A bit late with this one, have been a bit pre occupied and didn’t find the time to write it. I knew it was going to be a very long post because I didn’t want to just write about the run itself. I thought that I had to put it all together in context.
Part 1 of 4
Signing up.
A bit late with this one, have been a bit pre occupied and didn’t find the time to write it. I knew it was going to be a very long post because I didn’t want to just write about the run itself. I thought that I had to put it all together in context.
I saw an early bird offer for the Belfast City Marathon October last year, did a bit of research, looked at places to stay, discussed it with herself and signed up for it. I think the early bird offer was 40 pound, which is nothing for a marathon really. I found from research that there were two downsides to this. The first one was that the number bib had to be collected at an expo a day or two days before and it was very badly organised where people queued for up to four hours to get their number. I planned to arrive two days early so that we could enjoy a bit of site seeing on the Friday and I could go to the expo early on the Saturday and be near the front of the queue for the bib. I had a look online at places to stay and after research booked 3 nights as the Stormont hotel which was situated at the start of the marathon. It’s a big hotel out of the city overlooking the green grass of the Stormont building itself. I managed to get a good deal due to booking so far in advance before the melee. The other downside was the course which consisted of a terrible hill near the end at about mile 24. I was also meant to be quite dangerous as it got so narrow at one point that you could only get through it in single file causing a bottleneck. I couldn’t do anything about that so thought I’d just tackle the course as it happened.
This was to be my first proper marathon as the one in Cork last November was reduced to half due to flooding (although I did run a second half on my own in terrible weather). The Cork one was only ever going to be for an experience and also for the fantastic (in my opinion) medal. The Belfast one was going to be the real deal. I felt that I had achieved an awful lot in my first year running and was getting more confident where I had run a number of half marathons in just under 2 hours and 2 three quarter marathons in just under three. I did not set target for these runs and just happened to complete them in at those times. The next step although I grant a very big step would be based on the previous times was to aim at a 4 hour marathon. I felt that I was on an unstoppable high
Training
I had been using training plans for my previous runs and adapting them to suit. Christmas was also around the corner so I asked Santa (Mrs FC) for money towards the Hal app and Strava subscription. The Hal app was very good as it is adaptive upon performance and also incorporates your other runs on the calendar into the plan.
I like to plan for things. I planned to start the training at the start of the year and set about signing up for races to incorporate them for my long runs. By the end of the year I had signed up for 4 half marathons and a 10 mile run. I had ran them all the previous year apart from 1 where I switched from a 10k to the half marathon. Everything was set.
I still had a run left this year, a 10k run on boxing day (St Stephens day over here) which was the 1st anniversary of my first ever event. Then I saw that there was a 10 miler advertised not too far away on December 31st and decided to sign up for that one as well. As I said before, I was on a high and wanted to see the year off on a high. I have not counted but I think I would close out the year having run at around 25 events in total for 2022.
Everyone is probably asking “why”? I could write another essay on this but short answer is that I am someone who suffers from anxiety all my life and had a bad break down (due to thing out of my control), have sought help and done everything from doctors to counselling to help. I went to the gym for 4 years working on weights which helped but also bulked me up to almost 20 stone. I swapped the weights to the treadmill, got awfully bored looking at myself in the mirror and swapped the gym for walking outside when lockdown came and cutting it short lost 5 stone in 5 months and found out about couch to 5k and then through that found that running was the best therapy for my head than anything else. I cannot explain it and I know I am not the only one but running is the only thing I have found that helps and I simply wanted to enter everything within a reasonable distance around me.
Anyway, back to the last two runs. In hindsight, I should not have done them. I was absolutely wrecked at the start of the 10k and struggled all the way through it. I somehow managed a similar time to the previous one but my left knee was developing something. I contemplated not running the 10 mile until but did anyway. That run was hell and I simply wasn’t able for it. I walked up all of the hills (one of which was up the side of a mountain) and tried to run where I could. My knee felt bad but I never realised how bad it was until I stopped and tried to walk when I crossed the finish line. I could hardly walk because of the pain.
I hoped and hoped that it was a small thing and would be grand after a while. But it wasn’t a very nice way to finish the year.
Continued in next post.
