Race - AnnaTheApple

May 12, 2015October 28, 2016

Hackney mini-break

I am buzzing. I had such a fantastic weekend full of lovely people, good food and my first (non-marathon) PB since 2013. To say I’m pleased is an understatement!

So the weekend started, as normal, with parkrun at Netley Abbey. For the first time in the year we were on the faster course, which is five laps of a cricket pitch. Fairly boring and repetitive but, crucially, flat. It’s called the “marmite course” as you can imagine.

Annoyingly I couldn’t attempt to blast it as I had the Hackney Half Marathon the next day that I needed to save my legs for. However I did go faster than I should have. I remember looking at my watch and seeing 7.30min/mile and thinking it felt comfortable enough that I could chat to Mark, my running club friend who was running with me, but wondering if I maintain it (and faster) for so many more miles? I started to doubt myself a little bit. It was a good run nonetheless (22:25) though it did start raining at the end.

I had such good intentions of getting all my housework done before leaving for Hackney later that day but time just flew away. I got home, showered, breakfasted, picked up a parcel and packed and saw my parents as they picked up Alfie and suddenly it was only an hour from when I was to be picked up by Mike who was driving Karen, Mark (different to the previous Mark) and me to our hotel in Hackney. I hadn’t done any of my normal jobs! This did plague me a little as I hate leaving the house with chores left to do, knowing I’d need to do them the next day post-race…

I’ve never been to Hackney before so it was all very new and strange to me when we got there. I’ve been to London a few times but obviously London is a big place and there are so many different areas. Hackney is very culturally and ethnically diverse. There were so many shops selling food and bits and bobs I’d never heard of. Our hotel wasn’t in the most affluent area so it was a bit of an eye opener to me (I fully admit I live in a middle class bubble – it’s just how I’ve grown up and I know I am very, very lucky).

Despite our hotel (Ibis Style) being very cheap and not being in the safest area, our rooms were lovely. Karen and I were sharing one, and Mark and Mike shared another. They were James Bond themed which was quite cool.

But what does the top right stencil mean??

It was very clean and modern – though it was a little loud in the evening with a few boy racers and police sirens. And most importantly, it wasn’t too far from the race start in Hackney Marshes.

After checking in and dumping our stuff we decided to head to the nearby Westfield shopping centre for a little mosey about the shops and some food. The last time I was there was in 2013 when I did the National Lottery 5 mile run around the Olympic park and Olympic Stadium (also with Karen funnily enough). It felt surreal being back for another race.

It’s massive. So many shops! And shops that aren’t on normal UK high streets either, like Victoria’s Secret, Forever 21, American Eagle…Karen and I were in heaven. The boys not so much 😉 We also depressed ourselves by looking in Nike. So many beautiful things but so expensive. I did get these shorts in Forever 21 though:

I’m really chuffed with them because I found them online last week and really wanted to buy them but didn’t want to pay P&P for just one pair of £12 shorts. They also have a zip at the back which is so handy as my other shorts don’t. I was tempted to wear them for the race the next day but thought it best not trial a new pair of shorts for the first time during a half marathon.

We then found a brilliant restaurant called Cabana Brasil which just sounded right up my street. I was secretly quite glad we weren’t going for the (in my opinion) boring option of just pizza or pasta but it hurt my soul not to be able to order the full rack of ribs. Especially when I saw someone else enjoying them. Major food envy!

Instead I went for nachos with guacamole to start and then a garlic marinating chicken skewer with sweet potato fries for my main – safe food. Although it was all very tasty, I was a bit disappointed with the size of the main, especially as I had to add in the sweet potato fries. For my monster appetite it wasn’t really enough! I couldn’t help but steal some fries from Karen who has a far more lady-like appetite and was feeling full with the same meal.

We all went for pudding though and honestly it rocked my world. The boys had a delicious looking cheesecake, Karen went for a frozen yogurt with toppings and I had a frozen yogurt sundae (with brownie chunks and chocolate sauce).

Frozen yogurt sundae?! Good lord, it was good.

The boys had a cheeky Starbucks before we left and we got to admire the cool London 2012 Olympics display they’d created.

Different Olympic athletes had signed a cup! It was fascinating to read what they wrote and who they were. Admittedly there were a lot from Team USA…what? Americans liking Starbucks coffee – surely not! Hehe 😉

Then we headed back to the hotel and had a master plan meeting for the next day: what time to get up, breakfast, leave, etc. Then we headed to bed. I wasn’t nervous and fell asleep quite easily surprisingly.

