Guest Blog

Well I never thought I'd see the day, Coach following me around the house, running kit on, chomping at the bit to go out for a run! Yes, it was day 31 of Marcothon and I'm so proud of her achievement I've given her a guest posting on my blog -

Well what an honour being guest blogger ~  I feel like a celeb!  My name is Lynne - wife of the Deer Runner who has been running for the past 7 years 'just because he enjoys it'.  What?  How could anyone enjoy running?  You have to have that natural ability to run.  That kind of skinny runners body.  You have to be sporty.  You have to have no boobs.  You have to have some stamina to last more than one minute.  You have to be fast.  You have to be non-asthmatic.  You have to be mad!

I have seen George progress from running for a hobby, to his first marathon in 2007, to the crazy 95 miles of the West Highland Way this year.   Our 12 yr old daughter Skye, myself and other kind family and friends were his support and I look back with fond memories even though at one point I was extremely worried about him.

Supporting him over the years has only re-enforced my beliefs despite George's several attempts at coaxing me into running, all ending in me giving up as it was too hard.  Anyhow, it was boring.  As I love music so much I've always preferred dancy kinda exercise especially Zumba of which my friend and motivator Claire is an instructor.  In January this year I got the Zumba bug and some weeks attended up to 4 classes per week.  Not every week though and some weeks not at all.  Even so, I believe these Zumba classes were the basis of how I managed to take part in Marcothon this month.  

George didn't give up.  If he couldn't convince me, he would convince Skye to run instead.  So this year the two of them have been out running together and when she went to academy this year she even joined a jogging club.  In the run up to December George started encouraging her to take part in Marcothon 2012 which involved running every single day of the month for 3 miles or 25 minutes - whichever came first.  The rules are every day and if you miss a day then you're out.  He kept asking me if I was going to join them.  "Yeah" I would reply.  ("Yeah right" in my head).  The 1st of December was a Saturday.  George was on call and working all day so I was left with instructions to accompany Skye on her first run otherwise she would be 'out' on day one of Marcothon.  Off we set on a run/walk up the road to the trees and back.  We had fun as she was doing constant impressions of her dad and his little running techniques and sayings he'd use to keep her going.  Well that was day one done.  Thank God he'd be back to run with her tomorrow.  No offence Skye but I'll leave the running malarkey to the two of you thanks very much.  Too much like hard work if you ask me.

Now I do like the internet and later in the day I discovered Marcothon had a facebook page.  I had a wee nosey and found myself pressing the button to join.  OMG what did I just do?  Who am I to take part in this crazy challenge and even dare to post about my first run in front of all these expert runners who must all be laughing their heads off at me and be much too far advanced in their sport to even give my effort a second glance.  Ach well, who cares, there are over one thousand people taking part, I'll just not post again when I fail and no-one will notice.

I can't actually remember days 2,3,4, etc.  It is all a blur of pain, utter breathlessness, cold, windy, dark nights, head torches, scarves, gloves, buffs, wingeing, whining, swearing, body niggles, twinges, back pain, ankle pain and hangovers.  Re-enforcing yet again why on earth would anyone want to do this???  Poor Skye was really struggling one night and a visit to the docs next day confirmed she had come down with a horrible chest infection and was put on steroids and antibiotics.  She was unfortunately 'out'.

On day 11 due to George working late and Skye unable to run, I ventured out on my own.  In daylight.  How embarrassing.  No one to hide behind, the thought of people sniggering in their cars driving by thinking they could walk faster than that.  Seeing my massive backside swinging from side to side almost knocking them off the road.  Funnily enough, not many cars passed and the thought of sending a message to George when I got back to tell him I'd ran all on my own and not stopped once made me do just that.  I mistakenly posted on my own page rather than his but this prompted some questions from friends about what I was up to.  Mmm well, I can still drop out I suppose.  Meanwhile.... daily posts on the Marcothon page were surprisingly and very heart warmingly encouraging.  These people who I am so in awe of are talking to me and saying how well I am doing.  Wow!

On day 12 I took the more difficult route up a very steep hill and managed not to stop and ran further than ever before.  In my whole life.  Excuse my language, but WTF?? ha ha ha!

Day 13 - a downer, felt like I was back to Day one.  Why bother?  If it wasn't for posting on Marcothon and all the support it would have ended here.  Day 18 saw my lower back giving way and my ankle playing up from all the previous torn ligaments.  I even ran with a heat pack on the next night which ended up a falling into my punts by the time I finished!

Days 14 to 25 were quite utterly horrendous.  The most severe weather conditions.  But having the support of coach throughout these nights were what kept me going.  George is either sadistic or a saint, I haven't quite decided on that one!

Day 25 Christmas Day, I got the best presents ever!  An Ipod shuffle from coach and the Paloma Faith album from Skye.  Well this definitely was the turning point.  Why oh why knowing my love of music didn't I realise this before?  When volume at correct level, I could no longer hear myself struggling to breathe (could still see the spit flying from my mouth from time to time lol) or hear my footsteps trying to keep in time with George.   Things just seemed to progress from there.  Boxing Day I had the pleasure of company from my special nephew and overcame running with 'someone else'...  The day after... day 27 I completed a 5k.  The biggest ever feeling of achievement throughout this whole process.  Something I never ever thought I'd do in a million years and not realising at this point I'd do it again two days later on day 29.

Day 31.  Quite an anti-climax day.  I ran the whole 'loop' which was so refreshing to run out and not double back.  A total of 8k in one hour, 11 minutes and 54 seconds.  I had to do it even though I was seriously risking injury of sorts.  I couldn't turn back, I just couldn't.  Funnily enough, it wasn't hugely difficult which just proves to me now that no matter how big, overweight, unfit you are, it's the mind that controls your body and tells it what it can do.  No disrespect meant to runners who had to pull out due to injury.  I was one of the lucky ones, but the biggest challenge for me has been the mental one.

Wow, it's been emotional and I am going to miss my new friends on Marcothon very much.  Biggest disappointment is that I have lost no weight at all, in fact put on 2 lbs.  Highlight of the month has been the constant support from everyone, getting my Ipod (no brainer) and seeing friends being inspired!  Me?  Really?  No way, not in a million years!!!!!

I signed up to my first race last night - The Garioch 10K on 24th March 2013!!!   Another OMG moment!

Happy New Year everyone and biggest thanks to coach.  The Deer Runner.  Love you xxx

Happy Birthday to Me

Its my birthday, blogging birthday that is so I thought I'd better update it today.
My running went out like a damp squib lately. Juggling between work, home, DIY, family time and doing a course meant something was going to get dropped and yes, it was running. I didn't make it to the Fraserburgh half marathon despite what looked like perfect weather conditions.

On a positive note, I have secured a place in the Fling, Cateran and hopefully (fingers crossed) the WHW next year. The places in these races fill fast and it's thanks to another blogger posting the amount of space left in the Fling that I was able to step in and gain an entry. I kept a close watch on the Cateran and entered as soon as it opened, this being one of my favourite races.

With virtually no training done during the last month I needed something to buck things up and that's where Marcothon comes in. It's my first year of participation and what better way to get out and build up some training foundations. Not only am I benefiting from Marcothon, my wife and daughter have decided to give it a go as well, despite being beginner runners. Day four completed and all going well, hopefully we can all keep it going through December.