Inspiration

Today I have been watching the London Marathon. As usual I am full of intention to take part. As usual I am full of reasons why I can't. As usual I fully intend to break down these barriers and perhaps the time has come to actually put my fear s to rest.

So many people overcome their barriers and achieve this dream of mine, hopefully one day soon I will too.

One of my reasons for not taking part is that I really do not think that I could run that far. The furthest I have ever run is 11 km, which is 6.83 miles and I haven't done that for a long time. I do keep trying to go further but Meniere's usually gets in the way of my training, so maybe since Meniere's appears to be in a new phase and has been less intrusive on my life this year maybe this barrier has already been crossed.

I also have a fear of being on my own at the finish line. I actually don't mind how long it would take me to complete, but I would mind if all the crowd had gone home and the traffic had started to join me, that must happen at some point? Of course I would like to do it in a reasonable time. My current running schedule is focussing on trying to improve my times, I am managing to knock some seconds off and indeed this morning's run saw a route completed with a 1 minute and 6 second improvement. If I can just get over the intense nausea that occurs with this extra effort then perhaps this barrier is also being overcome.

A third fear is just how on earth do you get to the right place at the right time and how do you find your partner at the end and what happens if something happens to you along the way, how do you let people know where you are, where are the loos? See problems, problems! I suspect a look on the internet would help with sorting out all of these questions.

I'm going to break this huge conundrum down; I will not be taking part in the London marathon, nor any other marathon next year, but I am aiming to take part in the Taunton Marathon, I wonder if I need to apply yet? I wonder if my dream will come true before I hit 50...

A very big congratulations to each and every competitor in today's Marathon, I take my hat off to you all.

Today...

...was possibly not going to be a good day.

But it did start well, I took 3 minutes off my time for a 7K route I did last week. What I don't understand is how can a route be shorter when done anti-clockwise as against run clockwise? Because of the side of the road you run, facing oncoming traffic, the anti-clockwise route must be further? Not according to my ipod and not by much but this is something that does baffle me!

Happy Easter

Cheese, ham, beef, crusty bread, butter, G & T, trio of pork, croquet potatoes, merlot, chocolate ice cream, bacon, poached egg, baked beans, mushrooms, toast, butter, marmalade, cheese, ham, chips, pinot grigio, chocolate ice cream, pinot grigio, trio of duck, strawberry ice cream, pinot grigio, bacon, poached egg, baked beans, mushrooms, toast, butter, marmalade, fish and chips, Easter egg = far too many calories during a lovely weekend spent with my better half at Brixham in Devon.

ipod, trainers, running kit, nike+ chip, music, lane, hill, lane, hill, woodland track, stream jump, lane, sprint finish, home, lots of water = the first of many runs taken this week in order to remove the excesses of the weekend!  

Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow

I did not want to get out of bed this morning, I wanted to finish the book I am reading. It was cold and wet and I felt tired. However, my current goal is to run every other day throughout April, so I gradually got myself ready until I could no longer delay going out of the door.

Last night I was thinking about how I am going to increase my running speed. I really do want to take part in the Taunton half marathon next year, or at least before I hit 50. I don't mind at all that if I find it possible to run the distance it will be in a fairly slow time, but I don't want to be so far at the back that all spectators have given up on waiting for me to cross the line and gone home.

Ali and I have discussed how we can achieve this and are open to suggestions. Obviously at some point you just have to push yourself and put more effort in but surely with the correct training you can build stamina and sustain the faster speed over distance? Whilst thinking about all this the phrase slow, slow, quick, quick, slow popped into my head therefore today's run was going to follow this pattern.

Lana Del Rey was very obliging and she picked up the tempo perfectly for track 3 and my pace quickened to a very pleasing 5:53 per km, I've no if that's good, it is for me. A slight downhill section helped keep me going through track 4 but I was delighted when track 5 started and I could return to my normal and much slower pace. Unfortunately all the effort for the resulting speed left me feeling very sick and I spent the rest of the 7k round trip feeling dreadfully sick. Unwell to the point of thinking oh heck I feel so bad I don't think I shall be able to make my lunch date today. I soldiered on and managed once more to pick up a little speed for the next 2 faster tracks, although nowhere near my original spurt. I ended up walking 2 very short barely uphill sections and am delighted to say I managed a sprint finish.

I eagerly fired up my Mac, plugged in my ipod and logged into Nike+ to upload the data. I also keep a chart myself and looked back at my times for this given route and was bitterly disappointed to discover that I had taken an extra three minutes to complete the route.

I will try again. I hope that eventually the faster running sections will get longer. Most of all I hope that I don't feel sick.  

Calculations, calibrations and counting calories

I had an acceptable ipod, it worked fine, it was getting a bit tricky to switch off but even though it was about 7 years old I didn't have any plans to upgrade it. Then it was brought to my attention (thank you Ali) that Apple were recalling certain ipods as some of the batteries were overheating. Luckily for me my serial number was accepted and after an uncertain wait of a few weeks I took delivery of a brand new and very pretty ipod.