But then the stress began when the alarm went off the next morning at 6.20am. Not my alarm, but Karen’s alarm because my phone had decided to turn off and not turn back on at all. PANIC. I went into Full Anna Melt Down. No phone means no contact with anyone (what if I got lost on my own in Hackney!?), no music during the race and no photos. My phone has been playing up recently with the touch pad going crazy and either not working or just randomly typing so I did a full restore on Friday but now I had no idea what was going on.

Mike came to the rescue with his excellent Googling abilities while my dad (on Karen’s phone) calmed me down. I managed to wolf down some instant porridge and a shot of Beet It with a black coffee through my pathetic drama thankfully. I chose not to have the breakfast that came with our rooms as I wasn’t sure they’d have porridge (they didn’t) so I brought my own.

I strangely enjoy the Beet It shots. I love beetroot so maybe that’s it? The shot is very earthy but also sweet with a hint of lemon they add to make it a bit more palatable.

Karen and I made the executive decision to wear crop tops instead of our Hedge End Running Club vests because it was already warm despite not even being 7.30am and the forecast said it would be hot and sunny later. I was quite nervous about wearing a crop top as I’ve never run in one before and I was worried people would think I thought I was some sort of elite or I thought a lot of myself. I was glad Karen was with me as I’m not sure I’d have had the courage to have worn it without her! But honestly it was the best decision I made – I felt very streamlined and cool (temperature wise!) wearing it while running and was grateful to not have a vest flapping about me.

I applied sun tan lotion all over me as I knew I’d burn or risk overheating (despite wearing next to nothing!) and wore a long-sleeved top and leggings to walk down to the start that I could put in my bag for the bag-drop.

Our walk took us along a pretty canal

The walk was about three miles and it helped calm my nerves and loosen us up.

As we got closer we saw more and more runners and began hearing the music. It was all very exciting!

There were loads of food stalls in the race village and I instantly zoned in on the rib stand! I mean, come on, how mean is this?? I can’t have them before and undoubtedly I wouldn’t fancy them afterwards *sighs*.

The place was buzzing with people stretching, warming-up and milling around. We headed straight to the portable loos as we knew they’d get very busy closer to the start (we got there about 45 minutes before the 9am start). Then we peeled our layers off and headed to the bag drop. It was very well organised so no complaints!

We wrote a message on the Brooks chalk board (“Come on Hedgies #HERC”) and had a standard pre-race photo. I still felt very nervous about wearing pretty much nothing but saw quite a few other ladies wearing similar tops so this helped. As did this…

Very amusing!

Karen and I parted ways with the boys so we could visit the loos once more and then go to our pens. The guys were aiming for 1:45-1:50 and Karen was aiming for sub 1:30 (yep, she is that fast) and I was aiming for anywhere near 1:36 (my PB being 1:36:10).

The loo queues were massive and we wouldn’t have had time to queue as our pen was going off first (I say our pen but really I mean Karen’s pen as it was the 1:15-1:30 but we wanted to start together, though, crucially, not run together for my sake!!) Anyway, we decided to find a bush instead and as we went round the back of the loos we saw a lone portable loo sat on a trailer. No one was near it and on closer inspection it looked perfectly fine. What a find, eh! Though it did slightly rock when you were in there as it was on a trailer – we just made sure not to lock the door in case it fell over or something. Could you imagine?!

And then the race happened 😉 I’ll recap that fully in another post. Stay tuned (or something as equally as cheesy…).

Are you calm or stressed on the morning of a race?

What’s your usual go-to pre-race meal? (Breakfast or dinner!)

Have you seen a lot of London?

May 5, 2015

Southsea parkrun and The Tenth Hole

Why do long weekends go so quickly? This Bank holiday weekend has just flown by. One minute I’m bouncing to my car after work on Friday evening and the next I’m trudging back to work through gale force winds Monday morning. *Sighs* Such is life.

To mix things up a few of us from my running club decided to do a bit of parkrun tourism on Saturday morning instead of going to our usual local parkrun, Netley Abbey. I went with three other running club friends to Southsea parkrun, which is renowned for being super flat and speedy (depending if the wind isn’t too bad). I wanted to test out where my speed was on a flat course as I haven’t really had the chance (Netley has a hill you do three times).

Southsea isn’t far from us at all so it didn’t require too much of an early morning thankfully. I’m actually very lucky to have so many parkruns near us if I fancy going somewhere different (Eastleigh, Southampton, Winchester, Southsea and Netley are all fairly close – though Southampton is quickly becoming a very popular one with almost 800 going each week!).

