless I’m running with others, I’ll always do the same routes.

If you could have one meal waiting and ready for you each time you got home from a run for the next 30 days… what would that meal be? As much as I love planning what to have when I’ve finished a race or a long run, the reality is it takes me quite a while before I actually fancy eating anything. I have got better though with protein shakes to make sure I’m not a quivering wreck later in the day. My KFC after Cheddar Gorge marathon was pretty damn tasty but I wouldn’t want that all the time. Dream world it’d be ribs (like I did after the Southampton half marathon that I made into 18 miles), but reality porridge is one of my standards. Then cake.

Capris or shorts… what do you run in most often? Shorts. My lower body doesn’t tend to get that cold when I run. It’s more my hands and arms. I much prefer the freedom of shorts and during a marathon I like to wear compression socks and capris and compression socks aren’t a great combo (weird naked knee syndrome).

At what mile (or how many minutes) into your run does your body start to feel like it is warming up and ready to go? Probably 5 miles in, which is why 5ks royally suck for me. I think my perfect distance is 10 miles (which ironically is my worst race distance so far). I absolutely don’t understand how people can do races less than one mile. We’re all different though and I have a huge amount of respect for short distance runners. My body doesn’t just doesn’t like short speedy stuff.

What do you do with your key when you run? This is terrible but when I’m at the club I used to put it on the wheel of my car…until I realised you could leave it in a locked room. If I run from home I take the key off the keyring and then pop it down my sports bra if I don’t have any pockets.

If you could relive any race that you have done in the past, which one what it be? Like Mary said, I’m not sure I’d want to relive any races. Races are hard and generally if you got a PB it was really hard so I wouldn’t want to go back there. After getting my 10k PB in the summer I swore I’d only run one 10k a year!

If I could re-do a race to improve on it then I would definitely re-do Bournemouth.

Or at least the weeks leading up to it. I don’t want to live in regret but I can’t help feel so bitter about a marathon that was supposed to be run just for fun. As many people have said though, I was pushing it with two marathons so close to each other (and three marathons in less than 6 months) and not really recovering properly between them. I don’t regret doing Cheddar Gorge as I loved it so much…but if I hadn’t have done it and Bournemouth went well? I don’t know if I could choose between them. I do wish now that I hadn’t forced myself to finish Bournemouth. Initially I said I didn’t regret it, but now I realise that one race isn’t worth so much time off for an injury. No medal is that good. But lessons have been learnt.

What has been your biggest motivation lately to get out the door to get your run on? Generally that it will mean I have to rearrange my week’s plan if I miss a run! I’m that anal about these things. If I say I’m going to do something I will do it unless something legitimate stops me. Even if I feel really demotivated about a run I know as soon as I start going I’ll be fine. I’d rather push myself to go then spend the rest of the day annoyed that I didn’t.

When you go for a run, do you leave right from your front door or do you drive somewhere to start? Either I’ll run straight from my office, straight from my front door, or I’ll run from my club or parkrun. Depends what day it is!

When running in daylight—> are sunglasses a must or an annoyance? I have a really good pair of (cheap) sunglasses that just sit really nicely when I run. I hate getting blinded by the sun.

When you get tired, what keeps you from quitting? Fear of failure! If I have a goal in mind I will really push myself to reach it. If I don’t hit it it’s because the goal was unrealistic (I’ve set myself stupid goals many a time!) or something out of my control happened (illness, injury, weather, etc.). I’m a very driven person. Of course I have demons in my head and self-doubt but if the goal is achievable from the training I’ve put it then I will do everything I can to get there. A killer playlist as well is a great motivator for me, or crowds. Something like that can suddenly flick a switch inside me to GO GO GO despite how I might have felt 30 seconds before.

Pick a few questions and answer – I’d love to know your responses!

October 7, 2015

A few reflections – and I’m strangely OK!

So my marathon didn’t go how I wanted it to, obviously. And still a few days later I’m paying the price.

It’s very similar to what I had last year with my IT band – except the other leg. It’s funny because I re-read an old post of the fateful last run before I took time off around Christmas and it was almost identical to what happened in the marathon (so handy having these blog posts to refer to!). That took me around 4-6 weeks to come back to running. My expectations are firmly set. I’d rather think worst case then I can be pleasantly surprised if it’s not that bad.

