What the Hell Have I Just Done?!...

Hello my Snailtastic followers,

If I have any that is!! Maybe I just read my own blog- who knows.

So, yesterday. Actually, since running the Great Birmingham Run in October, I've been having pondering crazy thoughts about running a MARATHON! I know- shock horror. This time last year, I'd run no further than, maybe 2 miles at most... EVER - minus the 12 minute Cooper run of death, back when I was a GCSE PE student!

This year marks 2 half marathons, and God knows how many miles I've ran over the 12 month period of 2015!

So university is out for Christmas break, I'm working a puny 20 hours or there abouts a week at Coventry Food court till January. I'm sitting here thinking (procrastinating from my January History exam revision)...

Holy crap! The Coventry Half is only weeks away. I seriously need to get my arse in gear, if I'm wanting a 2:23-2:20 sub time. Finger Crossed.

Anyhoo, back to the post title. Since November I have joined, obviously my hometown Half i.e Coventry. As well as Warwick Half due to it being a British Heart Foundation event and the Silverstone Half, just cuz for the upcoming 2016!

I did have this idea whereby, I'd complete a half marathon a month, in memory of my Nan and her partner, John, who sadly left this earth in October of this year- another devastating family blow. But with this thought, I starting to contemplate the next distance in hand- a full MARATHON. Am I being too apprehensive? I thought yes. The marathons nearest me in the West Midlands were all this side of the New Year. I mean, even I know I couldn't physically meet the demands and distance of a marathon in 3-5 months from now, I doubt I'd be able to fully commit myself. Again, I was searching, a marathon would be one of the most challenging things I'd probably ever do in my life to date. I suppose I could travel anywhere in the country and class it as a weekend away for me and my fiancé, or if in doubt the Vickster.

I was looking ideally for a late September 2016 or even October.... Then I think ooooo, but what about the Birmingham Half, which I really want to do again. I didn’t want to have an overloaded October, but then again, its my 21st next September, I have no clue if I'm going to Rhodes again around this time... Aghhh. But then, I pulled my finger out and was torn between the Wolverhampton Marathon in September sometime, Chester or Bournemouth in October. With this, I started comparing the routes and inclines, as well as the descriptions... Ching... Chester somehow won me over. It totally wasn't because of being a supposed 'flat, fast' course. Or because people voted it as the UK's best marathon or summit, summit! Or because it was a couple quid cheaper ;). So I left it there for a couple of days. Asking for people's opinion as to whether they believed I could, in fact run a marathon.

The comments ranged from:

"Yes, but it involves a lot of training, you cant just wing it, Coley!" (Mother)

"Hmmm, that's a fairly long distance" (Stepdad)

"Are  you crazy!" (Best friend)

"She (Nan) would be so proud of you" (Stepdad)

"Yeah, Chester has good designer shopping. I'll do that while you run 26.2 Miles!" (Dad)

...To...

My personal favourite:

"You can do anything if you put your mind to it and if you really, truly want to achieve something you will. I believe in you Coley. You'll do it" (Fiancé) <3 I truly love this man!

With the positives outweighing the negatives... Here it comes... A click, click there, debit card details there and Boombastic, fanny's your aunt and Bobs your uncle. I did it- I signed up for my first ever full MARATHON!


My current thoughts are as follows:

"What the absolute F@ck have you just done? 26.2 miles you can barely run 13.1 without wanting to keel over in a hole and die of exhaustion! O, Dear God above" (Brain) 

Start praying for me guys!

The Wolf Run November 7th, 2015- Mud, Sweat and... Obstacles

This was probably one of my most favourite, but toughest 10k's of all. But be prepared to see me at my worst... 

I'm was so excited for this event. £59 each for a 'skin of the teeth' entry due to some people pulling out last minute. So my best friend who took part in the Colour run decided that she would gladly do it with me. 

Let's bare in mind that I hadn't run properly since my Birmingham half marathon. I though of the obstacles, yeah it's not timed, no need to do any hardcore training- Oh how wrong was I? Baring in mind that this was the winter wolf run, I kept an eye on the weather around Stanford Hall... Mateeeeeeeee, it couldn't have been worse. Rain all day the night before race day on the Friday. I was like absolutely brilliant. We had the start time of 1:50pm too. I was beginning to regret this entry. I knew we were in for a mucky ride. 