We convoyed together and soon realised that it was fairly windy and quite cold. My hopes of getting a sub-21 minute parkrun were diminishing by the minute as I watched the seagulls getting battered about by the gales as we sat in the car, waiting until the last second to get out to go to the start.

The course is quite simple: it goes out along the seafront 2.5k and then back on the same route 2.5k. The first half was straight against the wind. I pushed my legs as fast as they would go, barely keeping my super speedy friend, Karen, in my sights. I just kept pushing and pushing, knowing that soon we’d be turning around and things would get a lot easier (in theory). I even tried to wedge myself in with bunches of runners but it didn’t seem to help.

It was quite cool to see all the speedy front runners zooming past the other way as I got closer to the turnaround point and then finally I was heading back. Ah relief! The wind was pushing me along now and I looked down at my watch to see a 6.15min/mile pace! I was gobsmacked – the fastest parkrun mile I think I’ve done is a 6.3Xminute. But it was clear how much the wind was helping when we ran through a slightly sheltered area and suddenly it became very hard again. Don’t get me wrong, even though the wind was helping it was still a tough run back, but it was a lot easier with the wind for definite! I wouldn’t have got that pace without it.

I could see the finish ahead but looked down at my watch and was confused – it was far too early! As I finished I stopped my watch – 2.9miles?? Short by 0.2miles. I looked around and other people finishing and saw they too were looking confused.

My time was 19.22 – which was stupid because in reality it would never be that quick if the course was a proper length. I felt a little bit cheated. I know it sounds silly but if I’d have known I’d have probably carried on running to get to 3.1miles (while somehow grabbing my finisher’s token…). I was on for such a good time! I was also concerned that that supposed PB would go on my parkrun profile. How would I ever be able to beat it!?

Post run: Matt, Karen, Mike and me (L-R)

Thankfully we chatted to some of the parkrun guys and they said that everyone had agreed it was short and they would do some time adjustments later when they inputted the results. This made me feel so much better! But still I was deflated because it still wouldn’t really be a ‘real’ 5k time. Southsea parkrun made a lovely statement on Facebook afterwards so I’m not annoyed at them at all – these things happen, it’s not the Olympics after all. It just means we have unfinished business with Southsea and we will be back!

Very close to the parkrun area there’s a lovely little tea room/cafe called The Tenth Hole where we had planned to refuel. The Tenth Hole do they most amazing cakes and initially we were going to refuel with cake but all decided that at 10am that was probably unwise and no one’s stomachs were quite ready for that onslaught of sugar (yes, even mine!).

Barely containing my excitement

So we chose more time-appropriate things like toast, toasted muffins and (what I had) a veggie breakfast.

A toasted muffin, two fried eggs, a mushroom, black pudding and bubble and squeak

Though I swapped baked beans for black pudding so de-veggifying it! They did get a little snotty about me asking to swap the two items as apparently making amendments to orders would make things far too confusing in the kitchen which slightly baffled me considering you could add extra items to the meal anyway, and they weren’t exactly heaving! Anyway, they did kindly agree in the end with no extra charge.

It was very tasty and I adored the teapot and milk jug! How cute! And then obviously we did what all runners do…check out our stats and generally debrief about the race and our performance. I think everyone felt a little dissatisfied with the short course but in general we were all pleased with how speedy we’d been.

All our watches – mine is the purple Garmin 220

This parkrun has made me keen to test my legs on another 5k so I think I’ll aim for one of the local 5k race series towards the end of May. Normally I’d never bother with a 5k race other than parkruns but it’s awakened a slight hunger in me to see how fast I could go as my marathon training is going so well…Plus it’d be a good speed session!

Obviously I couldn’t leave without taking cake with me. My cake freezer stock (doesn’t everyone have one of those?) is running a little low so I thought this was the ideal opportunity to restock. I didn’t think I’d eat it that day as I was going for afternoon tea the next day with my parents (yes, yes, I know, again) so didn’t want to spoil that.

I went for a slice of carrot cake and a slice of toffee apple cake. But the decision was so hard with things like Mars Bar cheesecake, Oreo brownies and raspberry vanilla sponges on offer!

They are huge wedges (doorstop slabs – the ideal cake slice proportions in my opinion). Honestly I don’t think they’re going to last long in my freezer at all! But I do have that warm fuzzy feeling knowing that they’re there 🙂

So Southsea parkrun, we’ll be back! A great, friendly, inviting event on a super speedy course – just hopefully not so short next time 😉

Do you do enjoy a bit of parkrun tourism?

