Race Report: Sierre-Zinal
“So in true me style I turned it into a mental game. I imagined myself as a water droplet flowing down the trail, while keeping my breathing at a 4 steps in/4 steps out rhythm. I kept this mindful breathing going for the next 13km, happy to find myself still passing people on the downhill as I ‘flowed’ along. It seemed to be working, although my breathing sounded ragged I could control it and as long as I could control it I felt safe to continue. I told myself I would just continue this until the finish line to be safe…. Then, I saw the 3km to go marker.”
Race Report: Dolomyths Skyrace
For me, Dolomyths Run was all about pushing my limits and running a race I was proud of. After the race I had for Marathon Du Mont Blanc, I had my mind set on forgetting all kinds of race plan, going hard from the start, and just seeing where that got me. The blessing of the struggles I had experienced so far on the trip was that this time around, I really was able to forget about everyone around me and what anyone else would think. I was there to give my best, no matter what that looked like, and if I crossed the line knowing I had done that then I really didn’t care about anything else.
Race Report: Marathon du Mont Blanc
I turned the rest of the race into a game. As with any pain, the less you mentally focus on it the less it screams, so I focused on the person in front of me and would try to challenge myself to catch them in a certain number of minutes. There were no females around, I hadn’t been passed by or seen anyone in around 2 hours by this stage, but there were men near me that became my targets.
My Marathon Journey
The idea of running a marathon was a huge part of what got me into running. It is the first distance I 'trained' (loosely at least) for, and ever since crossing the line of my first one in 2015 I have been enthralled by the beauty of it. I ran my first one almost entirely with my head, just to prove to myself I could.