Body Postive!

There is a fair bit of irony in the title of this post...but we'll come to that. It's been a fair while since my last blog following Race to the King. I can still look back on that event with a mix of pride and horror at what I achieved. Recovery is something those of us who see exercise as a hobby do pretty poorly,  (I say exercise as I'm sure some wouldn't call what I do running). But I took to heart the need to rest, both my body and mind. 

Ultra running for me is equal part abuse and achievement. I push myself beyond the norm, run myself to empty as that numbing sense of pain helps me feel alive. It's the same symptom as when I would self harm as a child, when I drank far too much as a young adult and when I binge eat. Except ultra running gives me a medal and a sense I've accomplished something. 

This time the crash afterwards wasn't too far, but nonetheless there was a crash. 2021 is a year of collective PTSD. No one quite knows who they are anymore, what they should be doing and when we finally all emerged from our cocoons over the summer the horror by which we were expected to return to everyday life was just a bit too much. Not for everyone, but for a lot of us. Gradually the masks quite literally slipped and we had to face who we had become and what we really wanted. 

I am lucky in that I can build my own life lines now, using the routines I've set up, access to

private therapy and the simply wonderful Frazzled Cafe led by Ruby Wax. A regular session with like minded people where we simply share the weather conditions in our minds. And boy has mine been stormy, foggy and only now and then a hint of sunlight from behind the clouds to give me hope this will, eventually all pass. A lifetime of mental ill health can feel, well, like a lifetime. That ability to pick yourself, dust yourself off and think 'here I go again' is tough, for me and for those around me. But pick myself up I do. As what else is there? I've been to the darkest edges of my soul and survived so this time I won't be beaten. 

But I have to learn to feel, much as I have to learn to run again. And only recently have I learned the two are very much linked. 

Completing RTTK I then stopped running. The occasional racer pacer (a lovely small group where we run/walk 5k together) and not even a parkrun yet since it's return in July. I used some techniques to try and get me active - Maidstone had a fabulous display of Elmer elephants that I tried to find, a camping trip to the New Forest and I tried to run a couple of times and then I committed to Miles for Refugees with a target of 75 miles during September, needless to say I didn't make it. From the end of June to the end of Sept I only managed 7 attempts at 5k and nothing further than that. 

So what possessed me to attempt the virtual London marathon on 3 October I've no idea. I mean I entered it and I had decided I wanted to walk it with Keeley. To give her some company, unlike last year where she walked alone. And to take the pressure off me. By mid Sept I had already decided that my entry to Royal Parks Half this year was a step too far. My rollercoaster of depression and anxiety was sickening. Combined with the ever increasing symptoms of peri-menopause things were very much piling up in my mind. Which meant the pounds have been piling on in my body. 

In August I stopped weight watchers, accepting it just wasn't working and thought "I'll try something new" so signed up for Joe Wicks and the Body Coach app. No strict diet plan, easy to follow exercise. A new regime of constantly resetting because I'd not done any of it....

What perfect marathon preparation! Nearly 2 stone heavier than when I ran RTTK (yep that much in 3 months!) and hardly any running. See what I mean about abuse. 

I was spurred on by memories of the Half MDS and seeing people out in Fuerteventura for the 2021 version, those memories go a long way for me. And I was only walking....until Saturday 2 October when Gaby Roslin presented a very short programme from the Expo and I felt that pang of regret that I could no longer perform like I had. That I had to decide what mattered most to me and that for the good of myself perhaps now was the time to put some effort in. Crazily I decided to try the next day. I asked Keeley if she would mind if I attempted to run/walk. She (of course) said no, as really we'd have only walked together listening to music or audible books. Our route would be the same, out and back along the river so we would still see each other. 

Turns out we didn't see each other a lot on route as Keeley unfortunately slipped and fell at her 10 mile point, injuring her foot and knee so had to pull out and remain as support for others also going up and down the river. But me, well I ran/walked as planned. 2 mins running and 1 minute walking. Up and down that river path. Reaching half way and thinking "wow, you're doing okay here" - passing friends, other runners, random strangers who would cheer us on. And soon I realised I was going a lot stronger and faster than I had imagined. Once I passed 6 miles and the app told me "20 miles to go" - my head said "well, only 20 miles you can do that" and by the time I hit 8 miles the aches in my shins had passed and I was in a groove. 

