Mission accomplished

At approximately 11.55am on Sunday 11^th October I finished my first half-marathon!

Looking back at it three days on, I think I enjoyed it although at the time it was agony…

The alarm went off early on Sunday morning, a bowl of porridge later and we were on our way to the station with me moaning that I didn’t want to do this and saying I wished I could go back to bed. Fortunately we bumped into another Orpington Road Runner at the station and talking to them on the train distracted me from my moaning! We arrived at Charing Cross in good time and headed off to the start area of the Royal Parks Half Marathon in Hyde Park. The Mall was deserted having already been closed off for the race, but as we got closer to the start area the crowds increased.

Once in the start area the queuing began – queuing for the toilets, then the baggage and then the toilets again, in fact we spent so much time queuing that we only just got into our start area before the race start time. We needn’t have worried too much though as once the start gun had gone we were another 10 minutes walking to the actual start line before we started running. Then imagine my surprise as I went across the line and the announcer says ‘and we have Zoe running for Cancer Research’… ‘Ooh, that’s me!’ I muttered to which the announcer confirmed ‘yes, that’s you!’ How embarrassing!!

The first couple of miles weren’t too bad as the route took us out of Hyde Park, past Buckingham Palace, down Bird Cage Walk, past Parliament Square and onto the Embankment and Mr W confirmed that we were going at a good pace. After a loop along the Embankment we turned back towards Trafalgar Square, along the Mall and after about 5.5 miles we re-entered Hyde Park. Here there were loads of crowds cheering everyone on and I felt quite overwhelmed by it all, especially as lots of people were calling out my name that was written on my blue Cancer Research top – yes, I was continually confused by all of these people knowing my name and kept turning round expecting to see someone I knew!

We reached the half-way point in about 1h 4min, but then it started to get hard as we weaved our way around Hyde Park and my legs, lower back, feet all started to hurt at various points. I wanted to walk but knew that if I did that I’d never start running again so I kept thinking to myself I’ll have a walk break after so many miles and then when I got there I’d think well I’ve run this far it would be silly to start walking now. Mr W stuck with me the whole time and eventually we made it to the finish straight – it wasn’t exactly a sprint finish but we did cross the line together in 2h 15min 43s!

Very pleased to have done it and to have raised so much money for Cancer Research UK (over £1000 to-date – thanks to all your support) but not sure whether I’d do it again…. although I do wonder whether with more training my legs might not have hurt so much in the second half…..

What have I let myself in for?

You know those times when you think 'why, oh why, did I agree to do that?' and 'it seemed such a good idea at that time', well I am currently having one of those moments BIG TIME! It is now less than a week, 4 days 20 hours to be more precise, until I attempt my first half marathon and I am starting to panic...

Mr W keeps reminding me of all the miles of training I have put in and whilst my rational self can see his point, my irrational panicking self can't help but focus on my lack of training in the last few weeks whilst I've been recovering from not being on my thyroxine tablets. I did 2 short runs last week and then a longer 7 mile run on Sunday but still I am not satisfied and am wondering how I am going to manage almost double that in just a few short days. And should I worry about getting out for a couple of runs this week or should I just listen to my rather weary body and focus on getting plenty of sleep instead?

So many worries and no definitive answers... the only thing I do know is that I will be there on that start line on Sunday and can feel proud that to date I have raised over £850 for Cancer Research UK. Thanks to everyone who's helped me to do that!

Chislehurst Chase

After last Sunday's first foray back into running I managed another 4 mile run on Thursday evening. It was a beautiful evening and I got home from work early enough such that I was able to do half the run out in the countryside. In fact my intention was only to do a short trip into the fields and then home but I felt so good plodding along that I extended my route and took the long way home around the roads. A very positive run! I also went to a Bodybalance class on Saturday.

However this probably wasn't sufficient training for yesterday's Chislehurst Chase - a new 10k race around Scadbury Park and Chislehurst Common. The organisation was somewhat chaotic but they eventually managed to clear the road for the start and we headed off along the road for a short distance before turning off into the woods. The course was basically 2 laps around the nature reserve and although there seemed to be some downhill sections in the first half of the lap the second half seemed to be all uphill and it was tough! After starting out with a good pace I got slower and slower and tried to encourage Mr W, who was running with me, to go on ahead and finish on his own so that I could plod round at my own slow pace. To his credit he didn't leave me and kept up his boot camp instructor style of encouragement for the majority of the course, whilst I moaned and groaned about feeling sick, dizzy and having achy legs.

