run | Blue Runnings

23-02-15 – 3.2km

by Sarah J.

Image courtesy of Digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I left home this morning with the intention of repeating the 2.5 mile loop I did the other day in an attempt to get mile 1-2 down to below 10 min/mile, and the average time for the full route down to below 10:30min/mile. The good news? I managed this 🙂 I even managed to knock 50 seconds off the pace for the first mile with the long uphill! Similar weather conditions to the 18th when I last did this route – high headwinds up the hill at the start, but instead of being dark it was lightly snowy (and then when I got back, heavily snowy!). The bad news? I didn’t finish the route. I’d wrapped up warm having gone to bed last night and woken up this morning with a tickley throat, and got FAR too hot. I do not deal well with being too hot. I’d been in two minds whether to bother wearing a t-shirt over my thermal before covering up with my wind-proof shell – and going for this in combination with a buff, which I don’t normally wear, I started to cook. Walking back after I’d stopped my watch, I was actually a very comfortable temperature in all my layers, I was just wearing too many for running in!

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Motivation Musings

by Sarah J.

Image courtesy of Master Isolated Images at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Getting the motivation to go out for a run is really difficult sometimes – maybe I’m feeling tired, or full, or just lazy, the weather’s iffy, maybe it’s just too hard to take that first step out the door because it’s been a while since I did. There are a few things that help me kick my butt into gear again.

Motivator One: Have something to work for.

My first ever running event was the Great Women’s Run in Glasgow in May last year – and I signed onto the race as a challenge for myself before I’d tried going out running. I used to work out a lot and walk miles and miles a week, and when that filtered out when I finished uni and started work, it didn’t really occur to me how much my fitness might have deteriorated after 2.5 years… I sounded like a dying asthmatic the first time I went out – and 100 yards was a struggle. My youngest sister F was out with me for my first run and can vouch for what a terrible breather I was. But, I had committed to doing it. 10km when 0.1km was looking like a struggle. I’d put sponsorship forms up at work and all sorts. I was in for it. It was either admit to everyone I was baling, or just get on with it and get round that course if I had to be dragged on a bungee rope by my other sister who’d agreed to do it with me – and runs all the time.

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No Ego Torch Challenge – Wallington – 6.7km

by Sarah J.

Having done a torch race the night before at Gibside, I thought I knew what to expect from this one. I was wrong. I can see now why this series is called ‘No Ego’! J & I had booked in on this one as a push distance for her, and as an intermediary between the 4km J can now run comfortably and the 10k No Ego Trail in Otterburn we’re booked in for in April. There is a strong possibility that the Trail race, despite being further in distance, may actually be a step down in difficulty just because you should be able to actually see where you’re putting your feet! This one had the terrain I would expect from a muddy trail race, with the added complication of being done with the limited visibility offered by a headtorch…

The race started through the courtyard of Wallington hall and then we were off out over the grounds – slightly bumpy and soft-grounded grass which was more effort than roads to run on, but not per-say difficult, with only about 50m you were better off walking for some half-buried masonry. From here we moved onto a well-trodden woodland trail with a few minor tree roots and then onto a proper laid-down path along the river. So far so good! Next up were the woodland tracks – tree roots and tree-stumps a-plenty! Progress through here was patchy – depth perception is much harder with a torch in the dark, as the shadows are on the opposite side to you and we nearly ended up in an inelegant heap more than once!

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National Trust Night Run – Gibside – 6km

by Sarah J.

I’ve done the Gibside Great Run Local 5k route a few times, and I knew this was not going to be a flat course at all, but with it being on the doorstep – I had to give it a go. This is probably the closest organised event to my front door I’ll ever find without moving house. My suspicions about the hills were correct. I did not find this an easy course. The downhills were greatly welcomed but I confess to walking the steep or long uphills, at least partially. Not anything like a personal best but I’m really pleased I went out there and did it. I was right at the back for the first half, but was able to gain some ground and overtake some people on the hills around the 4km with my pat-pending power-walk-up-hills-instead-of-even-attempting-to-run!

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