Blue Runnings

What a month! I think this one definitely takes the biscuit for most events in a short time frame! February, March and April had 2-3 races across each month – May had a grand total of 6! I had a pretty poor (ok, very shoddy) start to the month in terms of motivation – and I think I only really got that back mid-month. If the weather stays as it is tonight however I fear I may not make it out again! It’s blowing all the trees sideways and raining worse than it did for the Sunderland 10k! Good old British summer weather. Still, at least it’s getting dark earlier with the clouds and I may put myself to bed at a reasonable time!

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Ok, so I didn’t break my knees. Let’s just own up to that little fib right now. And there are no other stories. You were brought here under false pretences. Whatcha gonna do. Have a cup of tea and a banana bread muffin. Maybe watch the birdies. We could play scrabble or monopoly!

Anyway! I wanted to do another double-figure mileage run before Liverpool in a fortnight – and this was probably my last week to do so. I was feeling pretty good this morning so off I went in my shiny trainers to pootle along the Derwent Walk. I decided this time instead of taking the car to the pub at the start, I would try running down from the church and past the Dene and try and drop onto it from there as this is likely the route I would take if I were cycling home (if and when I ever decide to risk this! I have obtained a cycle helmet, but as of yet have not sat on a bike for many years).

Firstly, I would like to note this is a horrible hill – it’s ok going down but it’s long and drops right down to the top of Ebchester – and having done it in both directions, it is no fun at all coming back up! It was sunny and slightly windy on my way out the door, but knowing I wouldn’t be walking for long at the start and the Derwent Walk is very sheltered, I didn’t bother taking any windproofs or long sleeves or other such paraphenalia. I’d nosied on the interwebs and seen that if I followed the path until I hit about 10.6km, I’d be at a nice big viaduct and could then turn round and go back – the full distance being a half marathon. I knew it was unlikely I’d jog any of the hill at the end – but I wanted to see how far I could get.

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My intention was to get up and go for a run as far as I could manage on the towpaths along the River Wey, taking advantage of the fact that my Dad had agreed to pick me up from wherever I happened to end up, and hoping to be able to get some double figure miles in. The thing that got in the way, was the weather. My logic was, make hay while the sun shines not too hotly. 08:15 in the morning, having been out about 5 minutes, and already I was dry-mouthed, sweaty and too hot – and desperate to make it to the river side where there might be a chance of shade. It’s the first time in ages I’ve needed a drink or a walking break in a less than 5km distance – and I don’t normally take water even for a 10km anymore.

The water in itself was a necessary nuisance at the start – I also don’t normally take anything at all with me if I can help it other than my watch, or I take my small waistband thing for races to put my keys and phone in, sometimes dextrose tablets. Expecting to do a longer distance, I’d taken my bigger one with the water bottle holder – and with a full bottle of water, a bigger phone than normal, and three gel sachets in it felt really heavy compared with how I remember – and was bouncing like crazy as I tried to jog along, it was not doing my stomach any favours! I got it clamped around my waist securely finally about the 2km mark, and once my water bottle was half empty it was ok.

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Well, I’m not quite ready to go out and order my Austin Powers outfit and disco ball, but I’m feeling a bit more back in the game and have some of the determination to get out back – just in time as my half marathon is in 3 weeks on Sunday! We just booked the hotel – I’m praying there’s still parking available when we get there…still, we have a bed and there will be breakfast!

I’m trying to get back into doing a run or two around P’s shifts – before picking him up after days or after dropping him off for the night shift – which is quite do-able particularly with it being so light at the moment. Will be much trickier in the winter, but fingers crossed that’s a while off! I met J at the river – this is the first run she’s been on for 2 weeks with travelling, except for Gelt Gladiator, which sits in an exercise category all its own. My original plan had been to go down to the bridge and back, but not really sure what pace we’d do, we decided to run for 20 mins along the footpath, and then turn around and come back – we actually hit the bridge in 22 mins so both plans worked to the same effect! We did a total of 6km in 45 mins, and the sun even came out! It was grey and drizzley when I left work, as though testing me to see if I actually would go out as I had intended, and then decided to reward me for this with sunshine and warmth. So we both finished up rather sweaty. I’m sure the more ladylike version is ‘glowing’, but usually this means I feel like I’m glowing like a pig in muck…I don’t really do ladylike! This was an evening run too – may have to stick to evenings and first thing in the morning for July to September! The weather doesn’t seem likely to get much cooler…

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Well, I don’t know where the time went, but it’s Gelt Gladiator day! Having not done a huge amount (read: any) prep for it in the last few weeks, I have only my last few preparations to share – how I manage will have to come later…

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You may have noticed a lack of posts lately…this is because I only post something when I’ve done some form of exercise or have some nuggets of gear-related information I want to bore the internet with. Ergo…I haven’t been doing much the last few weeks. At the tail end of April, I started really feeling just generally sapped in terms of my exercise levels and wasn’t finding it easy to motivate myself to go out, particularly for the longer distances I wanted to hit for my half marathon build-ups. It’s now under 5 weeks until I head to Liverpool, and I really need to find my stride again. Literally.

For most of this year I’ve found running to be a welcome break from, well, everything really. It’s been my me-time when work’s been busy and very changeable, my self-esteem booster as I feel fitter and a great way to meet new people after moving to a new area. Lately however I’ve only found it to be a chore. I don’t want to go out, and when I do push myself to I feel like I’ve got lead in my trainers and just want to get it over with more because I need to go than because I want to.

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Another month disappeared! April has at least been a good month from a pushing one’s self perspective – I’ve run further and faster than I’ve done previously. My previous longest run was the Thirsk 10 in March, which took me 1:53:33 to do the 10 miles/16km. This month on a training run I covered 11miles/18km in 1:57:12 which I’m really pleased with 🙂 I haven’t done either of those distances since…13km being my longest for the last 2.5 weeks but it’s important to stick to the positives for fitness 😉

I’ve also come my closest yet to hitting a sub-60 min 10k at the Tyneside 10k, coming in at 1:02:04. Maybe this month I’ll get it…I have high hopes for the Great Manchester Run…just need to get back into training again 🙂

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