Support

When you cross the finish line, you know that all your hard work has paid off and to an extent that is true .. but for me there is also the hard-work of all the people that make it possible for me to achieve what I do.

Firstly Lee, my husband we train together and walk together on the day, through the years we have both had ups and downs on the day, good and bad patches and having each other I honestly feel makes us stronger.

Me and Lee on his first Parish Walk

Shell and Alla (AKA Michelle and Allan) they have been our Shell and Alla since Caitlin was a baby and couldn’t pronounce their names. - they have been my support since my very first attempt in 2007 I don’t know how I roped them in, but I’m glad I did!

Michelle and Allan will come out anywhere from Peel to Bride - depending on if I can rope someone else into, they patiently drive along waiting on me hand and foot. Nothing is ever too much trouble for them. They are perfect for me, I don’t like to know how others ahead of me are doing, so they don’t tell me. I give them a guide time I like to be at each church (usually scribbled on the race booklet at the respective church) they make no comment on how I am doing unless I ask.

They do not force me to eat if I feel sick or drink but they know if they suggest I have something I usually will take it from them as I realise they are more of aware of what I am eating and drinking than I am. They know if I’m struggling because I go quiet and stop smiling - and they will just reduce the distance they drive ahead of me so they see me a little more often.

They drive around through the night just to help me finish the parish walk, they get no trophy or awards for themselves, I honestly couldn’t do this without them!! They are as important to me as the training!

I also must mention Lynne, who usually supports through the Barclays stand before driving out to meet us at Roundtable and staying with us till the night team takeover. Lynne is always a welcomed sight, she helps keep us in good spirits up towards my least favourite part of the course.

I have tried support before, yes it’s easier in the respect that you don’t have to walk but harder in every other way, it’s boring as you sit in your car for long periods of time, you have to keep getting out of your nice warm car to pass over refreshments, you get tired and fed up as it is a long way ! So remember when you are coming through Maughold in the middle of the night that your support are tired too and don’t forget to speak to them how you would like to be spoken too. There is nothing I hate more than hearing people bark orders at their support, or forget basic manners as no matter how tired you are if you can keep on walking you can at least do it politely.

There will be times when you walk when your support have driven on a bit further than you will of liked, or not got you what you asked for quick enough but this is part and parcel of it (obviously this doesn’t happen to me as Shell and Alla are perfect) but it helps not to get annoyed by it, just think you have got a bit further down the road and passed a bit more time!

Obviously since I started taking part in the parish walk I have gone from 1 daughter to 3, so arranging care for them is no easy task we have a team of people who help including friends and my sisters ! We are very lucky to have such a great support team.

This week I have done a couple of walks 4 miles before the gym on Tuesday and 6 miles last night with Kathryn!

Happy Training only 65 days to go !

Fireman's Walk

This was my longest training walk to date, and I was super happy with it! Lee and I decided we would treat this as a training walk as we had both done a lot of running, but little in the way of walking training compared to other years!

We started very casually at the back of the pack - it was nice and relaxed, albeit a little cold as we didn’t bring any jackets ... we had a plan to stick to 12 minute miles for the distance and just get the 50k completed.

I’m not a huge fan of the route (it’s the middle section of the parish and from Ballaugh to at least bride, I just never seem to enjoy it or have a good time). Whilst I didn’t feel sick in this walk I was massively under prepared. I blame the fatigue I have felt since last weeks Marathon.

Normally with any long events, I do all the planning including race entries, including what we will eat and drink, I do all the shopping, pack the clothes , medical supplies and anything else we may need, however as this was a training walk in my head I let Lee get on with it, whilst I made a lasagna to go in the oven when we got home, along with a new pasta recipe for tea.

Lees packing for the day reminded me exactly why I do it all, I air on the side of caution I take a lot of things just incase .. Lee on the other hand packed the bare minimum and we didn’t even have a drop of water left at the end, all energy gels were used and there were no alternatives if I didn’t fancy his pre-mixed drinks.

My shoes disappointed me slightly as I got a blister on the inside of my left arch and I found the Ball of my right foot uncomfortable. I did think I had a blister there while I was walking but when I got home there was nothing. But it has left me wondering about what shoes to wear for the parish. I don’t know if my feet have got used to the luxury of brooks cushioning, that I wear for running! I used to wear the Asics DS racers, which have been discontinued. Then I moved to the Saucony Fastwitch so now I’m unsure .. (Lee will say this is just an excuse for me to buy new trainers!)

