5th January 2017
So that’s the kids back at school after the Christmas holidays, would be rude not to go out for a nice easy run and make the most of my last few days off work.
December is always a bit hit and miss with getting out for a run, as I’m sure most working mums like myself meet ourselves coming backwards most days. However, I must admit it’s my favourite time of the year. I never stick to a training plan over Christmas as it’s about spending time with family and friends. I go out when I feel like it, but we do all go out for a run after the presents have been opened Christmas morning – it’s tradition in our house.
I did manage to get a couple of decent long runs in December. On the 8th, I ran the Rudolphs Romp with Chris. This is a fantastic event put on by the East Yorkshire Long Distance Walkers Association with 25 miles of footpaths, tracks and bridleways across the southern part of the Yorkshire Wolds.
I was a bit too eager at the start, and 2 miles in I was getting frustrated by a long snake of runners walking up a steep hill. I just kept thinking, ‘for goodness sake you can run up this hill, It’s not that big!’ So my eagerness took over once we hit a downhill track. I was off 7 min miling and it felt great! But then I looked round and couldn’t see Chris. Holy crap I’m in trouble, as I completely forgot he took part in the ‘Escape From Merdian Race’ 2 weeks before, running 104 miles in 24 hours. Chris came jogging towards me and I started to apologise and asked if he was ok. He gave me a funny look and said, ‘Nothing wrong with me babe, but perhaps you should slow it down a bit. There’s along way to go, with some big hills. Go hard now and you might pay for it later.’ I had to laugh as I’m like Bambi the baby deer who hasn’t got a bloody clue, and Chris is the wise ole stag who knows everything. So with that in mind, Chris went in front to set the pace. At 18 miles when my legs were gone and my hands were on my knees, I looked up at Chris, who had a spring in his step and had to laugh at myself for worrying that 25 miles might be too much for him!
I have done a couple of long races now with Chris, and I do have so much to learn. One of the hardest things is to eat while running. To be honest I’m not sure I will ever get the hang of it, as most of the time I nearly choke myself while trying to breathe. A handy tip I picked up is not to stop for a long period of time at checkpoints, just refill my drink bottles, grab some food and keep moving. Now for being such a chatterbox I find that hard, but I know it makes sense. 5 or 10 minutes hanging around at each checkpoint during the Lakeland 50 would probably add an extra hour to my finishing time.
I have now got the perfect route for one of my local long training runs. It’s called the Tennyson 20. It’s a Long Distance Walkers Association challenge route, and it takes in a lot of the places related to Sir Alfred Lord Tennyson’s life in the Lincolnshire Wolds. Just before Christmas me and Chris ran this route, starting and finishing in Hagworthingham. It’s a fantastic route, taking in some of our most beautiful villages in the Wolds. A section through Swaby Valley brought back great memories of running some of the Lindsey Loop (96 miles long, one of Lincolnshire’s longest footpaths) which we did as a club relay five or six years ago.
I didn’t feel quite as fit running the Tennyson 20 as I did when I raced the Rudolphs Romp, but I’d just had to take a week off due to having flu. So maybe a 20 mile run wasn’t my best idea for a first run back! For the first time in months my hip felt very tight and I had a bit of knee pain, I told Chris I was in a bit of pain so we walked for a little bit. To be honest I was a bit worried as I really don’t want to have to take any time off. I think it’s time to get back into a routine of doing yoga every day, as I haven’t done any for weeks being so busy with work and getting ready for Christmas.
As I set out for my run today I’m greeted by a rainbow over the fields opposite our house. I can’t help but smile. You see, today is a very important day for me as it’s 20 years since I moved to Lincolnshire.i t’s also the day I nearly died. As I jog down the lane through the tunnel of trees, I’m still smiling knowing how lucky I am.