What would annoy you more: a short course or a long course? I’d rather run further because then at least you can look at what you could achieved at the correct measurement, rather than just wonder.

What’s your idea post-workout meal if you’re out at a cafe/restaurant?

April 29, 2015April 29, 2015

Southampton Half Marathon recap

Originally I had planned to race this and attempt to come somewhere near my half marathon PB, but after speaking to a few people I realised this probably was going to be harder than I wanted it to be as I didn’t realise quite how undulating the course would be.

So I re-planned what I was going to do. Before the Liverpool marathon in June I want a half marathon that I can let myself go a bit on…but I’d quite like to give myself the opportunity to do well (yes, yes cherry picking courses for PB potential purposes I know). I haven’t actually been able to test myself out on any sort of flat course yet as my local parkrun has a hill you do three times and other runs are either intentionally hilly or are my long slower runs.

I heard about the Hackney Half Marathon (two weeks time) and found it was flat and fast so signed myself up. This meant that I could use the Southampton half as a training run, and with running there I could make it up to 18.5 miles. There would be a time gap between the 5.5 mile run there and the start but as my first 18ish miler I was happy.

I had a High5 Energy Bar after my run there to tide me over and some water with nuun in it. I was also able to put some fresh running clothes on too. I met up with some running club friends and we headed over to watch the 10k start. We cheered them on and then headed to the race village. It was lovely and organised and honestly didn’t feel like the first ever event.

You could pick up your finisher’s technical T-shirt before the race but I decided to leave getting mine until after I had finished as the queue was massive (though this did stress me out a little as I was worried they would run out of Smalls – they didn’t thankfully). There were so many of my running club, Hedge End RC, doing this race that I was just surrounded with red, white and blue vests everywhere which was fantastic. The atmosphere was brilliant as well, but it was COLD.

Eventually we all had to reluctantly peel our layers off and head to the bag drop (nice and well organised). I realised in my bag I handily had my poncho that I’d kept from the Paris marathon (last year!) so while everyone else was donning their black bags I had this huge, quite posh green ponch (with a hood!) to wear. And as we walked to the starting pens I saw someone else had the same poncho so I tapped her on her shoulder and said “snap!”. She smiled and replied “yes but mine is last year’s” and I said “yes mine too!” and we chatted about how much we enjoyed that race which was lovely.

After the standard pre-race selfie with the guys I was going to be running with and hopping around trying to keep warm for a bit we were soon off. I was running with a lovely bunch of running club guys, some of whom were after a PB or was their first half. We’d discussed beforehand a range of paces to stay at and we started nice and relaxed.

In fact, I’ve never run so many miles so easily and with so much enjoyment before on a training run. The miles just flew by! We chatted, we joked, we waved and shouted. It was brilliant! We pushed each other and got pushed on by the brilliant spectators (and swarms of our own club mates who weren’t running).

Not the whole gang, but looking quite focused

We pushed each other on when we got to Itchen Bridge, which was a slow long incline up and down and then back over it again. We enjoyed the scenic (sort of?) sights of the Southampton football club. We encouraged each other up the steep Burgess Road hill. We even sung to Matt Le Tissier (old Southampton football player) whom we caught up with. In fact, we got everyone around him singing and he looked quite pleased (though very knackered).

Photo credit: Stephen McPhillips – thank you!

The support from our club was amazing and from the people of Southampton who came out in droves to support us. OK so Southampton isn’t London or the most scenic of places, but it was an interesting course with lots of variation in terms of sights and elevation. A good number of water and gel stops too.

Sadly though the fun times ended somewhat at mile 10 when Mike experienced some horrible cramp in his calves. He had to slow down and stop a few times to try and alleviate the tightness and pain. It’s happened to him quite a few times during races and he doesn’t know how to prevent it or cure it when it occurs. Any ideas or advice would be appreciated! He’s going to try calf shields while running and taking magnesium tablets to see if that helps.

The others carried on but I stayed with him as my time didn’t matter as I was just looking for the miles on my feet. I just wish I could have helped but there was nothing really I could do but try and take his mind off it and encourage him round. He was on for such a good time which was clearly very frustrating to him. But that being said, he still got a good time despite stopping and slowing down (and the course being hilly!) so he shouldn’t be too disappointed at all.

I don’t regret staying with Mike at all as it would have been awful for him to have suffered alone and if anything keeping the pace slower meant my legs felt really good the next day! I wasn’t as tired as I normally am after a long run as well. My official time was 1:54:58.