I’m sure in the walk I was not the only person to notice how awful the pavements are from Kirk Michael to Ballaugh and Sulby to Ramsey, although I did enjoy a stroll down the new cycle lane..

Normal training will resume now with a couple of short walks this week, and a long walk at the weekend. We finished the walk in 6.04 not a PB but about 15 seconds quicker a mile than we had planned, we couldn’t of done this with out Nicola supporting us and Vicki looking after the mini Johnson’s - Thank You !

Also I must mention the amazing walking from James Quirk and Jayne Farquhar on winning the firefighters Memorial walk - what incredible times.

Not forgetting my Husband and my good friends Liz, Leanne, Angela, Caroline, Denise & Lee Cowin who are all doing amazing in their parish training! And a special mention to David and his bloody feet, I guess that’s what happens when you walk zero miles in training! David is getting married later this year, and has a special reason for taking part. His wife to be Sophie, is the daughter of Sara Killey, the race is held in her memory.

Not to mention my eldest daughter just passed her driving test! Safe to say I have a new support member!
Happy Training !

67 days to go

Sub 4 Club

Lee and I travelled over Saturday afternoon, we had a lovely child free meal on Saturday night, before catching the train to Runcorn where we were staying.

Our friends Hayley and Dave picked us up at 7 am and we drove to Manchester, we found a park straight away and started walking to the starting area.

Dave was supporting us all so we all said our goodbyes, wished each other luck and went off to find our respective pens ! Lee went off to the front, and Hayley and I set off to find ours. We decided we would just start together, as we were in different pens, Hayley moved forward to mine. Time went really quickly and we were soon moving over the line.

Hayley and I separated when the run started as we hadn’t planned to run together, we didn’t see each other again until about the halfway point when Hayley took over me!

The run was very busy, in training I found it easy to stick to a pace but it was much harder on the day as I found you were either speeding up to get round people or getting stuck behind people. The first half went pretty quickly for me, but I did hit a wall around the half way point, I felt I needed something so took an extra gel!

I found the second half quite tough, my legs felt heavy and I was craving something sweet like Lucozade. I wondered if my legs were heavy after having a bit of rest period, due to injury in the 3 weeks leading up to the marathon? But who knows.
At around 19.5 miles I had started to talk to a guy and I pointed to him there was £10 on the floor. You could tell we were both struggling as neither of us could be bothered to pick it up! Not long after this he told me where he was from not that I can remember, but he also said he had forgotten his wallet and was hoping the petrol station would take Apple Pay. I laughed and said he should of picked the £10 up as it would of got him home.

Soon after I caught up to Nelson (Sarah Curphey) and she was struggling. Like me, she had been ill the night before and hadn't been able to take anything apart from water on board. It was great to see her, she was the first friend I met when I moved to the Island in 1998. She was Sarah Nelson back then, hence why I call her Nelson. We ran 4 miles together, she managed to take a little of one of my energy gels on, and an ice pop that a lovely lady was handing out - it was the most refreshing thing I had during the run! Nelson told me to run on at 24 miles as she knew I had my target of under 4 hours in sight.

At mile 25 I was over the moon to see Kathy and Michael ! It was the second time I had seen them on course, and each time it has lifted my spirits (I had missed them once). Our other supporter Dave I only saw once despite him being in 3 places too! It’s hard to explain how much it means to see a friendly face, mixed in with the millions of other spectators, but they definitely made my day!

The last mile went fairly quickly. I could see that, unless I had a massive issue, I was going to get my “sub 4” marathon time! Which I did crossing the line in 3 hours 52 minutes and 52 seconds .!! Such a big achievement for me, knocking 23 minutes off last years marathon and over an hour off my first marathon.!

We had arranged a place to meet at the end and Lee and Hayley were waiting for me. I asked them how they had done and Hayley casually said 3.52..! I thought she was joking I said no I did 3.52 ! She actually did it in 3.52.35 I couldn’t believe we were only 23 seconds apart at the finish line yet didn’t see each other. Lee did and incredible time of 3.17 !! People kept asking me when they were tracking lee what his number was as there were two Lee Johnson’s running - turns out it didn’t matter which Lee they were tracking as they finished less than 1 minute apart !

I still can’t believe that Hayley and I got into the sub 4 marathon club, and Lee got a sub 3.20! I’m so proud of us all !

Bit of rest this week, Parish training will resume next week.!

72 days till the parish ..!

