The Immodium Experiments..... and other Marathon training tales

Well, it's been a long while since I updated this......  I got my London Marathon place back in the Autumn, started training for it, haven't done any events over winter, and my training, whilst going very well and on schedule, would just read like a rather dull and repetetive weather forecast.  I've run in the rain, cold, fog, sleet, snow, hail and even sunshine on occasion, just enjoying plodding the prescribed miles away and ticking them off on the training plan.  So far I've run 639.22 kms (397 miles) in 4271 minutes (71 hours 11 mins) with 9427 mins (157 hours 7 mins) of total training time (yoga, kettlebells, swimming, core work, plyometrics etc.) and I've raised just over £1700 for Great Ormond Street Hospital already!  Last Sunday, with 6 weeks to go to the Marathon, I very reluctantly competed in the "Spen 20" - a very hilly 20 mile race around my neighbourhood.
My previous longest distance was 16.5 miles in 3 hours around Rutland Water the weekend before in the relentless pouring rain, but I didn't know what effect those extra 3.5 miles would have.  I am nothing if not obedient, so I have followed Paul's training plan to the letter, so I knew that I should be OK for 20 miles, but it was a big unknown, and to be honest, I'm not keen on public demonstrations of the effects of "unknown"!  It was a running club event, and my previous experiences of these club runs have put me in the very bottom percentile of the competitors, so I was worried about coming in hours after everyone else as well.  It was also on an isolated countryside course with no "facilities" on route, and I was a bit concerned that I might need "facilities" - without being indelicate, I often do whilst out running.  This has been the case for years, and I've tried everything short of eating superglue to combat it, to absolutely no avail.  So I now just accept it and plan training routes around facilities - I know people in every pub, cafe, McDonalds (hey, they are good for something!) and other public building in West Yorkshire now!  The Marathon will be fine because there are loads of er, opportunities to go, but this race was a problem and I'd wound myself up about it.  I finally started mentioning the problem to other runners to see if anyone had any ideas, and tried a few.  Without going into gruesome detail of all of the things that I have tried, I've finally discovered that 2 Immodiums 1 hour before I run does the trick! I normally don't like taking tablets of any kind, but this "race day only" last resort worked, and I'd finally run out of excuses for not doing the Spen 20! 
Sunday morning saw me quite positive, but very nervous and quiet (yeah it is possible!).  Everyone was being very encouraging, and as we lined up on the start line, the sun was shining so I just thought "what the heck, enjoy it!", so I set off at my normal tortoise-like pace, but with buckets full of my normal steely resolve!  By the time we'd all done a lap of the track and were heading out onto the road I was very near the back, but felt good and settled in to get my breathing and stride right.  The first 3 miles was an uphill drag from Cleckheaton through Scholes, and, by pacing myself, I managed to run it all at the same steady rate, unlike some of my colleagues who were by this point walking and I overtook a few.  That was a boost!  As I came into the village, I saw my friend Myra excitedly jumping up and down and cheering me on whilst handing me a bottle of water, and I finally began to enjoy myself.   We then went right past my sister & brother-in-law's house, and they were outside shouting for me.  This gave me another big lift which carried me to the top of the long hill, hill and down towards Clifton.  This, the "mad mile" is all downhill, and I thoroughly enjoyed it and even speeded up a little.  Out through the pretty village of Clifton took me to about 6 miles, already with an hour behind me, and we began to climb again.  We got nearly to The Grey Ox at Hartshead (v nice food incidentally!) and I had my head down, doing my little hill climb steps when someone started running next to me and I heard "you don't mind, do you?".  I looked up and was amazed to see my good friend Alison running alongside me!  She said she was going to do this 10K loop through Roberttown & Hightown with me, and we started happily running and gossiping, and before I knew it, the next hour had gone and I'd done 12 miles!  She left me then with a big smile and a wave, and I carried on on my own again for the next loop.  I was comfortable and happy, and keeping up the 9km per hour pace that I had started out at, so carried on running with a light heart.  The next loop saw us doing some hideous climbs again, but I got my head down and carried on until the very welcome return to the downhill "mad mile".  Half way down, I saw Myra again, who by this time had managed to drag her Dad out to add support, and she handed me another very welcome bottle of water and more words of kindness and excitement.  So we dragged on up through Clifton again and I got to about 15 miles feeling a bit tired but comfortable.  Imagine my surprise when I saw two other good friends, Carol & Stacey waiting for me at the top of the next hill, and my delight when they started running with me!  They did a very welcome & pretty tough couple of miles with me, and then hurtled off back to their car so that they didn't miss the finish, leaving me with a very happy heart and only three miles to go.  I felt great, absolutely on top of the world having been running now for 3 hours.  I had my last energy gel (one an hour - obedient girl!), and thought about my finishing time for the first time.  3 hours with 3 miles to go meant that I was going to be WAY under the 4 hours that I'd optimistically predicted, and I had bags of energy left, so I decided to step up the pace to 10Km per hour and gave the last 3 miles my all.  Luckilly they were 3 fairly easy miles (gradient-wise), and I found myself running back into to the stadium in no time.  Alex, Sam, Andy, Graham, Carol & David were all excitedly cheering me in, and I was choked with emotion as I managed a little spurt for the final lap of the track and the finish line. 
3:33 was my incredibly respectible finishing time, and do believe that whilst all of my training was responsible for the fact that I finished and was able to run it all, I owe alot of this amazing time and my utter enjoyment of it to Paul and my other friends and family for providing the breathtaking support throughout the race, and for all of the messages of encouragement on my sponsorship page which I had re-read before I set off.
As for the marathon, those last 6.2 miles are still the great unknown, but this has given me great insight into my preperation, stamina, speed, strength and ablilites, and the power of people's kindness and generosity to lift me to new heights.  So sincerely; thanks to all of you; my husband, friends, family & colleagues, YOU ROCK!

Paul and I at the end of the race - Paul had torn both calf muscles and still finished the race strongly. It's not the good days that make the man....... Big respect Sir Paul!