Taking stock........

It's necessary to take stock from time to time. In all areas of life. This week I have been forced to take stock, all round. It's got to the point where I seriously do not know if I'm coming or going, big style. I'm always like that anyway, trying to stretch myself here, there and everywhere, that's my nature, I've never, ever, been any different. Something in my life changes, for whatever, reason, something takes over that spot. I deal with it. For the most part. Then for some unknown reason, (well that's not entirely true, but let's not go there,)I am forced to take stock, look at how ridiculous my weeks have become, which is difficult because they all blur into one. Trying to balance, work, home, running, tending my allotment and everything else which weaves in between all that, and it's just not working. Several times last week I found myself down at Stanley Street allotments watering my vegetables at going on for 10 O'clock, yes in the dark!

These Summer months, lighter, longer nights may be favourable but we always want more don't we? Not satisfied that it doesn't really draw in until 9:40 I have to stretch it out even longer.

So my first casualty? Parkrun.... I have had to make the difficult decision to step back, at least for a while. Largely due to the transport issues I've been documenting recently, and there's still no sign of a solution. As well as the prospect of adding over six miles to the 5k parkrun by walking there and back, three club nights and mid week races, I started to feel the pinch. I've had a couple of near misses injury wise in the last couple of weeks, hamstring and quad strains, so I fear I am treading on rocky ground and may well be heading for trouble. I may make further changes still, but for now I'm going to see how it goes. I am still on the trail of an alternative activity to even out the load and have been looking into Zumba classes ....... here we go again......

Meanwhile I'm extremely pleased to report that I did obtain that elusive PB at the final race in the John Carr series - not by very much but none the less a PB of which I'm very proud as the 5k time to beat was set in 2009!

There's life in the old dog yet!

Faster than the speed of light!

Well not quite! Last night we dropped the 'hills' from our 'speed and hills' session and turned it into a speed session!

Some time ago sessions were provided by the club behind local supermarket, Morrisons at Five Lane Ends. These sessions were coached activities comprising, hurdles, relays etc. Very enjoyable sessions they were too. Trying to keep what is provided on training nights fresh and varied is a difficult task which we, the Committee, all have a hand in from time to time. Mick suggested a while ago that we might benefit from a speed based variation such as a track session or similar, aimed at improving fitness. After failing to secure a night where we could use the nearest track to our club on one of our training nights, Horsfall near Shelf, he suggested that we might be able to use the industrial area round the back of Morrisons, some weeks later he had cleared the way for us to use it.

We (Mick & I) met up an hour before our monthly steering Committee meeting on Sunday tea time to throw some ideas around and see if we could remember anything from our previous sessions. We came up with a few ideas and agreed that we should keep the session quite short but with maximum effort. I'm pleased to report that by and large it went really well. The weather wasn't kind to us, it was very blustery and drizzling the whole time we were training. Those Members that expressed their views, approved of our team relays and overall speed work saying that it was really good as it encouraged you to work hard without realising it. The camaraderie involved in such sessions is second to none, if you didn't know everyone's names beforehand you did afterwards! It really did turn into a bonding exercise. I hope that the enthusiasm will spread throughout the club and encourage those who may be perhaps a little apprehensive at trying such sessions to give it a go next time.

Wednesday sees the final race in the John Carr 5k series and I'm pleased to report that I was a couple of pounds lighter when I alighted the scales last Saturday so hopefully by now I might just have shed a couple more......is that elusive PB on the cards? Watch this space!!

Every second counts....

Last night saw the second in the series of the John Carr 5k races. I must admit to being a little apprehensive as we set out to drive to Esholt. After Monday’s club night of a pyramid/hill session my left hamstring felt very tight, luckily for me I already had a massage with Peter May booked for Tuesday tea time. I had been looking forward to it anyway as I’ve had a few issues with the (previously injured) right ankle area too. Not so much recurrence of my old injury as pain that seemed to be radiating from my heel, plantar fasciitis? Plantar fasciitis is a painful inflammatory process of the plantar fascia. Those not familiar with this condition are advised to read up on how to prevent it at all costs; apparently it is excruciatingly painful, often described as feeling like nails sticking into the heel.

The good news is that Peter gave my legs a good going over and declared that he in no way associated my foot pain with plantar, maybe ligament trouble and he managed to loosen off my hamstring. However, the following morning the hamstring was still causing pain; it did feel more of an ache than a pulled muscle but how does one know? On the start line at the John Carr I was wondering whether I would be troubled by it or get round in one piece. Thankfully it was the latter and I even managed to knock one whole second off last week’s time. Still chasing that elusive 5k PB, missing it again by a second. Will next week be the week? Can I knock off those pesky seconds? I shall certainly be giving it a good try!

Thanks to Sophie – or Speedysoph as she’s affectionately known in club I’ve taken the plunge to try and shift some of the excess weight I’m carrying around too, largely since Marathon training ceased and also no doubt a large portion of it went on when I was injured. There's a tendency to up your intake and then fail to adjust it once the level of activity decreases. It certainly has been a bit of a rollercoaster these past few months. What with starting out on the Wii yoga and then distance training with the marathoners, I've dropped it all like a ton of bricks since London. Not a conscious decision, I have to say, more of a diversion, in that my attentions have been focused elsewhere but that's another story for another day! So weightwatchers are once again having the benefit of my company for the next few months or so anyway. Who knows, maybe a few pounds lighter next week, hopefully, will be the key, after all every second counts.........Especially if it leads to a PB!