Now I suspect my app was a bit off piste as it does look like I probably didn't run a full marathon that day but it was the app I was basing my run on as that's where London take the result from and even if I'd added some extra distance I'd have still been a good hour faster than last year. But actually this really wasn't about time. This was about how I felt. I felt amazing. Like actually amazing. I loved running along the river. I bloody loved running. As I went on I felt stronger and it was never in doubt that I would finish. I would see people struggling and I just wasn't, I mean I was tired, I had blisters but I was in my comfort place. Mindless, endless movement. At 14 or 15 miles I yelled at Keeley "I'll be finished within 7 hours, seems I can do this shit" - and actually seems I can. 

I'm not fast, I'm not graceful but this body can achieve amazing things. This body. My body. The one I generally hate. 

So I finished it and then we waited to see others finish. The recovery was rough. Probably one of the most painful I've had since my early marathon running days. But I'd also made a decision that if I did recover I would turn up for Royal Parks the following Sunday. And I did. 

Yesterday (from when I'm writing this) I ran my 8th Royal Parks Half marathon. Another Jeff approach with the same run/walk strategy. Another surprise in that my only training had been a marathon the week before. If anything though this time I felt even better (well other than the pain for the first 5 miles) and completed it in a not too shabby 3:12:14. I didn't feel the same pride as I had doing the London virtual, but I did realise I need to run. I do need to also learn to respect this body I'm in. My knees are not grateful for the additional pounds I'm carrying and a relentless hot flush just after the start made me remember that my age does not make this any easier. 

I'm not naive enough to think this will be easy and to imagine I'll stick to it (the chocolate I've consumed since Sunday is proof to that) but I want to try. Realistic, achievable goals that support who and how I want to be. And I want to run. Without pressure, without goals, just to give my mind that space. As it's in that space I find myself, I find my worth, my belief, my sense of being enough. 

Picture Credit: @sow_ay

It was world mental health day on Sunday, which felt appropriate - I just hope each of us can find whatever it is that helps us realise our value and place on this planet matters, we need each other, we need ourselves. It doesn't have to be perfect, you don't have to be super fast, or even remotely fast. You don't have to have huge goals. Sometimes just getting out of bed will do. But you do have to be true to yourself and find what works for you, no one else...I'll let you know if any of this continues to work for me! 

The End!

I did it. 53.5 miles in 18 hours and 48 minutes. Finishing just before 3am exhausted. Elated. Everything put on the line to reach Winchester. It started at 8am on Saturday morning with a few tears unsure if this was really the right thing to do, facing what I knew would be a tough trial both mentally and physically. Hoping that I could do myself justice. 

As always Threshold events make it easy. Well run, managed safely and great support throughout. Although this year with a few changes it wasn’t quite as it has been and I spent several hours just dying for a cheese sandwich. Even better I had my wife Keeley as extra support. Carefully worked out stops (so we thought) and a boot full of all the goodies I may need and knew they wouldn’t have at pitstops this year (except cheese sandwiches!) 

Race to the King is arguably the easiest of the original threshold series - less hills, shorter than Stones, but the tricky terrain of the South Downs Way means it is still very much a challenge. Lots of chalky flint stones under foot meant that even with my blister powder and taped feet I’m left with a lovely blood blister on the sole of my right foot meaning recovery is still in progress. It’s definitely beautiful. Some stunning scenery and beautiful fields. Sadly no photos of this to share with you (you’ll find out why in a moment) - apparently 2000 people entered one of the 3 events on offer. Straight through like myself. Two day campers and those just doing the one day option. Which meant plenty of company and it’s those moments of snatched conversations with strangers which make ultras so much fun. 

My run/walk technique worked well even around the hills. The longest gap of the day was the 10 miles to the first pitstop which ended up being slightly less as they had had to move the start to Goodwood race course. This pitstop was super busy I grabbed a pack of nuts and didn’t stop. Knowing I’d arranged to see keeley before pitstop 2. But both of us realising we’d accidentally put her next to pitstop 2! The weather was perfect none of the searing heat of the previous weekend. Light drizzle in places. But no torrential rain that had left the ground sodden, slippy and muddy. 

