What a day!

Still on a high after the Lincoln 10k.  Wow.  What a brilliant day.  The sun shone and I actually got to wear my shorts for the first time this year. Yes I didn't think anyone else would be wearing bright orange shorts.  And I was right.  You've been Tango-ed.  It was perfect.  I was very smiley as I joined the sub-60 section this year as opposed to the 60 plus section like last year.  It is an incredible feeling to line up with 4500 runners, pretty sobering in fact.

The race went well.  For me it was all about running the whole distance in order to put away the demons of last year.  It was very uplifting to see familiar faces round the route and that always gives you a boost just when you need it.  I finished in 59:16 which puts me under the hour yet again.  Whe-hay! And a very impressive medal too.

Happy Birthday!

Yay! Tomorrow is the Lincoln 10k race which makes it one year since last year's which was my first ever 10k race.  Where did that year go? And if you'd told me that within that same year I would have run a half marathon I'd have laughed you out of town. Wowee.

So what's different this time?  Well for a start off I'm not going to head out like a rocket.  Experience has taught me to start off slow and get well into my pace before picking it up.  Also I will be spending more time looking around at the surroundings instead of my feet.  Mind you I was in a bit of a desperate state last time. Especially when I got my km mixed up with my miles and thought I had done 4 miles but alas I wasn't even half way! I'll never forget that feeling of despair.

Anyway the sun is actually shining for once.  Hooray.  So I think it will be a nice day for a run and there will be thousands doing it.  Plenty of bods in fancy dress too.  Last time I was overtaken by a man dressed as Pamela Anderson from Baywatch, complete with red cossie, long blonde wig and First Aid pod.

Wish me luck!

From bad to worse

So the half marathon is cancelled til March 2014.  Yerk!  I suppose it's all very well, the weather is just not conducive to running especially on roads that are still covered in ice and haven't been closed to traffic. I don't fancy my chances against a Seddon Atkinson.

Apart from that I seem to have lost the plot completely.  Firstly I appear to be trying to scoff my entire bodyweight in chocolate cake and secondly I have a horrendous cold. Both of which are detrimental to running.  In fact I can't see me ever getting out again.  Could this be the end of my short-lived running career? Surely not.  I think I may have to do something completely radical i.e. join the nutters (mostly male, obviously) at the running club on Saturday morn for the horror-that-is the 6 Peaks Challenge.  Yes it's every bit as horrendous as it sounds.  It could be kill or cure but frankly I need to do something radical.  The Lincoln 10k is looming on 7th April.

It's been postponed! Aargh!

So the snow has stopped play.  I should be running today but instead I'm scoffing a bacon roll.  It's all very well but what now?  Well they've postponed it till Saturday 30 March.  This means two things a) I've tapered too early and will now have basked for two weeks instead of one in preparation and b) I will only have a week to recover before the Lincoln 10k.  Hmmmm.  How's all that going to work out?  Still that's the way the snowball rolls I suppose.  I notice nobody is laughing and sledging and frolicking in the snow now! Everyone is far too cheesed off with the way this winter is dragging out.

She's back!

Yes and I've stopped griping.  OK I haven't had the most brilliant couple of weeks but I'm still running and last Sunday I did the Gainsborough 10k which was fantastic! At one point I turned a corner and ahead of me, snaking into the distance along the riverside was a veritable necklace of brightly coloured runners.  It looked so pretty.  There were over five hundred taking part and the day was cool but dry.  Did a time of 58:40 which I was very pleased with.  I didn't want to drive myself into the ground, after all got a half marathon on Sunday.  Aaaargh!

Not brilliant

It's all going horribly wrong.  Somehow I'm finding it very difficult to keep motivated at the mo'.  Partly due to my lack of running pals to keep me distracted.  I've been trying to do some long runs because the half marathon is a mere 3 weeks away.  Aaaargh!  But it's a slow old process and I'm still going off too fast and then struggling to keep going at the end.  Plus the weather isn't helping.

However, on the up side I am still going out three times a week so at least I'm in with a fighting chance. I'm making a right mess of getting to the running club though.  Either there's some sort of parents' evening or school/kid-related gubbins going on.  Then the Saturday run was too short/hilly for what I needed to do.  But by the time I'd finished ferrying everyone around I only managed to start running at 430pm and then the light started to go before I could do as long as I needed.  Not to mention a very aggressive bramble which managed to slice right across my calf.  Serves me right for going completely mad and wearing capris just because it was a lovely sunny day. And having to stop and wait at a level crossing which stayed down way too long on account of two trains. At which point I was caught up by two very strange youths (actually one might have been a girl but I couldn't really tell) on bikes who then proceeded to talk about me whilst I was actually there! Don't know if they thought I was listening to my iPod but I wasn't.  Very odd.  Almost as odd as the man with binoculars who keeps staring into the wood and never says 'Hello'.

So, what to do?  I have a 10k race on 17th so I've only got another week to do anything.  Maybe I'll just keep my chin up and keep plugging at it.  Good days and bad days, that's how it goes.

Pride comes before a fall

So the Market Rasen 10k was a triumph.  Yes it was freezing cold.  No it didn't have half the original numbers I'm sure.  Yes it was muddy and difficult underfoot but guess what? A personal best of 57:07.  Oh yes! (Does that sort of stirring dance whilst hopping from one leg to the other).  Thanks to the fantastic support from fellow Caistor Running Club members at the finish.  And one anonymous chap who, on hearing the frantic shouts from my chums, turned around and proceeded to encourage me  through the last 200m and no doubt secured my brilliant time.  The fact that my entire cardio-thoracic system had decided to throw itself out of my heaving chest and across  the finishing line first had little to do with it.  That bottle of water tasted so good!

Doing well in a race creates a kind of personal glow and a sense of smugness.  So when a pal suggested a run a couple of days later I was ready and raring to go.  Perhaps a couple more days of rest might have been advisable. Of course I didn't know that we were going to head up such a steep set of hills.  Nonetheless I was trotting along quite contentedly when I found myself hurtling through the air with my legs well and truly behind me.  Scrabble as they might to try and get back underneath me, my arms flailed out wildly and the tarmac started to loom.  Funny how things appear to happen so slowly, I even had time to note the pattern of diamonds on the tarmac.  Then I managed to lurch sideways towards the grassy verge, resplendent with sharp thorny twigs left behind from the hedgecutting tractor that we had just run past. Oh and did I mention the lorry carrying hay bales that was just passing us on the other side of the road? Basically I hit the verge and the momentum pushed me along a distance.  Like a sack o' spuds. My entire body weight (not unsubstantial)  landing on my right arm and shoulder. Whoooompf! Lying there like a complete idiot.  But not hurt.  Just a little punctured. As I sat up and looked to see what I had fallen over, I spotted the culprit.  A sneaky little root growing out of the verge.  I must have stepped on one end of it and caught my other foot under the loop it had made.  Why I oughta...!

So there's my lesson.  And I am still aching but alas with no real bruises to show for it and garner any sympathy whatever.