So I really must learn to stop eating dauphinois potatoes the night before a long run...
(Not that I *turn into* a creamy-potato-mush person or anything - I just get horrid indigestion).
The plan had been to attempt a 12K run, which would take me quite a distance away from home. However, about 2K in, I started experiencing that all too familiar sensation that feels like someone is slowly and carefully emptying a small mug of acid inside my stomach at sporadic intervals. Ouch.
As a result, the plan had to be revised a little and I ended up staying close to home, running through parks and housing estates and past allotments.
Despite the acidy-ouchiness, I still managed to run 10K and, by some insane miracle, I actually completed this distance in a considerably faster time than the previous weekend.
Now, I'm confused. Does this mean that I *should* give myself indigestion???
Anyway, stats for this run:
Distance: 10.27K
Time: 1 hour 26 minutes 27 seconds
Average K pace: 8 minutes 25 seconds
p.s. My next big run is probably going to be the Big Day itself - wish me luck!!!!
Wednesday, 25 May 2011
Monday, 16 May 2011
The original aspiration
When I first decided to take part in a sponsored run for charity, my original plan was to run the Walsall 10K.
10K, I thought then, was far enough. Plenty far enough. Any further than that was just being silly...
In the end, however, I abandoned that plan. The Walsall 10K is, I learned, run for the most part by 'serious' runners and people who have joined running clubs: in short, the sort of running people who are the exact opposite of me.
I wanted to challenge myself and set myself a goal that would push me but, at the same time, I didn't want to put myself into a situation that would leave me feeling humiliated. And finishing way behind everyone else in a race would, in all probability, leave me feeling humiliated.
So Mark, in his infinite wisdom, suggested entering the Great Midlands Fun Run. True, this is actually further than the 10K race but the 'fun run' aspect takes the pressure off a little. There are likely to be people who are dressed up, people who want to walk a lot of the way and the chances of me finishing absolutely last are (I hope!) relatively slim.
So the plan may have changed... but that didn't make me feel any less proud yesterday when I finally ran a full 10K. It still feels like a landmark, a milestone: proof to myself that I can achieve something, even if at first it's a challenge that seems insurmountable.
This time last year, I would have told you that there was no way I could ever run 10K. To be honest, I would have been sceptical that I could even run 5K.
And now, in 20 days time, I'm going to be running over 13K.
Mad...
Stats for this run:
Distance: 10.27K
Time: 1 hour 33 minutes and 1 second
Average K pace: 9 minutes and 3 seconds
10K, I thought then, was far enough. Plenty far enough. Any further than that was just being silly...
In the end, however, I abandoned that plan. The Walsall 10K is, I learned, run for the most part by 'serious' runners and people who have joined running clubs: in short, the sort of running people who are the exact opposite of me.
I wanted to challenge myself and set myself a goal that would push me but, at the same time, I didn't want to put myself into a situation that would leave me feeling humiliated. And finishing way behind everyone else in a race would, in all probability, leave me feeling humiliated.
So Mark, in his infinite wisdom, suggested entering the Great Midlands Fun Run. True, this is actually further than the 10K race but the 'fun run' aspect takes the pressure off a little. There are likely to be people who are dressed up, people who want to walk a lot of the way and the chances of me finishing absolutely last are (I hope!) relatively slim.
So the plan may have changed... but that didn't make me feel any less proud yesterday when I finally ran a full 10K. It still feels like a landmark, a milestone: proof to myself that I can achieve something, even if at first it's a challenge that seems insurmountable.
This time last year, I would have told you that there was no way I could ever run 10K. To be honest, I would have been sceptical that I could even run 5K.
And now, in 20 days time, I'm going to be running over 13K.
Mad...
Stats for this run:
Distance: 10.27K
Time: 1 hour 33 minutes and 1 second
Average K pace: 9 minutes and 3 seconds
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Woohoo!
I am officially back on track!
Ran 8.55 K this morning and actually felt like I was running the whole time (as opposed to jogging/shuffling).
