How a decade of partying and ultra running prepared me for cancer.
In my teens and twenties I really liked to party!
Gen X. We are the lost generation. Happily, my teenage years and 20s are not documented on social media. I spent a lot of it drunk or hungover.
Little did I realise that a decade of partying would set me up so well for my future cancer self! From before I could legally drink, I loved to party. As a teenager and in my early 20s, I actively enjoyed ‘getting wasted’. I don’t think it was a problem. I think it was normal. It was just what we did for fun in the UK in the 90’s.
Shots and cocktails. Excellent.
But I learnt a very important lesson. How to feel shit and still function. At university, I would never get headache hangovers. I got puking ones. I’m not particularly proud but I have thrown up in a lot of places. And learned to control my vomming. I figured out exactly when to add little sips of electrolyte drinks. Which stomach settling foods worked best for me. I developed the ability to get up and get on with it, even though I felt close to death.
My party days took me from university to doing seasons in the French Alps. I’m still here, 25 years later.
By my late 20s, I’d calmed down a lot. I would play hard, living ‘healthily’ and doing a lot of exercise. But at night, there would still be apres ski beers, wine with dinner and winding up in night clubs, drinking shots, on a regular basis. The odd horrific hangover.
I discovered trail running and road biking around the same time. As I got older and better at these new sports, my competitive side came out. I wanted to go further, faster. It turned out I was quite good at it. I started placing in competitions.
I discovered trail running and realised that I was quite good at it.
Boozing gave way to longer and longer runs. I thought nothing of disappearing into the mountains on an eight hour mission. Endurance and playing a long game became integral to my life. I loved the freedom, the adventure, the travel. I have run all over the world.
In my early 30s, I completely (almost completely!) changed my outlook and retrained in the fitness industry. I stopped partying. Except for very special occasions, of course.
With time, I got better and better at running long distances. It takes many years to become truly endurance fit. Even in my late 30s, I was still improving. I could push my body harder than most people. I trained hard. I was determined and patient. I had no idea that these skills would come into their own in the future, when I got cancer.
Cancer treatment is like a combination of both partying and endurance sport. It takes a long time. Years. It makes you feel absolutely dreadful. Worse than my worst hangover. But not that much worse. I’d say comparable.
Cancer treatment is like training for an endurance event. It takes years.
As an athlete, I have developed discipline. I understand the idea that the work I put in now will reap rewards in the future. I understand the importance of doing the boring stretches to help recover from surgery and prevent injury. I get how frustrating it is to feel your fitness going backwards. As an athlete, I have been injured and bounced back. I’ve been pregnant and bounced back. It’s frustrating but I’ve learnt to trust my body, trust the process and play the long game.
3 weeks after finishing chemo, I rode 100km. Thanks to 2 decades of training!
I am eternally grateful for my party days and my sport days for teaching me what I needed to know to get me through cancer treatment. No regrets!
I’m excited to see what the next phase will bring. I’m moving out of the trenches of mumming. It’s time for a decade of ‘new me’. Bring her on!