What next I hear you say? Well, to be honest after by better half's story (see below) we haven't been running as much as we should since the half-marathon. I think we are enjoying running just for the enjoyment as of now instead of having the idea of it being 'training'. It also means we are open to doing some other fun things like swimming or heading to the gym and mixing it up a little.
Me and Josh are hugee dreamers and go-getters and have zillions of to-do lists and things we want to tick off in the next coming months - some relating to running/marathons, mostly not.
At the moment its all a lot of scribbles on a lot of papers, but soon it all be happening and we cannot wait!
Exciting times ahead... Watch this little (blog) space!
Sunday 21 April 2013
Sunday 7 April 2013
Thursday 4 April 2013
£630
Thank you SO SO much to everyone who sponsored us, we smashed our target of £500 and raised £630 for NACC at the Fleet Half Marathon. I know it's been a while so I guess it's time for an update...
Well we did it! 13.1 miles covered in 2 hours 50 minutes (ish)! But that alone tells little of the whole story...
First off - it was a HORRIBLE day! The rain was coming down as we walked up to the starting line - a nice, brisk mile walk from my house which acted as a nice warm up, or it would have had it not also been so darn cold! The scent of petrichor was in the air. We got to the starting line a little before the race was due to begin and as few people were about, took up a spot in a nice little area with my Father (who finished in 1:36 - unbelievable!). As time went by things got more and more crowded and after a look around we realised we were stood under a sign which said something along the lines of "stand here if you're aiming to finish in around 1:30", we quickly said goodbye to Dad and made our way backwards, waaaay backwards.
We took up our position near the 2 hour banner and bumped into a few friends we knew who were also running. The butterflies started to kick in and the tension built, all around us people were stretching and jumping around, some just to keep warm, some out of nervous anxiety to just get going. We soon started to see runners at the front moving forwards, then we were off!
I haven't run a great deal of races, but one thing I'd been told a lot was to not get carried away by the crowds and set off too quickly, just run your own race I was told. I knew my pace and had my game plan but was astounded to realise just how many people were passing us - already! Still, we were dead on 10 minute mile-ing and soon (about 30 minutes actually), the first 3 miles were down, this is where our problems started.
As you all know we were running for NACC (the National Association for Chrohn's and Colitis UK) as I have colitis and Georgie has Chron's. Sadly, after 3 miles, Georgie started getting stomach pains. At first she thought it was a stitch and tried to run through it, but after a while it was obvious that this was more than that. When Georgie first fell ill a doctor tried to explain the pain she was experiencing to her family by likening the stomach cramps to those experienced when you get food poisoning. If you've had food poisoning before then I hope you'll appreciate what she was going through.
We started jogging for a while and then walking for a while. I soon realised that our aim of finishing with a decent time had changed to simply finishing and as if to help matters, the rain just kept coming down. Georgie was struggling but she pushed herself so much to keep going and I was overwhelmed with pride to see just how much this cause meant to her, stewards offered her help, she denied. It was abundantly clear that Georgie planned on finishing this race. She wasn't going to let her illness get the better of her and I believe the courage and determination shown in that is hugely admirable. Every single step that was being taken took a big effort and I was hugely worried for her, but this meant so much to her that I wasn't about to tell her to stop! Besides, I think the knowledge that she can overcome her illness could be a hugely powerful thing for her. That girl can do anything she puts her mind to and I wondered if maybe this could help her realise that.
I could feel her anxiety growing. As she battled against herself it was easy to see how badly she wanted to run the entirety of the race but it seemed her body was against her. We'd covered most of the distance when we ran in training - I guess in all sport it comes down to how you feel on the day, but she kept going. She kept soldiering on.
A HUGE thanks has to be mentioned at this point to the chaps who were running for the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice in Farnham, they were such a great support along the way and some of the genuinely nicest guys. Thank you so much. One of them, who I regret to inform you I did not catch the name of, was running with a (full) barrel of beer on his back. He told us of how last year he had run to Poland for charity and had done so using a method called six-sixes. It's pretty simple, you only count on your left leg and you count every time your left foot hits the floor, count six walking, then six running.
"1.....2.....3....4....5....6....1....2....3....4....5...6".
I couldn't tell you how many times I uttered those numbers over the next few miles, urging Georgie on. She was so fantastic.
