Eleanor Runs a Marathon

[eleanormarathon-blog]

Getting back into running....and blogging about running!

So I definitely mentioned (a lot) that I was going away to India for the summer to volunteer, and this entailed ten weeks away from the thins I love the most - my family, friends and, of course, running! I took some skipping ropes in the futile hope that I would use them to keep fit, but aside from a lot of walking and carrying bricks around, I didn't do anything fitness related! In some ways, this was great; it gave my legs and overall muscles a rest, but it did mean I missed out on my precious alone training time, and was back to square one fitness wise!

Getting back into real life was harder than expected, as I had to go straight back to work, then was sent straight to Birmingham for accountancy college. In all of this confusion (which is still going on!), running is kind of a stability mechanism for me.

After ten weeks of essentially resting my legs, I was kind of back to square one fitness wise, which my body understood but my brain did not! So obviously, I hit training fairly hard, running most mornings (about 2/3 miles) and managed to give myself a knee strain. I did some self reassessment, bought a knee support, upped my strength training and cut down on the miles and it's seemed to do the job!

I'm still slowly building things back up, and now I'm finished with college and working on an audit full time, fitting in training runs is still hard, but I'm living in a nice location which means I can run to work during the week, I'm close to a parkrun and the lovely Victoria park for my Sunday long runs so I can't really complain!

Last week I ran the Greenwich park 10k (which I'll write more about next time I blog), I'm signed up to the Edinburgh marathon in May and I'm hopefully doing a half early in the new year so there's plenty to keep me motivated. Plus, most significantly I've joined a running club, which is very hard work but worth it so far!

Anyway, that's my short introduction to my running again, next time I'm going to talk about the first race I ran without any of my family or friends supporting on the sidelines!

[eleanormarathon-blog]

Post-marathon blues, New goals and Trusting the legs!

I've been meaning to keep writing about my running, but my dissertation has taken over my life since the marathon so tonight (after getting my dissy bound today) is the first time I've had a chance to sit down and write. Note - this was written on Friday but I'm only publishing it now, after handing in my dissy!!

Some people I've talked to say that after their first marathon they never want to run again, and others, like me, are completely the opposite. Running has become about more that just the races for me now (though they are important too!), it's the person that I am now. This summer I'm going away to India for ten weeks and I will almost certainly not run for the whole time, and that scares me a bit! This could mean building my running fitness up from scratch again in the autumn which is on one hand terrifying, but on the other, a challenge to relish!

After the marathon, I have to admit that I felt quite lost. Training had dominated my life for over six months, and nothing could prepare me for the directionless feelings I experienced in the week following the marathon. The title of this blog might be a bit misleading - I was NOT in any way disappointed in my performance in the run, and all feelings of sadness following it were from knowing that I'd done it and thinking, what next?? You put all of your life into something, and for me it was everything, and when it's done, what else can you do?? My wardrobe is now dominated by running clothes, my week is structured around training runs, my appetite has grown hugely and I am constantly thinking up new routes to run and new ways to challengd myself!

So being the person that I am, within just a few days I'd already structured some new goals for myself (not all running related because I need to remember that I am not and never will be a professional athlete!) so I'll share the running related ones with you.

Firstly, in the months leading up to the marathon I was running faster and faster so I'm trying to consolidate this. Only a couple of months before the marathon, my parkrun pb was 25.59, six days after the marathon I ran 23.20, so that gives you some idea of my progress!! Over the next year I've set myself some tough pb goals: a sub 21 minute 5k, a sub 45 minute 10k, a sub 1.48 half marathon and just a new marathon pb!! I'm still a little way off these yet, but they feel achievable - I'll keep you updated!

And secondly, I've set myself the aim of running 100 miles in 6 weeks - deadline 13th June. To some, that sounds like a long way, and to others it doesn't sound far at all! At my peak of marathon training, I would do that in about 2 and a half weeks, but between being a little bit ill, completing my dissertation and revising for finals, my weekly mileage is more around 25-30 miles. 

As further motivation for these goals, I'm going to be running the Hull 10k on June 8th with my sister Alice!!

The final part of this blog is about winding down the training - something that is a lot, lot harder than it sounds. In the week following the marathon you're encouraged to rest as much as possible and definitely not to run. I was completely knackered in the days following the run, but all leg pain had subsided by the end of Tuesday really, so staying in was really tough!! Getting a new parkrun pb the Saturday after was good for my confidence, but I haven't quite matched it since, due to winding down my training a bit. To be honest, saying to myself that I was only going to run 100 miles by mid-June was to kind of stop myself from running too much. It's hard to remind myself sometimes that I'm no longer training for a marathon and so I don't need to run loads of miles and my degree is actually more important! But, at the same time, I'm still fit enough to run pretty far quite often in decent times, and by cutting back a bit on total miles, I'm not going to lose all of that!

After beginning to write this on Friday I did my weekly parkrun on Saturday and clocked 24.12, not a pb and initially I was a bit disappointed - until I remembered that just a few months ago that sort of time would have blown me away! I followed this up with a lovely slow and steady 12 miles on Sunday as a celebration for finishing my dissertation - the best sort of reward!

[eleanormarathon-blog]

14. I'm a marathon runner!!!

I DID IIIIT!! Or rather, WE did! I'm saying we because it turns out that I needed the support of everyone watching, wishing me on and thinking of me more than I'd ever anticipated. This was mainly because I realised on Sunday that 26.2 miles is a BLOODY LONG WAY!!! 

This was just after finishing - people have said I look really chilled here but I was actually in an incredible amount of pain just standing up!!

My family and friends were really great at calming my nerves in the days leading up to the marathon, so luckily I went into it on Sunday with a pretty clear head, AND for maybe the first time ever before a big race, I didn't cry before starting!! 

Obviously, at the start line I made some friends, mainly because we had all pushed our way to the front of zone 8 (out of 9 zones) only to find we were behind the 4 hour 30 pacer, slower than I was hoping to run!! It was pretty cool to chat to people before, meaning the time we were in the pen before starting flew over and before I knew it, we were off!! 

