Great North Run 2014:race report

My usual pre-race jitters were way out of order. It was a beautiful, sunny (even too sunny) September morning, I was with my favourite training buddy of all time, the atmosphere was buzzing with excitement, yet I was as tense as a violin string. For the first time in 7 years of running I hadn't trained for a race. Despite doing some running while I was away, my longest run was 16 km...2 months ago. Top that with 0 training in my last 10 days abroad...it was the recipe for disaster.

In a whim of enthusiasm my mum and I had decided to run together because, despite having stepped on the start area together in numerous events, we've never managed to cross the finish line together. Which made me even more nervous because my mum had been training for the whole summer...it was going to be a tough 21.096 km.

The start line was heaving, it was the biggest assemble of runners I had ever seen. I stood on the barrier and I looked over the swaying sea of charity and cub tops which at the back stretched beyond my sight. An almost electric buzz of excitement permeated the air. 

And suddenly we were off. It felt so surreal to be running on the highway: there were no speeding cars, no rushing buses today, only a river of runners. The scream of city traffic was replaced by the rhythmic drumming of a million feet. 

Newcastle was out in force to cheer: a smiling, noisy crowd was happily perched on the sides of the street and on the overpasses. Never I had seen so many people out to support a race. In my experience it was good if we didn't get killed while on the course by some inpatient driver.

We ran across the Tyne Bridge among two wings of smiley faces, carried by the wave of our and their excitement. The sun was shining in a perfect blue sky over the bridges, the silver back of the river and the Quayside bustling with the life of a sunny weekend morning.

By far one of my favourite views in Newcastle, today was made even more special by the camaraderie of the race and especially by the presence of my mum. 

At that point we had just cleared the 2-mile mark and it was evident that she had set a brutal pace (she was in charge this time to prevent me going off at a crazy pace).  I was keeping up with her but I was working hard: I wasn't sure I could keep up with her for the whole way (we didn't in the end).

The support never died down along the route: whole families out, kids with outstretched hands or splashing us with water, bands and charity crews. And, most of all, a lot of my friends from Tyne Bridge Harriers and university. I would hear my name called at random times which really lifted my spirits. I was overwhelmed by how enthusiastic everyone was: I missed the whole summer of training with them and yet they genuinely sounded happy and excited to see me. Once again I felt part of something special. 

The finish line had a special feeling to it too. We first saw the sea as we came down the last hill, then the last km mark. The finishing straight was a bit of a blur, running hand in hand with my mum among the cheer of the crowd. When we crossed the line I felt a bubble of emotion swell up in my throat. We did it! We ran a race together! After 7 years of plodding the streets together, we finally managed a whole half marathon together. It felt like accomplishing a challenge bigger than any PB because I was able to adjust my pace and ambition to someone else's. My mum has always been my model for running and healthy living. She's always been active but since starting running, almost 10 years ago, she took it to a completely higher level. She takes care of a family, a house, her job while training for a marathon, all with a smile. She faces injuries and setbacks but always came back stronger. She's the person who got me into running and to date she is still my best running buddy and number 1 supporter through injuries and setbacks. Sharing the emotion of the finish line of this special race with her was a unique experience, which no PB could ever match. 

We took pictures together and I met some of my friends from running who had all done very well and were all excited. It was nice to see them after such a long time.

We found my dad at the baggage buses and we all sat in the grass watching the sea. The sun was shining,people all around were laughing and celebrating and for the first time in 2 weeks I felt deeply content there and then.

Getting back to Newcastle was a bit of a challenge: there was a massive queue for the metro, a huge snake of stiff runners, eager for a shower. Luckily they had increased the frequency of the trains, so it wasn't too bad. As soon as I got home I collapsed in a heap on the floor with a cup of green tea. Chip timing revealed that my mum had indeed beaten me by 1s, which amused Aaron endlessly. He's still laughing about it and makes fun of me at any occasion (very rare now as my knee hurts and I haven't been running). That's what real friends are for, huh?

We headed all together to Las Iguanas to celebrate the race and my birthday in advance. The food was delicious and the company even better. We ate a lot of guacamole and laughed even more.

I fell asleep fully content and exhausted after a very exciting day...I can't wait for GNR2015!

Also, a special thanks and thought goes to my friends from Tyne Bridge Harriers, those supporting and those running. It was good to see your smiley faces and the enthusiastic welcome you gave me after 3 months of absence were truly heartwarming. I can't wait to go back to training...knee hurry up to heal!!