Am I about to fall into a well of despair and go all dark and shady on you? No. I’m surprisingly OK about the whole thing. Oh yeah it fully sucks, don’t get me wrong. I’d love to be moaning about a few post-marathon aches and debating when my first run will be, instead of limping along pathetically feeling pain walking up and down stairs. But getting upset about it won’t solve anything and I’ve achieved so much this year that it would be almost greedy to want more and more. I’m an injury-prone runner, this is something that is bound to keep happening to me not matter how many squats and deadlifts I do.

I knew I was needing a break from running anyway as I was drawing close to the marathon. Running was feeling harder and I was feeling tired. I think I’ve done a lot recently and this injury has come at the best time (if ever there is a good time to have an injury!). I’d have liked to have voluntarily taken a break, obviously, but hey ho!

That said, I have wondered what exactly what went wrong at the marathon. I have literally had no knee pain at all this year. My IT band hasn’t felt uncomfortable or twingey. My runs before the marathon felt fine. I was more concerned about my shin than anything (which by the way, is absolutely fine!). I’d stopped foam rolling and stretching as religiously as I used to and I know my quads (and probably my IT bands I suppose) were tightish so that might not have helped.

I think the main reason could be the trainers I wore. With the house moving chaos my trainers have gotten all mixed up. The day before the marathon I was debating which to wear. My new ASICS have been great during training but I wondered how they’d fair in a full marathon. I knew (from Strava – very handy) that I wore my Mizunos for the Cheddar Gorge marathon and they felt fine so I thought I’d go for them. Unfortunately I have two pairs of identical Mizunos (whhhhhy don’t I just get rid of old trainers?!) and mistakenly picked up the old ones that I’d retired. It’s funny because I remember looking at them in Bournemouth and realising they were a lot cleaner than the ones that had run Cheddar Gorge…bugger. This is the only thing I can think of. I’m a runner who needs support in their trainers and my old Mizunos are definitely past their best.

I’m seeing my physio Friday (ahh, haven’t seen him in a while!) and I’m expecting him to say no running for at least two weeks, and then reassess. Icing has been my friend (I wish I was talking about the cake variety…).

Monday morning I used my commute well – and my Hello Fresh ice packs! (An idea I got from Mary).

Speaking of icing, I forgot to mention in my recap about how after the marathon a few of us trundled into the see in just our socks. It was freeeeeezing, but it was good fun and fantastic after such a long run (plus walk!). Though a wave did splash against me, causing me to get a wet bum. Nice. I wish I’d gotten a photo but, like I said, my phone was dead.

Anyway, for the moment I’m feeling like a rest is a good idea. This week I’m doing nothing, even the gym (not that I could do anything other than upper body and core right now). Getting good nutrition and a good night sleep each night are my priority.

The latest Marathon Talk podcast with the interview with Dr. Kirk Parsley about the importance of sleep has only further highlighted that the best thing I can do right now is make sure I get a good night sleep to help with the recovery process. Getting up at 5am to hobble round the gym is not going to help!

My only one annoyance is parkrun. I was doing so well to go so consistently and I’m second on the female points table. *Sighs* but I’m not going to risk anything. I’ll volunteer this week and be a bit grumpy 😉

What are your priorities when you’re injured? Nutrition? Sleep? Cross-training?

How much sleep do you get each night?

How much sleep do think is best for you?

October 6, 2015October 28, 2016

Bournemouth marathon

This was my fifth marathon and safe to say my worst. I think I’ve been very lucky so far to have had some truly great marathon experiences. I’ve felt strong, without injury and run past all those poor people at the end who were stopping, stretching and limping. Spoiler alert: I was one of those people at Bournemouth. I suppose my streak of good marathons had to end at some point and having a bad one only makes me want another good one so much more. I finished, thankfully, but it was through a lot of pain and determination.