Hardest walk of my life... Part 2

Shortly after the e-mail about the cancellation a second email arrived advising us that there was a new venue ! Bellville Stadium, it was to be hosted on a 400m track !! The furthest I had ever walked on a track was 10k and that was far enough ! So whilst I didn’t relish in thought of 402 and a quarter laps it was a lot more favourable than travelling home without even attempting the 100 miles !

We arrived in plenty of time, probably too much time, it took all of 10 minutes to set up in the gazebo they had provided for International walkers and found a couple of chairs for Caitlin and Linda to base them selves.

It was so hot, we tried to find a little shade to sit and wait for the start, the stadium was very busy as the relay was a popular event.

As it was 100 years celebration for Nelson Mandela before the race everyone was invited to walk a lap of the track, I guess to do it before the walk was sensible as I wouldn’t of fancied it if they had added it on the end.

After the lap of honour and a short speech the race got under way, i started off with Andy and Jantinus.. it was a good pace, but I was worrying about the heat .. Andy left the group first to go to the toilet he then seemed to speed off we thought he was trying to catch up the little distance he lost but when he caught us up he just carried on motoring round. Next it was my turn to leave as I needed the toilet too ( the toilets were set about 50meters inside the track - I remember thinking I would of preferred it if they were right on the side of the track)

I felt ok just very hot for the first couple of hours but at around the 13 mile mark I started to feel very sick, I don’t normally suffer with sickness so this was a bit alien to me but I remember the thoughts going through my head, should I stop ? Was it acceptable to travel all the way to South Africa to walk a half marathon? - I decided it wasn’t so kept on going slowly .. at the 30 mile mark I started vomiting at the side of the track, I’m usually quite phobic about sick but it was a relief. The medics came over on their bicycles and told me I looked awful and asked if I wanted to stop. Stop? I smiled and said "no way I feel great now!" They made me drink some water and then I carried on.

I would say I had a good next 20 miles, just getting the laps in. I was happy and I would say I was enjoying it. At around the 50 mile mark the sickness came back and I was vomiting again at the side of the track (an attractive sight I’m sure) the medics came back, but thankfully let me continue. Caitlin was an incredible help she would come running to find me when I didn’t make it to her in the usual time. For the first time in any event I had a little break and sat down I saw Stew Jones from the Isle of Man, and he looked in as good spirits as me, so I asked if he wanted to walk with me and we could feel crap together but we didn’t last long walking together as Stew decided to a break and I just carried on slowly plodding.

I can’t really recall much of the rest of the walk it was a bit of a blur, I know I visited the toilets a lot, as I kept feeling I needed a wee but I didn’t and each time it would frustrate me more as I had to keep detouring off the track - I don’t think it was dehydration as I did drink a lot.

The organisers provided Coca Cola and salted potatoes. I don’t normally have either when I’m walking but I did drink quite a lot of the Coke and at the time it tasted nice, it probably didn’t so my sickness any good but I just kept drinking it.

I kept my head down and carried on through the night was a relief from the hot sun, but the dark didn’t seem to last long and before I knew it the sun was rising !

I did eventually finish the walk in my slowest time of 23 hours 32 minutes and 51 seconds in the position of 3rd Lady and I was the 35th person to gain the African Centurion Badge!

Andy Green walked a phenomenal race, he didn’t appear to ever slow down - it was just incredible to watch! Andy was the overall winner finishing in a very impressive 20 hours 57 minutes and 39 seconds ! It was Andy’s first ever Centurion!

I got to the presentation which was held 2 hours after the race, I sat down at the table and just as the presentation started, I started to feel terrible I got up and managed a few steps out of the tent where I collapsed and passed out, I woke up having the medical team testing my blood sugars and force feeding me a banana and some awful drink! Caitlin thankfully took my place in the presentation and had her photos taken with my certificate and badge !

I started to feel better and we decided to get an Uber back the apartment, it was hot in the car I nodded off but not for long I awoke feeling sick yet again I said to Caitlin I was going to be sick and I believe I tried to open the car door whilst we were driving, Caitlin stopped me and Linda found me a bag, (the only bag she had was a food bag) thankfully the driver has noticed I wasn’t well and was pulling over just in time for me to get the door open before I stared vomiting again! When I had finished I laughed at the food bag .. I didn’t get back in the car, thankfully we weren’t far away from the apartments so Caitlin and I walked back ! I did feel much better.

When we eventually got into out apartment I had a shower and fell asleep still wrapped in my towel I remember waking up a few hours later thinking what just happened ? I couldn’t even remember if I had finished or not so after a quick scramble around the room I found my certificate and badge and got back into bed hardly able to believe I had actually achieved it !

