Marathon

I FINALLY DID IT!! I RAN A FULL MARATHON AND HAVE A MEDAL AND T-SHIRT TO SHOW FOR IT!! I CAN TICK IT OFF MY BUCKET LIST!

It is the hardest thing I have ever done. I can't believe I managed to get through it after everything. It's been over a year in the making for this 1 day - plenty of blood, sweat and tears. Officially since the first run last year on the 9th June 2018 - I've done 75 runs covering 465 miles. Injury, rain, snow, hail, sleet, wind, everything that could have went wrong for me the week before did, I said so many times I didn't want and couldn't do it and my worst nightmare of it raining on the day happened but I did it!!

I know I love a good moan but I live by the motto - Once you've started you've got to finish So I knew no matter what if I was crossing the start line I'd have to make it back to cross the finish line. Unless I physically couldn't run no more I was doing it. 

I hit my wall at mile 15 - I just felt like I couldn't breathe and did shed a tear. I was running but didn't feel like I was getting anywhere. People were walking and I felt like I was going at a snail pace. The 4 hour pacer went past me at like mile 8 but I did try my hardest to stay in front of it but I couldn't. 4:15 pacer went past me later on and I physically couldn't go any faster to keep in front of it. The 4:30 one was creeping behind me near the end and I was like I can't let it beat me. At mile 22 I don't know what happened but I sped up to keep in front of it. I basically sprinted the last mile like I did after my first half marathon. I don't know where it came from but it happened. The last 4 miles was the longest part of the rest. Both mentally and physically draining.

I didn't finish before 4:30 though as my chip time was before the 4:30 pacer which was annoying but I'm glad I did speed up to get finish with a faster time.

6:45am - Breakfast 1 - Porridge with banana, frozen berries and walnuts.

8am - Breakfast 2 - leftovers from the night before Rice, chicken, char siu and veg. Only managed a couple of mouth fulls.

Pre race before Angie did the half at 9am.

Coming up to the first mile

Just after I hit my wall at mile 15

This was the end tears of actual relief and joy - Never ever have to do that again and I can retire from long distance running!

This amazing woman finished 3:44 nearly an hour before me. I knew she was going to beat her time. She's mad for running the marathon again and to be able to beat her time by 13 minutes is such an achievement! 

Thank you so so much for training with me - I know you only signed up because I said I needed to it after not being able to do it last year. All them hours and weather conditions training and running basically everywhere. Thank you for listening to me moan and go on about how hard it is and that I wouldn't be able to do it!!

Well done to Michael - Jo from work's cousin for finishing his first full marathon too! He only ran his first half at last year's Rock N Roll and just thought I'm gonna try and go for the full. You did amazing! 

Angie got her pb in the half and did it in 2:02! Her 5th half marathon - you've done 2.5 full marathons... Well done Angie you're knocking minutes every race you'll be able to knock that 2 hour barrier for sure! 

Everyone did amazing but no one is more amazing than Sarah. Through everything she has managed to finish it and got through it when no-one thought she was going to. She was losing hope in herself in the morning but still managed to get through it in one piece. We all knew she was stubborn and determined but she's also injured, only ran up to 15 miles, worked the night before, been constantly drinking, constantly tired but still did it. Like you definitely can't wing a marathon but she finished it. I'm so so proud of you like we all got through it but after everything you did it and proved everyone wrong!

We got a quick shower then went to Amalia for food as it was 2 for 1 on Meerkat movies. Sarah didn't come with us though she had to go to a family party - Couldn't think of anything worse. I wasn't even hungry I just wanted to go home and go to bed I was exhausted but knew I needed to eat something. My head was killing cos I think I was dehydrated.

All 76 runs... I've been waiting a whole year to be able to write this post and to make these collages! Even had green hair when I started training.

Thank you so so much to this amazing little group of people for getting me through it. Without yous I wouldn't have been able to do it.

Thank you to everyone else for listening to me moan and go on about it for the past year and knew I could do it when I didn't think myself I was going to be able to. 

Thank you to Jo Shaw for all the advice and tips and yesterday for being there for us - being our photographer, number 1 supporter, the water and sweets!