This one is smaller and has a touch screen and I immediately went online to find myself a wrist strap to clip it onto. I had never manage to calibrate my old ipod and was determined this time to do so. Yesterday I measured one mile exactly in my car and treated myself to a very short run this morning. I have a new start/finish line at the bottom of my very steep drive and although I didn't want to run too hard I set off in beautiful sunshine and was soon at my stopping point where I discovered that I had done it wrong! Never mind I had to get home again and that would mean another mile.

My next run will be Wednesday morning, I haven't decided on my route yet but it will be interesting to see how far out my recordings pre calibration were.

I also decided that today is the first day of my get back on track diet. I have put on a solid stone, or maybe a wobbly one over the last couple of years and although I've always been a curvy girl I want to get back to how my size 10s were feeling then rather than how they feel now! I'm going to haver to keep myself busy, busy, busy!

 

Roger, over and out

Today's run has been in the planning for many months.

Sometime last year Ali and I registered with Park Run at Killerton in Devon. One thing after another prevented us from taking part but this year Ali started following a training program and she has really cracked this running lark. I have spent many a Saturday morning crawling out of bed to meet up with Ali in all winds and weathers to share her training sessions. She has steadily built her run/walk ratios and can now run steadily for 30 minutes.  

We were going to Park Run a fortnight ago, but bad weather put us off as we knew part of the course was over grass and neither of us fancied taking a tumble. We rescheduled for this week, then had to cancel due to injury  but then yesterday at work I was delighted to receive a text from Ali saying "Let's do it." So we did.

I was late leaving home, something to do with having to leave earlier than on a work day and it being the first day of my holiday! I collected Ali and she was very nervous. I had forgotten what a first race feels like and although I kept reassuring her that all would be fine she was indeed scared. We chatted nineteen to the dozen all the way there, just as we always do. On arrival we decided to get our bearings, find the loo, find the start and find the runners. Finding the loo was easy, looking for the start we found the finish and the runners were mostly running. Although real runners call this warming up we call it silly, we need to save our energy for the race after all 5K is a long way!

We made our way to almost the top of a steep rise to the start line and then we both got the collywobbles. I couldn't hear the girl giving instructions, we had no idea what to do with our registration codes and I couldn't even see which direction we were supposed to go in! Just as I was saying to Ali that I thought we ought to make our way a bit further back from the front we all took off.

Ali and I found our place at the back and followed at our own pace. The views were beautiful, the birds were singing and although it was cold, conditions were perfect. Ali was worrying me though, she was gasping for breath, I think the sudden start panicked her, we slowed down and I tried to take her mind off the running by prattling on about anything that popped into my head. We were blessed with a gentle downhill section and gradually Ali got into a comfortable pace and looking at our Nike+ details after we were actually going at a fair lick.

This trail was right up my street, comfortable under foot, great scenery, gentle ups and downs. We didn't find being at the back of the pack a bad place to be either. We were doing the run, we were going to finish the run, we weren't competing against anybody else, we were just enjoying it.

Everybody was brilliant, fellow runners happy to tell us what to do, where to go, the marshals were happy and chatty and Roger was especially encouraging. Roger was mine sweeper today and after about half way he joined us for a while with words of encouragement and tales of his running exploits. He didn't make us feel we should get a move on and when he stopped to close gates behind us he allowed us a few minutes to get ahead before rejoining us once more.

The best bit, the home run of course. I love to sprint finish, I love the buzz, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to contain myself and I really did intend to run with Ali for the whole race. I had mentioned to her about finishing with a sprint so as we got a bit nearer to the finish I suggested she should sprint, she did, first she went a bit quicker then a lot quicker and with me and Roger whooping and hollering behind  we hammered down to the finish line!

We did it!

Well done Ali, I am so very very proud of you.

Thank you Roger, it was so lovely to meet you.

And now, we are officially on the Park Run results list, mentioned as first timers and have a time to beat!

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/killerton/results/latestresults

Until next time, over and out x

All in a day...

06.00 - wide awake
08.30 - runny nose, splitting headache, aches and pains and almost texted Ali to cancel after work run but realised she wouldn't have her bike to get home!
12.15 - hungry, very hungry, nearly texted Ali to say forget the run tonight let's just go to The Harvester for scampi and chips, but didn't!
15.20 - schools out, thank goodness, I'm exhausted.
17.00 - went to collect Ali from work deliberately leaving purse at home and with every intention of telling her we would have to walk along the canal as I'm not feeling special.
17.33 - set off towards Bridgwater very happy that I had double long sleeve layers on!
18.14 - 3.24 miles completed, and yes we ran all the way!
20.15 - cold, splitting headache and sore throat.