Written by
Freecloud
Marathon
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I gave myself a week or so to recover and went out gingerly intending do a very slow run fully padded up with knee supports and everything. I was running at almost walking pace, felt good for about 5 minutes until the pain came back. I stripped off all the padding and tired again and had to stop and hobble back home. I realised that this was not going to be a short term fix, I saw the enormity what was ahead of me, I wasn’t going to be able to do the training which included all the events I had planned. The anxiety started to come back and I was basically terrified. I was also in denial. I know that everyone would say to stop. I simply couldn’t because what it gave me and was determined to carry on until I couldn’t walk any more. Yes it was very foolish. But hey I was going to carry on one way or another. I had a bad injury and my ankle puffed up very badly when I was loosing weight. I could hardly walk for a week at one stage but bought tried out a few foot devices and carried on through the pain of that.
I gave myself another few days of rest, did an awful lot of research on the internet looking at different ways and found out about methadone running where you learn to run as slow as possible at a very low heart rate and tried that. It was also the middle of winter all the roads were covered in ice so I had to run slowly anyway.. I obviously still in a lot of pain and finally gave in and went to the doctor I told him about it and that I had a marathon coming up and of course he suggested that I stopped. Well I took it as a suggestion. He booked me for an x-ray and said that I would have to go for a scan if the x-ray showed nothing which has a long waiting list. He again mentioned the no running bit and prescribed me with anti-inflammatories (which was what I was really looking for). Of course I carried on with the slow runs. The x-ray appointment came in record time, the nurse said that she didn’t see anything obvious in the x-ray and she would have had to send me to another department if it was bad. I was meant to book another appointment with the doctor as soon as I had the x-ray but didn’t because I knew what he was going to say and instead decided to carry on.
I managed to work with my knee and was able to run longer distances over time. The first half marathon came and I decided to run it. There were pacers and I thought that I would try for the slowest one (I think it was 2hrs 30 I’m not sure without looking it up). I was nowhere near recovered but found that I was able to keep up with the pacer and found myself passing her sometimes. I got a bit apprehensive a few times and slowed down behind her until I gave up with about 5k to go I passed her and kept on running making sure that my heart rate was always in the green. I did the same for the 10 miler a week afterwards but ran the last 5k at a faster pace and must have passed over 100 runners before the finish line. The next run was another half marathon and I ran this one again in the green zone and finished in about 2hrs 20 ish. This had an option for a full marathon. I did contemplate booking it at the time but luckily thought better of it when I booked it. I was absolutely wrecked halfway through this one and seriously doubted being able to run the full one. I didn’t know how I would manage Belfast and anxiety started to return. However, I stuck at it and was able to run my last 2 half marathons in under 2 hours.
I continued on with my training plan, which was now all based on low heartrate running and decided that I would run the Belfast marathon using the same methodology and not care about the time. Besides, I had found that I had become very fond of low heartrate running and had gradually begun to run faster with it over time.
Those of you who have read my posts during the year would read that I had injured my knee (I think I went on about it enough). I had also touched on not being able to sleep. This is related to my anxiety and is something that I have not been able to control. I have gone through stages where I have gone through weeks of very little sleep and it naturally has its consequences where attention where concentration and everything else suffers. So far, this year has been one of my worst times for lack of sleep and I was at a very bad stage coming up to Belfast. I was wrecked.
I was anxious about driving my electric car to Belfast because the infrastructure there is not meant to be good at all and I didn’t want to spend my time looking for charging points there one top of everything else until Mrs FC looked up the hotel and said that there was a free charge point at the hotel, so I decided to take my car and hoped that would get a charge at some point. We had planned to use the local transport whilst there as we usually do when we are away.
We left home and headed to the expo to check it out and to know where to go the next day. It didn’t look too bad so we decided to go and collect my bib there and then. It was in a big centre next to the Titanic exhibition centre and there were no queues. I got the bib and walked around a few stalls picking up the various freebies on offer and we then left and booked into the hotel. We went for a little trek and stopped to eat at a KFC as we didn’t want to go to far. The next day we went to an old English market, had food and went back to the hotel. The hotel is quite big it had a big car park and I think 9 charging points so no worries there. However it was also very hot and we both found it vary hard to sleep and I was absolutely wrecked the morning of the run.