We made it to 10 miles pretty much doing just this, a few times we had to walk a bit more and a few times Georgie made us do twelve-sixes, but by sheer willpower we got to ten miles, by which time the tank was all but empty (sadly, by this I mean the metaphorical tank and not the one that was full of beer and being carried by our newly acquainted friend!). We walked almost all of the rest of the race. Unable to accept the Mars bars stewards offered along the way for fear they'd make her sick, we had little choice but to walk, I believe this is what they call "running on empty". As we left the countryside and came back towards the crowds we were pushed to run by spectators,
"Go on! You're nearly there! RUN!" one young chap said, rattling the tip of his umbrella on the floor during a momentary respite from the rain, but it didn't bother us. One lady cheered us particularly loudly,
"My niece has Chrohn's disease! Keep going!"
It resonated. Stirred by the reminder of why she was doing this, strength was mustered to run the last few hundred metres - the most admirable and courageous sprint finish I think I've ever seen. With just one corner left to turn before the finish line was in sight we saw Georgie's Mother, Sheela, standing by the side of the road cheering us both on. The time it had taken us to get around the course had clearly worried her and she soon figured something was up. Unable to deny her maternal instincts, she made her way towards us. A quick embrace between mother and daughter was duly halted,
"I've got to finish, I've GOT to finish!"
I'm so proud to say she did.
Well we did it! 13.1 miles covered in 2 hours 50 minutes (ish)! But that alone tells little of the whole story...
First off - it was a HORRIBLE day! The rain was coming down as we walked up to the starting line - a nice, brisk mile walk from my house which acted as a nice warm up, or it would have had it not also been so darn cold! The scent of petrichor was in the air. We got to the starting line a little before the race was due to begin and as few people were about, took up a spot in a nice little area with my Father (who finished in 1:36 - unbelievable!). As time went by things got more and more crowded and after a look around we realised we were stood under a sign which said something along the lines of "stand here if you're aiming to finish in around 1:30", we quickly said goodbye to Dad and made our way backwards, waaaay backwards.
We took up our position near the 2 hour banner and bumped into a few friends we knew who were also running. The butterflies started to kick in and the tension built, all around us people were stretching and jumping around, some just to keep warm, some out of nervous anxiety to just get going. We soon started to see runners at the front moving forwards, then we were off!
I haven't run a great deal of races, but one thing I'd been told a lot was to not get carried away by the crowds and set off too quickly, just run your own race I was told. I knew my pace and had my game plan but was astounded to realise just how many people were passing us - already! Still, we were dead on 10 minute mile-ing and soon (about 30 minutes actually), the first 3 miles were down, this is where our problems started.
As you all know we were running for NACC (the National Association for Chrohn's and Colitis UK) as I have colitis and Georgie has Chron's. Sadly, after 3 miles, Georgie started getting stomach pains. At first she thought it was a stitch and tried to run through it, but after a while it was obvious that this was more than that. When Georgie first fell ill a doctor tried to explain the pain she was experiencing to her family by likening the stomach cramps to those experienced when you get food poisoning. If you've had food poisoning before then I hope you'll appreciate what she was going through.
We started jogging for a while and then walking for a while. I soon realised that our aim of finishing with a decent time had changed to simply finishing and as if to help matters, the rain just kept coming down. Georgie was struggling but she pushed herself so much to keep going and I was overwhelmed with pride to see just how much this cause meant to her, stewards offered her help, she denied. It was abundantly clear that Georgie planned on finishing this race. She wasn't going to let her illness get the better of her and I believe the courage and determination shown in that is hugely admirable. Every single step that was being taken took a big effort and I was hugely worried for her, but this meant so much to her that I wasn't about to tell her to stop! Besides, I think the knowledge that she can overcome her illness could be a hugely powerful thing for her. That girl can do anything she puts her mind to and I wondered if maybe this could help her realise that.
I could feel her anxiety growing. As she battled against herself it was easy to see how badly she wanted to run the entirety of the race but it seemed her body was against her. We'd covered most of the distance when we ran in training - I guess in all sport it comes down to how you feel on the day, but she kept going. She kept soldiering on.
