The End of this story.

“This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

Winston Churchill 

I started blogging for a few reasons. A friend encouraged me to, saying that with my asthma perhaps I could help others who wanted to improve their health. Also, I thought a blog would be a great way to track my journey from running a few kilometers to a full marathon. It also ended up being extremely motivating and inspiring. The plan was to continue blogging at least until I'd reached my goal of running a marathon and I had no idea how long that could take. 

In case you're wondering. I started blogging on January 3, 2010 (I was 50 years old) having just completed my first ever 10K training run. 21 months later I completed my marathon (I am 52 years old). I had been running a grand total of 2 years and 3 months. 

Training run - January 2010

First Half-Marathon - Ottawa May 2010

Third Half-Marathon - Niagara Falls October 2010

Marathon - Montréal September 2011

  

Over the course of this blogging experience :

• I completed one 5K; two 10Ks; four half-marathons; and one marathon.
• I infected many people with the racing virus. Some directly and some through others. It is now a family affair when we go to races! :)

• The longest I went without prednisone is 143 days. Which is excellent, but I want to go longer and longer.
• After switching my blog address, I went from 191 to approximately 50 followers. Yet, I still had about the same number of comments. So, you are my real followers and I appreciate each and everyone of you! 
• This is my 209th post.
• I won some really cool things and got to review some great stuff.
• I injured my right knee; my left foot; my left groin; my right ankle; my right foot; and my left knee. My PT could have put my name on his lease I was practically paying for it at some point (Being in my 50s and corticosteroids may have had something to do with this). Thankfully, the last two injuries did not require PT and I was able to run cautiously through both. Finally, I am currently uninjured doing well!
• The above led to cross-training so, I started biking and I even got a trainer for winter (BTW, that photo is the only time I ever tried to read on the trainer...I quickly switched to TV).

• I stopped going to the gym and started strength training at home (hmmmm it's been a while...must get back to it - that may not have been the best move. To be reassessed).
• I was chosen to be part of a book on first time marathoners.
• Of course, I learned tons of stuff about running!!
• Last, but certainly not least, I became a grand-mother :) :)

There is so much more that occurred over the course of writing this blog...so much that I gained and learned. Every once in a while I would get an email from someone who was asthmatic or dealing with some other chronic illness, telling me that I inspired them. I remember googling high and low trying to find out if anyone had ever managed to wean off prednisone and I never found anything encouraging. So if I could help even one person believe in their ability to take control of their health, then I've achieved my ultimate goal. 

So this is the end of the beginning. The goal is to keep running for the rest of my life. Running is going well once again and I will be running a 10K with my little sister, my brother, my Super SIL, her brother, his wife...well, you get the picture...on November 5th in Oka. Other goals over the next year include some trail running and the winter Pentathlon in Québec City. Uber H is on sabbatical starting at the end of January and this seems like the perfect year to do this. The winter Pentathlon includes five winter sports and we will do them as a team (Biking; running; cross-country skiing; skating; and snowshoeing). I will do the running and skating (In another life, I used to figure skate :)). There will be other races and there are plans to go to Philadelphia in November 2012 with some members of the "Lacets rouge". 

Therefore, this will be my last post for this blog. I will have it printed into a book, which I will keep as a souvenir of my journey. I will still read your blogs and comment once in a while. Also, I will be on Daily Mile and so if you want to stay in touch, you can always connect with me there. For those of you already on DM, you know that I usually write in French, but I promise to alternate and write some of my training comments in English :) 

THANK YOU!

THANK YOU!

THANK YOU!

FOR ALL YOUR WONDERFUL FEEDBACK AND ENCOURAGING COMMENTS. MY EMAIL ADDRESS IS IN MY PROFILE, SO NEVER HESITATE TO BE IN TOUCH. PERHAPS WE CAN ORGANIZE TO MEET AT A RACE! 

THE BLOG WILL STAY UP FOR A WHILE AND I'LL BE CHECKING IN WITH YOU ALL.

CHEERS!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would like you to meet...

"A new baby is like the beginning of all things, hope, a dream of possibilities."

Author unknown

Baby Léa (pronounced Lei-a)

Les than 12 hours old

A grand-mommy in love

3 days old :)

Sleeping in grand-daddy's arms

Birth weight was 6lbs 2oz and she was 18.5 inches long...a tiny, but perfect little bundle.