As we headed to the finish the crazy thought did cross my mind that I felt I could run home but realised that would be tempting fat far too much. Let’s not get carried away! I did feel very good running though and it’s given me a great confidence boost for the marathon. I just need to survive the coming weeks. I have two more 18 milers, but without a break as I realise having an hour and half between the runs wasn’t a good emulation of a marathon experience!

The medal is quite chunky and hefty and the post race goodie bag was a real drawstring bag with crisps and water…and they tried to give me some weird pink protein drink which I managed to duck away from – looked suspect to me 😉

All in all an absolutely fantastic race. The company I ran with was brilliant and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I just wish Mike’s calves had behaved so he could have had a better race, but (perhaps selfishly) it showed me that being sensible during a long run in terms of my pace could mean quicker recover for me afterwards. I even did intervals on Tuesday morning they felt that good!

Have you ever done a race as a training run or part of a training run? It’s brilliant. It’s catered, you get a medal and you’re with loads of other runners.

How do you deal with cramp?

What do you like to see in a race goodie bag? Generally I like food, but decent food not a Mars Bar or some sugar-filled drink.

March 5, 2015

Fitness on holiday (and a US parkrun)

Again, apologies: dragging out the holiday and also taking so long to recap the US parkrun!

In the blogging world of health and fitness I know I’m in good company, but in the real world going to the gym and/or running on holiday is absurd. Why go on holiday and tire yourself out with a workout? You’re there to relax and get away from it all, right?

To an extent I agree, but keeping fit and running is part of who I am and to not do that out of choice for two weeks actually isn’t something I’d want to do. Plus there’s nothing more satisfying than enjoying all that good food knowing you’ve got some good fitness going on too (though I can hardly imagine my workouts made a dent in what I ate in Orlando!)

I must admit, the friends we went to Orlando at first thought we were mental. They literally didn’t understand. Jamie even joked he’d stand by the gym window with a cheeseburger waving at us. I felt embarrassed going to the gym or admitting I went for a run, but Ben told me not to be so stupid. It’s just who I am and that’s that.

It was tough at times though as I had to get up very early to go to the gym because we wanted to have breakfast and then get to the parks when they opened (usually 9am). But it was something I was happy to do (and actually helped with the jet lag).

The Jack La Lanna Gym

The gym in the Orlando hotel, Cabana Beach Bay Resort, was incredible. It was huge and very well equipped. It was literally heaven!

It’s funny because even the walk to the gym was a bit of an effort itself as the hotel is huge – it definitely helped with my step count!

I went to the gym equipped with a routine of what I’d do so I wouldn’t waste precious holiday time floating around like a lost cloud.

The gym in Dallas was a lot smaller! Just six machines, free weights and a mat area. But it got the job done. Plus it also helped that it was on the second floor and our room was the 12th floor. I would walk up the stairs after a workout and would be absolutely totalled by the end.

I ran four times in Orlando and once in Dallas.

Post run selfie back in the Orlando hotel

Orlando was easier because the area around the hotel was very safe and there were long stretches of safe, lit pavements to run along. But it did mean very boringly straight out and back runs.

Obviously the best run was the Orlando parkrun (Clermont Waterfront parkrun).

Stood the wrong way for our “BenAnna” nickname to work…

It was about 30 minutes from our hotel and it started at 7.30am so we left at 6.30am. I assume it starts earlier because of the heat (in fact they start at 7am in summer). Though the temperature was similar to a British spring morning so very pleasant to Ben and me but not to the natives who were shivering in their long leggings 😉 All tourists (in the real sense of the word) signed their names on a board: name, where they came from and their local parkrun location. There were only 55 runners, but the run director I spoke to said in the peak times of summer they can have up to 80, and a lot of international runners like ourselves on holiday. There were clearly lots of regulars as there was banter and a very strong community vibe. The course was explained clearly and we felt extremely welcome and comfortable (while also making friends with some Welsh runners – what a small word, eh?).

The run itself was a sort of out and back and pancake flat. How I wish I had been in good running shape to really blast it…I did give it my all though and it was probably the fastest I’d run in a good few months!

My time was 22:30, third lady – though I definitely felt it (and easy to place well when there are less runners)! I got a horrendous stitch on the last mile though which made breathing difficult. I very rarely get this so it really annoyed me. Ben had a great comeback run too as one of his first parkruns in a while (24:38 – nicely done!). We were graciously invited to the coffee shop afterwards but unfortunately we had to dash back as this was on the Pig Fest day. This was a brilliant parkrun though!

Another great run was in Dallas. We drove out to a beautiful park called White Rock Lake. We decided to aim for an afternoon run as it was just easier, though this did mean I got a bit of a stitch (again) as we had eaten lunch only an hour or so beforehand.

