No Full Marathon Idiot

Okay, so I think we're needing an update on here...

On the February 7th I drove down to Kendal and after I got settled in my B&B (number of drive-bys before I found it: 4), I unpacked my stuff to take my place at the start of the Grizedale Trail 26 marathon in the Lake District, however things didn't quite go to plan.

The mandatory kit, incl. a torch (the race starts at 9.30am!) and some advice on a plaster that I'd later ignore.

 First of all, I didn't make it to the line in time for the start- I'd walked the 1/4 mile to the registration desk just as the pre-race briefing was happening when I realised I left my id in the car so I had to run back (sprinting by Marathon standards) to collect it and run back to the start again.

By this time the rest of the field had already set off, so I asked a race official what I missed in the briefing just as another late runner arrived, and the two of us set off together.  We started out discussing all the stuff runners talk about while running (our training, travel arrangements, future races- in case you wondered) and it transpired he is a registered nurse working for NHS Borders, and it also turns out he raised money for Learning Disability organization, Mencap by running the Marathon des Sables (if you don't know what that is, I'm not telling you- it makes my ultra aspirations look a bit puny).

The view from my B&B - sunrise over Kendal

The course climbed quite a bit (almost 200m) along forestry tracks in the first 4 miles before taking us through a gate and onto rocky moorland trail across the summit of the hill just as the main pack from the Half Marathon field caught up.  These guys were really going for it on the trail which was narrow, rocky and icy, and I saw a few runners just ahead take some pretty painful looking falls so I gingerly picked my way across the path, having enough to worry about with the distance and all the climbing in store.

After what felt like the longest 6 miles I can remember, I'd grown tired of seeing Half Marathon runners disappearing past me and I actually stopped to adjust my race number on my back to show I was attempting the full marathon distance - I admit this is a bit petty but I was starting to struggle  with a niggling leg injury I'd hoped wouldn't give me too much trouble, and facing the sharp end of a 20 mile run I needed any words of encouragement I could get from fellow runners.  

I got to the feed station and check point at 9 miles- had a couple drinks of juice, grabbed a handful of dry roasted nuts and mashed them into a bit of cake and scoffed the lot (surprisingly tasty!).  However I'd stopped for long enough for my leg to stiffen and when I resumed running what had been a dull but constant pain behind my left shin had sharpened and spread up my leg to my hip. I took a couple of ibuprofen, grit my teeth and started running again and it eased off slightly but these weren't good signs.

I'd had misgivings about taking part in the race from the outset but decided as I'd booked travel and accommodation I'd get to the start line and see how I got on, and while running I'd unable to make up my mind about what I was going to do until this point. 

Being passed by a Half Marathon runner.  If you can't beat them...

If I'd been training with the sole aim of finishing this race then I'd have kept going and ground it out, and it wouldn't have been pretty or fun but I might have stood a chance of going the distance but I realised that 'This isn't the goal' and I outed myself as a DNF (Did Not Finish) to one of my 'Race-Friends' (you get them), which made it official for me.

I tried to stay philosophical and see the it as being part of my development as a runner, being able to make the right decisions and stay focused on the long term goal.  However there was a psychological aspect I never thought I'd have to contend with- for the last 3 miles, along with the discomfort from my leg... I couldn't stop singing 'The Gambler' by Kenny Rogers.

You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run

So after another long mile (the 14th one in what should have been a 13 mile race) I got to the finish and informed the marshal I wanted to drop out, I confirmed I didn't need any medical attention and she directed me (around the finish gantry where the Half Marathoners got to enjoy their success) to the official who was collecting timing chips.

There was relief that I could start the 110 mile journey home about 3 hours early and with almost none of the battle scars you get from running for 5 or 6 hours, but also a sense of disappointment as I'd been looking forward to some of the more technical parts in the second half, and also guilt- was my injury that bad?  Was I just being lazy and not really up for the challenge?

This all dissolved for a moment when I handed over my chip and a little girl that had been giving out medals to all the finishers came up and gave me a Half Marathon finishers medal - it was a lovely moment and I was genuinely touched.  Little things like that can make all the difference.

 In the wider context of raising funds for the trip to Malawi, what does all this mean?  It's not great, that's for sure - fearing the prospect of injury in the run up to the Highland Fling I'd planned to start collecting sponsorship for the D33, a race much flatter and 20 miles shorter (what am I thinking???) so if injury had kept me out of the 53 mile Fling, I'd still have achieved something.

However the D33 is in just under 3 weeks time and it's unlikely I'll be ready by then.  I've lost my safety net and it's a case of preparing as best I can in the hope that come 6am on the 25th April, I'll be in Milngavie with 1,000 other ambitious idiots ready for 'a nice days running'.