Pitstop 2 was really where things took a turn. Unfortunately I discovered that once again for the big occasion I would have my period to contend with, the joys of peri-menopause, that said my body was put through such strain it never became the issue it could have been. Leaving me as fast as it arrived! After seeing Keeley and having some food I happily texted a few friends to let them know how I was doing. Put my phone back in the pocket of my pack. 30 minutes later I reached for my phone to take a photo of the stunning view that was in front of me to be met with a screen saying “hello what language would you like” - my iphone had completely reset. I was in full on panic mode. No means to contact anyone. No way for Keeley to track me on find my friends. Disaster. The next hour is a blur as I tried to keep going but also fix my phone. Suffice to say I couldn’t get it back to normal so had to get it working as best I could. Thankfully Keeley sent me a text so I could reply (no contacts, no clue of her phone number) explaining what’s happened. I tried to phone but it wouldn’t work! The plan to try and restore from back up at basecamp which was the next stop. After arranging this I turned the phone off and tried to refocus. 

Basecamp was only 23 miles. Bad news for those hoping for a double marathon weekend. Keeley was there. I couldn’t focus on anything but my phone. It’s against the rules to not have a working phone. Never mind my own safety at night. This meant I didn’t even look at the hot food on offer, I didn’t sit. I didn’t do anything other than mess with my bloody phone. Which didn’t work. It meant we agreed Keeley would take it back to our hotel and hope they had wifi which would enable a restore from backup so I had something. She would just come to somewhere on route at some point before darkness to return it to me. But that meant any of our other planned meeting points were now out of the window. I felt pretty upset. The tears and anxiety were there on the edge. But there was nothing to do other than set off for the second part of the race. 

The next few hours were amazing. I just had myself. My focus on one foot in front of the other. The views that I could only commit to memory. My mind when I’m running switches off. It’s the only time I can turn the noise off in my head. Simply working out pacing, when and what I should eat next. How far to the next pitstop. I had time to reflect on why it is that pushing myself to extremes is something i am apparently good at, believing that I can do it. But in daily life I struggle to even get out of bed. The rain came during those hours. My blister started to be noticeable on the downhill sections. But I kept going. I was making great time too. Surprised at my ability to push through. 30 miles came and went. I was also working out where I may see Keeley especially as it was just starting to get dark. Although I had begun to realise I’d be okay and almost wished I could get a message to her saying “I don’t need my phone”. Then after leaving a pitstop with the chap on the bike putting out the glow sticks for us to follow, at the top of a hill in the drizzle there she was! 

My phone was safely restored and working. I had some food and watermelon. We talked about if I should see her again and decided actually she should just return to the hotel and see me at the finish. I expected that to be between 2 and 3am. 

This was my 5th ultra and I’ve now done a few which take me into the night, so I know that it becomes a very different race. After nearly falling flat on my arse and sliding down the entire Old Winchester Hill due to the mud I knew it was going to get slower. You’re tired. Hitting 40 miles at 9.45 felt like I should be finishing before 2am but my blister, the chafing and the growing nausea in my stomach all took it’s toll. For the first time in an ultra I found myself sitting at some of the pitstops. Great advice from my virtual support Whiffers meant I had some soup as my stomach could handle this. I’d also taken a packet of miso soup when I last saw Keeley and this was a godsend at the last pitstop where I felt super sick. The salty warmth giving me a boost to make those final miles. It becomes so tough. Your brain struggles to focus, you’re just longing for the finish. People around you are the same. Lots of conversations with medics about whether they can continue. One lady running with her shoes undone as her feet had swelled so much. I say running. But in the dark you’re walking. I had a trot when I could on the roads. But realised it was energy sapping so stuck to trying to get a good walking pace. But for me that’s ultra running. So shoot me if you don’t like that! 


