A poll of the general public revealed that 53% of people have never heard of sarcoma and only 26% knew it was a cancer. Our editor Alice Snape has been working on a very special online photographic exhibition ‘Sarcoma and You’ to raise awareness about this rare cancer of the bone and soft tissue.
Each portrait in the Sarcoma and You series captures the effects of sarcoma cancer and body image, featuring some of the sarcoma community. #sarcomaandyou Instagram : Sarcoma and you Photos by Alison Romanczuk / Words by Alice Snape
“Having cancer never made me hate my body, but having a baby has truly made me realise how amazing it is – it has fought my sarcoma and grown a mini human!”
“It’s the day before my first ever half marathon race and I don’t feel (too) scared (yet). I am more excited than nervous at the moment… I have trained as much as I can. I have been running four times a week, including one long run a week. The farthest distance so far being 13.7 miles (the half marathon is 13.1), and last Saturday I ran 10 miles. I have practised what runners call ‘hydration and nutrition’ on long runs. I have used gels (strange, gloopy things to give you energy while running) and swigged bits of water from a teeny tiny running bottle that fits in my pocket…
“I start my pre-race day with an 8am hot yoga class, to stretch out my limbs. And I work on the latest issue of Things&Ink all day (The Anatomy Issue, which is due out at the end of February, it goes to print next week eek)… eating healthy meals along the way. For lunch, my sister (Things&Ink stylist) Olivia makes us a cauliflower and tuna bake… this involves cutting up broccoli, cauliflower, red onions, tomatoes, tuna and feta, and baking it all together in the oven – delish. My best friend (and Things&Ink makeup artist) Keely is also running the half marathon, so we have a pre-race dinner together and I stay over at her house, so we can go together in the morning (and calm each other’s nerves). Over our salmon fishcakes, sweet potato wedges (good pre-race carbs) and broccoli, we chat about how much our lives have changed – a Saturday night of last summer would have consisted of (a lot of) wine and possibly a cheeky couple of ciggies (I haven’t smoked now since last July). Oh how we’ve changed. We go to bed at 11pm, after watching repeats of Dinner Date (rock ‘n’ Roll).”
The Watford Half Marathon Course – looking at the course before you race is so nerve-wracking… it looks so far!
“Alarm goes off at 6.45am, we have to leave at 7.30am to get to race HQ at 9am to collect our numbers and timing chips. I don’t want to get out of bed, and curse myself for this crazy, healthy new lifestyle (it’s sooooo early for a Sunday, surely most sane people are in bed?!). Breakfast consists of gluten free granola, almond milk, blueberries, banana, a coconut water and a coffee. And Keely and I plan our route to Watford and make sure we have everything we need – gels, TomTom Runner watch, ear warmers and gloves… Of course we’re already dressed in our running gear.
Gotta rock the faux fur, even just before a half marathon. At race HQ they called us the “furry runners”
“When we arrive, we’re overwhelmed by all the professional looking runners – this definitely isn’t a fun charity run… there’s leggings and teeny shorts everywhere, and some seriously fit-looking people. Keely and I are wearing our faux furs when we arrive, and we can feel people starring at us. We seem a little out of place against all the sports gear – like (tattooed, faux furry) fish out of water. We collect our timing chips and numbers and settle into race HQ (a tent in the park with chairs). We decide we don’t want to check our handbags and faux furs into the baggage store until the last minute (it’s FREEZING and all the runners in shorts and vests are making us feel even colder). While we’re waiting for the 10.30am start, we chat to an interesting lady (who we guessed was around 80) who tells us of her many marathons, and how we shouldn’t concentrate too much on how fast we’re running, just how we feel and to enjoy it – running as fast as feels comfortable on the day. We agree, and decide it’s time to head to the start line (with a quick stop off at the porta-loos), the nerves are really starting to set in.
“The gun sounds, and we’re pretty far back from the start line, we must cross it around two and a half minutes into the race. We start jogging at a slow-ish pace, it’s pretty crowded (there’s 1,700 people running). The first couple of miles we’re all so close to each other, and it feels strange running with so many people. I miss the solitariness of my early morning runs. By mile four, the crowds are clearing a little as everyone gets into their own pace. Keely and I split then too and decide we want to run our own races.
“The Watford course is unexpectedly beautiful, and we wind around country roads. But what I totally hadn’t bargained for was the hills. The course is intensely hilly, and it feels like it’s more up than down. People were walking all around me and I was trying to stay motivated and keep on running, but it was so hard. I was running so slowly up each hill (there may have been some swearing too, sorry Mum). And the hills just kept on coming… even when the race marshalls said it was the last difficult hill, I didn’t believe them. (They definitely lied to keep us motivated). For the most part, I really didn’t enjoy it. It was a really tough challenge. But there were some simple pleasures along the way. I tried to take in the countryside and enjoy the (what felt like very few) downhill stretches (although even these were a little scary as one was so steep it felt like I was on a rollercoaster and I might topple over at any moment.) I also enjoyed some of the signs people made to cheer us on, my favourite reading: Toenails are overrated. I thought of my battered and bruised tootsies. I also enjoyed a fellow runner telling me I had “good form”. I felt some light relief at the end when the marshalls said there were just 500 metres remaining and I could see the finish line, but I just had no power left in my legs. I normally try and speed up at the end, but I had nothing left to give.