And no flies flew into my mouth. Yay!
Next time - 10K!!!
Stats for this run:
Distance: 8.55K
Time: 1 hour 16 minutes and 45 seconds
Average K pace: 8 minutes 59 seconds
Ran 8.55 K this morning and actually felt like I was running the whole time (as opposed to jogging/shuffling).
And no flies flew into my mouth. Yay!
Next time - 10K!!!
Stats for this run:
Distance: 8.55K
Time: 1 hour 16 minutes and 45 seconds
Average K pace: 8 minutes 59 seconds
Sunday, 24 April 2011
There was a (young) lady who swallowed a fly
If you're wondering why she swallowed that fly...
...it's because that fly decided to fly into her mouth while she was running today.
Mark (as I spat it out on horror): You'll have to get used to that. That happens a lot while you're running. Just swallow 'em down: it's all protein.
Me: Bleurghhh!!!
Happy as I am that Spring (or, hey, we could even call it Summer at the moment) has arrived, it brings with it certain conditions that are making running training a bit more difficult. The first, as I discovered this morning to my cost, is the sudden appearance of buzzing hoards of flies who seem to want to set up residence in my mouth. The second is the heat. Running in hot, bright sunlight is not fun for solar-phobes like me. I like shade! Shade!!
Still, with much encouragement from Mark, I managed to drag myself out in it this morning. It wasn't easy. My health still isn't really 100% and there were a few moments where I felt like I couldn't go on. Luckily for me, I had Mark there to chivvy me along and offer words of advice and encouragement where necessary.
I felt quite down on myself during the run and a little despairing that I will ever be able to make the 8.5 miles of the Great Midlands Fun Run without stopping (especially as there are now only a few weeks to go). However, despite all this negativity and hopelessness, I actually managed to run just over 7K and in a pretty good time as well.
I think I may need to step up my training a bit over the next few weeks if I want to fulfil my goal of running the whole 8.5 miles without stopping to walk. Happily, though, that goal doesn't seem quite as unattainable as it did earlier today. I think I just need to try and build up some momentum.
Anyway, stats for this run:
Distance: 7.25K
Time: 1 hour 3 minutes and 24 seconds
Average K pace: 8 minutes 44 seconds
...it's because that fly decided to fly into her mouth while she was running today.
Mark (as I spat it out on horror): You'll have to get used to that. That happens a lot while you're running. Just swallow 'em down: it's all protein.
Me: Bleurghhh!!!
Happy as I am that Spring (or, hey, we could even call it Summer at the moment) has arrived, it brings with it certain conditions that are making running training a bit more difficult. The first, as I discovered this morning to my cost, is the sudden appearance of buzzing hoards of flies who seem to want to set up residence in my mouth. The second is the heat. Running in hot, bright sunlight is not fun for solar-phobes like me. I like shade! Shade!!
Still, with much encouragement from Mark, I managed to drag myself out in it this morning. It wasn't easy. My health still isn't really 100% and there were a few moments where I felt like I couldn't go on. Luckily for me, I had Mark there to chivvy me along and offer words of advice and encouragement where necessary.
I felt quite down on myself during the run and a little despairing that I will ever be able to make the 8.5 miles of the Great Midlands Fun Run without stopping (especially as there are now only a few weeks to go). However, despite all this negativity and hopelessness, I actually managed to run just over 7K and in a pretty good time as well.
I think I may need to step up my training a bit over the next few weeks if I want to fulfil my goal of running the whole 8.5 miles without stopping to walk. Happily, though, that goal doesn't seem quite as unattainable as it did earlier today. I think I just need to try and build up some momentum.
Anyway, stats for this run:
Distance: 7.25K
Time: 1 hour 3 minutes and 24 seconds
Average K pace: 8 minutes 44 seconds
Saturday, 16 April 2011
One step at a time
Things seemed to have stalled a little these past few weeks.
