OoberMama by ooberfit

Half Marathon done, but boy was that hard. Grateful for some divine intervention when a literal angel in the shape of Priya, the course sweeper - who just happened to be a certified Jeffing running coach - came and joined me because she thought I was the last runner (I wasn’t, there was just quite a gap between me and some of the other finishers). She gave me the tools to finish and to keep running when my hip and knee were saying otherwise, before dropping back again to the back of the runners. 2:44, 14 mins slower than I’d been hoping for, but I’ll take that, it was a tough course (not making excuses… much 😉!) with some very windy, steep hills and a bit more off-road paths than I’d anticipated. If you’d like to sponsor me for the Create Space Youth Project my Just Giving link is in the comments below. Thank you to everyone who has already sponsored my run for this great cause. So grateful for my sister Caroline and friend Kerry who were my cheer team and for providing much needed ibuprofen with impeccable timing and for the fab lunch afterwards! Also thank you Kairos Network Church for the sunflowers and Cadburys on my door step when I got home 🙏🏼!

After a fab couple of day’s in the Cotswolds celebrating my lovely God-daughter’s wedding, it’s back to reality and tomorrow’s Half Marathon. Just a couple of hundred short of my target for my fundraiser, so plenty of incentive to ‘Keep on Running’ but still terrified and excited in equal measure. My first long race since my major surgery four years ago, and my first race Jeffing - 4:1 run-walk-run technique. Praying the Sjögren’s fatigue kicks in after the race, not during and the right knee and hip don’t give up! 🙏🏼 *If you’d like to sponsor me the link to my Just Giving page is at the top of my page in my bio, thank you and thanks to everyone who has already donated! space youth project

It’s been a journey and one I could not have done without Juniper UK and . I came off the meds for four months earlier this year and went back onto a low dose six weeks ago for maintenance, after my Sjögren’s Disease symptoms and joint pain from osteoarthritis returned with a vengeance, sending my energy levels and newly found positivity plummetting again. It seems the anti-inflammatory aspects of the meds are very real where auto-immune diseases are concerned. I can’t afford it, but what price good health.

I turned 64 last week and my half marathon race in two weeks, and Jeffing 4:1, will be challenging, but I’m on course for the 18km training run this weekend now temperatures have dropped! My Just Giving link if you’d like to sponsor my Aug 30th Leeds Half Marathon for Create Space Youth Project in Harrogate link is below. Thank you, no amount is too small and will help spur me on!
https://www.justgiving.com/page/sam-blakey-3

Great weekend in Notts with my lads & Moo, and Jess and Olivia. It’s been a while since I’ve watched my four lads knocking a ball around the garden! Birthday cake was another brilliant creation by Moo, Mollie Blakey plus my favourite banoffee pie from Tom! ❤️

12 years on and I’m still going strong, just in another country. Campaigning for GPs and midwives to be trained in Diastasis Recti (separated abs) checks. It’s a huge oversight that this is not part of their postnatal training nor routinely offered to new mums. Not knowing you have this problem can lead to greater issues, including incontinence, prolapse, and back problems. Time for change - WOMEN LITERALLY MAKE ALL THE PEOPLE AND DESERVE THE RIGHT STANDARD OF CARE!

SLOW IS BETTER THAN NO…

I accidentally ran 17km last night. Thought I’d run 16k last Strava long run, but afterwards discovered my longest run was 14km! Pleased I proved I can add extra kms if needed as I won’t run a half before the race on Aug 30th. Hen weekend for my lovely God-daughter next weekend so won’t be much running going on!!

The big thing for me with this run is recognising the changes in my age and health over the past decade and adapting my fitness and running rather than giving up.

HEALTH CHALLENGES TAKE THEIR TOLL…

* 2017 - diagnosed with Depression

* June 2019 - Surgery for a parathyroid tumour, following 12 months of debilitating cognition loss, extreme fatigue and illness

* 2019 Diagnosed with osteoarthritis

* 2020 - Diagnosis of Primary Sjögren’s Disease - an incurable systemic autoimmune condition that carries a heightened risk of Lymphoma cancer. While many people experience only mild dryness - particularly eyes and mouth - the condition can affect the entire body, cause extreme tiredness (debilitating fatigue flares) and lead to severe health problems.

*Sept 2022 - Radical hysterectomy with abdominal incision, resulting in surgically-induced menopause, leading to significant weight gain.

* 2022 - Diverticular Disease diagnosis

LETS TALK ABOUT THE WEIGHT-LOSS DRUGS…

I have been open from the start about using the weightloss GLP1 drug Mounjaro to help me lose the three stone I gained over the past four years, following my hysterectomy.

Medication is not a quick fix, neither is it cheating. Weight-loss is not always simply a case of eat less and exercise more. I’m saying that as an established PT with 14 years experience. It is quite simply a tool, like any other drug. A medication that increases the presence of GLP1s in the system, which is the hormone that helps us recognise when we are full.
For many the presence of that hormone is lacking.