And then suddenly there’s only 5k to go and 2 miles, 1 mile. The finish line. I achieved all I wanted to. Finishing. Smiling. Faster than RTTT. But spent. Keeley cut me out of my compression sleeves, my feet broken but my spirit not so. One thing I was sure of, which I’d decided during those hours without my phone, was that this was my last ultra that took me into the night. It’s not something I need to do again. Nothing to prove and it’s such a price. Literally running to empty. I’ve withdrawn from the Canterbury Trails in August and should I do an ultra again it will be a straightforward 30 miler or a two day affair. But even those, right now, don’t appeal. 

I am still in recovery. The sick feeling took a few days to pass despite a giant breakfast the next day. My mental strength may take a bit longer but I am proud of what I achieved and it’s helped me reassess Tower and feel proud of that too. This experience definitely reinforced that you can’t always change the beginning but you can write your own ending! 

Where next?

Suddenly its June? Where did that come from? This means I have Race to the King in just two weeks. Things haven't really gone to plan. Yes, I've run more this year already than last year but that wouldn’t be hard. I had hoped to get up to 30 miles but my longest run is just 20. Lots of people tell me I know I can do it. After all I’m not new to ultras or this kind of distance. But my last long distance race was in 2019. I’ve done a virtual marathon. I’ve done a couple of real and virtual halfs. I last ran 26.2 miles over 8 months ago. 

Worse still I’ve lost myself to anxiety and the wild noises in my mind that have crashed through after 3 lockdowns, a literal creation of my own bubble and the lack of desire to see anyone or do anything. The dark grey fog has settled around me and i can glimpse patches of light but I have no understanding of how to reach them. 

Picture credit: @sow_ay 

The races I’m doing this year were meant to be over - I deferred them in 2019 due to my breakdown but 2020 destroyed the opportunity to complete them when I was feeling more in control. Now I’m not the same as 2019 but will the impact of pushing myself beyond what I’m probably physically (and maybe mentally) capable of be worth it? 

I guess I’m going to find out. It’s made me question my future in terms of events. I don’t see me entering much else. I want to reach 10 Royal Parks and then perhaps I’ll just stick to my own steam. Currently I’m back on the trails alone. It’s too complicated to Jeff with others and my self induced bubble feels a safe place. The few times I venture out to run with others I’m crippled with anxiety. I probably need to break this but I don’t quite know how. Trusting in others is bottom of my list right now and my pace is that of a slightly fast walker. Although people say they don’t care about such things - many do. And that’s their right. But my running is not in the space I once held so alone is where I suspect I’ll find myself. 

That said I do wish everyone would stop justifying their times or if they run/walk. I love Jeff Galloway. He’s changed my ability to keep going even through all this. And it’s still running. It’s my running. It may not be your running but that’s okay. We are not all the same person. I’m one of the worst to try and “accept” where i now find myself but the constant comparison on social media or even worse running apps isn’t good for us. My fitness is judged by these apps on times I got in 2015 and 2017. 4 years ago! If only I had the courage to completely delete them but there’s the rub. I don’t. But I still run. My way. 

We’ll see what 2021 brings but I can’t risk fracturing my fragile state completely for the sake of a medal. I’m not afraid of a DNF anymore. I will start. I will try. But I won’t lose it all by betting on black. Just someone remind me of that at 3am on 20 June when I’m still struggling to finish...

Learning to Accept

Second blog of the year, that's already a plus! What a year it has been too. This 3rd Lockdown has been tough, maybe because it's winter, dark and cold. Maybe because we've now been here before and can't be sure is this really the final time we'll need to do this. Whatever it is the world has been feeling it. You can't move for podcasts or articles about how to survive, how to help yourself stay sane, how to all be a little bit kinder. 

We can read the words, we can even advise other people but can we - can I - listen and take it on board? The jury is very much out on that one. I started the year with all good intentions. But we've learned the coronacoaster doesn't work that way. A few days or weeks of consistency should be celebrated, even a few hours of just feeling good. As at any moment it can all come crashing down and you won't even know why. Just because. Just because the world has gone to shit and as humans we aren't that great at dealing with shit on a sustained level. 

My good intentions to be running deserted me in January and Feb. But then Royal Parks Half became a virtual race and I knew that I wanted to still compete, keeping my string of RPH races going and raising some money for Mind. Which meant i needed a plan. So at the end of Feb, after the snow had left us I started to run regularly again. For about 2 weeks. Then I stopped. Then I started. Then....see where I'm going with this? In the end ANY running is okay. 