**All photos are from various friends: Gary Trendel, Louise Larkum Bond, Karen’s family, my dad, Debbie Hampton – I’m very grateful, thank you!**

I got up at 6.30am, got dressed and ready, made my porridge and coffee and hit the road with my dad. We picked up my running club friend, Mike, and headed on our merry way. Parking wasn’t free but not extoritionate and was close to the main race HQ so it was fairly easy-going at the start (there were portable loos and proper loos without majorly long queues). So many people from my club were there, either supporting or running one of the many races Bournemouth Marathon Festival put on (5k, 10k, half, marathon). My previous marathons have all been pretty much on my own, without a lot of people from the club, so it felt lovely to have so many people to chat to, talk about goals with and just mill about with.

I was glad to have my dad there as well. He’s now seen all but one of my marathons and still loves to support.

I had no real time goals for this marathon. I’m happy enough with Liverpool’s PB to leave that be and knew my training hadn’t been as good, so I was vaguely aiming for a 3:45-3:30 time, closer 3:30 if I felt strong at the end. Quite a few of us were aiming for those times so we started together.

My friend Karen was running her first ever marathon and her training hadn’t been ideal due to illnesses and generally being a busy mum, but she was aiming for sub 3:45 for a GFA (she’s a sub 19 5k runner so it wasn’t unrealistic).

We took the start nice and easy and got into a good rhythm. The course is great because you come back on yourself quite a few times which means you can see lots of people lots of times, either in front of you or behind – and it’s a great one for supporters. With a lot of the club doing the marathon it meant a lot of cheers and support. I was feeling comfortable and we chatted away (to the point that one of the marshals on the bike kept laughing at us as we were apparently always talking when he saw us – and a fellow runner also said he wanted to stick with us our conversations were so entertaining!!).

Bournemouth is not a flat marathon. It has gentle long inclines and if there’s a wind it can be quite brutal as it’s along the seafront. However, the gentle breeze was a welcome relief from the hot sun that was beating down.

We were keeping a consistent pace and the miles seemed to fly by. At mile 6 I had a MuleBar gel (salted caramel flavour – I did a review HERE). This flavour absolutely rocked my world. Possibly the best thing I ate all day. It literally tasted like liquid caramel. I would gladly have that as a snack!

But around mile 7 or 8 my left leg (vague knee area) started to twinge ever so slightly. I ignored it because it wasn’t painful, just an awareness. As the miles ticked away though it started to niggle more. I tried not to panic and continued on.

As we got to mile 12 we both started to struggle: Karen with the heat and me with my knee. Around mile 12 there was a steep hill and we both agreed to walk it. My knee had progressed to a definite niggle. I stopped and stretched to see if that helped. My quads had been tight all week, I put it down to that.

I kept smiling for the cameras, waving to supporters, saying thank you to marshals, but the whole time a raging panic and debate was happening in my head. Karen had a quick loo stop and I stopped and stretched again – and got caught on camera by a friend in the club and I thought I’d have a moment of fun…

I tried to stay positive. I ran on, knowing Karen would catch me up as I could foresee more stopping and stretching ahead. I started to wonder how much this marathon meant to me. I could pull out and have a DNF and not make this niggle into a full-blown injury, or I could struggle on and get another marathon ticked off with the knowledge that I had no other big races until next year.

I pushed on. I saw my dad at mile 14 and collected a gel from him (Clif Double Expresso – very nice, but quite thick and sticky; definitely need water with this one). I quickly told him my knee was bad and I was having a tough time. His face fell and he wished me luck. Chatting with Karen helped us both take our minds off our own personal hell. What frustrated me most was that I felt strong and capable, it was simply my leg that was in pain.

At mile 18 we got to the next significant hill and we walked again. We were both rather demoralised. We kept doing the maths to see how badly this would affect Karen’s 3:45 aim (though her maths was significantly better than mine! I was useless).

I imagine this photo is probably before half-way

For the next few miles we were run-walking. I was too far away now to quit – as in, I’d have to walk back anyway so I might as well carry on. A lovely girl randomly called to me hello and said she was a blog reader. I can’t tell you how much that meant to me in my dark marathon moment. She was steaming along nicely and it brightened me up significantly. Thank you, Jenn! 🙂 She did very well I believe.