Everything from the waist down hurts, I just want to be lying down forever right now. I can't walk, my head and throat hurts as I think I'm still dehydrated. I don't think it's fully sinked in that I've ran a full marathon and not full convinced it's worth all this. But I will definitely look back and be glad I did it and don't have to do it again!! My legs are definitely going to be thankful that I'm retiring from running for a while.

This medal will be treasured forever and no one can take it away from me. I am still sad I never did it within 4 hours like I really wanted but with my injury and after everything that has happened I'm just glad I did it and finished it in one piece - I don't feel like I'm in one piece right now but I can just about walk which is enough.

Well done to everyone that did the full and half marathon yesterday and good luck to you if you plan on doing the full marathon next year because I definitely won't be joining you at the start line running it!

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Last Run

Last run of the year

Did my last run of the year this morning with Jo. A little 5k done before the last gym session of the year. 

Post Christmas 5 km on Friday night.

35 runs since the 9th June 2018 when training for the Liverpool Rock n Roll Marathon 2019 started. Should be at least 40+ runs but I was out for nearly 2 months injured which could've only lasted 2 weeks but I just let it drag out. But now that injury is sorted and I have all the right gear there shouldn't be any more set backs. I just need to set a proper plan so I don't go too hard too soon to save my self from being injured again. Slowly build up them miles week by week and I should be able to get that 4 hour time I want. 

Sunday 29th May 2019 is quicker than I think for sure as this year has flew by. Training for the full marathon started with green hair and I finished the half marathon in March with green hair. But it's actually been 6 months since I had it dyed back black!

It's been a crazy year but one of the best. I ticked running a half marathon off my bucket list in a time I wanted. Going to be ticking a full marathon off next year also hopefully within the time I want!

Dying my hair green was one of the best decisions I made even though I did have a bit of a breakdown afterwards but green hair Julie was living her best life for sure. Them 4 months were mad and I can't wait for Curfew to start on Sky in the new year. No start date as of yet but it's meant to be early in the year. 

Sarah got me an Independent Liverpool Card for Christmas which means plenty more eating and drinking for 2019. The blog will be super busy with all that and marathon updates. 86 posts for 2018 lets beat that for 2019!

Hope you all had a great 2018 and an even better 2019!

Happy New Year!

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5 months

Officially back running, marathon training is back on! I'm so happy to be back running again after 2 and a half months out. It's not been fun knowing Sarah and Jo have been doing runs without me and knowing that the marathon is 5 months away I've been stressing. I should be running miles by now.

I did a 2.7 miles / 4.5 km run yesterday on my own and felt good. Tried my new trainers out and they feel alright. They're heavier than my Nike Pegasus trainers but hopefully I won't get no injuries with these.

Sweaty mess even though it was freezing!

Did a 6.2 mile / 10.2 km run with Jo tonight. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to do such a long run so soon after coming back after my injury but I feel alright and it felt good. I've stretched and foam rolled.. It was a flat run and a bit of a panic run of trying to get some miles in me as it's been so long! I won't be doing more than 10 km till after Christmas, slowly building it back up and aiming for hopefully 20 miles before the race. 

Aiming to run about 3 times a week with 2 short and 1 long run - weather depending. (Running in the summer when it was really hot wasn't great but with it being icy cold isn't fun either!) I can't wait to tick off my bucket list and to have that medal around my neck, right now it's a struggle to believe that's going to happen but I can do it! 

I realised I never got my rejection pack to say I didn't get a place in the London Marathon. All I got was an email but everyone else got a booklet in the post that came before the email. So if I didn't get that email I would have no idea whether I got a place or not. I think a Half Marathon abroad might be on the bucket list.. But we'll see if I still want to run after this full marathon!

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September Runs

Marathon training update! Run 29 it's going alright - not running as much as I'm wanting but I am getting my weekly run in. The plan is to do at least 2 short and 1 long run a week but I've only been doing 1 long run. I'm getting the miles in I guess that's all that matters really. 

Did an unexpectedly extra long run on Tuesday night with Jonny. I did say I wanted to do between 8 -10 miles (13 - 16km) we ended up doing 11.6 miles (18.7km). We ran from the gym then ran to meet up with Angie and basically ran everywhere...

