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  • TOK. 21 days to go. EXAMS. 3 days to go.

    Clinical Oncology is a specialty in the UK wherein as an Oncologist, you can prescribe systemic (chemotherapy, immunotherapy, etc) and prescribe radiotherapy. So you can do both. However, in order to be able to do both, one must sit 3 sets of exams and pass each set at a certain time point within training in order to progress to the next stages.

    There are FRCR Part 1, Part 2 (written), and Part 2 (oral). Currently, I am an ST4 (second year Clin Onc Trainee) and must pass FRCR Part 1 in order to progress to ST5. I sat this exam back in September. There were 4 modules (Cancer Biology, Pharmacology, Physics, and Medical Statistics). I passed the first 2 (barely) but failed Physics and Med Stats. And they are not easy exams.

    Sorry, what?

    I’ve never really been good at exam taking so I often have to retake some of my exams. I have accepted that they are just not my strong suit but I have to pass them to get through to the next level. Luckily in the UK, a pass is a pass.

    And it so happens that the exams are a few weeks before the Tokyo Marathon. This time, I can’t really defer the marathon further so I have to revise and train at the same time. Either I run before going to the library or I go to the gym after the library. Whilst working, it’s one or the other or waking up at 5 am. There isn’t a set schedule as days vary so much – clinic days, long day, David on long day, David on nights. On my study leave days, I have better chances of doing both. As long as I get to do the long run on the weekend as early as possible in the morning.

    Of course both activities are also time away from David and the kids. It does help that my mom is here visiting. So although erratic, I’ve still managed to get the miles down. But as usual, I could never follow an actual training plan. My logic is that well, if I am out running, I better just maximise my time and fit as many miles I possibly could.

    So here I am, 3 weeks out from the marathon and 3 days out from the exam. Doing both is complete madness!

    Last weekend’s long run

    2 weeks ago, I ran around Portsmouth. Last week, the stars aligned and I finally got to run around Langstone Harbour. I nearly missed the 9 am ferry that would take me across the harbour to Hayling Island. I literally was running down the pontoon screaming for them to wait. There were a couple of other runners there with the same idea. Then I ran along the Hayling Billy Trail.

    Goodbye Eastney!
    Hello Hayling Island!
    Hayling Billy Trail
    Out bright and early
    Defining moment…
    Mission accomplished
    Sunday Fun Run Day

    And as if by magic, it was low tide at the Southmoor Nature Reserve that I just managed to cross a small stream of water rather than backtracking. I was elated! It was pure joy and my favourite part of the whole run. At that point, I thought ‘Yes! I can do this! Finally!’ And I did.

  • TOK. 30 days to go. Kokkyo naki Kodomotachi.

    Tokyo Marathon

    A few years ago, when I started getting into running, I stumbled across the World Marathon Majors. Instantly, I thought ‘How cool!’ As I am not an athlete and definitely not fast enough, the only way I can get through would be through lottery or charity.

    Tokyo was the first marathon lottery I got into. However, I didn’t get to run it as I had failed one of my exams and was not in the right frame of mind to continue training for a race and also study harder to pass an exam. As that was around COVID time, there was an opportunity to defer the entry but annoyingly, I then also missed the deadline for the deferment due to the time zone difference and me just not paying attention. So rightly so, I lost My Entry completely.

    There were still 2 ways for me to enter – via the lottery again or via charity. The charity entry opens earlier than the lottery. Putting all the alerts on, I emailed one of the charities in Japan for a place and was granted one. In October, I officially paid my entry fee to the Tokyo Marathon 2025.

    Kokkyo naki Kodomachi (Children without Borders)

    Kokkyo naki Kodomotachi (KnK, Children without Borders) is a non-governmental humanitarian association based in Tokyo. They do a lot of work providing education and psycho-social support for disadvantaged children and youth around the world including the Philippines (which is also why I chose them). In the Philippines, they work with ‘street children,’ children who live in the slums in Manila.

    KnK’s complete and ongoing programs, including House for Youth and community-based programs such as the alternative learning system (non-formal education), “Street” programs, activities at the jails or detention centers for juveniles in the suburbs of Manila, and “Income Generating Activities” are all in favour of marginalized children, youth and other groups of population.

    Marathon Training + Exam Revision

    After the disaster that was the Portsmouth Coastal Marathon, of course I want to do better. Add to the mix that it is the winter time, I have decided to train on a treadmill to get some fitness back and run outside for my long runs. I was actually quite pleased that I could stay on the treadmill for an hour without stopping so that in itself was an accomplishment. As mentioned in my previous entry, I aim to run 100 miles a month. I clocked in at 113.7 miles (I actually was aiming for 120 but oh well).