Tomorrow, I will start running again, and I will be using a progressive-return-to-running program. If all goes well, I will register to run the Oka 10K on November 5th :)

Cheers!

Post-Marathon Thoughts

“Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.”

Paulo Coelho 

It's been almost a week and I am just as excited about my marathon and find it hard to believe that I finally DID IT. However, I am definitely still recuperating. Here are my post-marathon thoughts in point form...because that's how my brain is working today.

My very cool medal!

• When I first started running, completing a marathon was the ultimate goal. The goal that seemed impossible. A little over 2 years ago, I was 50 years old, severely asthmatic and I had never run before (actually, I didn't like running). Yet, somewhere deep inside, I believed that if I put my mind to something I could do it. As impossible as it seemed, I still wanted to try. Crossing the finish line last Sunday, was everything I hoped it would be and more. It was also very liberating...I did it and so now the pressure is off. I can enjoy running for the sake of running for a while...I love running! 
• I was exhausted on Monday and Tuesday...and quite tired the rest of the week. Even today, I ended up taking a nap in the afternoon. 
• I tried to go for a short easy run with my little sister this week, but I stopped after about 2.5K because of foot pain. Strangely, the pain on top of my right foot was worse after this short run, than after my marathon. The left knee is getting better though. Still, I'm taking the hint and will give my body a break.
• My marathon photos have arrived and I can't believe they didn't take any as I was crossing the finish line. That's the one I was most looking forward to. I was disappointed, although there are some very good ones.  
• The cool thing is that in all the photos, you can see that I was landing mid-foot...there were no heel landing photos. I am really proud of that. Here is one you've already seen and you can see my foot landing. That's at 38K.

• Will I set new goals? Of course. But, interestingly, my goals are not time goals. I do not have the urge to run faster. I didn't know I'd feel this way and perhaps it's partly because of my age, but I just can't imagine focusing on speed (at least for now). I don't feel the need to run a faster marathon...but, if I run the Marathon de Paris in 2013, I would like to run it without pain, which is likely to be faster, if only because I won't be hurting. 
• I would like to try trail running and Uber H has gotten me excited about the Québec winter pentathlon for 2012 (that's biking, running, cross-country skiing, skating and snow-shoeing). We would do it as a mixed couple and I would do the skating and running :) 
• Finally, on a non-running note, any day now my grand-daughter will be born. *Edit: She was born this morning at 6:36am...How cool that I became both a marathoner and a grandmother during the same week!! I am super excited about becoming a grandmother and I can't wait to hold her tonight :) Pics to come of course!

A great big thank you to each and every one of you for your kind words. I thought of you all as I crossed the finish line and I couldn't wait to tell you that I was finally a marathoner! THANKS!

Cheers!

Marathon Oasis de Montréal - race report :)

“Victory is sweetest when you've known defeat.”

Malcolm S. Forbes 

After twice having to drop down to the half-marathon, yesterday I finally did it and became a full-fledged marathoner. Here's how my day went...

I started with the breakfast of champions.

I actually managed to sleep relatively well the night before. I believe I remained pretty much in denial until I was actually on the bridge. This probably helped me get breakfast down too. 

I then got down to the business of preparing. A little body glide here, some diaper rash cream there, an anti-inflammatory cream on the foot...thank goodness I had put second skin on the blister-sensitive areas of my toes the night before. Once I'm sure I have done everything I can to be comfortable and that I have everything I need, we are off.

Waiting for the metro, which took us to Île Ste-Hélène, which is where we get to the bridge.

The ride in was extremely smooth. We had bought our metro tickets the night before, so no waiting in line.

Ran into a DailyMile friend, Claire, on the island.

These port-a-potties were actually on the bridge - so one last time before heading for the start.

And we're off - Claire and I started the race together and stayed not too far from each other throughout.

Note that we are wearing sleeveless tops - the forecast was for high humidity and 25°C/77°F (BUT, the expected "feels like" temp was 31°C/88°F) so we knew it might get very warm.

