Manchester Run

On the day, I woke up really early, I was a bit nervous. I kept waking up too early, then forcing myself to go back to sleep where I would wake up dreaming of running, or being late for the run. Needless to say, I ended up having a rubbish nights sleep and then had so many butterflies that I found it hard to eat anything in the morning. Oscar was still a bit poorly (he'd been sick the day before, once in his cot and once in the car. R's in-laws had very kindly offered to look after the kids while me and R took part in the 10K run. So once we'd packed them off we were all set.

We arrived in the car park super-early; last year we were in the last (pink) wave and Manchester seemed packed at the later time, this time with us being in the early (white) wave Manchester seemed eerily empty. We went down to the start, got some free isotonic drinks and waited. The bit before the start is a bit rubbish, you just want to turn up and run really and you always get too cold waiting around in your shorts before the run, and if you take a fleece or a coat or something then you will be lumbered with carrying it for the run, which will be a bit of a pain. What they are now doing is encouraging you to take your old jumble clothes to keep you warm before the race and discard them on the side of the street to be collected by the scouts for charity when the race starts. Which sounds like a good idea, if only we had known ;-)

Anyway, after huddling up with the other runners trying to get warm like penguins in the Antarctic, we were off. R soon peeled away from me; I think I stayed with her for the first 1KM, but my chest was giving me jip so I basically eased off and ran at my own pace, which generally involved running for 10 minutes, then getting out of breath and walking for a bit, then starting again. If only I could figure out a way to run without stopping, I'd be sorted! Anyway, before I knew it, I had gone past the first 5K; halfway, and then the real work starts! Unfortunately, my muscles started to ache, and I started to feel a bit low on energy...but I basically gritted my teeth and slogged my way to the finish, thankfully my chest had more or less been sorted itself out by then after the first half of coughing, so I could concentrate on trying to ignore my aching legs.

When I got to the final 500M, I actually really wanted to stop and take a breath before a sprint finish, but by that time there were crowds all around watching and cheering as the runners came to the finish, so I then pushed myself through a horrible bit where my lungs, heart and stomach felt like they were all thumping in unison, screaming for me to stop, and I wanted to puke! There was a guy with a mike on the finish line, I kept thinking "don't talk to me, I feel like I'm going to throw up...." Thankfully he ignored me. If it seems like I'm moaning, I'm not; It was a slog, but at the same time it was a great experience, and the crowds were wonderful, always doing their best to cheer us on...if my body holds up, I'll be back next year :-)

For the last week before the 10K I had been feeling a bit poo because a cold / sore throat I'd caught from Abby/Oscar had moved onto my chest and it was making me produce loads more mucus at night; this is always a big pointer for me when my LF starts to slip, when I produce so much mucus that it builds up during the night and interrupts my sleep by making me cough. When I'm on top of my health I don't produce enough in the night to wake me up. Anyway, I had kept up with a little bit of running just to keep me ticking over and I'd even cheated by injecting some left over Ceftazadine for a 4 day period, just to try and keep the mucus at bay really. Thankfully my chest seems to be a lot better since the run. Although at the outpatients on Wednesday my FEV1 was an average 2.675 / 3.8; so I am on 2 weeks oral antibiotics Ciprofloxacin and Augmentin, and we'll see how it goes.