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A couple of halves to get me in the…mood?!

I worked and trained hard in order to run my first half marathon (well it was hard for me then)! The King of the Mountain in Mt Wellington, Auckland. The title of the race should have been a clue in itself. My choice in course probably wasn’t the easiest for my first attempt at the distance – it had a bit of everything: road running, off-road running, a small portion of sand running and its fair share of hills. In fact at approximately the 18-19km mark there was a steep hill (the mountain) climb going up about 135m over a couple of hundred metres. At one point I thought that it might have been just as fast to walk (but I didn’t)! Put on top of this the fact that it rained a lot before and a bit during the race, causing the off-road part of the course to turn more into a mud bath. (Set during on 6 July 2008, Winter was well under way). But it was all good fun. I came across the line in 2hrs 01min (I can’t seem to find where I recorded my times), which was pleasing, although it would have been great to get under the two hour barrier! I had never run that far before, the sense

Almost three months later, 5 October, I was competing in my second half marathon, the SBS Hamilton Half Marathon. This was a flatter course and better suited for going a bit faster. I enjoyed the course, intially starting to run with a couple of others (including Nat), but the pace was a little slow for me so off I went. As many of you will know, unless you are being paced, running with someone in a race is extremely difficult. The result was a little more pleasing, taking ten minutes off the King of the Mountain time finishing in 1hr 51mins 58secs. Ten minutes off over three months wasn’t too bad for the second attempt. Once I had finished, I do remember thinking that I have no idea how people can turn around and run the same distance again in order to complete a marathon distance of 42.2km. My legs felt like they could not hold the weight of my body!

The ironic thing was, I was going to be finding out exactly how people could turn around and run another 21.1km after already running 21.1km. I didn’t know it at the time but the next event I was going to do would be my first full marathon.

As with all of my posts, I welcome your comments, questions and feedback. Perhaps you have a story you want to share?!

King of the Mountain – http://www.kingofthemountain.co.nz/
SBS Hamilton Half Marathon – http://www.hamiltonhalfmarathon.org.nz/

Wanting to take time off vs. Having to take time off.

Sometimes we just NEED to rest.

Quite often when we are in the midst of training, especially during those high kilometre weeks, it is very easy to think to yourself ‘It is raining a bit too hard this morning, surely one morning in bed won’t hurt?!’ This is usually down to the fact that we have a choice about whether or not we run or go to the gym. When the choice is there, having a morning off is a nice thought and often and easy way out. Sometimes our bodies tell us that we need rest (and we should listen to them), but other times it comes down to a little bit of laziness!

Once that choice is out of our hands however, it is a completely different story. When we are told (usually by a professional eg. physio or doctor) that we cannot exercise for a certain amount of time due to injury or other reasons, all we can think about is getting out there. What we must remember is that taking this time off is usually down to the fact that we need to heal and getting back into the training too early will often result in having to take more time off – we definately do not want that!

Why am I writing this? Well this is the dilemma that I am currently facing. The amount of time that we spend out in the sun can wreak havoc on our bodies. I am not talking about a bit of sunburn but rather something more serious. I was at the dermatologist last week for one of my regular checks. There were a couple of suspect moles, so I had them removed and they were sent away for testing. I was phoned the next day and told that more of the area surrounding these moles had to be removed and was booked in later that week. While at my appointment, I also had another three removed for testing, just to be on the safe side. Ouch! Luckily these were caught early before they became more serious.

My dermatologist knows how much I enjoy training, whether it be running, cross-training or at the gym – she knows how important it is to me. The result was that I have to take at least two weeks off and not do ANYTHING. (I think that having to tell me to rest was harder for my dermatologist than the actual procedure!) The heaviest thing I am allowed to lift is a remote and definately no mowing the lawns! (don’t want those stitches popping out!). Now normally this would seem like a pretty good deal, but when you are wanting to train, it is a hard fact to deal with. The ‘choice’ of whether or not I could train was taken out of my hands and therefore was out of my control, but sometimes, regardless of how old we are, we just need to do as we are told.

Obviously the procedure that I had done, needed to be done so I can’t really complain, after all part of why I keep fit is to live longer! I guess there is another moral of the story here. I wear sunscreen on every run, even on the cloudy days. If you have something that doesn’t look or feel right, but think it is nothing, don’t ignore it – it pays to get it checked. ‘ And if I can offer you one piece of advice…Wear sunscreen.’