    Add into the mix, I am also revising for an exam. For Clinical Oncology training, we have to pass a series of exams – FRCR Clinical Oncology Part 1+2. Last September, I took the Part 1 exam which includes 4 modules – Physics, Cancer Biology, Pharmacology, and Medical Statistics. I passed Cancer Biology and Pharmacology, I failed Physics and Medical Statistics. So on the 12th of February, I have to retake both.

    So as you can imagine, training for a marathon, revising for an exam, whilst having a full-time job, with 2 children. I myself don’t understand how I am still standing. But here we are and onwards we go.

    2025 Goals Round Up.

    1. Social – Blog twice a month (check). Write a letter to a friend once a month (check).
    2. Physical – Lose 7 kg in 8 weeks (Goal 50 kg). Maintain 50 kg. (Weighed in at 55.5 kg).
    3. Running – Run 100 miles a month (113.7 miles). Tokyo Marathon (4 hours 30 min). Edinburgh Marathon (4 hours 20 mins). The Great South Run. Portsmouth Coastal Marathon (4 hours 15 mins).

  • Overly enthusiastic for 2025…

    The beginning of each year always allows us to reflect on the past year, start start anew, and set goals for the coming year.

    For a quick reflection of my 2024 – specifically for running… well, I didn’t run enough. I clocked in at 451.5 running miles for the whole year. I signed up to Brighton Marathon and didn’t get to run it. We signed up to run the Great South Run but it got cancelled due to bad weather. I signed up to the Portsmouth Coastal Marathon, did not train well, and ran it in 5 hours 30 mins. I had no World Marathon Major to run. So overall, not a great year for running.

    So here we are… 2025. Almost the mid-way through January. I figured if I had set goals at the beginning of the year, I would be able to tell which ones would stick by the end of the month. Of course, I set many because one is never enough. As this is a (pseudo)social/personal running blog – I will share my Social, Physical, and Running goals for this year. Perhaps, at the end of each month, I can also reflect on whether these are progressing or not.

    1. Social – Blog twice a month. Write a letter to a friend once a month.
    2. Physical – Lose 7 kg in 8 weeks (Goal 50 kg). Maintain 50 kg.
    3. Running – Run 100 miles a month. Tokyo Marathon (4 hours 30 min). Edinburgh Marathon (4 hours 20 mins). The Great South Run. Portsmouth Coastal Marathon (4 hours 15 mins).

    Well, so far… I have blogged once (of 2), not written a letter yet. I think I am down to 55.something kg. And I have ran 89.9 miles so far.

    Also, this past weekend, I accomplished something I have always wanted to do since I started running in Portsmouth and that is… to run around the whole Portsea Island. Interestingly, on the Fastest Known Time website, the fastest unsupported female ran it in 2:58:51. Although it looks as though ran it 43 secs faster, I did stop the clock around Mountbatten to see the kids right after they were swimming. I was quite pleased about this.

  • Severely undertrained at the Portsmouth Coastal Marathon

    I knew it wasn’t going to be a defining race, it was going to be far from it. A week before the race, I predicted I was going be very slow as I had to get over a 2 week viral chest infection then add on the winter windy coastal weather. Excuses, right? But I knew it wasn’t happening. But I also did not want to lose my £53 and if anything, it will be my long run. So I woke up, dressed up, and showed up.

    The start line is 2 miles from my house but this time, I drove there (shamefully). The last time (2021), the walk home was worse than the run itself as it was winter cold on top of the post-race shivers. When I got there, it felt a bit more organised than what I remembered it to be. I got there at 730 for an 8 am start. After all the pre-race prep, it was to the Start Line, then we were off! There was a group of runners were singing All I Want for Christmas…

    At the Start Line…

    This time, I also tried out something new. I recently got a running vest as this was not a big city race with only a few pit stops in between. The running vest definitely helped in weighing me down – 1L of water and because of the many pockets, I also brought a lot more than what I would used to. So many things, so many distractions. Very different from the enjoyment of being free when running without much.

    This was a really nice homey feel run (600+ runners) apart from there are probably more hardcore marathon runners as who would actually run a marathon in the middle of winter, 3 days before Christmas? I imagine the crazy devoted ones would.

