Don’t think of yourself as a runner? To tell you the truth, neither did I – until seven months ago when I thought: ‘Hey, how hard can it be to run a half-marathon?’ Who’d have guessed that two months after, I’d be asking the same question about a full one.
For context, I could not run 5km seven months ago – in fact, five minutes was my limit. I got out of breath going upstairs, and thought running was seriously dull.
Yet this month, I crossed the finish line of the 2023 Tokyo Marathon – and I have never learned or felt so much in my life.
Here are a few things I picked up over the 800-plus kilometres of the past seven months…
1. Spring marathons mean winter training
This may sound stupid, but when deciding to take on this challenge, I didn’t even really consider the time of year I would be training – I was too excited about the prospect of a spring run. But, this meant night after night of freezing cold runs, alone, during the darkest months of the year.
I spent a lot of time treading up and down the same straight road, because as a woman I felt unsafe anywhere else. I did one 10km race in thunder, lightning and torrential rain. I ran on ice, snow, and in the dark before work. It is really hard to train when the world feels like it is against you. You have to really want it.
2. The right kit is vital
If you were going to drive for hundreds of miles, or across horrifically treacherous terrain, you wouldn’t do it in a car with three slow punctures and a crumbling engine. Similarly, what you are putting your body through must be supported by sturdy kit.
On 20km runs during training, I was covered in a bleeding chafe between my thighs, blisters on my heels, aching knees and even cuts and bruises beneath my sports bra.
But, by marathon time, I had found a pair of shorts (ASICS Race Sprinter Tights) that left me with zero chafe, long socks which took the pressure off my knees a little, a reliable and comfy sports bra (ASICS Metarun), and well-worn trainers that saw me through over 500km – my trusty ASICS Gel-Kayanos.
Buy the gear, or borrow it, and test everything a hundred times before race day to see what works. I did not have a single blister or chafe after the marathon.
3. You will get to know your body really wellYou will learn to be aware of every twinge and ache, which ones need addressing, and exactly how much sleep you need for a good run.
I spent five months of this process not really stretching – and then realised my knees and calves were giving up on me. So, the stretching began for short spurts after long runs, alongside baths with salts, time with my mini portable Theragun on my muscles and eventually a sports massage.
I have never felt so aware of every bit of my body and its needs, and I took so much away from an amazing massage at MASAJ Shoreditch because of this. I was finally attuned to my own strange vessel.
I also quickly realised that despite loving a glass of wine and drinking more than I probably should, drinking and running just wasn’t a good combination for me. So in mid-December, I said no more and didn’t have a drink until March 5th, after crossing the finish line. This was one of the best decisions I have ever made for my overall wellbeing.
4. Running is just playing mind games with yourself
You just have to hope you can win those games – and I certainly didn’t a lot of the time! In fact, I cried for the last four miles of the marathon, simply because my legs and brain had decided I was done.That was probably the hardest hour mentally of my life. I was running through one of the most amazing cities in the world, surrounded by new sights and sounds and incredibly brave and strong people, and all I wanted to do was stop and leave. I had to work hard to find something to think about to distract myself from that feeling.
So, have things ready to think about – I mean literally come up with topics, and go through them. Have conversations with yourself, dance, think about what you will eat after, and what you are running towards and what you’ve done to get there. It is so psychological, and not keeping your brain engaged could be the reason you fail.
I ran that marathon incredibly slowly, an hour slower than I wanted to, and that was not because my body couldn’t go faster, it was because my brain had checked out.
5. You will want to eat a lot – and that is totally fine
You do not need to diet to become a marathon runner. Sure, should you eat more of certain vitamins and minerals to keep you feeling tip-top? Yes. But the number one thing to do when running an obscene amount, for me, was to eat what I wanted, when I wanted.
Having a coach, ASICS Frontrunner Ania Gabb, just focusing on the running and my confidence and not thinking about food and diet constantly was amazing. She encouraged me to enjoy the process, ignore times, and definitely not focus on dieting.
When you run long distances, you will feel the hunger in your legs, so using gels like 90g carbohydrate Precision Fuel and Hydration, which I swear by, helps.
But sometimes all you need during a race is a piece of orange or banana from a spectator, and people will be more than happy to help. Spectators are really nice at marathons – enjoy it.
6. You will probably hate a lot of the process
Running when you don’t want to is really hard, and you may think marathon training would kill that feeling – but, I hate to say, it makes it worse.
You will resent losing so much of your time to long runs, talking about running constantly, and being hungry and tired all the time.
You’ll probably swear more than once that you’ll never do anything like this again…
But, then you will feel yourself getting faster, you’ll hit that runners’ high, you will notice and enjoy the way your body feels – and suddenly those long, testing training runs will feel like a distant memory.
You’ll look at the whole process with total fondness, and may even miss the routine of it all. Apply this to life as you wish.