Crossing the finish line and trying to smile…
“As I crossed the finish line, the girl next to me said: “That was the worst two hours of my life, and I didn’t enjoy any of it.” I didn’t totally disagree, but I knew secretly that I wouldn’t feel this way later. I collected my medal, finisher t-shirt and gulped down some water. And went to try and find Keely. We hugged and high-fived: we did it. I managed to complete the course in two hours 15 mins, five minutes slower than I had wanted, but I blame the hills.”
Over the finish line and still smiling in our medals and runner tees… makeup artist Keely and editor Alice.
“Later, we had Sunday lunch (which tasted amazing), nothing tastes better after a tough and long run. And later that night, over a glass of wine, we mulled over our achievement. Even though straight after the race we vowed we would never, ever, run that course again, we’re already changing our minds and talking about beating our own times next year… and I guess that’s why we love running, the pain is short lived, and we soon forget the hills. We just bathe in the after-glow of our own personal little victories (remembering that this time last year 5k was a struggle and I never really dreamed I could run for over two hours without stopping!)… and start planning the next chunk of our marathon training, next week 16 miles? Well, we’ll see how it goes… There’s a long way to go.”
Me in my new running gear, taken at Christmas at my parent’s house in the midlands.
Editor Things&Ink editor Alice Snape is currently in training for the London Marathon 2015, she’s running for Sarcoma UK. Read more in her first Marathon diary entry.
Part two of my marathon diary – and it’s just a short entry documenting an early morning run…
Monday morning, 19 January 2015: It’s 7am, and I am forcing myself to go for a run before a freelance shift at Hello! magazine.
I am already awake as my alarm sounds at 6.15am. I lay in bed for 10 minutes visualising myself running outside in the cold. I try to figure out if I have the energy to run, can I be bothered? It’s so early. I try to remember how much I love running, and the after buzz that sets me up for the rest of the day ahead. It’s this that makes me get out of bed (even though I would definitely rather stay under the duvet with my hot water bottle).
I go to the kitchen – it’s still dark outside… I have a pre-run banana, spoonful of peanut butter and a cup of earl grey tea… As I watch BBC breakfast and and do my warm-up stretches, I hope it might get light before I leave the house – it doesn’t. I dress in my running thermals and manage to set off at 7am… I always have a few pre-run butterflies in my stomach, even if I know I won’t be out for long.
I only want to do a short run, but I manage to set off at a good pace – for me a really good pace is a 9-minute mile – and I really feel like my lungs are working hard. I struggle for the first ten minutes as I get into stride. As I run into mile 2, I try and assess my body, how each part feels, which muscles are straining and how my feet feel. I decide I feel strong and keep up the pace. My body feels warm, even though the air is freezing cold.
I run through the streets of Brixton, although I decide not to run my usual round of Brockwell Park – it looked too dark and scary. So I wind round a few different streets and end with a lap of Ruskin Park – which is just round the corner from my house. The sun is finally coming up by this point and it is starting to get light.
I complete five miles, and by the end I am happy – I run the last ten minutes at a slightly slower pace. My cheeks are red, I am sweating and I know I will feel an after-run glow for the rest of the day. I do a cool-down walk to my house, and complete some stretches before I get showered and ready for the day ahead.
Read part one of My Marathon Diary to find out why I am running for the cancer charity Sarcoma UK. And please sponsor me on my justgiving page. More updates coming soon, as I build up my longer runs. Wish me luck.
Part 1 of Things&Ink editor Alice Snape’s Marathon Diary…
Around three weeks ago, I got the news that I had been waiting for… I had been accepted to run the London Marathon 2015 for the cancer charity Sarcoma UK …
My heart filled with a mix of excitement, fear and happiness. Excitement, as running the marathon has always been one of those things I want to achieve, and fear, as I have never run close to that distance in my life. I have slowly been building my fitness levels over the past five months, and really enjoying the benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle. But a marathon is a whole new level entirely and I am ready for the challenge (I hope). It feels like the right time to do it and for a charity that is very close to my heart.
Let me tell you a little bit about why I applied to run the London Marathon for Sarcoma UK. My boyfriend’s sister, Katherine, died from Sarcoma over three years ago, in fact she died just a few short months before James and I met. James and his mum, Glenys, support the work of Sarcoma UK to help other families who are affected by Sarcoma. I never knew Katherine, although over the years that James and I have been together, I have slowly learnt more about her – what sort of person she was and her likes and dislikes. In some way, I guess I want to fundraise for Sarcoma to pay tribute to Katherine, who I never met, but so wish I could have. This is also the reason, why I chose to give all the profits from ‘Miniature Ink’ (the collaborative exhibition with Atomica gallery to celebrate Things&Ink’s two year birthday) to the charity.
But on a very selfish level, I also want to run the marathon, I want to see if I can physically achieve it. To see if I can run the entire distance and do it in a time that I can feel proud of… I am currently on week 3 of the official London Marathon training plan, and I am enjoying being competitive with myself. Beating my own times, and gradually building up the time and distance I can run. (I recently downloaded the RunKeeper app and completely obsessed with miles per minute and figuring out what my “race pace” might be).
So I am running this marathon for Katherine, for James and his mum, for those who are affected by Sarcoma, to support the work of this wonderful charity and, mostly, for myself, because I want to say I have ran a marathon, and also because I want to say that I ran it for Sarcoma UK. So please give as little or as much as you can, so that I can think of all those pennies when I am doing training runs in the cold and dark over winter… Here’s a link to my justgiving page.
I will be keeping you all updated on how my training is going over the coming months in ‘My Marathon Diary’ on this blog, so please offer words of support and encouragement…
