The will to suceed

"The body does not want you to do this. As you run, it tells you to stop but the mind must be strong. You always go too far for your body. You must handle the pain with strategy...It is not age; it is not diet. It is the will to succeed."

- Jacqueline Gareau, 1980 Boston Marathon champ

I'm not dossing-honest!

Ok, so I haven’t blogged for a few days-does that mean I'm not running either...the answer simply is Yes.

After Fridays 18 mile run I managed to pick up a few injuries and thought it was wise to rest for awhile. I have booked doctors appointment for Friday to check out

- Possible pulled stomach muscle (also pulled while running Nike 10K in November)
- Twiggy tendon at back of left knee
- Sore foot
- Swollen glands

I’ll be back though…

18 miles

Its 1.10pm on a sunny Good Friday in London. I've just come back from the cafe up the road after treating myself to a couple of fried eggs on toast. (yum). I’m feeling a lot better today.

Yesterday I took my running gear to work, with the intention of jogging home. I had mapped out a 15 mile route. By 3pm though my busy work day, along with my swollen glands had taken its tole. I was shattered. I opted to put my run on hold until today.

Up and out early this morning I started my run @ 8.50am. I opted to do an 8 mile route and loop twice and see how I felt. I found the first 8 hard. I was tired and heavy legged. I did get a big hello from the dust man and a pleasant smile from an old lady, but most people just looked at me like I was mad. (Nothing to do with my face going really red when I run-honest!)

At the 8 mile mark I stopped home, took a toilet break (no queues like the FLM), and refilled my water bottle. Those few minutes appeared to be exactly what I needed as I headed back out onto the street a much fresher athlete.

Be it one big snag-a pain under my ribs on my right hand side. I literally could run 500/600m and then had to stop as the pain reintroduced itself. I stopped and walked for a few seconds, and that seemed to be enough to allow me to run on for another 500/600metres. So what is this pain? Has my pulled muscle from the Nike 10k back in November reared its ugly head? I’m beginning to think yes is the answer, as this is a lot more than a stitch.

So did I stop there? No. Should I have? Well maybe the athletes out there can comment on that one. But for me I had run 8 miles today, as I did a couple of days ago. But the longest distance I have run are the two half marathons at the beginning of March. I wanted to see where I could take myself and how my body would cope. After all it’s something I’m going to have to do on April 17th.

I like to think I have a logical head on me, so when my side said stop – I stopped. I lost count the amount of times I did that. But before I knew it I had run 14 miles and passed my longest distance to date. The day was nice and I was feeling fresh.

But another few twinges started to say hello-The string at the back of my left knee (same as I had on Tuesday night) and also my lower left foot from where I pulled a ligament earlier this year. But being at the mercy of my right side I felt that my other twinges could cope with this jog walk slowish pace. I carried on. 15 miles and I opted to take a left turn to do one lap of the park (2 miles) and back up to where I started. I had just done 18 miles.

How did I feel? Apart from the sore right side, the twinge at the back of my left knee and the twinge on my lower left foot I felt good and felt I could have run more. Be it a walk jog, walk jog. But I called it a day. I wanted physiologically to get up as close as I could to 20 miles before heading into the FLM. I think I have come as close to it today as I am going to come. Now I have to listen to my body. (Think trip to doctors next week is on the cards) get a few miles in during the weeks to come and generally just keep going.

I’m concerned about my twinges but not overly concerned. It is probably a good indication of what the FLM can throw at you and how you can deal with it. After my 18 miles the mood was good. My flatmate laughed at me as I came into the flat singing away. Probably thinking I’m mad just having run 18 miles and still singing-there is hope for me yet :-)

The suprising thing about all this is my time. I started my run at 8.50am and I finished my 18 miles at 11.39am and that included my tiolet break. That's 2 hrs 49 minutes for 18 miles. Not to shabby!!!

