S'now go...

Although forecast, I was surprised at the amount of snow we woke up to on Saturday morning. Would parkrun be going ahead? Should I selfishly take the 4 x 4 and leave my unsuspecting husband to travel to Queensbury in the go kart (smart car!)? I picked up my mobile when I got downstairs and saw I had a message from Arthur saying he wasn't going as it was thick snow where he lived,Queensbury! So I text him back saying I was unsure whether to go or not. I logged onto the parkrun Facebook group, nothing, signed into my email to obtain the volunteer rota and race director's mobile to try and find out if the run was cancelled. Then realised it was not Rick, who has stood in throughout Linda's absence, who was race directing this week, scuppered, I knew I had to make a decision. It began snowing furiously outside again, the roads were already covered, I knew that I would have to let Martin take the 4 x 4 in order to get him to work and back in Queensbury. Decision made.....

An hour or so later Dave was still whining - he knew he should be running round the lovely Lister Park by now, so I donned my wellies and winter attire, got him on his lead and off we set for a lovely stroll through the local woods. Not parkrun but the next best thing! I did have a few regrets when I later found out 35 runners had braved the inclement weather and I felt as though we had wussed out, slightly!

Decisions though, still had to be made about Sunday's run, my offer to run with Dawn et al to try and increase her marathon training mileage was still worrying me as she was adamant in completing 16+ miles. Could I increase to that? Would it set me back in my quest to get back to full fitness? I really couldn't muster the confidence to agree to a 16 mile run. Self doubt had reared it's ugly ahead yet again. It seemed as though it would be easier to give into it even though there was just a little ray of self confidence.

So I text Dawn to ask if she had mapped the route from Calverley to Saltaire, Guiseley, Rawdon, Horsforth and back to Calverley she had earlier outlined so that I could maybe get a lift to a point further out and join them for the latter part of their run, the top of Hollings Hill maybe? She duly emailed the exact route and upon studying it I realised I would only complete just over six miles if I met them there! Frustrated, I 'bit the bullet' and agreed to meet them at Greengates which would reduce the route by just under a mile for me. Acceptable I thought. So I made my way to Greengates early next morning and right on Cue Dawn and Karen (from Pudsey Pacers) appeared, I crossed the road to join them and we set off on our merry way towards Shipley, thoughts of the dreaded Hollings Hill lingered...

It was a real boost to be able to reassure Dawn through my experience of trying to get to grips with fuelling for the marathon from last year when Lisa, Sophie and I had taken similar routes, figuring out our fuel intake and my being able to advise Dawn in the hope of things working out well for her which it later seemed they had. I remembered getting to the same point last year, the road up to Rawdon and fuelling there in the hope of not running out of steam half way up, it worked! Dawn followed suit.

In what seemed like no time at all we were approaching Horsforth roundabout, a downhill and then a slight uphill back to Calverley was all that remained, both Dawn and I were visibly tired, Karen seemed as though she had miles left in her. One of the most uplifting parts for me though had been earlier, finding myself at the top of Hollings Hill, the half way point for me, and just another small confidence boost!
Then when we arrived at our finish point and hearing Dawn declare she had just completed her highest mileage to date (over 16 miles)! Brilliant. That's team work. For me, 15.29 miles - done.

Did I really hear myself saying we could run to Huddersfield next Sunday and get a lift back? Oh dear the route has already landed in my inbox! http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/28548986