No pictures yet of the first 38Km - but, here's how it went. From the start, the foot felt a little tight, as it always does, but the longer I went, the better it felt. I could tell that my walk breaks were good for stretching the foot too. Overall, the foot actually behaved quite well. A bit of tightness once in a while, but nothing unbearable. Of course, that could be because of the unexpected extreme pain I was feeling in my left knee. You know the joke about if you want to get rid of pain in your foot, hit your finger with a hammer :) Yeah. The knee hurt quite a bit and probably made the foot seem pretty mild in comparison. My guess is that I was unconsciously compensating for the right foot pain, which led to pain in the opposite knee. Classic. The first 19K were quite smooth, but I was getting little pokes of pain in the left knee once in a while. By 20K, I realized the pain was becoming more constant and worsening. Of course, this worried me as I still had more than half the distance to go. This is where mental toughness comes in, mixed in with a little wisdom :). At this point I was easily on target for a 4h55m-5h marathon, but I decided to let that go and not even think about time. I was still pretty much able to maintain a 5/1 ratio, but I walked through more water points as I had to refill my bottles quite often. 

By 30K, I made the decision to take the anti-inflammatory that I had brought along just in case. I knew that I had to be careful and keep drinking water regularly, but I went ahead. Although I definitely continued to feel pain, I did manage to keep going. Basically, after a walk break, it was really hard to get the legs running again, but once I was running, I would be "relatively" okay for anywhere between 3 to 5 minutes, usually closer to 4 minutes, before the pain became less bearable and I would take another walk break, along with another sip of water. Then I'd start the whole thing over again.

At 38K, there was a group of DailyMile friends who had converged to encourage us, and my little sister and my god-daughter were there with them. This was so encouraging and to be honest, I was really glad that when I went by there, I was on a running stretch :) Here are a few pics taken by Sylvie when I came by.

I know, so classy :)

Big smile...so happy to see them.

And I'm off - note the pompoms they had!

Here I am at 39K - Happy to see Uber H waiting to run with me :)

We walked up the crazy hill and then we ran for a while, then walked a bit and then near 41K, I tried to run and got a major stab in the knee, so I walked a little more. 

"Oh well" 

But then the finish line was approaching and there was no way I was going to walk it in. So I just got the adrenaline going and pushed off...

Woohoo - arms up, big smile...I was so excited!

Running it in with a smile and tears in my eyes :)

5h18m23s

I'll take it with a smile :)

I am a marathoner in this picture :)

With my little sister and my god-daughter, note the pretty flowers they gave me! 

It was wonderful to have them there with me.

 With Uber H, my bro and my Super SIL who all ran the half - we had just finished a group hug, with happy tears from everyone. I'm so lucky to have such great support from my family!

We could actually take a shower on the premises - so this is post shower, eating a snack and texting family...yes, I was happy :)

One final picture in front of the Olympic Stadium!

My thoughts: Yes, I would have preferred to not have to deal with knee pain, but I realize that this is also part of the experience. There are risks involved in running a marathon. There were tons of runners hobbling by 30K, some stopping to stretch, some limping along or walking most of the rest of the way. Dealing with the unexpected is part of what makes running a marathon exceptional. The good thing, is that the high humidity did not affect me, I felt fine and I gather that because I ended up walking more, I was actually not worn out by the end and I never saw the wall. 

I'm excited by the fact that I know I can do better if I'm not in pain and I aim to try. Yes, right after crossing the finish line, I knew I wanted to try at least one more time with more experience and training.

My Super SIL will be celebrating her 50th birthday in 2013 and she would love to run the Marathon de Paris with her family. So, that may be my next attempt. Two years from now in Paris...how cool would that be :)

Thanks to each and every one of you for your support and encouragement throughout this journey. I thought of you all as I took it all in and G I thought of you particularly as I smiled at photographers and thanked the spectators. Thank you for sharing your experience with me and for making this an even more wonderful experience, despite the fact that it was not perfect.

Cheers!!

I am a Marathoner!

The finish line is right there and I am celebrating!

5h18m23s

Race report soon...Cheers!

Thank you!

“Nothing has turned out as we expected! It never does. Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect. We take what we get and are thankful it's no worse than it is.”

Author unknown

Bloggers are wonderful people! I am so grateful to all of you for taking the time to share your experience. This morning, I woke up to the most lovely and touching "letter" from G...I definitely shed a few tears while reading her wise and loving words of encouragement.

Many of you told me to beware of NSAIDs...though some of you believed I should go ahead and take one. As it stands, the forecast if for warm and humid, which means I will quite likely skip the NSAID (though I may carry one with me just in case). 

