Run, fat girl, run

I know a lot of people take up running as a means to lose weight, but I appear to be the first person in the world to take up marathon training and immediately begin to pile on the pounds. When I ran a reasonable 40 mins to an hour two or three times a week, combined with a few gym workouts and core conditioning sessions I consistently lost weight, shedding over six stone in the space of a year.

Well done me, but then I entered the marathon and upped my running in order to train for the massive challenge I had set myself. I imagined that by running 10 or 11 miles regularly, and burning around 1,000 calories in the process, the weight would fall off me. I would acquire the lean and honed body of a long distance runner and finally shed the last 4lbs I have been battling with for the past few months.

How wrong can you be? Instead I have put on around half a stone in the space of about two weeks since my training began in earnest. I credit this to a lethal cocktail of sub-zero temperatures that lead me to want to do nothing more than eat comforting, warming (read fattening) food and the hunger that comes upon you after a long run in the freezing cold.

I have trained myself to be pretty good a resisting all that yummy food we all love to indulge in. I spent a year turning down cakes, crisps and all that refined junk I know makes me fat. But when I ran in after doing 11 miles in the snow yesterday the coffee birthday cake left over from the twins' party was singing to me to eat it up. I felt that I deserved it after my ice cold run and gave in to its siren song.

This morning as I stood on the scales which had inched up yet again I regretted my weakness. Far from a lithe frame, I am worried that I will be dragging a fat girl around the course come April 22nd.

Clearly all the guff about calories in and calories out has bypassed my metabolism and it doesn't matter how far I run, I still have to live on lentils and grilled chicken if I want to ensure that my size 10 jeans will still slip on after the marathon - BOO!

Patience is a virtue when it comes to calf strains

I know I have a been a bit quiet of late, but given that this is a blog about running I haven't had much to say as my calf strain has kept me off the roads for the last week. I have been diligently training on the bike, rower and in the pool as well as doing lots of strength work, but I am starting to feel a bit nervous at the lack of miles under my belt with the marathon looming ever larger.

I am getting royally sick of being told to be patient, but today I think that perhaps I am going to be rewarded for staying off my calf like a good girl. It is the first day when I really can say that I can walk without pain. I managed to run up the stairs at home like I used to and when I did my Pilates session my calf didn't even squeak when I stretched it out.

I am not sure it is quite time to don the trainers and get out into the park yet, but I am quietly confident that I can get back to training next week. I am just hoping that it will give me enough time to get marathon fit before the 22 April. The countdown on my fundraising page scarily points out that there are only 88 days to go, which means that with two taper weeks before the race I have just 10 weeks to take myself from a 14 mile runner to a 26.2 mile marathoner.

I have decided that my best bet is to give up any hope of achieving any decent time and just go for a steady amble round. If I can reach my goal of running every step I will be thrilled, if not I will just get round as best I can. It is a bit disappointing, but the key thing is to repair my injury and fix what caused it so I can live to run, rather than hobble, another day.

I am cheered by the number of friends how have said they are going to come along on the day and support me. I think knowing those friendly faces are in the crowd will help to push me through those miles whether running, walking or dragging myself along.

I hope the next time I post in this blog I will be able to report back on my first post-calf strain run. It might be a slow walk, jog affair, but you have no idea how much I am looking forward to it. I have another session with my physio on Friday and I am praying she gives me the all clear to start running again.