As part of the Life Style Sports #GirlsRunTheWorld campaign, Michelle McMahon, Editor of Her.ie and Sue Murphy, TV & Film Editor,were challenged to run a 10k race after 12 weeks of training.
MICHELLE’S DIARY
Crossing the Line
In one way, three months feels like an eternity. When you’re prepping for (and slightly dreading) one night in the near future though, three months goes by all too fast. And so it came to pass that Sue and I stood side by side in our luminous yellow jerseys on Sunday night, ready to do our very best against the 10km course stretched out in front of us.
In the week preceding the event I managed just one run. I got as far as 8km, and that was that. The furthest I had ever run.
In terms of preparation, I was nowhere near where I needed to be. I’d never covered the distance. I had only completed one organised run, six weeks before, and that was half the length. To say I was nervous would be an understatement of epic proportions.
Sue and I had decided on the Samsung Night Run as our grand finale challenge. In hindsight, picking a race that took place at nighttime was not the best idea. While Dublin looked simply marvelous, waiting around all day to compete probably ate up those energy reserves!
To make a sad story worse, with Mother Nature’s impeccable timing, I got those oh-so-familiar lady pains on Saturday night. So now I was facing into the challenge with that to contend with too, joy!
Can you tell I was somewhat negative beforehand?
Once Sunday afternoon came about though, a sliver of excitement crept in too. Sue and I headed for a Last Supper at 6pm, three hours ahead of the race. Then we filmed our final video blog, and headed for the bag drop. The road was already starting to fill up with thousands of men and women in varying stages of fitness and with varying levels of visible nerves… but the atmosphere was amazing. Music pumped from the DJ booth atop a stage by the start line, and competitors everywhere flashed jittery smiles in solidarity.
After a little warm-up, it was time to go. It all came down to this. I told everyone beforehand that all I wanted to do was complete the course. In truth, I really, really wanted to get it done in under an hour. That’s the goal that Peter set for me at the start of our training, and despite all the setbacks through sickness and injury, I knew I’d feel like a failure if I didn’t manage it. I borrowed my other half’s swanky Garmin watch for the night, so I was better able to time myself. I’ve had his help with pacing for all my training runs, so that little tool was invaluable.
From the first minute, I was counting down. I didn’t bring any music or headphones, and the only sound was the voice inside my own head. At the outset I told myself to just keep going for ten minutes, then I’d be 1/6 of the way there. Once I hit that, I told myself to just go for two more minutes, then I was 1/5 there. It went on like that for the duration. Breaking it up into short bursts meant I felt far more able to keep going for ‘five more minutes’, every time.
Almost bang on the 3km mark I got some b**tard hybrid of a stitch in my side and a period pain. So much so that I genuinely considered lying down in the middle of the road and admitting defeat. But I didn’t. It might have slowed me down, but I didn’t stop. I just kept swimming, as Dory might say if Dory were a human and not a fish.
I crossed the line in 58 minutes and four seconds, absolutely elated. It’s not by any means an amazing time, but it was amazing for me. It also means that I’ve got two medals to my name this year. I didn’t even get those back at school sports days.
The post-race celebratory toast with my training buddy was tinged with sadness. As much as Sue and I have whinged and moaned (good-naturedly, mostly) about this process, we really have enjoyed it too. There has been so much laughter on our training sessions and shoots, and the sense of achievement for both of us now is pretty spectacular. I have no end of admiration for Sue; I’ve seen her fight and fight, through injury and illness. She has properly transformed her lifestyle through this challenge and I’ll be taking a leaf out of her book for the next challenge I undertake.
Life Style Sports and pb3 coaching took a chance on us for this one, and I hope they’re proud of us. We might never be elite athletes, but if it were easy… everyone would do it! The whole point was to take us from zero, and though we may not yet be ‘hero’, we gave it everything we had, and we’re both determined to keep going.
Who run the world? Damn right it’s girls.