We ran a route alongside the lake and back again (we couldn’t have run the whole way around as it was huge!) and we saw so many other runners, power walkers and dog walkers. It was lovely. The scenery was beautiful and it was just a lovely four mile run. We chatted away and didn’t care about pace.

So there you have it. We kept ourselves relatively fit on holiday but didn’t get stressed about it. I’ve written down some tips below that I found helpful if you were thinking of exercising on holiday, hope they help!

GYM: Check the hotel has the amenities you want before you book, and see if you can find photos of the gym or reviews from websites like Trip Advisor. I knew that the Dallas gym would be small so I came prepared with lots of workout ideas in case they didn’t have the equipment I needed. I also had a quick look at the gym the evening before I went. I was going to go early the next morning and didn’t want to be surprised by what I found.
GYM: Different countries use different weight metrics. I made sure before I went I knew what my current kilogram weights were in pounds ready for America.
GYM: Bring a water bottle. Luckily both gyms had a purified water cooler so I could top my bottle up when I got in there rather than continually buying lots of bottled water.
GYM: Consider doing some hand-washing in your hotel room. I bought some cheap detergent from a supermarket there and took my ‘smalls’ hanger with me and used the other hangers for bigger items. So I didn’t have to pack a different outfit for every run or gym sesh and I didn’t want sweaty stuff hanging about in my suitcase for days on end.

My very handy smalls hanger (stereotypically pink…)

RUNNING: Do some research of the area of your hotel. Can you safely run around it? Are there any parks? Orlando was fine (albeit SO boring – long straight roads) but Dallas was in the centre of the city and it would have been a nightmare with the number of traffic light crossings.
RUNNING: Alternatively, research for nice parks or trail areas to run (best way to see the sights!)
RUNNING: Bring a charger for your Garmin.
RUNNING: Know what time sunset/sunrise is so you’re not out in the dark unseen – or bring reflective gear with you.
And most important: don’t set things in stone. You are after all on holiday and big meals, late nights and upset tummies are likely to happen. If you want to work out and can then great, but if you can’t then don’t beat yourself up about it!

Do you work out on holiday or do you take a complete break?

Have you had any amazing runs in foreign countries?

Do you use hotel gyms?

October 1, 2014October 28, 2016

Berlin Marathon 2014

Thank god that’s over. What a weight off my mind! This will probably be quite a long post, so here’s a quick spoiler: I survived, I absolutely loved it and I got a PB.

I’ll do a recap of the Berlin visit and the expo another time, but today I just want to recap the marathon. Cliff notes of the days leading up: Ben and me arrived on Friday (we got the expo done and dusted that afternoon – best time to do it, no queues whatsoever) and my dad arrived late Friday night. On Saturday I did a 3 mile easy run. I wanted to do this run to reassure my brain that everything felt OK. The run went fine and was lovely through the Tiergarten, a huge beautiful park in Berlin. Everything felt perfect and I saw the elite runner Tsegaye Kebede running with his coach – we exchanged “good mornings”!

For dinner I ate a huge tuna and onion pizza and drank a 750ml bottle of sparkling water. I felt good to go.

Just before going to bed I had an Anna Panic. I noticed by bib for the first time had my wave letter on it.

It was ‘H’. I thought I was ‘E’ or ‘F’. ‘H’ was the last wave (4.15 hours plus runners) and I realised I was put here because at the time of applying I didn’t have a marathon time to prove I was able to be in a faster wave. No disrespect to anyone who was in the ‘H’ wave or is a 4.15+ marathoner, but I realised I wouldn’t be around people who were running similar paces to me and also there would be a lot more people in this wave than the other segregated waves. Though I wasn’t aiming for a super fast time, I didn’t want to be held up by (relatively) slower runners. I wanted to run the pace I’d planned, which was faster than a 4.15 hour finish.

Aside from that panic, I was actually able to get to sleep relatively early. My dad was in a different hotel and breakfast wasn’t included in his, but Ben and me had breakfast included in ours. So we decided that my dad would have my hotel breakfast with Ben downstairs while I got ready and ate the breakfast that I’d brought from home in the hotel room. This way Ben and my dad would have had a good meal and I could do my stressing alone 😉

Annoyingly our coffee machine turned out to not work but luckily we still had a kettle so I could make my porridge and have a cup of tea. Unfortunately there was no milk and what I thought was creamer was actually a cappuccino powder thing (hence why my tea in the photo looks disgusting). I still drank it; I needed the caffeine. I had my porridge and a Beet It bar. This was absolutely perfect. Got my go-go beetroot power and my traditional oats!

