Who runs a PB that big, on that course?! Apparently I do?!

Oh my goodness...where do I start?!

I’ve been meaning to blog for the past few years! For a while (when I was co-presenting the parkrun show) I didn’t feel the need as I was chatting about my running every week for anyone who cared to listen, but since we stopped the show then I have been meaning to get back into it and now there is just so much to say!

I shall attempt to focus on one thing and today I must focus on the Leeds Half Marathon! Today was one of the best days racing I have ever had. 

I have dreamed of running a sub 2 hour half marathon for a really long time but have felt like it's been out of reach, and for years it has been.

I've had 6 weeks of decent training (off the back of two months with zero running and previous to that I was having IVF (or pregnant) so not training hard...so although I'm feeling good at the moment it's not on the back of any real running or training)...but...if you don't go for your goals then you'll never achieve them so after a decent run at the Guiseley Gallop (thanks Dan Waas for making me realise I had form! :D) I asked my wonderful Kirkstall Harrier friend Eleanor Gallon if she fancied attempting to pace me sub 2. She did!!! Hooray! We had a meeting yesterday to discuss race strategy and we had 3 potential goals in case it fell apart early on:

A) Sub 2 (I reckoned this was less than 5% likely...actually I thought it was unachievable if I’m honest! Whilst I’ve been clocking up the miles I’ve done little speed training and I’m not even running parkrun at this pace!

B) Sub 2.05 would still be a huge all-time half marathon PB on a course that is definitely not a PB course. I was hopeful we would achieve this.

C) Sub 2.10 would be a big Leeds half PB and would just scrape an all-time PB (2:10:03 from Norwich half in 2011). I thought if we started strong that I could probably hang on to 10 minute miles and achieve this.

I've lost almost a stone and a half since coming back from our two month trip down under. I've been doing a 10 minute strength workout every day, running more and mainly eating better with an attempt to cut out sugar. I've scrapped 3 big meals a day and I listen to my body and graze when I'm hungry which is amazing and stops me eating big portions of things as I'm eating until I'm not hungry anymore rather than eating until I am full. Seems to be working well although it’d be good to get back to my 2011 (wedding inspired) weight which means I’ve got just less than a stone to lose…not that weight loss is my primary goal. I couldn’t really care less, but for the fact that if you’re lighter you run MUCH faster!

I entered Leeds half a few weeks ago. I don’t really know why I entered it! It’s not my favourite race and I think the entry fee is extortionate now (I remember when it was £16…yes I’m showing my age!). I think what happened is that one night Farhad mentioned Liverpool Half Marathon and I have been meaning to go and see my wonderful friend Krystal for AGES so a run in Liverpool seemed sensible. I messaged Krystal who was VERY enthusiastic about the idea of us staying with her for the weekend AND her looking after Poppy on the Sunday morning! Once childcare is sorted then I have no excuse so I quickly entered. At the same time my lovely friend Toni invited me to Hull for a fundraising run across the Humber Bridge and I’ve always quite fancied running on the Humber Bridge so thought why not? We hadn’t realised exactly what it was but I dashed over to Hull to do Humber Bridge parkrun before the event started (there is scope for a whole separate blog piece on my illegal driving that morning and my fine for driving across the Humber Bridge without paying the toll!!!) and made it to the start for 9.45am. We thought the run was an out and back over the Humber Bridge but it was actually running over the Humber Bridge for two hours as many times as you wanted. Well of course we ran for the full two hours pushing poor Poppy in the buggy and before I knew it I had clocked up almost 13 miles that morning! After I’d done that I figured that as Leeds Half was so soon and I’d already done my training run so I would enter!

At the same time I was aware that the due date for the baby I lost was coming up and I wanted to go on holiday. As luck would have it a very awesome Hyde Park Harrier (Manesha) was available and we set off for a week in Turkey on a ‘running holiday’. It worked out much better than either of us could have imagined. We had an AMAZING time, laughed lots and lots, and ran every day and by the end of the week had clocked up 35 miles in 28 degree temperatures. Although the holiday was all inclusive we didn’t touch a drop of alcohol and we added in a gym work out on most days for good measure. I was lucky not to get injured really as apart from my one off 13 miler I’d ramped up my running from pretty much nothing. I came back from the holiday feeling incredible but had timed it badly and crashed in the next few days due to a number of factors. A friend (Susie) had passed away while we were on holiday, I had general post-holiday blues, it was the baby’s due date and someone I cared about disappointed me pretty badly. But because I was feeling really strong, and because Susie was the most inspirationally positive person you could ever meet then I was determined to pick myself up and find a positive way to go forward. On holiday I’d had the idea to start a run streak. I’d never run daily before (mainly because it seems like a totally crazy thing to do!) but after a week of averaging 5 miles a day then I figured how hard could it be to do at least a mile a day? So that’s what I did and am doing! I’m run streaking.

