In six weeks time, it will be three years since I was diagnosed with ocular melanoma.  In six weeks time I will be having the dreaded MRI scan, which will tell me whether or not the cancer has spread. But more importantly, in six weeks time I will be running The London Marathon! Woohoo!!

Although feeling slightly less Woohoo! And more F**k what have I done?! My 19.2 mile training run yesterday was hard, actually that’s a lie, not hard, it was hell!  And my legs are feeling it today.  I also sustained my first running injury, see photo above. Who knew that a soft running top could cause such damage as it rubs continuously against your collar bone for three hours?!

I am feeling excited but utterly terrified at the same time. My thoughts, while awake and in my sleep are consumed with running and how I will manage. I get a surge of nervous adrenaline when I think about the day. A friend who I spoke to about how nervous I was, reassured me that my training was going well and I would ‘do it!’  I smiled through my rigid, tense jaw and didn’t voice the reason for my nerves. You see I’m not overly worried about  completing it, as I know I will, even if I have to crawl.  What I’m really worried about are two things. The first is doing a ‘Paula Radcliffe.’ Any runners reading this will know that toilet breaks are at times needed whilst running. Everything depends on what you eat, nerves, adrenaline etc. So I have been googling extensively what to eat and what to avoid to prevent such a catastrophe as a runners belly. I keep telling myself constantly to be careful on the sugary snacks but to consume enough to get me over the line. I know there are a lot of portaloos along the route, but I can’t imagine they are any fun to visit and must only be used as an absolute emergency. In fact I think I’d rather get the bus home, pop to the loo and then rejoin the race. Anyway the aim is no toilet breaks. Is immodium a good idea?!

The second concern is the jelly legged finishers. We know that we all love seeing them at the marathon, whether spectating there or watching on the telly at home. We enjoy seeing them, feeling for them and urging them on to the line as they stagger and sway as if they’ve spent all night in the pub. Can I just say, I DO NOT WANT THAT TO BE ME! I don’t want any phone calls saying “ahh Ruth, we spotted you on the telly…..you poor thing.” So again, google has been my best friend, as  I have been reading about why this happens so am hoping to avoid at all costs. Apparently  this all comes down to the fuel consumed and the timings said fuel are consumed. I feel a little like I’m preparing a Christmas dinner, where I write the timings down for when things go in to the oven. Mile 3 pop in first water, mile 5 first sport drink, mile 6-8 first carb shot and so on and so forth until mile 26!  Fingers crossed nothing goes wrong.

As time approaches I have been thinking of more ways to raise funds for Ocumeluk. So I have decided to auction off the name on my running vest. As long as I have my number I can call myself anything at all. So if you would like to have your name on the vest, or your kids name or dedicate it to someone special or just think of something highly amusing for me to run under, than all you need to do is go onto my fundraising page and sponsor me £5 per name and I will pull it out of a hat on Facebook live (justaneye.com) April 8th at 6pm. This has caused much amusement amongst my kids who are trying to think of the funniest or most insulting names they can. So far they have, Forest, (run Forest run), Squid ward, (the pink sad squid from spongebob), Stompy (elephant from the Simpsons) and Ruck Funning! Yes you can figure that one out for yourselves. When did my gorgeous girls change from “mama you’re a beautiful princess, be Cinderella, to these monsters?! Youngest even came home form school yesterday telling me her and her friends have been discussing it and they all…ALL..thought Stompy suited me best?! Why, because I look like a bloody elephant as I pound the streets of London?! Cheers girls! anyway if you would like to participate then follow the link below and leave a name in the message part, all proceeds will go towards Ocumeluk.

Anyway the other news is that the charity have put me in touch with their PR man re a possible newspaper article. Whilst asking questions he informed (warned) me that the style of writing is for newspapers so may be different to what I may expect. Little alarm bells stared ringing. He assured me I could check it out first. Thank god for that as I imagined being in the gutter press as ‘Dying, devastated, blind marathon runner loses control of legs and more as she staggers over the finish line. Ruck Funning from Hampton says “never again!”‘

Possibly not the publicity Ocumeluk were after!

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ruthjohnston73