During a sociable 10k run over the summer, with an impressive gentleman who has high mileage and several ultra-events under his belt he described his jealousy that within a few months I would be experiencing the indescribable feeling of completing my first marathon.
He explained there is nothing quite like it and he has been chasing recapturing the high ever since. Fast forward five months and I am now an official marathon “finisher” having followed my training plan and completed Beachy Head Marathon on Saturday October 23rd. I have a definite sense of achievement, it is after all 26.2 miles along one of the widely recognised most gruelling marathon routes in the UK. However I am yet to feel the buzz.
My personal running journey started eight years ago when I was cajoled by friends into entering the Bookham 10k, an event that starts by singing the National Anthem and encourages hundreds of locals to scamper, slip and splash along the wintery muddy puddles of the February trails around Norbury and Ranmore.
When I saw a post on social media approximately one year later from a mum at school looking for a running buddy I responded with interest. I had enjoyed the scramble in the hills and was now looking for a way to build my fitness back up from my third pregnancy and to return to playing netball, without paying for gym membership or fitness classes that I could not attend with my two other kids in tow. Several other local ladies had similar ideas and an early version of Bookham Running Group was established. Through this informal and friendly Facebook group we arranged to meet for our runs. For anyone struggling with apprehension or motivation to get out the door for those first attempts joining a running group or arranging to meet a friend to do it with is a useful way to avoid putting it off. There are always several excuses why not to run at that moment, but there are always hundreds of reasons why you will be so glad that you did.
My growing appreciation for the power of running coincided with an increase in runners coming into the multi-healthcare clinic that I worked at on Bookham High Street.
I am a physiotherapist. I am in the minority of people who knew at a young age what I wanted to be and have never looked back. It is a great career, and I am hugely thankful for the opportunities I have had during my 20 years’ experience. I worked for five years across different disciplines in the NHS and have never known a more cohesive team spirit and camaraderie than those formative years in my training. I then worked in New Zealand and still miss it 12 years on! I have been able to balance being a musculoskeletal physiotherapist working in private practice with motherhood, which has its juggles but the benefits generally outweigh the chaos!
Two years ago, I set up my own clinic specialising in runners, Keep On Running Surrey. It is an amalgamation of my own running journey and my clinical interest in running related injuries. I wanted to offer more, and I now have a clinic space where I can help clients overcome injury and achieve their running goals pain free without having to stop running.
I achieve this through creating a personalised action plan including advice, strategies and targeted rehab based on my comprehensive physiotherapy assessment, running gait analysis using video footage on the treadmill and, where required, manual therapy treatment, dry needling and taping.
For many runners the words they fear most from a medical practitioner is to stop running. I empathise with people who persevere beyond those first few uncomfortable attempts to find that a run can become so much more than just a run, only to develop pain and be told to stop. For my husband and I our Beachy Head Marathon campaign was indeed so much more than a run and I am reflective on why the post-race buzz is elusive.
Eight years ago I was happily converted to the benefits of introducing regular running in to my life. The positive cardiovascular (heart and lungs) fitness response is well documented as well as the musculoskeletal advantages. It builds stronger muscles, improves joint range of movement, boosts bone density and it has been shown to trigger positive changes in the cartilage as it keeps joints lubricated and stimulates new cartilage growth. This is contrary to the outdated belief that the impact damages cartilage.
There is also a growing body of scientific literature helping us understand why there are benefits for our mental health and well-being too. We know that activity stimulates endorphins and serotonin which are our body’s own ‘feel good factors’. It explains why we might start a run feeling irritable and fed up but often finish it relaxed yet energised. Not forgetting feeling smug too, that sense of satisfaction and achievement is addictive and helps with self-confidence and self-esteem that we might struggle with in other areas. The time away; the headspace, that running affords contributes to the evidence that it helps us cope with other life or work stress. Recent studies have also shown it may help us process emotions due to its influence on nerve connections in the brain. It is not fully understood but the areas of research are exciting. There is also a rhythmic element to running that can be therapeutic. The structure and discipline of committing to training or to your running buddy enhances self-care and the community and social network that you become part of is a recognised factor in battling the isolation and anxiety associated with mental health. Running with a friend in the beautiful Surrey Hills can be the perfect opportunity to ask, “are you really ok?”
October is Mental Health Awareness Month so for my husband and I the Beachy Head Marathon event on 23rd October was timely. We were running in memory of one of our dearest friends, Caroline, who took her own life at Beachy Head in September 2020. We are fundraising for Bipolar UK and the Beachy Head Chaplaincy Team and to date have raised over £7800 through sponsorship. In the grips of her own sadness Caroline’s 10-year-old daughter (my goddaughter) expressed a desire to help others who may be going through similar turmoil to what her mother experienced and these two charities were the ones the family chose to support.
Bipolar is one of the biggest mental health challenges with 1.3 million people in the UK diagnosed with it, although it takes on average 9 years to get a correct diagnosis, and even then, according to Bipolar UK, 60% of sufferers do not receive treatment or support. Their mission is to empower everyone affected by bipolar to live well and to fulfil their potential. Caroline certainly lived life to the full but devastatingly, living with bipolar increases the risk of suicide by 20 times. Caroline did have the specialist treatment and support, and she was brave and wonderful in the face of each challenge. Yet still the burden proved terminal which indicates just how difficult, at times debilitating, exhausting, scary and confusing living with bipolar must be.
A kind and compassionate team of volunteers from the Beachy Head Chaplaincy Team patrol the cliff edge every day responding to emergency calls, locating people at risk and seeking to save lives through crisis intervention. Last year they were able to intervene with 600 individuals in distress, but they are also involved in body retrieval and supporting the loved ones of those for whom ending their own life, at Beachy Head, felt like their only solution. During our marathon my husband and I saw two of the team patrolling so we took a small detour to express our gratitude for their invaluable work.
Perhaps it was unrealistic to expect to feel the buzz from such an emotive run, that was so much more than just a run. I have a deep sense of pride for what we did together; our social media posts will have triggered conversations and awareness around the complicated, misunderstood and under resourced domain of bipolar; they have certainly triggered overwhelming generosity in Caroline’s memory. I have heartfelt gratitude for the friends and family that supported us during the arduous training and along the route, including Caroline’s heavily pregnant sister who met us at mile 24 at the cliff edge. I am though unable to shift the sadness, so I shall hang my finisher’s medal with pride in my clinic and it shall always make me smile remembering Caroline’s strength, mischievous laughter and zest for life. It seems I will however need to attempt another marathon to capture that indescribable high.
If you would like to donate to Bipolar UK or Beachy Head Chaplaincy Team via James and Pippin’s marathon fundraising the link shall be live until the end of November 2021 https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JamesandPippinHackett
Beachy Head Chaplaincy Team https://bhct.org.uk/
Bipolar UK https://www.bipolaruk.org/
If you have any questions regarding running contact Pippin at pippin@keeponrunningsurrey.com or follow the link to book an appointment directly https://sif.health/business/profile/keep-on-running-surrey