Run streaking hasn’t been easy. Poppy is at nursery 3 mornings a week so those days are easy (especially as my lovely friend Donna has decided to start running! YAY! As well as giving me one-to-one Ashtanga yoga lessons…what a legend!) but that still leaves 4 days a week with Poppy. One is parkrunday so I’ll always be running but the other 3 have been tricky. Poppy is getting a bit old for BOB (my running buggy) but I’ve just had to suck it up and push her round…plus let everyone know that I will now be living in active wear (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYRENWT8lz8) so that if they look the other way for more than one minute I will have left Poppy with them and will have gone for a run!

Going into Leeds Half I was feeling a bit tired. I had a sports massage with Chris ‘magic hands’ Corcoran on Wednesday and had accidentally run 8 miles on Thursday *cough TeeJay cough* plus I hadn’t been sleeping well… but I’d got Eleanor to enter on the proviso that she was pacing me so I knew that no matter what we had to go for it! I was feeling pretty nervous as I walked in to town. I hadn’t really thought about fuelling and had decided I probably needed a gel but I forgot that when I was pregnant I gave them all away as I knew I wouldn’t need them! So I’d grabbed a snickers and a banana to eat beforehand and put one of Poppy’s Chocolate Orange Naked bars in my pocket. I also had an out of date (by years!!!) packet of Lucozade jelly beans and a bottle of Lucozade…it didn’t feel well thought out but it felt like a nod to fuelling and luckily I can eat anything while I run so I wasn’t too worried about my lack of strategy! I was also worried about my shoe choice. I’ve got some awesome racing flats but they are best for shorter distances and when I wore them for Liversedge Half last year my feet really hurt by the end as they have zero cushioning. I figured that this PB attempt was mainly down to keeping my head in the game so I decided it was worth the risk as they weigh nothing and my feet feel like running fast in them so I went for it.

HPH party in the Green Zone!

Emergency gel phonecall!

It was a huge comfort to find the HPH party in the green zone and to find Eleanor too. We put our bags on the baggage lorry (we decided I probably did need a gel so Eleanor made an emergency call to Russell to add a gel to the Lucozade he was already going to give us!), did the obligatory ‘I don’t think I need a wee but I better just queue for 20 minutes to check’ and made it back to the HPH green zone party for photos all in good time! As we waited in the pens I stupidly checked my heart rate on my fitbit. It was 86 and we weren’t even running! I tried to calm myself down and then gave up and did some of the dynamic stretches that Chris had suggested we do. Before we knew it we were off! It was pretty busy at first and I am TERRIBLE at pacing the start of races. I always go for the ‘go hard and hold on’ strategy rather than attempt negative splits so I struggled that Eleanor kept saying we should ease off but we did and by the time we were on Meanwood Road we had started to get into a rhythm. I couldn’t help but scream and wave madly in excitement when I saw Jude and Nellie supporting outside their house (let’s catch up soon please!). This was to be the first of many amazing people we saw supporting us along the way. There were Hyde Park Harriers marshalling what felt like from halfway along Meanwood Road all the way round to Lawnswood roundabout! Plus there were loads of others just out to support and some on the move so we saw them more than once! It was incredible! There were also lots of friends on the route, Vicky, Jon and Isla I loved seeing you guys at this point as I'd pushed hard up the hills and you made me smile with your Leeds half party you were having! Plus I was inspired by your running Vicky, by your new shoes, your determination, positivity and general awesomeness. Rachel it was great to hear the Matt was ahead and doing well. A highlight was seeing Eleanor’s beautiful family who were our fulling stop to load us up with Lucozade and gels. I saw Ben et al. playing the drums on Kirkstall Road, Curtis and Jess (who had stayed round Friday night and done some fab parkrun touring with us the day before) with the best ever sign: ‘you look strong and stable’ :D Plus the support from the Kirkstall Harriers and from Bex…who almost missed us ;) was great! The support really was incredible and by the time we were running along Kirkstall Road I felt like an elite runner as the whole way round people were shouting ‘Go Nicola!’.

I struggled a bit with where I sit as a runner within Hyde Park Harriers. I consider myself to be one of the slower runners. I’ve only ever done one run in Group 3! So I had to stop myself from freaking out when I was passing all of the Group 3 runners, I just took a few breaths, didn’t stop to chat and just pushed on but it felt very VERY strange!

