[Cheryl]

Well, after my marathon on a treadmill in June my first "proper" marathon is nearly upon me. It's on 17 September in the New Forest so I'm cutting down my training by 50% for the next two weeks which I know I'm going to find difficult. Not used to having a lot of time on my hands!

I've been running alone for 18 weeks now and I've been running either a 2 or 3 1/5 loop over and over again which is really hard especially when you're say running 18 miles and running past the same landmark 6 or 7 times. It's also been hard because I've been doing these long runs during the heatwave in July - the way I look at it is if on the day it happens to be really hot I'll be well prepared. So the way I see it is the marathon on the day is not going to be as bad as what I've been going through for the past 18 weeks - at least I'll be running with other people and they'll be water stations so I won't have the problem of running out of water and having to pop into the local hairdressers to fill my water belt up!!

Is there anyone out there who's trained similarly and when it came down to the big day found it just that bit easier than what you're imagining in your head?

 

[steepler]

You think that's boring?
The Sri Chinmoy marathon in Battersea park is 26 1 mile loops!

 

[acly]

The 26 1 mile loops should be renamed "The Goldfish bowl Marathon !!!":d

 

[Nick B]

Surely you can just be cheeky and after three or so hours just say "yep, I've done all 26 loops" when really you've only done 15?

 

[acly]

Nick - i have a memory like a goldfish so who knows !!!

 

[Steve]

How many times would a goldfish have to round its bowl to do a marathon?

 

[Steve]

Good luck for Sunday...hope the weather is kind!
Let us know how it went.

 

[Hollywood]

Have a good one!

 

[Cheryl]

Thanks. I think I'm looking forward to Sunday now. I've really not done much for the last two weeks - ran a couple of times (only 4 miles each time) swam three times and weights twice so am itching to get back to the gym and runnnig in general. Went out with some friends today for lunch to a chinese "all you can eat" restaurant - had three plates of rice and water! Was hard when everyone else was having prawn toast (my favourite) and beer. It'll be worth it in the end . . .

As a side issue I've actually raised £800.00 (and climbing) for the NSPCC so I am very pleased with that and it will be an incentive to finish.

 

[steepler]

How was the race????????

 

[Cheryl]

I was fine up until 20 miles - I'd been running with the same guy from 6 miles and we were chatting away all the way around - it was incredibly scenic - really nice and there was lots of crowd support.

I got a stitch at 20 miles and had to walk for a while to get rid of it - after that I started to feel very light headed and sick, probably due to stopping running after such a long time. At mile 21.5 I stopped at a checkpoint and ended up on the floor, then on my hands and knees - crying! It was awful. Everytime I stood up I was swaying from side to side. An ambulance came up from behind and the marshals were trying to get me to go in it but I wouldn't. At that point in my head there was no way I wasn't going to finish. I walked until mile 22 until the next checkpoint and ended up on the floor again. I realised then that there was no way I could finish. I then got really, really cold and the marshals had to cover me up but i couldn't get warm. Another guy came along and he was in exactly the same position as me. To cut a long story short, I think it was one of the race organisers came along and put me and this other guy in his car and drove us to the finish. It was like a battlefield along the way, people collapsing all over the place. The worst thing was getting out of the car near the finish and having to walk to the finish on the pavement when all the "finishers" were running on the road. So, I didn't finish and I didn't get the medal. I'm absolutely devastated. I've spent 18 weeks of my life living and breathing this race and it never at any point crossed my mind that I wouldn't get round.

Don't know where I'm going to go from here. Still can't get my head around what's happened.

 

[Dan_R]

Sorry to hear that Cheryl, I'm sure you can put this behind you. I've known a few people who have broke down doing marathons and they've overcome it by having a rest to let the body rebuild itself then getting straight back into it. They've often come back stronger runners. Don't let this incident get you down, we all have our off days - it's just unfortunate that you had one when you were running a marathon.

 

[Steve]

That's sad to hear Cheryl. You can and will recover I'm sure.
I've dropped out of a 1/2 M, 20M and a marathon before and it's awful at the time in terms of how you feel physically and even worse mentally but it goes to show how difficult running for such a long time can be.
Once you've recovered you'll be even more determined and RF members will support you no doubt.
Take a couple of weeks off now...and maybe even have a drink or two!
Chin up!

 

[steepler]

That's soooo sad!
I would perhaps have another go at another marathon in 4 weeks time.
It was VERY hot yesterday when I ran in Sussex, so I guess the New Forest was the same.
How about Abingdon in October?

 

[steepler]

Sounds like you may have had hypoternamia ie water intoxication
You could have done yourself some real damage if you had kept running.
You'll be fine for the next one!

 

[Cheryl]

I've looked at putting my name down for other marathons but they all seem to be full now - including Abingdon. Looks like I'll just have to wait to see if I get a place in FLM. I have, however, just entered a 10 miler in mid-October so that should ease me back in. I'm feeling much better about the whole situation now.

Looking at my fluid intake I really don't think I drank enough energy drink and if I was sweating and not replacing the salt then the same symptoms would occur that I experienced. Either way, I think I was right not to go on - it could have turned out quite nasty.

 

[Fulmar]

Hi Cheryl,
I am going to run my first marathon on the 15th of October.
My training has been long and, just like yours, on my own.
I am going to try to go for a slower time than what all race-time predictors say but I still fear blowing up.
Anyway... I will have a half-marathon test on Sunday, trying a new PB... And then I'll try to work out what sort of shape I'm in.

I hope you'll run the marathon again

J

 

[Hollywood]

What a stunning story. It's a sad ending to the chapter that you didn't make it through for the medal. But this is definitely only the end of the chapter and not the end of the whole story!

Well done on looking round for other marathons already - if you are very keen to run one now, then it is definitely worth talking to Abingdon, Cardiff, etc as they may have places come free as other people drop out through injuries. Also I think Luton will still have places...

However, I personally would recommend you wait until Spring before tackling the marathon again - the effort you put in was a marathon effort and will have taken a lot out of you.

Huge well done again on what you have achieved - including that treadmill marathon along the way and including collecting the 800 pounds - one sneaky thought is that you could try to use that money to help persuade NSPCC to give you a golden bond place for FLM...

 

[Karen]

Wow Cheryl, You're very brave, especially for acknowledging that you couldn't/shouldn't complete. Good luck for the 10miler in October.