The first few miles were a breeze to be honest, it was really busy so there was a lot of dodging around people (something parkrun has prepared me for actually!) but there was so many enthusiastic supporters that the first three went so quickly! It takes me about 2 and a half miles to get into my stride anyway, so I knew not to worry about anything until then, and then, as I predicted, I settled into a pretty comfortable 9 minute mile pace! Easy to keep up right? Well yeah, for the first half....

I finished the first half in 2 hours and 11 seconds, but the race was definitely a tale of two halves for me! I did massively slow down in the second half, as you can see in my results stats (see link below) but this was where my training, and the support from my 'fan club' paid off! Every 5k I ran was slower, but I somehow managed to keep running, even though my head (after about 17/18 miles) was telling me to stop! If you look at my stats here you can see!

http://results-2014.virginmoneylondonmarathon.com/2014/?content=detail&fpid=search&pid=search&idp=9999990F5ECC83000013DC5D&lang=EN_CAP&event=MAS

What worked for me was breaking the marathon down into chunks: after 15 miles (when I realised I was really slowing down) I promised myself that 18 would come soon, and I would be rewarded by seeing some supporters - and at mile 19 I was!! My best friends from work were there in matching red 'Shelter' t-shirts very loudly cheering me on! From there, I knew I'd see some of my friends from uni between 22 and 23 miles (as I'd seen them just before half way and the route doubles back) and again they spurred me on with their smiles and cheers! This last bit was definitely the toughest though, I gave up any high fiving, and for once, didn't smile with every step!! I'd seen my family with their huuuuge banner (a whole bedsheet!!!) made by my cousins at mile 9, and they were there again going wild for me between 23 and 24 miles! 

My banner - I couldn't miss it!

This last bit was painfully (and it was painful!) slow for me - every time I saw someone I knew, or someone shouted my name though, it spurred me on to keep running. My friend Hannah was with the Anthony Nolan supporters just before mile 25 so I had the treat of all of them shouting for me, and opposite Westminister the accountants were loudly cheering for me again, which got me to the finish line! Turns out my Dad, Patrick and Alice were about 20m before them watching, but I didn't see them and they didn't see me! We know this for sure because those three feature in the background of one of my official photos!! 

The last mile was tough obviously, especially as it was so warm so I was pretty disorientated and confused by all of the crowds screaming at me (I didn't feel like Mo, at all) and I had planned to sprint down The Mall but there was not a bit of energy left in my legs so I just kept it steady! It was very emotional finishing, and I definitely had a good cry when I received my medal. Immediately after if you'd asked me if I'd do it again I would probably say no way, but after a couple of days to contemplate my success, yeah of course I'll run a marathon again and I'm definitely entering the London ballot next Tuesday!

I love a good list, so here's a marathon highlights list!!

Time: 4 hours 18 minutes 11 seconds

Place: 15997 of 35776 runners, 3993rd woman out of 13228.

Best Bit: The crowd cheering me on

Worst Bit: Realising at 22 miles that the 4.2 miles to the finish was going to take me a long, long time!

Most embarrassing moment: Being passed by a man dressed as a London Pride beer bottle just before the finish!

Most surreal thing: A women looking me right in the eye and saying "you got this Parker" because my last name was on my vest.

Most emotional moment: Crossing the finish line, then feeling like an Olympian when I got my medal

Best costume I passed: Either the famous fridge man, or the woman running with a giant breast strapped to her back!

Biggest myth debunked: 'The Wall' - physically, I didn't hit it, because I trained hard, practised my hydration and nutrition intake and reacted to the conditions on the day. Also, the idea that you have to be made a certain way to run a marathon!! If you look at the shape and size of people who ran London, outside of the elite few at the front, there is a huge spectrum of big and small, tall and short - I am certainly not built to run marathons with my short stumpy legs and child sized feet but with training I did it!

Money raised for charity (so far): £1073!

If you still want to donate, my pages are:

www.justgiving.com/EleanorParkerICS and www.justgiving.com/Eleanor-Parkermarathon

Medal up close - representing Raleigh and ICS! 

Finally, here's a photo of just some of my supporters on the day - this is my family at the end, we met at the Meningitis Research Foundation part of Horse Guards parade and had this photo taken. Thanks to MRF for the amazing aftercare they gave me on Sunday, in the form of cuddles, a seat, food and congratulations!! And thanks to ICS for their supportive emails in the lead up.

This photo only shows a few of my supporters, but I cannot thank everyone enough. I've said it again and again but I couldn't have done it without you all! The kind messages, the hugs, the phenomenal cheering, the reading of my increasingly length blogs, the sponsorship which was the main reason I undertook this crazy challenge, and all of the general love I have received!!

One marathon down, I went through blood (when I fell over many times training) a hell of a lot of sweat and some tears (mainly after crossing the finishing line!!) and I'm hooked!! Watch this space for my future marathons!

[eleanormarathon-blog]

13. A week to go, aaahhhhh!!

In seven days time I will have (hopefully) finished the whole London marathon and be celebrating with a pint, and my family and friends! Nerves are beginning to kick in a bit now, and tapering is a lot harder than it sounds (try telling someone who is used to running 45 miles a week that they need to cut down) but luckily, I have my dissertation to keep me distracted most of the time! Today, I'm going to talk about other people running!

