marathon training

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Double bra’d and not self-conscious at Poppy Run.

carolynnov2016

So today we ran a Poppy Run to raise money for the Royal British Legion as part of my main London Marathon 2017 Fundraiser at www.donatepoppy.uk

Despite my wobbly 260 lbs (yes I’ve put on about 10 lbs recently) I jogged the 1st mile without stopping in a respectable (for me) 12 minutes and completed the rest by jogging the downhills and walking the rest. It took 44 minutes.

Beyond the brilliant atmosphere and the great cause there was something else that made this a happy day for this ‘big girl’ and that was it was a day where I didn’t once feel self-conscious. Not once!

jogging

It wasn’t so long ago where I found it impossible to jog outside in front of people. But then I started jogging a minute or two on most of my numerous evening hikes this past summer and as most of these were done in parks with not many people about, slowly I found myself getting used to running past people and when they looked I smiled. Soon after I tried a few morning 5k park runs. It was quite hard to do this as there can be many hundreds of people taking part and some of them are fantastic athletes. BUT so many people at the Park Runs are so encouraging and coming last just about every single time hasn’t been discouraging at all!

I think what I am trying to say is that part of my long meandering weight-loss and fitness journey is that to become more successful you have to absolutely say F*** it! You have to be able to not give a damn if you jog slow, if you sweat and turn bright pink, if you have boobs that bounce dangerously everywhere even if you’ve double bra’d or if you always come last.

Every day you get out there and do something you will care less and feel better about yourself and proud of what you are achieving. Please never give up, just keep going. Please take this advice from someone who has spent at least 20 years struggling against this thing called obesity….

Love and hugs and here’s to not giving a damn and never giving up!

C xxxxx

carolynjess-poppyrun

donatepoppy-uk

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I’m running the London Marathon…

What a whirlwind of emotion, of disappointment and elation. I never seem to have a happy medium but I can’t complain as in 2017 I am

“RUNNING THE LONDON MARATHON FOR THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION” …..(drops to floor in utter shock) – CLICK HERE

Yes I’m shouting that out loud in a hugely excited and animated way with a smidgen of pure terror thrown in for good measure!

carolyndonateTEAM LEGION selected me as one of their charity runners. Just the week before I had got the bad news after applying through the Virgin London Marathon ballot that I didn’t get through so then I applied to the Royal British Legion, filled in their application form and gave them my reasons for wanting to do the London Marathon for them. The chances of getting chosen are VERY remote… so to get this wonderful news last night has filled me with joy.

To be honest it’s been my saviour right now.

I’d been training for the Plusnet Yorkshire Marathon to walk/jog for the ‘Children’s Hospital Charity’ through my employer http://www.pmsdiecasting.co.uk, when two days before the race I was up all night with a horrible ‘vomiting and D’ (I can’t say that word and definitely can’t spell it!). Regardless we caught the train to York and convinced myself that by Sunday morning I’d be OK. Although I wasn’t sick anymore the D’s continued and by Saturday evening I was so dehydrated I had stopped peeing…

Sunday morning still no pee. I got dressed in my Marathon gear, ordered the taxi to the starting line and 5 minutes before it arrived promptly had a gushing nosebleed. My daughter begged me not to run, “your ill, don’t do it” and a call from my brother in Australia knocked some sense into me and at the last moment I withdrew and went back to bed.

Later in the day we went to the finish line to watch my work colleague Alicja finish her first Marathon for the charity we were fundraising for in an incredible 6 hours and 4 minutes!

It was so emotional to watch…it really was. And thank you to all who supported as we were able to raise £750 and reach our goal for the children’s hospital.

The reason this unexpected news has been my saviour is that for the past 3 or 4 weeks my eating has started to go off the rails. I’ve eaten chocolate, crisps, and lots of cake and cheese and my 1940’s eating had gone out the window. That horrid feeling of “I’m-slowly-losing-control-and-all-this-weight-I’ve-lost-will-go-back-on-again” was taking over. Infact over the last 3 or 4 weeks I put on 10 lbs…

I weighed in the other day at 260 lbs (still 85 lbs down from my heaviest ever but brought my weight loss back up to only 45 lbs this year)

NOW, with this news, I have focus, I have a really big challenge ahead and I LOVE challenges!

For TEAM LEGION I will be raising £2000 and raising awareness of the Royal British Legion and what they do for ex-service people and veterans.

For myself, my own personal challenge will to be lose 60 lbs in 6 months and run the London Marathon in under 6 hours.

Today I’ve been back on my rationing plan and today I am full of hope 🙂

Lots of love

C xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

PS: My fundraising page is at www.donatepoppy.uk

liveon1

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Be the tortoise not the hare…

After 20+ years of being obese, there is one lesson I’ve recently learned and accepted the fact that “it is OK to be the tortoise and not the hare…”

The key to long term success is perseverance and endurance and one is more likely to get to the end and finish if challenges are taken at a steady pace. It REALLY is OK to plod along and enjoy the scenery.

The last three weeks I’m kinda stuck in the low 250’s. Normally this would have previously been enough for me to throw my hands up in exasperation and head down to the shop on the corner to buy 2 giant bars of Cadbury’s Milk Chocolate and a large bag of chips. That’s not something I’ve done for 5 or 6 months now.

I’m accepting that the tortoise eventually gets to where it wants as it just keeps going…

teamtheo-660x320
Image from Team Theos Mohican Runner – Check his website out here

And that is how I’m facing my latest challenge, my second Marathon. The Plusnet Yorkshire Marathon takes place on October 9th in the City of York. Two work colleagues and I will be running for my employer http://www.pmsdiecasting.co.uk to raise money for our chosen charity for 2016 which is the ‘Children’s Hospital Charity’. We’ll be running as part of ‘Team Theo’.

theo
Click here for ‘The Children’s Hospital Charity‘

Last year I walked a marathon for Cancer Research UK. I walked as fast as I could, lost two toenails, got runners trots so had to poop in a bush and came last (in 8 hrs 45 minutes) but was totally happy with that. I did something I never thought was possible for me as several months before the event I could barely walk 100 m without having to sit down because of back pain. Solution was to lose weight and keep walking…

This year, I have 7 hours to complete the Yorkshire Marathon so I have to lose more weight, train harder and even jog at times to make the time. I’m determined to do it (and hopefully not lose anymore toenails this time)

My training started today…

Will I come last again? Probably… but I’ll finish. I won’t give up.

I AM THE TORTOISE!

PS: Did my first in public 5k run last week for Cancer Research as part of the #pinkarmy. I walked and jogged it in just under 42 minutes.

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Here’s my MARATHON training plan if you are interested. Click on it to print.

Marathon-Training-Plan