Thursday 30 August 2012

Doctor's orders......

Well......it finally got to the stage where I  just had to suck it up, and admit that I need to rest my feet......
They were brilliant after my marathon yesterday.....no blisters, all toe nails present and correct...even my hip didn't ache....but this morning the ankles were throbbing, and by teatime an appointment was made with the GP as I didn't really like flexing them anymore!

They ached a bit after the Dodentocht...and I was a bit concerned I had a march fracture,so I did the right thing, had an xray, ate a packet of nurofen, used an ice-pack, rested for a day, and felt brilliant so did a marathon!!

The GP called me a nutter - not sure that is a medical diagnosis (she wasn't a psychiatrist!!) - and told me that this time I had REALLY got to rest my feet, for AT LEAST a week without doing anything as I have tendonitis....and then I was allowed gentle exercise......and 'maybe could try' my  marathon at the end of September 'if I really had to??'.....I have elastic supports on my ankle.....and 30mg codeine  tablets to take four times a day interspersed with paracetamol...mmmm lovely!!

And exercise is good for you!!

Actually, its the sitting still that is going to kill me.....it makes me go stir crazy........but it will make Chris crazier.....but, Doctor's orders.......!

Wednesday 29 August 2012

Mud, mud, glorious mud!

The weather forecast for today was a bit grim..... and being an eternal pessimist ( or optimist with experience!!) I was expecting more than grim......
I wasn't expecting torrential rain, sideways rain, flooding, gale force winds - grim yes, but not grim grim!!

Today was the Shipton Star Marathon on/around/across Salisbury Plain, dodging soldiers, tanks and bullets whilst doing 26 miles. Last year it was a scorcher - this year, my main concern ( other than said soldiers, tanks and bullets) was hypothermia and drowning!!

The weather was APPALLING!! And, unfortunately, as the Plain is chalk and clay, once it rained, it turned into a wet, slippery, boggy mess!
Halfway through the organisers changed the route as it was deemed 'too unsafe' to complete the original route. There was a 20% gradient hill which they didn't firstly want us climbing (read sliding) up or secondly slipping down...... Spoilsports!

By halfway (13 miles) everyone except me and my 'new best friend' Jim had retired!
We came to the conclusion that this had cost us £2 to enter and we were going to darn well finish it!!

Jim's wife was recovering from a broken ankle, so he was a 'lone walker' like myself... looking for a 'wing man' so he gave me that honour..... 
He was a 70 year old ex Merchant Navy chap, and was great company for the 26 miles!!

Although we didn't actually do 26 miles - we did more!! My family will tell you that I can't read a map (at all!!) and Cap'n  Jim doesn't really know 'L'  from 'R' ...some of the Plain looked very familiar, I'm convinced we did it twice, my Garmin watch, unfortunately didn't give us the route, just the mileage, and we clocked up 27.1 miles!!

And they wouldn't give us a bigger badge for doing more...... Mind you..... what can you expect for £2!!!

So......two finishers only for this years Shipton Star......a wet, muddy, cold one, but finished nonetheless!!

Sunday 19 August 2012

A little bit more......

After last weekends 'epic' adventure I really thought I should rest up for a bit......slow down...prepare the body for the next onslaught....but as it happens, I always feel the need to do a little bit more!

The feet are  good, I still have 10 toenails (admittedly held down with at least 4 layers of nail varnish!!) the osteopath was very impressed with my left hip, she was expecting the hip flexor muscle not to be flexing, so Tuesday it was back to the gym!!

OK, OK, I cried off from doing Body Attack....I had a very dodgy stomach from eating ibuprofen like smarties whilst doing the Dodentocht, and didn't really fancy a ruptured stomach ulcer from doing 100 star jumps, so I had a swim for a change....and that was lovely as the last time I swam I must have been about 12....(well, that's how small my costume felt....!)

But swimming's not quite the same.....for a start it's wet, it's also cold...I mean, they TELL you the water is 27C...yeah right...I don't reckon they ever actually sit in it to see if it really is....it's more like the lottery, lets pull a number out......hmmmm....today its.......24!....no wonder kids pee in it, just adding a little hot water thank you very much.....!

Anyways....Saturday morning was back to 'proper' exercise! A jolly along the canal to Hungerford from Kintbury with the work girls as we are preparing for the Test Valley (26 miles) in October.....I'm also preparing for my marathon on the 29th August!!
I walked with Laura and we had a great pace to Cobbs Farm, where we met up with the others for a toasted teacake and the loo's and then back again - clocking up 9.5miles.

