How I Found My First Marathon
Did I by chance mention to you, I ran the London Marathon 2024? That is quite possibly the most repeated thing I said the days after I completed the hardest mental and physical challenge of my life on the 21st April 2024.
Hello, you beautiful Rebels, this is Jordan, Reformer trainer at 1Rebel and I am here to share with you my life altering experience of training for and running that infamous 26.2 miler that happens every April in London.
As a trainer, I think a lot of people presume I would find this manageable. You can never say a marathon is easy, even for the fittest of us all, but a lot of people did presume it would be achievable for me. You are very much mistaken. I have danced professionally in London’s West End 8 shows a week, and when I trained at musical theatre school, I danced up to 7 hours a day, Monday to Friday, but I NEVER ran. I hated running. I was the kid who used to pretend he had asthma to get out of running in P.E.; it wasn’t until my P.E. teacher caught me leaping across the dance studio with not one wheeze that he realised I was a fraud.
I could not even run a 5k in April last year - my body and my mind just didn’t naturally connect with running - it felt laboured, it felt hard, and I just didn’t get the hype.
My boyfriend ran the London Marathon 2023, fundraising for the palatable care team at Nottingham Hospital, who cared so greatly for his dad as he passed away from cancer in 2022. Watching him train so hard and go through the minimum highs, and many, many lows of training was so inspiring, and supporting him from behind the railings on Marathon Day had me in a state of intense pride. Getting emotional at watching complete strangers dig deep to get through this absolute whopper of a challenge; well somehow it inspired me to apply for a charity place with Muscular Dystrophy UK for the marathon the following year, with absolutely no running experience under my belt. I ran for Muscular Dystrophy UK, as my dad and nephews and some of my cousins all have various elements of it. I knew it had to be a charity that helped people close to my heart, otherwise when things got extremely difficult, I wasn’t going to have the powerful ‘why’ to drive me onwards. If you are not someone who naturally enjoys running and your ‘why’ isn’t powerful enough, a ‘why’ so powerful it could make you teary eyed just thinking about it, then you’re not going to have the want or the drive to train for the marathon.
The training is by far the worst part. It is long, it is time consuming, it is arduous, and you very rarely wake up wanting to do it. Based on the date of the marathon, you are having to do long runs, sometimes taking up to 2-3 hours as you get closer, in the freezing cold and rain. My first half marathon consisted of 2 hours of a classic London downpour. I was soaked through to my underwear and to my socks, my feet were blistered and I had chafed in places I won’t inform you of, for your own sake. It was gruelling and I literally questioned why on earth had I chosen to do this. It was horrible, I hated it. The front of house team at Broadgate will remember me hobbling down the stairs to the main reception area, soaked, shaking and dragging my feet into the changing rooms for a well-deserved shower and cry.
This is where I came back to my why, I was doing this to raise money for a charity that helped people I love. They were going through a much harder time than me, dealing with a debilitating disease with such discomfort every day. My discomfort whilst marathon training, was only temporary. Get a grip Jordan, people go through much worse than this, you have to dig deep and find the drive. Marathon training tests both your physical and mental endurance. Actually, its way more mental. Remaining in the present moment and bringing myself back to the present moment, when my mind would be taken over by negative self-talk was my most powerful tool. I often say to my clients, our mind is often the biggest manipulator, it convinces us we can’t do it, we can’t push one more rep or sprint 10 more seconds. I’ve found by being present with your movement, just taking it step by step, one move at a time, finding that quiet place in your mind, focusing on the breath is the magic to achieving way beyond your current expectations. Running taught me this - running taught me my body is way more capable than I ever imagined, and it has transferred into how I look and take on life, it has taught me to dig deeper and given me the confidence to dig deeper to push myself ahead of my current self-placed boundaries. You will discover this yourself when you train for something like the marathon.
They say marathon day is one huge celebration of all your training. I didn’t understand this at first; how am I meant to celebrate when I am about to take on uncharted territory of that extra 10k I had never done before. The longest I had ran was 32k, this was 42.2k. But once I got to the starting line in Greenwich Park, I immediately understood that celebration. There was so much nervous excitement in the air, everyone around me had been through what I had been through. My training was so lonely and isolated, so to come together in one humongous group, really relieved my fears and anxieties. The race was by far the hardest thing I have ever done - ironically, I PB’d on my 5, 10, 15 and 21k - the energy and support from the crowds was like rocket fuel up my butt - random strangers cheering your name, motivating you to keep going, I have never felt support like it in my life. It made me very, very emotional on multiple occasions. Once I hit the 21 mile mark, things got pretty dark, my feet were swollen, I could feel blisters, my hamstrings were on fire and my hips were violently aching - I started to walk. Then I saw 1Rebel trainer Jess Fraser in the crowd (who is a marathon pro). She had inspired and motivated me my entire journey, to see her in the front at mile 21 screaming my name was just the boost I needed. She gave me a huge cuddle, a quick pep talk and screamed ‘YOU’VE GOT THIS, GO GO GO!’ I then saw more friends and I cannot tell you the rocket fuel it gives you when you have your biggest supporters cheering you to that finish line. I completed the race in 4hrs 39 mins, I was overjoyed - I thought I would be more than 5 hours (I also beat my boyfriend by 20 minutes, muahahaha).
If you’re thinking about doing the marathon but you’re too scared because like me, you don’t consider yourself a runner - just do it. It was the hardest challenge I’ve ever optionally gone through. It will test your mental and physical endurance like nothing else, you will question your life choices and you will swear and curse the day you got your place, but it teaches you such life altering lessons that will change how you take on any challenge in the future. I am a tougher more resilient and humble human being from those 6 months of effort and race day. In the famous words of Nike - JUST DO IT.
Jordan C