    Knowing and accepting that my body was not ready, I already set myself up for failure (but to what extent). It was probably around 10 miles when my mind and body shut down and I started to plan my exit strategy – ‘Where should I get an Uber from?!’ But I would also need to be dropped of by my car which is close to the Finish Line. And I’ve had already paid for all day parking. At this point, the runners in my line of sight have thinned out. I decided to keep on runwalking, passing through my personal markers when I go on a normal run.

    Running by Eastney Road, which I always thought was a lonely place to run – although there is the harbour on the left, there are nothing but cars zooming past you on the right. This part was also deceiving as on a normal run, I would be roughly 2 miles from home. However for this race, I have to run past my house and on to the seafront towards the Pyramid Centre, which is 2 further miles.

    Finally, the painful run at the seafront, where the weekend crowd has already taken over, with the occasional ‘Well done!’ and ‘You’re almost there!’ Except, I don’t really feel strong and probably just barely breathing.

    But hey, I was not injured and I also was not ready to have a Did Not Finish to my name. But I knew that I have not trained hard enough to have a satisfying race. So I crossed the Finish Line at 5 hours 34 minutes and 13 seconds. 550/604 overall, 41/45 in my age group, 158/183 in Women’s. But I did Finish with a big fat medal – almost as big as my face!

    Still happy…

    This wrapped up the year with the least miles with appropriate results. Next up… Tokyo.

  • The Great South Run 2024: Cancelled… But we did it anyway!

    Waiting for the announcement brought out the exact same nail-biting feelings as waiting for exam results to come out. And when it came out, myself and the other 25,000 runners felt the same crushing heartbreak (apart from David, who was relieved he didn’t have to run 10 miles).

    My most important question was ‘what are they going to do with all the medals and shirts?!

    During the week leading to the race, myself and everyone involved were obsessively checking at least 3 different weather sources hoping that they would tell us ‘clear skies and minimal wind.’ Instead, it was ‘75% rain and 40 mph winds.’ Hello Storm Ashley.

    The most disappointing part of it was that over the past few months, myself and 17 other members (and partners) of the Oncology Department had been training for this race, raising money for the local hospice, Rowans. We initially only had a handful of runners in the department and managed to build up a hearty bunch of people encouraging each other, sharing the pains and joys of each run. Experiences varied from zero running to semi-elite superstar. As the days and weeks went by, you could hear chatter in the office of distances met or PBs achieved whilst training. We had a little WhatsApp group chat with nothing but running and fundraising talk, sharing victories and disappointments. There was exciting chatter when we got our bibs and the waves we were in. When the running vests came in, we all complained about how they were all a size too big!

    Team Onc (some of us)

    Plans of pre-race photo ops and an afterparty all slowly crumbled when we all got the message that the race was cancelled as the organisers could not deliver a safe race due to the storm, understandably. Gutted. David and I were already on our way to Surrey when we saw this. We were heading that way to drop kids off then back to Southsea for the race the following day.

    Race day… no second thought. I woke up, had a coffee and a banana, then laced up. The rain didn’t start yet – I figured if I go now, I might just miss it. Kate, another colleague was up and already on the road. One by one, we woke up and showed up. With some of us not having and running experience to heroically battling the wind, rain, and mud on race day. We raised over £5000! Team Onc JustGiving page for the Rowans Hospice

    Bright and early… Here we go…

    What I wasn’t ready for and didn’t train for was the Surrey Hills. I started off comfortably, possibly under 6min/km but slowly realised that I was committing myself go down Coulsdon Hill which only meant that I had to go back up it again. Of course, I had to do it. But my legs were on fire when I got back up and it took me a slow 5k run and a Lucozade to recover. Hit several walls but powered through. Back up the hill, I was running towards my usual route, the Kenley Aerodrome when I hit 10 miles (16 km) at 1hr 53mins – blame it on the hills. I had to keep going because I was meant to do 23 km for training. Stopped short at 21.1 km (half marathon).

    At 10 miles
    Hilly 13.1 miles
    Post-Run… not one part of me was dry.

    Back in Southsea, the storm raged on and many runners still completed the distance. In other parts of the world, one of my best friends ran the Tokyo Half Marathon and my cousin ran the Toronto Half Marathon! Also why I ran a half marathon so I could be with them in spirit. I am super proud of both of them!

    Dulce in Tokyo
    Kristina in Toronto

    Even if the event fell apart at the last minute, what came out of it has been truly inspiring and it has been one heck of a team building exercise!

    The Rollover or Refund email for The Great South Run 2025 has now come through (Rollover for myself and David). They also included that we can claim and shirt and a medal for this year’s efforts (yes, please).