Did you run the GNR?

sunderland half: race report:)

hello, hello!
It's good to be back blogging even though exams are looming! I am really excited about writing this report because it is full of good news!

I signed up for Sunderland Half back in January with the idea of trying and achieve my year goal of hitting sub-1:40 for a half marathon. I convinced Claudia to sign up for the half as well, while our flatmate Colin signed up for the 10k to raise money for his trip to the Himalaya for Help for Heroes. I made a training plan, stuck it onto the wall and followed it religiously ( or almost).  I thought I was on good track for my time goal as I was getting quicker and recovering well. Then, I went home and my training stalledl: catching up with friends and family, attempts of revision, the absence of a structured training session with a club and the hilly surroundings of my home  conjured to make me shift my training runs around and reshuffle my plan significantly.

On my way up to Newcastle, I was highly doubtful I could make it. I felt there was no much point of me racing on Sunday and that I was heading towards failure.  At least until Thursday training session when I was asked to go and help out in group 5, our slowest group, to run a hill session.

Spending time with those amazing people who run because they love it, even though it's very though for them because they haven't been running for long, made me remember that I run for the enjoyment of it, to clear my mind, to keep calm, to meet new people and connect with my friends. And that was all I needed to be ready for the race.

On Sunday I woke up full of nerves as the weather turned out to be as  forecasts predicted -cold,  windy and rainy. In a spur of inspiration, I made some arm warmers from some old tights that Claudia and I could wear if it was too cold or chuck away if the weather warmed up a  bit.

We headed to the metro station where we met Bam and Heinrik from my club while our friend Mchelle joined us at the station after: after having run an amazing time at London Marathon (3:29-amazing!!) she was suffering from some niggles at her knee and ankle which were all bandaged.
Once in Sunderland, we had a look around the start and the bag deposits to pick a meeting point and I found all my friends from TBH getting ready: Adam had offered to pace a group for roughly 1:40 (which he had bagged in the Nortumberland Half in March) and I decided that I might try to stick with them for a bit for company. Meanwhile, Colin was getting ready to start with his Yoda backpack (it was may 4th after all): we took a quick prerace pic before he headed to the start line.

We lined up to see him off, before heading to dump our bags and for a last minute trip to the toilets, where we lost Michelle.

Claudia and I, clad in our binbags and arm warmers, joined the TBH crew- Katie, Adam, Bam, Michael, Adrian, Emma, Nicola, Gemma and Shaun on the start line and before we knew it  we were off on the Star Wars soundtrack. Our little group, Nicola, Bam, Michael and me, set off quite gingerly while Adam tried to rein us in looking at his Garmin. 
Across the bridge we went and we crossed paths with the 10k: I saw some of my friends from uni and we exchanged encouragements. We delved into the streets of Sunderland still keeping a gingerly rhythm, although we had lost Michael and Bam.

The course was really bendy and twisty and I soon lost any sense of direction: quite a few people from my club were marshalling and we kept bumping into them, even though we thought to be miles aways from them. Their support was amazing and it really kept me going.  While looping around, I saw Michelle on the other side of the fence and then Claudia: we waved at each other with big grins and kept going. 

Claudia with race face on!

Meanwhile, the 6 mile  mark was creeping on us and I wasn't sure whether to take my gel or not: I didn't want to get stomach cramps as in the last long runs, but didn't want to bonk later on either. We were keeping a pace that was perfect to nail 1:40 and didn't want to mess with it with wrong nutrition. In the end I only took a little sip (and somehow managed to put the open gel back in my pocket without spilling it all over the place) and carried on. The air was humid and sticky, very different from the cold day we were all expecting. I had a tshirt under my vest and was very hot, while Nicola in her thermal top was really suffering the humidity.

Back across the bridge (mile 9) we went and up along the seafront we went, crossing paths with the head of the race, especially Aly Dixon who was running a beautiful race. 
We looped around after mile 10 and entered in Roker park for another bendy and twisty stretch, where Nicola dropped behind a bit. We caught up with Phil, who had set off very quickly and was battiling through. 
At mile 11, I bonked: I thought I was going to die and wanted to stop or slow down so badly, I had to start counting my steps to keep my head away from destructive thoughts. I was really glad that I was running with Adam because he kept me going.

struggling, with a bad running form

The 12 mile mark went and so did the 20 km mark and finally we were on the finishing straight where I found my course mate Matt cheering for me. It was such an adrenaline kick, I steeled up and picked up the pace for a sprint finish: I could see the stopwatch ticking at the finish line, still under the 1:40 mark. I raised my hans as I crossed the line, a big smile on m face, because...I DID IT!! I ran a half marathon under 1:40!! 

big smiles and arms up: I made it!!!:D

Adam and I waited for Nicola, Michael, Bam, Phil and Claudia. Once the TBH group was all together, they went to get their medals while Claudia and I waited for Michelle. She crossed the finish line under the 1:50 mark crying for the pain: her knee and ankle were torturing her but she proudly battled through and still finished with a PB, truly inspirational!!

