What's all this about being an athlete then?!??!!?!?

The Athlete part of the “HHT and AFib Athlete"

 

In case you didn’t guess, the athlete part was very tongue in cheek!  I liked sport at school but was always the slightly tubby one who was picked second from last for sports teams (S., frail, Indian, wore glasses, was always picked after me).  I liked doing sport a lot but was singularly bad at everything – I used to walk as much as I ran in cross-country; barely made the gap between the runway and the longjumplong jump pit; once hit the high jump bar so hard I had a haemtomahaematoma the size of an elephant on my leg and could hardly walk; fell over a hurdle so badly I was scared to try again.

Netball was okay because I was so tall but I was always Goal Defence which meant you didn’t really have to move. Think an oak tree wearing a tabard…

I once tried out when our school was desperate for three netball teams for a tournament (so 7 players and 2 subs per team – grand total of 27 players needed).  About thirty girls tried out…. I wasn’t picked ☹

I attended the gymnastics club for years but was put in a corner with a mat and told to practise handstands.  I once attempted to do a handstand-walkover only to bang my head so hard my ears are still ringing.

I did the AAA (athletics – scored a bit like decathlon) badge at school and managed to get a two-star rating (just!) which I proudly wore.

Like many untalented teenage girlsgirls, I grew to loath sport except our basketball in the gym sessions as I got older where a group of friends made up the team and we played for a laugh not for winning – I loved that!

 

After school I did absolutely no more sport until I got the Best Book Ever – Randi Blaun’s “The Lazy Person’s Guide To A Better Body in Only Six Weeks” which I can say, without fear of contradiction, changed my life!

I learnt that dieting makes you fatter, that weight training gives you muscles and increases your metabolism and fat-buringburning exercise can be fun!

NautrallyNaturally, I didn’t DO any of this, but it planted a seed in my mind and come the first Christmas afterward my new husband bought me a set of 3 kg brown plastic dumbbelssdumbbells (I still have them!).  I began weight training and I suddenly had muslcesmuscles – bits of me were firm! It felt good!

A month later Mum and I joined a ladies’ only gym called Eves.  We did aerobics (on a carpeted concrete floor!), pushed weights (on a Universal Multigym) and then sat around naked in a sauna, steam roolroom and Jacuzzi!

 

In April, WomansWoman’s Own magazine announced they were lauchinglaunching a WomansWomen’s only 10 km fun run in Hyde Park, London.  I was tempted but but but – old school memopreiesmemories came flooding back….

One day in May of 1984, I ran down the road – wearing what I had on – jeans, leather motorbike jacket, trainers for five minutes – exactly what the WomansWoman’s Own training programme had for its first run! I hadn’t even told Hubby what I was thinking of doing before that first jog.

I managed to get an M&S sports bra.  This was a big deal in1984.  Sports shops looked aghast if you asked for a bra and all sporting gear was described as Unisex when you asked for women’s stuff.  Unisex just meant ‘it’s for men but you can wear it if you like!) No lycra, just baggy shorts and a t-shirt.

I began to “go for a run” following the programme. I built my longest run up to about 40 minutes.  and tehnin September it was off to Hyde Park.  I was petrified.  I knew exactly what was going to happen – the gun would go and within seconds I wold be alone to finish, eyes hot with tears, face burning, hours after everyone wlse had finished and gone hme.I didn’t even tell my family until a few days before the event because I knew I’d be at the sharp end of a lot of family ribbing - except that I wasn’t. Instead, they were all proud of me!  I even got sponsored for charity!

and tThen ehnin September it was off to Hyde Park.  I was petrified.  I knew exactly what was going to happen – the gun would go and within seconds I woldwould be alone all the way to the finish, eyes hot with tears, face burning, hours after everyone wlseelse had finished and gone hmehome. 

Except!  It was nothing like that.  There were all shapes and sizes and ages. It was wonderful.  To my amazement I did the whole thing without stopping in 68 minutes and 55 seconds which was at least 7 minutes faster than I dared hope.  And I didn’t stop.  Did I mention that? I DIDN’T STOP!!!  I WASN’T LAST!!  I WAS NOT EVEN CLOSE TO BEING LAST!!! AND I DIDN’T STOP!!!!

