Running Thread - anyone got a place in 2009 London Marathon (or any Marathon!)

Hi everyone - how are you all? I'm so nervous...my foot is - fingers crossed - ok enough to go ahead - but lord alone knows if the rest of me is! I've barely run for the last month. I've done a bit of cycling, and am just back from a week's ski-ing but my running schedule is completely awry. bit late to worry now though. I think I'll do a long run tomorrow and then some short ones during the week. really hard to know how much I should do though - I'm torn between panicking that I haven;t done enough, and thinking I need to take it easy...this is not how it was meant to happen...

hey hellion

feeling rubbish and tired

only ran once this week and skipped two... just could not do it.

got 9 mile run this sunday, my runs reduced from the beginning of this week, next sunday will be 8 and then the marathon.

we must be on a differnt program, plus my longest is 18 miles. i see yours was 20 - scared now I am not doing enough.

i am just SO tired, had such a busy week and held fundraising music classes, six in total now and raised over £500 so happy about that.

where are all the other runners from the beginning of this thread gone?

good luck with your run and enjoy your choccies

x

Just having a wee lurk on here again, am in awe of this thread!!

hatwoman hope ankle starts to feel better

Helion - wow, well done!!!

That is my worst nightmare - four laps of teh same course? yikes!!!

Every long run I do has a beginning and end, can not bear to go over the same track. I did the kingston breakfast run on sunday, was 16 miles so ran 2 miles there to make it 18 (sticking to prog). I missed the start because I had to wait 25 mins to do a wee. not very well organised with hardly any toilets for so many runners!

Anyway there I was running alone down an empty street, I do only about 8 runners were behind me waiting to wee so if they overtook me I would be last! I did what I knew I was not supposed to and sprinted for a few minutes until I caught up with the crowd, ran past as many people as possible and then when I was happy enouhg people were behind me i slowed down and stuck to my pace for the rest. i still needed to stop to do a wee behind a tree... me and my bladder!

the last mile my left leg turned to jelly and I thought "oh god - this better not happen on the day". I reckon it was because of the sprint at the start. i was determined not to be last.

anyway it was good practice, had to pull my cap down and not look at people feet infront otherwise i speeded up.

really excited about the big day but not looking forward to weekly runs. just find them so tiring and boring.

looking forward to running after because i want to not because i have to.

HOPE EVERYONE IS WELL AND GETTING GEARED UP X

hi everyone. I sent mnhq an email asking if they'd consider sponsoring us - but, as I suspected, they felt it would set a precedent and they would then have to sponsor everyone. which is entirely fair enough.

Hatwoman - great news you can still do it. I know its frustrating that you cant stick to your programme but try not worry. Main thing is you can still do it.

I ran my 18 miles and really enjoyed it. It was my best run yet and for the first time I felt its possible i can run the marathon. I could have carried on running. I reckon I will get to about mile 23 before I will be working on mental strength alone.

Really excited now and cant wait for the big day. Fitness therapist said my knees are fine just achey, bit my itc muscles (run from hip to shin) and quads were too tight and that was causing my knees to ache. He showed me some exercises.

For the last two weeks I could only fit two runs in the week in and the long one on the weekend. I feel too tired to do my 5 miler tonight and I have a cold so might skip it again. I really dont enjoy the shorter runs now. Just cant wait to not have to fit runs in anymore. I will take a couple of weeks off after and then run three times a week 3-5 miles each max!!!

Hope you are all feeling good and positive. I'm only £200 off my target for fund raising and my dad had a scan which showed no more cancer in his body, we are over teh moon. he has to have 12 weeks of chemo still to make sure no cancerous cells are growing. So a great week all around so far.

OrmIrian - well done on your run, glad you made use of the mantras x

runforlove - thanks for the advice. I did my 1o miles today. Not fast but I got back without any aches and pains. I used your mantra when things got too hard.

Hi again everyone. well my foot still hurts quite a bit. the physio reckoned it goes back to a sprain about 2 years ago . apparently my ankle is too wobbly - ie the ligaments aren;t really doing their job of holding it in place, which means that running off road on uneven surfaces (as I do) will give me nerve pain (so I was wrong about it being tendons). so I've come home with a wobble board and I have to practice standing on one leg to strengthen the muscles - which can do the job of my feeble ligaments. she recommends doing no more than 5 mile runs, doing some speed work, and cycling. but she thinks I'll be ok for the marathon. I feel quite gutted that I can;t stick to my schedule - but dh says I should be glad she didn;t tell me to bin the while thing. I guess he's right. good luck with the 20 miles hellion. hope everyone else gets some good running in this weekend.

Hello everyone

Hatwoman - how did it go?

I've booked myself in tomorrow to be seen too. My knee is playing up and I dont want to ruin my chances so getting it looked at £45 though!!! I hope I only need one of two sessions, cant afford it but would be devastated if I injured myself before the big day.

Its a pain that comes and goes in my knee.

Good luck with Hellion with your run too- 20 miles!!! Thanks x

I am blue start too cant remember my number think its in the 3000's.

x

Hi again. well I took tue, wed and thurs off but then went out this morning. partly out of frustration cos resting it was making no difference. it's still hurting but it is runnable - I've booked to see a physio tomorrow so I;ll report back. hope everyone's ok

hatwoman - sorry to hear about your foot. How soon can you get seen by someone?

I know its hard but its really not worth causing any long term damage to yourself.

I would rest and get it checked first - it might not be as bad as you think but the rest factor could be the one thing that you need to do.