Couldn't even tell you where we went as we basically just went down every side road in a circle! We did go to Court Hey Park and a I managed to do all the monkey bars which I'm quite proud of. Weight training is paying off - I'd ran about 5/6 miles at this point as well. We got back just before it started to absolutely pour down with gale force winds. I'm dreading having to run in the rain again.

It was a good run but I did start to feel my knees as we were running back to the gym. My legs were tired the day after and I'm in dying need of a pair of decent trainers. My Nike Pegasus are not cutting it but stability trainers are so expensive but I guess I'm gonna have to invest in a pair if I'm gonna do this marathon!

The week before I met up with Jonny and Ness and did 6.2 miles

6 miles

3 miles

Sarah's not ran in about 3 weeks cos she's got shin splints. She needs to invest in some new trainers too! Come on Sarah we need to go on runs again your marathon training is none existent - you didn't like the heat.. That's sadly well and truly gone now! We find out next month if we've got a place in the London marathon too!

Currently shopping around for a pair of stability trainers but it's hard to find a decent pair cheap they're all at least £120 which is a bit steep but I guess they're gonna be an investment as I'll definitely run over 120 miles training for this marathon!

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Rock n Roll

Today was the Liverpool Rock n Roll Marathon which I should have been running. I was so sad and gutted that I wasn't doing it! :(

Got into town for before 9 with Jo, Rich and Sarah. The weather was perfect maybe a bit too hot for a marathon but anything is better than the rain and elements we've had to deal with! The race started at the Albert Dock. We watched the start of the Half Marathon that started at 9ish which Jack, his sister and cousin was running. Angie and her partner Jonny were also running too. Rich was suppose to run but decided not to cos he hadn't trained and didn't want to get a worse time. The full wasn't starting till around 10ish so we stayed with Jo and hyped her up ready to go.

Should've been matching with these 2 with my compression socks too!

This amazing woman's number 1 fan looking fresh before the big race.

You could go down and sign up on Friday night I was so tempted to walk down and sign up for the marathon cos I wanted to do it so bad but never.

We left them to start then headed to Love Thy Neighbour on Bold Street to have breakfast.

Love Thy Neighbour

Rich got a peanut butter hot chocolate

Clearly hungry... got a scrambled egg & smoked salmon bagel. Sausage and red onion sough dough sandwich 

Sarah got the Cosmic Cacao Smoothie Bowl - banana, avocado, cacao

I got the Berry Blast Smoothie Bowl - raspberries, blueberries, pineapple, banana

I've had the smoothie bowl before when I went with Holly. Was a bit disappointed today though the smoothie was really thin and runny. It was defo thicker last time wouldn't say it was a smoothie. 

After we headed back to the finish line which was at the back of the Echo Arena to see Jack finishing his race. After we headed into town.

We might not have ran any of the races but we did cross the start line!

We went into town to find Rich a neck strap (I think that's what it's called) for his sunglasses but went to every Home Bargains in town, every pound shop, bargain random shop, Primark, T K Maxx and every opticians but no-where sold them! The last place we went to was Boots opticians where we finally found them! Literally trekked all around town to find one. Practically doing our own half marathon there!

We went back to the finish line at around 2pm as we were tracking Jo and she was due to finish around quarter past. 

She's amazing and absolutely smashed it with a time of 3:57:51. Beat that 4 hour mark we wanted! Didn't train further than 17 miles either but on the day just did it! I am so proud of her and literally look up to her at how amazing she is. I know if I was doing it I probably wouldn't have been able to keep up as she was so consistent averaging around 9 minute miles. I would've struggled so bad especially with that heat!

Rich thinking he's just ran a full marathon before Jo got her time engraved onto her medal. Absolute rip off for £12 for an actual second. We blinked and it was done!

Met up with Jo from work who ran the half with Iain from work. She wanted to meet the other amazing Jo since she gave us the plan for this marathon even though we didn't quite stick to it - it really helped thanks! 

Jonny sadly didn't finish the race but he tried and managed to do half of it. Injury got the better of him but he did more than me by actually starting the race. We'll both do it next year and smash it! We've got our own coach that's been there done it and has the t-shirt to show for it!

Congratulations and well done to everyone who ran the half or full marathon or 1 miler today and the 5km race yesterday. You're all amazing and all the training is definitely worth it for that medal!!

Jo you're the best and I hope when I finally get to run a marathon my time is just as good as yours!

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