Fitness

Before I had a stoma I had completed half a dozen ultramarathons and it had my favourite race distance but when I had surgery in January 2019 I wasn’t sure how having a stoma would affect running those distances.

In early December a challenge appeared on my radar called The Longest Night and I instantly signed up. I had heard of the other challenge that was held back in June called The Longest Day where runners would head out on the hour, every hour for 24 hours during the longest day of the year. The format was going to be the same but most of the runs would be taking part in darkness.

On paper, running 24 miles in 24 hours doesn’t sound that difficult and is easily achievable but breaking down that distance over 24 hours may be a different thing altogether.

Thanks to a prompt from Colostomy UK, I discovered that today is National Fitness Day – “the most active day of the year” – and with a run already planned on my training schedule, I was all geared up to take part.

It’s been six weeks since I took the decision to start running again and it’s been great to be back out running on a regular basis. I’m taking things relatively easy with 5k/10k runs at varying paces and the odd trail run. So how have things been going?

After 16 months of dealing with a chronic Ken Butt wound, both physically and mentally, it was time for me to try running again regardless of whether the wound has healed or not. The wound was constantly on my mind and affecting me mentally so I needed to try and find a balance of managing it whilst getting back into running.

66 days for Ostomates to walk, run, and dance their way to 66,000km. That is the new challenge launched by Colostomy UK to help promote fitness for those that have undergone stoma surgery.

First Crohn’s stopped me from running, and then a stoma gave me a new lease of life. Now, the ongoing issues with the Ken Butt have scuppered things again.