To get there I need to strengthen my legs without aggravating the injury any further and try to maintain my cardio fitness so that I can drop back into my training plan, striking a balance between effort and the effect it will have on my body.

I've got running friends who would say it's not possible to get the level of fitness needed in this time, I've got running friends that said I was mad when I signed up.  Both groups might be right, but I need to regroup and try something different to get there - I'll just have to give it my best shot and see how my body responds.

Introducing: Rachael

Rachael

 

Learning Disability Nursing Student

Second year

Glasgow Caledonian University

1. What are you looking forward to?

I am definitely looking forward to helping people, or at least trying to. Nursing is all about patient centred care and if you do not care about people then you should choose a different profession. Experiencing a different culture and learning how nursing in Malawi compares to nursing in Scotland. Working in the sun will be pretty good too! I can’t pinpoint one thing I am looking forward to most but feel like this is a once in a lifetime chance and I can’t wait to go!

2. What will you miss most?

Will I be a typical Scot abroad and say Irn Bru and a piece and sausage? Haha! I will miss a lot of home comforts, I know that, but want to prove to myself and others that I will survive without fake tan and false lashes for a while! I will of course miss my friends, family and my boyfriend Joe but the person I will miss most is my nephew Luca. He will turn 2 while I am in Malawi and I do fear that he will forget who I am while I’m gone. It will be exciting to come home and see how much he grows up in 7 weeks! I will also miss my Mum a lot, she is a great listener and good at calming me down when I blow the smallest worry way out of proportion like having no money to get to Malawi!

3. What have you enjoyed most about the planning process?

Working with the group! Meeting up weekly to discuss what we need to do to make Malawi happen has been fun and stressful but it has really helped being able to bounce ideas off one another.

4. What has been the hardest part of the preparation?

Having an 8 week placement before Christmas meant we had no scheduled days in University so it made it very difficult to meet and plan with the group. It felt at times that we had to put planning on hold as we were all on placement in different areas and also had exam and essay stress to deal with. This term it is much easier as we are in Uni 3 days a week, although we still have essay and exam stress!

5. Have you ever lived abroad before?

Not yet…but seeing my friends travel and plan to move abroad to work has made me very jealous so maybe one day!

6. What made you choose LD nursing?

I have to be honest with this answer and say that I found Learning Disability nursing completely by chance. It is extremely different from anything I have ever done before. I knew I wanted to study nursing when I started my 2nd year at college studying HND beauty therapy, I had thoughts of dropping out, however, I felt I would have wasted a year already at college and decided to continue and complete my HND qualification. After finishing college I began working in an office as an admin assistant as I had missed the deadline to apply for a nursing course that year. Luckily my mum encouraged me to apply through clearance on UCAS – and from there I found Learning Disability nursing at GCU. I was still very naïve when beginning the course and thought that all nurses worked in hospitals and wore a uniform. I have since then had my eyes opened to the different branches of nursing. I now work part time as a support worker for adults with learning disabilities and feel this strengthens my work on placement and at university.

7. How do you think this placement will help you to be a better nurse?

I feel that growing up in Scotland and always having the NHS, I have forgotten that this is a luxury that most countries do not have. I feel that my experience in Malawi will make me a
more resourceful nurse and make me appreciate the tools and equipment available to me in Scotland. I hope that the experience will not only improve my skills professionally but also help me develop personally. 

Introducing: Michael

Michael

 

Learning Disability Nursing Student

Second year

Glasgow Caledonian University

 

1. What are you looking forward to?

Living on a different continent where almost everything is different in some way - I love the variety in day-to-day things that you take for granted - radio stations, breakfast, vegetation and architecture, even the birdsong!  I'm particularly looking forward to some dark skies - night sky free from light pollution never ceases to blow me away.  I'm going to take a cheap set of binoculars and star map for the southern hemisphere (even the constellations in the sky are different!).

 

I love music as well and I look forward to hearing what's popular (I hope it's not all Western pop music) and what their folk music sounds like.  I'm also interested to see what a Saturday night in Lilongwe is like - I imagine it involves a lot of dancing!

2. What will you miss most?

Parents, family and friends.  My musical instruments; I'm sure I'll have room for a uke though!  There will surely be points where I'll miss all the familiar things of home - when I'll just wish I could nip to Gregg's or have a bottle of IPA of an evening - but I suppose that's part and parcel of living abroad.

3. What's been the hardest part of the preparation?

Taking on more commitments whilst having to keep on top of everything else.  Sometimes even little things like getting in touch with people to do things like start up a LD Nursing Society can take me out of my comfort zone.  Also being out of my flat for so long, it looks like I'll have to make decisions and plan about where I'll be living next year.  It's a lot to take on but I'm certain it'll be worth it. 

4. Have you ever lived abroad before?

No, the closest I got were 3 week holidays in Japan and also Colombia, however both times I returned resolving to go live 'over there'!