I thought it would be great to complete Royal Parks in under 3 hours. After all my PB is 1:58 so surely I can run a 3 hour half, well turns out maybe not so much. Also turns out that pressure isn't good for me. I can hear lots of you yelling "NO, we know that!" but you could have told me. I will try and do the best run I can on 11 April, but I've no idea what that will be. I have managed to train. I've done 3 10 milers in the last few weeks, including one the day after my first vaccine which nearly killed me as i had zero energy for a 10 mile run. I think I've got a flat route, as frankly I don't want to run up hills. And I'm just going to enjoy myself. 

Life in general is tough. Did I mention that already? My mental health is struggling and however hard I try and cling to a routine it doesn't stick and I just feel bad. At the moment it's hanging on with your fingertips to what works and just hoping you'll get through. Yesterday I decided to do my 10 miler up on the North Downs, it's beautiful up there but also you can't run those steps and hills. No pressure. Just go there and enjoy. With the wind as it was it blew away the cobwebs and helped me get some perspective. 

I've long known I've got all sorts of disordered eating and body dysmorphia but as I climbed the hills I remembered what this body has given me. What I've achieved. Holding on to an unreal image in my head of what I 'should' be in terms of weight instead of just accepting who I am. Where I am and what I can still do. Things that others would never dream of. I mean my races this year are 53 miles and 100km. Who am I kidding that I'm somehow less than....

At least that's this week. Trying to move to a position of acceptance. Of kindness and less criticism. Of running without pressure. In the now. As who knows with the rollercoaster we're all on when the ride will stop next. 

This is the way

I'd planned to write a post before the end of the old year, particularly as 2020 was a quiet one for me on the blog front. Certainly it wasn't quiet on any other front! But better late than never and why not start the new year with a desire to try and blog a bit more? 

No resolutions. They are too easily broken, too easy to use to make yourself feel bad or a failure. If 2020 taught us anything we should start the new year with a desire to be a little bit kinder to ourselves and others. 

But this is meant to be a running blog - so what of my running? Well just a few short weeks ago at the start of November I was flying. Faster, fitter, feeling great. My fastest time for a 5k in 3 years thanks to my Racer Pacer friends - where we support each other to keep going, getting out for runs when we could as a group of 6 and then in pairs. Mostly jeffing with a 2/1 cycle of running and walking and it paid off. 

But then the second lockdown, the rise in cases meant a rise in workload and I slipped off the track. Still going out though so nothing terrible. But Christmas excess and the ever increasing rise in festive drinking, only matched by the ever increasing size of my belly, was never going to end well. (Oh I did try one of those 28 days without alcohol things, I quit on day 21 - it wasn't for me....as a friend said though 2/3rds is better than nothing!)

I've wanted to try and support James with an incredible distance challenge for ending the year so despite not really feeling it I thought I'd end the year with a run. Notch up another (not)parkrun for Maidstone...(that's probably a whole blog in itself) - so out for a 5k jaunt around the streets where I lived before beginning the New Year festivities. It started off well, but not even 1km in the shin splints started. A sure sign for me of excess and overweight. I struggled on. But before even 2k was texting home to say I  would probably cut it short. Starting to feel very sorry for myself, already the demon voices in my head working out how slow this would be, how out of shape, how unfit, how, how, how....STOP! 

Enough. As the wonderful Christmas present given to me says 'Just trying to be better not the best'. I was out there. I was trying. It wasn't great but it was something. I am something. Don't end 2020 beating myself up, feeling bad, going home grumpy and miserable. That was so 2019. This was my year of recovery. Of realising I could survive anything. Of understanding my mental strength and what mattered and what doesn't matter. Finish the 5k and take the win. 

So I did. I have. This year I've got races planned and I don't expect them to be cancelled. Two ultras in the summer. Something to shoot for. But I do wonder if perhaps in my heart I'm just happy where I am? I want to make sure I can complete them. But I also want to stop always striving for something that just feels out of reach, instead of perhaps just enjoying the journey? Not sure, too early in the year to tell yet. But you will be the first to know - I promise!