A HUGE thanks has to be mentioned at this point to the chaps who were running for the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice in Farnham, they were such a great support along the way and some of the genuinely nicest guys. Thank you so much. One of them, who I regret to inform you I did not catch the name of, was running with a (full) barrel of beer on his back. He told us of how last year he had run to Poland for charity and had done so using a method called six-sixes. It's pretty simple, you only count on your left leg and you count every time your left foot hits the floor, count six walking, then six running.
"1.....2.....3....4....5....6....1....2....3....4....5...6".
I couldn't tell you how many times I uttered those numbers over the next few miles, urging Georgie on. She was so fantastic.
We made it to 10 miles pretty much doing just this, a few times we had to walk a bit more and a few times Georgie made us do twelve-sixes, but by sheer willpower we got to ten miles, by which time the tank was all but empty (sadly, by this I mean the metaphorical tank and not the one that was full of beer and being carried by our newly acquainted friend!). We walked almost all of the rest of the race. Unable to accept the Mars bars stewards offered along the way for fear they'd make her sick, we had little choice but to walk, I believe this is what they call "running on empty". As we left the countryside and came back towards the crowds we were pushed to run by spectators,
"Go on! You're nearly there! RUN!" one young chap said, rattling the tip of his umbrella on the floor during a momentary respite from the rain, but it didn't bother us. One lady cheered us particularly loudly,
"My niece has Chrohn's disease! Keep going!"
It resonated. Stirred by the reminder of why she was doing this, strength was mustered to run the last few hundred metres - the most admirable and courageous sprint finish I think I've ever seen. With just one corner left to turn before the finish line was in sight we saw Georgie's Mother, Sheela, standing by the side of the road cheering us both on. The time it had taken us to get around the course had clearly worried her and she soon figured something was up. Unable to deny her maternal instincts, she made her way towards us. A quick embrace between mother and daughter was duly halted,
"I've got to finish, I've GOT to finish!"
I'm so proud to say she did.
Sunday 10 March 2013
One week today..
The nerves are kicking in.. eeeekk!
If you haven't already - Please sponsor us and help us reach our target.
Thankyou.
http://www.justgiving.com/JoshuaGeorgie
Tuesday 12 February 2013
IBD & Me: Josh
According to Wikipedia: Ulcerative colitis can occur in 1 to 20 cases per 100,000 individuals per year.
If you haven't already
seen, ulcerative colitis has also been in the news quite a bit lately.
Manchester United and
Scotland midfielder Darren Fletcher has had the illness for some time, missing
much of last season as well as only making limited appearances for his club
this season.
Ulcerative colitis is what I suffer from. In truth I don't like to say that I suffer from it, but it is an illness that I have and will most likely have for the rest of my days.
At the moment I take about 4 tablets called Mezavant per day. This is more tablets than I have done in the past, the reason for this being that I am particularly keen to get my stomach under a definitive control as it hasn't been too good for a couple of years.
While I was studying at University I let taking my tablets get out of hand, I would swing from going without them for months to taking them out of necessity because of the discomfort or pain I was feeling. Living the 'student lifestyle' didn't do me any favours either and left me hugely run down at times. I would sometimes have to spend entire days in bed out of exhaustion with my illness and lifestyle and would be ridiculed behind my back for it by housemates who didn't know any better.
I find that it is this exhaustion that I find most difficult to deal with and something that I struggle against on an almost daily basis. On a personal level, my main hope out of running this half-marathon is that I can gain a good base of fitness that will help counter balance this and leave me feeling fresher. Otherwise, there really isn't much to tell about my illness, the occasional stomach cramp aside, nothing else particularly bothers me about it, I am what I am and I try to live my life as I would if it wasn't there.
I was diagnosed back in 2005, around the time of my GCSE exams. At the time I was being told by doctors that the pain and discomfort I was feeling was due to 'exam nerves'. This really wound me up as anyone who's ever met me could explain, I just don't get wound up about these things and it took forever to get a proper diagnosis. It took a particularly bad turn, where I lost a lot of weight and couldn't get out of bed for my Mum to take me in to hospital and demand they do something. An emergency biopsy later and I had some tablets that could help ease the discomfort.
After a round of steroids I was pretty much back to normal and have coped quite well with my illness since. I soon put back on the weight I had lost and carried on living.
I have been inspired by knowing that one of my personal heroes, Sir Steve Redgrave, also has the illness - seeing what he's achieved shows it should be no barrier to success.