Dont worry about missing a few runs there is still time for you to fit enough miles in.

Even if it means you running slower or walking some miles. You dont want to damage your foot.

Good luck.

OrmIrian - they say its 50% physical and 50% mental strenght when running and it is so true!

You should try not look on the runs in terms of miles because they really dont feel that different. Yes after you are more tired but the tiredness you feel at 8 miles or so will probably be the same up to 14 or more miles so you just need to tell yourself that those feelings are manageable and they wont get worse.

When you feel like you want to stop start with the top of your head and say to yourself, "OrmIrian, relax your head, OrmIrian, relax your head" then forehead, face, neck, shoulders, top of back, boobs, lower back, tummy, buttocks, groin, and so on working your way slowly down to your toes. I use to suffer from terrible panic attacks and agrophobia and relaxation techniques really helped me. You lose time, you relax, your breathing and heart rate slows down which makes any aches ease a little. You dont realise how much you are tensing your muscles until you do this.

You will do it!

Good luck!!!

Ps. I have to run 8 miles tonight and I'm really not looking forward to it, I'm actually looking forward to my 18 mile run on Sunday - weird
I think its the challenge that drives me and knowing that will be the first time I have ever run that far.

Let us know how you get on.

Thanks so much runforlove. LOL a bit at 9 miles if just like 16 miles only with a bit missing I will remember that. It will encourage me greatly!

I have been running for about 2 yrs regularly so I'm not exactly rushing things But I am now on a mission to try a half marathon (my GP who is also a runner prescribed it to help me with my anxiety/depression) so am giving it a bit more welly these days.

I like the idea of encouraging myself with a mantra of some kind. I have to keep pinching myself metaphorically to remind myself I can actually run that far!

Hi everyone, hope you're all doing well. I'm in a quandary - I've got pain over the top of my foot - I think it's Extensor tendinitis and I don't know what to do. I'll try to get to see a physio asap, but in the mean time I'm really torn - part of me thinks, oh it's not that bad (it isn;t) you're being a baby, just get on with the training. but then the other part of me keeps thinking about the standard advice to rest. arrrrrgh. I really really don;t want to rest now. but then again, if I don;t rest I could really screw it up. I so don;t know what to do for the best. and I'll be gutted to fall behind my training schedule. any ideas? hope you're all doing well. I think the psychological questions you lot are talking about are so interesting - but I'm off to bed now - will post a bit more another time.

Forgot to mention this comment "Just thought I'd say that how you feel now running 9 miles is the same as running 16 miles except for the last bit" only counts if you have followed a programme and built up your mileage slowly. By increasing it slowly you dont notice it so much.

Hello OrmIrian

Just thought I'd say that how you feel now running 9 miles is the same as running 16 miles except for the last bit.

For me the first 3 miles are always hard, I get little niggling thoughts like "What are you doing, I dont feel like running today.. etc" Like a rusty engine getting going.

At this point I start a chant in my head like

"I feel good, I feel strong, I can keep running on and on"... or whatver and then I lose some time.

I also read its very important to not always distract your mind with other thoughts which does help but to actually encourage your mind to enjoy feeling your body running, your feet pounding, your breath, looking up and not a couple of feet infront all the time. This is help with longer runs.

I have to say no matter how many miles I run the last is always the hard, 3,5,9,10 or 17 the last mile is the killer and like I you I think its in the mind! This long run when I was a couple of miles away I started imagining my family friends were scattered along the roads cheering on and imagined I was approaching the finish line of the marathon. I actually ran faster as I came near my house it helped so you could try that.

You also asked how to lengthen the feeling you get in the middle otherwise known as the "flow" I come in and out of the flow throughout my long runs and not sure how to advise you on it. But I do not that I tend to enter just after points where I am not crossing lots of roads and I am thinking positive thoughts and chanting encouraging words. Usually around 12 miles I start to feel aches and pains but I always tell myself "Whatever you are feeling now, you will feel at 16 miles, it will be no worse, so just relax and let it happen and you will cope with it" I start doing this on my last few runs and instead of tensing up when the aches came, I accepted them and they disapeared and returned a few times. In my book, its says when you feel pain say to it "Hello pain, wont you run with me?" sounds weird but it works for me.
You are doing great, every week when my miles increased and I ran the longest I ever ran I was so proud of myself and so should you. Last year I could not run for 5 mins and this Sunday I will run 3 hours. Its not magic, our bodies are capable of so much. This marathon training has really shown me you can do whatever you want with hard work.
Good luck!!!!

Hi you scary running people Reeling a little from the idea of 17 miles....

Can I just ask a quick question please?

I did just over 9 miles on Sunday. A mere drop in the ocean to you lot, but a first time for me. Now I struggled to start with as usual - first mile is always hard for me - and the last mile or so was harder. But in the middle it was OK. How do you extend that middle feeling, when you feel you could run forever? It makes no odds how far I ran, I still seem to hit a wall about a mile or so from home - I think its in my head not my legs.

I'm surrey too x

Hi there that is a great idea I'm at

www.justgiving.com/jmcm

i think however there is an official topic for charities so we need to link to there maybe?

I did first half marathon on Sunday, was hard, first 6 miles all uphill, time not great 2.17 but I am just glad to have completed it 9was really hot, 2 people taken away in ambulances).

I have had a whole week off as DP was away and was in no fit state to run anyway and this weekend we are at a wedding - eek!

What about meeting up at registration the week before - someone said this is easier for meeting up with people.

I am in Surrey so will get the train on the day.