Danielle Kaelin

Running in the Rain, Frolicking in the Floods, Southwater in the Sun

So it was Race day last Sunday and the British weather did not disappoint… It was rainy and windy and having to get Fabian up and awake before 8am on a Sunday morning was challenge number 1. As we were travelling to Worthing, where the race was to start, we saw the poor Dark Star Marathon Runners braving the elements running along the River Adur (for a report go here.). As we were remarking to each other that ‘they must be mad’ the irony wasn’t lost that we were about to run along Worthing seafront in January, in rain and wind ourselves. To non-runners or even some (sensible?) runners what we were about to do was also possibly quite high on the mad scale. But at least our run was only 4 miles and not 28 (thank god)!

There were surprisingly a lot of people at the starting point. Despite the awful weather it seemed that most of the local clubs had turned out to run on what was the first League race of the year. I was really nervous. It was only my second ever race and my first was back in 2012. Having got quite into the trail, distance runs I (stupidly) thought that I might find it almost easy, and when we were first off I actually felt a little frustrated that people were in my way. However, as the race got more under way and the rain and wind became more apparent, my enthusiasm waned, and with it so did my pace. Fabian had passed me quite quickly, and despite being relatively new to running, and it being his first ever race he was soon way in front of me. This left me feeling quite alone and having gotten used to running with people in the club it felt a bit boring running on my own. It was with relief when I started to run back and could almost see in the grey murky distance the end point. Crossing the line and seeing Fabian waiting for me, made the weather and the hard work worth it. That is definitely the point for me, the feeling of achievement crossing the line, and although I didn’t find this race the most enjoyable I was still really glad that I had done it. Our team mates were, quite rightly, eager to head home as they, like us, were wet and cold, but Fabian and I decided to reward ourselves by going for a nice cooked breakfast (our first since returning to the UK) and headed back to the car to get changed. If those of you reading this have never had to strip off soaking wet running things in the passenger seat of an estate car, parked in a multi-storey car park with plenty of people milling about, I can certainly tell you it’s an experience. But we weighed up the embarrassment of getting naked with the joy of being warm and dry… well the latter easily won. I can also report that a post-race fry up is the best kind of fry up.

As ever, seeking motivation I decided this week to buy a GPS running watch. I’ve done copious amounts of research online and was really pleased when it arrived on Wednesday, just in time for that evenings run. It had been a very long day at work, and having rushed out of the door to meet at the Leisure Centre and try out my new watch I had forgotten a vital tool that is required for my usual Wednesday night run across the downs – my torch. So although I had Bear, my Labrador, with me I decided I would take it a bit easier than an ‘if-your-feet-are-not-wet-then-it’s-not-a-proper-run’ trail run and do a village road run instead. I ended up running with a new member to the club and was able to encourage her around the route. I remember all too well how hard it is to run without stopping or wanting to walk and she in fact did very well. It made a change for me to be the one doing the encouraging as I have gotten quite used to the men having to jolly me along on the longer Saturday morning routes.

Being conscious of the fact that the Steyning Stinger Half Marathon is only a few weeks away, when Hugh posted his run plan of 14 miles for Saturday I decided to give it a go. I was more than apprehensive as I hadn’t found last Sunday’s 4 mile race all that easy and I wouldn’t have the back up of being able to call Fabian to pick me up if it got too much (a service my darling husband has provided a few times during Saturday morning runs) as he had to work. I had eaten really badly all week, scoffing chocolates and biscuits given to us at work, and had also eaten a rather big dinner on the Friday night with a few drinks (of the alcoholic variety) as well so I was expecting to pay the price by struggling my way through. By some miracle I managed to pull myself out of bed and Bear and I were at the leisure centre in time for the 8am start. The weather had decided to be quite kind to us and by the time we had reached mile 3 or 4 the sun was actually shining. You never realise how much you miss blue sky until it’s finally back, and the feeling of sun on my face was wonderful.

