it’s all about…

…

…

…timing!
Todays Juneathon activity needed to take place early in the day for all the other pieces to fit in to place so I was up early to fix some coffee and set off. Almost ready, I glance outside and it looks overcast but not cold so grab a short sleeve running top and the Garmin and go downstairs to leave. Somehow between the glance outside, coming downstairs and opening the door, miraculously, it had begun to rain. Not heavily but a few big drops so I turn round, go back upstairs collect baseball cap & waterproof jacket and prepare to set off again – the rain getting steadily more persistent. I planned on about 5kms as I was still weary from last nights run less than 12 hours earlier and my IT band was feeling tight. It took me a while to get into a steady pace but after about a mile I was wet enough that I couldn’t get any wetter and I had warmed up sufficiently to hit my stride. An uneventful run dodging puddles, kids on the way to school and dustmen (one of whom I narrowly missed when we both ran round the same corner from opposite directions. We did that strange no touching waltz – both hands up, circling around each other coupled with a “Woaaaah…. sorry!” and then we were both on our way). I arrived home 5.76kms later – hot, soaking with rain and sweat and just in time to say goodbye to Mrs eatingtrees, SonNumberOne & SonNumberTwo before they set off for school. I go upstairs, switch the computer on and grab a towel to dry my face. I glance outside and the rain has stopped.
Like I said… timing.

Juneathon so far: Run – 45.6kms / Cycle – 12.6kms

unlucky for some

18 Days Later – Been Around The Block A Few Times – Four Cycle To The Sea

But not for me. After Sunday’s Richmond Park 10k and realising that the Lisbon Half Marathon is only 3 weeks away, I decided that I really, really needed to get some miles in. And having completed the 10k with no real problems from the ITB, I was feeling pretty chipper.

So when I managed to get in from work a tad early yesterday, I seized the moment and went out for a run. I’d planned to do a little more that 10k, perhaps 11 or 12 but as I entered the last bit of my 10k(ish) route, the absence of any pain and a second wind that I haven’t felt for a while encouraged me to put in just one extra loop around the town before heading back home. Which tipped the mileage (kilometereage???) up to 13.2kms, which is probably the furthest I’ve been able to run since 2nd January when Hauling My Carcass and I decided to run around Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common in the freezing cold!

And today, apart from a little bit of a sore right calf and a little bit of a sore left foot, I appear to be OK! Now I plan to take it easy for a few days and attempt another longer run on Sunday. I’ll aim for 16kms because then I can do an 18kms run the weekend after (Mothers Day / My Birthday) and be within a comfortable distance of the 21kms I shall be running in Lisbon on 21st.

In other news… I am now signed up for The London To Brighton Cycle Ride as part of a team of 4 “running bloggers”. The other victims are Jog Blog, I Like To Count and Hauling My Carcass. So we will have to add some cycle training to our running if we are to stand any chance of completing the 54 miles. And just to make it interesting, Jog Blog is doing it on her pink Pashley, I Like To Count will be attempting it on a BMX, Hauling My Carcass is on his singlespeed and I’m on my homemade fixie. I’m not sure which is going to be harder, the 54 miles or getting myself to the start on Clapham Common for 7am…

Soundtrack to this post: Spearhead – Red Beans And Rice

richmond park 10k race report

Late Nights And Early Mornings – Technology Free – Sweat, Sweets And Soviets

After finishing work at 23.20 on Friday night and chucking (hopefully) all my running gear into a bag before going to bed, the thought of getting up at 6am in preparation for a 10k round Richmond Park did not fill me with happiness. And a combination of sunny spells, showers and outright downpours on my drive to South West London did little to lift my spirits. Once I arrived at Hauling My Carcass’s to find the coffee machine hot and toast on the go, my outlook took a turn for the better. 2nd breakfast of the day out of the way and it was a short drive to Richmond Park to register and then loiter around before the race started at 10.15. Strangely, every time we stepped out of the car, it began to rain so registration was carried out quickly and then we hurried back to the car until just before 10. The 5k set off before us and then the 10k’ers were set off in groups of about 30 – a staggered start at about 30 second intervals. Because the park is not closed for the race, it is a little odd to have to avoid walkers, cyclists, dogs etc as you make your way around the course and Richmond Park undulates more than you imagine it would.

The race itself was 2 laps of a 5k loop – nice as you knew what was coming on the second lap and where you could push and where you could relax a little. The distance markers were a little random although the overall distance seemed about right. Unfortunately, my Garmin decided it didn’t want to play today and refused to be switched on despite being fully charged from the day before The race itself is a good mix of path, trail and grass and has a balance of gentle inclines and declines. As the Garmin had packed up, and as it was a relatively short distance, I had opted to not listen to my mp3 player so my race was carried out with a refreshing absence of technology. I found myself singing songs to myself in my head and keeping a nice rhythm with a syncopation of breathing and pounding of feet. This was my first race of the year and up until last week I had been unable to run 10km without pain in my leg so my plan was just to finish without walking and without any pain – which was accomplished in just under 57 mins. Hauling My Carcass bagged a personal best shaving about 5 seconds off his time so a good result for both of us.

