Brilliant! I won ugly 💥

This may be my favourite marathon ever and 14 weeks ago, I could only dream of the kind of day I had on London Marathon Sunday. The shocks of actually winning a 2nd chance Abbott lottery and being booted with a fractured meta tarsal knocked me for a surreal loop.  Post confirmed diagnosis, I knew I had to follow my support team’s advice to the letter.  This was an actual broken bone that needed to be healed before I could do any running. No “almost” healed and try it out.  Actually healed.  I had to figure out a different kind of training plan with Coach Erin under the guidance of Physio Monica/Chiro Monique and with a renewed support of Strength Coach Bea. 

I began a healing journal (much like my training journal) creating colour codes for progress & regression (thankfully not too many of those) and noted every step of this recovery until I was cleared to run.  As I was booted for a conservative 6 weeks and couldn’t do any cardio, it was a good time to up the strength game (anything above the knee) and Bea guided me through this. I was allowed some cycling (but had to wear my boot to and from the gym) which gave me the opportunity to buy new spin shoes (yeah me) and pool running (not a fan despite a good Aqua Belt).

Then came a period of every exercise I could think of besides running and elliptical.  I had to rebuild that aerobic capacity through spin, row and swim.  I can’t believe that it took me 30 years to get back into the pool, but I actually love it and am now substituting one run a week for a good swim.  All this before a 2-week return to run program consisting of building up to the 10 and one…. We’ve all been there before, but being able to do this as well as get some runnergirl inspiration in Bajan heat made it all that much more bearable. BTW … LOVE Barbados and can’t wait to go back!

Finally I could get on with training… kind of.  This was going to be a short 8 week build (half of what I usually do) with no speed work and 100% guided by physio and strength coach.  Can’t say that I loved all those exercises or drills but these ladies know their stuff and despite my complaints got me to stick with them🤪. There would only be one build to a 32K a couple of weeks before race day, so it felt like a lot was riding on this one build.  Some days the runs felt easy, most days there was some kind of challenge including a truly icky 29K run in freezing drizzle where the tin man looked more flexible than I did.  I even had to cut galpal Jody loose and it took 2 hours for the feet to thaw afterwards BUT I finished it.  I finished every run whether it was pretty or ugly. After all I started this training session with a new hashtag #runugly !

Everything seemed to be coming along and then of course, the drama of this training cycle wouldn’t be complete without one more episode of let’s chase the pain around the knee/IT just 2 weeks before race day. Why?  Who knows.  I had my team in place, so I was lasered, massaged and adjusted; and I stretched… a lot.  I canned a several runs and only got to test it out around St James Park in London a couple of days before race day.  This was so last minute I couldn’t decide which running shoes to bring so I brought 2… and I only had carry on.  Do you know how much space running shoes take up in carry on?  A lot! Luckily I’m an expert packer 😉

Any trip to London, must include a theatre stop or 2 so I figured an extra day to help with jet lag could be squeezed in to take in the expo, enjoy some shows, shopping on Savile Row, mushy peas yumminess and Leicester Square chaos.

Then the big day came.  Hopped on a train to the start area and while I had no idea where I was going, the marathon organization was incredible!  There was no mistaking where to go or what to do and it was smooth.  Rain, no rain – weather changes every 5 minutes in London … crazier than Halifax weather!! Other than the rain, it was perfect.  

Coach Erin had me break the race down in 3 parts:

GENTLE FOR THE FIRST HALF: As this was not going to be a time goal race, I really needed to pay attention to my body and spirit throughout the race and to not pull any bonehead moves.  Having me think about gentle for the first half was perfect.  Be gentle with the pace and be gentle with me. In this marathon there are so many runners on pretty narrow streets, so one of the advantages is that this crowd actually keeps you honest to your pace.  Basically, if you are weaving in and out of the crowd, you are probably going too fast.  Keeping “gentle” in mind, gave me the mind space to take in all of the crowds, the costumes (there are more World records broken for costumed marathoners in London than any other marathon) and the sites. Going around Cutty Sark was as chaotic as going through the scream tunnel in Boston, but this felt like a bit of a sling shot and was able to get back to gentle.  Gentle got me to the half point and Tower Bridge in great shape, great spirits and ahead of schedule.  While the crowds are fantastic throughout the race, going over the Tower Bridge was such a highlight!!  It was quite overwhelming, but what a boost. 