Then it was home to collect the dogs and a  quick 'Newbury loop' to add another 3.5 miles so that I could say I had done a 'half marathon'!
We have an extra dog staying with us at the moment - a lovely black and white springer spaniel called Lily. She belongs to my colleague Katie and we have her for the next fortnight!
She already thinks she owns the place - preferring to sleep on the leather couch rather than her basket....and she prefers malt loaf with real butter than dog biscuits (I don't blame her!!).
Poor Golda - our retriever- looks at Mali, and then Lily, and I'm sure she thinks she is seeing double as we used to only have one!!
But it's great exercise...hanging on to 3 dog leads...just think of my arm muscles...I could always do with a little bit more!

Sunday 12 August 2012

Wow!

WOW!
What a challenge the Dodentocht was - but I'm pleased to say I am the other side of it...and it was THE BEST challenge I have ever done, despite all the nerves/apprehension etc about doing it on my own!

We arrived in the town of Bornem, near Antwerp at lunchtime and I literally walked straight into the registration tent set up in the church square to collect my timing chip and map, instructions in case of accident or death (??!!) and then it was a wait until 9pm to start.

The whole town comes out to support this yearly event, the pubs and cafes are heaving with well-wishers, as well as the 10,000 people who have turned up to take part - and this is what suprised me...the website instructions and the booklet stress that it is 'a challenging event'..not 'for the faint-hearted'...and that you need ' a good level of fitness' - well! I could not believe the beer some of the participants were putting away!! The event is sponsored by Duvel and Palm breweries....but I didn't think the competition was to see how much you could take on board!
The course actually took us through the site of the Duvel factory, and the halfway point was at the Palm brewery......the smell of fermentation was nauseating to say the least!!

So yes, it was THE BEST challenge I have ever done, but it was also the toughest. I have done further mileage before, but a 100km over the terrain we did was hard. The first 5km is around the town of Bornem....you follow a procession of 2 coffins down the high street, remembering the deaths of POW from the death camps during the 2nd World War, hence the name 'Death March',and then you head out of town into the countryside, following a march route that said prisoners would have taken to one of the death camps.

The route takes you through fields and woods and along dykes and riverbanks...and being at night it was pitch black dark....very few walkers had torches.  I had a head torch...and it was amazing, when I turned mine on through a particularly dark patch ie the woods, I'd suddenly have 20 other people crammed behind me to see where they were going!! Every so many kilometres you would come across a little village and the locals would be sitting in their gardens (even at 2am!!) waving you on and clapping, shouting at you in Flemish (no idea!!) the village children ran alongside wanting to 'high five' everyone - it was awesome! The village churchbells start ringing as the first participant goes through, and continue until the last one leaves, again as a mark of respect to the dead...utterly amazing.

And then there are the check points where your chip is electronically scanned so they can see exactly where you are at all times, or if you have fallen at the way side!
These check points were incredible! Other races I've done...you get given water, or squash, Mr Kipling cake, dry biscuits and a cup of tea if you're lucky! These were every 5-7 km - Duvel and Palm lager were offered at every one (and boy were they chugging it down!!), tea and coffee, water, coke, at the first point it was sponsored by a sports drink company so you get a bottle of that, with the lid ready taken off for you, and a custard tartlet - in a napkin...a napkin!! The next checkpoints offered hot soup (in bowls!!), salami rolls, I could of had spaghetti bolognese at 50km,  danish pastries, lemon cake, the breakfast stop was hard boiled eggs and tomatoes with salt.....and the last checkpoint at 94km had a party atmosphere going on, a disco had been set up, complete with the beer tent, the food tables, and again the locals were clapping and cheering everyone who passed through!

The last 6km were hard, it was along the riverbank, back into Bornem, on concrete, which isn't very forgiving on your feet, and it was scorching hot..no shade at all...but what made it special was that the route was lined with people clapping and cheering you on - I have no idea what they were saying but they were smiling so surely that's a good sign??!!

And then, the sign that said 500km...Chris was waiting for me so I handed him my rucksack (boy was I glad to get rid of that!!) and then it was a walk up the high street with hundreds of people either side behind bollards clapping and cheering (embarassing, I thought I'd trip up or something!!), and then a  hug from the organisor in the tent to say 'good ya?', and give me my medal (really cool medal!!), a certificate, and a huge wrapped cake...and she asked if I was going to do it next year.........!

Next year...9th August if anyone is interested?!!  It is something I would do again, it's tough, this morning my hip aches, but my feet are absolutely fine, no blisters and toe nails present and correct!
But, it's hard doing it on your own, particularly when you don't speak the local language. All of the signs were in Flemish (French I would have been fine, but Flemish??) and the map was in Flemish.
I found 2 English runners, both blokes, who told me that this was their 4th time...that it was tough but apparently easier than childbirth...I found them curled up on the floor at 75 km and came in before them...and the only other English people were 3 soldiers from the British Army (what is it with soldiers I felt old enough to be their mom?!) They were moaning how tough it was, and were thinking of quitting at the half way point - which an awful lot of the participants did - I blame the beer!!

So, if anyone wants to join me??