Caitlin and I travelled home the next day, we popped to say good bye to Andy and Linda who were amazed at how well I looked after the day before. We were super lucky the flight home was so empty and we were able to have a row of 4 seats each and slept the majority of the way home !

Africa Centurion complete .. 3 down - 3 to go

That’s all for tonight, tomorrow we are travelling Across for the Manchester Marathon on Sunday!

78 days to go ..

Hardest walk of my life .. Part 1

To date I have completed 6 Parish Walks, 3 - 100 centurion’s and ran 3 Marathons. Up until my last 100 I would of said the hardest event I had completed was my first Marathon.

My third 100 was in South Africa - training had gone well after the parish and I was really excited and nervous to go.

The week before I started coming down with a cough, cold and sore throat - I’m not usually one to come down with illness so it was a real worry. I travelled with my eldest daughter we flew in to Manchester and had planned a relaxing day with some shopping ! In reality it was hard going we visited a few shops, not as many clothes shops as I would of liked but more chemists trying to find the best cough and throat medicines I could ! Feeling the way I did I wasn’t at all looking forward to the 2 long haul flights that would take us to Capetown.

We arrived at Manchester airport in plenty of time with all my medicines decanted in to bottles of under 100m for the flights, I was nervous checking in as there are extra requirements if you are flying into South Africa with a child under 18 without both parents being present. I had to have a signed affidavit by the courts, in which her dad gave permission to travel without him, along with copies of his passport, her original birth certificate and my original marriage certificate ! When we checked in all documents had to be checked and approved by a supervisor so if was a great relief when we were given the ok to fly.

The flights went pretty quickly it was a busy flight out but Caitlin was happy she had WiFi and thousands of movies to watch.

When we arrived in Dubai we met up with Andy and Linda Green who were on the same connecting flight as us. It was great to see them and made me relax a little. I has last seen Andy when he was supporting the 100 miles in the Isle of Man, I had told him I was going to try the African Centurion and at the time I was the only person from the IOM going, so the gent that Andy was felt he couldn’t let me go alone so he decided he would take on his first 100 Mile challenge too, it was the day before a special birthday for him.

We all stayed in the same apartment complex - which Andy had found it was lovely. I had 2 days before the race so Caitlin and I decided that we would visit table mountain on our first day, and visit the waterfront on the second day which was also where the race sign on was. Table Mountain was incredible, even with my fear of heights in the cable cars. Caitlin and I spent ages up there walking round and looking a the picture perfect views, I loved seeing Robben Island and was so excited about the walk despite still not feeling 100% but I was definitely improving.

That night we had dinner with some of the other International Walkers Sharon and Justin Scholz (Sharon And Justin are incredible walkers and runners and this was to be their 6th Centurion)

Jantinus Meints (this was his 5th Centurion Badge), Trudy Geldhof (no Centurion badges) and Andy (1st Centurion badge) and Linda Green

There is only 1 person in the world who holds all 7 Centurion badges and that is Sandra Brown she has completed a 100 Miles in The UK, Europe, United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Malaysia. The Malaysia Centurion is no longer held, so unless it is ever brought back Sandra will remain the only person in the world to hold them all! She is an incredible walker and one whom I’m privileged to say I walked with for part of my second Centurion race in the Netherlands

Link to multiple centurion badge holders Thanks to Rob Robertson

The day before the race Caitlin and I shared and Uber to the waterfront with Linda and Andy. Caitlin and I had a lovely walk around and decided to get some lunch before going to sign on, we found a lovely restaurant and whilst I was waiting for my Thai curry to arrive I thought I would check in with my emails on the waterfront WiFi. I opened my email account and waited for them to download and my heart sank when I saw an email from the African Centurion organisers with the title .. event cancelled on Robben Island !

The Parish Walk is a long way...

No matter which way you look at it, 85 miles is an incredible distance to walk, for anyone! There are things I have picked up along the way, so below is a list of things that I find help ME make the walk a little more comfortable (This is a list of what works for me, it may not work for everyone else).

