Can you believe it? The Desperate Housewife with a penchant for chocolate and chardonnay is going to be running, yes you read that correctly, running the Race For Life in Edinburgh on 4 June 2006.
I have wanted to do it for years so this will be a real achievement for me.
Whether your support is monetary or involves waiting for me with a Twirl and a Diet Coke as I hurtle over the finish line, I will be v grateful.
I will try and update this web page with progress reports, however in all likelyhood I will be simply too exhausted from all the training I'll be doing. Ahem.
Thanks a million for looking at my webpage,
Lots of love
Nicola x
Updates
Monday 16 January - I have chosen to train by running (term loosely used) round Lady Mary's Walk with my mate Emma. It is approx. the same length as the Race for Life, so it's an ideal one to do. I can walk around it with Clark in the heavy buggy in about an hour and fifteen, so to round it in 1hr 5 was not a bad start. Took 10 mins off the walking time. Much laughing abounds. Can't really walk now. Lucky that Clark is mostly on his feet now because mummy is out of action.
Monday 23 January - Oh my goodness! It took an hour! Brilliant. It was so much easier this week as well. We were able to run so much longer than the first time. I am now full of hope. Emma and I saw a salmon leap out of the river as well!
Monday 30 January - This week was hard. Really, really tough. It was freezing weather. We wore our hats and gloves to keep warm, but breathing in the cold, cold air made it really tough. When we walked in between running bursts, the muscles started to tighten up straight away, so we really had to keep the pace up. Thus now we have a new time - 45 minutes from car to car.
Monday 6 February - This week neither of us were feeling up to it, but we went anyway. Our time hasn't changed, but at least we went for it instead of staying in. I feel really sore this week. Think I'm ill.
Thursday 23 February - Well, as it turns out I was ill. Emma hasn't been feeling up to par either, so we have had to take a bit of a break. Today I was feeling really miserable as I hadn't been out on a run for ages, so Adam dragged me out. It felt good to be out again, but I can still feel the cold in my chest so it was hard to run for too long without getting puffed. My lungs were burning most of the way round. Time stands unchanged at 45 mins.
Monday 27 February - Emma and I got back on the horse today and went for a run. Again I was feeling pretty rough so we took it easy. As it turned out, or time is still 45 minutes in spite of how much we walked in the second half. I guess we must have run faster and longer at the beginning before fatigue took hold. Hopefully by next week we'll be feeling more up for it and raring to go.
Wednesday 15 March - Have been going great guns at the running. At the beginning of March I decided that it was neccessary for me to run twice a week, so went running with hubby. It was brilliant! He really encouraged me and was able to give me great advice about technique and breathing. Then I decided to try his usual route which is round the Knock. It is a tiny bit shorter than Lady Mary's, but only by a couple of hundred yards. The first time I ran it (with Emma), I hated it. I thought it was simply to much of a struggle walking up the first hill (which is not steep, however is v v long). I thought prehaps I still had remnants of a chest cold. Anyway then we did it again a couple of days later and I enjoyed it a lot more. Think my chest had cleared up.
Now I have tonsilitis so running is well and truly off the agenda for a good couple of weeks.
Friday 7 April - It's been so long since I have updated my page so thought I better get to it! Have had my ups and downs with the running. Had to go on a treadmill last week as it was raining so hard. It brought back last summer and the whole injury thing (I really hurt my knee last summer and had to stop running for 5 months). I couldn't get a proper full stride, almost running on the balls of my feet. Then it was my 30th birthday so running was (almost) completely off the agenda. I had intended to run at the hotel where hubby and I were staying, but I forgot the single most important piece of sports wear, besides my trainers - my sports bra!! No way was I going to run unrestrained!! Had to make do with walking all around Dublin. The day after we got back I was out running with Adam round the Knock, a nice short run to get back into it again, then yesterday (Thursday) we did Laggan Hill, and I actually managed to run up the hill - one minute run, one minute walk. It really worked. We did it in 47 minutes which works out at about 13 minutes a mile roughly. Think I'm improving, but will have to see if I can repeat that next week...
Monday 17 April - Well I can't belive it's been so long since I last updated this page. Great things have been happening...On Saturday Emma and I went out with the intention to run 2 x 10 minutes with a 3 minute walking break inbetween. Emma asked me if I thought I could do it, and I replied no, but that I would do my darndest. Well, we did it! Today it was 20 minutes of running continuously, and again I thought no way, however low and behold we did that too!! I am astounded at the rate at which we seem to be improving. It's tough, but I am becoming more and more able to run for longer. Okay, so I'm not exactly sprinting, but it is so much longer than I thought I would ever be able to do. As long as I don't injure myself, I think I will actually be able to do it!!
Thursday 4 May - Well how time flies! The last time I ran was 27 April. Up until then progress had been amazing. I ran for 25 minutes without stopping. That was the whole way round Lady Mary's too! I tell you, it is a great feeling - not at the time, you understand, but afterwards! Came back from camping last weekend with a sore throat - looks like the tonsilitis has hit again. Am taking it easy and resting before getting back out there. Hopefully will run again on Monday, so I'll update you then. Oh, and another thing - it's now one month until the race!! So looking forward to it.
Wednesday 24 May - It's about that time again. Here's the latest installment in the Race to Train for the Race for Life! I am absolutely loving the whole running thing. I feel like it is the biggest well-kept secret ever. The feeling of getting from A to B in this time under my own steam is brilliant. When I finish each run I am on such a high, especially when I am somewhere that is so beautiful. I've done a new run that goes up Laggan Hill, over a field to Ochtertyre Estate, up the driveway, over to Glenturret Distillery, through a forest on a v narrow path beside which a river flows and you can smell the wild garlic, through another field then through Macrosty and Taylor Parks. It was just so beautiful, it has become my fave run. Luckily I have an adventurous husband who can read a map and isn't scared of going somewhere new, unlike me! I was starting to get quite apprehensive about the race which is looming large now, but my friend Emma with whom I have been training told me that it was such an enjoyable occasion that it would be a shame to detract from it with feeling stressed - Emma if you read this thank you for that advice because it has helped me no end. We should be going out tomorrow to do the new run, so will give a brief update then.
