March-ing on!

This weather we are having is definitely not condusive to training using a wheelchair. For so many put there, myself included, the cold and for me, especially the low cloud, is a trigger for my nerve and crps pain. So, at the moment, I’m waking up 10 + times a night to get heat packs and take painkillers. Not ideal! The nerve pain I had surgery for post London Marathon is in full swing as well. It kind of feels like a knife stabbing you, which then sets off the crps. So things are a little tricky. The fibro is also acting up at the moment. The pain side of this isn’t a huge bother because the crps pain is so extreme that it kind of masks it (little win there!). But I di get the lethargy, migranes and insomnia. So, in short, training for an endurance event is tough. But I don’t give up easily. So it’s about training on days I can. I know when the weather improves, then my condition will improve with it. So I look forward to that 🙂

Otherwise, things are plodding along. I had a bout of a few donations to my JustGiving page for the Aaron Lewis foundation, but these have tapered off again. So I’m working hard every day I can, plugging away about the event. So, in case you don’t know, on the 21st of August, I will be attempting to become the 1st female to travel the greatest distance in 12 hours using a standard non-sport wheelchair. I will be doing this at Exeter Arena. It is not going to be easy. Have you ever tried wheeling in a standard wheelchair? It’s hard in comparison to the sports versions, who are lightweight and aerodynamic and made for speed and endurance. Your everyday non-sport wheelchair is not! But what would be the point making things easier for myself and doing things an easy way? No one would sponsor me for that! On that subject, there is something I’ve noticed in the media. There is a huge disparity between the nationals putting out stories of men vs. women. I have followed some extraordinary women for years who are doing amazing things, and for some reason, they never make it onto the main news. Yet any male who does anything seems to get there fine. Don’t believe me? Look back at the stories. It is not due to a lack of participation.

Anyway, I’m still plodding along. 3 marathons since Christmas using my everyday non-sport wheelchair (in training). With training ramping up at the end of March, I can only hope the weather behaves 🙏 But if it doesn’t, I will carry on regardless.

I have had some amazing support from well wishers as I’m out and about training. It really is amazing to me that anyone knows who I am at all. 😊 I’m just a person who found themselves with a few chronic pain conditions, who still wants to keep exercising. So why not do it for some wonderful charities?

So, back to training. Prep today for a marathon tomorrow. Cross fingers that there will be no rain and minimal head wind 🙏

21st August 2023

The date is set. This is the date where I will be attempting another world record. I am hoping to become the 1st female to complete a 12 hour continuous wheel using my everyday non-sport wheelchair. The actual record (pending Guiness approval) will be the furthest distance traveled in 12 hours in a manual wheelchair (female). I am also hoping to beat the male record, if I can! To do this I will have to travel more than 87.5 miles. Not easy! But in my typical fashion, I will give it my all. What is the point in doing something that is easy? If it was easy, it wouldn’t be a new world record!

So I have been training since I recovered from surgery. I manged my 1st marathon just before Christmas. Which was just a month after leaving hospital, following 3 surgeries and 2 infections, totalling a month stay! So I was pleased with that. It wasn’t fast. But that isn’t what it is about at the moment. It’s about time in the seat!

So, 2 days ago I completed my 1st marathon this year, which I was super happy with. Unfortunately as keeps happening, my strava went a bit doolally. I did my usual marathon route. One I’ve completed 4 times now, but for some reason it diddnt count the whole way. The segments are way off as well. But rather than accept what is said which was 37km, and know I’d done the marathon, I kept going until it said that all important 42km. So I actually think I did 55km in total! I’m sure that anyone who has strava knows that feeling! Circling a carpark for a few yards just to make it to the number you wanted?!

So marathon complete. I had hoped this would be the bump in confidence I need. It has helped. But apparently I’m suffering from the same thing all athletes suffer when you achieve what you set out to do! A post achievement lul! I set my 2 world records last year, which I was desperate to achieve. Plus the 7 events and 13 virtual events. Now the records are on the wall, it feel like I’ve never done them at all!

How does one go about getting back the mojo? I have no idea.. but i have the desire to try, and that is the most important thing. I really want to make this 12 hour continuous wheel. I will be the 1st recorded female ever to do a something else. In the big plan, there are so many more of these. But I have to learn to pace myself and not stress about having time off!