Eventually we finished the second lap of the nature reserve and were sent off on a short doubling-back section before the finish, at which point I realised that as well as being a hilly course this 10k was actually going to be more like 10.5k. Plus this last section was on the flat so there was no excuse for a sneaky walk up the hill to rest my weary legs...

Finally finished in a rather disappointing 1h 9min - a slower average pace than the Dry Hill 10 - and was left feeling slightly panicked about how I am going to manage to run twice the distance in two weeks time... eek!

Tentative steps

After much moaning to my doc about how I couldn't possibly miss 3 weeks of my half-marathon training he agreed to give me some different tablets for a couple of weeks that would get into my system quicker and subsequently allow me to start running again quicker - hurrah!

I started the tablets last Saturday and so eight days later on Sunday I felt ready to take my first tentative steps around the pavements of Orpington. My energy levels didn't feel too bad but my muscles were still not great and started complaining after 5-10 minutes. In the end I only managed a rather disappointing 1.5 miles at a very slow pace.

Better than nothing I suppose but it did leave me wondering how I am going to build up to 10k for the Chislehurst Chase this coming Sunday - planning some more short runs this week so hopefully my muscles will start to loosen up.

The Ban

I feel frustrated! Just when training has been going well I have been forbidden to run - the doctor said for at least 2-3 weeks, I have agreed to rest for a week and then see how I feel.

I struggled around the Dry Hill 10 on Sunday - my calves were agonisingly tight for the first 3.5 miles until Mr W persuaded me to stop and give them a good stretch. This helped things and with much cajoling from Mr W (reminiscent of our early running days around Wimbledon Common) I finally made it round the course in a respectable time of just over 1h 40min. I even managed a sprint finish! But I didn't exactly enjoy it and was exhausted afterwards.

The problem is that I haven't been taking my thyroxine tablets for the last month in preparation for having a scan this week to review the progress of my thyroid cancer treatment. I knew a side-effect of not taking the tablets is tiredness but I thought I could beat that by keeping up the exercise. Unfortunately nobody told me that another side-effect is stiff muscles and that running in that situation is a definite no-no - the doctor nearly had a cardiac when I mentioned the 10-mile race! So I am being good and not running this week, whilst trying not to panic about missed training schedules, but am hoping to be able to get running again as soon after my scan as possible.

I promise not to let all you kind people who've sponsored me so far down though and will be on that start line on 11 October whatever! On a positive note, fundraising is going well - thanks to your help I have reached my initial target of £500 for Cancer Research and so have decided to increase it to £750. If you want to help me achieve this, here's a reminder of the link: http://www.runningsponsorme.org/zoecakes
Their work really matters.

Is this the end of summer?

It hasn't really been a good week for training this week...

It started off ok on Tuesday when I went out with the running club, but even that was twinged with sadness as it was my last run with the club before Brownies term starts again next week and even sadder the daylight is fading so rapidly these days that we only managed a brief skirmish along the Shire Lane Bridleway and up across the field to Farnborough Church before we were resigned to the roads. It wasn't all bad though as we ended up doing about 6.5 miles in around 67 minutes (exact figures not known as my GPS device went mad after the first mile and the only way to get it to stop buzzing at me was to turn it off completely!) and I had a good chat with an old neighbour on the way round.

I then planned to run on Wednesday after work but wimped out due to the rain, so decided to run the following morning but in the end was too tired to get out of bed when the alarm went off. So as a very poor compromise I went and pounded the treadmill last night for 20 mimutes or so before going to Bodybalance. Not perfect but better than nothing I guess....

May go out for a quick jog this evening but will see how tired I feel as don't want to over-do it before helping out at a Brownie event all afternoon tomorrow and then we've got the Dry Hill 10 race on Sunday, although if the current autumnal weather continues it may be more like the Mud Hill 10!

Oh! I do like to be beside the seaside...