5. What made you choose to study LD nursing?

I've supported individuals with learning disabilities of all ages and in most situations since 2005 and wanted to consolidate what I'd learned, professionalise my practice, develop my skills and gain new experiences.  This trip to Malawi meets all of these criteria and is definitely something I never thought I'd ever be doing and goes far beyond any expectations I thought I'd have!

6. How do you think this placement will help you to be a better nurse?

I could hazard a guess but I suspect come September the outcome may be completely different from my viewpoint now.  It could be a baptism of fire and there's an element of nerves present, however this should give me a depth of knowledge and experience I'd struggle to get in any other situation.

 

 

Introducing: Eve

Eve
 
Learning Disability Nursing Student
Second year
Glasgow Caledonian University 


1. What are you looking forward to?
I’m definitely looking forward to seeing the sun! I’ve always enjoyed working with people and love that with this placement we get to do that, but in a pretty much polar opposite environment. The phrase “a life lived for others is a life worth living” kind of sums it up for me, and meeting new people and travelling can only benefit me personally and professionally. I want to take the skills I have and adapt and improve them with this experience!

2. What will you miss most?
Going to be brutally honest and say food! Definitely don’t think I can afford the air fare for my local Chinese to deliver to us in Lilongwe! I’ll definitely miss my family and my cat as well. I won’t be that bothered leaving but I’m sure there will be some tears when I’m there and on my return! I’ll miss my work too – I’ve worked in Costa coffee a couple days a week for 3 years now- they’re practically family!

3. What have you enjoyed most about the planning process so far?
It has forced me to become a more organised student! Something that definitely does not come naturally to me! It’s actually been helpful in terms of team building- every week we get to brainstorm and come up with ideas, sometimes opposing. It’s been good to learn to compromise and encourage each other towards our common goal – to get to Malawi!!

4. What's been the hardest part of the preparation?
Being on placement while trying to organise ourselves! Definitely hindered communication between the group and was an extra stress- but we got through it through sheer determination and we are back on track now!

5. Have you ever lived abroad before?
No – My Dad grew up in the Middle East and I’ve always been jealous of the experience he must have had! When I was 14 he applied for a job out there, and I cried because I’d miss Scotland. I’d jump at the chance to give living abroad a shot now!

6. What made you choose to study LD nursing? 
Always enjoyed working with people and only when I started working full time did I explore the different ways I could do that through higher education. I’m keen to stay on past third year and become dually qualified as a learning disability and adult nurse.

7. How do you think this placement will help you to be a better nurse? 
It’s interesting to see how cultural differences affect work – and we will be right at the heart of that with our project. It will definitely teach us to work in the most practical way possible with the resources available. I expect to face emotional and physical challenges while I’m there – and any challenge that I am able to surpass can only benefit me in the future.

Introducing: Corrinne

Corrinne

Learning Disability Nursing Student

Second year

Glasgow Caledonian University

1. What are you looking forward to?
Meeting people and learning in a totally new environment. I've been told Malawians are very friendly and welcoming, so fingers crossed that's true. Oh, and I'm looking forward to making the most of our occasional days off, with sun, markets and various adventures.

2. What will you miss most?

My dog Eddie. He's staying with my friends (who love him) so I know he'll be utterly spoiled while I'm away and probably won't even notice I'm gone. But he's my sidekick and I've never been away from him for this long since I adopted him in Arkansas in 2007.

3. What have you enjoyed most about the planning process so far?

Our lecturers have been massively supportive, and I suspect they're almost as excited about this project as we are. I like seeing how close knit our little team of 6 has become too. Having an excuse to read about Malawi is also great. I read "The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind" by William Kamkwamba over the Christmas break and really enjoyed it.

4. What's been the hardest part of the preparation?

Coordination and time commitment. There's been lots of paperwork and we've held weekly planning meetings, in addition to doing as much reading as possible to prepare for this placement. Juggling that with other placements, assignments and work (and very occasionally a social life) has been a challenge. I've also had to work on having patience. I knew I wanted to go to Malawi when we started first year, but it's only just started to feel like we might actually manage to make it happen. At times it felt like a bit of a gamble to invest all this effort in something we might not get to do. We still have a lot of work to do between now and May, but things are gradually falling into place.

4. Have you ever lived abroad before?

A long time ago, I did a languages degree so I studied abroad for a year. I spent 6 months in Mons, Belgium, and 6 months in St Petersburg, Russia. After that I also lived in Arkansas, USA for nearly 5 years before I moved back to Glasgow in 2011.

