Half Marathon – against the odds
So as I sit here writing this the pain in the muscles and joints is finally subsiding. Why you may ask?
When I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia 3 years ago I was training for the London Marathon, the widespread pain that I felt at the time was far worse than than the normal aching from over exertion in the the gym and my consultant told me in no uncertain terms to STOP running immediately, he also said that I would only be able to tolerate twenty minutes of exercise, 2-3 times per week.
I am a person who LOVES food and usually the wrong sort of food, you know the stuff that just sits on the hips and gives you a wobbly tummy so running was my means of burning off a few of the extra calories that I put in my mouth.
When I stopped running I didn’t stop eating and naturally I began to put on weight, this with the realisation that I had a condition which would leave me with pain for the rest of my life lead me to be pretty depressed and I found myself in a vicious cycle of being in pain, not doing anything, getting more lethargic, sleeping in the day and then unable to sleep at night. The consultant gave me a number of different prescription drugs to help alleviate some symptoms and although they did just that I ended up with other side effects such as sluggishness and lethargy in the mornings, foggy head (certainly not great when you have fibro fog!)
I knew that the only person who could now help me was myself, I needed to snap out of the self pitying, depressive state that I was in, start to loose weight and get myself some goals to aim for. I started to seek alternative ways to help my condition and through dietary changes and some amazing nutritional supplements I started to improve. I realised that things were getting better when I wasn’t reaching for my double shot coffee at 2.30pm every afternoon. I was soon able to wean myself off of all prescription drugs except painkillers which I need to take on average once a fortnight and I started to workout again. Initially I would do some group classes lower impact stuff such as spinning and core conditioning, Pilates and once I felt ready I added a few high intensive aerobic classes such as body attack and combat. I did these classes at my own pace but soon felt my overall fitness improve and with it I was getting a better nights sleep which for any fibro sufferer knows this is vital to help alleviate symptoms the next day.
So I wondered….. if I could tolerate a lot of bouncing and jumping in a fitness studio, could I just possibly manage a little run???…with my trustee dog Archie in tow we tried a gentle jog and a flat woodland path and to my utter amazement the feeling of euphoria of achieving it far outweighed the pain in my joints. The dog really didn’t know what all the fuss was about as 1km is a walk in the park to him but bit by bit I increased the distance to almost break him into a pant!! My goal of ever completing the London marathon still seemed a million miles away but when I saw the advertisement for the inaugural Bournemouth Marathon Festival I didn’t think twice to sign up for the half marathon, with 4 months to train I knew I could do it.
On Sunday 6th October here I was in Kings Park with thousands of other Lycra clad runners, sports beans in the pocket and lucozade in my bottle, the atmosphere was electric and as I jogged past familiar sites of Southbourne, Hengitsbury Head and Bournemouth Seafront I felt fabulous, that was until I hit ‘the wall’ at 8 miles, in fact it was more than ‘the wall’ it was a ‘tower block’ every single bit of my body was hurting, I had total numbness in my right hand and I knew if I stopped that I would seize up and would never be able to finish. I looked up to the sky in tears and just asked for something to give me the strength to get through. I knew I had masses of support from my friends and family and had raised sponsorship money for a small Fibro charity and if I could get to the pier front, my husband and children would be somewhere watching me finish. I found some strength and courage and as I limped over the finish line 2 hours 23 minutes after starting out I felt so full of self pride, I don’t know how I got through the last few miles,but those who know me well know that I am pretty stubborn and when somebody tells me I can’t do something it makes me want it even more .
I am not sure at the moment what my next challenge will be, I still harbour a desire to one day complete the London Marathon so who knows watch this space….
Emma Burke