This morning I went down to Ecclesall Road to watch some of my amazing friends take part in the Sheffield Half Marathon. Usually, this race wouldn't make any news outside of South Yorkshire, but this morning was a little different, as the official run was actually cancelled! Due to an logistics problem (so I hear), the race organisers were forced to cancel because they did not have enough water for all of the five thousand competitors! This was all after delaying the start by an hour, yet letting all the runners line up ready to go! However, the so-called #rebelrunners were not deterred, and ran the course (unofficially) anyway! It was pretty phenomenal to watch in the end, because runners still gave it their all, supporters still lined the streets and Sheffield residents and businesses came out and handed water out to the runners! So congrats to Jade, Matt, Rosie, Eloisa, Mary and everyone else who ran - all of your training and fundraising did not go to waste after all! Amazingly, the whole story made BBC national news, so here's the link if you want to read the full account and not just my perspective!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-26910318

So, as you can see from above, Sheffield is a pretty great place to be a runner, and this is something I've experienced myself over the last few weeks when doing my training, including my parkruns! Yesterday was my final parkrun before the big day, and I clocked another pb, this one at 24.12, knocking 43 seconds off my previous effort. The pb was great, but what was undoubtedly even better was my housemate Rachel coming along to run her first ever parkrun too!! Because Sheffield Hallam parkrun are now ridiculously efficient with their barcode scanning, I was able to cheer her on along the end of the run and over the finish line! She totally smashed it! Our aim by the end of the semester (in June) is to have all of our house to run it (we've only got two other housemates so it shouldn't take too much work) and to get everyone to reach this target, I've set up a 'house marathon' chart! The aim is for all of us to have run a marathon in small increments (even if it's just a mile at a time, 26.2 times) by the end of the semester! I'm not filling it in until after Easter, but we're all very excited to see what we can achieve when we're not revising/writing essays/out on the town (lol JK we're not into that so much any more)!

As promised, here are some more cringey running photos of me - this time at the parkruns where I achieved my sub-25 minute pbs - the bottom one is just before the finish this week, it was very competitive as you can see!! If anyone from the Sheffield Hallam parkrun is reading, thanks for organising such a great run, thanks for the great photos and I'll see you when I'm hopefully a marathon runner, with a few friends in tow!!

[eleanormarathon-blog]

12. Six months down, less than two weeks to go!

Tuesday was the six month anniversary of my training for the marathon beginning! Obviously, before I was doing some running, but stepped it up on October 1st, just a few days after getting my place. In some ways, it seems like such a long time ago that my Sunday long run was just six miles, but in others it feels like no time at all! The past six months have flown by, I can't believe it's very nearly crunch time!!

I'm in my taper period now, so trying to relax and remember that I've prepared well, so it's not a requirement to run 45 miles a week any more! Believe me, not running all of the time is harder than it sounds when you've become very accustomed to it.

Last weekend I attended the pre-departure training for the volunteering I'm going to be doing in India this summer, and it was really great! I now feel more motivated than ever before to reach my fundraising target, and get ready to travel at the end of June. Over the weekend we learnt a lot about where we'll be going, what we'll be doing in India and of course, met each other! 

I'm flying out on 26th June (incidentally just before my degree results are released), to the South of India, to the Raleigh fieldbase which is 15km from Mysore in the Southern Province of Karnataka. In our first few days during in country induction, we'll be separated into our teams of six and allocated our projects and areas, so I don't know specific details yet. However, all teams are made up of six volunteers from the UK and six from India, as well as two team leaders and we will either be working in a community in Karnataka or neighbouring Tamil Nadu. All projects will focus on either health - improving access to water and sanitation through awareness and infrastructure - or natural resource management - promoting sustainable agricultural livelihoods in rural communities. The ten weeks starts with an action research section where we survey the local community alongside the local NGO we'll be working with, to get the information we need to make decisions about what kind of work is needed, and who the specific beneficiaries in the community will be. This part is probably the part I'm looking forward to the most, as it is establishing needs to make sure plans are appropriate. This is followed by a peer to peer education stage, and awareness raising on the issues that we've decided to work on. If there is any construction required, this will begin about four weeks into my ten, and alongside this we will be delivering training to ensure the sustainability of our projects and address any issues that have arisen, as well as a resource development stage to develop said training resources to ensure sustainability. 

As well as finding out more about the actual work I'll be doing in India, we learn more about the 'Action at Home' part of ICS, which aims to raise awareness of the issues we have been considering abroad, back in our local communities. This is a crucial part of the ICS programme, which feeds into the Millennium Development Goal of establishing global partnerships, as action at home aims to increase active citizenship and awareness at home. So, in the autumn, keep your eyes peeled for what my Action at Home project might be!

I could literally write pages on what I learnt this weekend, but I'm sure you'd all get very bored and stop reading, especially as I mainly talk about running!! Basically though, I'm feeling very motivated and enthusiastic about both Raleigh and ICS, and I fully believe that they work they do and that I will be doing are very valuable. I look forward to delivering change for my community in India, to myself as ICS is about personal development too, and to my community back home next autumn!

If you have any more questions about what I'll be doing in India, what my fundraising is going towards, anything marathon related or anything else, please let me know!!

I'm doing pretty well in fundraising towards my £800 target for Raleigh ICS, but if you'd like to donate, please do! You can at:

http://www.justgiving.com/Eleanor-ParkerICS

Thanks!! There will be another, more running-focused blog soon!!

[eleanormarathon-blog]

11. Three Weeks to Go - Dress Rehearsal Time

This blog was going to be called 'less than a month to go', but I definitely didn't write it in time, and the marathon is now three weeks tomorrow!

Tomorrow is going to be my last really long run before the big day, so I'm having a dress rehearsal! I'm going to eat the food I'm likely to eat the night before the marathon, go to bed as early as poss, wake up at 7.30 and have some porridge (my marathon breakfast) then head out at 10am which is the time the marathon begins! I'll also be wearing my jazzy meningitis research foundation purple vest and the shorts I'll be running in!

The plan right now is to do 22 miles, but it might be shortened to 20 depending on how I'm feeling. If you see me out tomorrow though, definitely tell me to keep going (don't let me stop and chat) because I'll need all the support I can get!!

I just wanted to say two really important things in this blog!

