Belfast City Marathon blog 5

Hi everyone, I feel like it has been a long time since I last blogged and I’m so glad to be back. I had a few niggles with my shins a few weeks ago not long after I had completed a 10 mile run. After some investigation and intense questioning of Damien (fountain of all knowledge) I came to the conclusion it was shin splints. I tried to run but it was too painful so I took two weeks off to recover and completely lost motivation. I was gutted that I had to rest and that an injury was getting in the way of my training. However, I persevered, iced my legs, rested and became all the more determined to run the Larne Half Marathon on Saturday 24 March.

My boyfriend enrolled with me to offer moral support and we both met some of the Operation 26.2 team there, I even bumped into an old work colleague, who I subsequently ran beside, and my best friend and her boyfriend. There was such a great buzz before it even started and I couldn’t wait to start and complete my first half marathon.

I set off with hundreds of people surrounding me but completely zoned in and focused on myself, my speed and getting to the finish line. It was such a glorious day and a beautiful run and I found the first half to be okay but as soon as I hit that hill at 7 miles I started to struggle. A quick 30 second walk and I was back on track feeling fantastic and thinking to myself ‘get you running a half marathon!’ Well, needless to say this positivity soon evaporated once I hit the 11 mile marker. Positive thoughts commending myself turned to harshly criticising and insulting myself. Why is it we do that to ourselves? If a friend was struggling we’d never discourage them and tell them they’re rubbish but yet we do it to ourselves. Luckily, inspirational Damien came happily jogging up to me in and around the 12 mile mark and offered words of encouragement and a big happy grin. That, coupled with Michael Jenkins (another Mr Motivator), clapping and telling me ‘fantastic’ really spurred me on to cross the finish line. I did it in 2 hours 25 minutes – it was a slow burn but I never set out to do it in a certain time, as this year is a first for me, both in completing a half marathon and indeed the full marathon, just completing it and finishing it will be a big enough achievement. I’ll aim for a better time next year! A huge thanks to Michael, Damien, Claire and the others from Operation 26.2 for such a great day and great support.

I’m so excited for the big day and can’t believe it’s less than 6 weeks away, I hope you’re all excited too and I really hope everyone’s training is going well.

I’m looking forward to a big run with Michael and the gang this Sunday, 16 miles will be a big milestone for me, once I get that completed I’ll be hoping to do a couple of 18 mile runs before the big 20 miler in April.

Will update you soon how it’s all going but until then take care and happy running!
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