What better idea for an August Bank Holiday weekend, than to visit the seaside along with the scores of other urbanites looking for a bit of fun in the sand? Fortunately for Mr W and myself, my parents live in Weymouth and once we've battled our way through the jams on the "car park" that is the M25 on a Friday night, we have a very comfortable place in which to stay (try reading my other blog 'The Cake Shop' for evidence of the wondrous array of cakes on offer during this latest visit).

Anyhow, I digress and am forgetting that this blog is supposed to be about my half-marathon training, which is how on a rather overcast Bank Holiday Sunday morning Mr W and I came to be running around the back streets of Weymouth secretly patting ourselves on the backs at our intelligence for doing the boring part of our weekly long run first and saving the best bit along the seafront for the return portion. Unfortunately, in this haze of smugness, we failed to notice that actually it was quite windy as well as overcast, such that when we turned the corner and ascended onto the sea wall we were hit straight on by a barrage of wind. Suddenly we didn't feel quite so clever. We battled on into the wind taking cover where possible from the hoards of holidaymakers out for a seafront stroll. Mr W suggested running on the pebbly beach for extra resistance but I opted out of that deciding that I was getting enough resistance from the wind. We did venture onto the beach once we got to the more sheltered sandy end and imagined for a while that the sun was shining before we headed home. A good run all in, in a reasonable time considering the conditions (8.7 miles in 1h 26min) and hopefully good preparation for this coming weekend's challenge, the 'Dry Hill 10' at Lingfield.

Running in a new world

We went to Norfolk last weekend, did a bit of walking, some seal watching, lots of geocaching, too much eating and running in accordance with my half-marathon schedule (which unfortunately didn't counter-balance the eating thing!).

Arrived at our hotel Friday evening and not knowing the area were pondering where to go for a run. I loosely suggested to Mr W that there was a geocache local to the hotel that maybe we could try and find whilst out, then before I knew it he'd taken charge of the GPS and plotted out a whole route for us to do incorporating 4 caches.... Ok, so we only actually found 2 of them - one was in too busy an area and appeared to be in someone's garden and the other one was a rather complicated puzzle - but it certainly added some spice to the first couple of miles of our run and then we settled down and did the last couple without any stops. A good evening's work!

The next day for a run was Sunday and so after a day out and about we returned to our hotel somewhat lacking in enthusiasm for an 8/9 mile run. Mr W didn't seem to keen on incorporating geocaches so we just headed off towards a park the hotel staff had told us about armed with the Garmin for navigation purposes. Didn't find the park but after a while we did make it to the large campus and grounds of the University of East Anglia and then the lure of the little green boxes flashing on the map screen became too much and we made a short diversion to hunt for a geocache! 3 caches, a couple of aborted searches and lots of stings and scratches later we decided it was time to head back to the hotel. 'Let's take the road' said Mr W so we can see on the map where we are. 'No' I said 'I'm sure there must be a way back through the woods - that will be much nicer'. I really must learn to listen to Mr W more as we then spent half an hour or so running up and down paths in the woods before ending back at the point where we first considered the road option! We'd done almost 6 miles, the light was starting to fade and then Mr W announced that it was still another 3 miles back to the hotel! Eeek! We finally made it back about 8pm after having completed 8.9 miles - quite possibly the longest run I've ever done. So all in all we had a lovely weekend of running in a new location, however as a post-note I would say thank goodness for GPS to guide us!!

Mob rule

Well, it's been a while since I wrote anything but fear not I have not been slacking off my running as well, in fact I have been out six times since my last post including one early morning run, twice whilst we were away for the weekend and once in the rain. But more of that later, first the ORR vs. PWR Mob Match contesting the 'Laces' (think 'Ashes' but on a slightly less charred theme) last Tuesday....

