No stomach pain is a runner’s gain

Health is your wealth. When you feel good, anything is possible. After suffering for two years with a gut infection, to run pain free is such a pleasure. When you think pushing up hills is tough, it’s not compared to stomach pain.

When you think your legs cannot go any further, they can compared to when you run a marathon with no fuel, only sips of water, surrounded by friends gulping gels, jelly babies and Lucozade. Then you get offered the sugar and need it so badly but it’s not a good idea; the temptation is like teasing kids with Skittles.

When you think you have hit the wall in an ultra-event, you haven’t compared to when feeling sick trying to race. When you are not feeling well but know a tough hard run will do you good, you persevere, you complete the task, you feel better afterwards and that is the reward.

The running helps clear the mind from the stress and worry of wondering will you be okay. It kills the stomach acid – temporarily of course – and it eases the bloatedness, resulting in that feel good factor. After that, you can enjoy some delights and the simple things in life because when you have an infection, it is attacking the body, and the body has to find ways to overcome the bug.

Many people offer advice but everyone is different and one must find what works. Sometimes the mind is stronger than the body and if the mind says I am okay, I will be okay and you push through the discomfort. When you are busy, you just keep going because if you stop, you have time to think, you have time to feel and you have time to realise what’s going on. To keep going is easier. It tires one out but one can sleep. Doctors can only tell us what they currently know. Sometimes infections are a step ahead of medicine. What killed some bugs a few years ago isn’t working now and so if you don’t feel well, don’t wait to get seen, early diagnosis is key; it’s then easier to fight the illness and kill the infections.

I am no expert but I have learnt a lot and everyone is different; every day brings new insights, new beginnings, new hope. With sport, when you are part of a team the team depends on you. You love it and so you turn up. No matter what the suffering is, if you are able you are there.

The thing about a gut issue for athletes is your legs and arms are fine and so you can perform. One must look at the positives, control the controllables and once one finds what works, religiously stick to it. Yes, sometimes it might be boring. Yes, sometimes it might be plain. But if it prevents pain, I will take boring any day.

There are many, many athletes that we watch each and every day; we admire, criticise, comment and form opinions; each and every one will have a bad day. We might or might not know what’s going on but they turn up, they give it everything, they don’t complain or look for sympathy because no one is going to win for you. It’s ultimately up to you.

You watch the footballer with the hamstring taped up by kinesiology tape, and how hard it is to run fast and kick a ball using the kicking muscle that might tear. It’s strapped but you know that strain is there, trying to run fast but also minding the leg. To keep moving is easier. If one stops it’s too hard to get going again.

One pushes through, but then there’s another match and more training. The young lad who has hurt his knee but is determined to tog out, so upset at the thought of not playing, and the parent trying to do the right thing, thinking of the future and avoiding damage. You bring him to physio, it’s working miracles, lessons are learnt. Don’t do too much, stop when things feel sore.

We have that inner drive, that will to succeed, but balancing recovery with training is key. The youth of today are ever so determined to succeed, to play, to excel. We as parents can get consumed in all of this. We can get into the flow of a cycle of training for weeks with no break. Lots of kids are playing different sports on different evenings and no communication between the varying disciples. With summer programmes in school, they are performing day and night. We need to be mindful of the workload, we need to make rest time fun, we need to prioritise nutrition and sleep because they are only young, their bones and muscles are growing fast and developing.

We then need to mind ourselves as athletes. If we want to continue, we need to sleep, eat and rest well.

When I was young we grew up listening to “them bones, them bones need calcium”, I don’t know many that drink milk today. We are then encouraged to drink chocolate milk, protein shakes and anything else that costs money, that will magically make our muscles recover quicker.

If we have chicken we don’t need shakes, if we have porridge we don’t need cereal bars. It’s easier said than done though. We live in an extremely busy world, consumed by commercialism, and so stopping at the deli is easier than cooking. Our youth of today are growing up in an era where eating out is a daily occurrence and the kitchen table is set with technology not cutlery.

