I got married, went on honeymoon & came back to run London

It's been the most ridiculously busy but amazing two weeks for me.

On Saturday, 13th April, Francis and I got married, 7 years to the day since we met, at The Old Marylebone Town Hall in London, followed by a reception at The Peasant pub in Clerkenwell.

The planning of the wedding has really affected my training, and my mileage all but disappeared in the week before our big day, but I just didn't have the time or head space to manage both to be honest.  Although losing some of my fitness this close to the 10in10 is a pretty massive issue, I'm not going to let myself regret it - I wouldn't have changed a thing about my wedding.

It was absolutely, utterly perfect and I have never been happier than I was that day, and I'm loving now being married.

We're still waiting for the full set of official photos which I'm very excited to see, but our photographer did send us a sneak preview of them, which you can see here: Naomi&Francweddingpictures

We headed off on a brief honeymoon to the Amalfi Coast in Italy, where we stayed in a watch tower on the side of a cliff.  I took my running gear, and planned to run four or five times, but only managed to get out twice. It was very, very steep though so good for me to get at least a little hill training done, and absolutely stunningly beautiful.

While we were there, the news came through of the Boston marathon bombing. The comment I made on Facebook on the day we heard was this:  "Absolutely devastated to hear about what's happened at Boston. We are such a tight knit community...it feels personal that a marathon has been targeted and I feel sick when I think of it. We will run London next week with a determination even stronger than we had before..."

I'm still quiet surprised at just how personally I did take it, and how terrible I felt on behalf of the whole running community. It is an absolute tragedy, and I'm very pleased that the American police were able to catch the perpetrators, not in the slightest concerned that one of them was killed in the process, and I hope they are able to get some answers about why they did it from the one who survived...not that any answer could ever be sufficient or understandable. A truly heinous crime.

Despite this news often being on my mind, we had a fantastic time on honeymoon, climbing Vesuvius, touring Pompeii and Herculaneum, and travelling along the Amalfi Coast itself, marvelling at the stunning vistas...and remarking on the number of runners we saw tackling the mountains! We also ate many, many pizzas, and enjoyed numerous gelato! Unfortunately, because of a lack of annual leave on my part, and the next marathon on the schedule, we were only in Italy very briefly for five nights, and flew back very late on Saturday, in time for me to have 3.5 hours sleep before running London on the Sunday morning. 

It was strange to be running such a massive race again - although it was my 4th London I've definitely got used to the smaller races that I do now, and found it a bit overwhelming.  All of the Boston references were really moving too, from the silence at the start being so well marked, to most people wearing black ribbons of remembrance, to the many signs that supporters had made or runners had written on their shirts showing support.  I found I had tears in my eyes on more than one occasion as I ran round the London streets, sharing the experience with bigger and more supportive crowds than I have ever seen before. I don't think I'll run London again, but I'm more than happy if this was my last experience as a runner here.  It was incredible. 

I finished in 4:06 which I was very pleased with bearing in mind my appalling lack of training over the previous fortnight, and how warm the day turned out to be - I got terrible sunburn too - but a day almost worth cutting short our honeymoon for ;) 

My London marathon times now stand at 5:00 (2008), 5:41 (2010), 4:55 (2011) and 4:06 (2013)

But now these things are over, my thoughts turn back to the 10in10 which is now in just a couple of weeks time.  I know I'm not as well trained as I should be - I'm in worse shape than I was this time last year to be honest - but I am mentally determined and ready to get started with the biggest challenge of my life! 

Running with friends...the Sussex Marathon

Thanks to Alex Hamilton and Nozza Wales for the awesome photos of a great day out :)

Another Sunday, another marathon

On Sunday, I ran the Sussex Marathon, to finish off a 50 mile training week.

Sussex is a really hilly course around beautiful countryside, supported by excellent marshals, with really impressively stocked aid stations, which I made sure I took full advantage of! It's a great race - quite small, but the better for it, and very well organised, and I don't think there's anything I'd hope they change about it - even the medal is excellent!! :)

I did find it hard work though - as I always seem to, I went off unrealistically quickly, and paid for it later on as I found myself having to walk up most of the hills in the second half of the race. It was my slowest marathon for two years, but to be honest, I'm still pretty pleased with my time when I think how much I walked and what the elevation profile of the course must look like. I didn't do too badly compared with the rest of the field either - 10th woman and 2nd in my age group...but then, it was a very small race ;) Mimi Anderson was running too, and I got totally starstruck when I saw her before the start - I wanted to go and say hello but didn't want her to think I was a nutcase fan! ;) Mimi finished in 3:41:44 compared to my 4:26:37, and then she ran on to turn the marathon into a 30 mile ultra, which she finished in 4:19:54 - absolutely awesome!

