For those of you who have known me for many years and followed my sporting adventures, it will come as no surprise to you that I am running the Sydney Marathon in September this year. Yes, I have run marathons before and I can honestly say that I am proud of my running achievements over the years. You might then be asking why is this marathon so special that it requires a whole Blog feed devoted to it? This blog post should answer that question.
There have been many times in my life where I have been told that I can't/shouldn't exercise and run. For example after having a third degree tear with my first child and then a Caesarean section with my second, I was warned that my pelvic floor and surrounding muscle structure may not strong enough to sustain high impact exercise. As a reasonably determined and stubborn person I was happy to prove them wrong!
Therefore, when I had an operation in 2021 to have my spine fused, I was 100% sure that I would make a full recovery and be back running within 6 months. The fusion was very successful and the surgeon was amazed how quickly I was independent and pain free post surgery. Yes, there are a few minor after effects of the surgery that still affect me now, but they are very insignificant compared to the debilitating back pain from before.
5 months after my operation in July 2021 we moved to Australia. The timing of our move was terrible in many ways, but mostly because we had just endured 18 months of lockdown restrictions in the UK and entered into the start of lockdown restrictions in Australia. This meant an extended period of enforced rest, which at the time was what I thought my body needed. I mostly followed Yoga and Pilates instructors on YouTube and went out for the occasional run. To put my exercise into perspective, heres my running totals for 2021 showing what I would usually do pre-operation to how the rest of my year looked!
Unfortunately, and unknown to me at the time, this period of enforced 'rest' coupled with the trauma of a major operation exasperated hormonal symptoms of perimenopause making getting run fit again seem impossible.
So there you have it, I am perimenopausal. This is a natural occurrence that will happen to every woman on earth. For up to 10 years until periods officially stop (menopause) a women's hormone levels start to fluctuate massively and estrogen production decreases. Despite what the media will lead you to believe, estrogen is crucial for the maintenance and health of most cells in your body including brain health, your eyes, skin, veins, muscles, tendons and bones. If your body is not naturally producing enough estrogen not only are you at serious risk of injury and long term illnesses (such as osteoarthritis and cardiovascular disease), but you can feel tired, miserable, forgetful and worthless. Unfortunately, we still live in a society where hormone replacement is not offered as standard practise to middle aged women, but antidepressants are, and we are left to navigate this phase of our lives with little information and outdated horror stories from inaccurate studies into HRT from the past. For many women of my generation we were educated by our elders to either 'get on with it', or were told that HRT is unsafe and just delays all the side effects and multiplies them when you come off it (which you don't ever actually have to!).
Thanks to people like Dr Louise Newson and Davina McCcall who are working tirelessly to educate doctors and patients in the UK, as well as campaigning to update laws and guidelines around the prescribing of HRT, I have been able to self-diagnose myself and seek out an understanding doctor on the Central Coast (Dr Shauna Watts). She is one of the growing number of GPs and experts who are following the UKs lead in perimenopausal and menopausal care. When I discussed HRT with my husband his response was this, and says a lot about the system!
'If I went to the doctor because I felt low in testosterone they would
prescribe it to me straight away, so why is it so hard for women to
get a replacement for hormones they are guaranteed to lose?'
I started HRT in 2023. There have been some improvements to my symptoms and we are still working to get the dosage right, but the rapid estrogen decline had already made its mark on my body.
When covid restrictions ended and parkrun reopened I took this as my opportunity to get back some of my lost running fitness. My mind was still thinking that I could slip out of the car 5 mins before the start, use the toilet and set off. My body had other ideas. All of a sudden running was a chore. My bones ached, my body felt stiff, I had no power or acceleration and was exhausted at the end of 5km. For months I couldn't run the whole thing and the small inclines at parkrun felt like mountains. As the months went on, my running distances did increase but the extra work I was having to put in behind the scenes (dynamic warm ups, stretching, glute strength, core work, stability and balance), was not making much difference. My feet were aching after every run, my sides hurt lying on them in bed and I generally felt rubbish.
In 2023 I managed to run the iconic 14km City to Surf in 1:14:20, which was closer to my old self, but it wasn't comfortable and I was exhausted after! I remained in denial until the start of 2024 when I decided to try and get some of my minor ailments checked out. Fast forward a few doctors appointments, ultrasounds, podiatrists and physios and it appears that as a result of declining estrogen, a long period of enforced rest and weakness from my operations, I have hip bursitis, gluteal tendonopathy, collapsed foot arches and bunions and bursitis in my feet. None of these things will stop me from running, but they don't make it comfortable or easy! If I had been offered HRT as a preventative treatment when I first saw a doctor at the age of 43 after suffering from night sweats, (perimenopause was never mentioned as a cause as I would have been considered too young and blood tests are ineffective at diagnosing hormone changes), I'm sure my body would not have suffered so much when I stopped using it as often.
When the realisation of what was going on hit me, I was filled with a sense of panic that I would never be able to run another marathon or ultra marathon again! They were my favourite events and have given me the best memories. I couldn't stand the thought of living near Sydney and never being able to run the Sydney marathon, so I signed up for this year. I am half way through my training for it and every week is getting harder and harder as the long runs increase! Running on concrete and hills are the two things that the podiatrist and physio have recommended I avoid, but I need to replicate the conditions on the day.
I'm hoping that this wont be my last road marathon, but in the back of my mind I know that it could be! I had no intention of making a big thing of it and was going to keep it quite low key so there was no expectations, but I want to fly the flag for all the middle aged women out there who are struggling with physical and mental health symptoms related to perimenopause and for all the doctors, experts, celebrities and charities that are fighting to get women the recognition and treatment they deserve if they choose to go down that route! I also want to spread the word that exercise continues to be a fundamental pillar of both physical and mental health and is one of the best medicines for many diseases. I felt first hand the deterioration in my body when I slowed down and hope that friends, family and anyone reading this will take time to make exercise an integral part of your daily routine.
As I mentioned in my previous blog post I am running the Sydney marathon for The Debbie Gaunt Foundation to support Craig, Hayley and Jack in raising awareness of the devastating mental health symptoms of undiagnosed perimenopause and their fight to enable all women to seek help and support from an empathetic GP and therapist without anti-depressants. In collaboration with The Iris Foundation (another charity supporting Women's mental health on the coast), I will be opening a fund raising page soon. I don't like asking people for help or sponsorship, but this is a cause I feel personally and strongly about.
Watch this space for a link to my fundraising page, and wish me luck...I'm off for a painful 24km run later!
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