On Saturday I gave a talk at the Breast Cancer Care marathon training day. Half of the runners will be taking on a marathon for the first time in April. I stood there, having now done 11 of them, to share what I’ve learned along the way. I tried to tell them that everything will be OK. That I know they’re worried that they’ll fail, that it will hurt and that they won’t make it, but that I know they’ll be ok.
When you line up for the start of your first marathon, stepping over the start line is a step into the unknown. You’ve probably done a long run of 18-20 miles max and you’re worried about what will happen once you go past this point.
The reality is that it’s pretty much the same as the bit before this point – you keep running. You might get slower, more tired and you might walk occasionally, but you keep moving. Long runs in training are as much about preparing your mind as they are your body. With each step up in distance there’s a bit of self doubt that gets cast off and a bit more belief that you might actually be able to do this thing creeps in.
I’ve challenged myself to do lots of things in the past couple of years. I learnt to swim, I did a few triathlons and I spent 16 hours swimming, cycling and running my way 140.6 miles. This was something I hadn’t done before and I was worried about how it would go, but there wasn’t that same sense of stepping into the unknown as there’d been before my first marathon. I’d done the individual components of an iron-distance triathlon, which helped me know what was to come.
On the last day of 2014, I ran a marathon, drank three beers, found everything hysterically funny for about an hour and then went to sleep. The Flitch Way Marathon was my last long run before I attempt to run the longest run I’ve ever done.
I don’t know if my hysteria was down to the beer, exhaustion or the idea that my next race is 45 miles long, 19 miles further than I’d run that morning.
45 miles feels like a very big step into the unknown.
My friend Helen called me on Sunday to say she’s coming to the finish of the Ultra and ask what time I’ll be finishing. The truth is, I have no idea.
I did some crude maths:
Snowdonia Marathon + Dublin Marathon + sandwich stops = 10 hours.
My guesstimated time is luckily under the 11 hour cut-off time. But it’s a big step into the unknown from running for 5 hours. May aim, as always, is to just keep moving forward. Put like that it seems less scary.
Oh Laura, what a challenge you set yourself, but what an inspiration you are to many others. Walk, run, cycle, swim or talking you are just wonderful and we are just so proud of you. Yammas and what date and where xx
Looking forward to cheering you on on Saturday too! Just remember if you keep moving forward you’ll arrive at a great pub.
So I’m week two into my new running journey to 5k. The thought of running for 5 minutes fills me with dread. I’m sure I’ll get there not sure that I’ll ever do a 45 miles but you never know what you can do till you try.
I know exactly how you’re feeling as I felt just the same way before my first (and only so far) Ultra, the High Peak 40 in Sept 14. The furthest I’d ever run (even in training) was 27 miles so the thought of my little legs carrying me another 13 miles, a whole half marathon further, was terrifying. But you’ve got the right attitude, you just keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward.
I had a plan and a mantra; the plan was, walk the hills, jog the flat and run the downhill and the (classic) mantra, “run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up” and they served me well.
In the end I finished in a pretty respectable (I thought) 8hrs 42mins, nicely inside my vague target of 9 hours. I was 9th female finisher out of 24; not too shabby! I am constantly surprised by what my body and mind are capable of and I’m sure you will be too! Good luck, not that I really think you need it, but most of all enjoy it! Really looking forward to reading about it on here soon…
Love this blog post. I am set to run my first half marathon in two days time and have all sorts of doubts (some sensible, most ridiculous) going through my head. Your words were exactly what I needed to read. So thanks.
Good luck with your race Gill.
I’m so happy I read this post. I recently have some friends who are trying to convince me to do a half marathon with them, and I’m very interested. But every time I consider registering I become terrified. What if I don’t finish? What if I physically cannot do it? are questions that often stop me. I have run many 5ks, some 10ks, but my brain seems to hit a wall at 7 miles and I struggle getting past that. It’s always nice to hear other stories…I am determined to do this half marathon!!!
The worst that’s going to happen is that you stop running and walk. Walking isn’t scary and yet we’re terrified of doing things as though it’s the worst thing in the world. Go for it!