It occurred to me briefly that I didn’t seem to be finding it too hard a run when we suddenly faced our first hurdle. The small road we had been running along was completely flooded. There was some mention of “what should we do?” before the men began to wade straight through. The water was above knee height and not wanting to seem like a princess I waded in after them. The immediate feeling of cold was unbearable. By the time I was half way through the flood I couldn’t feel my feet and it was so painful I looked to my left and right to see if there was any other way through than well… through. There was not, so I quickened my pace and when I finally got out at the other end, I felt sure that I would now feel cold and soggy throughout the run and would at this point start to struggle. However much to my surprise by the time we were running through Steyning village all thoughts of cold feet had passed and I was once again jogging happily along. The conversations on a Saturday morning are normally quite varied and, at times, a little saucey. As it is predominately men that run on a Saturday and Sue was at a wedding and Amanda recovering from the Dark Star Marathon, I was the only one of XX Chromosome. Keeping this in mind, I found it rather amusing that Derek almost apologised when he mentioned his dogs testicles (okay he didn’t use that term exactly…) or rather lack of them and once I had assured him that Testicle Talk is rather a speciality of mine given my Veterinary Nurse profession it seemed only right that I told him about an interesting case I saw this week: A hermaphrodite cat. Goodness knows what the passers-by thought as they heard snippets of conversations on this particular subject, leading on to Derek explaining the correct terms for different types of hermaphrodites. Naturally we questioned Derek on his unnatural amount of knowledge on the subject, all silently wondering if Derek could have been once a Diane. His answer was all the more confusing- “Well I studied dentistry”. The mind cannot fathom why dentists would need an in depth knowledge of the reproductive system…. Anyway, I digress. This interesting topic soon had me through to mile 6 or 7 and I still wasn’t feeling too bad. By the time we had stopped at mile 8 for a quick drink and for me to have an even quicker wee (yes with 6 or so men in rather worryingly close proximity- thank god for very large trees – I can confirm I am able to pass urine in record speed) I was still feeling good. I was really enjoying being out in the fresh air and was even glad that there was still 6 miles to go. However, despite Hugh’s best efforts to plan a relatively dry run we were suddenly faced with yet another flooded track. This time the water reached my bottom and yet again I was so glad to reach the other side. The relief however was short lived. By this time we had reached the river and although the bank was still above water, within a mile it suddenly disappeared into water and when the men shouted at me to turn right I honestly thought they were joking. Unless Hugh had secretly stashed a boat somewhere this was not going to be good. Our path on the right was unrecognisable and it seemed that we had no choice but to get wet once again. Only this time it made the previous wades seem like puddles. The water was now up to my chest, and had it had been just a few centigrade warmer I definitely would have just swum as it would have been quicker. Bear took this all in his stride and swam across effortlessly. Unfortunately Max, Hugh’s dog, managed to get himself stuck in some brambles. I do sometimes wonder if Max does these things on purpose just to laugh at his master having to wade all the way back to free him.

By the time I was safely on the other side and able to be back on dry land I felt that being so wet and cold I had two options: Be really miserable or laugh. It was much nicer to do the latter. In how many other running clubs would members almost require wet suits to complete runs? In what seemed like a blink of an eye we were back at the Leisure Centre and my nice new Garmin watch informed me we had run 14.05miles. My longest run ever and possibly the most fun I have had in ages. It also shows that I can never predict how I will feel during a run, and I can have really good runs when I least expect it. I might think about getting a snorkel and flippers for next time though… and I hope my shoes dry out in time for the next League race tomorrow…

They didn’t. Dry completely that is. But I figured that they would only get wet again. The alarm went off far too early this morning, mainly because Fab had set if by mistake for 6.30 rather than 7.30. I gingerly lowered my feet out of the bed waiting for the aching to start. With surprise they didn’t feel too bad. I woke myself up with a quick dog walk, enjoying the sun shine and early morning bunny rabbits hopping around. I didn’t feel as nervous today as I had for the Worthing Lido race. Mainly I guess because having done one race I sort of knew what to expect and it’s always the unknown that is most worrying. I was also perhaps still on a bit of a high from the enjoyment of yesterdays run. Fabian and I reached the race HQ early as to give ourselves time to use the toilets and find our other HJ team mates. Fabian was apprehensive as his knee had been hurting since last weeks race but he was looking forward to some off road running. The sun really was shining and the weather almost, but not quite, had a Spring-like feeling to it. Once Liz, Gill, Tina, Michelle and Cathy arrived it was almost time to go and we made our way up to the starting point. The race started promptly and almost immediately I realised that perhaps running 14 miles one day and then a race the next wasn’t the best idea. I wasn’t in pain as such but it all felt like quite a lot of effort. Although mainly on country roads the course does also incorporate some off road and these areas were extremely muddy. It was amusing to watch how different runners approached the mud. Some more careful runners daintily tried to trot along the sides avoiding turning their trainers brown, others came crashing straight through the mud sending mud splatters everywhere. I decided that avoiding the mud was almost impossible and pretty pointless and I was sure to get muddy anyway so I just went as carefully as I could without being a princess. I was careful not to fall over as some did, and also sure to not lose my shoes in the mud as others did. Nevertheless, I emerged from the mud a bit damp and quite brown but still on two feet. It was a long 3 and a bit miles. Especially as you couldn’t really see the finish line until you were upon it. I tried to overtake a few people but felt I was being overtaken much more often. I tried to sprint the very last bit but my energy levels were pretty low. I was also a little bit irritated by the person running close to me whose breathing sounded like an asthmatic 80 year old chain smoker – well I was until I realised that it was me making all the noise. Very embarrassing! Finally over the finish line and I was really glad to have a nice cup of water. As ever, Fabian had already finished but unhappily so as his knee was really hurting him. Trying to be sympathetic as he talked of how slow he had run was rather hard, as he was still much faster than me. But I think that’s the thing

with these fun runs. No one, at least from our little group, was aiming to win, but we all had our personal goals and times that we wanted to beat. The morning finished up with a lovely breakfast at The Orchards. It was really fun to have a post-race debrief as last week it had simply been to cold and wet for us all to sit together, and understandably most people didn’t want to get changed in the car like we had done (and did again today I hasten to add). We all agreed that we felt it had been a challenge and although some of us had found it quite difficult, no one, I believe, regretted it.