SUE’S DIARY
Achieving the Impossible
So the start of last week was the beginning of our final week of training and the nerves really started to kick in on Monday. I went along for a Total Body Tone class with one of my friends on Monday (which nearly killed me) but was entirely aware that I would have to take it a little bit easier this week and maybe start to eat a little more carbs along the way. That, I can do.
With everything that was going on in work last week, I managed to miss all of my running sessions, which is rare. I would usually get one in at some stage but work was just too hectic. I was interviewing Michael Fassbender (you know, it’s a tough job, someone’s got to do it) out and about in Wexford with Moncrieff and working on TV3. Finding a running time was impossible.
However, I did manage to make it to 2 Pilates sessions which I really felt helped me a lot in the run up to the 10k, loosening out my joints and certainly making my core a little stronger. One of these sessions was on Saturday, quite a difficult one actually but in hindsight, that definitely helped me.
By the time the big day rolled around, I was really, really nervous, as was Michelle. We decided to meet for dinner early to calm our nerves and get a good meal into us. Our chosen race for the end of the training was the Samsung Night Run, which was a 10k you have to complete in 80 minutes.
We dropped off our bags and went along to the starting line where we bumped into some people we knew along the way. Then we started into the warm-up and next thing we knew, we were at the start line.
If you haven’t run a race before, I can’t quite explain the adrenalin that runs through you at an event like this. Surrounded by about 7,000 people who are just as equally pumped as you, this feeling will actually get you through the race.
The first 5k was a little tough but I managed to make this in under the half an hour and was pretty delighted with that. However, after the seventh kilometre mark, things became a little difficult. The result of too much carb loading during the day started to make me feel incredibly queasy and even though I made it to 8k, I knew I wasn’t going to make it any further without dying a death on the road.
Some nice ambulance drivers came along and asked me would I like a lift back to the starting line which I gladly accepted. Besides all of the water I was now consuming, I started to feel really unwell and did end up getting sick. There are two things I learned here, I pushed myself to such a limit that my body just couldn’t take it, I will know better the next time and that, two, carb loading for a race like a 10k is ridiculous. There is no need to do it, you will just feel incredibly unwell and you won’t be able to run well.
There was a bit of a search for me at the finish line when I got back and I finally found Michelle who managed to make it to the finish line in 58 minutes, which is just a brilliant time for a first 10k race.
Even though I didn’t make it to the end, I was incredibly proud of myself. If you had told me at the beginning of this year that I would even have been competing in a 10k in April, I would have laughed in your face. However, it turned out to be a lot of fun, I am now pretty fit at this stage and already thinking about competing again in another race.
This may sound a bit like an Oscar speech but there are certain people I have to thank for their help. My Mam for believing I could do it and constantly keeping me upbeat, Michelle for being there all the way through it and helping me every week, PB3 Coaching for putting us through our paces and keeping us focused, the girls and guys in the office who had to listen to our various fitness conversations and still staying supportive, Peter from JOE who loved our filming sessions so much, Lorraine from Physio Fusion who got me back on the road after an injured knee and Life Style Sports who took us on for this challenge. Oh, and the group of American tourists who got out of their bus at the 7k mark and cheered on everyone. They were heroes.
Looking back now, I never thought I would ever be this interested in sport and fitness but I am so glad I took on this challenge and now I kind of regret all of the times I passed up things over the years in favour of maybe eating and drinking! It’s been an amazing experience.
Think it’s time for this. She kept me going through the run, thanks Queen Bey.
Find pb3 coaching on Facebook for more details on the training programme
Whatever kind of training you are involved in, the Life Style Sports Product Experts (in stores nationwide) are on hand to ensure each customer selects the correct clothing and footwear to meet their individual needs, reducing risk of injury and achieving better results. Life Style Sports also offers customers a free Gait Analysis service in select stores which provides runners with an essential insight into their individual running styles. Customers can also find all the information they need on wearing the right technical apparel, including “Sports Bra Fitting Guides” and footwear while running or working out at “The Fitness Hub” on lifestylesports.com.