On a serious note though (because I can be!) it did make me think of those poor prisoners of war. I was doing this for pleasure (?!) under controlled conditions, with a full belly and a decent pair of asics trail shoes - to be half starved, scared witlesss and at someone elses mercy doesn't bear thinking about - but at least they are remembered here, if only for 24 hours.

Thursday 9 August 2012

Butterflies!

I didn't think I would get to blog again before we headed out to Belgium tomorrow morning, but I am sat at the computer - meant to be catching up on some paperwork, and I thought I would have a sneaky look at the Dodentocht website...

Ugh...have I now got butterflies! I often get 'twitchy' before a race, and just want to 'get going', but this has got me twitchy big time.....it doesn't help having Chris tell me 'we don't have to rush...you don't have to be there til so and such.....' OH YES I DO!! I won't be settled until I have my chip attached to my shoe, seen the starting point and found the toilets....in fact I won't be settled until I have the first 10 miles under my belt...and then I just might relax!

Hopefully the osteopath may help a bit at lunchtime today as I'm booked in for a massage with her - as typically, after Body Attack on Tuesday evening my hip seized up again. It was a different programme, very quick with hundreds of star jumps and both Lisa and I felt really sick after the first 3 tracks...mind you, she had just had a roast pork dinner, and I'd scoffed a packet of skittles in the car!! but it was tough..and I can still feel it.....so a deep massage is in order ;-)

I've also been contemplating my next move this morning.... I need the next race to look forward to....as you know I always need a challenge lined up otherwise I'll very easily stop!
I was going to do the Colchester Centurions with SS at the end of September...but as she has pointed out to me I can't participate in that as I don't have a UK athletics number whereas she does. Apparently, under new rules, you can only enter one Centurions as an 'unattached' ie not belonging to an athletics club, any further entries made and you have to have an athletics number......and as I don't belong to a club, other than the LDWA which they don't recognise,  and I entered last year,I've had to withdraw...funnily though, when I spoke to the organiser and asked them to cancel my application and send my cheque back...they hadn't noticed ,
and said I would have got away with it this year....bah! far too honest!

So....I've trawled the Internet...and have not one...but three marathons lined up!!
Wed 29th August is around Salisbury Plain, September 22nd is the Cotswold Challenge and in October I'm going to do the Test Valley with work Colleagues.......I'm worn out just thinking about it - talk about butterflies!!


Tuesday 7 August 2012

Final countdown.......

Three days and 4 hours.........tick tock!
That's all the time I have left to stuff myself silly with carbs!!
This is the part of the training that I like best, where I get to eat all the foods which I'm normally telling my family or patients NOT to eat......scrummy!

Actually, that's a bit of a lie (not the telling the family/patient bit but the liking bit)...as I do actually like my training...I love being out walking, (or running as I tend to do more of now I have a dodgy hip)or in the gym...its very therapeutic zoning out and great therapy (cheaper than a shrink!) and because I'm not paying cash in hand as such (ok,ok I did just buy some new trainers..) it's a relatively cheap therapy...

To be perfectly honest...and before you think I'm a nut job....I don't really NEED therapy...I think I'm one of the few people that I know who actually LIKES their job....but everyone needs time out in some form or other....and that for me is walking/running/gyming.......it could be chocolate/gin/TV but I'm sure someone would point out that for a Cardiovascular nurse it wasn't very therapuetic......but I'm willing to try... ;-) !!

Anyways....back to the point...three days until the Dodentocht! When I first considered doing this...as an accompaniment to SS who wanted to do it....it didn't sound too scary...she has talked me into loads of things before...and to be honest...this was of a shorter mileage than some of the things she has suggested...but now....DEATH march does have a bit of a shadow hanging over it's name!

I am doing it on my own, and I don't mind admitting I am very apprehensive, and a little disappointed at the prospect..but hey ho...there are 10,000 other nutters who have applied, hopefully one of them will speak English....I can't speak Flemish...plenty of pleghm perhaps??!!

My last training was on Sunday when the dogs and I ran a respectable 6 miles (Mali is back on form so I had an unfair disadvantage ie 2 legs not 4!!) and  I had a good stretching session at pilates yesterday.......I may meet Lisa for a quick Body Attack session tonight (only because I had a huge meal with work last night which is still sitting on my muffin tops!) and then that's it....final countdown!

I may...or may not blog again before we leave for Belgium - depends if I have a free hand what with all the food I have got to stuff....

I may...or may not blog when I get back...depends whether I survive...the......DEATH MARCH!!

Saturday 4 August 2012

Oh heck.......!

5 days...23 hours...56 minuntes and 49 seconds...
 -that's what the website said when I looked about 10 seconds ago - that's all the time I have left until I start the Dodentocht - oh heck (to put it mildly!!)...and contrary to my last post, I might be trawling around the Flemish countryside, at night, in the pitch black, on my own after all, as SS is unwell at the mo...
Oh heck......