Lots of people today suffer terrible conditions, it is about finding a way, it is the inner strength to get up, get on with it as best you can and fight against the demon if you can find a path. I firmly believe our gut controls everything and when our gut isn’t happy, neither are we. Whatever one must do or give their bodies during this time, is allowed, because sometimes what the body craves it needs. We’re told to eat lots of fruit and vegetables everyday but some people cannot tolerate large volumes of certain foods and therefore must amend their habits to get through their day. We’re told sugar is bad but for some, sugar is needed.

Stress, of course, angers our bodies and minds. It aggravates the stomach, it makes it churn; look at all our students studying for their exams and how important it is to eat healthily. For some this is hard, sometimes they need some nice treats to make them feel good and to stay awake. They do not need stress and so whatever makes them feel good and stay well is a must. To see the smile when surrounded by books, to see the light on at all hours with Red Bull in the hand, to see them walking to the bus with coffee and after all this the exam went well. Sometimes we must break all rules to get through the challenge.

This is similar to the world of running and fuelling. We’re all sold gels, Lucozade, protein powder, caffeine, sweets, fuel bars to mention just a few. When one is limited because the gut cannot tolerate it, one must find an inner strength to train the body to keep moving to overcome the wall, to find something that will work. With each month passing you gradually get better and there eventually becomes an end line in sight, where you know what you can tolerate, what you can stomach (literally) and what you can enjoy and most certainly, what you cannot. Athletes of all builds, backgrounds, disciplines, spend weeks figuring out what works and doesn’t work and it is when this all comes together they excel. Sports teams have nutritionists, dieticians, cooks and bakers, but a one-fit plan does not fit all and this is where the experts are needed, this is where the advice is key.

Sometimes you get up on a Monday and things just begin to work; you feel good, you have an endless energy and you want to do what you love; to play your sport discomfort free. With the long distance events the most challenging on the stomach, one is working harder for longer, and when one feels good you go for it. I’m off to Tullaroan, a village in the western part of Co Kilkenny in the Slieveardagh Hills near the Tipperary border. I’m heading to the heart of GAA territory, with Tullaroan being the most successful GAA club in Kilkenny, having won the county senior hurling championship title 20 times, and finalists on eleven more occasions. Having played football for all my younger days, I am beyond excited, these people are legends.

An evening out to celebrate the summer holidays. A short night, sunset not until late. There is something wonderful about sitting outdoors on a beautiful summer’s night, under a bright sky, where the laughter flows, where the company is a pleasure, and the night is young.

The car is packed for the morning adventure, the celebrating continues. I see the sunrise across Knockma and it sets me off on the journey to Tullaroan. We’ve been warned as their slogan says ‘Tullaroan hills gave me thrills’; we will be climbing from miles two to six and eight to 11.

Today I don’t mind. No stress exists, no stomach burning or churning, no endless to-do lists, only miles of beauty on country roads, in beautiful, June sunshine. We arrive to a small village, the local shop, pub, church and GAA pitch all open, providing toilets, supplies and a welcome before the endurance event ahead. I don’t know how I am today, but after a long drive the body so far feels good and that’s all that matters.

We take off, a beautiful sunshine beams, over the hills up ahead, the local contractors pausing their silage cutting for us to run freely through the narrow boreens of Tullaroan. Sweets, water and support outside every house we pass; I enjoy, we climb, we push and climb even more but the atmosphere, the sense of community, the pride, the parish, all pushes us on. I feel brilliant, I feel alive, I run up for miles, down for some, overtake a few and push hard for home.

First lady home, I am thrilled, yes it’s nice to win, it’s a fantastic feeling, but most of all the stomach didn’t talk to me today, it didn’t growl. It allowed me to run hard but it felt easy, because pain makes things harder. The Tulloroan hills certainly gave me thrills today.

Here’s to many more fantastic sporting adventures where our athletes feel good, where the body is able and where everyone that’s fighting through their own discomfort finds a path to travel through.