I wasn’t going to do a bag drop but changed my mind after reading about being stuck afterwards in wet clothes it wasn’t recommended. So I left the hotel at 7:30 (having not slept) to drop of my bag to beat the 8.00 deadline. It was only a 5 minute walk so I was ok there. I spoke to someone at the gate and was informed that it had not arrived yet. The lady offered to take my bag I said thanks and went back and got ready and was back an hour before the start. I crossed the road from the hotel and walked through the gates of the Stormont grounds and was met with a view of a long light brown road with grass either side, the building itself was probably about a kilometre up the hill of the road and looked magnificent. I began to walk and passed a huge queue of people who were waiting to use the portable toilets. I had very bad runners gut during my last few runs where I had to cut the runs short to visit the woods (I’m lucky to live in a very remote area) so took Imodium during the week to stop me from having to stop during the run. However it had worked a bit too well. I tried to use the loo a few times before I left the hotel but to no avail. All I will say is I needed to go but couldn’t….
I passed the queue and eventually got to the start line and took a few pictures. I then walked around pacing here and there as I do to get ready. I passed the bag drop point that then realised that the bag drop must have been form 8.00 onwards. There was so many bags there, which was a bit daunting.
I took a few more pictures did a small warm up run, walked a bit. Looked for the 4hr 15 pacer and couldn’t find it. Went for more walks saw that people were running off down the paths to the trees to relive themselves for a quick pee. I tried the same a couple of times and then went back to the start.
There must have been about 2 thousand fellow runners there. It was amazing. I went a bit below the 4:30 pacers to where I thought the 4:15 pacer should be and waited. I briefly tried to listen to the speakers up font (about 600 meters away) and then we were off just like that. We all did a slow jog to the start and gradually got a bit faster then it was out of the gates onto the road. I look out for my wife, couldn’t see her through the crowd (she didn’t see me either) and carried on.
I tried to run in the green zone but I guess the tiredness made it more difficult so I tried to run within myself and try to enjoy the experience as much as possible. We came to the first watering station, I passed that as I had my hydration bag, gels, salt tablets and sweets. I was fully loaded the way I had trained. The weather was not the best a we got drenched a few times during the run and I was glad that I opted for bag.
As you may know there are a few different areas in Belfast where different areas are loyal to the crown or the republic. One would absolutely know when you were going through the parts loyal to the crown. Every lamp post would have the Union Jack attached to it and the pathing curbs would be painted red, white and blue. Every wall and sides of buildings are painted to mark the history of the country, which changes based on the area you are in. I have been there a few times in the past and have always been terrified to get lost there for obvious reasons. It was also the week before the coronation of King Charles and the areas loyal to the crown had put up even more bunting than usual. There were also side streets set with tables and chairs for the coronation street parties.
We also ran through areas loyal to the republic. I expected these areas to be very rough and was apprehensive to run trough those areas as well. This include the falls road area, whish was very run down at one point. I have to say I noticed nothing, the paintings on the wall showed meant that you knew where you where due to the people that were painted but there was nothing untoward and everywhere looked normal otherwise. Obviously there was not red white and blue in those areas.
I carried on running as best as I could under the circumstances. The marathon also had a relay and it got quite busy and narrow at the changeover points but not too bad. There were also lots of crowds here and there cheering us on, which was great considering the rain. There were brass bands and choirs here and there and it was all great to see. People were also there giving out sweets and a few had set up their own points offering water.
I found that I was quickly stopping at some points to get drink and sweets myself, perhaps using them as an excuse to stop for a bit. I looked up probably at about 10 to 15k and I was shocked to see that the 4:30 pacers had passed me. I tried to speed up a bit and ran with them thinking I could pass them but my heart was not in it so I slowed again. I noticed that there was one man that was a bit deformed in his arms and legs. He was able to keep up, I tried and couldn’t.
I also had to run whilst fighting my gut as it was quite bad throughout the run and got gradually worse as I went on. I looked for a few places to stop but to no avail. The portable toilets were at the relay changeover points and the queues were huge.
I had ran for most of the marathon but there were stages where my heartrate got a bit high and I walked for small periods of time until it went back to green only for it to rise again quickly again.
