Went to the lovely runorgocrazy yesterday to have a massage and she strapped my achilles up with rock tape.Definitely did the trick, almost no achilles pain all through the race!!

Carla arrived in the evening, and the dog was so excited by a new person in the house, he just would not leave her alone! Dinner was eaten, and lots of chatting, and we had an early night. Up at 6, porridge eaten and we set off for the station to get the 7.06 train. Met some other runners, in particular a lovely American lady called Lawry (not sure of the spelling) lots of running talk, she is hoping to get a place in the NY marathon. Met up with Jo, Steve, Lesley, Danni and Steve’s mom and dad before the race. Carla and I set off towards the back and were cheered on by her mum and stepdad. Course was different to last year and included a few hills, unfortunately we probably took it too fast up those hills, feel really bad towards mile 9 Carla was feeling it, and told me to go ahead.. from mile 5 we noticed that the mileage seemed to be off, out garmins were registering further than the mile markers. the last 2 miles seemed to take forever, and was very glad to see the finish. So glad in fact, I forgot to press the stop button on my Garmin! I think my time was around the 2:29 mark for 13.5 miles.. so glad I managed to beat Katie Price, although she did come in sporting 2 wonky knees! waited at the end for Carla and she was very disappointed with her time, but after all this was a training run, and given the fact it was half a mile longer than it should have been, her time is not all that far off the times we did for the previous half marathons. Looking forward to Silverstone on 11 March.

well done to all of you that have raced this weekend, especially those that got pb’s!!

have convinced son to give parkrun a go next week, watch this space for a report next week

Coming from warmer climes originally, I still get really excited when it snows. But now I have had quite enough of it, like a relative outstaying their welcome. It has been lovely, but now please leave

Running this week has been tricky and I even had to resort to the dreadmill, but it was this mornings’ 16 miler which turned into a 12.5 miler that finally did it for me. I really can’t remember when last I felt that tired during a long run. Even now, after a nice shower and a lovely lunch, my legs are still sore.

Enough moaning! Really looking forward to next weekends’ Brighton half marathon.. Carla will be staying over here the night before and we are due to meet up with a few twitter friends beforehand. Half of team Fools Rushing will be there And hopefully a new pb for Carla and I?!?

Have a good week everyone xx

Still high on a 100% Jantastic score, February arrived this week

On Monday the chap who sits next to me (and may I say, he seems to be ill rather a lot!) arrived at work with a stinking cold and spent Monday and Tuesday coughing, sneezing, sniffing, all without covering his mouth – once!. Needless to say, by Tuesday evening I had a runny nose and sore throat and was feeling sorry for myself generally quite pssed off with him. Tuesday and Wednesday planned runs did not happen and after a few doses of Nurofen Cold and Flu, and 2 early nights, by Thursday I felt much better and managed an after work 4 miles with someone from work.

For the weekend I had planned the inaugural Mile End Parkrun, followed by a 7 mile run to Hyde Park with Carla and Loiuse on Saturday, and then on Sunday the Regents Park 10k with Carla and Zoe. Right, that would give me the 4 runs I need for Febulous..

Alarm went off on Saturday morning, got myself up and dressed and out the door to the station in good time to meet up at Mile End tube station at 8.30. Got to the station, and due to a ‘power problem’ no trains to London   Station people suggested a different route, changing at Dorking. Got to Dorking Deepdene, ran to Dorking station, first train to London leaving at 8. Texted Louise and Carla and told them I was not going to make the parkrun. Got there just as they were finishing A quick pit stop and we set off on the Thames tow path, past London Bridge and up the Embankment to Hyde Park. Absolutely loved the route and will definitely do it again! Decided to make up for the parkrun I missed on the way home, by getting off one stop early and running home. Train did not stop there, so I ended up doing a wussy 1.5 miles home from the main station.Checked the Marathon Talk website, anything over a mile can be classed as a run – phew!