20 years ago I wasn’t smiling. My parents had made the big move to Lincolnshire a few years before and I went to stay with them for Christmas. I hadn’t seen them since the summer and I think they were a bit shocked when they saw me. I hadn’t been very well for months, but I was a party girl who worked long hours and just put things off. I had got glandular fever a few months before so I just put it down to that. I’d heard it could take a long time to recover properly, and I did like to go out and have a drink which certainly didn’t help things. My mum made me weigh myself. I was 6 stone. I was shocked that I weighed so little and for the first time when I looked in the mirror I saw my true reflection. It was awful and must have been heartbreaking for my family. I left the day after Boxing Day promising them I would make an appointment for the doctors.
I really couldn’t understand how I was losing so much weight. I was eating more than I had eaten before and I was always hungry. I also wasn’t getting much sleep. I was taking sleeping tablets but they didn’t seem to be working. On my first day back at work after the Christmas break they sent me home. I was shaking and couldn’t stop. I think they thought I had a drink problem, and was told to sort my life out.
The day after New Years day I noticed my neck had swollen and could feel a big lump at the front of my neck. I went to the doctors, was told it was tonsillitis and was given antibiotics. My best friend Julie was worried and told the doctor he was talking out of his arse! I was scared. My head was all over the place and I could feel my heart racing so much that I thought my chest would explode. My friend phoned my parents and told them how bad I was. With that my Dad drove to London, packed my stuff into his car and brought me back to Lincolnshire. My Dad took me to his doctors, they saw me straight away and I was admitted straight into hospital.
To be honest, the period that followed is all a bit of a blur, and I don’t really remember what happened. When I came round, I was attached to lots of monitors. A nurse told me how poorly I was. My heart was racing dangerously and they had found a blood clot. Over the next few days I had lots of different tests and saw lots of doctors. They told me how lucky I was to be alive. If I hadn’t been brought into hospital that day, there’s a good chance I would have suffered a massive heart attack and would have most probably died. I was eventually diagnosed with Graves Disease. I had a rare, but life threatening complication called a Thyroid Storm. I spent the next 8 months in and out of hospital. I wasn’t well enough for surgery to remove the thyroid gland, so I had radioactive iodine treatment which zapped the hell out of my thyroid gland. That will never work properly again so now I just pop my thyroxine pills every day, and thank my lucky stars!
As you can imagine, this whole event was a massive wake up call for me. Anyone can get Graves Disease and getting it wasn’t my fault. But what didn’t help matters was having glandular fever, and the fact that I did work hard and party even harder! Leaving the Graves Disease untreated for so long is the reason why I became so poorly. I’m fine now, but being in hospital for such a long time made me realise that there was still so much I wanted to do with my life.
A couple of hours after I set off for my run, I jog back the lane into our village and I am still smiling. This is my home now and for the past 20 years I have lived my life to the full. I have my health, great friends and a wonderful family. Things could have turned out so differently.
My World
So how am I getting on with the Adidas Boost Supernova? I still think they are great! And after using them for all of my road runs, what I’ve recently noticed when I’m running off-road in my New Balance shoes is that my feet hurt and I can feel the studs when I’m running on hard ground. I guess I have got used to the Boost cushioning on my road runs, so now I know I need to change my off road shoes to Adidas too! I have been off road in my Supernova, but it’s winter and this is Lincolnshire so lots of muddy ploughed fields to contend with is hard work in road shoes, and I don’t want to get them too dirty! I have always been a minimalist runner, which is great, but now I need to get lots of training miles in, I want to look after my feet, and for that I feel I need a bit more cushioning. I have just treated Ellie to some Adidas Supernova from The Lincolnshire Runner and Archie already has been wearing Adidas Boston, so that’s 3 out of 4 Rainbows in Adidas! I’ve noticed a couple of running friends now wearing Adidas as well. I can see this catching on!!
I have also just been given a Adizero Climalite running top. As you can see from the photo, it looks fab, nice, bright and bold. Will be perfect for when the weather starts to warm up!