What troubles me is that there is no known cause to the illness, personality traits and ethnicity are among a few of the things believed to be contributory factors, but it's made eradicating the illness completely just about impossible at the moment. If I could help raise money that would help find out what causes the illness and helps find a cure, well that would be just fine by me.
I'm no fitness freak, sure I used to do a lot of exercise, but as I said before - 'University life' took it's toll. I'm not particularly fit but I do eat well. If I can bring my body up to a level where I can plod through 13.1 miles, please give what you can in support! Thanks.
http://www.justgiving.com/JoshuaGeorgie
Sunday 20 January 2013
Up to speed
Hello, Georgie here!
I thought on this snowy Sunday I'd update you on our training regime for our half-marathon so far whilst also offering a little bit of background info on us while I'm sipping on a cuppa after making a pretty sweet snowman (it's not running weather so I had to do something to burn off some energy!)
Me and Josh have always been pretty keen to run a marathon. Josh's family are keen runners with a few marathons and half marathons under their belts and I've always wanted to challenge myself in a sporty way, so this seemed a good idea.
Keeping fit has always been tough for us having our illnesses. We love the idea of exercising regularly and eating healthily (although sometimes we have the odd naughty treat) but our bodies find it hard to cope with the strenuousness of regular exercise due to the fact that our immune systems are constantly battling with our illnesses - so much so that we tend to only be able to do a certain amout of exercise. This is frustrating but also a reason we decided to take part in this run as although it's tough for us to take part in a lot of fitness training, it will also make our bodies stronger. So for us, this truly is a challenge.
Right now it's just as much about helping our bodies cope with the excerise as it is about training to run 21K and raise some money! Hopefully in the process of making ourselves fitter, we'll also make our bodies stronger and more able to cope with our illnesses, helping us overcome the difficulties we face because of them.
So with 54 days until the 'big run'.. what the heck have we been doing..?!
Good question..
Well, to put it simply.. we've been running!
We're currently running around 5/6 miles per run, running with Josh's dog (Doyle), around ponds, road running and also doing some other exercise. Josh is playing squash whilst I play netball and we also do fitness classes which helps us to bring our fitness levels up. We're also eating and cooking healthy meals (which you will see on our he/she cooks and she/he eats posts coming soon!)
So these next weeks few weeks shall see a big push to help bring our distance running up whilst also getting our diets under control and to a much healthier level. We will keep you updated..
Happy Sunday!
Georgie
http://www.justgiving.com/JoshuaGeorgie
Monday 7 January 2013
Twenty+Six
HELLO
This is Twenty plus Six. A blog set up by Georgina Marmoy and Joshua Smith.
We've set this blog up together, as a couple.
SO...
What's the story morning glory?
WELL...
We've been together for 4 years, 3 months, 28 days, 5 hours and 26 minutes.
We have also decided that 2013 is going to be our year, but the primary reason that we have set up this blog, for now, is to run alongside our little bid to earn a bit of money for charity, and have chosen NACC.
The reason for this is that we are both long time sufferers from different forms of the diseases that NACC help people deal with.
Georgina was diagnosed with Crohn's disease in 2010 but that's only half of it. Shortly after her initial diagnosis we awoke at 5am on a Saturday morning and had to rush to hospital. Something had set her stomach off particularly badly and so her small intestine and part of her stomach had to be removed. There was a genuine worry that she would have to spend Christmas in Hospital, but thankfully, a week later she was discharged and on the mend, though couldn't eat as much Turkey as she wanted to!
In 2005, whilst undergoing his GCSE exams, Joshua was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. This was combated with a mixture of steroids and other medicines aimed at reducing the inflammation. Currently, he takes four tablets a day to manage his illness and has learnt to live with it as much as one can hope to.
But that's the boring bit over. On 17th March 2013 we shall run 13.1 miles in the Fleet Half Marathon. All in aid of NACC.
We would love for you to join us, both physically (if you can make it) and on here. This blog will show our training, diet and feelings as we run our little butts off (or something like that!) as well as all the fun stuff that we do along the way.
For the ease of your viewing, from now on, Georgie shall write like this, while Josh will write like this.
Every post will also include a link to our JustGiving page. All we ask is that you give what you can.
Happy reading!
Josh and Georgie
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