My pattern became: stop and stretch (which was absolutely pointless, as you can probably tell) and then run to catch Karen up. I suddenly found running at a brisk pace helped my leg and the pain wasn’t so bad. I decided to try running faster to see if that helped. I said to Karen that it was highly likely I’d break and she’d catch me up. Being lovely, she told me to go on. For a brief mile I was suddenly OK. This is going to sound bonkers but I started to sing to myself to keep me going (quietly, though a few people noticed and I said I had to do something to keep me going and they chuckled knowingly). The pain was still there, but less so. I suddenly had a bit of confidence spark inside me.

But then that moment ended (that was mile 22) and I was walking again. Stretching was making things worse. Karen caught me up. I tried to keep with her but it wasn’t happening. I told her to go on (oh how the tables change so quickly in a marathon!) and I started the long walk to the finish.

(Side note: Karen finished in a fantastic time of 3:53ish which is amazing considering her training and her struggles).

Those miles took bloody ages. You forget how far a mile really is when you’re running. I walked with some other injured souls and we lamented at our failed attempts. One guy had attempted to break 3 hours and his hamstring tear had returned it seemed. He said he thought he’d be OK as the bruising had gone down a week ago (!!). Jeeze, there’s always someone worse I suppose! He made a brief comment about how he was despairing not finishing in under 4 hours. I shrugged. At this point, I just wanted to finish it. Timing was now irrelevant.

Despite my dark time the support around me was fantastic. People could see I was in pain and cheered me on gently, in that “it’ll be over soon” kind of way. Marshals checked I was OK and consoled me a bit as I walked past. I couldn’t run any more. The pain was too much. Someone cheered me right up by yelling “come on, Miss Abs!”. Take the compliments when you can!! I sat down briefly on the wall and had a quiet word with myself, willing myself not to cry.

My FlipBelt was amazing by the way. Definitely using that again – no bouncing, held everything in place, no rubbing – two gels and a phone snuggly fit in there nicely. But my phone was dead. I have no idea how as I didn’t use it at all during the marathon! I must have left something on I suppose. Consequently I couldn’t ring my dad. As the time ticked past 3:45, 3:50, 4 hours I knew my dad would be worried. But there was nothing I could do but keep on walking. It’s a long stretch, the last few miles, and you can see the finish area the whole time. I just kept it in my sight and kept on walking, determined to get my medal.

As I got (finally) to mile 26 there became a lot more support and either side of the course people were cheering and lined up.

I felt myself welling up as people saw my pain and cheered me on. I grimly tried to smile at them and felt the tears just keep coming. This only made them cheer me on more. I saw my club ahead, put on a brave face, wiped the tears away and thought “sod this melodrama, just bloody finish”.

I barely registered crossing the line because, to be honest, I still had to keep walking. It wasn’t like I was running to stop. I still had to walk to find my dad. I felt like a fraud. But at the same time, I did it. I finished. Thank god.

The medal is amazing. It’s huge! My official time was 4:11:19, which isn’t bad at all I know. Yes it’s 30-40 minutes slower than I intended but these things happen. When people talk about awful marathons I can be fully part of that club now.

And, what absolutely made my day, was meeting Martin Yelling (again)! I was that annoying fan girl though, gushing “I’m a Marathon Talk listener!”. He did a sort of nervous “yay” but really meaning “please don’t be a stalker”. He was lovely, and can I just say, quite dishy in the flesh.

Anyway despite it being a terrible marathon, I don’t regret it. The race was fantastic, the support amazing, the course…challenging, and the marshals brilliant. My one regret is not being able to enjoy those last few miles and run strong through that fantastic support.

Great goodie bag afterwards. Fantastic technical t-shirt and snacks (and an iron supplement thing).

I think I made the right decision to carry on. Yes I’ve buggered myself now and I’m officially an injured runner again, but I have nothing else to prove or achieve for this year. I know I can rest up and come back strong for Boston (finger’s crossed). I just need to be patient.

Plus, it’s an ideal time to take a break for my own personal health and the busyness of my impending (though still date-less) move.

What’s been your worst ever race?

What would make you DNF at a race? Would you have continued on if you were me?

If you use them, what’s your favourite gel?