Firstly, the MRF have had some amazingly good news this week in that experts from the Joint Council of Vaccinations and Immunisations have recommended that the meningitis B vaccine be introduced to the NHS vaccination schedule! Men B is the leading cause of life threatening meningitis in the UK and this vaccine offers 73% coverage. Around 1760 people (usually babies and small children) contract Men B every year and around 1 in 10 die, and the rest can be left with amputated limbs and severe scarring. If the NHS were to implement this, the UK would be the first country to do this nationwide, which could set a worldwide precedent!! It's pretty amazing to see the hard work MRF do pay off, so in the future less children and their families will have to suffer like we did when Thomas was ill. If you want to read more about this great development, then see the MRF page at http://www.meningitis.org/news-media/marchmenb , or BBC news at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-26679486.

My second important thing is about the London marathon itself!! I would love it if as many of you as possible could support me on the day, and I know a lot of people have booked their train tickets down already! Here is a link to the map of the course, I'm starting at the blue start and I'll post some info in a week or so about when I'll be hoping to reach each mile, but for the moment assume I'm running at a 4 hour pace. The race starts in Greenwich at 10am, but the first half is run south of the river and isn't that accessible, so I wouldn't recommend watching from that side unless you live that way already! If you are going to be watching, please let me know and tell me where you're planning to stand approximately so I can watch out for you and give you a wave as I plod past! Here's a link to the race info, including an interactive map!

http://www.virginmoneylondonmarathon.com/marathon-centre/virgin-london-marathon-information/virgin-london-marathon-information/

And finally, after the race, I would love to see everyone for a cheeky drink and some food! I've booked out an area in a pub called The Big Chill House on Pentonville Road (which is near Kings Cross/St. Pancras for you non-Londoners!) all afternoon and I'll be trying to get there between 3 and 3.30 depending on how long it takes me to run and how long it takes to get through the finish area! Here's a link to the pub, with a handy map as well.

http://wearebigchill.com/venues/house/

If you haven't yet, and you fancy sponsoring me for the marathon, my sponsorship pages can be found at:

http://www.justgiving.com/Eleanor-ParkerICS 

and

http://www.justgiving.com/Eleanor-Parkermarathon

Also....I smashed my parkrun pb this morning in clocking 24:55, the training is paying off!!

[eleanormarathon-blog]

10. Battling the Inner Demons

I'm an absolute sucker for quotes, so much that I have a selection stuck to my wall to make me get up and write my dissertation every day! But, my boyfriend Patrick did point out something valuable to me the other week - all of them say the same thing! Every quote I love in essence is saying that you will face adversity, but you will overcome it! However, on a recent run a quote popped into my head that I'm going to credit myself with, "your biggest competitors are not the other runners, it's the demons in your own head". 

For me, this really sums up the main thing I struggle with when I'm out running. Getting out on the road isn't what I find hard most of the time, but running faster or getting up the tough hills is what I find hard! 

For example, on Monday I did my longest run yet - 20 miles! I listened to music to get me round, but I definitely needed to tell myself I could do it when pushing the later miles. One tactic I tried on Monday was to tell myself I'd just started running. My run was in three sections around the outskirts of Sheffield, so for the second part I said to myself I'd just started running, so surely my legs should be feeling fresh! It kind of worked, but it's always tough if things start to hurt! A lot of people say that running helps clear their head, and yeah, a run always cheers me up, but when I'm running my mind is thinking "ooh a squirrel, ouch legs, I'm too warm, how is that man running so fast??" so I wouldn't say I become serene and clear minded!

I think the key is distraction whilst running. I mix it up with music, sometimes I listen to it (on Monday I definitely did) and my running playlist features a lot of strong female singers like Beyonce and Kelly Clarkson, and sometimes I just let my mind wander and listen to the surrounding noises. If the scenery's nice, it always helps, but the best distraction is some company! Unfortunately, I can't quite seem to persuade anyone to join me for 20 miles at Eleanor pace!

Hopefully on the actual marathon day the crowd and surroundings will cheer me up and spur me on to keep going for the full distance, but if any of you reading know of any other tactics to keep my mind in check, let me know!

Here's my latest cringey running photo - stretching with a banana post-20 miles!

[eleanormarathon-blog]

9. Support - the people behind the camera, and the GNW Half!

In this blog post, I'll be talking about the running support I've had from people, and also about a recent race I took part in!

So, out of all of the hobbies I've tried, and believe me there's a lot (dancing, acting, hockey, football, climbing, scouting, guiding.....the list goes on), running is definitely the worst one for spectators. Or is it? I mean who wouldn't want to stand around in varying weather conditions for large amounts of time, seeing a bunch of sweaty people you don't know jog past, only for the person you're actually waiting for to go past in a split second, and probably throw you a layer they've peeled off, or expect you to hand them a bottle of water as if it were an Olympic baton...Oh wait, I was right first time round, watching running is not all that great. And if you don't watch the actual run but make the mistake of asking how someone's training is going, you have to endure a long description of their runs, which are probably very interesting to them, but a mile by mile description of their eighteen mile Sunday funday training run probably isn't how you want to spend the next half an hour of your life.

Despite these things though, my family and friends have been and continue to be extremely supportive throughout my training. When I was younger, my parents or nanny would come on all of my training runs (even if they were for only like ten minutes) and now I'm older, they come and watch me race. Even during the Christmas holidays when it was freezing, Mum would drive me down and cheer me on every Saturday morning at my park runs! My housemates and boyfriend are subject to almost daily reports of my runs, usually during my post run refuelling or stretching when I'm still high on exercise endorphins, but somehow they still remain enthusiastic!

