It ain't easy being green or I became a runner again

Warning: this is not a massively sewing related post but you do get to see me painted green.

Good evening darling ones,

How the devs are you?  I hope I find you all well and happy.  In my little corner of the world we are experiencing a somewhat intermittent spring but being British I celebrate even a cheeky skirt lift of sun :)  Especially as we have just experienced a winter of discontent on an epic scale.  My theory on the coldest snap of the last 100 years is that poor old Richard III who'd lain buried in a Leicestershire car park was unceremoniously dug up and put in a cardboard box.  If I'd been at peace for 500 years I'd be mightily pissed at being disturbed.  At the time of going to press there's still no say on his final resting place as Leicester are saying finders keepers but York believe he's theirs as that's where he came from.  Anywho enough of the historic retrospective of one our monarchs and on to the purpose of this post, which is the first of two to explain my lengthy absence from the blogosphere.

Richard III - King of bad weather

Cutting to the chase in November 2012 I donned my trainers and became a runner again.  It had been three long years since I'd hit the tarmac.  I'd originally started running after reading the book Running Made Easy when I wanted to get fit (if you want to be a runner but don't know where to start I can't recommend this book enough) in 2009 and went onto run the British 10K and soon after started training for the Great North Run.  Unfortunately, as the miles went up my left knee became v sore and eventually blew up like a balloon.  On advice I went to see an orthotics specialist in London to get fitted for insoles for my trainers to correct my running style, which was apparently causing the problem.  The man who did the insoles charged me £250 and also promptly told me that and I quote, "You are too fat to be a distance runner"!  As I'm sure you've all gathered in the time we've spent together I've got a very strong constitution in regards to my sack of skin and instead of getting upset I merely laughed in his face and told him to do one.  I mean for Pete's sake I'd already lost 2 stone and I was feeling as fit as a fiddle.  It turned out that the man was not only very rude but very wrong and his insoles didn't work and I had to stop running :(  For any of you that are runners I'm sure you'll understand how devastating it is when you get injured and something you love and is a part of who you are as a person is something you can't do anymore.  Especially, as I whole heartedly believed I had a marathon in me.

I even accessorise when I run it's what separates us from the animals ;-)

Fear not though this story has a v happy ending  eventually :)  Fast forward a few years and me and my then man had decided that life was just taking us in different directions.  We'd had 10 years together and it was heartbreaking at the time but as with everything in life it's what you make of it and I felt something good would come around and firstly it was sewing woot! I will be forever grateful to have found something that I know I will be passionate about for the rest of my days but being a typical gemini there's many strings to my bow and still deep within me burned the desire to get back to running.  Well I can only think I sent out a cosmic order because karmically the person that got me back in my trainers was my ex's new beloved.  We are all friends, which is a great thing and a happy outcome.  She's a running coach as well as being a sports scientist and informed me that the insole man had spoken complete tosh and the problem was merely that my ITB muscle needed some work on it and gave me a load of stretches to do.  These worked and didn't cost me £250 yay!  So at the end of November 2012 I announced I would be running the Brighton half marathon and promptly started training with Fitbitch running club.  

Only I would decide to start running again in the coldest winter of a 100 years.  Thanks be for long socks.

Well as  I said earlier eventually this story ends well but it doesn't end with me running the Brighton half marathon in February as I'd hoped.  The reason being was the night that I rode to running club for the first time in three years I came off my bike, Rita and flew clean into the air and smashed down hard onto the pavement.  I thought I'd just grazed my hands so carried on to running club and ran 3 fantastic miles until I felt a surge of pain in my leg.  It wasn't my knee this time though it was my right calf and in the moonlight I saw it had swelled up to three times its normal size and was starting to resemble a magnum of champagne :s   It continued to get worse over the next few days and when I eventually went to the doctor feeling very tearful I was diagnosed with a massive blood clot in my calf eek!  A pint of blood had died in my leg and the reason I was so emotional was the fact that the blood poisoning was climbing up my leg to my vital  organs.  I narrowly missed a hospital stay, was banned from running for several weeks and ended up with a scar.

Spot the difference :s

So you maybe asking yourself how is that a good ending?  Well I can tell you despite all the setbacks I did indeed finally finish a half marathon yay :)  I ran the Hastings half marathon on 24th March this year with a beehive in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support in 2 hours 12 mins 10 secs.

Very red but very happy :)

So all is well that ends well and tomorrow (19th May 2013) I get to combine two of my passions as I take part in the Heroes Run 10K in aid of Pass It On to raise money for schools in Africa in a handmade dress.

Grrr! Even She Hulk can rock an Elisalex dress :)

If anyone would like to donate to the cause you can find me at www.justgiving.com/rehanonisshehulk all monies gratefully received :)  

I will bid you farewell for now my darlings and leave you with the following wisdom that I've gained over the last few years.  I've learned if you want something enough you have to believe in yourself, don't listen to people who put you down, you'll find help in the strangest of places and ultimately you'll find your own way round all the challenges and you'll only feel more fabulous for it woot!  I will be repeating this to myself constantly when I start training for the marathon I thought I'd never get to run later this year and questioning my sanity ;-)

Love always,

Miss D

xxx