Silver linings

So it’s been a week since I embarked on a weekend of slight madness with my friend Rachel. Months ago we had committed to the idea of doing the Southdowns half marathon. We then later committed to the idea of doing the London to Brighton bike ride. Without realising until much later that both fell on the same weekend. I broached the idea of doing both still and Rachel jumped at the idea, our manic weekend was born.

Then four weeks ago disaster hit. I had an accident at work which resulted in me fracturing my knuckle. Bike training was out the window. As was deep water training since getting a wetsuit on was impossible and swimming not recommended for a bit. My triathlon training was on hold. All I could do was run, so that’s what I did. I started pushing up my distance training, by increasing the 15k we train on by me to 27k. We had already ditched doing the parkrun on a Saturday morning in favour of hill training on the Northdowns. One Saturday Rachel and I started out on the Pilgrims way for a change. We planned to do a 10k, just 5 out and back. The route was fairly flat so as we reached five I asked Rachel if she wanted to keep going. Might as well make it 20 she said, infact might aswell make it a half! Well we’ve got time I replied. So we did. I can never say enough times how impressed I am with Rachels progress and determination. She’s gone from struggling to make it through 10k to smashing out half marathons in just over a year. She’s determined to do a marathon by the end of the year and has even said she might join me for an ultra next year. She is the epitome of pushing your limits, and she inspires me every time we compete together.

So I had running in the bag. But cycling was looking bleak. I had talked to my physio about what I should and shouldn’t do, and cycling was a no no. He was mostly concerned that the vibrations would effect the fracture healing properly. He also knew that I rarely listen to him! With the weekend looming I was in two minds about the cycle. I had already given up on the Leeds Castle Triathlon, which would’ve been this weekend. There was no way my open water swimming was going to be ready, I had only had one proper session and wanted to be on full form for it. So the idea of giving up on the cycle was not a happy one. I decided to leave making a decision until I had seen the doctor for my check up.

My fingers had been taped together for two weeks to keep me from agrivatting the fracture. It had ment that I could mostly ignore it until I had to change the tape, which was a painful reminder of what I had done. So after two weeks I was back at the hospital. The doctor got me to take the tape off and stretch my hand out. He then moved the fingers about and I wanted to punch him in the face when he moved the fractured one. He told me I needed to get the hand moving, but still take it easy for a few more weeks, and it would be another 4-6 weeks before it was fully healed. I asked the all important question, ‘Will I be ok to swim and cycle?!’ Swimming should be fine, but as cycling is gripping I would just need to see how it went. That was good enough for me. What better way to test it than to cycle 54 miles!

The weekend arrived. Rachel and I had booked a hotel room 20mins from the start line near the Queen Elizabeth Park. Sam was meeting us there. She had camped with the family near the park too. Sam messaged when we were leaving to say she was there and the hills were stressing her out. We told her to man up and that it would be fine, ever the sympathetic friends! Rachel had told us both to just run our own races, no waiting for her. So off we went. I had no expectations of myself, I just wanted to see how I could do. I’ve taken huge inspiration lately from a book called ‘Eat and run’ by a vegan ultra marathon runner called Scott Jurek. So much of what he recalls in the book went through my head that morning. I know the distance isn’t comparable, but he talks alot about your mental state when running, and I found it very true. I had my starting pace and I stuck with it. I didn’t let people overtaking me make an impact, I knew where that would lead. I had decided I would keep it steady for the first half of the run, and if I still felt good pick up the pace for the second. I felt good and strong. I was running the hills at a slow steady pace, and they were nothing like as steep as what we had been training on. I would keep my eyes on the next woman infront until I caught and over took her. I would hear it in people’s breathing as I passed that they were done, they had pushed too hard too soon and were paying the price. I got to the last two miles and stepped it up again. On a very steep hill I walked it quickly remembering the lesson from the beast, and overtook another three women. I kept pushing and eventually the finish was in sight. I dug in for the last burst and sprint finished to try and catch the woman in front. I was just behind her by a second and I had a new personal best of 1:57. I was elated. Sam came in at 2:27 and Rachel at 2:31. They were both awesome and I’m massively proud of how hard they push themselves. Couldn’t ask for better running buddies.

My alarm went off at 4:30am on Sunday. Rachel and her dad were picking me up at half five, our starting time for London was 7. We made it with 20mins to spare, unloaded the bikes and headed in to join the rest of the early morning throng. The place was buzzing. I now understand why people compete every weekend when they can. It’s such a great atmosphere at any event. Like minded people all out to push themselves, to test their resolve, to succeed at maybe something they thought they would never achieve. I admire each and every one of them. Before you start you get given a heart to display on your back with the reason why your doing the race. It’s to raise money for Heart disease so both Rachel and I put our friend Amy down who is a sufferer and Rachel added her boss to hers.

The ride was brilliant. Flawlessly organised from our viewpoint. All the road marshals were amazing. All so friendly and enthusiastic. We didn’t stop at any of the rest stations, determined to just power through. Only stopping once to have our own packed lunches. We stayed together for the whole course, I only had to wait at the top of the hills for Rachel, more because she was on her mountain bike than anything else. She again showed huge determination in getting up every hill including the dreaded Beacon! We rolled into Brighton at 12:20, feeling pumped and very proud of ourselves. Weekend achieved, bring on the next challenge!!