Ups and downs

John Carr Race 1

Where to start?.....

It's been a little while since I've blogged. Various reasons are to be attributed to this. Work, lack of transport, injuries, decorating, Bank Holidays, lack of internet access, I won't go on.

I've certainly had an 'ups and downs' couple of weeks in all aspects of life but mainly running or not as the case may be. I'm sure most runners will tell you that at some point or other during the time they have been running they've 'lost their mojo'. I certainly have at the moment, more for racing than social running but both have suffered of late. I've been striving to keep up with life whilst one family car is off the road leaving us with only the 2 seater smart car, try getting a very tall son and a boisterous Dave to parkrun in that! No fun I can tell you and in addition there's the other half needing to get to work on a Saturday morning. So last week I decided to walk to Lister Park, do my usual duty of sweeping at parkrun then walk back home again, Marc was having none of it and Dave loved it. Trouble is I could hardly walk for two days afterwards, walking had a strange effect on me from the hips down, I thought I walked quite a lot, dog walking and all that, I fear I don't do as much as I thought and I really must try do more of it from now on. I know that different muscles are exercised when walking as opposed to running but my word I really did suffer, I felt like a 90 year old and believe you me I was walking like one!

I'm pleased to report I'm walking around much more normally now. Onwards and upwards, I took part in (my only planned races) the first in the John Carr 5k series tonight. Although I didn't achieve a distance PB, missing it by just 2 seconds, I did achieve a course PB so now I'm hoping this gives me a zest for racing again and assists me in entering some more. Bring on next week. I've still got a quiet few days in terms of running ahead of me due to family commitments etc but hopefully I'll get back into my stride next week, with a little help from my friends!

What a weekend!

Having looked forward to a weekend away for so many months, the excitement was building very nicely when all of a sudden my train of thought was turned upside down. 'I'm not going to be running London as I'm injured would you like my place (you've done all the training after all!)' was the text message which appeared on my phone from Nikos. My heart missed a beat and then began to race, thoughts that I could run this year after all were looming around my head, reliving a dream I had a few months ago that I had been offered a place, exclaiming to Alison and Dawn on a training run 'Friday night's dream, told Saturday morning comes true', not that I believed it for one minute but I can oft recall my Mum saying the self same thing many, many times! I addressed the possibility with my husband Martin, the expression on his face, however, gave me my answer immediately. He then went on to explain why he did not want me to run. Giving me the reasons why he felt like this didn't make me feel any better. I reasoned with it all in my head, perhaps if he had given me the choice then I might not have wanted to run. As it was now I began to think the weekend was ruined. I would be unable to forgive him for not letting me take the chance to run so we wouldn't enjoy the trip to London anyway. Hours later I seemed to come to my senses and realise how we had looked forward to the weekend away without the stress of the marathon, we would be able to travel around, see the sights and generally enjoy ourselves and then watch the race on Sunday. His negative reaction to the news that I may well run after all was of course, well and truly justified.

So now I could sit back and enjoy giving my support to the runners!

Boarding the coach on Friday morning everyone was buzzing, milling around, discussing this, that and the other. The journey down to London didn't seem to take too long and before we knew it there was the familiar sight of the Expo. Once inside the sights, sounds, queues to register and pick up numbers and timing chips were all too familiar and it seemed only yesterday that I was in those queues myself.

Photos taken, shopping done, well wishers wall written on, we boarded the bus to continue our journey to the hotel. Again, all too familiar, we checked in and were all allocated our room numbers. Down for evening meal at 8 - the start of a great weekend was signalled.

Helen, Janice & I met early Saturday morning to go for a run in place of our planned London parkrun, we had been assured it would take us over an hour to reach our nearest one and also make it difficult to make the return journey back to the hotel in time for breakfast and so we agreed to a jog around Canary Wharfe. How lovely it was too. We found ourselves eventually in the beautiful surroundings of The King Edward Memorial Park, nearly a parkrun then, just not quite!

Saturday was our 'free' day. Martin and I decided that after our run we would hop on a Thames Clipper boat and head to London's Soho district. Martin had years ago helped his former boss to move the contents of his Lexington Street art gallery and picture framers up to Bradford and he said he would like to take a trip down memory lane. We also agreed we would like to look around Carnaby Street. Hours later after much to-ing and fro-ing we had fulfilled our expectations and much, much more, taking in many of the famous tourist areas, Regent Street, Oxford Street, Piccadilly, Chinatown, Pandora, The National Gallery, Hamleys, St James Park, etc etc, we wearily made our way back to the Thames Clipper to return to the hotel to prepare to surprise Janice with a pre-arranged get together. I put in a request to the hotel manager to seat our whole group together for dinner so that we could surprise Janice for her 50th Birthday with balloons, cards, pressies and a cake!