Having now been to two fun runs, I have to say that I wish more Henfield Joggers got involved. Most other teams were wearing their team colours, had many more team mates and some even had their own side-line supporters. I know racing isn’t for everyone but it really isn’t like a race in normal terms. It’s really a race against yourself and everyone taking part gains the club points. Gosh, who would have thought a few years ago I would be feeling passionate about my running club’s team presence. How things change, the only passion I used to have was for the next piece of cake. Anyway, will write more soon but for now I must ensure my husband hasn’t drowned in his post-race bath…

News

Maybe NOT Born to Run?

‘Born to Run’ would not be used to describe me, or my running technique. Sue once described me running as, affectionately I hope, “my little pony trotting along”. Worse thing is she is actually right. I run far too much on my toes and hence have calf muscles unattractively big. But anyway, I digress. I would love to be able to introduce this blog as a way of documenting me running some super challenging marathon but at present the idea of running a Marathon is a far off dream- despite Hugh’s rather questionable encouragement to do so. To be honest I find it all rather amusing that I am even using the word Marathon and myself in the same sentence. This time two years ago running was something I had only done if late for a bus. I had often thought how nice it sounded when friends would tell me what a great run they had done last night. But to be honest I thought running could only be done by stick thin fitness fanatics and it was only after watching my Best Friend Jade complete a Half Marathon in Plymouth I thought to myself- Maybe I could do this? And if I did this maybe I could eat some more cake! Luckily this was at a time that, due to living in Switzerland and having two dogs, I had discovered a real love for hiking mountains and had some degree of fitness. Or so I thought. So motivated by Jade’s success I promptly looked online for a half marathon that I could complete and found that the Basel Half Marathon was three months away which was plenty of time to train. Right? So I signed up, bought some new trainers (because isn’t it a fact new shoes make you run faster?) and set off for my first training run. Which lasted, and I am being generous here, approximately 3 minutes before I couldn’t possibly run a second more. A friend of a friend who had been roped in on this premier run, when eventually I crawled through the designated course, remarked that for that three minutes of glory I had ran far too fast, and I needed to slow down, as I tired myself out too quickly.

I took his wise words on board and over the next few weeks I slowed my pace down and plodded my way around my village- often having to walk or plod, but as the days and weeks went past I eventually ran 5km without stopping (only 16km to go) and began to count down the days to the race. I didn’t feel confident to run with other people, sure that I would slow them down or make a fool of myself so to keep myself entertained during my runs I discovered that running to an audio book was the trick for me as I would get distracted by the story and sometimes forget that I was running and so run just that little bit further every time. Looking back, the fact that I had signed up for this half Marathon meant that I put a huge amount of pressure on myself as I didn’t want to lose face by not doing it or dying trying. By July the Swiss summer had well and truly got underway and running in temperatures of 35degrees plus for me was just not an option. I started getting up earlier and earlier just to try and run before the heat became unbearable. I even took my running things on holiday to Marseille with me, much to be bemusement of my husband (then boyfriend) Fabian. By the beginning of September I was able to run 16km with relative ease and with two weeks to go before the race I set out to run 21km. Having read about training on the internet I had seen that running the actually mileage before a race was not necessarily necessary but I felt that mentally I needed to know that I could do it. By the end of that 21km run I felt sick, was tired beyond belief but also it gave me just that little bit of extra confidence that I would be able to finish, be it at a slow 2hours 30 minutes.

I awoke on race day very early. Far too nervous to eat and also paranoid about whether I would need to use a toilet during the race. (NB- For any new runners – yes the really really HAVING to go to the toilet happens to a lot of people during runs. It’s normal. Yes, even number 2s!!!). After going to the toilet approximately 10 times before the start of the race, all of a sudden we were off and the race had begun. The first 15 kilometres were okay, the last 6 or so possibly the longest off my life but the feeling of passing through that finish line (and then collapsing in a sweaty heap) is amazing. I really felt I had achieved something. I had also managed it in 2 hours 16, so 14 minutes quicker than in my traning run. I also felt that I would never, ever put myself through that ever again.