It was a warm summer's evening when around 90 runners, wearing an assortment of bright yellow and white shirts depending on affliation, gathered at the Rec in Petts Wood to register before heading into the woods en masse. A quick word about the course and we were off - I hope there were no dog walkers out on the narrow path at that point as they would definitely have been knocked down by the stampeding throng of runners. It didn't take too long for natural order to assert itself though as the fast runners disappeared into the distance and those of us at the back spread out into a colourful ribbon winding along the woodland paths. A lap and a bit of the woods and then we were directed out onto the roads as the daylight started to fade. For a small town Petts Wood seems to have a lot of long roads, but eventually we made it back to the Rec - the finish line was in sight but then some bright spark announced that actually you needed to do a lap of the field before you could stop! Got there in the end, checked my watch and discovered to my delight that I'd completed the 3.8 mile course in 33.5 minutes. Ok, so in the grand scheme of things I was about 2/3rds the way down the pecking order and nearly 10 minutes slower than the first runners but I was pleased and overall Orpington Road Runners retained the 'Laces'. A good evening's work by all and well deserving of a post-run drink in the pub with our neighbouring running club!

I Conquered the Clash

Well it was a very successful weekend all round - a PB on Saturday and my longest training run to date on Sunday!

We got up early on Saturday morning and headed off to Eltham College for this year's Clash of the Tritons aquathlon. Being quite a slow swimmer and unable to do 500m of front crawl I had an early start time to enable me to go in the nice wide lane they set up at the beginning for those doing breaststroke. The swim went well and I got into a good routine of one length front crawl followed by a 'recovery' length of breaststroke. I also managed to overtake the two other swimmers in my lane which is always a good feeling! Then it was out to the transition area to get my trainers and number belt on for the 5k run. Always difficult to gauge how well you are doing in these things when you're not wearing a watch but my legs felt quite tired and it was quite windy and overcast out - decided half-way round the first lap that I had probably been a bit over-optimistic in grabbing my sunglasses after the swim! Fortunately the marshalls on the course offered great support as I was running round with lots of clapping and cheering, especially the ones just after the bottom of the playing field who were very enthusiastic with their cheers! And so after 20 lengths of the pool and 2 laps of the park, I was finished. But what of my time? Well, the event used chip-timing and very efficiently there was a computer set-up at the end where you could type in your number and get your results immediately and joy of joys, I'd done it in 37 minutes - nearly six minutes faster than last time! :-) Mr W also got a PB and oddly our swim times were identical, although he ran somewhat faster than me. Finished the morning with a post-race sports massage (ouch!) and some yummy cakes.

And so, onto Sunday's sporting efforts.... we were rather late up on Sunday after going to see U2 the night before and so we opted for an early evening run when we were hoping it would be a little cooler. Unfortunately that ploy didn't really pay off but we did have a lovely run from home through Farnborough, past the church, across the fields to Downe, through High Elms and up the horrid steep hill so that we could run down the long footpath along the side of Cudham Lane South, before returning home along the A21 with a short detour along Shire Lane bridleway and past the church again to make up the mileage. Total distance covered was 8.3 miles in just under 90 minutes - the furthest I've run in a long time (probably since the Grim in December 2007, which was as the name implies and took me considerably longer than 90 minutes!)

Haven't run since then but decided I should probably have a rest last night after a race and a long run, plus tonight is the Orpington Road Runners vs. Petts Wood Runners mob match so I wanted to be on fine form for that or at least with enough energy to get round the course without being last!

Countdown to the Clash

Well I have been very virtuous since my last post and have done some sport every day, ok so I only ran on three days, but I do think there is value in cross-training plus I needed to get a swim in in preparation for the Clash of the Tritons aquathlon that we are doing tomorrow.

Anyway, back to the running - had two lovely 4-mile runs with Mr W on Sunday and Monday evenings. The routes were similar through the fields and along the bridleways local to our house, although on Sunday we took the car up to High Elms and did a bit in the woods as well. We also ran through the fields and the woods when we went out with the running club on Tuesday night, although we went a bit further (~6 miles). Felt a bit sad though as we were coming back on Tuesday as the light was starting to fade around 9pm meaning that our days of evening runs in the countryside are rapidly running out for this year. Such a shame as you can't really beat running across the middle of freshly cut field in the evening sun....

I haven't run since Tuesday but I did swim 24 lengths at the pool on Wednesday evening and went to Bodybalance last night. Part of me fancies a run tonight but my sensible side is saying 'don't do it' as we'll be up early tomorrow for the 'Clash'. This is a local aquathlon featuring a 500m pool swim followed by a 5k run. I'm really looking forward to it! We first did it in 2007, then I had to miss last year's event because I was ill , so this is my first opportunity to try and improve my previous time of 43 minutes. I'm hoping it will be possible as I think my swimming has improved over the last two years, even if my running hasn't, but at least since I can't wear my Garmin in the pool I'm not going to find out until the end and so that's one less stress to worry about during the race! I'll let you know how I get on! :-)

One down, nine to go!