We arrived at the venue about an hour before the start time, to line up and get our race packs. I was all set in my black running leggings, my black compact thermal sleeved top, my headband and cycling gloved and a pair of old running shoes. Hoping this would keep me warm we progressed into the warm up arena. Even just looking at that made me cringe. But it was nothing compared to what was about to come. The warm up consisted in some very good humour by the instructors, whereby a guy had reportedly lost one of his shoes in the mud on the course and continued with one shoe on. Ahahahaha- that's dedication. Talk about getting your money's worth from your entry fee an' all. We were then told to run, crawl and superman pose in the mud. Which I found deeply satisfying. I was loving every minute and so we the Vickster. I got her good by flinging some mud at her, at a event force   It got her smack bang down the side of the face. All you could hear is "Coley, you little $h¡t" 

Warm up antics. 

Moving on... It was time to progress, the first part of the course was passing the wide river.mit was absolutely freezing. I said to Vickie. I hope your ready for this as we're going to have to keep a good pace Inbetweeners obstacles to keep warm. As it was nearly 2pm. It was only going to get colder. After about 1km in Vickie was already stuggling and breathing quite hard so we walked (annoyingly! But I thuought hang on. She's doing this for me at the end of the day. Stop being so petty). By this point I already had some strong guys hoof me over a massive hay bale due to being too short to get over myself. Funny times. We approached the first swimming section. Vickie isn't a very confident swimmer so she decided against this route and ran to the left on the non swimmers side. I braved it, the water was oil black and stunk. I went all out and just slid in. Omg, not going to lie, I felt like Jack Dawson from the Titanic when it sinks and he (sadly) dies. It was disgraceful. Trying to swim whilst absorbing the shock of the freezing cold water, attempting to catch your breath, whilst trying not to be kicked by other participants, and get sucked in by whatever it was on the bottom of that river bed. I don't even want to know. 

I'd finally found Vickie hoping that she would have ran on without me. But luckily it wasn't long before I was out of the water that she came running up to me. At this point in the race, it was fairly OK. I WAS Fairly warm, all that muddy-Fiedler and feeling hyped for what was next. Trying to avoid pot holes and attempting not to slip over on the mud. We progressed (slower than I would have liked). 

You seriously need to note that, all of the obstacles I'm trying my hardest to remember and describe does not do this run justice. It's one whereby you have to experience it!  

Anyways. The mud got worse, sections up to your knees. It acting like quick sand type of suction. The obstacles become more demanding. Swimming through dirty green mossed swamps crawing through tiny passages in the dark on your hands and knees getting mucky as hell. Wow. It was truest amazing. Like I was a big kid. 

I got to 8km and lost Vickie. She had twisted her ankle and told me to go ahead without her (so romantic I know). At his point it was pressing on, dawn was round the corner. I knew at this point it had been an hour and a half near on two hours. The next two km I embarked on was tough. I was getting tired and exceedingly cold. The fun was wearing out. Considering I'm use to a 1hour.6minute 10km. It seemed like I was doing a half marathon due to it feeling like the course was never ending. I was sliding everywhere the route was just full on mud. As you can imagine. You can't physically run through it effectively. 

Jumping over some trees and logs I could see the finish in sight, I climbed the 2 high climbing frames to cross the river and sprint tog the finish. Vickie was nowhere to be seen after 15 minutes. I got worried and was annoyed at myself for leaving her on her own. But she succeeded and finally crossed the finding line about 20minutes after me. I was so proud yet again. I've now threw a 3.1 miles and a 6.2 mile run at her and she conquered both with a smile on her face. 

We collected our finishers packs and my dad chucked me my bag after we freezing attempted to use to events shower heads to get the excessive amount of mud off of us. I go into he tent for the women and realised I didn't bring a towel. Nor did Vickie. Oh dear. Luckily there was a towel on the floor. I thought fuck it. I'm using it. I have no care if this former person had some type of contegious disease. I will use this towel to get warm and changed into fresh clothes. As you can imagine, I had to throw all my clothes away. Managing to save my headband. Over all this was an amazing run, fully worthy of the price. I look forward to partaking in The spring, autumn, summer and winter one next year to gain my alpha wolf technical t shirt. I recommend anybody to do this. It's really fun and tests your limits. For example. I conquered my fear of highest on a certain obstacle. I advise you get as many people to do it with you as possible as that's my only regret. I seen all these friend and family groups having more fun and making shared memories! Overall an amazing mucky day out! 