Although the time is brill, I'm not sure how I managed to get around in that time considering the amount of times I stopped, but for me today was all about getting the miles in and dealing with what my body throw at me. So for that I'm a pretty happy Easter bunny :-)

Happy Easter all!

Good run-but to little, to late???

After a busy day at work I had mentally prepared myself for a good run. I wanted to proof to no one but myself that I am committed to the FLM, be it for a few minor hiccups (no pun intended :-)). I hit the streets of London at 7.30pm. I had preplanned an 8 mile loop and knew what my target was. With the help of Kiss FM singing in my ears I did it.

It was definitely a jog/walk technique. I found the last two miles a bit rough going. My left leg was twingy, in the usual spot that I have been having probs with of late and also just at the back of the knee. So I took it easy.

On completing my 8 miles I checked my watch and was very pleasantly surprised to see the time 72 minutes. Nice one. Some how my speed appears to be picking up. Me and speed...woo there’s a new concept.

I am very conscience of the fact that I need to up my mileage a lot though. So have already started building myself up for a 16 mile run (2 laps) on Thursday night or Friday morning. Hopefully then be able to do an 18 or so the following week....running out of time...eekkkk. If I could get in a 20 before the big day I think that might give me enough and then just hope the day carries me through. Damn injuries, damn alcohol.

Think positive woman. I’ve just done 8 miles in a new PB and I’ve swollen glands and not feeling 100%. Yup on that note-time for bed. Nite!

Respect The Body

No, I'm not talking about Elle Macpherson here...I'm talking about My Body (and no I'm not going to compare it to Elle's)

"Your body is your vehicle for life.
As long as you are here, live in it.
Love, honor, respect and cherish it,
treat it well, and it will serve you in kind."
- Suzy Prudden

This is something I should have read a few times before heading out to celebrate St. Paddy's Day/night...as I paid for it dearly. :(

I was trying to think when was the last time I went out drinking (before Thursday night of course) and I think it was the end of Jan. for a friends birthday and although I had a few glasses of wine then, it was nothing in comparison to Thursday. I won't go into to much detail but let’s just say Friday was spent in bed as was most of Saturday. I think it hit my body bad and along with it I got a cold (swollen glands, wheezy chest).

So what happened to my Kingston 16 mile run on Sunday you might ask...? Well, although still not feeling 100% I thought I would go and see how I was. But 2 1/2 miles along the River Thames my breathing was all wrong. I was all caught up. I did a bit of a Paula and I stopped for a few seconds, and then tried to start again before knowing it just was not going to happen.

I headed home quite pissed off with myself. Although I know it’s not the end of the world to have missed out on a run. With only 4 weeks to go, it’s a run I really wanted/needed to get my mileage up.

Now I’ve to nurse my swollen glands, wheezy cold and hopefully get out and do that 16 miles before the weekend. I really want to get up to at least 20/21 miles before the big day. I hope I haven’t blown it.

Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona Duit

...or Happy St. Patrick's Day!

St. Paddys day is a day that Irish (and anyone else that matter) get out and about and celebrate being Irish - usually with a pint in their hand :-)

Even the english are starting to get in on the action with a St. paddys day parade-check out the Irish Post

Words that come to mind when I think of Ireland (in no particular order)

Green
St. Paddys day
Drink - Guinness
Home
Parade
Shamrock
The fighting Irish
Great workers
The celtic tiger
Everything Aran
Famine
Music
Irish dancing
Story telling - Limericks
Craic (usually mentioned in the context of - 'Sure come on for the Craic.' or ' It was great Craic' Craic being 'fun' rather than a drug...hmmm then again that might explain why the Irish can think they see leprechauns :-)found a website where you can actually do a leprechaun watch

Hurling - (one of the fastest and most skilful field games in the world, an ancient Gaelic sport)or the ladies equivalent of the game 'CAMOGIE'

I suppose my list could go on and on and on...so i'll stop there.

you will like this one 'Sé leigheas na póite ól arís. ' it means 'It is the cure of a hangover (to) drink again.' yes its true the Irish have any olde excuse to drink.