    Next up, the Portsmouth Coastal Marathon in December, Tokyo Marathon in March, and Edinburgh Marathon in May.

  • The Great South Run 2023

    At the Start Line…

    I never would have thought I would say this in my life but… I ran 3 races in 4 weeks! How wild is that?! Berlin and Chicago was my pre-game to the Great South Run.

    The Great South Run is definitely one of my favourites. It’s local, it’s vibrant, and we are always lucky with the weather. I love that we could walk to the Start Line from our house – the roads are cleared and prepped, the Aid Stations are just getting the waters out, the port-a-loos are still clean. Also, it is no small race – over 20,000 people run it! And of course, I love it because it is also the only race David will run with me and beats me every time.

    Ending up joining the Pink Wave coz we had last minute potty trips.

    Running for Home-Start Portsmouth…

    On this run, I sported the Home-Start Portsmouth shirt but wasn’t able to take a picture of me wearing it due to the excitement. Around Mile 2, a chap tapped me on the shoulder and eagerly showed me his Home-Start shirt! He was so proud to be wearing it and said what a great charity it is! I agreed… Then he was gone!

    Around Mile 8.5, focused to get to the Finish, I heard my name screamed so loud by a couple of ladies. Then I realised, it was Tash from Home-Start! She has been a great support since the beginning.

    Please visit my Fundraising Page: https://www.justgiving.com/marathonmon

    At the Finish Line…

    We Finished!

    This was our 3rd GSR since moving to Portsmouth. 10 miles is a really good distance to run, part leisure and just enough struggle. I am happy to say that I have improved my time in the past 3 years and now finished 1:39… made it just below a 10min/mile pace.

    David is as consistent as ever. With no training, 1:36:10 the first year, 1:36:08 this year! Last year, he finished beyond 2 hours – assisted someone on the course who fell and had a head injury (the anaesthetist/A+E doc in him took over).

    Whilst David’s legs felt like jelly, I felt like I was just warming up. But after a quick bite and some coffee, we had to get home to these two, who eagerly awaited their medals…

    It’s not really a competition but I am slowly catching up…

  • BER+CHI. My Third Star: Chicago

    And there it is… My Third Star.

    The Chicago Marathon. In this race, the world marathon record was broken by Kelvin Kiptung (2:00:35) and Sifan Hassan (2:13:44) broke the course record (she also won London this year). Me, well I beat my Berlin time by 2 minutes! I finished in 4hrs 43mins 20secs! So I can improve and run faster.

    Challenges. 1) My big challenge was that I wanted to see if I can break 4:30-4:35. Clearly, I haven’t… but seeing that I’ve improved is 100% fine by me. 2) For about 12 miles, I actually held my pace to under 10min/mile. Then on the performance graph, one can see when I started negotiating with myself. 3) Due to the very tall buildings of Chicago, my Garmin (along with everyone else’s tracking) was sooo off. Off by about 0.5 miles, which was so annoyingly deceiving.

    Key moments. 1) This race was perfect, mainly because of the weather – perfect amount of sunshine, clouds, wind, chill. 2) There was a point on the 24th mile, a girl slightly ahead of me, just abruptly stopped. When I got up to her, I tapped her and said “No no don’t stop, we’re almost there, let’s go.” She said thank you and kept running to the end. 3) I stopped to wee just once throughout the course (hooray!)

    The best thing about this marathon was my support crew. I had told everyone I knew around the Midwest that I was running in Chicago and sure enough, they came. Carlo, Josh and their daughter Sarai (who I got to cuddle) came from San Francisco. Also got to meet Josh sister Elle and her fiance Danilo. Yen and Zack came from Kansas City. Julie came from Columbus. And Liz and Mike came from Milwaukee (came the day before the race). It was a star-studded event. On race day, they met me at Mile 3, Mile 12, and Julie at Mile 21. It was incredible how uplifting these moments in time were and how much of a boost it gives when trying to battle it out there with tired legs.

    At this race, I also met a few people and heard their stories of why they came to run. I had chats with Robin from Canada who’s getting closer to achieving his 6th star and bought me a train ticket on the way to Grant Park, Audrey from South Dakota – she has 4 kids and is running for the first time, Chris from Australia who travels far to run races and now just needs to get back to drink Melbourne coffee, Kelcey from London who asked me what my next plan is and said it’s easier to just keep going than to start stop (I might just end up signing up to the Portsmouth Coastal Marathon again).