There were a few stations in the second half where they were giving away blue energy bottles of drinks. I stopped at every one to get a bottle.
We then came to a hill, it was a steep hill but not as steep as the one on the original course from a year or 2 before. I however walked all the way up it, I think it was just over 1k. I then picked up and ran again afterwards.
The rain came in heavy showers and then the sun tried to come out towards the end of the run. I remember there was one point when the sun was out but it was being blocked by the buildings. There were 2 points where there was a gap between the buildings due to a side road and all I can remember was feeling that I was being baked like a jacket potato in an oven. It felt unbearable.
At one stage we ran into a park and along a river which led to a small lake, there was a bit of a decent here but it was not too bad.
I had no idea of my times during the race and didn’t really know the distance as I had deliberately turned both alerts off on my watch, all I had on was heartrate and I stopped listening to that at some stage.
I think I ran for most of the last quarter and had met and passed the man who was running with the 4:30 pacers, felt a bit better as I passed him. I walked again with about 3k to go and then tried to run a bit faster toward the finish line. I could gradually hear music and bigger crowds. I then saw the finish line through the trees on the left. It was still about a kilometre away but it seemed like it was at least 5. I eventually turned the corner and tried to pick up speed. Just then a well build relay runner had began to pass me as if he was in a 1k race and thundered passed me. Everyone was cheering for him, I tried to run a bit faster and gave up almost immediately. I crossed the line and it was over. There was a bit of a walk to go before the medals, I bowed my head to receive it, got a drink and walked about a bit to gain composure. I saw the marquee where the bag collection point was and went toward it, they were ready with the bag I took it and thanked them and set off to see if there was a place to change. There wasn’t and I was too weary to stop and change anyway. I made my way out with the crowd into the large parkland and the heavens opened and I was once again drenched. I didn’t really care and carried on walking to try and find a way out. I tied to look at the map on my phone but couldn’t comprehend and guessed my way out with a bag of dry clothes and wearing wet ones.
I received a message from Mrs. FC asking how I got on, I called her to say I was finished and I was trying to find a way out by following one of the streams of people. I eventually found the exit and walked to the shuttle bus back to the hotel. I waited there for half an hour and thought I had missed the bus service. One turned up, I got on had a chat with the driver for a bit and she took me back as I was the only one there.
That’s my rather long report for the Belfast marathon. I finished the run 4hrs 39 minutes and it has taken me a fair bit longer to write this marathon of a report so apologies for that. As I said at the start this was a report that I felt had to be written in context to include the build up etc. I wasn’t ready to write but felt I had to not only because I was asked a few times, I also had to put a close to this period.
There are positives to this run. The main one is that I did it and my knee held up and I felt good physically afterwards. I thought I would be in bits. I was mentally but not physically.
Unfortunately my sleeping continued as it was and I got tot a point of visiting the doctor again last week to get something to help with the sleep. As usual he said that this was not the answer and after a long discussion was prescribed with something to help my anxiety and thus help with sleep.
Its very early days yet but I seem to be sleep at night better (I probably wont tonight after writing this) but hopefully there is light at the end of this tunnel.
Now, before I go I want to end on a good note. When I was waiting at the bus stop for the bus I heard a man talking to me saying “Were mad aren’t we, why do we do it?” Obviously he was another runner probably a bit older than me. We exchanged how we got on and he said that he had another couple of runs next month and was pacing himself for this one (which was about the same pace as mine) because these next 2 are a 50 and 100 mile ultras!
There are people out there that are crazier than me after all.
Well done Freecloud. You did it against all odds! I enjoyed reading your 4 part post and I was relieved to see part 2 directly after part 1. It was a cliff hanger and I’m glad you didn’t make us wait for the next installment. 😀
What resilience you have. I’m so impressed. I hope you’re proud of what you achieved, because you certainly should be! 👊 🥇 🏃♂️
So you weren’t tempted to take part in the ultras with your new pal then? 😅
Ha ha, thanks very much CC. I did think about posting the 4 parts over 4 days 🤣 but then I thought that people would think wow he has some ogo 🤣. I wrote it first in word and then pasted it, which took forever to get it to fit. I never really thought to think anything when I crossed the line, I think I was a bit numb and disappointed, maybe because it's easier to look at what could have been rather than Hey look at what you have just achieved. I think I will put it down to the tiredness for now 🤣.