After a full and eventful Saturday we all retired to bed at a reasonable hour and I woke early next morning with thoughts of how the runners would all be feeling. I hastily got dressed and went down to the dining room to find Dawn, Sophie and Gill sitting eating breakfast, they all seemed fairly relaxed and after breakfast off they went back to their rooms to make their final preparations. I came back down just before 7:30 to wave them off to the start. The hotel was a hive of activity with runners making their final preparations and leaving the hotel. I went back to our room to continue watching the marathon coverage on the TV before going outside to find our spot opposite the hotel, mile 18 of the route, behind the barriers! I can honestly say it was a very emotional, energy sapping few hours as we anxiously waited to catch a glimpse of our ERR runners and the many other familiar faces including friends, other club runners, celebrities etc. I never realised how difficult it is to spot someone amongst the crowds of runners. You are fully aware when you're running just how many people are around you but it's impossible to imagine how difficult it it for your friends and family to pick you out of the masses!

Thankfully we managed to spot all of our runner and sadly we missed a whole lot of others. Oh well maybe next year!

All that remains is to say how immensely proud it felt to be part of that epic journey for the runners from our club and a few others. I am immensely proud of their achievements and am truly thankful to have now been able to experience the London Marathon from both sides of the fence!

I'm now excitedly awaiting the opening of the ballot for the 2012 (Olympic year) marathon on 26th April!

Time for tea!

It feels like only yesterday that I finished the bulk of my training and was looking forward to the Virgin London Marathon in only a short weeks time. This year I feel exactly the same except I'm in a totally different position in that I still feel the excitement and trepidation but it's on behalf of someone else, or four someone else's in the plural form!

This morning 10 of us met at Rawdon Meadows for the last significant run, 45 minutes out and 45 minutes back along the canal towards Rodley in the brilliant sunshine for the four 'marathoners' Sophie, Gill, Dawn and Karen just a week away from achieving the goal they set themselves during the latter part of last year. Karen now feels like 'one of us' since she's been training with Dawn and Sophie and I hope she will continue to hook up with us when this is all over. Following an excellent run, if a little faster than I had anticipated, a large group of us then strolled a little further along the canal to Toby's Tea Rooms to put an end to what I know has been a long few months of training for them all, leaving them with the bare minimum left to do in the week ahead. I also hope that for all of them it will have all been worthwhile, I'm sure it will and I'm really pleased that I'm going to be there on the day to share in their jubilation and to see out their journey to the end. It's impossible to imagine exactly how they'll feel when they cross that finish line but I have a very good idea!

The tea and cakes at Toby's were exquisite!

Wot no Dave?

After some indecision I managed to haul myself to club on Friday evening. The boys went off at their usual fast pace, Helen and Gill were just ahead, I had a lovely, if slow and steady, 6 mile run with Pam. I felt much better for it afterwards so was really pleased I made the decision to go.

I also received a very kind offer of a lift to parkrun from my sister-in-law Tricia! I didn't however, fancy the prospect of taking Dave in her car since he would have had to sit in the car itself rather than being able to be tucked away in the boot! Apart from the risk that it would rain and he would end up being all muddy and wet I am also acutely aware that he is very unpredictable and may well have taken a dislike to travelling in a saloon car, no telling what might have happened.

The number of people who shouted 'where's Dave?' as they ran past was incredible! One of the two young ladies I was running with made a valid point, 'would people ask where I was if I were missing?' We joked at the prospect of Dave running round as back marker alone and people quizzing him as to where I was!!

This week it was a joy to see an elite athlete from Ethiopia (I must admit I did wonder if he was Kenyan when I first spotted him!) on the start line with all the other parkrunners. Just another fine example of the versatility of parkrun - a joy to behold running around the park effortlessly and most probably unaware of the admiration surrounding his presence! It's a mystery to me how he knew about the run, had he stumbled upon it by mistake? He hadn't registered in advance and thought he needed a number to run! Unfortunately, although he won the race in a fantastic time of just over 16 minutes, over 2 minutes ahead of his nearest rival, he went down on the results as 'unknown' which is the best you get if you don't register in advance and print off your barcode! Incidentally, and much to my surprise, I even spotted my dentist running this week!
So, having gone against all that might have been on Friday and Saturday I felt better prepared for my intended race on Mothering Sunday. I was just a little apprehensive as I stood under starters orders for the first of this year's Yorkshire Veterans Athletic Association races at Horsforth Hall Park, why I have no idea and as Helen pointed out we run much further on a regular basis in training but a race, for some reason, causes those little flutters just before you set off! The sun shone and though a little breezy the conditions were perfect for a run, with the added bonus of being part of our Eccleshill team, I just love the team spirit! I had a really good race, the course was rather tough, a two lap course with it's fair share of downhills as well as up but one of those where you really are satisfied you gave your all. The results never seem to reflect that though but hopefully my continued effort on club nights will rectify that situation over the coming months, with a bit of luck! I'm not expecting great things but live in hope that I can get back to where I was this time last year and I remain optimistic about that goal. To move nearer to that we have another 'Speed & Hills Session' at club tonight!

Team ERR at Horsforth