Last week I ran in the Great North West Half marathon, and never have I needed the support from my family more, and of course they were there cheering me on! The race is known as a fast, flat course with only 1,600 runners so I was feeling confident, but it's along the Blackpool coast so I had definitely underestimated the North West coastal breeze. Patrick and I headed over to Blackpool on Friday and Saturday was perfect running weather - cold but bright with very little breeze. Sunday however, was a different story. It was very cold in the morning, with showers and very, very strong winds! My parents and our close friends the Mosleys came over from Manchester so caught us at the start before I headed off. The run is two laps with one half of the lap on the prom level, and the other on the beachside path. Of course, the tailwind behind us was on the higher, prom level and the wind against us was on the much more exposed beachside path level. I had a clear race plan in my head, starting near the 1.45 pacer and heading out at about an 8.30 pace, which all went to plan despite being very nervous. My first couple of miles were really tough, my legs were hurting, my head wasn't feeling great and I began to question whether I'd even complete the race, never mind reach my goal of running it in under two hours. But, I persevered with my plan, and about two and a half miles in, my legs settled down and I got into my stride. It's really hard to explain, but it was as if I needed to push through a mini wall of lactic acid at the start to hit my race pace.

I first saw my family at about four and a half miles, which was a big relief because I was really feeling the strong wind at this point. As you can see from my face, I was feeling pretty comfortable at this point and very happy to see my supporters!

I finished my first lap in 56 minutes, which was what I'd been hoping for, so this really lifted me. I knew the long run along the beachside path in lap two would be the worst bit, it covered the hardest part of the race: 9 and a half miles to 12 and a half, so I decided that in order to maintain my target time I would push harder along the first part of the lap, with the tailwind behind me. And I'm so glad I did that!! Running against the wind for a second time was harder than ever, so much that we were encouraged to run in groups and shield ourselves behind bigger runners in order to conserve energy. I definitely lost time here, but all of the time I knew I was still on target because the 1.58 hour pacer was never anywhere near me! Other racers were really kind too, a man joined me at 11 and a half and told me to run behind him to shield myself from the wind. We ran together for the rest of the race to encourage one another! 

This is me at 12ish miles, I look like I'm walking but believe me I wasn't!! My Dad was really great here, he was shouting at me that I was going to get a great time and he knew my goal so I knew things were going well. You can see some of the sky behind me but it was so, so windy by this point so it was all adrenaline and encouragement that was keeping me going!

The final run along the top felt amazing, not running against the wind was so nice and meant I could up my speed for the last half mile. When I saw the clock and saw that I was well under two hours I pretty much burst into tears but sprinted over the finishing line, as the commentator was actually saying my name because my Dad had told him to!

This was just after I'd finished, you can see some of my cheery and wind beaten supporters around me, but by this point I was just so elated with my time and to have finished I had stopped even noticing the weather! I know that I would not have got to my target without the support of my family and friends last week though, so my medal is definitely for them!!

I'll need all of the support I can get on the actual marathon day (6 weeks today aaahhhh) so if you're around London or want to come down to cheer me on, please do! Let me know where you're planning on standing too and I'll let you know what time I should be getting there! And if you are coming, stay afterwards because I've booked a pub near Kings Cross for bevs and food to celebrate!

Thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone who's supported me in my marathon training so far, both in person and via your kind messages and sponsorship. There is no way I would have the motivation to get out training all the time without it, so thanks, I use your kind messages to get me up all of the Sheffield hills!

If you'd like to sponsor me for either of my charities, the links are:

http://www.justgiving.com/Eleanor-ParkerICS for the International Citizen Service

and

http://www.justgiving.com/Eleanor-Parkermarathon for the Meningitis Research Foundation

[eleanormarathon-blog]

8. Fundraising!!

A few months ago, I talked about one of the charities I'm running for but because I got my marathon place through the ballot, I'm lucky enough to be raising money for two causes, and now both are set up and ready to go!

Just last week I found out I've been selected to go to India in June with the International Citizen Service and Raleigh International. I'm away for ten weeks and will be working in a team of fourteen young (18-25 year old) volunteers from the UK and India in a rural community alongside a local NGO on a sanitation related project. I haven't got the full details of my project yet, but when I do I'll write about it! ICS is a long term set of projects which are mainly funded by the Department for International Development, and are a way of the UK government delivering overseas aid. They involve teams of young people from the UK and abroad working together to deliver sustainable projects which communities actually need (the first part of the process is surveying the community we are in to find out what their needs are) and which make a lasting impact. To go on this trip, I have to raise £800 which goes towards ICS, so I'm hoping to raise some of this through marathon sponsorship!! 

Here's my sponsorship page, where you can read more about what I'm doing, and about Raleigh ICS.

http://www.justgiving.com/Eleanor-ParkerICS

The second charity I'm raising money for is the meningitis research foundation, and I'll be wearing one of their purple vests on marathon day!! My brother suffered from meningitis last year, and although he is fully recovered, many are not so lucky, so I'm also looking to raise as much money as possible for them! They are a great charity, who have been very supportive to my family as well, and supported me when I competed in Tough Mudder last year!

Here's my separate sponsorship page for them:

http://www.justgiving.com/Eleanor-Parkermarathon

So, if you can afford and want to sponsor me please do! Even 50p will help either of these charities, but please do not sponsor me any more that you usually would just because I'm running on behalf of two charities!

Training Update

This week will see me run 40 miles in total, again more than ever before but I'm feeling good! I've got the ugliest blister on my left little toe, but with plasters and lots of antiseptic cream it's going away! I've also been trying to be more disciplined with the non-running side of my training, stretching after every run, doing exercises to strengthen my knees which are getting a bit achey, and going to circuit classes to get my overall strength up! In fact, I'm writing this after an early morning circuit session this morning and before a group run with some Politics friends who are running the Sheffield half! 

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I didn't think my blog had enough pictures, so here's some more running related ones! I know, I look very silly!

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7. When the Running Gets Tough, or, Scenic Running

My running progress has been very mixed over the past few weeks, and I thought of the title “When the running gets tough” a couple of weeks ago, but then today when running I was reminded of how beautiful Sheffield is, so I thought I’d write about that too!