Here area few interesting facts

and yes you have gathered, no training for me this evening. I'm off to celebrate in true Irish fashion. Slán... (it mean 'Goodbye')

5 miles and Spring is in the Air

'I WANDERED lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.'

Good old William Wordsworth, see I do remember something from my school days. There is differently a bit of a spring in my step today (spring, get it-Sorry!).

There are two seasons that I really like (not that there are many others to choose from) autumn because of the colours and I love going for long walks dragging my feet in the leaves... (ya 30 but still a big kid at heart) The other is spring when nature comes to life. Spring reminds me of my childhood, buds on the trees, birds singing as they busily build their nests and lambs running in the fields-not to forget one of my favourite flowers daffodils.

Had a bit of a rough week last week-training and fundraising adding to it but today the sun was out a good 12 degrees in London and I enjoyed my run this evening.

Gearing up to my 16 mile adidas breakfast run in Kingston on sunday.

Nasty Reading 1/2 Marathon

On a very cold 7.07am morning the train took me to Reading for about 8.35am. Very kindly they had left all ticket barriers opened. This was the start of endless queues. First stop the women’s toilets. (dont think the men got away lighly though) Thereafter a queue for the shuttle bus (10 minute drive to the start of the race). I went out to the queue and initially thought not to bad should be able to get on the 3rd or 4th bus… that was of course till I saw the end of the lin...where is the bloody end of the line??? A few minutes later and thousand of runners and spectators later I joined the queue. Needless to say it took a good half an hour to get on the bus which took us to the starting area where thankfully there were hundreds of toilets.

Coming up to 10 (start time was to be 10.05am) we were called towards the start where we were to find our various starting places whether it was sub 1:30, sub 1:40 sub 1:50 sub 2:00 etc but there were a lot of confused heads as 1000’s pushed through a wee gap before making there way along Northumberland Ave to start the race.

It was really cold out and although I opted to go without the hat (I overheat with a hat quite quickly) I kept my gloves and I wore a black bin liner to keep me warm. Not that anyone was actually paying any attention but due to our 30 minute delay at the start they had plenty of time to notice the cheap Tesco bin liners I buy-well what do you expect for .99p there’s day yeh? :-) It helped a wee bit though.



The delay at the start was due to 1000’s still being shuttled over from the train station. There was a reported 12,500 entries but I think something like 9500 took part with people like Gordon Ramsey and the Cheeky Girls taking part or so loud speaker man told us.

Anyway I crossed the start line a good 7 minutes after the gun but it did not take my legs long to realise this was going to be a long and tough race. (From around one mile mark) I discarded with the expensive bin liner and the gloves went into my pockets early on. A wee hill around the one mile mark and a good one around 6.75 followed by a wee drop before you went up again. Boy that was fun-NOT!

The water stations were plenty though at 2.5, 5.8, 7, 9.2 and 11th mile. I tried there ‘energy drink’ at 2.5 mark it tasted like gel-yum…so needless to say I wasn’t having any more of that. Heavy legged and just not really enjoying what Reading has to offer (apologies to all those from Reading, but when you compare it to Brighton, Reading is pretty damn dull) I reached for my Jelly babies. Yes I know I know I said I was off all junk for Lent but in this case I was solely using them as an energy boost. It didn’t take me long to scoff the 9 or 10 I had in my pocket. Unfortunately there were no superwoman powers coming my way, so I used my old walk and jog technique.