Here's some photos from the day  

Great Birmingham Run 2015- A Day For Success, A Major PB... And GroinInjuries

So this amazing day was upon me! I'd been out for a friends birthday on the Friday and having a little too much to drink, as well as boogieing a little too hard (not getting in till 7am that morning). Me and my best friend awoke Saturday feeling a little groggy, but were all set out to get the train to Birmingham and attempt to find the hotel we'd booked! 

After getting lost in Birmingham town centre, attempting to find a taxi rank- we finally got to the hotel at about 7:30. McDonald's in hand (I swear to you, whenever I've had a McDonald's up to 2 days before a race, I manage to get new PB- thank you fast food. Your not all that bad after all!). I washed myself of all my alcoholic sins and attempted to get an early night, which didn't go as planned. I had an really bad sleep. Was this nerves? Probably. At the time, I was thinking, what happens if my 

groin gets worse? I didn't want to pull out of the race half way round. Or even worse, have to walk 3 mile like my first half marathon. (The week prior to this run. I went on a 12miler and seriously injured my groin at about 10miles- I was devastated. I hoped with a week of complete rest before race day it would be okay! 

I awoke nice and early, with ease due to excitement for the day ahead. Whilst my best friend was still snoring her head off in dreamland. I wouldn't dare wake her as she'd have actually killed me. I very proudly put on my Alzhimers Society Vest, made sure I applied some deep heat to my affected groin area and continued to get prepared physically and mentally... I then waited for sleeping beauty to come back into reality, whilst simultaneously checking my phone due to noting a few 'good luck' posts. I found that these words of encouragement were partly why I did so well... I'll describe how later on. I felt kind of ready. But not completely, my groin still had a slight wince of pain when doing a certain movement. I was like shit! Please no! Be okay, just for one day- I can rest for 3 weeks if I had too after. Just not today! 

After the Vickster was dressed. I decided against my usual 'no eaty breakfast' tradition and took full advantage of the hotels continental. I only snacked lightly, with some fruit and a piece of toast. I thought to myself, no overloading as I'd probably have to roll myself like a whale round the first mile or two! So with my phone sat nav in hand, we decided to take a brisk, slightly cold walk to start. We arrived fairly early (without getting lost), the elites had just been set off.  So I went to put my bag in the baggage bus. The atmosphere already was so intense. It just goes to show how many different runner there are in the world, as well as a colourful variety of charity running tops and vests- it's incredible. Everyone hyped. Whether it was their first half marathon, whether it was their first Great Brimingham run or whether they'd ran this event every year. Some with PB's in mind, some to just be greatful to cross the finish line after the dreaded incline. 

Vickie had to leave me so I could start to progress with the other people in the pink wave down Jennens road toward the start line. Even though I was due to be set off last, it really didn't feel like it. The time flew by. After a mess up with the green wave, (I think or orange starting just 7-10 minutes before us) everyone had somehow been integrated together, due to being marshalled into the wrong starting side of the road. Already I was panicking, like shit the barriers are all the way up the centre of the road. How am I going to jump over to the pink side? Shall I just set off with the other colours? Luckily, me and this other woman found a slip through gap and slid back on to the correct side. Panic over! 

With all these people surrounding me and invading my personal bubble, I felt exceedingly anxious. I just wanted to go. They didn't set us off until about 10 minutes after the official time confirmed in our race packs.

Erghh let me go, before I change my mind. Ha. 

After a very anticipated wait. The start gun went off. Yeeeey!!! 

My journey starts here! I Paced myself almost immediately- setting a do-able, comfortable rhythm, as to not knacker myself out too much. The first part, i.e 1-2 miles in were fairly pleasent. No majory up hill inclines, quite a bit downward. Then the dreaded, tedious Pershore road leading on to Kensington Road which was quite a short, scopy incline. The first proper hill. In my opinion. But I felt utter relief coming up and around Selly Park Road, which fairly flat/ and down hill. It was a nice to break up from the tedious Pershore. I felt surprisingly fine at about 5-6 miles in, going along Bourneville Road was quite pleasant again, due to the downhill on to Mary Vale Road. This ultimately led back on to Pershore, I was making okay-ish time. I think I looked at my Garmin around the 10km point. According to the Great Brigham time chip split, I made it to the half way point in 1:06:43 only 1:13 over my personal best for a 10km of which, I achieved in Wolverhamoton the September just gone. I thought. Hell yeah. I got this. However, I badly wanted to get out one of my SIS gels, but I thought to myself. No. Save it for mile 8, then take one at around 11-12 miles. My fatigue Is only going to get worse- I thought, anyway. 