It’s been exam/essay season at uni over the recently, so most of my time has been spent either in the library or beating myself up for not being in the libes! Running has been a nice break at times, but motivation after, or ahead of a long day staring at my laptop screen has been somewhat lacking! Plus, being at home over Christmas which meant more offers of company whilst running, lifts to wherever I needed to run to and from (including weekly cheering on at the Chester parkrun from my Mum) and most importantly, people to look after me (as in bring me food and drinks) post run felt like sheer luxury! All of this meant unexpectedly, my training went amazingly well over Christmas, culminating in a 15.5 mile run just before returning to uni.

Therefore, on my return to Sheffield, I’ve had to be more inventive in my route planning as my middle distance bread-and-butter runs have gone from 6/7 miles to 10/11 miles, and longer runs are now between 15 and 20!

I also enjoyed getting my parkrun pb down to under 26 minutes over Christmas (if you’ve ever seen me run, you’ll know that stamina is my forte, rather than pace) so on returning to Sheffield Hallam parkrun last week, I was sort of disappointed to miss my pb by 20 seconds, even though I’d listed the help of speedy Patrick to run with me!

Obviously I’ve read lots about runners plateauing, running too much and tiring themselves out and struggling with motivation, but this hasn’t made it any easier for me to get myself out running again like I did over Christmas!

Today though, I actually think I’ve reached a turning point! Yesterday I said that I was going to do a long run – 16 or 17 miles out to and around Rivelin Dams, but chickened out because of the time, and swam instead, but I’d already volunteered to marshal at my Sheffield parkrun, meaning I had no running plans for Saturday. So, I decided that even though the weather forecast was awful, I would do my long run later on today.

It was my first time volunteering at a parkrun, and it was just brilliant, I enjoyed it just as much, if not more than running itself! The other volunteers were really welcoming and friendly, and who wouldn’t want to stand around and congratulate 500-odd runners for doing a great job! Plus, the weather was great, and I got to cheer on a few familiar faces too (very well done Harriet, Heather and Claire!).

So, I felt really rejuvenated after that, and took myself out on my planned long run. I tackled something I’d been dreading, the Manchester Road hill which is a notoriously long hill in Sheffield, but you know, it wasn’t even that bad! Give me a few miles of that over the less than one mile Hillsborough-Walkley climb any day! Then I got to run around the absolutely gorgeous Rivelin dams. As soon as you step off the road onto the footpath it’s like being transported to another world. To me, it felt like the Hogwarts lake and Forbidden forest, only without all of the scary monsters and with more friendly walkers. Also on this run I was treated to some actual scrambling climbs and descents, and at one point fully waded through a stream, which gave my trainers a handy wash! I came back along the lovely Rivelin valley, running alongside the river and jumping over lots of rocks, puddles and tree roots! The rain did catch me at the end, or should I say the storm did! Thunder, lightning, heavy rain and hail meant I had to cut it short but my run as still around 15 miles and without doubt my most physically demanding yet, because of the differing terrains, testing climbs, hairy descents where I actually had to hold onto trees for support and dodging of various obstacles. At one point I actually said to myself out loud to dig deep!

Anyway, I’m not saying that I’m suddenly motivated to run the perfect training plan again, but the point of this blog was to talk about the beautiful views that Sheffield (and the north east!) treats me to on every run. I used to fully hate all of the hills here, but now I actually look forward to them because of the views at the top. I’m not the biggest fan of soggy feet and puddles, but I love running through woodland on a bright day, despite the inevitable mud which seems to get everywhere (today, I somehow got some on my face). Even running through the city here is quite cool, especially in the morning when things are just waking up. What do you all prefer? Does anyone else share my strange new found love for hills?

Now would be the obvious time to post a picture of the lovely scenery I’ve just been describing, and I would say that it never looks the same on a picture (which is true, nothing ever does) but in truth I just didn’t take any! Maybe next time!!

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Running over Christmas

This holiday is the first where I’m marathon training alongside all of the usual eating, drinking and celebrating. As well as Christmas and New Year to deal with, I’ve also celebrated my twenty second birthday – all meaning that it’s been harder than usual to get myself motivated to go out running. And this is all without the cold and stormy weather we’ve been having!

Luckily, I’ve got a supportive (if slightly obsessive) family who will remind me to get out on the road even when I don’t feel like it. In fact, I’m enjoying running at home even more than in Sheffield for a number of reasons!

New scenery – when I used to run at home it was around the same 5-mileish circuits, but because I can go so much further now, I’m finding tonnes of brand new routes to get lost on.

The company – being from a very enthusiastic family, there is usually someone who’ll accompany me on a short run, or at least come down to a parkrun with me (more on that later!)

LIFTS – Because she’s amazing, my Mum will drive me to places I want to run from, and even pick me up at the end so I don’t have to run all of the way home!

Less hills. I know, this is really bad because hill training is really good and I’ve been seeking them out, but everything in Sheffield is on a hill, just everything.

So, despite all of the adversity in the form of Christmas food and cheer, my training’s been going quite well. For instance, I’ve started a new family tradition of running on Christmas day (when I say new tradition, I mean I’m going to make them do it for every year for the rest of time)! Dad, Thomas and I, plus my Auntie Judith and her partner Liz all ran the Gateshead parkrun on Saturday, with Mum and Alice supporting! The run was very frosty, icy and obviously very cold but really good fun and worth doing. No PB’s were achieved, but it was a mint start to the day! On Boxing Day I ran my furthest run EVER. I’d planned to do 13.6 miles but it ended up as more like 13.8 because I took a slight detour (that detour being me getting lost) and it was great! I ran from South Shields, along the coastline and skirted around the edge of Sunderland before finishing at the Washington Wildfowl Park. Liz joined me for the first few miles which set me off at a good pace, Mum cheered me on just before I passed the preparations for the Shields’ Boxing Day Dip and my family were waiting at the end to pick me up! I ran faster than expected despite slipping and grazing my knee on some ice (woe is me) so I’m still riding high on that really!

Gateshead Parkrun pre-Christmas Run! Spot me and family in the middle and search Gateshead Parkrun on facey b/twitter for more deets!