Fortunately the tests came back clear, but it still gives you a bit of a fright! The lawns will still be there waiting to be mowed when I am ready. Unfortunately for me though, as the moles were on my back and the area that needed to be removed was of a reasonable size, (nine stitches in one, eight in the other) my back modelling career is now over. I am just looking forward to getting out there once again to train for my next marathon. Bring it on!

How long is your next marathon? The how-to guide to speaking with non marathon runners.

If you have ever run a marathon, you would probably have had a conversation with a non-runner about the amount of training that you have to do, your special nutrition, why you even do it, or perhaps they will just let you know how crazy they think you are…the list goes on. This usually comes up at dinner parties, social events and even around the water-cooler at work. As soon as you mention that you shouldn’t really have that extra helping of dessert because you are in training for an upcoming race, the non-runner will become fascinated with your running routine. (Let’s be honest, most of us love being quizzed about it!) Contained in this conversation are the usual questions and comments that every marathoner gets asked  but the non-marathoner usually still fails to understand. To demonstrate that, I spent a few minutes creating a video of some of the common ones that I have been asked. Depending on who you are actually speaking with, sometimes it is better to bite your tongue than answer with a sarcastic response! As my Nana says – ‘If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all!’ You may have some questions that you get asked that may annoy you or make you smile. I welcome your comments and thoughts!

Poll: What is your favourite race distance?

How a big night out led to running my first half marathon.

Fuel for a marathon?

If someone had told me three or four years ago that I would have run a half marathon, I would have laughed at them. Had they told me that I would have run a marathon, I would have thought that they were insane! I haven’t been into fitness all my life. In fact up until a few years ago, for me (and my friends at that time) the weekend started on a Wednesday and finished sometime on the Sunday. Going out till the wee small hours was the norm for us. I was very good at smoking and could handle my fair share of alcohol and I lived in the middle of the bar district in the city – life was one big party.
It was during one of these nights out that it all began to change. My friends weren’t that keen on heading out, preferring to have a rather rare ‘night off’. I had other ideas and with more than a bit of gentle persuasion got them to come out. As I proclaimed I ‘just wanted to expand my circle of friends!’

We hadn’t been at the bar long when I thought I spotted someone I knew…a female someone. So like an African tribesman hunting their prey, chasing until they wear them down enough, exhausting them from the hunt until the hunted just gives up. I followed this girl (and not in a stalker, scary kind of way but more of a ‘I am sure I know you’ kind of way). It turned out she thought she knew me too…but I can see through that. What she really meant to say was ‘I want to get to know you!’

That was about five years ago and a lot has happened since then, but I won’t bore you with all the details rather give you a quick synopsis. The African prey’s name was Natalie and we got along pretty well. It wasn’t long before we started living together and shortly after that I had given up smoking. She convinced that trying to go for a run was a ‘good idea’. I had always been envious whenever I would drive past people jogging or running along the side of the road, they always seemed happy. I hadn’t run since I was in school, which would have been about 12 years peviously. I am not sure if you would actually call my first run with Nat, a run as such. I barely made it 200 metres before doubling over in a coughing heap, hoping that no one I knew would drive past. It became very apparent that something needed to change. The result was joining the local gym and a ‘boot camp’ style get fit quick regime. This was a bit of a shock to the system and made me all too aware of how much I had let myself go. There was a lot of running involved and as I got fitter, I started to enjoy it a lot more. A few of us from the gym decided to get together each Saturday to run together. As we were all around the same fitness levels, it was good to suffer in a group. I recall one Saturday we ran 10km – the furthest I had ever run and I couldn’t believe how good it felt. I was over the moon with the fact that I had run 10km. After doing a couple more weeks of training, Nat suggested that we should train for a half marathon. What had I gotten myself into? As The Carpenter’s put it so well – ‘We’ve only just begun.’

It all starts with a few small steps…

This is my first attempt at writing a blog. It has always interested me, however like many people, I was never too sure about what to write but after running for a couple of years now and motivating (or perhaps more accurately – ‘CONVINCING’) people that they too should run a marathon or half marathon – I believe I have indeed found my niche.

As you will learn, I am not a professional runner by any stretch of the imagination. There are many many people that are far more qualified to write about running than what I am, however this blog is more about my experiences with running (and to some degree, life in general) and I feel I am more qualified than anyone to write about that! I look forward to sharing with you and welcome any of your comments.