We got our medals, tshirts and food inside the football stadium and met up with Colin again who had patiently waited for us.

post race, for Colin's charity!

Tyne Bridge Harriers: an amazing club which helped to achieve my goals so far!!

We received a text with our times, 1:39:12 for me which was a bit disappointing as I had stopped my watch at 1:38:54. However, when I checked the results online I realised that we had received our gun times.
My chip time was 1:38: 47, a PB and year goal!
I was over the moon, so so happy also because it was a totally unexpected result. I obviously did my miles and trained for it but I didn't feel ready for it. I guess that going in with an open mind and heart did the trick: I went to the start ready to do my best and to enjoy the time with my friends...and it worked! I need to remember this open-minded attitude for all the future challenges because it has been successful over the past years!

Claudia got an amazing time as well: 1:42 which is so great!:)
As soon as we got home Claudia and I dived into a massive bowl of porridge with PB...but we struggled to finish it! Our appetites magically vanished and didn't reappear until a couple of days after...triplicated as we had not eaten that much after the race;)

In the evening,I dragged myself out to celebrate the PBs with my friends from TBH: it was the most appropriate conclusion to a grand day!

I hope you are good and your spring races are going well!

8 paws for a marathon: Milano City Marathon relays!

(credit to my friend Sara for the title)

I hope you all had a great weekend and a bearable Monday start....as for me, I had a wonderful 3 days!
I unexpectedly got to run the Milano City Marathon with my friends from my old running club and it's been such good fun!!
This race wasn't planned at all and it kind of threw my training for Sunderland Half a bit off the way (I am guilty of not following the PLAN-what kind of runner am I?) but I didn't care because these girls are among my favourite people in the world:) Also, they needed me to race because Letizia, the team captain and mind of this whole thing, was ill and with a niggly feet. 

On Saturday I met up with Letizia in Milan to pick up the bibs and our t-shirts: they had been recruited by Nike to promote the We Own the Night 10k run , so we got jazzy looking t-shirt to wear on Sunday:) 

The race itself sounds so cool and it's definitely on my bucket list: I wanted to run the one in London but then realised it was 2 days before my OSCE...not a good idea.

On Sunday morning we met up bright and early and we said goodbye to Benedetta, our first leg runner, straight away as the start line was quite far  from the city centre.

L to R: Sara, Meri, Benedetta, me, before the race with our jazzy t-shirts:)

Sara, Meri and I hung around the finish area for a bit, dropped off Meri's bag at the finish line deposit, and we finished to get ready. My pre-race nerves were in full swing and I could not stand still a second. I was really happy and excited to be there with my friends but my heart rate was quite out of control too:)

I said goodbye to Meri and Sara and hopped on the underground to reach my start line, as I was running the second leg. I got there with over 1 hour to spare, so I dropped the bag, queued for the toilet, jogged a bit, saw the marathoners come through, jogged a bit more, queued for the toilet again, jogged a bit more...and then lined along with the other runners peaking anxiously to see if Benedetta was coming through. Just over an hour from the start of the relays I saw her coming through with her graceful gazelle stride and started shouting and waving. She gave me the chip and I was off for my 10km leg. 
I set off quite briskly and was soon overtaking the marathoners: as the relays started 45 minutes after the marathon, I was running with the over 4:30 hours group.Having run a marathob myself I felt genuinely sorry for them: they must have hated every single one of us overtaking them on fresh legs and with a quarter of the distance to cover. I tried to encourage people as I went past, hopefully I wasn't annoying!
The heat was scorching: as soon as there is some sun, Milan becomes a greenhouse and the air is sticky and humid. By the 4km mark I was dripping and really feeling the heat rising from the tarmac, which was all soft because of the heat...yuck! At some points along the course, there were huge traffic jams of furious people who got stuck because of us. The honks were beeping furiously and the police was trying to calm down the enraged drivers, yet another classic of racing in Milan. I just don't get why they don't take public transports..or even better, come running with us: they will be much less stressed!
I closed my leg- a bit over 10k according to my garmin- in 47:30 and passed the chip on to Sara, who was tiptoeing around the start line and shot off like a flash:)
I think I never downed a drink as quickly as the bottle of electrolyte drink I was handed: I forgot how hot Milan gets...or maybe I am becoming a northerner and loosing my ability to withstand the heat:)

I met up with Benedetta and Meri at the start of the 4th leg and shortly after Sara came through with a time of 47 minutes, which brought us at 2:38 for 33.5 km.