For Christmas I got lots of running gear including a new pair of trainers which I’ll be running in and which will be making their debut at tomorrow’s Riverside parkrun. But in conclusion it turns out that with a good plan, support from my family and some determination, running during the festive season is not that hard at all! I just wish that I could have the same attitude towards my impending essay deadlines……..

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5. Four Months to go - aaaahhh

Today, December 13th, marks the four month countdown to the London marathon, pretty scary stuff!

I've downloaded a whole bunch of training plans and according to all of them, my own training plan has put me ahead of schedule (I'm currently running long runs of around 12 miles) which is a good boost! But obviously, I need to keep the motivation going!

There's a nice half marathon on the 23rd February I'm going to enter to keep my goal in sight, and I've got lots of runs planned over the Christmas period, including hopefully (if my family let me!) a parkrun on Christmas day itself!

To celebrate four months to the marathon today I tried out my first ever spinning class with my housemate Rachel (you'll be pleased to know I didn't take any pictures of us) which, aside from a bruised bum because I try to avoid cycling at all costs, was really good! Later on I'm running in between netball practice, a football match and a choir performance which should be a good workout too!

Again, if you've got any motivational tips for me, shout, because I imagine it's going to be harder than ever over the next few weeks of birthday/christmas/new year to resist eating aaaall the food and to drag myself out running!

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4. Running With Other People - Any Good?

Hello readers! This time I’ll be talking about running with someone else, running on your own and obviously, give you a training update!

I have completely mixed feelings about running with someone else and this is mainly because I am a terrible running partner. I’ll either talk at you the whole time, or moan if you’re making me go to fast. Just ask anyone featured in this blog and they will vouch for me on this!

As I said in my previous post, running with my brother Thomas was a great way of initially getting me out of the door running. He’s a good listener, will stick at my pace and has better natural legs than me so can cope with fairly long distances! However, Thomas isn’t very motivated so it’s difficult to get him to go running, and when we’re out he doesn’t push me to go faster or further! Elme, my running partner in London last autumn, was the dream. She was faster than me, more motivated but also understanding of my terrible pace and morning moans. I cannot credit her enough with my love for running! My friend Rosie has also endured many Sheffield runs with me, mainly in second year when I was especially slow and lazy! My current running partner is also my relationship partner (that sounded funnier in my head)! Patrick is a pretty great person to run with – he’s much, much faster than me, believes that I can go faster and also makes me go further than I think I can. But the bottom line is, I can’t run on my own with someone unless I’m sure they really like me because if they’re borderline on our friendship they will inevitably end it post-run.

Patrick and I after a very wet and cold run a couple of weeks ago, he still likes me after a lot of runs together!

Running with a group of people (like in a race) is one of my favourite things to do, although it does make me quite nervy! Because of this amazing thing called parkrun (introduced to me by my Auntie Judith) I get to run a 5k race every week! Or rather, when I haven’t been out the night before and get up on time. Parkrun runs all over the WORLD, including in Endcliffe Park in Sheffield – 9am, every Saturday morning, 5k, timed, and it doesn’t matter how slow or fast you are! The Endcliffe Park run has around 500 participants every week which is phenomenal, there’s tonnes of spectators and a beautiful park making it a great atmosphere! I’m sitting on a 27:17 PB for the Endcliffe Park run  but I’m hoping to get it under 26mins very soon (probably with the help of my Dad/Patrick/other park runners). I know running a smaller race before the big one is highly recommended, so I’m on the lookout for a half marathon to do around February/early March – if you know of one, give me a shout!

But then, running on your own is really great if you’re feeling fit. I love just going out for a couple of hours, probably getting lost, and not even thinking about anything other than “where am I turning next”, “ouchies that hurts” or “oh, that’s a cute dog”. There you go, that’s my internal running monologue! I also do really cringey things like congratulate myself when I reach the top of hills, or when I know I’m not far from home. Oh and I sing songs in my head (more so since I gave up on listening to music, I’ll probably write about that soon) and I’m a terrible running partner as mentioned earlier – so generally running on my own is my only option!

So in conclusion to that little debate, running with people is fun, running in groups is fun but my favourite type of running is long, slow, alone country running!

  Training Update

Things have not being going that well, but it’s going to be ok. Just after I wrote my last blog I got a bit too excited and did a lot of longish, fastish runs and aggravated a long term injury I have which then wiped me out for a week. My comeback was 11 miles on Sunday which was really great, but I did have a cold, which has meant I haven’t exercised much this week! Cold is pretty much shaken off so I’m getting back on the road tomorrow morning with a 5 miler. I am struggling a little bit with motivation though, so any encouragement would be greatly appreciated!!

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Here's some bonus running photos of me aged 11/12!

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3. Why on earth did I ever start running?

This blog has been planned for quite a while, but has taken some time to materialise, but I'm finally dedicating some time to it - it's only 5 months until the marathon on Wednesday but if I keep improving as I have been I think all is going to be a-ok!

So for this blog, I'm going to talk about my running history, essentially why on earth did a very short legged, not athletic person like me ever take running up when I could just be content reading a book?

Well, I count my family and the area I grew up in as my earliest influences. My Dad is a seasoned Great North Runner (though he hasn't done any since I was born) and both parents are keen watchers and promoters of all sport. Between my parents and extended family I grew up appreciating and admiring athletes because of personal experiences in seeing them in the flesh, reading stories about them in the paper or trying to emulate them in my own sporting life! Before reaching 18 I was lucky enough to see a Women's Euro footy championship, an international athletics competition where world records were broken, countless men's football matches, international hockey championships, men's premiership rugby and of course (and most importantly) years of Great North Runs!