    I also realised how it can sometimes be bittersweet or a little lonely crossing the finish line, because you had just accomplished something amazing and you instantly are overwhelmed with emotion but you have no friends or family around you to celebrate. You don’t really get to celebrate with them until you meet them at the meeting points. Right after I finished and started to walk towards the medals (emotional, obviously), another girl next to me was walking and also very tearful. We congratulated each other and we agreed how lonely it can be… “Do you want a hug?” So gave each other a big Well Done hug. Her name was Jeanine.

    Smiling or crying? “Where are my friends?!”

    Also… this is the first time since I moved to the UK that I came back to the US. And all I wanted to eat was Buffalo Wings and Chicken and Waffles. Jollibee was an added bonus!

    For over a year, I’ve been anticipating actually running the marathons I won lottery places for. I’m still bummed that I lost my Tokyo place (my own fault) but 3 in a year is more than what I bargained for and by its own right, an incredible feat on its own!

    3 down… 3 to go…

    Next up, the Great South Run with David next week.

    ,

  • BER+CHI. Post-Berlin Reflection and post-race chaos.

    Who really knows why people choose to do things like these? So so so many reasons and any personal gain from hard work and a sense of accomplishment, can only be a good thing, right?

    I find it quite difficult to do a play by play of what happened that morning, it would be repeating the whole race in my head and I honestly do not have the headspace for that. It all just blends into one amazing moment. I always just try to remember the challenges and the key moments.

    Pre-Race at the Brandenberg Gate

    Challenges. I think my biggest challenge during this race is that my longest run for this training was only 12 miles! That’s not even a half marathon and the London Marathon was 5 months ago! I always have life and its accompaniments as an excuse but at this point in time, I just was not able to train as well as I could. I still managed to run 312.5 miles since London. Towards the end, I ran 8-10 miles 2 or 3 times a week, just put some distance in. Other than that, there wasn’t so much drama during the race – no funny left foot cramps (London), no weeing on the side of the road (Rome) though there were a couple of times I went for a wee and nothing came out – I was mad coz this ate up some of my time. No vomiting or cramping. No injuries.

    Another big challenge for me throughout this endeavour is I’m not the best at fundraising. A big part of it is that I am not on social media, which is how most fundraising is done. I only have this blog as it’s the only thing I have headspace for. So recently, I did sign up for an Instagram account (a bit late in the game, everyone seems so well-established in it already). 2 days later, I deleted it. I already started feeling anxious knowing it was on my home screen. To protect my sanity, I’m sticking to this blog and will find another way.

    Key moments. 1) Early on, I established to follow the Blue Lines – the lines that the Elite runners follow, the exact distance and the shortest time to complete the race. This was my companion throughout, it allowed me to not weave through the other runners so much. 2) Though the crowd was not as electric at London, and not as many people were yelling out my name. I was excited to see some Filipinos, waving the Philippine flag, cheering on Filipino runners. So everytime I passed them, I yelled “Kabayan!!!” And they cheered! 3) There was also a time when I passed a little girl and her dad and they had a radio blasting “Shake it off” by Taylor Swift, which is one of Xavier’s favourite songs these days (the Sing version) then a few metres on, I saw a runner with Maya printed on her back. I got teary-eyed but had to snap out of it. I high-fived every little person who had their hand out! 4) Lastly, the best thing was seeing Yang Yang and Philipp 200 metres before the Finish Line. Earlier in the day, I had pinned a location so they could wait for me there, easy to recognise – half a mile before the Finish Line, on the right side. When I got to that corner, I didn’t see them! I got disappointed but had to carry on. Towards the end, I had already moved back to the middle, I hear “Niccccaaaaaa, Nicaaaaaa!” It was Yang-Yang, next to her Phillip trying to take pictures. I was screaming and crying and so excited! I gave them a quick hug and ran to the Finish. There’s video evidence of how bad my posture was towards the end. I also really thought I would beat my 4:37, but I had to wee.

    I finished at 4 hrs 45 mins 45 secs! 7 minutes faster than London. Not bad for 12 miles being my longest run. I am so pleased with these results!

    Post-race chaos.

    My Berlin Marathon would not be complete without any drama. So… the original plan was to fly back the same evening, as David is on a long day the next day. I’ve already caused him so much grief having back to back races when he is revising for his Anaesthetics exam in November. Walking towards the Hauptbanhof, we checked my flight – Easyjet has cancelled the flight due to air traffic control problems in Gatwick! WTF?! There went all the excitement of just finishing the marathon and panic ensued! We all had to sit down and figured this out – no further flights, next flight would be Tuesday (not an option), we thought of flying to Amsterdam then taking the Eurostar, flying to Ireland. Ended up refunding EasyJet ticket, buying a ticket to Copenhagen the same night and to London the next morning. David was obviously not very happy with this but had to plan – “David take Maya home with you tonight and take her to Breakfast Club exactly at 7am. You will be late to work, but you will still get there. I will pick Xave up from your Mums tomorrow and take him to nursery from there.”