Most of you feel that I should go ahead and run, considering I've done the training. That's definitely the direction I was leaning. Meg mentioned going through this exact same dilemma (although it wasn't her first marathon) and I liked her goals. So here are my new goals.

A) Finish the marathon within a reasonable time (5 hours would have me doing a happy dance).

B) Walk a little more if I have to and try and make the cut-off of 5:45.

C) Simply stop if it becomes unbearable and too risky...Anne mentioned not being able to run for six months after running a marathon with an injury. I'd prefer not to have that happen.

Jill is the queen of foot pain, and she felt that if running didn't make it worse, then I should try. I mean if Jill thinks I should go ahead, that's reassuring. 

Even Johann, our long distance hero, thinks I should go ahead. Now, if you read Johann's blog or if you've gotten some of his comments, you know he leans more on the cautious side, so again, reassuring.

Almost everyone mentioned taking it extra easy during my last week of taper, which I did. I ran a 5K on Wednesday and will run a short and relaxed 3K on Saturday just to keep the muscles loose. 

Now, I just have to avoid catching Uber H's cold (he's a high school teacher, which makes colds inevitable for him)!! Plus, there's one going around and so far this week, I've had two kids spend their therapy session blowing their noses!! Yikes!! I've been abusing hand sanitizer :)  

On the plus side, a close friend of mine is currently taking massage and other similar courses right now. Today, she did a combination of Polarity, Shiatsu, and Reflexology. This involved getting the energy flowing throughout my body, a very complete massage of every single part of each foot, and stretching of my back muscles. It felt great and she will redo the foot massage on Saturday. How lucky am I! 

So, YES, I will be on Jacques Cartier Bridge at 8:30am on Sunday morning, wearing bib #212 :)

Once again, a great big THANK YOU to each and every one of you for your advice, encouragement and support! Here's hoping that by Sunday afternoon, I will have become a marathoner. But, let me tell you right now, that if for some reason it doesn't happen, I'll be okay and I'll just try again.

Cheers!

You tell me! ...and I've created a monster ;)

“Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death.”

Earl Wilson 

Before I talk about me :) ...let me tell you about my little sister, Iz, who participated in the Energizer Night Race 5K yesterday. She's totally addicted to running and racing. I loved being there to cheer her on!

Iz and her new BFF the Energizer bunny :)

Now, about me :) I'll tell you what I think, but I'd really like to hear your opinion. Many of you have lots of running, and most specifically, marathon experience. What would you do? 

This week, I was able to complete all the runs on my training schedule, with today being the longest at 80 minutes (or 11.5K). All week, I've been taking an anti-inflammatory and either icing or heating my foot accordingly. The pain remains quite mild, but constant. Running has not worsened the injury, but the degree of improvement has become quite minimal. Today's run went like this: First 10 minutes were painful enough that I felt I had to mildly alter my form (very minimally); after that, the muscles seemed to be warming up and there was only lingering tightness; my form was back to feeling normal; mild pain remained barely there throughout the run and I felt no compensatory pain (on my last two runs my left knee would start hurting near the end - not this time). So I got home, iced, and now my foot feels fine. It actually feels a bit better than it did before I ran. Although it seems to tighten up whenever I sit for too long, it loosens up quickly and I can walk normally without pain. That's where things are at.

My thoughts: 

I can make the final decision on race day morning. I still have one more week to go.

This week is full on taper and I have only a few very short runs planned.

I can take an anti-inflammatory on race day.

If running makes the pain go away, then I'm probably not worsening it when I run.

BUT, What if I end up with too much pain and have to stop running.

It's already bad enough to run a marathon, it might be crazy to try and run a first marathon with an injury, no matter how minor.

I go back and forth thinking that yes I can do it, and it would be stupid to do it...sigh.

Important information :

This marathon has a cut-off time of 5:45, so I can't just walk it in if I'm in pain.

This is extremely important to me, because I don't want to not finish on time! I'd prefer my first marathon to not be DNF if possible.

My goals:

A) Ideally, I would finish in close to 5 hours. I would be thrilled if I could do this!

B) I'd be happy to just finish with a smile on my face (even if it's forced).

C) I'd be satisfied with coming in right at the cut-off of 5:45.

Is this all taper madness and normal fears, or am I being smart and logically cautious?

Feeling fine after today's run :)

Thanks for sharing your experience!

Cheers!