I think this is because I'd sort of lost my confidence after my last training run. So much so in fact, that it has taken me until today - 20 whole days - to attempt another one.
I haven't been being *completely* lazy in all that time and have done a bit of cross-training to try and 'keep my hand in' (for want of a better phrase) but I have felt quite guilty that I have effectively been neglecting my training. Especially since so many lovely, kind people have gone to the trouble and expense of sponsoring me.
There has been the odd opportunity to go out and run but I have kept finding reasons - it's raining, I think I'm coming down with a cold, it'll be getting dark soon (to name but a few) - to talk myself out of going.
Today, however, I figured that enough was enough. My lovely boys had gone off to watch the football, leaving me a few hours alone and providing me with an excellent opportunity to take myself off for a 'getting-myself-back-into-the-swing-of-things' training run.
If I'm honest, I wasn't feeling hugely enthusiastic or confident and I set off with a bit of an anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach. I think I was worried a) that I would feel ill again and be forced to stop *again* and b) that I would feel stupid/embarrassed running on my own without Mark and that the whole experience would just be an exercise in public humiliation*.
In the end, it wasn't bad at all. I don't know how far I went, as I didn't take Mark's magic stop-watch with me, but I would guess it was around the 3K mark. I was back home within half an hour and, apart from my face going bright red and my head feeling like it was full of fast-flowing lava, I don't seem to have suffered any ill effects.
True, this sort of distance is hardly making the same sort of headway as my 5-miler a few weeks back but that wasn't really the point. I did this run as a way of getting over my anxiety and lack of confidence and proving to myself that I could carry on even when things get tough.
Happily, I think it might have worked :-).
*Yes, I can be pretty melodramatic about these things sometimes!
I think this is because I'd sort of lost my confidence after my last training run. So much so in fact, that it has taken me until today - 20 whole days - to attempt another one.
I haven't been being *completely* lazy in all that time and have done a bit of cross-training to try and 'keep my hand in' (for want of a better phrase) but I have felt quite guilty that I have effectively been neglecting my training. Especially since so many lovely, kind people have gone to the trouble and expense of sponsoring me.
There has been the odd opportunity to go out and run but I have kept finding reasons - it's raining, I think I'm coming down with a cold, it'll be getting dark soon (to name but a few) - to talk myself out of going.
Today, however, I figured that enough was enough. My lovely boys had gone off to watch the football, leaving me a few hours alone and providing me with an excellent opportunity to take myself off for a 'getting-myself-back-into-the-swing-of-things' training run.
If I'm honest, I wasn't feeling hugely enthusiastic or confident and I set off with a bit of an anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach. I think I was worried a) that I would feel ill again and be forced to stop *again* and b) that I would feel stupid/embarrassed running on my own without Mark and that the whole experience would just be an exercise in public humiliation*.
In the end, it wasn't bad at all. I don't know how far I went, as I didn't take Mark's magic stop-watch with me, but I would guess it was around the 3K mark. I was back home within half an hour and, apart from my face going bright red and my head feeling like it was full of fast-flowing lava, I don't seem to have suffered any ill effects.
True, this sort of distance is hardly making the same sort of headway as my 5-miler a few weeks back but that wasn't really the point. I did this run as a way of getting over my anxiety and lack of confidence and proving to myself that I could carry on even when things get tough.
Happily, I think it might have worked :-).
*Yes, I can be pretty melodramatic about these things sometimes!
Sunday, 27 March 2011
Ow ow ow ow ow!
Oh dear, it was all going so well...
This morning I set out with the intention of doing another 5-miler, hoping (in vain, as it turns out) to recreate the dizzy success of a fortnight ago.
Unfortunately, my malfunctioning body had other ideas.
I'd gone about 5K and was feeling fine and, dare I say it, fairly comfortable when I was struck with this horrible griping pain just under my ribs on both sides of my torso. It was sort of like a bad stitch, but not, and I slowed right down to a ridiculously slow pace while I waited for it to go away (poor Mark was just walking alongside me at this point, freezing half to death).