Then we headed out to walk to the start. It was quite chilly but not too cold and we were only about 15-20 minute walk away. My dad had given me an old jumper that I could toss before the start so I was fine.

So nervous

Then I had to say goodbye to Ben and my dad and go to my allocated wave. I reluctantly headed off to ‘H’. I had about 30 minutes before the start so I found a portable loo and then decided to see if I could change waves. There were marshals standing guard on the wave entrances and checking people’s bibs before they could go through. I headed to ‘F’ and showed the German lady marshal my bib and she shook her head and pointed down the road. I got my phone and desperately showed her my Paris marathon time and said that I should be in this wave. I literally begged her and she sort of wryly looked at me and then quickly pushed me through with a “don’t let anyone know” look. Thank you German lady! You are amazing!

Unfortunately I realised the error I’d made when there were no loos within the pen and I still had 25 minutes to wait. I knew I’d need the loo one more time but to go to the loo meant leaving the pen and then having to get back in again. What a nightmare. I sat down and resided to the fact that I’d have to find a loo when I had started running.

Five minutes before we started the pen got very busy and people were stripping off layers. Suddenly it was very chaotic and the loo queue I could see on the other side of the barriers had gone and a few people were leaping over the barriers for one last wee and then jumping back in, bypassing the marshals completely. Ah ha! I followed suite quickly – hidden by the crowds. I ran to the nearest loo. Dear lord. I wish I could unsee what I saw. I’m not exaggerating when I say there was an actual lump of poo on the seat. A LUMP OF POO. I had to go and just didn’t have time to swap loos. I did my very best hovering technique and thankfully avoided any poo contamination – could you imagine running 26.2 miles with someone else’s poo on you?! That would be pretty horrific.

I jumped back in the ‘F’ wave and was ready to go. I was very pleased (though traumatised) to have successfully mastered that problem.

Miles 0-10

My plan had been to stick to 8.30min/miles for the first 10 miles with no music or podcasts. I felt brilliant, all was going well (as I guess it should so early on). The temperature was perfect. I was running faster than I had planned but I felt good. Ben and my dad would be waiting at 7km so I had that to look forward to and it was fun just to look around and ‘runner watch’ (people watch, but people who are runners). What were people wearing? Running styles? Nationalities? All very interesting. Lots of people were wearing leggings and jackets which I thought was a bit much – it really wasn’t cold at all.

There were quite a lot of spectators (more than Paris, but that’s not saying much) which was great. There were some very busy sections and people had cowbells, shakers and flags. Pretty much from mile 3 I started looking out for Ben and my dad. This kept me entertained. When I saw them it was for literally a few seconds and I was over the moon (see above picture). It really spurred me on and made me so happy.

I really can’t remember much about the course other than it was exceptionally flat. There were a few occasions you’d go over a bridge and it would incline ever so slightly but that was it. I remember seeing the S-bahn (the German metro) go across a bridge above us and people were waving which was a cool experience. Lots of young children wanting high fives as well. I tried to do as many as I could without veering too much around the road. I tried to stick to the blue line as much as possible but it was quite tricky, especially going round corners as everyone made a bee line for the line. It was a crowded course but it didn’t feel packed because the roads were so wide.

The first water station was a nightmare. I didn’t need water so I ran straight through the middle. But the water was in plastic cups. I mean seriously?! Firstly they are the worst things to drink out of when running and secondly when people dropped them it because a minefield of slippery plastic. Each water station was just chaos. I had my first gel at mile 8.

Miles 11-20

When I got to mile 10 I popped on a podcast. I didn’t think I especially needed it but I knew I had to keep my mind occupied. My plan had been to go to 8.20min/miles for these miles but I still felt good and wanted to have a little bit of buffer time as I knew I was running longer than the course. There were no mile markers to be certain but from the km markers I could work it out. At each 5k we ran over a mat and this, I knew, would send my times to the app to anyone who was following. This helped keep me focused. I also had in my mind that Ben and my dad were racing from the 7km spot to the halfway spot.

Just after halfway I saw them and it was once again a nice boost. After seeing them I had my second gel. I continued to feel very good and was chuffed to hit 14 miles – the furthest I’ve run since Paris in April. Unlike Paris I found the miles 14-20 fly by. I even looked at my watch at on point thinking I’d see 15 miles but saw 16. It was crazy. I felt so good.