So, what do I do when I’m not wheeling? Well, most of my time at the moment is taken up attempting to get sponsors. To get backing and to raise funds for the amazing charity I am hoping to raise money for this year, the Aaron Lewis foundation 🙏. They are am awesome charity who help veterans like me get back into sport. They have made it possible for me to complete my Triathlons by purchasing a handbike for me. They also keep in regular contact with me. They are amazing. I just hope I can give something back to them. People keep saying that I should give to one of the bigger charities. I’d get more notariety that way, but that’s not what it’s about. It’s about important charities. It’s about showing what can be done with the equipment you have. So you don’t have a sport wheelchair, but you can still do a 5k, or more in the chair that you have.

So that’s it for now. Today I have the pleasure of feeling sick all day, after having my every 3 day lot of lactulose! Yum! Then tomorrow I hope to be at the gym, depending on how my shoulders are healing from Sundays jaunt!

Event 4! Kempton Park

So, it has been a while since my last update. I have been rather busy. Training and preparing, so these next two updates will be in quick succession as I have so much to update. Let’s begin with my 4th event, which I finally managed, post covid. It took a while to get over covid, as I’m sure so many people can testify to. It really isn’t very nice. But after 10 days I managed to get back out there training. I had booked in kempton park as a precaution, as my other fall back was demoted to a 10km due to excessive heat. So it was the 3rd race I had booked to attempt to forfill my 4th event.

We made it to London the day before. I must say, I was feeling less that alright. Suffering with a Fibro flare, which for me means lethargy, migrane, muscle aiches and pains, and nausea. But stubbornness kicks in. We went out for some pasta the night before for some good fueling. I am very allergic to Gluten. Not only am I suspected as having coeliac disease (but can’t eat Gluten long enough to have a conclusive test), but if I eat it my whole body swells, and I feel very unwell. Unfortunately there was a mix up at the restaurant, and my wife and I ordered the same dish. I ended up being given the one with Gluten. Well, the next morning I awoke twice my size. Not only that but the fibro flare was still in full swing. But we had travelled all that way, I wasn’t going to let myself or anyone else down. So I just got on with it.

So the other difficultie of the day was set to be the temperature. I knew it was going to be hot, and I always find training tricky in intense heat. But it reached 36 degrees! I had to stop a few times to throw water over my head. The course itself was flat ish, as stated. But being a horse racing circuit, had periods of 50 metres and 150 metres of what I can only describe as a peet like substance, which I had to negotiate 8 times. It was like wheeling on dry sand. It stopped me dead and sapped every bit of strength I had. But I wasn’t going to not finish. So I carried on, and on and on… All 4 laps. I finally came over the finish line at 2:30:45. Actually just missing the world record by 45 seconds. Fortunately it was not the official attempt.

It was a good event. Very exhausting. The toilets were very far from the start, and there were none on route, so I spent the whole way around with a full bladder! A but uncomfortable, but the people were nice and friendly. So post event, I unfortunately suffered with 2 days of heat stroke. I have never had this before. Not even when I worked in places like the Carribean or Bahamas. Needless to say, I was rather poorly. But glad I had finished the hardest event so far, and it seemed like the run of bad luck was over…. I was wrong.

After recovering, my footplate broke again. I called Invacare as always, who are responsible for wheelchair maintenance. Unfortunately the woman I dealt with was, I’m guessing having a bad month. She was very uncaring, to put it mildly. I eneded up with 17 days in total waiting for a footplate. Being told engineers would be coming out, so having to not train on those days, then they wouldn’t turn up. Being shouted at down the phone. It was truly despicable. By the time one eventually arrived, I had had to purchase one of my own, which was super heavy at 5kg, and was over £250 out of pocket. A footplate for me is not just somewhere I pop muly remaining foot, but it is where my stump board attaches. I cannot have my stump dangling at all or it sets off a crps flare. So needless to say, I suffered alot of flares, and considerable extra pain because of this. I had a footplate break in the past, and a man and replacement came out that very day! But not that time. But anyway, it worked out in the end as you will soon learn with my next post. Plus that big sponsor I said about… I am now very proud to be sponsored by Cartridges Law. A local law firm, who are incredible. They have been absolutely wonderful getting my challenges out there, and we have lots of plans in the coming months to do more.