As I crossed the 8 mile point, I revitalised myself by taking the gel. I'd only ever taken one once in my 12 miler the week before last. Jesus, it was like a Duracell bunny had erupted within me. I was on fire and itching to continue. My groin started to get uneasy going through Edgebaston Cricket ground.  I was again cursing in my head. Reiterating and praying to God that if I pushed that little bit harder and got my muscles that little bit warmer, it would ease the pain. Which surprisingly, it did! Ooo happy days! Coming through Canon Hill Park. I felt my fatigue slowly, but surely burning itself back into me. I'd never gone beyond this part of the course, having only done the 10k, as well as having no geographical knowledge beyond this point until I reached the killer hill- I was effectively blind to the next mile and a half ahead of me! Canon hill park was a fair incline in itself. I was checking my watch, whilst simultaneously trying not to look half dead and retarded for the photographers. Haha. Call it vanity, call it proof/ evidence, or what you will!  

The course levelled out, you could say for about a mile and a half or so. I was feeling great! It had started spitting too, which further revitalised and refreshed me, as well as going into that cold spray thingy on the course. That was pretty awesome. 

Then came Charlotte Road. I actually said in my head. Here we go chuck. This is where you either make this section your bitch, or it makes you its bitch. Lone and behold, I felt tired of course. But no where near as bad as I recall being when taking part in the 10km. This furthered into a positive. 

Running has clearly impacted on my fitness level since May of this year. I felt fairly happy indeed. A handful of Jelly babies were practically thrown at me as I passed the 11 mile. Once again, looking at my Garmin. I was either concentrating on not letting my legs go from beneath me, or I was slightly disorientated. I could not visualise whether I was making good time or not, so I thought screw it! I'll just soldier on. It was only up until mile 12 that I thoughourouly knew I was making a very, very good time. Passing the 12 miler point, I upped my pace, knowing I was nearly finished gave me a surge of adrenaline, as well as seeing the Alzhimers Society Supporters shouting words of encouragement from the side line to me. Coming up Calthorpe road (this was the last incliney bit- I believe) I decided to get my phone out of my back pocket and read over all the motivational posts from my family and close friends. Which significantly helped to take my mind off the hill, as well as helping to make my pace more consistent. 

Up Hagley Road, I felt captivated with all the support, and knew I was near Broad Street. Coming up to the last 0.20 miles, I decided to go all out to get to the finish. I looked at my Garmin and thought:

Shit, I'm going to break the what I personally thought to be impossible, possible. I sprinted through the finish line and checked my watch, which was at 13.15miles with a time of... 

Drum roll please.........

2:25:53! Chip confirmation of 2:25:43

I was in absolute shock. I had indeed made the what I thought impossible, possible and succeeded. I knocked a grand total of 33 mins off my first half marathon time in July, on an undulating course oppose to a flat, fast route. I was on the brink of tears. After the collection of my medal. I sat down at the village bit at the end of Broad Street. 

I got my phone out. Which I noted, had 3% battery. I still had to ring Vickie to tell her where I was and that I'd finished. Shit! I rang her like "my phones gonna die. I'm in between G-H, please find me!" I sat there for about 45 mins. With a dead phone, hunderds of people everywhere and no sign of my best friend. I was thinking, what happens if I can't find her? I know nobodies numbers off the top of my head. I'd just have to leave her and get the train home or stay in Brum looking for her. But no, I thought, stay where you told her. Do not move! 

Finally I found her and hobbled into a big hug with an ever so painful groin. I slightly forgot that as soon as I'd sat down for 45 mins, it would sieze up and the pain was excruciating. So we began to walk to Robs Car, which was about a mile away. We got near on there and I turn to Vickie like, "I've left my bag on the baggage bus on the other side of town!!" . So, as you can imagine, after being called every name under the sun. We begun our journey back on ourselves, to collected the baggage and got back to the car in twice the time it should have took us, due to my fish memory of a brain hahaha!  

