Five months ago myself and my sister Tor decided, whilst giggling like schoolgirls, to enter the EDF Birmingham Half Marathon. Neither of us ran, nor were we fit or undertaking any kind of exercise really (well to be fair Tor walked her dogs and did her treadmill) but we thought we'd give it a go for a laugh. We began with little runs, probably walking more than we ran, had not a clue what to do so just built it up bit by bit, dragged Paul Hickling along from my Weight Watchers class to come and do it with us, faced all manner of weather, emotions, moods and finally on October 24th 2010, 5 months after that giggling decision WE RAN OUR FIRST HALF MARATHON!!! The picture above says it all really... such a fantastic feeling to find you can do the most unbelievable things when you actually commit yourself to it and try. AWESOME!I had so many doubts leading up to race day. My back was narky, my hip was stiff and generally I was a bit bleurgh. I wasn't sure I'd be able to finish but found comfort in the fact that if worse came to the worse I could walk it but this wasn't supposed to be about walking; we were running for lifeboats dammit so run I must! The week beforehand we did a couple of short runs after I'd had to miss some runs due to my back. The first run back was hard even though it was only 4 miles but runs 2 and 3 on the Wednesday & Friday went much better. I had the best of intentions to have an early night on Halfmarathon Eve but I got caught up watching episodes of Fringe so it just didn't happen. However, on Halfmarathon Day the alarm went off at 5.45am and up I got (miracles do happen outside of Christmas). Looked out the window and all was dark but beautifully clear. by 6.30 the dawn was looking promising and I was beginning to get excited... finally! Pulled on the RNLI running vest and was all ready to go (well along with pants, socks, running trouser things etc and obviously washed, teeth etc etc). Managed half a bowl of instant oats before Tor turned up and off we went.
Tor's husband Dave dropped us into town but all the roads were closed due to some wretched half marathon taking place! We nearly got lost and I began feeling very nervous we weren't going to get there on time. So we bailed on Dave leaving him to sort out his own parking and made our FREEZING way to the start on Broad Street. We attempted to join in with the bizarre warm up which was more knackering than the run! Then we had to fight the spectators to get to our starting point (did they not realise they'd be nothing to spectate if we didn't get to our starting lines). The race started at 9am and it took us about 10/15 mins to get to cross the starting line. Then we were off! Then we were stopped as we hit the first bottle neck in the run. After a bit of shuffling we were off again and I soon found I'd lost Paul and Tor. Caught up in the flow of runners I couldn't get back to them. Not even 2 miles in and we ran past a line of, shall we say 'gentleman', well... ermm... watering the flowers against a wall! I checked out the time on my GPS and was running slightly above my normal pace but just couldn't bring it back down. I was a little dismayed when we got to Edgabston and started seeing runners coming back the other way - they were already on the homeward bound journey 40mins in! by Stirchley I was desperate for the toilet so thankfully was able to stop off at Nanny Kath's for a wee! The route took us through Bournville then back towards the city. Hot a nasty hill in Cannon Hill park - nothing major but just not in a good place!
The crowds as we ran were amazing. I lost a little faith in people on the eve of the marathon as some idiot drove into my car (nothing major) and didn't even stop. My faith was restored on Marathon Day as people lined the streets to cheer us by, kids held out hands for high 5's, there were people standing out the front of their houses giving cups of squash, water, pop, jelly babies, fruit cake. So much good will is a beautiful and amazing thing! A huge thank you to all those that stood out in the cold to cheer us on.
Miles 10 to 12 were really tough. Not only was this the furthest I had ever run but this was when some quite big nasty hills kicked in. We had a couple of nasty inclines round the back of Five Ways which started my hip off moaning. I had a moment of panic thinking that if it went now I would have to stop this close to the finish so power walked up the major hill to take some pressure off (it was OK on the flat's - just the uphills really setting it to fever pitch!). I broke into a run and before I knew it was passing mile 12. Looking at my watch I realised I was going to be finishing in a much better time than I ever thought possible. I got on the phone to Darren to try & find out where he and the boys were so I could look out for them. Having run on my own I was really needing a familiar face. I rang and rang and couldn't get through. For some daft reason I began to feel a tad emotional so called my Mom who was also seeing us at the finish. Mom answered. She wasn't in town yet! I asked her to keep trying darren and then got back to running feeling slightly miserable that no-one was going to see me finish. I then heard someone say infront of me "let's push on we'll go for 2hrs 20". It was at that point I thought "right then! I can do that!". I put my foot down... literally.
Coming up on to Broad Street I knew I was on the home straight. I kept the mantra "2 hours 20, 2 hours 20" going over in my head. as I passed the cinema I heard a familiar "Woooohooo! Gwan me babby" and saw Darren with Jarryd, Corbyn, Dave, Brandon and my Dad. It was such a fantastic feeling. I made a beeline over. Gave Jarryd a kiss and it gave me such a pick me up. I knew I was going to do it. From somewhere I found more energy and sprinted for the finish... then I saw the wall...
The wall of people that were queuing.. yes QUEUING to cross the finish line. I hit the wall of people, pressed stop on my GPS and looked at the time.
2 HOURS 19 MINUTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was thrilled to say the least. When we registered for the run we estimated our finish would be 3hrs 30. After training we hoped for 2 hrs 59mins to be within that 3 hours, so to finish at 2hrs 19 I was over the moon! It is unfortunate that there was congestion to cross the finish line. As the timing chip recognises an exact point on the line, to not be able to cross affects your official time. I know there's been lots of complaints, especially for club runners who are going for PB's etc and as a result for me my official chip time was 2hrs 21. Even so I'm still very happy.
It was also fantastic that our family came to support us. Huge thanks should go to my Mom and Dad, sister Kati (not a nun just a sibling), Darren and my boys, Dave and Brandon (specially for getting up so early to take us there) - erm I'm sounding like the Oscars.
Tor and Paul have also been an absolute inspiration. Without Tor dragging me out three times a week and supporting each other through our happy, manic, moody, achy moments I'd never have got started in this whole running malarchy. I have the best running buddy ever!
It's also good to have a reason to run above and beyond the benefits to ourselves and to run for the RNLI and know that we have raised nearly £400 between us for such a fantastic cause has been brilliant. A massive thank you to everyone who sponsored us. Your money is going to very good use and we hope we've done you proud.
This post I shall leave there - at some point later I might share the aches and pain of post run but this one I want to leave on a high. We did what we set out to do. I am now a half marathon runner (oooh get me!) and am already planning the next run... watch this space! We've proved it's amazing what can be achieved when we stop coming up with excuses and actually crack on and what's more.. fat girls can run!