It started to get very warm as we were running and the sun was right in my eyes for a lot of the first half. Each water station I would dash into and managed to get two or three sips of water before it flew everywhere out of the cup. Luckily there were stations every 5km as I got thirsty very quickly.

Ben rang me and we had a quick conversation. We’d agreed beforehand that he could ring me if he fancied as I had a microphone on my headphones. We thought it would be cool. I wasn’t out of breath so I was able to talk – I was running at a very comfortable pace. But instead of lifting me I found talking to Ben very hard psychologically. I wanted to be with him and my dad, not on my own with so many miles still ahead. It really didn’t boost me at all and I told Ben I couldn’t talk anymore as it was too hard. He understood, bless him. He did tell me though that he’d see me at mile 20-something and to be prepared for a slight incline just before. I took my last gel at mile 18.

Miles 21-to the end

At mile 20 and put my music on. I felt ready to let myself go a bit. Daft Punk ‘Hard Better Faster’ came on and was amazing. I remember looking at the actual time and seeing it was just after 11.30 and realising I would be finished before 12.30ish. This was a good feeling. I just needed to hang on.

My mind was foggy and confused and I couldn’t remember where Ben and said he’d be so I was looking out all the time for him, worried I’d miss them. Then at 23 miles (I think!) I came to a slight incline and suddenly I knew they’d be there! It felt brilliant again to see them and I knew I’d see them again soon. My quads started hurting – not in an injured way, but in a “Jesus I’ve been running for over 3 hours” kind of way. I tried to keep the pace up but it was unbelievably tough.

I may be smiling but I’m in a world of pain

The last ‘real’ mile was the hardest, as you can imagine. I just couldn’t seem to maintain the pace. The finish felt so far away – I knew I still had the 0.2 miles to go and I knew it wouldn’t be just 0.2 miles at all because of all the veering around the course I’d done.

Then Spotify just randomly stopped! Just when I needed its support, it just stopped. I fiddled about with it and finally got it working again which kind of ruined my flow but I needed that music to really push me.

I got through the Brandenburg Gate and saw the finish line about 200m ahead. It was all pain here. But I made it. My official time: 3:36:26.

I can’t tell you how over the moon I am. 5 minutes-ish better than Paris. Having Ben and my dad support me during the race hugely helped. I would be looking forward to seeing them and then boosted when I did see them. It was amazing.

Finished!

What was not so amazing was wandering around like a lost sheep straight after. I was desperately thirsty and just couldn’t see water anywhere. I got a poncho and kept asking everyone where the water was and then finally finding it a fair walk away from the finish. I received my goodie bag (disappointing for a marathon major) and just stumbled along having no idea how to get out or where I was. The only directions I could see were where to pick your bag up but I didn’t need this, I just needed to get out!

Finally Ben and me were able to speak on the phone (signal was terrible as you can imagine) and we agreed to meet outside the Reichstag building where there were letters for meeting points. I was so confused and tired I had no idea where I was and said I’d meet them by ‘S’. I put my poncho on the floor and sat down and just stared into space exhausted.

Dazed and confused on my poncho picnic spot

About half an hour later I saw Ben and my dad who were exasperated with me as I was sat under ‘V’ not ‘S’ (despite me thinking because I could see ‘S’ that was the same thing…). It was so crowded.

Ben and my dad were exhausted too as they’d had to walk over 13 miles to get around the course – and fairly quickly to make sure they saw me! So we were all dragging our feet trying to find a way out. All the roads were blocked so we ended up walking round in circles before eventually finding a way out. We were very tempted to get a taxi but we resolved to walk the 20 or so minutes back. The most painful walk in the world!

My heros

So there we have it. Done and dusted. A worry off my mind. It was bittersweet as I would have loved Ben to have run it too but sadly he wasn’t able. He said he enjoyed watching, especially as he saw a world record happen and a world marathon major is quite a race to see. But I can’t thank him enough for his support and the amount of effort he put in to get around the course. Truly an amazing husband. And I’m very thankful for my dad being there as well, keeping Ben company and walking miles to get to the different spots. It really helped.

Like I said, the goodie bag was disappointing. There was a Powerbar snack bar, a gel, some leaflets, a rubber wrist band and, the best thing by far, an apple. Actually there was a leaflet explaining the different apple varieties which I thought was cool – obviously knew I would be running the marathon 😉 The medal is quite small – almost like a 10k medal and on the back is a picture of Wilson Kipsang “the world record holder”…which he no longer is. But I won’t complain, I’m just happy to have completed it and done so well despite my poor training. Thank you for bearing with me and supporting me!

*Huge sigh of relief*