5. What made you choose to study LD nursing?

When I lived in Little Rock, I worked for Easter Seals Arkansas, a non profit supporting children and adults with disabilities. I originally volunteered at the Adult Work Center, where I set up an accessible art programme for adults with disabilities. Then I became the Recreation Coordinator for the Children's Rehabilitation Center. I loved my job, and missed it when I moved back to the UK. I wanted to find something similar, but with scope to do even more, and take on bigger challenges. Working with the children and young adults I saw how health had a huge impact on every aspect of their lives. So when I found out about the LD nursing course at GCU, it was exactly what I'd been looking for.

6. How do you think this placement will help you to be a better nurse?

I hope that it will help us to develop resilience, to allow us to handle difficult situations with grace. It will also encourage us to be resourceful, work together as a team, and appreciate things we might currently take for granted.

From Snowy Lanarkshire to Sunny Malawi, via the Lake District, the River Dee and the West Highland Way.

My name is Michael, I'm in my second year of studying Learning Disability Nursing at Glasgow Caledonian University, and along with 5 other students I'm planning on doing my nursing placement in Malawi, and this is our blog documenting our progress on the journey to make this happen.



Pictures from a snowy training run 30/01/15

Hopefully we'll have time to talk about why we want to go to Malawi, what we hope to get out of it and, eventually, what we're doing while we're over there.  But first of all I want to talk about running; and like the event itself, I'll try and do it as quickly possible as I've got quite a lot to cover.

I ran my first 10k in 2007, did another a year later, my first Half Marathon in 2010 and the 13.1 mile distance became an annual training event for a few years until 2013 when I discovered a friend and had been diagnosed with cancer.  After my initial reaction ('You're joking?') I looked for positives to take from this (it gave perspective to routine work nuisances) and I spotted an advert for the Loch Ness Marathon, which was about 14 weeks away, just enough time to get trained up and raise some money for MacMillan Cancer Support.  I never explicitly said to my friend why I was raising money, perhaps I should, as I hoped as my friend went through his treatment, the effort I put into my training, and all the people that sponsored me would be a tacit sign of support and let him know he was in peoples' thoughts.



The trail I followed went near the summit of the hill in the centre.

I moved from South Lanarkshire to study nursing at GCU in 2013- two weeks before the Loch Ness Marathon, and I'll not quickly forget the Moving and Handling lecture the day after the race, when the lecturer had the entire nursing cohort repeatedly stand up and bend over to demonstrate the importance of good posture in avoiding injury and discomfort because I was in agony!

Once I'd recovered, running once again became means and a reason to keep fit- a way to enjoy the outdoors and clear my head.  Many of my best ideas have come while I'm running, some of the things you are reading now came to me when I've been out on the trails and doubtless more in the future will too.
About a year ago, the possibility of doing an overseas placement in summer 2015 (a long way away, I thought) which piqued my interest, and as I investigated the prospect it became apparent it was going to cost a lot of money, which meant one thing: fundraising.  We've been planning a great number of things to make this work, but my first thought was to what I can do to raise money- I'd already run a marathon to raise money so in the spirit of continuous development I signed up for an Ultramarathon (i.e. any race longer than 26.2 miles).



Was coming all this way on my own really so clever?

Like the Malawi project itself, it's a big undertaking requiring extensive planning, plenty hard work, commitment and some sacrifices.  And like the Malawi project it's made easier by breaking it down into smaller steps, so I planned a 24 week training programme (back in November- for a race in April!) and while I was on placement would often work 12 hour shifts on then do an 8 mile training run back to my flat (always in the dark, usually pretty cold).  Occasionally I even got up before 7 and before breakfast to run back into the unit- I was 'keen', according to many of the staff there.

The hardest part of following the training plan has been getting out for a run when I've had essays due and exams to study for: after working in a unit for 12 hours, it really is refreshing to go for a run to wind down and de-stress, especially when the alternative is an icy bike ride home or a trip on a cold, damp bus.  However, when the choice to go out in the icy cold and darkness when there is work you know needs doing...  In the warmth of a well lit library.  With easy access to coffee and chocolate, well...

As a result I'm feeling slightly less sharper than I should, possibly carrying a bit more weight than necessary (thank you, coffee and chocolate) and it's not helped by a niggling injury I picked up on a 21 mile run a couple of weeks ago.  However this Saturday (7th Feb) after I finish work in Edinburgh, I'm driving a hire car down to the Lake District, for the first of my 2 big races to prepare for the Highland Fling, something called the Grizedale Trail 26.  This will be my third marathon, my first run on trails and easily the hilliest run I've ever done.  And although I'll not be attempting to run it fast it's hard to believe I'm going into this as a 'training run'.

But first there's an assignment due for Friday, an LD Nurses Society to get off the ground (to help with publicity and to raise funds), a presentation to work on, a class debate to research for, self directed study and paid employment - I probably should stop blogging now!

Most of the reasons why I go running.  Medwyn Valley, South Lanarkshire. 30/01/15