China and life after the marathon

Dear Diary...
I made it. I ran a marathon and I made in good time (for that marathon) - 6 hours 23 minutes. And I was so proud, so happy. Even though that was May and this is August, maybe I should end this cycle, complete the circle and tell the story - at least some overview.
It was amazing. Tough as hell, beautiful and challenging, but amazing. I was ready and I did it. I have the medal, the poster photos and the t-shirt. I did it.
Strange, I meant to of course, write up the whole thing and how much it meant to me. After months of preparation and many interesting stories, it was almost surreal once I was done. Don't get me wrong, it was amazing. I don't think I can put into words how amazing it was. I am so glad to have seen, felt, touched and experienced the Great Wall. It is worthy of it's name. I did not find China - Beijing - in general awe inspiring...but the Wall took my breath away. Of all the things to see in life, I think this is one worthy of effort. But once I came back life took me on it's normal roller coaster ride and I never actually got around to writing my story. And when I started thinking about it, I realised the story changed. It is different now, maybe I am different now.
So I ran the marathon, a tough one, and came back home (really homesick) and winter hit and my running went from feast to famine. And I started missing having a goal. It does not help that I am still sans training partners (Toe-less-wonder and Falling-down-stairs are both still slowly coming back to the fold). So August is here (and it is snowing today) and I started attending my ritual of running again in the past week. I am back. And I have stuff to say, stuff to think about and a big life choices to make. Life after the marathon has begun... But before I turn the page, some of the visuals from my big adventure.

The poster child at the finish.

Never before was I so relieved to finish. So many starters did not make the official cut-off time. I took many pictures and fought many demons to get to this point. I loved it. I hated it. I loved it.

Beautiful views, breathtaking scenery...

So it was harder than just a normal marathon? Yes. Steeper than I expected? Yes.
Killer steps were hard, but the gradient that is what killed me, but hey it was way easier than I had anticipated.

There was one section that took me 30 minutes to climb a mere 1 km. It was just so steep. And after 35 km, it bites!

And in the end, I was also reminded how much I love SA and how proudly South African we are.

Ke nako

Sitting in the SAA Lounge at OR Tambo international airport, 30 minutes to boarding the flight to Beijing. Super cool to be typing on my iPad and blogging about my great adventure. This past weekand especially the days were tough. Lots of last minute issues and worst of all, picked up a head cold on Saturday. Dosing myself with lots of vitamins and paracetamol and hoping for a quick recovery. But here I am...after all the training, the highs, the lows, the fear and the anticipation, it is finally time. Ke nako.

Scarcited

Nine days to the big event. I just had a look at the website again and my toes started curling. The climbs look scary. Fear struck me. I am scarcited. Excited and scared all in one. Flight is on Monday the 15th at midnight and with that the long trek will begin. First the 14 hour flight to Beijing then the trip to the wall. I am happily planning to have iPad access and through all of this hope to be connected enough to post memories. Training has gone well, no injuries, no colds, no real issues with training on my own: everybody just helped where they could and here I am soon to be: "Bella the international marathon runner"

Training, training and some more training

The past two weeks have been great and super busy. Not only did the fitness really kick up, but I also found my times improving significantly. I've now started the last of the serious weeks and found mid-week training runs getting harder - mentally mostly - while running the races on the weekends keep me honest, it is kinda lonely to get up at 3:30am and trot of to some distant spot in Jozi. But, I ran my best ever 32km and matched my second best 21km in the last two weeks, keeping the motivation levels up when times are tough. Amazing how persistent training of 40-60 km a week can change one's fitness in merely 6 weeks. Hope for all. Most weeks I make up the distance with plenty 5-9 km runs in the week and one or two longer ones on the weekend. Hey I know plenty more running is possible, but I also have a job and a life to manage. Remarkably, my two training partners both "fell" due to obscure accidents and I have been stuck with resorting to dragging my injured partner out at night, him following me in the car, me running in front. As winter approaches the evening runs are harder, and it is not a great strategy to run after dark, on your own, in Joburg suburbs. But the night runs - with the entourage - have been a revelation to the soul. No stress and plesant beyond my expectations. So when the going gets tough, the tough gets the 4x4 to be my wingman!

Progress is so good.

I spoke to someone who's run 14 Comrades and 50 marathons and is obviously a real runner. A gentle, modest guy, not one of those people that make my little dream small because they have done so much.
I like to remember how hard the first 10km race was AND how amazing the accomplishment was for me. Running a marathon, and the Great Wall Marathon, is huge for me and what I am doing is running against the odds - for me. Easter weekend saw me run my longest training run yet 32km (as part of the Randburg Harrier's Easter 100). I felt amazing. In a mere 6 weeks I have run 267km. Suddenly I am contemplating running a marathon this Sunday and the mere thought is not frightening me silly. I need to decide and either do it or just run China. Sometimes it is just hard to know what the right thing is to do.

Toe the line

Toe-less (left) and Toulouse (right)

I ran my first Gauteng race this year! Jackie Gibson Half Marathon and it was nice. I finished in a much better time than I expected for this early in my training and with the extra kilos I am still carrying and were very grateful for the 2:16. The route had some tough hills, but also genuine downs that helped with time. I prefer hilly routes over flat ones any day. Hills make you work, focus and concentrate - flat races are boring and it is too easy to slow down. Interesting thing is that I ran the same race in 2010 and in identical time. The little photograph : On the left the Toe-less wonder's foot and on the right Toulouse the kitten. The same kitten that was being rescued from the tree when the accident happened - and really that was his name before the "incident". He is adorable and loving and is bonding big time with his dad.

In the meantime, March is nearing it's end and I have been at this for a month. Thus far I have completed 169 km, ran 2 races, adapted to a new training regime, booked my spot in the marathon, booked my ticket, and is busy applying for my visa. Not bad for March! 

Toes are important

When I started this blog about my little dream to run the Great Wall Marathon, I thought this process would be about how normal people (non-athletes like me) experience this process. I know the word athlete is a bit generic, but whatever it means to you... I am not one. I found though that as time marched on, that some of the blogging is me writing about coping with the training, while some of this is me just sharing, but a lot of this is me recording this path and in the process this has become a bit of a diary.

A week or so ago, I wrote about my favourite things, amongst those I mentioned, my training partners. This past weekend my training partner had an accident. On Saturday, in a freak accident at home, one of my precious partners lost his big toe and broke multiple bones (mostly toes) in his right foot.  Drama, hospital, doctors and some more drama. Now that the dust has settled, I reflect and suddenly felt lonely.

The first thoughts were to deal with the actual incident and get the medical stuff sorted. After all of that, I had to face the facts: How much I relied on the companionship and the co-motivation. And generally, having a guy run with you just makes you feel safer. This week, I am faced with taking care of an injured toe-less wonder and having to deal with a changed picture of how I am going to get to the 19th of May in good enough condition to run this thing. It's not impossible, but life can be so fickle. I know the loss of a toe is a bigger problem than my "loss of training partner" and there is no "but" really that can be said without feeling really crappy about saying it. Maybe there is only a "how". How do I adjust the training plan; how do I alter my training schedule to accommodate all of this, how do I not slip.

It is simple - less enjoyable, but simple.

I need to start using races as training for the longer runs (already entered a 21.1km on Sunday and ran the Run Jozi) - tick. To deal with the immediate problem of increasing the distances: I need to dust of the old iPod and start running those shorter runs on my own again.

No problems here (I hope).

So first stumbling block: my dog chewed my iPod this morning sigh :-) luckily only damaged was the headphones.