First things first - to those who read last week's entry which I quite deliberately did not widely publicise, things are continuing to sound positive for my niece, so much so that she went home today. Thanks for the comments left on the article.
The major event of the last week for me was the small matter of my first half marathon. This took place at Dorney Rowing Lake on Saturday morning in mixed conditions. The site is very exposed to the elements and gusting winds provided a nasty chill which the spring sunshine struggled to penetrate. I lined up with several hundred other competitors of varying running abilities, relatively near to the back of the field in an effort not to set off too quickly with the elite runners. I've had a habit of doing that in my shorter races and paid for it as a result.
Now, something that most training plans tell you to do in the week leading up to a big event is to rest up. I went out for a fairly leisurely final run the weekend before with my wife reminding me that I needed to take it easy, so as to avoid injury. A few kilometres into that run, and I did something to my knee. When I planted my foot, I felt my knee move slightly to the side as I put my weight onto it. It wasn't hugely painful but definitely uncomfortable. I walked home, did a lot of stretching and rested up for the week.
After starting the half marathon gingerly, not sure exactly how the knee would hold up, it started tightening up at the 2km marker. This was hardly the ideal scenario. I'd never run the full distance before and there I was trying to do so with an impairment. In other circumstances I may have decided to withdraw from the event rather than risk further injury, but this was not a day where I was about to quit. I'd invested too many hours training during the winter months to let this race pass me by. Not to mention all the generous sponsorship being raised for Shine through my participation. Discomfort or not, I was finishing this race.
The course spanned several laps of the Dorney Lake facility. By the end of the slightly longer first lap, I was feeling pretty fresh and was confident that I'd go the distance. At the end of the second lap, a brief lashing of hailstones hit the site and all the competitors on it. Towards the end of the third lap, when reaching the 15k marker, I was really starting to struggle and I was forced to stop temporarily to try to stretch my knee, before carrying on. I still had just under 4 miles left to go but my determination was unwavering. The race would be completed.
My final lap was a great source of frustration. I could barely flex my knee, which makes running pretty darn impossible. I was reduced to a mixture of fast walking, straight leg jogging and hobbling to finish the course. It slowed me down quite a lot and meant my pre-run ambitions for running inside 1hr 55 minutes were cast aside. It was all about finishing and nothing else. As I reached the finishing area, I was chuffed to see some past and present colleagues on hand to cheer me over the finish line, and my wife there to congratulate. My chip time came back as 2 hours 1 minute 25 seconds. All things considered, I was very pleased with that.
Footage from the race can be seen on this link, which also breaks down my splits for the laps. You'll notice just how much slower the last lap was compared to Lap 2 and 3. You're looking for the bloke in the bright yellow vest
Footage of entrant 242 at the Dorney Lake Half Marathon
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| At the finish line, complete with medal |
At risk of sounding like I'm giving a flowery and emotional acceptance speech at the Oscars, I want to publicly thank all of the very kind and generous people who sponsored my run. Most people who raise money for a charity usually do so because of a personal connection and my involvement with Shine is no different. They are not particularly well known but for the people who need to access them for support and information, often at very difficult times, they are priceless. You will probably have seen your social media timelines filled with No Makeup Selfies in recent days, in which people have raised money for charity. In a 24 hour period this raised Cancer Research over £1million. Shine by contrast received donations in the same period of £300. Quite a difference. With that in mind the £875 raised so far on my JustGiving page combined with £200 in Gift Aid, will be a welcome addition to the Shine coffers. Thank you for supporting me, and by extension supporting Shine.
I also need to say a big thank you to my lovely family. My wife for putting up with me running on Saturday mornings since the summer, and abandoning her to run around the block during winter evenings. My eldest son for being very proud of his daddy, and for taking my medal into school on Monday so that he could show it off to his teacher and classmates. Thanks also to my little boy, who introduced me to the condition that is Spina Bifida, made me aware of Shine, and provides a continuous source of inspiration for everything I do. A few less sleep interrupted nights would be welcome mind! I apologise in advance to the three of you when I inevitably get grumpy at the lack of running in the next few weeks while my knee hopefully heals.
I was eating lots in the build up to the half marathon and I've not stopped since. I imagine the scales reflect this and I will get back to good ways in the very near future. I may have to dust off the cross-trainer to enable me to get some low-resistance training seeing as running is off the agenda. I'm not overly fussed about temporary gain but I've no plan for letting the good work of the last 15 months go to waste. A few more days of slobbing it are allowed and then I'll assess the damage