As I watched the snow come down last night, it was becoming clear I would not get into London in time for the Regents Park 10k. Got up at 6.10 to check on the trains and they were indeed mostly delayed or cancelled. Some early morning texting with Zoe confirmed that we would both give it a miss. Decided to take the dog for a nice long walk and forgo my Febulous 100% score. But then starting seeing all the tweets from others going out to run, and especially Chris, who said he was just going for a slow 30 minutes. Gave myself a kick up the butt, (30 minutes is nothing!) pulled on my trail shoes and set off for a short run. Am so glad I did! It was probably the slowest I have run since I began, but it was absolutely brilliant! And I now have 100% for Febulous so far.. Took dog for a long walk after, he turned into a puppy running around in the snow bouncing around

Bring on next week

Very happy to have achieved 100% for Jantastic I also managed my last-minute goal of 100 miles (inspired by Rachel)

This week started off with the monthly handicap run, one of my favourite routes among some spectacular houses in Kingswood.. some of the other runners are too fast to see the houses, but with my pace I can admire them in all their glory. Still, managed a pb for that course and average under 10 minute miles – happy me. On Wednesday I did a 4 mile run at lunch time, and on Thursday evening I went out with a girl from work, who has only just started running. We did a 2 mile slow run and then I left her at work and did 4 more, running home.

On Saturday I did my third parkrun, and as I have found out Chris lives just up the road from me, offered him a lift, seems a bit silly to take 2 cars! Was a lovely morning, cold, but nowhere near the temperatures we had 2 weeks ago! As Chris had about 9 minutes after he had finished running to wait for me, he discovered a ‘sport mode’ on his phone camera, and took this brilliant shot of pictures of me coming into the finish! Love it – thanks Chris

got a new pb for Banstead, 31:04, considering the one and a half hills, quite pleased, only 16 seconds off my Cardiff pb

Today was long run time. Armed with the latest podcasts from Marathon Talk, Ultra Talk and Park Run, I set off to do 14 miles. All went ok until 11 miles when my legs just told me that they were very tired. I pushed on for another 2 miles, but just did not have it in me to do another mile. Was really grumpy when I got home, told son and OH to leave me alone. But then, standing in the shower, I realised that together with the parkrun yesterday, I had actually done 16 miles this weekend, and felt a lot happier.

Watched the end of the Nadal/Djokovic match, how good was that – gutted for Rafa, but Novak was a deserving winner

Signed up for Febulous, 4 runs a week, and commited to long runs of 6, 16, 13 and 18 miles – gulp!

Listened to the Marathon Talk podcast on my run this morning, and they said that Feb/Mar was when the hard work of marathon training takes place, and they are so right! In January you can still get away with missing the odd run and your long runs are generally less than 10 miles But from around now, the long runs get longer and the training generally takes over your entire life – but however hard it gets, nothing can beat the emotion of crossing the finish line knowing you have just completed a marathon!

Went to see runorgocrazy yesterday for my sore achilles, and she was fantastic! Not only does it definitely feel loads better, she has also given me stretches and exercises, and I got a delicious lunch with her wonderful family! Bargain! If you are looking for a sports or remedial massage, look no further! http://www.rebalancetherapy.net/Welcome.html

I realised that after today, I still have 350 planks to do as part of #plankaday each day this year. So I though, why not multitask it into my day? For example, while waiting for the kettle to boil, during annoying ad breaks on the telly, waiting for the bath to fill up.. My challenge is finding new and innovative multi task planing opportunities

Huge cheer of the week to Carla – well done on an amazing new pb!!!!!! – not forgetting her Mrs Motivator, Louise I reckon a new pb at the Regents Park 10k on 4/2 as well??

On the running front, I managed my 5 Jantastic runs, thanks goodness. Was planning a 12 mile long run today, but work called last night and asked if I could come in ‘for a few hours’ – yea right, heard that one before! Luckily not as bad as I thought and I was out of there by 2, quick dog walk and then set off for 5ish miles, which I was very pleased to have managed to stretch to 7.

Did my second parkrun yesterday, Banstead Woods with Steve, Zoe and Chris. IT WAS COLD! Was sooo tempted to stay in the car and pretend I was not there, but so glad I ran. Really nice course, a bit hilly, but pleasantly surprised by my time of 31:32.