- Vaseline … the advice I was given was if it moves oil it! So this is a must.
- Remove your rings as your hands will swell, and it’s uncomfortable if you have a ring digging in! (I wear no jewellery on the day) – Gloves can help with the swelling if bothers you.
- Don’t wear anything NEW, this is so important you have to test your kit out first. I have quite sensitive skin so normally wear my baselayer inside out as seams hate me.
- Don’t eat going up hill.
- Keep moving forward, try to keep stops to a minimum, any long stops can make you stiffen up.
- If you feel sick try eating.
- Make sure your support know what you have packed so they can offer you a variety later on when you forget what you have.
- If you have blisters try not to alter the way you walk, just keep walking on them and they will pop and feel better.
- Pack baby wipes they are perfect for freshening up and cleaning sticky hands, I keep mine in the cool box so they are nice and cold.
- I have a radio I play out loud from Maughold – this really helps lift me – absolute 80’s all the way home, or till the battery runs out whichever comes first.
- Salt tablets are great if you get cramps – (Up and Running have some great ones called salt sticks that you can chew).

Sleep – I find the Wednesday and Thursday before I get my best sleep, the night before I used to find almost impossible to get to sleep, worrying if I will make it round, will I oversleep and miss the start? Talking to Nigel Maddocks walking up the Sloc on my 5th parish walk he told me his secret was to have a glass of wine the night before, this seemed crazy to me, but he said it helped him get to sleep! So every year since on the Friday I will have 2 glasses of wine, and it actually works for me! I’m not suggesting a heavy night as that is ridiculous but for me it is part of my preparation!

One of the most important things to me after the training, is my support! They are the ones that will keep me going through any bad patches, they never make me feel like I am keeping them up. They spend the whole night (although in recent years the night has started to get shorter) driving round after me, filling up my drinks bottle and offering me whatever I ask for. I count on them to keep me going. Your support are a vital part of your success! Without them there would be no parish walk finish! Mine are simply the best.. I will do another post about them, and the little routine we have! But I have to say, Michelle, Allan and Lynne you are all amazing and I am very grateful for all you do for me.

We did a good 22 mile training walk last week. It was an 11 mile loop that we did twice, incorporating Ballakillowey and the Sloc TWICE! I walked the second lap quicker than the first which was nice. And despite the change in weather on the second lap I didn’t struggle and even managed to complete my mile run at the end of it as the clock had struck midnight so it counted for the next day.

I am looking forward to the Marathon and getting back to doing more training walks than runs!

90 Days to the Parish walk, 65 Days to our Holiday, 14 Days to the Marathon!
Happy Training Everyone!

A good week for the trophy cabinet

Since my last post we did a group walk from Ramsey, 8 of us set off on the bus to Ramsey for an 8pm start. We all arrived fully kitted out in lights and reflective gear, as it is a very dark route. Overall I have had better walks, this wasn’t down to the company but more to do with me throwing myself a the pavement just over a mile into the walk, when I got up there was no serious damage, my new 2XU leggings that were a gift off my daughter had survived so I carried on walking. Its not my first fall in a walk, I remember the last time I walked the Firemans Memorial walk I fell for my training partner Kathryn’s husband in the last mile, and wow did that hurt. We all finished the 18 miles and a few even managed a takeaway, and a glass or two of wine.

Another route I have done is a 5 Mile Hilly loop around Glen Roy, I think I went the least hilly way so I will need to go back and try it the other way. I think that for the parish it is good to put hills into your training as let’s face it the Parish walk route isn’t flat. I think this will be a regular route in this year’s training.

I do have some regular routes that I run or walk frequently, but with my longer ones I try to change them a lot so they are not too repetitive. I have been walking for a long time so know the roads on the Island pretty well, and I im quite good at working out distances from memory. If you are looking for some help with planning your routes the desktop version of Strava is great.

I also took part in the IOM Vets 20 Mile road race at the NSC last Sunday, it was 40 laps of the perimeter road. This is my second time of running the course, on the morning of the race I exchanged a few messages with Áine who is in the same running club as me, in the messages we decided we would be aiming for 8.30 pace so we would run together. We actually hadn’t ran together before but it worked well on the day, and we stuck together finishing with a PB for me of just over 2 and half minutes (around 25 seconds a mile quicker than planned) in a time of 2 hours 41 Mins and 42 seconds finishing as Joint 1st Lady.

This week saw the finale round of the Ramsey Bakery Fireman’s Runs, I ran the 5 Mile course which is 3 laps. After the run there was a presentation in the Mitre pub, where all the finishers of the league were awarded their finishers t-shirt and I even picked up a trophy for being 8th overall.

We have entered the Firefighters Memorial Walk on the 14th April, this is great practice for the parish as it is the route from Peel to Ramsey, it also gives you a chance to test out your trainers, food and clothing before the big day!

105 Days to go…