‘I’VE DEDICATED MOST OF my life to running.
I love training, putting on races and
coaching. I love the freedom running
creates – it’s just you with no equipment.
I’ve completed 13 100-mile races. And
I’ve done runs across England, Wales and
Scotland. I want to run across Ireland next
- the route I’d attempt is 370 miles, which
would be the longest I’ve done.
But there’s one race where I feel I’ve
underachieved: the marathon. My PB is
3:05 and it’s a lifetime goal to run sub-
three hours. So I signed up for the Boston
Marathon UK on April 14 to go sub-3:00.
On December 24, 2018, training was
going really well. I had just finished an
eight-week base phase and my pace was
really improving, so I was very optimistic.
For the first training session of week nine,
I had planned speedwork: 400m repeats
on the treadmill at my local gym.
Stepping onto the tread, I didn’t feel
very motivated to start my workout. That
wasn’t typical – I usually look forward to
running – but it didn’t raise any alarms,
either. I began to warm up, first at about
a 10-minute/mile pace, then building to
8:30 min/mile. It felt hard, but I pushed
through, coaxing my body, as I had for
thousands of workouts before.
But I really didn’t feel well. After about
five minutes, I felt dizzy and a headache
had developed in the top-right side of
my head. So I decided to stop and began
slowing to a walk. But then something
weird happened: I felt myself grabbing
onto the treadmill with my right hand
and falling, unable to stop the treadmill.
It was like an out-of-body experience.
I could not keep up with the speed of the
treadmill and I could not stay upright.
My vision blurred and sounds knocked
me off-balance.
Gym-goers rushed over and grabbed
me. They kept me upright and stopped
the machine. I must have looked bad, but
I seriously thought I was OK. I was more
frustrated that the session had not gone
to plan than worried about feeling unwell.
But as they helped me off the machine,
I couldn’t walk. My left side was numb
and not functioning, and I was struggling
to speak. I still wanted to get my workout
in – my fellow gym-goers ignored my
pleas that they take me to the mats so I
could stretch and try to get something
from my session. They took me out of the
workout area to sit down in the cafe near
the entrance of the gym.
SEPTEMBER 2019 RUNNERSWORLD.COM/UK 047