Me before the Great Sunderland Run, aged 17

The Great North Run is an amazing North East tradition, which hijacks the lives of everyone in the region for a weekend and is accessible to all, it's impossible not to fall in love with it! I remember thinking when I was younger that completing the GNR was such a feat of human endurance, and that everyone who did it was heroes, so obviously I had ambitions to take part myself. Luckily, the day before the big race, there is a junior race, which when I ran it was the credible 3 miles. The youngest age you could run it was 8 and for me, it wasn't even a question that once I was 8 I would take part! You could run it with an accompanying adult so I think my nanny Louise was dragged around on that first year. I have no idea how long it took me, but probably a very long time with lots of walking breaks! The following year they lowered the age barrier so my brother, sister and friends were all able to take part. Again, I don't know how many JGNR's I completed, but between 8 and 16 I probably only missed about three! We always would go and watch the actual GNR the next day whilst wearing our medals, and amazingly, runners would notice and actually congratulate us!

  One JGNR with my sister and friend Alice

When I was 16 I ran my final JGNR with my brother (who became my running partner in the process) and at the end made the rash promise to run the adult GNR the next year! A lot of training ensued, including running whilst on holiday in very warm Italy and I completed the race in about 2 and a half hours, and raised over £350 for Mencap! It was a really fun day, emotional too as I honestly don't think most people believed I could run at all, but with the help of my family cheering me along the course, the general encouragement from the crowd and my own determination I got round!

My last JGNR with my brother, you can see my Mum cheering us on - standing on the side of roads whilst I slowly jog races is very familiar to my family!

I'd love to say that after this I caught the running bug, but I don't really think I did until a few years later. Sixth form, and then university took over my life and running did fall by the wayside.

I'm now going to skip forward a few years to about 14 months ago when I moved to London. I was going down initially to be a Games Maker at the Paralympic Games, then to start my placement year as an accountant. I found myself living in a very active house with my housemate Elme being my best friend and eventually, running partner. She was nothing short of amazing. If you've ever been unfortunate enough to run with me, you'll know that whilst being a chatty runner, I'm also quite moany! However, Elme would bang on my door and sometimes literally drag me out on runs around our local park very early each morning, even when it was freezing and we were both totally knackered! Her perseverance and upbeat nature is what gave me the running bug, and I'm obviously eternally grateful to her for doing so! 

So, when my friend Eva suggested I join her in taking part in the ridiculous challenge that is Tough Mudder....well I could hardly say no! TM is a 12 mile, 22 obstacle assault course and we took part in the London North version in May. Google it and you'll appreciate how hard it is! The thought of taking on such a huge challenge scared me stupid, so this coupled with the running bug that Elme had instilled in me made me get up every morning during the dreaded 'busy season' (Jan-April) and get running! TM was hugely fun, if not really hard because I had to face my biggest fear of heights! Because this was so hard, I genuinely now think that as I completed TM, I can do anything!

Eva and I post-Tough Mudder with pints in hand! My Mum surprised us and came down to watch so she took this!

And now, I'm facing my biggest challenge yet (Eva has also ran a marathon, amazingly only a week before Tough Mudder and she assures me the marathon was much tougher!) but so far, it's going well and though I'm still no where near a natural runner or at my marathon fitness, I know the strong running history I have behind me is one of the things carrying me through!

Me running up Penshaw Monument this summer, taken by my Dad at the top of the Monument. This was taken seconds before I fell flat on my face!

Training Update

As I said above, it's all going pretty well. I had to take a whole week off a couple of weeks ago because of a virus, but I've settled back in nicely. This week was especially busy as I've somehow been recruited into a football team, and I was feeling really achey and nearly chickened out of my long run today, but went out anyway as it was so sunny and did a comfortable 10 miles so I'm feeling very please!

Next time, I'm going to talk about running alone versus running with other people!

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2. Training week one and Charity!

So I’m now a week and a half into being a marathon runner in training, and my second blog is definitely overdue!

This week I thought I’d talk about one of the charities (or kind of the reason behind me supporting this charity) that I’m going to be running for. I’m running the marathon really for two reasons: firstly, as a personal challenge (I’ll probably write a blog about that when I’m much further into training and it’s actually challenging me!) and secondly, to raise money for charity!

One of the charities I’m running for (there is a second one I’ll talk about in the future) is the Meningitis Research Foundation. In May this year I raised £750 for them by taking part in a ridiculous challenge called Tough Mudder, and I also have a personal connection to them which is why I’ve picked them as my main charity. About nine and a half months ago, (as many of you know) my younger brother, Thomas, contracted meningococcal septicaemia, which is kind of like meningitis. I won’t go into the gory details, but it was obviously a huge shock for my usually healthy and active family, especially for Thomas! Thomas will tell you this himself, but it is a very fast moving and debilitating illness which can take hold of your body extremely quickly, and it does take quite a while to recover from. Thomas’ illness also coincided with the biggest Parker family event in years; our 99th birthday party where we celebrated my Dad’s 60th, Thomas & Alice’s 18th and my 21st. We had people coming from all over and the party had been in planning for a year, and Thomas fell ill just over a week before!  However, because of Thomas’ generous and stubborn nature, the party went ahead and was a roaring success, but there definitely was a crucial piece missing as Thomas was still in hospital on the night of the party.

So, his illness on one hand educated me in the horrors of meningitis and how hard it is on anyone who contracts me, and on the other hand, how difficult it is for any other family members involved. That’s why I’m raising money for MRF, so that money can be put directly into raising awareness of the symptoms of meningitis so any time the disease takes hold of anyone it’s caught early, and also so that research can be put towards finding a cure for the various strains of meningitis and septicaemia. My sponsorship page will be up soon, but if you’d like to know more about MRF then here’s their website: http://www.meningitis.org/

Training Update

As initial training weeks usually do, my first official week of training has gone pretty well! Highlights include avoiding the rain for intervals in the gym, a long run around Endcliffe Park and Whitely Woods (Sheffield does totally spoil me with the scenery, I’m going to write about this soon) but my highlight was definitely my Saturday morning parkrun around Endcliffe Park with my friend Rosie. I won’t go into the details too much because I’ll blog more about the ins and outs of my different training experiences in the future!