Now I had the bug.  I started buying Running magazine.  I inspired the whole family – Dad, Mum and hubby all began running – we even entered a proper race in Colchester – a five miler and NONE OF US WERE LAST.  In fact, hubby was quite good (he would be!) and it was fun! 

 

I’ll spare you full details of the races after that one, but it included the London Marathon on a boiling hot day in 1996 (one of the best days pf my life) and another on a wet day in 2004 (a terrible day, but I got a PB!) and raised a load of money for a tiny charity called Cyana.

A quick aside about Cyana (Cancer You Are Not Alone) – I rang them at my wits end because my Dad had terminal cancer and my mum was trying to nurse him despite being left disabled by a back op a few months before). He died in 2003 and five days later Mum had a heart attack - a broken heart.  Cyana were brilliant and so I said I would try and raise a few hundred quid for them at the Marathon in 2004.  In the end I got £1000 and I was even the Guest of Honour at their annual meeting/open day where I handed over a giant cheque!

 

Injuries from 1989 off and on meant I was also cycling and swimming and so in 1992 I decided to try a new sport which was not much known then – triathlon.  I entered a novice triathlon down Basingstoke way!  Two weeks beforehand a taxi driver in a rush did not bother to stop at a stop sign – pulled across me which meant I hit his car, spiralled in the air and landed on my back hitting my head and shoulder on the kerb – luckily, I was wearing my newly arrived cycle helmet which I had purchased just for the triathlon!  I still had concussion plus a dislocated shoulder and had to miss the triathlon!  And my bike was a bit of a mess (my old steel Peugeot which I bought second-hand for £20!).  The shoulder still gives me gyp 40 years later!

So fast forward a year and now I did make my triathlon debut - Swim 750m in an outdoor pool.  The cycle a hilly 20 k and run 5 km.  I had no idea what I was doing and exited the pool and went into the changing room where I leisurely chatted to mum and replaced my wet costume with bra, t-shirt and baggy t-shirt.  Imagine my surprise to find out when the results came out that I was THIRD – in fact, if it hadn’t had been for the changing room palaver, I’d have been second! 

For a brief few days I thought I might be able to be a professional but then I realised I was 15 minutes behind the winner on a course which took about 1.5 hours so gave up on that.  But I did raise more money in sponsorship!

Another aside about info and results back then.  You had to fill in a form which you acquired from somewhere (often left on your car at other events) and send it off with a cheque for the race fee and two SAEs (Stamped Addressed Envelopes).  One would be returned with the race info and the other with your results after the event!

In 1999 when I made my Olympic Triathlon distance debut at Windsor – swim 1500m in the River Thames; cycle 40 km around Windsor and run several laps totally 10 km around Eton!  I collected more sponsorship and I remember that back then it was seen as a real feat of endurance – and total lunacy!

In about 2017 I got weary of triathlon – it seemed to have become far too serious and lost its friendliness as it got more popular.  I missed the old days of everyone chatting afterwards and helping each other out.  And its popularity meant that races sold out months in advance and prices spiralled. So, I switched my attention back to running again – with the thought of another marathon and perhaps a 50 k Ultra…

To avoid becoming a bore I’ll just brag about my last few achievements – I ran an 18.5 miles cross-country race in 2018 and 2019, the latter as part of my training for the Orwell Challenge XC marathon.  Sadly, I caught a virus five days before the marathon and never did it.  A few months later the AFib returned with episode number 2 and has not gone away since….

 

To sum up – to date my Palmares (as cyclists call it) is:

280 running events

55 cycling events (sportives; cross-country; time trials)

2 swimathons of 5000m

96 Multi sport events (75 triathlons; 18 duathlons; 6 aquathlons)

 

And, as I wite, a few weeks after Ablation #3, I’m hoping that has worked and my next event will be a Park Run in autumn and then build towards tackling that Orwell Marathon!  Unfinished business, for sure!

 

Fingers Crossed!