    At this point, all I wanted was a Doner Kebab and a shower. We managed to get Doners at the Hauptbanhof and ate them en route. Satisfied. Yang Yang had to catch her flight and Phil and I chilled for a bit, after trying to freshen up at the toilets. At least I have a new €35 Finisher T-Shirt (still mad why we had to pay for this). Managed to get a cheap airport hotel room in Copenhagen to shower and lay down for a few hours.

    Though I was literally in Berlin for about 36 hours, I am so glad for my 2 friends who came and cheered me on and be part of this journey. In 3 days time, I will be meeting a few more friends who will be cheering me on at the Chicago Marathon! 5 days to go!

    More photos (the official photos)…

  • BER+CHI. Another Pre-Marathon Epic Week

    Last April, I had the Best Week Ever. It started with finding out Maya’s school, in between I found out I got into Oncology training and it ended with crossing the Finish Line at the London Marathon.

    This time, it was another pretty epic week. It started with Maya starting her first full week of school, in between I had my first week being the On-Call Registrar and it ended with crossing the Finish Line at the Berlin Marathon.

    The First School Day School Run

    The week started with this… First full day of school, David was on Nights so Single-Mum mode. The kids and I had a game plan and all the clothes were laid out the night before. Xave up at the usual 5:45, me at 6am (packing Maya’s lunch), Maya at 6:15am. We were out of the house by 7:10am, at Breakfast Club by 7:15am, and at Nursery at 7:50am! Success!

    Ready for Reg of the Week

    Every once in a while… you get rota’d in as the Oncology Registrar of the Week (1 long day then 4 830-1700), holding the bleep that doesn’t stop bleeping. The days starts off with the daily morning handover and going over the plans for 20-30 patients – new, unwell, chugging along, about to go home, or dying. Throughout this, the bleep goes off and all you can do is write the number down.

    Then start seeing patients, answering bleeps – calls from the Chemo Day Unit for prescriptions or someone needing an assessment, other teams around the hospital asking advice, calls from GPs and other local hospitals seeking advice, calls from the Acute Oncology Service, calls about patient with a suspicion or proven cord compression, consenting a patient for palliative radiotherapy to the spine, having difficult discussions with patients and families, breaking bad news (“her heart failure may lead her to deterioration before her aggressive lung cancer, and whilst here, she may develop a chest infection”), deciding whether taking a referral or if patient is more suitable in a different ward under a different team, dealing with a very unwell patient and escalating to getting him non-invasive ventilation at the Resp High Care Unit. Discuss with Consultants when stuck. Nothing in the above description is unusual to anyone holding the bleep. These are all pretty standard and are the usual day to day things that we deal with.

    Oh by the way… this was also the week of the Junior Doctor/Consultant Strikes. 4 of the 5 days either were Consultant Strike, Christmas Day Cover, or Junior Doctor Strike. Yes, I had to work – despite fully supporting the Strikes. David and I would lose 4 paid days between us, and that’s a lot if you’ve got child care fees to worry about.

    Finally, it was Friday and time to hand over the bleep. Friday, was also David’s birthday! I made him dinner when I got home.

    Off to Berlin…

    I was out of the door by 430am… flight from Gatwick at 8am. The flight was full of runners – Easyjet should have just diverted the flight straight to the Expo at Templehof. I met Yang Yang and Philipp – my good friends and supporters for this race. Love them!

    And after a good old pasta dinner and some good laughs, I was ready to run the Berlin Marathon.

  • BER+CHI. My Second Star: Berlin

    Whilst standing in a Passport Control queue, I thought it would be a good time to reflect.

    Here I am 19 hours after finishing my first Reg of the Week experience and 21 hours before being on the Start Line of the Berlin Marathon.

    Scratch that… I am now on the queue to the toilet, 30 minutes before the race.

    Scratch that… I’ve done it! I ran the Berlin Marathon in 4hrs 45mins 45secs! And it was amazing!

    Brandenburg Gate

    Right now, I am still recovering from the excitement of running and finishing in good time and without injury. Marathon hangover. Reflections to come.