The bits of the course I was worried about were the long drag up the ring road, the deceptive uphills once you hit Kirkstall Road and the small but nasty hill half a mile from the finish. I wasn’t worried about Stonegate as I’ve trained it and knew I’d be on fresh legs at that point. Stonegate, as anticipated, was fine. The ring road drag was tough, I was attempting to eat jelly beans which was hampering attempts to push up the hill, or to even breathe really! Our pace had been good but I got the impression we didn’t have much wiggle room (I’d told Eleanor I didn’t really want to know and that I’d just push all the way round). After each hill I felt like I was recovering well and getting back on pace quickly and at Lawnswood roundabout I was so excited to see Rolf (thanks for the awesome photo) and lots of other HPH as I knew I’d just run a decent hill and had pushed when I felt like I couldn’t plus we were still on pace. We pushed on every downhill and I felt like I was flying. As each mile passed by I was stunned by how strong I was feeling and that I was managing the pace. Before we hit Kirkstall Road Eleanor said she thought she was confident we could achieve Goal A which totally freaked me out as we still had a way to go but in the back of my mind I hoped she was right and I wondered how long I could hold on to the pace. After the sneaky inclines on Kirkstall Road had passed and we were still on pace I started to believe we could do it…only a parkrun to go! Plus we had pushed enough so that we could even slow to 10 minute miles and still make it which gave me confidence. Surely I could hang on to 10 minute miles?!

WE DID IT!!!!

There was more amazing support along Kirkstall Road which helped me pick up the pace whenever I slowed but I don’t think we went much slower than 9.20s so we were comfortable. I almost hyperventilated when Eleanor said to me with a few miles to go that she wasn’t sure she could keep up with me! What sort of pace were we running?! Eleanor is a far superior runner to myself, both in terms of speed and experience and although she hadn’t really trained for this due to our last minute entries I knew that she could surely run sub 2 and wipe the floor with me so I was stunned! The hill in the last mile was playing on my mind but soon enough I found myself flying up it and smiling at Eleanor saying ‘what hill?’ who even had I become?! I hate hills! I couldn’t believe it. As I reached the final corner I pushed on and gave it a last effort in a sprint finish. We’d only gone and done it! My fitbit said around 1.58 when I stopped it so I knew we’d actually done it. Somehow I had managed to run a sub 2 half! I could not, and did not believe it but as soon as I collected my bag I saw a text on my phone confirming my finish time as 1.57.25! As if that was my time! MINE?! How was that my time!?!?! It was a warm day and a training camp in 28 degrees in Turkey with a very awesome HPH friend who inspired me by her determination and achievements definitely helped. It seems somewhat extreme to book a holiday before every race though ;) Still if needs must! In fact Eleanor…weren’t we going to get a holiday booked?!

I took advantage of the free medal engraving and the free sports massage (my legs seized as soon as I stopped running so thank goodness for the massage!). I then headed to the park to collect my girl, but stopped to grab a pizza from Rustica on the way…it would be rude not to!

I am SO thankful for this massage!

Eleanor and I are both so thrilled that we’ve done it! She is my superstar pacer and I must book her for some pacing jobs again soon! Maybe the new me doesn’t hate being paced?! To put our achievement into perspective, and for you stattos…

I’ve run Leeds Half 3 times before:

Year      Time

2009     2.19.12
2011     2.14.31
2015     2.13.26

2017     1.57.25

But in 2011 I ran Norwich Half twice with times of 2.10.03 & 2.10.13 so I had an established half marathon PB of around 2 hours 10 minutes. I literally cannot believe that today, on a hot day, on a hilly, tough course I have run a 12 minute 38 seconds all-time PB and a 16 minute 01 second course PB! I cannot get my head around how that much improvement is even possible, let alone with only 6 weeks training!

So that just leaves me my thank yous. Thank you, thank you, thank you Eleanor, your pacing was AMAZING (and I HATE being paced!). I'm so pleased we stayed together and so proud of us both! Now...our next meeting needs to be to plan our Comrades entry! Yes?!

Thank you Chris Corcoran for your magic hands and for the support on course...even if you seemed slightly surprised on Kirkstall Road that we were going to make it!!! Ha ha!

Thank you Farhad for renewing my Hyde Park Harrier membership for me and for getting me involved with the club again when I had disengaged and wasn't going to renew my membership...it was exactly what I needed exactly when I needed it. Thanks also for prompting me to enter races: Liverpool and Cologne especially.

Thank you to all the amazing people who supported on the course, especially all the Hyde Park Harriers, Kirkstall Harriers and friends we saw along the way, you all kept me going. You did so much more than you know, thank you! ❤

Thank you Donna and Peter for looking after Poppy today so I could run. I literally couldn't have done it without you! ☺ She had such a great time, thank you Xx

Thank you to everyone who has encouraged me and believed in me, I had no clue this was even possible! 

So now I'm scared...I've got Liverpool half in two weeks and I don't know what to go for! I really can't believe my time today! I can't believe I got to the top of the hill in the last mile and looked at Eleanor, smiled and said 'what hill?!' I can't believe I could still sprint finish, I can't believe I felt so strong all the way round!

I really feel like I'm starting to come out the other side of everything that’s happened. That maybe all of the terrible things I've been through are making me a stronger person. My attitude to pain has definitely changed. When you feel the physical pain of your heart being ripped out then destroying your legs doesn't seem like such a big deal! Right now I am loving life and do you know what...? 

I feel unstoppable!!!