10,000 miles

A journey that started in Jan 2015!  I’ve finally reached the milestone of 10,000 miles run for Invest In ME Research. Yes, that’s right, I track every miserable/joyous mile 😊

I thought it would be a good time to take stock of what I’ve learnt from the first 10,000 miles and touch on why and how I’m still running.  Conscious of making this a very long, boring, indulgent and rambling mess of a blog, I’ve taken it upon interviewing myself as it’s the best format I can think of in order to be clear and concise!

Here’s a few questions I’ve had from followers, family and friends over the last few years…..

•             10,000 miles, wow, got any more stats?

Yep sure.  That figure incorporates every training run from Jan 1^st 2015 – present, including the marathon and half marathon races.  That’s 38 marathon and 11 half-marathon races.  1269 runs at an average of 7.8 miles per run. £5.25 raised per mile to help find a cure for ME. 

•            Go on then, what have you learned?

So much.  I couldn’t run to the end of my road when I started; that’s not an exaggeration.  I made rookie mistakes about running from day 1. Sitting down for ages immediately after a run and seizing up. Not protecting my nipples. Running out of water. Pushing too hard when I should have rested. Starting races too quick and dying at 20 miles (or earlier). Running in bad/old shoes. Running with a hangover and being sick. Eating a pack of 4 pork pies, a pipe of Pringles and downing a 4 pack of lager after a long run and expecting to lose weight.

I’ve learnt that you need to respect the miles. Very few of the runs have been easy, I’ve learnt to stay calm, bite the elephant one piece at a time, clear my mind of negativity, take my mind off to somewhere else.  Scientists say that listening to music on a run adds on average 11% to performance, for me it’s more like 85% if I get the playlist right and don’t sing/air drum too much.  80’s rock and power ballads all the way.  People who run races in 5-7 hours have fought a war to finish and are just as impressive as those chasing sub 3 hours.  

I feel like I've been to hell and back, walking in races and wanting to give up.  I've experienced everything from self-loathing, the pressure of expectation, low mental health and injury despair through to finish line elation, pride of fulfilling an ambition and love for the supporters and new friends I've made across Europe.  You learn a lot about yourself in a marathon and I've learnt that what I lack in speed and technique, I make up purely in being stubborn.

•             What’s been the highlight?

From a race perspective:

•  The ‘sub-4 hour’ ones; Brussels, Dublin, Zagreb and Vilnius.
• Any that have been less than 25c (not many).
• The beautiful courses of Malta, Tallinn, Lucerne, Liechtenstein, Riga.
• The amazing medals; Luxembourg, Porto, Hamburg, Bucharest.

Non-race

•  Meeting supporters and people with ME in Finland, Ireland, Slovakia, Switzerland, Norway, Serbia, Croatia, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, Italy, Montenegro.
• Getting to meet the research team at Haukeland University in Bergen, Norway
•  2 TV interviews in Belgrade!
•  Reindeer pizza in Helsinki, boat trips in Thessaloniki, Gdansk, Toulouse, Stockholm, meeting Anil Van Der Zee at his flat in Amsterdam, my final EU race in Rome and the incredible support from friends.  I've met some incredible people.  Everyone I've met has been kind, supportive and hugely generous.  I've been to post-race roof-top barbeques in Barcelona, steak dinners in Helsinki and pints with almost 20 people in Belgrade!

• Why are you still doing this?

I feel like nothing much has changed for my friends who suffer with M.E over the last 10 years. Invest In ME Research fight admirably to progress science but there’s still a lack of any meaningful government funding for biomedical research to find a cure or treatments.  Friends remain ill, managing what energy they have just to survive the day.  Facebook friends and followers are dying, many taking their own lives due to the inaction and neglect of health authorities in the UK, Europe and beyond.  Blue roses posted on almost a daily basis.

I’m sad and angry about it.  It fuels my runs.  For the last 4 years I’ve dedicated every single run to someone with M.E. -if you’re reading this and have M.E, you’ll probably see your name on Strava.  I find it hard to fathom how heartless, cruel and ignorant governments around the world are when it comes to people with M.E.  People are having their social media accounts spied on, benefits withdrawn, some have been forcibly removed from their homes, abused in hospital, abandoned by health authorities.  It's still genuinely shocking to hear the stories.

I’m not stopping.  I love that people occasionally choose M.E charities to do sponsored events for but often it’s a one-time thing.  I’m here for the long-haul.  I have to be, there’s not enough well-folk trying to change things and until there's a cure, I'll still be out there pounding the pavements.

It’s not wholly altruistic, I have to admit that.  I realised after completing the EU that I’m addicted to this now.  I love travel, especially off the beaten-track.  I'd have never gone to beautiful countries like Liechtenstein, North Macedonia, Lithuania or Serbia had it not been for this challenge.

And there’s no greater feeling than the last 100 yards of a marathon and the post-race beer.

•            You always seem to be a bit injured, aren’t you doing yourself long-term damage?

It hasn’t always been the case but I’d say definitely for the last 4 years I’ve always felt like I’ve been carrying an injury of some type. Most of the time it’s been my right knee (partially torn ACL), lower back, calves and a persistent issue with tight hips.  I’ve learnt that as I’m getting older, I can’t just get changed and go out for a run.  I need water, stretching, the trusty bag of frozen peas on my knee after each run, at least a day’s rest/recovery between runs.  I’ve got physio exercises for my knee after a GP visit confirmed I haven’t done any permanent damage to my knee.  That said, I find it difficult to crouch/squat and it regularly dislocates if I change direction too quick or try and break with too much aggression when playing pool.  I can’t crawl around soft plays anymore and kneeling to give the kids a bath is a bit painful, but bizarrely (to me), I seem OK to go running for 4-5 hrs. 

It's not comfortable but the endorphins I get from each run and boost to mental health outweighs any of it. If I’ve not been running for a few days I feel a bit lost, low and grumpy.  I feel like running has equally beat me up and saved me in many ways and it’s something I can’t currently live without.

•            What are you hoping to achieve with your next 10,000 miles?

More new countries and the chance to help raise awareness of ME and help with the lobbying of governments to fund research.  I still need to go to Albania, Moldova, San Marino, Kosovo, Turkey, Iceland, Bosnia, Monaco, Andorra, Faroe Isles, Scotland, Wales, England(!).  I want to try and get a bit quicker or at least run without breaking myself.  I’d like to try running on something other than pavement at some stage.  I need to find new routes to run in Bristol, rotating the same 5 or 6 routes for 11 years can be very dull.  I’ve bought a hydration bag which I’m excited about! 

I hope by the time I get to 20,000 miles that we have a treatment for M.E. No more ludicrous PIP assessments, proper unilateral doctor recognition of the illness and a winning clinical trial or two.

If you'd like to sponsor me, I'd be forever grateful: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mikeseumarathons