Wisdom After The Event

Twelve days before the Llanelli Half Marathon and two and half years since my last visit, I see my GP. The ongoing cold/cough/lurgy I’ve had since Christmas shows no sign of clearing up any time soon mainly, it turns out, because it’s a chronic sinus infection. I mention my race and receive a long, hard look in return but the GP doesn’t actually tell me not to take part.

Race day arrives and the chilly conditions are perfect. I absolutely love this route which is an ‘out and back’ along the coastline beginning and ending at Parc y Scarlets. There’s a great atmosphere and the camaraderie among the runners is fantastic. For the first six and a bit miles I have an absolute blast and clock up excellent times at the 5k and 10k marks… and then, at mile seven, I feel sick and faint. For the first time ever in a race, I wonder if I should retire.

A couple of sweets later and I decide I’m well enough to press on. Six miles isn’t so bad, I tell myself, it’s a distance my dear running friend Helen and I run without blinking. I press on… three miles to go… I imagine myself three miles from home on any of my usual routes, but every step’s so hard it might as well be thirty miles. By the last mile, I’m really hurting - I’ve got absolutely nothing left in the tank. A young woman I met at the beginning of the race catches up with me, puts her arm round my shoulder and her kindness gives me that all-important boost to get over the finishing line. Tom’s there waiting for me and I burst into tears, but I’ve done it coming in at a tad over 2:10 and with perfectly respectable overall positions.

Knackered and tearful at the finish!

With my goodies, feeling a bit happier.

Two days later, I’m feeling so ill that I’m back to the GP where the nurse practitioner gives me probably the sternest talk I’ve had in many a long year about the folly of running with an infection. She tells me I’ve given my immune system an unnecessary battering and orders me to take absolute rest for a minimum of a seven days. With hindsight, I realise I’ve probably been a bit reckless… so to my dear family and friends and everyone who said, ‘are you sure you should be doing this?’ The answer is, ‘sorry, no I probably shouldn’t have done it but the temptation of bagging my twelfth half marathon was just too great to resist.’ I have, however, learned an important lesson and next time I feel this ill, I promise I’ll put my feet up instead!