Motivation: Gillian’s View

Gillian

Well I knew I would never be Paula Radcliffe but one can always dream. The creaking knees are giving me some gyp this week and at mile eleven on Sunday Hazel offered, rather churlishly I might add, to stop the run when apparently my face stopped smiling and turned into a grimace. Of all the things I thought I needed to worry about during my marathon attempt I hadn’t factored in my facial expression. Gosh Hazel is a tough training partner sometimes. I wasn’t even moaning. Nobody ever seemed to criticise Paula Radcliffe’s facial expression.

Hazel had promised me at the start of the week that this was the beginning of “the taper” and having looked this up in Runners World, I got the distinct impression after building up the miles over the past year that I was finally going to be able to wind down, put my feet up and eat lots of cake and not feel guilty for once in my life. I was so looking forward to this that I didn’t realise this still meant us clocking up thirty one miles this week. My knees were in shock and decided to revolt by mile eleven on Sunday. If it hadn’t been that I would have to walk the last two miles home, I would have told Hazel were to shove her training plan and taper. To be truthful, looking back, I think I might have reached “the wall” for the first time. Basically, I hadn’t had enough to eat before we set off. It was a strange feeling. I just wanted to lie down. After refuelling at mile ten I suddenly felt much better and was able to end the run in style.
In addition to this, our taper includes Hazel and the running husband deciding to prepare their house for sale this week, two weeks away from our marathon attempt! Consequently we have been charging around like headless chickens between the last three runs making their house look ready for photographs and possible viewings. I bet this was never part of Paula Radcliffe’s training and taper plan either. Onwards and upwards.
Never a dull moment or lack of a challenge in our family and truth be told I wouldn’t have it any other way. So get your act together knees, get on with those exercises and no more grimacing. Guilt free cake and fudge eating can wait until next week.

More physio: Hazel

Hazel

Went to another physio exercise class this week, and my ankle is definitely on the mend. Hurrah. Another run and swim went very well, so I’m optimistic that I can focus on guiding and keeping Gilllian alive from now on. Two more physio sessions left to finish the course, but I am confident.

First official guided run

Hazel

Came back from Wales and I went straight back to the physio for my first exercise class. The physiotherapist didn’t really believe I had been injured so I had to explain that it barely hurts at all while I’m doing exercise but that after the exercise the pain in my ankle is so great I can barely walk. Still, it’s hard to judge based on what might hurt later, so he pushed quite hard and told me I could try a little run this week. Of course, he didn’t take into account that I am hugely out of shape because I’ve just had a baby, so the next day my bum muscles and thighs were practically on fire! I thought I was going to die, but my ankle didn’t hurt so I’m good to go. This was Tuesday and I had agreed with the Physio I would take a gentle fifteen minute jog on Friday. The news was like a red flag to a bull, and the mad blind woman said ‘I’ll come with you!’. No concern for the fact that her back is still woeful and that the GP has now referred her to an NHS physio as well! No thought for the fact that she has ten guests coming to stay on Friday afternoon and has spent three days fitting up the the house like the proverbial headless chicken. Once again, then, with a deadline of 45 minutes to do a fifteen minute run, have a shower and then receive the long awaited important visitors we set off in our running gear. It also just so happened to be 1pm on the hottest day of the year so far, because that was the time that the baby finally went to sleep and we could leave him with his grandfather.

All that said, we managed 15 minutes without a fall and without cardiac arrest or ankle pain! Success! I chose our route specifically to make it easy for Gillian, up a long straight road with wide pavements and few side-streets. It gave us the opportunity to test out some of the theory we have been much discussing over the last few weeks. This brings me on, finally, to the subject of guide-running.

At the moment Gillian’s hope is to do the marathon without a tether. She does have some sight, and she has always jogged without it before. There are only two reasons that it seems necessary to have a guide for the Marathon. First the sheer number of people she will have to run amongst – 32,000 at the last marathon – how on earth would she avoid bumps and collisions with that many runners who don’t know she can’t see them? Second how will she navigate a course she has never run on before without having to slow down to almost a stop?