 

Seeing as most of you have run every day, I am feeling a bit like a wuss for only doing 5 runs this week – one of them with the dog which was a rather stop/stary affair, as dogs have to sniff every blade of grass am pleased with my mileage and so far (touch wood) my Brighton training plan is on track

Great day today, catching up with Carla, Rachel and Louise, and meeting Katie and Maggie. We met up for the Regents Park 10k, and of course the poached eggs on toast after!

Yay, Dancing on Ice starting tonight, I always associate my long run days with watching DOI, I prop up my sore legs and watch them do their thing

Have a great week everyone, cool runnings x

 

Firstly, wishing you all a wonderful 2012, may all your hopes and dreams come true

I am blatantly plagiarising this blog by picking some bits I really liked from other blogs

The first bit is nicked from ‘fairweatherrunner’ and looks back at what I did in 2011

Month	Number of Runs	Distance
January	16	80.5
February	14	100.4
March	10	68.7
April	6	22.9
May	10	40.1
June	22	74.1
July	21	78.2
August	17	72.2
September	21	101.1
October	8	37.0
November	13	48.4
December	17	76.7
Total	175	800.4
Average	14.5	66.7

Now on to 2012 and what I hope to do this year. This is stolen borrowed from ‘The Diary of a Bananaphobe & other short stories’

• Run 1000 miles – I never thought I would get to 800 miles this year, my previous best being 459
• 25 minute 5k – not too sure about this one, but you never know, a nice flat parkrun, a good day
• sub 60 minute 10k – again, not too sure about this one, I am currently on 63:37, but going to be tough shaving off those last few minutes
• 2:15 – 2:20 half marathon – I have done 2:25 last year in Brighton, so maybe just a few adjustments and I should be able to do 2:20
• sub 5 hour marathon – my last only marathon, I pretty much walked for about 5 miles between 17 and 22, sooo if I can just walk/run or even keep plodding instead of walking, I think I am in with a chance
• #plankaday each day in 2012 – what can I say, abs of steel
• weigh 9st  (57k) – I have lost a stone since August, and am now 9st 6, so what is a measly 6lbs to lose, plus it will make me faster LOL!
• Thunder Run 24 – so looking forward to this!!!
• 11 races to raise money in memory of Harry Moseley – I started following Harry on Twitter last year, a most amazing young boy. Unfortunately he passed away in October, aged 11, which is why I am planning 11 races.

Too ambitious? Perhaps, but my running has improved so much this year, I am running times I would never have believed I can do, so, why not at least try? I know I am getting older, but hey, my ultimate running hero, Bruce Fordyce, ran a sub 3 hour NY marathon last year at the age of 55, a time he had not managed since 2006! Not that I am comparing myself to Bruce, that would be sacrilage, but it just proves that being older does not mean you can’t run well.

Now, that is a lot of waffling done

Bring on 2012, it is going to be an excellent one for us all!!

since I last blogged. Christmas and the lovely 4 day break is over unless you were savvy enough to take the 3 days off (which I wasnt!) Hope you have all had a great Christmas and enjoyed spending time with your families.

As the year draws to a close, inevitably one’s thought turn to what you have achieved this year. First and foremost I have made some amazing friends in this year, when we all arranged to meet up for the BUPA 10000 I had no idea that I would meet some wonderful ladies and that we would be there for each other in the good times and the bad. Secondly, my whole attitude to my running has changed. Before, I was merely running to finish, did not care about time, and to be honest, most of the time it was a chore to run. But this year has shown me that I can run faster and I am actually enjoying running!

Bring on 2012!!

Must admit I do love this time of the year just for a few days we can forget about work and commitments and merely enjoy being with family and friends. I am working between Christmas and New Year, but even that does not really feel like work, as there are so few of us in.

Exercise wise I have had a bit of a slacker week, work unfortunately took over I managed 3 runs including todays’, but no planks, lunges, squats or pressups. Which puts it all in perspective I guess, as a year ago, I would have considered it a good running week LOL

Met up with my running inspiration, runorgocrazy, in Wimbledon yesterday, and it was wonderful to catch up, time just flew, and when I looked again, we had been in All Bar One for 3.5 hours!

I would like to wish all of you fabulous people, and your families, a wonderful festive season, it is hard to believe I did not know most of you last year this time! Looking forward to all our adventures in 2012