I might tackle an ultra next year on a trail run but I am going to concentrate on another marathon or two this year for my sins 😭.
The build up to the race made such good reading, I'm glad you took the time to write it, thank you. Against all odds you made it to the end of your race, to say well done sounds a bit trite but I am in awe of your determination and hope you feel really proud of yourself.
Thanks very much Sola. I couldn't have written about the marathon without it, I thought it needed the background. I wanted to show that it isn't all about the run itself and it's something in itself that involves 3 to 4 months training and planning and it doesn't always go to plan. I do try to write for the audience and think that other people might be going through similar, so I wanted to explain it all without feeling sorry for myself or write it in a negative way.
I have complete admiration and respect for you, you must be so resilient!! So pleased to hear you did it and got through it, but what an adventure it sounds!! I hope you give yourself time to not only recover well, but to reflect on just what a massive thing you have done.🙌🙌🏅
Good long report from you Freecloud, congratulations for the report which was longer than the marathon itself and a massive congratulations on running it, ✅✅✅✅✅👍👍👍🎉🎉
Thanks very much Al. Yes it was a bit of a long one alright 🤣. I started it early enough in the evening, but I was shocked when I looked out of the window through the curtains to see it was bright outside 🤣🤣😭
This is a great read! Congratulations and well done for a race well run and a fab time too 👍👏
You clearly had some challenges beforehand and that’s all the more reason for you to feel proud. You’ve overcome difficulties and so crossing that finish line must have felt soooo good 💪
I loved your comment about feeling “baked like a jacket potato in an oven” 😂 I’ll remember that description next time I’m feeling over hot. So apt!
The Stormont building is stunning. I’ve been to an “do” there and it’s just as beautiful inside too. Thanks for the trip down memory lane for me with some of the locations 😍 You took me with you for this.
I do hope you can get some quality sleep and that lack of it doesn’t impact your running too much. It certainly didn’t seem to for Belfast!
Thanks very much IP 😀👍. I think I am starting to feel proud, now that I am coming out of the tunnel.
Ha ha, yeah I can still remember the baking. They only lasted for a few seconds each and I felt like I was going to explode each time.
I'd say the inside of Stormont is spectacular, the architect "Sir Arnold Thornely" wanted to make a statement and boy did he do it! I'm glad you liked the journey, I will hopefully do it again within the next two years and be more alert to remember more 🤣. There is quite a debate on one of the forums I read re which marathon is better Belfast or Limerick. Both are the same day and Limerick scored better in a poll. However I think Belfast got a bad name because of the queue at the expo. So I will hopefully run Limerick next year and compare myself. Personally I think the whole expo is a greedy marketing ploy, they don't realise (or care) that some people will have to book a room for the night due to the long distance and having to travel up to be there the day before.
I don't want to jinx it but I think I am sleeping a lot better and feel more myself, which is something I haven't felt like in a while.
Thanks very much FP, I will read up about Karvonen. They are very good and have helped me a lot this year. They also need a lot of dedication, patience and time for them to work and the impulse is always going to be there to just say what the heck and go for it 🤣. I went back running yesterday and my heartrate was up and I tried to control it by slowing to no avail. I even walked for a bit until it came right down only for it to rise again. I know that many factors were there to cause it, I hadn't ran for a week, I started off on a steep hill and it was hot etc.
Absolutely right about the HR! Day to day mine has a mind of its own, so I try to look at the trend over time.
For me as an older guy I struggled a bit with the Maffetone "rules" - at least as I interpreted them as applying to me. Karvonen seemed a bit more relaxed, and I found a chart showing me that at my age I should aim for 120 - 130 bpm, which was easier than 120 as a maximum which is how I interpreted Maffetone for me.
We're all different, and my HR? ... at rest it sometimes gets down to mid 30s (when I'm awake - it's higher when I'm asleep), OTOH I've seen over 200 on the Garmin when I'm pushing it. So I liked the idea of a Karvonen chart which seemed to offer reasonable averages to aim for, rather than calculating something from recorded values.