PATIENCE FOR THE NEXT 11K: For me, this meant simply stay the course.  I was super happy that I was feeling pretty good after 21K and wasn’t even wishing it was over😂. But it was around this point, that I was feeling some discomfort in my good foot.  It took about a K to figure it out, but I was getting a blister on the bottom of my foot!  I sat down for a bit to  make sure my sock wasn’t bunching… it wasn’t.  So, patience for me also gave me space for grace.  I had to remind myself that my goal was to enjoy marathoning again and to be thankful that I was able to do this (repaired broken foot and all!). This section brings you through the least inspiring part of the course, but those London crowds are absolutely the stars of the show.  I was never alone and every time I had to stop to walk out the pain of the blister, I was lovingly encouraged every step of the way.  I have never been so “brilliant” in my whole life. Even when I would joke with them about wanting a pair of dry socks (did I mention it was raining pretty much throughout the whole race?), they would laugh with me and gently encourage me. Patience also meant, to not beat up on myself as I was slowing down.  My energy levels were great.  I didn’t tank once and when I was able to run, my pace was good. It did hurt more to walk, but I needed to walk to give the blister a break.  So thank you Patience for getting me through the hard part. 

BE IN MY K FOR THE LAST 10: Those of you who have done a marathon know that when you get to this part of the race and you haven’t hit a wall, you’ve got this unless you let that IBV (Inner Bitch Voice) come out and ruin the show.  Getting me to just BE in each and every K, really worked for me as I was hobbling through with this blister.  At around the 35K mark, I realized that my shoe was loose.  Talk about a rookie mistake.  Had I realized this at the half mark when my blister started, it may not have gotten that bad. So I sat myself down a second time and retied my shoe.  What a difference that made.  I was still in pain from the blister, but my foot was more secure and a bit more comfortable when running.  Still had to walk but was able to time this more with the water stops (BTW loved the mini water bottles they give out!).  Sticking with simply being in every K, allowed me to bring my head up a bit more and capture the most wonderful sites along the Thames, past Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and finally down the Mall.  That last K was so topsy turvy. I was struck with overwhelming emotions that almost brought me to my knees. I was finishing this marathon pretty close to my secret realistic goal considering I had a broken foot 5 months ago and I was enjoying this despite the blister pain and I was already looking forward to my next one.  I had to stop to thank a spectator for being spectacular and once again to have a quick chat with a guard so I could get a selfie by Buckingham Palace.  He did point out that finish line was about 200m away, so I gave him a quick thumbs up and cruised across the finish line.  I almost couldn’t believe how good I was feeling about this whole thing … and THAT is my major win of the day!

Can’t finish this recap without giving a shout out to the organizers and the volunteers, not only was the start area perfectly planned, the finish area surpassed the start.  I’ve never been able to leave a large race so quickly and easily and even if I had left a bag in a lorry, it wouldn’t have added more than 2 minutes in the finish chute!  Kudos.

A tale of 2 finishes: What an incredible performance for Sifan Hassan who felt she had no reason to be out on that course that day! And then there’s me, with the “I can’t believe I liked it” hands on the head 😂

While there may be a bit of post race delirium (oh and a lovely parting gift of COVID … leave it to me to finally get it when the WHO declares it is no longer a global emergency🤪) happening, I highly recommend this as a destination race.  If the lottery weren’t so difficult, I would be doing this one again BUT I have another goal.  This is World Major #4 and I have 2 more stars to grab.  Next up:  Berlin in September.