Getting back into the swing of things

In preparation for next year I was taking a look at the following page on the blog;

Track our progress

Looks scary when I am only on 1100 miles for the year, only two third's of the way through the year though so hopefully in the next few months with my ankle on the mend I can get another good 500-600 miles in and start the push for next year. 

I have made a general plan for next year just to make sure I can get all the miles in, as part of marathon training I am currently due to start the new year and therefore the challenge with a 20 mile run, which as it is New Year's day should also include parkrun as the first "race" of the year. 

It will be interesting to see how well things go and what injuries come up, a flawless year would be incredible but I do have some wiggle room and some easy short miles I can drop in to top up if I have to but whatever happens it is going to be hard-work, especially during the summer and especially learning not to race all the race otherwise I will break quickly. 

Anyway now for something very important to a runner, sleep, well as long as my daughter lets me as she seems slightly under the weather this evening and has (very unusually for her) cried out a few times. 

Katie's Challenges and Story

We are often alluding to what I (Katie) have been through and how far I've come but I thought I'd write it down for those of you that haven't known me very long/very well.

Gary had his second week of radiation for his foot in July 2012. In September that year we discovered, to our great delight, that we were expecting a baby. By early October I was in hospital receiving fluids and feeling awful. I was diagnosed as having Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) or severe morning sickness. I was unable to keep any food or even drink down at all, not even those small sips of water that everyone seems to recommend and definitely not ginger!! I ended up in hospital because I was very dehydrated and need fluids. A few weeks later I ended up in hospital again requiring more fluids. I was given a scan and reassured that my baby was ok and the sickness would die down by 12 weeks.

Well let's just say it didn't and I spent the full term in my flat keeping as still as possible. The focus of the day was to try and drink some fluid and tick another day off the list. Gary and my mum kept me going and gave me some company but otherwise it was a really long and horrid pregnancy. By 37 weeks I had had enough, and was concerned about it was effecting my relationship with my unborn baby, so I begged them to induce me so it would all be over.

Eventually they did on the Tuesday before she was due, however, Amelia wasn't ready to come out. Finally, on her last chance, Amelia was born in the early hours of Saturday. During labour I suffered a bleed and lost around 1 litre of blood. Amelia also had an infection so was taken straight up to the children's unit. Later she also had jaundice and needed treatment for that. We ended up staying in hospital till the Wednesday and finally we were home.

I wish that was the end of the story but unfortunately I then went on to suffer from post natal depression (PND) and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Due to all of the above I also gained a lot of weight and reached 16 stone.

Eventually in December 2014 we decided to go Low Carb and loss some weight. We were very successful and the following March/April we also took up running by using the couch to 5Km programme. I was unable to do the prescribed 3 runs a week so I cut it down to just 2 runs a week. In June I did my first parkrun at Eastbourne and was delighted with a time of  32.59. I say delighted because I had attempted Brighton Park run the previous year and was around 40 minutes, my slowest time being 40.58.

Over 2015 I lost 6 stone and dropped my parkrun time down to 27.23 at Christmas.

So my challenges for 2017 are going to be as follows:

1) Run over 1000 miles over the course of the year - this is the approximate mileage that Gary had to travel for his radiotherapy treatment.
2) Compete in at least 60 races through the course of the year, including parkruns - Total Gy of radiation that Gary received.
3) Achieve a sub 25min parkrun - couldn't think of a Ledderhose link but seemed a good target!

These challenges are all going to be very difficult for me but I want to challenge myself for Gary for this year. We feel we've both had significant journeys, we hope you agree, and feel this is worth the effort.

Please support us in any way you can and we'd love to have so company at any of the races (spectators or runners) or our training runs.

Planning and plotting

With August fast approaching I am having to really get into planning mode for this challenge now. Sure it may seem simple, just have to run and run and run and run. But there is more to it that than that. I need to think how I am going to stay injury free, how I am going to fit in the odd easy week and most importantly how I can raise awareness for Dupuytren's and Ledderhose patients as that is what the whole process is about. 

The Pitch:

It would be great to get some publicity and a story published around this, surely man goes from tumour in foot and using a walking stick and weighing 19 stone to running a marathon, 2191 miles in a year is worth something to someone? Especially as I am aiming for a respectable time in the marathon and a decent PB over 5k. 

The Plan:

Well of course the plan is to run lots, probably there will likely be a lot of double days in order to keep the runs slightly shorter and injury risk down whilst keeping the miles high. In terms of other prep I am also very close to the finished design and ordering my running vests to support this. It will be great to have these as just wearing them to parkrun every week is another 200 people that are going to see the BDS logo and at least have heard of the conditions. 

The Social Side:

parkrun and joining a local running club have really helped me see just how amazing running with others is. I already knew it from running with Katie and Amelia but there is something about sharing new stories and pain whilst running with others that makes it different. I am going to look to run with as many different people as possible next year 1) to make my life easier and 2) to tell people about the challenge and the conditions and hopefully raise awareness. The less people have to suffer from this without anyone knowing anything about it the better. 

Other things:

The challenge is not just about me it is also about Katie, she has a whole amazing journey of her own and she is challenging herself as well to help raise money and awareness. Which is awesome. 

A challenge should be a challenge, this year I am nowhere near 2000 miles so I do not know how I am going to cope with trying to run 2191 miles, keeping injury free and mentally running so much. I have done a fair few weeks where I have done more than the required weekly miles for 2191 but not to average that for a year. You see so many people doing a challenge that they can easily do that it doesn't inspire you. I am hoping that my journey and the challenge of the challenge will help other patients and inspire some interest in the condition. 

Take care, Gary