Once over the finish line, we received a nice little medal (which, fabulously, resembles a Soviet propaganda poster from the sixties with an engraving of a male and a female running purposefully into a brighter tomorrow!!). There was also water, half a banana for each runner and, best of all, a bowl of sweets containing chocolate raisins and jelly beans. So – a race in London that feels like a local day out, a friendly atmosphere, 200ish fellow runners, a nice medal and sweets at the finish all served to make this a very enjoyable way to spend a Saturday morning.

Soundtrack to this post: La Valse D’Amelie – Yann Tiersen

sense of humour failure

Misery Guts – A Carbon Footprint The Size Of A Country – Richmond Or Bust

I have been absolutely horrible the last couple of weeks. Moping around, growling at people, face like a smacked arse etc. And I think the reason for this was 2 fold. Firstly, work. Having to deal with people that either a) couldn’t care or b) are too stupid to understand what needs to be done, is one of the singularly most frustrating things. Fortunately, I rang a colleague and pleaded with them to help me out with something and they went out of their way to give me a hand. So, thanks for restoring a bit of my faith even if I did have to get up super-early and drive literally half way across the country for the help. So having spent a good portion of the week in the car and having covered just shy of 1000 miles in 5 days, it brings me nicely on to my second reason: Not running. After an absolutely horrible day, the first thing I would want to do would be get out for a run. Preferably with something unlistenable playing on the headphones at a mind-shearing volume to “exorcise the demon”. And I’d go out and run as far / fast as I could and I’d get home exhilerated and too tired to care about some nonsense that happened at work. But I haven’t done this in a few weeks because of the silly little injury that keeps threatening to get better, then comes back, then creeps away but may come back and stops me running the Wokingham Half Marathon today because I am woefully ill prepared due to being unable to train and unwilling to risk taking part in case I make it worse and I can’t run in Lisbon.

But I did do it Friday evening. I’d managed to get back from work whilst it was still light. I had spent 14 hours in the car in the previous 36 hours, my left leg was feeling pretty good and so I just seized the moment. And it was great. It wasn’t fast, but it was fun and at almost 11k without stopping to stretch and without any pain from the left knee, I felt pretty good. 10k split time was 58:40 which I was happy with as I just wanted to get some distance done and also boost my confidence a little as I was beginning to worry that even the Richmond Park 10k this Saturday may be beyond me.

I did plan to get another 10-12k done today but the lure of spending the day with the family and an “all you can eat world-cuisine” buffet took preference.

Soundtrack to this post: Fugazi – Give Me The Cure

two fives are ten

Unauthorised Absences And Disappointing Distances – Who’s The Daddy – Anger F**king Management

Haven’t blogged for a while. Haven’t run for a while. Although I did go out for a run with an (understanding) friend of mine last Sunday and managed a fairly poor 8km. Except the left leg was hurting from about 4km and I returned home feeling a bit dejected. It was so poor that I decided not to blog about it.

And I’ve finally admitted to myself that I’m definitely out of the Wokingham Half next weekend but have a few things in the pipeline to give me something to aim for.

Firstly, after Hauling My Carcass’ wonderful announcement about his impending fatherhood, his LG very kindly offered me her place in the Richmond 10km on 27th Feb. After a few hasty e-mails back and forth between myself and HMC and the organisers of the race, they very graciously said I could run in LG’s place. My race number arrived midweek and, unusually, has not only the number but the runners name printed on it. Except mine has the runners number, the runners name crossed out and mine written in marker pen. Still, I get to run a 10km so a big thanks to David at The Fix UK for sorting out the entry. I’ve also been busy filling out entry forms for another couple of races – The Wheathampstead 10km which some of you will remember I tackled last year. There is a 2k before hand which last year I ran with SonNumberOne. This year, I shall be running it with SonNumberOne and SonNumberTwo and Mrs Eatingtrees which I am really looking forward to. I’ve also signed up for the Hertford 10km which I got accidentally caught up in a couple of years ago whilst I was out training and was completely oblivious to the race that was going on around me. Currently, 10km is all I feel confident in signing up for as I haven’t fully sorted out my dodgy left leg, but…

Today I felt I should try and get out for a run. After an incredibly frustrating week at work, I wanted to get out and expend some nervous energy. I bashed out about 6 miles on the fixie yesterday and planned on a 10km run today. And I kind of managed it. It wasn’t exactly 2 x 5km runs, it was a 5.8km run, a stop and stretch, a 5 min walk and then a 4.2km run. So I actually did more than 10km but only 10km was run so that’s all that counts!! And I returned home relatively pain free and without the urge to scream and throttle anybody that mentioned that I have to leave the house at 6.30am tomorrow morning for a 7 hour round trip to Leeds for a meeting. Aaaah, therapy…

Soundtrack to this post: Massive Attack – Splitting The Atom