Sweet 16! (with no tears this time)

An old foe is vanquished!

Training: Week 11

Distance: 16 miles

Time until Marathon: 2 weeks

This week I started my tapering which means that I have done my longest run.

So I thought that I would try the 16-miler for the third time to see if I could do it without crying.

And YAY! I did it!

I won’t say it was easy, because it REALLY wasn’t. But I did it!

After last week’s nutritional nightmare I was all over it this week. In fact, I think I went overkill as when I finished I was definitely on a sugar high!!! Perhaps slightly less sugar next time …

I am really working on my fitness now (increasing, sustaining and avoiding injury), as well as getting all my planning sorted for the final week and of course Marathon day itself.

We have everything planned down to what we will eat the day before, morning of and snacks we will take for the journey, plus run nutrition.

I have almost got my running gear sorted, just waiting for my MSH running tee shirt … watch this space!

Motivation and finding a positive mindset

My friendly soldiers were waiting for me again this week, I think this will be the last time I see them (in this training plan anyway), as my next long run is ten miles and I don’t get as far as them to achieve this.

I don’t know if you can see my quickly biro’d motto on my arm (classy, eh?!)

‘A long run is a blessing on legs’

It can be very easy to forget how far I have come on this journey and I have a number of sayings that get me through the darker moments of the run. Most of them are sadly unprintable but this one definitely is!

I was trying to get myself in a positive mental frame of mind when I was getting ready to run. These words reminded me that not many months ago I would have given my (extremely dodgy) left leg to be able to run any distance AT ALL, let alone casually smashing out a sweet 16-miler. (Okay, maybe not so casually, but you get the picture)

Remembering that ‘A long run is a blessing on legs’ gave me a little bit of perspective …

How to sponsor me

If you can, please make this all worthwhile and sponsor me! I cannot overstate the motivational impact this has. Literally every penny I raise will be spent supporting women, keeping women safe, helping them to rebuild their lives and thrive, not just survive.

Visit my Fundraising page: Jo’s Marathon for MSH (peoplesfundraising.com).