With this we decided to park up outside the town centre and walk into the bullring, have some lunch and then head back home. Exceedingly thankful for the lift back, I managed to fall asleep! Bad mofo-ing idea!!! Don't you worry, Vickie gladly took the most horrendous photos of me. Which I may share further down.

So there you have it. I absolutely smashed my previous half marathon time, regained a groin injury, but as ever hyped, believing I could do it all again next weekend... Little did I forget the immense muscle pain the day after. I almost had to get my mother to peel me off of my bed for university the next day! 

Photos to follow a little later. I'm off for a job interview. Wish me luck! 

 

32 Mile Bike Ride... Are You Mad?

Right so, this isn't related to running. But it was classed as an endurance event, as well as being the most demanding-est cycle I've EVER done in my life.

This event was done with my 2 older Cousins. I was dreading it completely. 3 weeks prior to this event I'd gotten myself a crappy £90 bike! I know. Talk about cutting it short for training. I've never really been a good cyclist. I'll tell you a little story... Relating to how my introduction to cycling was disastrous...

As a family, on my Mum’s side. Before going abroad, we use to go to Centre Parcs for a week. Where we'd hire out the bikes, and cycle through the different parts of Forrest. Usually, I would be in the little cart and let my mum tow me along. On this occasion, I was finally old enough to hire out a bike of my own. When we'd go on bike rides, I'd trail behind. I’d complain and cry to my Mum, Stepdad and Cousin, complaining that it was too difficult. Being a chubby, unfit child of the day, my mum would shout and curse at me. Saying I was just plain lazy. At the end of a not so brilliant holiday, my stepdad come to find that my brake pads were stuck together on the wheel. Ahaha. So I'd been working effectively, 10x harder than I should have been. My guilty ridden mother apologised for her behaviour towards me and all was well. So there you go. It's safe to say a cycling career was out of window for me!

Leading up to this event, when I'd finally got my bike, I went out only once or twice with my cousins doing about 13-15miles. The event came round the corner so quickly that I doubly doubted myself! But all in all, this event was primarily in memory of my Nan. I thought, even if I am unfit. Even if it's going to take me 5 hours to complete, I will find the will power to finish it. My will power prior to this had been my driving force when my training and when my initial fitness had lapsed.

So the day had come. I'd met my Cousins at the start in a rural area of Warwick. I'm not going to lie. I was fairly intimidated by all the road racing bikes and people in professional looking cycling gear. Here, me and my two cousins had shown up on mountain bikes... Worth no more than £100 each! These people looked like they meant business!

We gathered some nutrition bars, emergency contact information and pinned our race numbers to our shirt and off we went. The first 5miles were  fairly pleasent. Then we nearly got lost at one point due to there being a 16mile route (in blue arrows) and our 32 mile route (in red arrows). Me and my cousin Shannon, had by this time lost my cousin Ciara as she powered ahead of us. We both said well if we have done the 16miles, we'll have to go around twice due to us raising funds for entering the 32mile. As you can tell. It was sort of turning into a nightmare. Luckily my Aunt and Uncle caught up to us in the car, along side the very encouraging Aunty Dotty, who cheered us on and said eveything was fine. We were on the correct route. Thank Christ!!

After around 20ish miles my knees started hurt badly due to my seat being too low, but I carried on all the same. At this point, I was absolutely knackered. Dying even. I thought I was doing better than I thought on milage. I was wrong. I underestimated how hilly the route actually was. 

It's safe to say on our shitty mountain bikes, me and my cousin finished near the bottom of the pile, but guess what? We did it! It took us near on 4 hours. All of which were felt like blood, sweat and near on tears. But we did it, Ciara completing it about 20 minutes to 30 minutes faster than us- so proud!! I think If it wasn't for the thought of my Nan being in my mind and hoping that she was proud of us from up above, I'm going to be honest with you now, I probably would have given up and pulled out of the whole event.

Feeling exceedingly proud, we got some well earned food in our bellies, packed our bikes and left feeling absolutely enticed with success. Unfortunately, due to the small BHF team that put on this event we were not provided with any medals/certificates. But all the same, my race number as a memory, like all the rest have been stuck onto my wall, next to a portrait of my Nanny! 

