lessons learned

Hi everyone! It's been nearly 4 days and I'm still absolutely euphoric :) If only I could bottle this feeling, like Lauren suggested!

Thank you for all the comments, emails and messages of support and congratulations! I'm so very touched by your kindness, and so happy to be sharing this with you all. Please believe me when I say that if I can go from 103.5kg and out of breath climbing stairs to running a half marathon, then anything is possible, for anyone! Follow your dreams and don't ever give up!

Well, as I hinted, life since Sunday has been rather blissful! And you may not believe me, but I'm not sore. At all. The only time I am a bit stiff is first thing in the morning, but otherwise I'm wandering around happy as a clam. I had read heaps of blogs by people who have done this race before, and some of them even had trouble sitting on the loo afterwards so I was a bit worried about what I was in for. But I've been fine! I've managed heaps of walks, 13 laps at the pool on Tuesday, and tonight I think I might see if I can run again!

I really don't think Sunday could have gone better. I had very realistic expectations of myself - I knew I would probably have to walk at some point towards the end, so wasn't disappointed when I did. I knew my time would be somewhere between 2.5 and 3 hours (I was stoked it was under 2.5!) so didn't put pressure on myself to be faster.

I have learned so much about my body over the last six weeks. I've learned how I train best, and how to best fuel my body to get the most out of training. I've learned how long it takes me to digest food before I can run, and which foods my body likes to have in it for the longer distances! It particularly likes:

• Wholegrain pasta
• Rice pudding, especially Muller Rice (the apple one is my favourite)
  
• Liquorice
• Bananas

What are your favourite foods to eat before and after running, or exercise in general?

And the major lessons I've learned from this experience:

• TRAIN. Train, train, train. If you have never done a race like this before, you must prepare yourself as much as possible because it will be unlike anything you've ever experienced. Research training plans, read books and get advice from friends who've done it before, or people in running shops or on forums like Runners World - surround yourself with knowledge!
• Do as close to the distance as possible during your training. Before I registered for my race, I was just running 3.5 miles to work each day! Then I started doing 6.5 miles in the evening, then moved up to 9, then to 12. It really is essential to build yourself up to do the distances. It's not only to prepare your body for what's coming, but also your mind. What you think 13.1 miles is and what it actually is are sometimes two very different things! The more realistic expectations you have on the day the better, and most of the time you'll pleasantly surprise yourself.
  
• Listen to your body. Don't get too bogged down in what other people are doing, or by the sparkling lines of gels and supplements at the running store! Do what feels right for you. Your body will tell you what it needs.
• Taper off and really rest your legs the week before race day. I did a 12 mile run on the Monday, then just walked to and from work the rest of the week (6 miles round trip), and then did a 2 mile run on the Friday, followed by a walk to Oxford Street and back (4 miles). I kept active but didn't do anything too strenuous and it made such a difference - I was raring to go on the Sunday!
  
• Stretch or do some yoga the day/night before to really loosen up the muscles in the legs. It will make such a difference.
• Eating well in the days leading up made such a difference - staying away from empty calories/sugar/processed foods and just eating good, natural stuff full of energy that hopefully my body could retain! My only deviation from the nutrition plan was an almond croissant on Friday! I'm only human - I defy you to walk past Le Pain Quotidian without getting one! :P
  
• Warm up on the day. I walked the mile from the train station to the park, and that was enough.
• Cool down. Don't just get in the car and go home! I walked back to the train station, and then home once I got back to central London, and even then didn't sit still for long because we went out to celebrate! Do some exercise again as soon as you feel able to - I walked home from work the next day, and on Tuesday night Tom and I went swimming. I think keeping active has really minimised my soreness!
• Do your best and have realistic expectations of yourself. Don't worry if you have to stop and walk, or need a break during the race. You're doing something amazing - just enjoy it!
  

What I might do different next time:

• Train with gels, so I can measure whether they improve my energy/performance prior to the race. I was tempted to get some for the day but seeing that I hadn't trained with them I didn't worry about it. And it was really only towards the end of the race that I started flagging anyway, so I'm not convinced that I really need them but I'm willing to give it a go! Has anyone else used them and got any advice to share?
  
• Remember to put Vaseline somewhere so I can put some on my dry lips as I run! I hate having dry lips, it was so distracting!
• More yoga in the lead up - doing it the night before really loosened my muscles up. It would be good to be doing it every evening the week before so I was really stretched out and relaxed!

I'm really really happy :) I can't stop smiling! And I just feel so....peaceful yet pumped up at the same time!

I'm already thinking about my next race. I'm hoping to do another race before I go on holiday - just a 10k this time, nothing too strenuous :P I'm thinking about this one. I'm also plotting my next half marathon too! There's one from Uxbridge to Watford the weekend after I get back from holiday - but will my (inevitable) jet lag interfere too much?!

Oh, it's true what they say - once you've got the bug, you just want more, more, more!

Tom suggested I also look into half marathons abroad for 2010, so we could combine a race with a little holiday. So yesterday I looked up Semi Marathon de Paris! I also looked up some races in the US as I'm dying to visit there again!

Who knows......but I'll keep you all posted! In the meantime, I'm keeping the happy feeling going all through the week!

What we see depends mainly on what we look for.
- Sir John Lubbock

PS: I've also updated my about me/my story section - let me know what you think!