Thursday 25 May - What a wonderful day for a run! It was warm when I needed it to be and cool when I was too hot. It rained very lightly too which was lovely on my face. Forgot what a hilly route this was. Tiring but brilliant.
Saturday 27 May - Well today was the first day I went running by myself, round Lady Mary's. It was so liberating! I took my MP3 player and found that instead of thinking about how fatigued I was becoming, I sang along to the music. Adam and Clark were waiting for me towards the end of the run which was brilliant. I only had 2 x 30 second breaks which I was really pleased with considering I haven't been running that regularly.
Monday 29 May - Went running round Lady Mary's with Emma today. I ran the whole way! It was great. Such a good feeling! Feeling so good about Sunday. One run to go now before the Race for Life!
Thursday 1 June - Well, it would happen that today was the worse run I have ever attempted to run. The last outing before the RFL and I fluff it! Couldn't run up the hill at all. I barely managed to run along the river front either. Am just going to put it down to nerves. At least now I know how bad it can get! Have a firm foundation of training, so will just forget about today. Bring on Sunday!
Sunday 4 June - Well, what a day. Exhilirating, terrifying, emotional and exhausting. I have done the Race for Life!!!
We parked about 10 minutes from Arthur's Seat and then walked to the venue. We saw people with their numbers on from the outskirts of
Edinburgh , with more and more becoming apparent as we got closer to the big hill. If you caught another participant's eye, you just smiled at them because you were both there for a common purpose. It was good to feel part of something bigger.
So the big stretch was first, then the big warm-up, which was basically some light aerobics. I am not the most co-ordinated person in the world, so this was probably very funny to watch! Then we followed the flag bearers to our starting point and waited. The claxon went and....we stood still. Could see people going up the hill ahead of us, but still we remained. Then finally the heads in front of us started to bob and pull away...and we were off!
The nerves started to dissapate as I fell into that familiar rythym of pounding the earth. The puffed-out feeling of warming up came and went, and it was a good half kilometre or so until the ascent up the hill started. It was difficult to see the road ahead as there were so many people, so I couldn't quite tell the gradient. I had to listen to my body very closely to gauge the surface I was running on. After what seemed like an age, I stopped running and walked up what seemed like the steepest part of the hill. One it became a gentler gradient again I started running, then we were at the top and the 2K sign went by.
I looked up and there spread before me was
Edinburgh . It was brilliant seeing the city from what was really quite a unique way. I know that people use Arthur's seat a lot to run around, but on this day it was closed to traffic, I was with 1000 fellow-runners and 8000 walkers, and we all had a common purpose. It was a terrific feeling. We ran past the duck pond at the top, all the while being applauded by members of the public and I thought it was a fabulous feeling. Just me and the road. I was looking and looking for the 3K mark, getting quite puffed, and as time went on I got more and more disheartened as it just wasn't appearing. I thought I must have been going quite slow to have gone this length of time without seeing it. Then I saw the 4K sign!! It was 26 minutes at this point, and I tell you I really picked up the pace. I wanted to run it in 30 minutes, but thought at this stage in the game that a 4 minute kilometre was just a bit out of reach! Everyone started running faster and faster. The stitch that had been bugging me the whole way 'round intensified, but I thought I should just push through it as I was so close to the end. Supporters started whizzing by thick and fast, and I started scanning the crowd for my 'lot' (Mac and Norma were also there to lend their support). Then I saw them! They were waving and cheering and smiling and shouting out. Adam said afterwards that I looked as if I was in pain.
The next bit is all a blur. I crossed the finish line (the only one in that second!) went to the right, got a juice box, my medal and my bag. All the while I was absolutely sobbing! The emotion of the day and the nerves really caught up with me. I just wanted to be alone, so I went to the far side of Holyrood park and sat down to do my cool down exercises. Then my Adam was running towards me, pushing
Clark , then he was hugging me, then I felt better. I couldn't belive it was over, I couldn't believe I had done it.
We talked for about 20 minutes, then Mac and Norma went to see the new
Parliament
Building . Adam, Clark and I started to walk back to the car. The further we went, the more the RFL runners disapated, then eventually there were none at all. The traffic was still moving and the sun hadn't even come out. I expected something to have happened in the city because of this huge event. The status quo in
Edinburgh was maintained, but I felt like a different person. I was glowing and smiling and knackered.
There were many moments from that day I won't forget - the hushed puffing of hundreds of women that sounded like the ghosts of those we were running for; the man and boy who stood there with a sign that said 'Get your legs moving mum, go on you can do it!'; the pink pieces of paper on each runner's back, each representing at least one person lost to cancer, and how I had to stop reading them as it was too emotional to see the 13 year old with 'my mum' on her back.
By the way, I never told you who I was running for:
For Billy Wiggins (d. 1995), my grandfather, for Ethel McCartney (d. 1961), my grandmother, for William McCrum, my grandfather who is still fighting on today, for Betty Christie (d. 2005), Adam's grandmother and for Sheila Smith (d.2002), Adam's cousin.
Thank you for reading my 'blog'. The copy may not be the most riveting, but it is my story in my words. If you have sponsered me then thank you so very much. For those of you who didn't, then you can sponsor me next year!
Nicola xx
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