Leg 1 and 2, all smiley now it is done!

We reached the finish line which was absolutely packed just on time to meet up with Meri who had run just over 40 minutes for her 8.7 km leg. We lied down on the grass for a bit trying to gather up the energy to go find the picnic organised by Nike for their relay teams.

Just after...a bit sweaty but happy!

After a bit of roaming we found the Nike team picnic and got our well-deserved sandwiches while lying in the grass in the glorious sunshine: we even got a slight tan!! 
We took lots of pictures:

#medalselfie

Post race beer:)

We hopped on the train  back home and met up with Letizia who wanted to know all about the day for a quick ice-cream  (this is how we hang out in warm sunny Italy days).

Day after note: we all went home, had very long showers and collapsed on sofas/bed, with or without food.

Results for the day were as follows:
Leg 1-13km: 1 hour
interchange-500m: roughly 3 minutes
Leg 2-10km: 47 minutes (official times say 53 minutes, accounting for an interchange)
leg 3-10 km: 47 minutes on Sara's stopwatch- 43 minutes official times
leg 4-8.7 km: 46 minutes official time because Meri forgot to stop her watch:)

Total: 3:21:50, 226 out of 2378 teams:)

It was such a good day, it is true that unexpected things are the best! And I really enjoyed spending the day with my friends: we used to see each other almost every day when I was in school and now I see them once every 3 months. At the beginning this was a huge shock because they are amazing team mates, girls and friends.

Yesterday morning I was still pumped from Sunday adrenaline, so I did a Freeletics workout in the morning, washed the outdoor patio in the sunshine (I loved playing with water barefoot while cleaning it) ready for warm spring days and went down to the track in the evening with the girls. We ran 40 minutes with hills in a beautiful, warm spring evening.

How was your weekend? What did you do? Please tell!:)

orienteering:)

If I was a normal hard-working medic I would be working on my assignment. Unfortunately, my brain is as dry as the Saharan desert and nothing decent seems to be coming out.

So I have decided to write about my crazy weekend.

I went for a weekend of orienteering races in Edinburgh! Which is slightly out of my comfort zone as the last time I used a compass I was 12 and didn't learn how to find north and it's best to omit what happened the last time I was in charge of a map.

In spite of all this, here I was on a very wet Saturday Scottish morning, trying to desperately get a grasp of what I would have to do to survive the race. I got my map, my checkpoint list and set off hoping not to get too lost.

The first day it didn't go too bad, as it was among the streets of Edinburgh and we didn't really need our compasses...the only glitch was when I didn't realise how the checkpoint looked like and was looking for a person, instead than the machine, whoops!!

In the evening we had  the most physically challenging part of the weekend: the CEILIDH!

Aka: traditional scottish dancing. Very much fun, but can leave you short of breath for laughing so hard and for the lively music and dance:)

Some people were wearing the traditional kilt and were proper pro at it!!

Sunday race was a complete different nut to crack ( a much harder one!). The weather was forecast to be infamously stormy and rainy but we were graced with some sun even though it was cold and windy. This race was on open ground, in Holyrood Park. We were given a compass and this map:

and we had to make it to the 17 checkpoints.

As the start was staggered I could not follow any one and stumbled on the second checkpoint without having cleared the first one. It took me 28 minutes to find it and by that time all the other girls from my team had started the race and was able to tag along, survive and finish the race.

I had a very good weekend! I enjoyed doing something different so much and feel proud for stepping out of my comfort zone, having a go to something which I wasn't familiar with...because it makes the world feel a bit bigger and the colours much brighter. It brings you back to your childhood when every menial task was a surprise and a potential source of fun. It makes you smile with all your teeth and want to run around screaming (maybe not at the end of the race). And I think these feelings are precious in our stressed out, fast-paced world.

Have you tried something new, which brought you out of your comfort zone?

Ps-Sunday race was tough and didn't go down without victims: firstly my trainers, which were so caked in mud and very very old, which were sadly chucked away. Secondly, my quads, hamstrings, and gluteus: I felt the burn through the whole time during yesterday reps.

Pps: we watched"About time" last night and I loved it soo much!!! It's a bitter-sweet British  movie and it made me feel so serene at the end of it:)

 Good night!!