Well, it's almost the end of the first week of my training schedule and I'm pretty much on track although I still need to squeeze one more run in before the end of the weekend, trouble is it's quite hot out and I am full of pub lunch...

I started the week well on Monday evening with a four mile run in my shiny new trainers out to Farnborough church, across the fields and back home along the bridlepath, all completed in 40 minutes. Then Tuesday evening was running club, where we did around 6.5 miles in 65 minutes, with several re-grouping stops - did make a slight error though by wearing my old trainers, because I didn't want to get my new ones dirty in case we ended up somewhere muddy, which then proceeded to rub and gave me a blister. :-(

On Wednesday I decided to have a rest from running and went for a swim instead - good preparation for the 'Clash of the Tritons' aquathlon which Mr W and I are doing next Saturday morning. Thursday started off fine but by home time from work it was looking decidedly grey outside and thus I ended up having a very wet and short run with a friend who's just getting back into running, before going to Bodybalance. Have been doing the latest release of this for about a month now and really enjoying it - some of it is quite challenging but the music this time round is great and helps you forget quite how much pain you are in as you stand in Warrior poses for what seems like forever!

No sport though since Thursday as we've been entertaining the family, instead we've been eating lots, enjoying the sunshine and doing a bit of geocaching. Can't put it off much longer though and will have to put on my lycra and head out shortly....

The Charity Bit

As promised I have now set up my fundraising page and the link is as follows: http://www.runningsponsorme.org/zoecakes

Cancer is a horrid disease and affects so many people - according to the stats 1 in 3 people will get cancer at some point in their lives - so if you haven't been affected by it in some way then you should consider yourself very lucky. Having had cancer 3 times I guess I should consider myself 'unlucky' but actually I consider myself 'pretty lucky' really, as I am still here to enter running races, harass my family, friends and passing acquaintances for sponsorship money, bake cakes and enjoy all the other wonderful things that life throws at you!

Cancer Research UK is the world's leading charity dedicated to cancer research. Their groundbreaking work on all aspects of cancer is helping more and more people beat the disease - the overall death rate for cancer has fallen by 10% in the last ten years. I'm hoping to raise £500 by running the Royal Parks Half Marathon, here are some examples of what this money could buy:

£61: 500 petri dishes - sterile dishes that are used to grow cultures of cells for experiments

£125: Enable one of Cancer Research's cancer information nurses to work for one day. These nurses provide a confidential service for anyone with concerns about cancer

£210: 14 lab coats to protect scientists from harmful chemicals, and their experiments from contamination

£300: Enable one of Cancer Research's Senior Research Nurses to treat and monitor a patient on a clinical trial for around two days

£443: 40 digital timers - crucial as experiments often require precise timing

and if I manage to exceed my target, then £528 will buy 20,000 glass slides for studying cells and tumour samples in detail under a microscope.

I will be off out on my first training run tonight, all I ask of you is that you visit my fundraising page....

Thank you for your support!

How it happened

I have been thinking about entering a half-marathon for a while, but for various reasons have never quite got round to it. Then last year all reports on the first Royal Parks Half Marathon were positive and I thought maybe I could do that this year...

Fast forward a few months and I have secured a place for the event on 11th October 2009 through Cancer Research UK, Mr zoecakes has also signed up and agreed to run with me and provide suitable encouragement as I attempt my first half marathon, and now I realise that I have a little over 10 weeks to get in shape and raise my agreed sponsorship total for Cancer Research. So what do I do? I start a blog to talk about it and share my trials and tribulations with my supporters - heaven forbid I should actually do some running!

It's not all panic stations yet though - I have printed out a 10 week training schedule from the Runners World website and since I don't need to start following it until next week there are no guilty feelings yet about missing a training session. I have just survived a 10k race in Deal, although towards the end I did start to wonder how I would be able to run double the distance in just a couple of months. And I am also in the process of setting up a fundraising page, so all in all maybe things will be ok!