Interestingly enough I was listening to a local Reading radio station and they were commenting on the race saying how well organised it was and what a beautiful sunny day it was. Hello surely there isn’t another Reading in the UK holding a ½ marathon on the same day that I was attending this one. Cause where I was it was cold, dull and overcast. Hmmmm

Mile markers-the first 7 or 8 you would have missed unless you were running on the left hand side of the road and looking down on the ground - it got better for the last few miles.
Toilets-I could not see one on route and although I think I would have enjoyed sitting down for a minute or two thankfully I didn’t really need to go. I did have an interesting experience while passing a guy and two girls though. The girl in the middle let out the god almighty fart. The guy just looked at her and all I can say is I’m glad I wasn’t behind her :-)

9-13 miles boring and lonely are the words that come to mind as I blodded along a dual carriage way and in through the industrial Park. I did a lot of stopping and starting, I had given up on what time I finished in and was going through the motions. Course to add joy to my fun filled day these guys passed me out a few miles from home



I got a wee bit of energy into me as I saw Madejski Stadium around the 12th mile mark and enjoyed the last few metres into the stadium to the finish line.



(I'm the one with the yellow sleeves second from the finish)

I looked back at the finishing clock and to my surprise it said 2:21 something….so my account if I had started 7 minutes behind the gun then my chip time was ahead of my Brighton ½ marathon two weeks ago. But I would have to wait and see.

Tired and sore I collected my medal and goody bag.

I took one look at the 1000’s queuing for the buses and opted to walk my tired legs the 3 miles to the train station.


I checked on there website today and my time was

2:13:08 a NEW PB-WHOOoooooo!!!!!

Good points about race:
I got a new PB (really happy with that considering i stopped alot and didnt enjoy it-there is hope for me yet :-) )
Nice medal

Bad points:
Loads-just glad I had done a ½ marathon early or might have been turned off for life…ok maybe a bit harsh but didn’t enjoy it.

Went home took quick shower and slept for 2 1/2 hours before getting up to eat and back to bed again. Muscles very sore today and constantly hungry. Was also feeling abit nausious until I had a big thing of pasta at lunch. Guess it took abit out of me this one. Enjoying the rest today but will head out for a few tomorrow to loosen out those tired muscles.

and the beat goes on...

I did another 4 miles tonight. Trying to keep it steady, just concentrating on clocking up the miles at this stage and going through the motions of getting around that last mile or two. A lot of it is so physiological. Hence I try to bring my music with me now to distract my brain from copping out early.

I like this quote

“There are clubs you can't belong to, neighborhoods you can't live in, schools you can't get into, but the roads are always open." - Nike

Resting tomorrow evening and plan to head out for another 4/5 miles on Friday before the big 1/2 marathon (Reading) on Sunday. (my second wow) With the weather the way it is at the moment (rain and snow) who knows what’s in store.

Whats with the weather?

Leaving for work this morning it snowed, pretty heavy snow flakes too. Heading out for lunch it was freezing (talks of -10 across Europe) but by the time I left work this afternoon it was raining. Puddles all the way up along Oxford St. towards the tube station. Has anyone seen 'The Day after Tomorrow?'

Not in the mood for getting wet I headed for the gym this evening and did a comfortable and dry 5 miles (55 mins).

Yesterday evening I ran outside in the cold. it can only be described as a rough 4 miles and I all but crawled home. Ok so that’s a slight exaggeration but there was no energy in the legs (48 mins)

I have been away for a few days, so missed out on my long run on Sunday. I'm not going to worry to much about it-hope to put in a few miles over next few days and have the reading 1/2 marathon on Reading. Although, now that I have run one marathon I'm actually beginning to get nervous about the next… Is this because I had no expectations for my 1st 1/2 marathon-just go out there and finish. This time I have a time to aim for and beat. Am I putting pressure on myself to beat my PB? (Oh I like the sound of PB :-)) The answer is maybe. But no I'm not going to go down that line, after all I have not been running very long, I've to take it easy get around and put in the miles (that’s what these few races are about) and if I do a nice time then that’s a plus. But getting around is the aim. Hope it does not rain.

Leon things I may have caught the bug because I'm running 2 1/2 marathons (with a weekend in between). It’s a nice thought, but I'm afraid I did it as a means of getting out there and forcing myself to clock up the miles. It’s all too easy to give up after ex amount of miles if you are going it along. But bring on a few thousand people and a finishing line then there is no way I'm bailing out. I guess it’s a physiological thing-but yeh if it works.