Over time my HR has trended down as I try to manage it, though I've only been doing it a few months, and I consider it a multi year project.
Thanks FB, very interesting read. I set my watch to match the Karvonen formula now to see how it goes. I've used 177 as my HHR and 59 for resting as that's the highest for me which was on a 10 miler last year where I got a string of PRs.
On another note, I have read that the fitter you are the lower your resting hr should be, to be able to get to mid 30s shows you are super fit based on that!
I am scheduled to do a 9.5k (10k) run this evening at marathon pace, it will be interesting to see the readings for that afterwards.
An amazing account of determination, endurance and courage Freecloud, with a tour of Belfast thrown in. I suspect most people reading this, particularly your description of all the issues you had pre run, will think, like me, “I couldn’t have done this.” Good training, hydration etc are important of course, but sleep is vital to our ability to function. Doctors are reluctant to give out “sleeping pills”, for good reasons. Hopefully your doctor will find the right anti anxiety meds for you. What you did in April is incredible!
Thanks very much BC. The report was a bit late because I was debating if I should put all of it into the report. Mainly because it kind of personalises it and I was weary of the reveal. I am also hope that someone else going through similar might read this and know that they are not the only one. I could have just said "Hi guys, so I did this run in Belfast and OMG! it was fantastic!" 🤣but that isn't me (although I was tempted and not full on like that "obvs").
I totally agree regarding the doctors, its only the good ones that care and I'm lucky enough to have this. It is something I have been battling with for most of my adult life and it takes its toll. I am also lucky that I have such good support from my wife, who has also been with me most of my adult life. Hmmm, I wonder if there is a link there 😱😱😱
Enjoyed reading that, thank you for sharing. It puts your achievements even higher and even more impressive to hear you’ve done all of that with sleep and other issues.
Freecloud I realise not everything went your way and you were hoping for a quicker time but it’s still an incredible achievement. I am in awe of what you did and how you did it. I couldn’t stop reading the report - they should make a film of it!
Thanks very much Chickenears, I originally wanted to go faster last year and was shocked when the pacers past me and I did decide to take it all as an experience. There is still part of me that wants to "go for it" when I am ready. I did sign up for another one at the end of August and will aim to train for that per the plans and hopefully without injury and the tiredness. I have another half in July (couldn't resist it as its along a stunning coastline), apart from that its just going to be me and the 12 week training plan.
Oh, I also agree that they should make a film about it. But it will be the sequel to my Clonakilty post regarding the marathon that never was 🤣🤣🤣
I love a long read and this was great! Thank you for writing all this down.
I'm very glad you finished and, if it helps, I would be over the moon with your time. My marathon time would be 6+ hours - I keep telling myself that if I ran faster it would be over quicker, but to no avail!
Have you tried making sure you get enough magnesium to help with stress and sleep? When my sleep is really bad (3 hours a night if I'm lucky), I take an over the counter magnesium / B6 combo supplement and it really helps, but mainly I try and get it from food - studies have shown that a large number of people do not get enough magnesium and it helps your body so much!
Thank you very much backintime, very much appreciated. I am touched by your response to my post and from everyone else that has replied. That is why this forum means to much to all of us. Its not just about running, I think its more of a community of likeminded caring people. That is the main reason I posted my story, it was hard to do and took a while, but I though that it would be worthwhile if it could help someone else.
I will certainly take your suggestion and try the magnesium if I am not taking it already ( I take vitamin tablets, cod liver oil and something for my joints, so I will look up if any of it has magnesium in it before I do).
On a good note, I think the tablets I am taking for anxiety seem to be working as I have had a few nights now of good sleep for me. However, its early days.
As you know, I know well what it is like to sleep like you do and I know the toll it takes on you. I hope we both find the light at the end of the tunnel.
This link may help - magnesium even helps with stress and anxiety (and might already be in your meds). As the article says, eating too many magnesium rich foods isn't a problem for your body but you can get too much by supplemental magnesium so very much worth checking.
I know the internet isn't a doctor, so worth checking with him/her too.
The easiest thing is to make sure you eat enough through diet and see if it doesn't make a difference, takes a while to kick in, but I do feel the difference when I am low in it.
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