Food can be an addiction, just the same as drugs, alcohol and smoking and yet no one judges those addicts for taking methadone or ni****ne patches. Nor would we judge an alcoholic for taking tablets - if they were available - to help with their addiction.

NOW HERE IS THE INTERESTING THING…

People like myself, who have been on the drugs, have noticed other benefits, not merely the weight-loss.

No 1. My anxiety, brain fog and depression disappeared.

No 2. My joint pain, Sjögren’s-induced fatigue vastly diminished.

No 3. My positivity and happy returned!

Then I came off the drug. It’s expensive and I could no longer justify being on it once I’d lost the weight.
I noticed all the above negative side-effects creeping back over the following month.

I started to research the anti-inflammatory components of Mounjaro for myself. The results are frankly mind-blowing.

Significant research noting its anti-inflammatory qualities. People with conditions such as arthritis, Sjögren’s, menopause, dementia, skin conditions like Psoriasis and eczema, to name just a few.

MEET LIFE AT ITS CROSSROADS WITH INTENT NOT ABJECTION…

I mention all the above to illustrate that we can be guilty of two things. The first is finding it too easy to dismiss that which we don’t understand. Secondly, a negative health diagnosis doesn’t have to be the end of life as we know it.

Instead, look at it like a crossroads in life. There’s a choice of directions after bad news. We take the path of least resistance, or instead reinvent ourselves and embark on a new adventure. A different direction; one that still has goals and ambition, but one that recognises aging and/or health limitations as adjustable boundaries rather than unmountable barriers.

I have found my fitness challenging over the last 10 years. I ran my third London Marathon in 2018 after deciding I was going to come off the anti-depressants I had been on for six months. When I crossed that finish line, I started weaning off them the very next day. Two weeks later I was no longer taking them.

I was six weeks off running my fifth London Marathon when I was told I needed a hysterectomy. Until this spring I hadn’t run regularly since then.

And now, here I am, weeks away from another half marathon race. How am I managing it with a chronic health condition? Or more accurately, why am I doing this, I regularly ask myself, as I run or strength train who this older me is, in this my seventh decade. The woman in the mirror, standing where I used to be, is older than me (to steal a line from Eddie Dalton’s song - Somewhere Along The Way) and adjusting has been the most challenging part for me. Like feeling ashamed that I ran my slowest 10km race in June, instead of celebrating that I had trained regularly and showed up. And also cycled 5km both ways to get to the start.

Accepting that I need to make adjustments to both my expectations and my training programmes is something I tell my clients all the time. It’s just that much harder telling yourself.

Yesterday was the turning point. I accepted slow is better than no!

JEFFING, it’s a thing, really…

Simply put, a brilliant run-walk-run training technique created by former US Olympian Jeff Galloway. It involves alternating between set periods of running and walking, according to ability. It helps lower injury risks, reduce fatigue, and build endurance.

Perfect for someone like me. Yes, me, this member of the 1% club , who have run a marathon. Eight if we are counting! So I ran four minutes, walked one. And I exceeded my expectations. And overall ran some faster segments than expected too. The walks are done at a good pace, so your arms are swinging and used as a brief recovery period.

And I showed up for the training run. That’s the hardest part. And I actually exceeded my expectations. That’s the best part.

AND FINALLY (PHEW)…
If you’d like to sponsor me for my half marathon race on August 30th, the link is in the first comment. And thank you if you made it to the end of this post - a marathon read in itself - , just like I know I’m going to on race day! 🫶🏃🏻

I am running the Leeds Running Festival Half Marathon in Roundhay Park at the end of next month.

You know me, I love a race, but this one is a tough one. My Sjögren’s Disease is taking its toll; the joint pain, extreme dry eyes and mouth and debilitating fatigue can make some days a real challenge, but I don’t want to give in. It’s important to keep on keeping on.

Fitness is about adaptation, accepting age and/or health issues can take their toll but not mean the end of the stuff you enjoy (well, kind of enjoy!🙄)

I suspect it will be a mix of run/walking, but I intend to cover the 13.1 miles as quickly as my body will allow me to and like when I completed my first 10km distance six weeks ago, I’ll be proud I showed up.

I love a good cause and my inspiration for this race is the youth in Harrogate, not least because I love my volunteer role as a youth leader. My church is raising money for Create Space. This amazing youth initiative will add an extension on the west wing of the building to give young people aged 11-18 a designated space to hang out, make friends etc every day of the week, instead of once a week at a youth club for just a couple of hours.

Every hard mile will be worth it for such a great cause. There are few spaces for young people here, so this build will make a real difference for the youth of Harrogate.

If you’d like to sponsor me, please do, no amount is too small! Thank you so much! 🫶