Lots of friends were running (and supporting) at Sussex, and it made it really special to see so many of them. Getting to know people on the running circuit has really has taken my running onto a totally different level - it's just so much fun to see everyone :D I hung around after I finished, instead of jumping straight in the car and going home, and it was brilliant to see the others finish and cheer them across the line. All in all, I think it was a great day out, and it was Kaz's first race in her 100 Marathon Club vest! :D One day that'll be me! ;)

Enigma Good Friday marathon

On Friday I ran the Enigma Good Friday marathon, around Caldicott lake in Milton Keynes. It was the perfect end to what's been a fantastic week for my running, where I truly rediscovered my mojo, and remembered why I love it so much!

There were a lot of people running the Good Friday marathon, or just there by the lake, as it was Kaz Hurrell's 100th marathon and everyone wanted to support her and cheer her on. It made it a brilliant day, and I was able to catch up with lots of running friends, including seeing Liz running with her adorable new husky Lara for the first time! To see the inspirational Kaz finish and be inducted into the 100 Marathon Club was an absolute privilege and I'm so glad I was there.

The laps around the lake were hard as ever, and it alternated between freezing cold, bright sunshine and snow! But everyone being there, the inimitable support of Karen and Foxy, and knowing we were having beer and cake in the pub after we finished, helped pull me round ;)

Running could change the world

I was bought Caitlin Moran’s book “How to be a Woman” for Christmas. It’s not the sort of book I’d usually read, but it was looking abandoned on the bookshelf, so finally decided to pick it up.

It had a very rare effect on me – it made me angry.

It’s half autobiography, half about Moran’s views on feminism and its main theme is her opinion that world these days is still a difficult one for women because although we may have the vote and be able to go to work, we’re still all hard done by and need to wake up and realise how subjugated we all still are. Although feminist Moran has now broken though, and is living the life we all want to live, where she is confident, independent, has a partner who shares in her life rather than controls it, and essentially feels she can behave how she wants, there are lots of other women who can't break through.

She discusses themes of “being a woman” and describes how Western women seem to live double lives - where outwardly they're happy, independent and confident, but actually they exist in some archaic nightmare, spending forever and a day doing their hair before going to the shops, not stepping out of the house without their make-up done and their fake tan applied, hating wearing heels but having to, being the downtrodden one in relationships, being criticised by the masses if they decide not to have children, being considered on the scrap heap once they go through the menopause and generally not achieving anything.  There was a quote about women just BEING not DOING – we exist but don’t actually contribute anything.

What made me angry was the assumption (maybe the reality) that the majority of women are actually still living like this in the Western world. It's a totally alien concept to me - that's not the life of anyone I know, but the idea that there are still women and girls out there who can't behave as they want to, even when they live in countries and under political regimes where they have total legal equality, is appalling. Whether it's true that life is still like this for lots of women, and that they are still subjugated, to be honest, I don't know. 

What I do know, though, is that running marathons, and particularly ultras, has, without a doubt, changed how I perceive life and how I feel about myself.

Marvellous Mimi Anderson
Holder of numerous world records for ultra running

It’s opened my eyes to a world where men and women compete in the same event, and sometimes the women win, but where, in fact, no-one seems to care whether you’re male or female because actually we’re all just runners; where you can wear no make-up and be covered in mud and sweat and look the messiest but the best you’ve ever looked and are considered amazing because of what you’ve just achieved! The running community has given me incredible male and female role models, from every age group and background, and has taught me the value of dedication and hard work, of setting the most ridiculously lofty goals, which everyone around you actually encourages you to aim for, and then the joy of achieving them after putting your heart and soul into months of working towards them. It has also make me realise and truly appreciate just how wonderful other people are - how supportive, caring and selfless they can be to someone they don’t even know yet.

No female marathon runner I have ever come across is anything like the negative descriptions of subjugated women portrayed in Moran’s book.  

It deeply saddens me if it's true that girls are growing up thinking they need to become a WAG or a reality TV personality to be successful, or just to be considered “normal” they have to subject themselves to wearing heels they don’t like or plastic surgery they don’t want, and a lifetime of supporting their man instead of actually achieving their dreams. If they were exposed to the running culture, surely it would help to counteract the negativity of the celebrity and patriarchal culture that Moran tells me we’re still living in. 

This is exactly why it always pleases me to see children at running events, like the RDs' children who help out at the Challenge Running and Enigma races. Exposing them to our world must surely inspire them – not necessarily just with the actual running, but with of those other things that are more important – that age, gender and appearance are irrelevant and it’s all about working hard, looking after each other, and pursuing your goals.

I’ve decided - running could change the world – we need to get everyone else to realise it.