But annoyingly it didn't go away: it just got worse.
So at just 5.98K (rather than the 8K I was going for), I realised that it wasn't going to get any better and that it was time to stop being so blinking stubborn about it. Feeling pretty hard done by (and really cold!), I walked the last 2K home.
I don't know what the problem was. Mark says that sometimes everyone just has bad running days (like bad hair days!) and that I shouldn't worry about it.
Oh well, hopefully things will work out better next time :-).
Here are the stats for this run:
Distance: 5.98K
Time: 56 minutes 27 seconds
Average K pace: 9 minutes 26 seconds
This morning I set out with the intention of doing another 5-miler, hoping (in vain, as it turns out) to recreate the dizzy success of a fortnight ago.
Unfortunately, my malfunctioning body had other ideas.
I'd gone about 5K and was feeling fine and, dare I say it, fairly comfortable when I was struck with this horrible griping pain just under my ribs on both sides of my torso. It was sort of like a bad stitch, but not, and I slowed right down to a ridiculously slow pace while I waited for it to go away (poor Mark was just walking alongside me at this point, freezing half to death).
But annoyingly it didn't go away: it just got worse.
So at just 5.98K (rather than the 8K I was going for), I realised that it wasn't going to get any better and that it was time to stop being so blinking stubborn about it. Feeling pretty hard done by (and really cold!), I walked the last 2K home.
I don't know what the problem was. Mark says that sometimes everyone just has bad running days (like bad hair days!) and that I shouldn't worry about it.
Oh well, hopefully things will work out better next time :-).
Here are the stats for this run:
Distance: 5.98K
Time: 56 minutes 27 seconds
Average K pace: 9 minutes 26 seconds
Saturday, 12 March 2011
5 whole miles!!!
Today I ran the longest distance I've ever run ever - just over 5 miles!
I feel very proud :-).
It was actually a really lovely course - all winding rural roads and big posh houses and spring sunshine - and it was somewhere near where I live that I've never seen before (which is always nice :-) ).
Mark did embarrass me by taking various photos and film clips of me as I went (well, I needed a 'running'-y picture of me for my sponsorship page, after all) but in all other respects it was really fab. I didn't at any point feel sick or like I needed to stop or like I wanted to collapse on the nearest patch of vaguely flat earth. I just felt... fine. I even managed to have non-huffing-and-puffing conversations with Mark about things that actually made sense.
Yay :-).
In other good news, my sponsorship page is now live! Should you wish to sponsor me, you can find my page here .
Or should you wish to provide support in a more esoteric fashion by sending me good vibes and/or encouraging thoughts, please feel free to go ahead and start sending them this way.
Or even better, leave me a comment. I love getting comments!
Aaanyway... back to business.
Stats for this run:
Distance: 8.2 K
Time: 1 hour 15 minutes and 2 seconds
Average K pace: 9 minutes 9 seconds
I feel very proud :-).
It was actually a really lovely course - all winding rural roads and big posh houses and spring sunshine - and it was somewhere near where I live that I've never seen before (which is always nice :-) ).
Mark did embarrass me by taking various photos and film clips of me as I went (well, I needed a 'running'-y picture of me for my sponsorship page, after all) but in all other respects it was really fab. I didn't at any point feel sick or like I needed to stop or like I wanted to collapse on the nearest patch of vaguely flat earth. I just felt... fine. I even managed to have non-huffing-and-puffing conversations with Mark about things that actually made sense.
Yay :-).
In other good news, my sponsorship page is now live! Should you wish to sponsor me, you can find my page here .
Or should you wish to provide support in a more esoteric fashion by sending me good vibes and/or encouraging thoughts, please feel free to go ahead and start sending them this way.
Or even better, leave me a comment. I love getting comments!
Aaanyway... back to business.
Stats for this run:
Distance: 8.2 K
Time: 1 hour 15 minutes and 2 seconds
Average K pace: 9 minutes 9 seconds
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