Marathon training has begun!

As you may know, I have been preparing to train for my marathon for the last couple of months. It all started in December with running every day to 25^th and also trying to increase a single run to 10 miles.  All was achieved and I have been steadily running 4-5 times a week since the beginning of January 2019 and increasing my long run distance.

So 4th Feb signalled the start of my 16-week training plan; which does feel long but I’ve built in some wriggle room and factored in a week in Mexico🌞. I have still not managed to really get in much quality work, reps on the treadmill are hard work and no one really fancies a tempo session unless you have company😒 .  

But I did get my longest run for 2 years done a whopping 14 miles last week and followed up with 13 miles this week.  On both runs, I was feeling the effects by the end and none of it was particularly quick.  

I like to reminisce about my long runs, of the past when I could run 14 miles at 8:30 min pace and question whether I will be ever that quick again…..but then I remember that I’m older,  that style of running hurt and I didn’t really enjoy it.  So I will carry on with my plodding miles and hope that the pave does quicken a little.

You do have a lot of time during your long run and I used to decide which charity to run for. I'll be fundraising for it's Bowel Cancer UK and my link to my just giving page is here I had originally thought perhaps I could run for all the B cancers; Bladder, Bowel, Balls and Breast, but I don’t think that there is such a charity out there yet!

Bowel Cancer UK  provider expert information and support to patients and their families, they campaign for early diagnosis and treatment, they support and fund research to help stop people dying of bowel cancer and they educate. To find out more check out their website. https://www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/

Cancer has struck my family again; my Dad survived his last bout with Bladder cancer and has been fit and healthy for the last 8 years.  Then last year he started to get some symptoms, which made him book an appointment with the GP and following that he was put on the cancer two-week pathway and had a battery of tests. 

The outcome and diagnosis was not what any of us wanted but in the grand scheme of things it was in the early stages and he had stood a good chance to win in this battle too.  

His treatment plan was an aggressive one of combined radiotherapy and chemotherapy, neither were very pleasant and towards the end of the treatment, they were beginning to take their toll on him.  However, after 5 weeks his treatment stopped and although the treatment effects continued they didn’t get any worse and they even started to lesson week by week.  By week 5 after he finished treatment he was back to his chipper self….all be it a lot thinner than when he started. 

Now for the next barrage of tests again to see how things are going….and it was good news treatment had gone well the tumour was now a distance memory.  Although things don’t stop there, because of his previous cancer and the treatment he was unable to have the usual next stage in traditional treatment pathway which was an operation to remove the site of cancer, which meant there were several options to him. 

As it stands, 4 months after he finished treatment,  he is now on a watchful waiting list, where he has regular scans to ensure he remains cancer free and the second anything changes we face a new decision which is knife or no knife…..

It is a tense time for all of us, but I think that it is the Owen way to feel invincible and that we will defy the odds, so let’s keep our positive pants on and keep moving forward.