Brighton Marathon Blog Hello fellow Extenders.
My name is Carol Woodford and you may have heard that next April I’m running the Brighton Marathon to raise money for Extend.
I have been an Extend teacher for just over a year having qualified in June 2010. I started teaching in September 2010 and now have three regular classes one of which is an open one and I regularly cover for other teachers’ . I was previously a Civil Servant for many years and worked in Cardiff, Newport, Gloucester and Bristol. I was lucky enough to be just old enough to qualify for early retirement in December 2009. Extend has therefore become my new career so to speak and it is a very rewarding one.
I have been running regularly for three years and the Brighton marathon will be my fourth marathon. I started running to combat the problems associated with the menopause and when I was found to have high cholesterol, prior to that I had done the occasional Race for Life but nothing regular. My main exercise prior to this was dancing. I found running to be great for relieving stress especially after a day’s work spent talking to customers and doing other energy sapping tasks that my previous job entailed. I struggled a bit in the beginning and would often return home with my face a lovely shade of purple after my exertions. I joined a running club in October 2008 and started taking part in the evening group runs and enjoyed meeting new people who were supportive and encouraging. They used to make fun of me for turning up on a cold winters evening in a short sleeved cotton t shirt but as I said I used to get so hot and bothered when I first started! The club nicknamed me “Smiler”.
When I heard about my retirement I thought great now’s my chance to complete another marathon after a twenty eight year gap (my first was way back in 1982!) and I would have no excuse not to have time to train. Foolishly though, I chose to enter one that took place in April 2010 and didn’t really give myself time to train properly. I did complete that marathon but was disappointed as I went off course and blew a gasket at 22 miles ending up at the finish sick and in floods of tears! I was finding that being retired I preferred to run in the daylight hours rather than in the dark and cold so the winter of 2010/2011 saw me doing my running training alone without the club. I also started doing park runs in Cardiff as well as volunteering which put me in contact with other runners instead. I managed to keep running despite the snow and cold weather and tried to only enter events where the scenery was good or if it was a race I’d always wanted to do. My regular Extend classes were making me fitter and I was incorporating specific running exercises in my daily routine alongside lots of yoga so I was getting leaner and stronger.
Having failed to get a London Marathon place in the ballot or a club place I looked around for a suitable marathon for 2011 as I wanted to do one again with proper preparation. I noticed an advert in an Extend newsletter for the Brighton marathon for 2012 so sent off an application. I gave myself more time and build up and entered the Snowdon marathon which took place last October . I had always watched the coverage of this race on the television and had been inspired by runners from the club talking about the extreme weather and terrain. I thought this would be the ideal challenge! I sent off my entry early in 2011 and built my racing and training calendar around this race.
I enjoyed running around some hilly circuits close to my home as preparation and managed to improve my times in a few events so my morale was getting good. I completed a twenty mile training run without too much difficulty and actually started to feel like a runner rather than a plodder.
The month before Snowdon I found out that I had got a place in the Brighton Marathon for Extend and had also got a ballot place for London 2012! The marathons are only a week apart so I was put in a panic about what to do. To attempt the two would be a challenge but I’m not Eddie Izzard and don’t want to put my body under too much pressure I have to think of my Extend classes! I decided to take up the Brighton place and do all I can to raise funds for Extend.
Snowdon went well, despite the horrendous weather I managed to complete it in under five hours and crossed the finish line with a smile rather than tears and with no sickness or toilet trouble either! The fact that I couldn’t take off my soaking wet shorts for about an hour due to really bad cramp still didn’t wipe the smile off my face. I had achieved my objectives and had even improved my time from the year before. Now I can focus on Brighton 2012 and try to do even better as well as thinking of every opportunity to raise both funds and awareness of Extend.
I haven’t started a training plan yet as I’m making sure that I’m fully recovered first but I am excited by the prospect of a new challenge as well as looking forward to spending time in Brighton again.
I was there back in 1990 for an Open University Summer school and also had an enjoyable weekend there in 1997. Will be updating you soon on my training and fund raising efforts. Please support me any way you can.
