My Marathon Mission Burned Me Out
The long road to recovery
Every runner knows the frustration of illness or injury putting them on the bench and halting their race dreams.
In 2019 I set myself the fairly decent goal of 4 full marathons for the year, alongside my full time role as a freelance content marketer. It was a busy time to say the least.
Marathons 1 and 2, Brighton and Richmond Park, went as well as any of my races ever go. Start line anxiety, diarrhea and vomiting are standard for me — and actually looking back, were probably a sign that my busy lifestyle was affecting my health. But of course, fueled with sugary gel and spurred on by the cheering crowd, I carried on with both.
By summer, after a couple of weeks of recovery from marathon number 2, I was to begin my summer training block for the 2 marathons I had scheduled for the autumn. Both again local to me in the UK, Bournemouth (which sadly no longer exists), and Richmond Runfest, which I was most excited about. Being a flat route along the River Thames, I was planning on going for a PB.
So my training plan was all laid out, as was my kit… but my legs and my lungs just wouldn’t play. I was exhausted. And not in a way that I could make any sense of.