This event proved to me that your mind is a lot more powerful than you think. If you can convince yourself by putting the fatigue and lack of energy at the back of your mind. You should be able to surge on until you pass that ultimate finish line. Never underestimate yourself. People, after all, are their own worst enemies. Unfortunately, I'm not going to put the images up due to not getting, at this present moment in time permission to do so off of my Cousins.

To finally conclude this short narrative of my bike ride, I'd like to thank the BHF of Warwick for this wonderfully designed family event. It brought us closer as a family unit, in the respect that in a team effort like this, you will accomplish and achieve like never before. In a way, it's sad to learn that it takes a ringlet in our family chain to break off, before we truly realise the real meaning of word (family). I'd also like to acknowledge that I am indeed, exceedingly blessed to have healthy and supportive family, whom I love with all my heart. Forever. Always.

 

The Color Run Birmingham- O, So Pretty

So I've wanted to participate in this run for about a year. So I used some of my hard earned money to pay for, probably one of the most expensive 5k runs I've ever done. I decided to enter my best friend also without telling her and sending the email confirmation to her work email. She was shocked. But I said "Bitch you owe me £35.50". I wasn't up for letting her skiv me out of £35. I love her but not that much, Jesus! 

I was exceptionally happy when my race number and white t-shirt got delivered as well as the fake tattoos. I was so excited for this event. 

I woke on the morning of race day, waited for Vickie whilst taking lots of selfies. It felt nice to finally have someone run with me! We left fairly early knowing that the train journey was easy, it was the bus journey into town and the walk to the train station that would made our journey lag. 

On the train, there were many people looking identical in their white t-shirts, tutus and equally excited for the event in hand. With only a short 10minute train journey we arrive. It took us a little longer to finally figure out where the hell we had to go. I was even more excited due to my fiancé coming to watch. 

It felt like forever to get to the start, we were queuing up for at least 15 minutes before setting off. I was itching to go. 

Yey, it was our turn to go! I started off a little quicker than usual wanting to get to the first powder station, the route was fast. I was craving a PB. Vickie found it quite hard, struggling to keep a consistent pace and so having to do the technique of run, walk. (As you can imagine I hated this. But it was my best friends first 5k! Cum'on. So I wasn't too fussed. It gave us more time to soak up the atmosphere)

The first powder station PINK! I was getting pummled with powder left, right and centre. Wanting to get as messy as possible. After all I did pay £35 for the entry fee. I was going to get the most out of it. We were briefed before, and told that you had to keep powder stations flowing, so your weren't allowed to stop. But as you can imagine not everyone abided. I witnessed people rolling on the floor, sliding. All I got was pink spit. Haha. Ergh it tasted rank!  

The second station BLUE- By this time the Vickster had gained a really bad blister. Causing us to take longer to get to this station. The was my fave. I loved blue! + I got absolutely caked in powder. Yes. I was staring to look like a multi coloured leprechaun. 

The third station. YELLOW!- At this point I'd lost Vickie as I wanted to run for a bit. I waited for her though to go through the powder, as it was a lot more funnier that way, even though you vision was impaired due to the huge smog of powder clouds. 

And finally the ORANGE station- it being our last station, I was determined to go through it slowly as to get epically coloured for the final sprint across the finish line. 

I said to Vickie looking at my newly coloured Garmin that we were near the finish and stated one does not merely walk over a finish line! As a result we decided to run and race each other to the finish like two competitive children. 

She beat me of course, due her mahoosively long, sexy legs. Which were nothing compared to the Snailtastics short stubs for legs. 

What a great run. We got our finishers goody bags along with a massive pouch of powder each to do the infamous end of run celebration throw. That was to happen every 15mins! We were the first to do it. Whoop after finishing in 35/6 minutes. Which was pretty good considering my best 5k time was around 31/32 mins! 

The count down began. 

10.

9.

8.

7.

6.

5.

4.

3.

2. 

1. 

My fiancé caught quite a good photo as well as me videoing it. This event most definitely lived up to expectations of being the 'happiest 5k on the planet'. I loved every minute of this run/ brisk walk. I was exceedingly proud of my bestie. Completing her first ever 5k. Next up the Wolf Run in November. For me, my next event was the  Wolverhamton Banks 10k at the start of September.