So my running shoes went back into the closet, the Swiss autumn began and went followed by a Swiss winter. My excuses were readily available. You can’t run in 4 foot or more of snow. It actually is dangerous. I have earnt a rest. I am tired. I just want to hibernate etc etc. But then Fabian put a spanner in my ‘eating–my-way-through –winter ‘ challenge by proposing. Which meant I had to not resemble an albino whale in a wedding dress in just 4 or 5 months! Back out of the closet my faithful shoes came, but this time, with no race looming ‘just’ a wedding I found an enjoyment in running that I had not felt whilst training. Suddenly running was fun! But yet again, post wedding, my motivation began to dwindle and the desire to run waned.

When Fabian and I decided to move back to England I knew that I needed to find some more motivation and thus, before our feet had even landed back on British soil, I had found, and contacted the Henfield Joggers. This was quite a big deal for me. I have never been much of a club joiner. Even as a child my stint as a Brownie was shorter lived than any of my friends and surely an actually proper running club are going to take one look at my pathetic running attempts and just laugh. But then again I had seen on the website that they do pub-runs which for someone like me seeking a motivation surely a pub at the end of a run is as good a motivation as any, so perhaps it wouldn’t be too bad?

We arrived back in the UK the day before one of these pub runs and I was determined to join it. It sounded lovely, only 5 miles or so and a good way to introduce myself. Unfortunately, I underestimated the amount of time it takes to arrange a new life so disappointedly I missed the Wednesday Pub Run. “No Fear” said Paul (of whom I had been in contact with through the HJ website and Facebook page) “Go along to the Saturday morning run!”. I had seen some information on these Saturday Morning runs on the HJ Facebook page. They were much longer runs of 10 miles or more and the run that they had planned this particular Saturday was a 12 mile romp over the downs. I knew there was no way I could run that having converted the miles into kilometres (a problem with living in Switzerland is you forget how long a mile is. A Kilometre is so much kinder!) But naively I thought I would go along anyway, dragging my Faithful until-he-sees-something/someone-more-interesting Labrador Bear with me for moral support. I could bail after a couple of miles, but would have had at least shown my face.

I was rather nervous that morning as I finally found the Leisure Centre (I grew up in Lancing so Henfield was all new to me). There was a group of men hanging around the front doors, dressed rather professionally looking in their running gear and my heart sank. These guys’ looked like, well… actual runners! They will leave me in their dust! I nervously introduced myself and asked if they were part of HJ. The welcome I then received put me immediately at ease. Even more so when Sue arrived and started chatting to me about the new addition to her family- a puppy named Bailey. As a Veterinary Nurse one thing I could talk about all day is Puppies so I barely noticed that we had started running as Sue and I chatted and got to know each other. At mile 4 or 5, the rather tall chap of who’s back had been my main view as he was right out in front, and Sue had kindly ran at the back with me, gathered us all together and asked me whether I wanted to short cut back- if so he would give me directions. I had been gossiping so easily with Sue I felt it would be a shame to bail just yet and so I assured Hugh, as I now knew him to be called, that I was ok and I will do another couple of miles. Then suddenly we were at mile 8 and I was starting to flag. Badly. I was hugely embarrassed by how slow I now was and even Sue had run off ahead, quite understandably unable to run or rather walk as it was now at such a slow pace. I knew that we were now at a point where short cuts were no option. I wanted to tell the others to just go on without me but I didn’t have the foggiest idea where we were to find my own way home. Finally we reached a road and, having seen how utterly rubbish this new member was turning out to be Hugh offered to leave me there outside a pub, run back to the village then come and pick me up. Kind though his offer was, I couldn’t possibly be such an inconvenience. I told them to run on, and I would call Fabian and he would collect me in the car which he did. I was shocked when I looked at my phone to see Run Keeper had recorded a run of 10 miles. I had no intention of running that far and realised that running as part of a group definitely had kept me going much longer than had I set out alone. I also found that I really enjoyed the off road running, having never really done it before.

That first run with the HJers is now almost 5 months ago and I am so glad that I joined. Not only have I made friends and enjoyed the social side of the club but I have felt so encouraged by the group to keep on running. So much so that I have entered a few races. The first race is on a Sunday morning and is along Worthing seafront. As its only four miles it should be a fun, if rather windy race. It’s part of a Fun Run League, and unlike most of my runs now a days it’s on the road. More worryingly is that I have also signed up for another half marathon next month. It’s called the Steyning Stinger and it’s supposed to be quite a challenge. In fact I have plans to run some form of race every month from now until October. I will use this blog to document the runs I do during this year, and as a motivation for other people, that like me, aren’t necessarily born to run but want to, whether it be to get fit, stay slim or like me just to be able to eat more guilt free. Thanks for reading and I will update you on my first Fun Run League Race on Sunday!