Wednesday 27 June 2012

Getting carried away

I've been overwhelmed by the support I've received from everyone, after telling them about my place in the Brathay 10 in 10.  Obviously, there have been people who are (naturally) concerned for my sanity in signing up for something so extreme, but even they have been supportive if not a bit bemused ;)  

I've also got incredibly enthusiastic and excited about the challenge ahead, both about getting ready for such a punishing event, and also about fundraising as much money as I can for the Brathay Trust. Despite the fact that I still have 10 months to go, I have already created my sponsorship page, written an email (which will probably stay in draft for months) asking for donations, put some thought into a training plan for next year, and joined the appropriate Facebook group!  Incidentally, if you do want to sponsor me (it would be very much appreciated!) you can just click through to my justgiving page here:

JustGiving - Sponsor me now!
All of the money that I raise will be going straight to the charity as I'm paying the £800 that it costs per person to stage the event out of my own pocket - I think it's important that people know their sponsorship isn't going to fund my running adventures!

Anyway, although I'm getting a bit carried away with the whole concept of the 10 in 10, I keep reminding myself that I'm mustn't lose sight of the fact that I have very important races coming up and I need to make sure that I'm properly prepared - my 30 miler is in just 10 days, and my 50 miler is in just 3 and a half weeks.  

I think I've got a bit blasé about the 30 miler, but it's going to be an enormous challenge - further than I've ever run before, a race of short laps, middle of the day and so potentially warm, and all without a proper taper! However, I think I can trust in my training to get me round - the bigger challenge will be not going out too fast, and trying to really treat it as a training run so I don't burn myself out before the big one...the 50! I'm not in the least blasé about that one though - it's going to be an absolute journey into the unknown and as such, is still a bit of a frightening prospect!!  

Monday 25 June 2012

Exciting news...the magic number 10

Well, as you'll notice, my Juneathon blogging has gone out of the window...my excuse is that we've been really busy since my last post - had more going on last week than we usually do in a month ;) As well as the cricket, we had a trip to the Royal Institution for a lecture/book launch with the legend that is Sir Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, a day out at Knebworth Park for an awesome Red Hot Chili Peppers concert, and then yesterday was the grand prix and we watched England's exit from Euro 2012....but the running has been going well and that's the important thing ;) 

I clocked up 50 miles last week, including 27 miles for the Longest Day Run over the weekend.  It's not quite as many as I was hoping for, but I'm struggling with what I think is tendinitis in my ankle and so cut a few runs short.  Obviously, what I should actually be doing is not running on my ankle at all, and to this end, I'm taking today and tomorrow as rest days in the hope that gives it enough time to feel better. 

Anyway, more importantly, I have had the most exciting, incredible, and terrifying news....


I've been offered a place to run the 2013 Brathay 10in10!  If you haven't heard of it before, this is an awesome multi-day charity event, held at England's largest natural lake, Lake Windermere, up in the Lake District. Essentially, 16 of us will be running a marathon a day, for ten consecutive days, with each marathon being a lap of the lake.

On the 10th day, the main Windermere Marathon is held, and our small group of 10in10ers will be joined by 1000 other runners, and we will complete the final 26.2 miles of our adventure.

I just can't believe that they've offered me a place and I'm so happy.  Overwhelmed, a little apprehensive perhaps, but mainly just happy, especially as when I told Francis he was really supportive about me accepting the place.

I've followed the event for a few years, and have been totally impressed and inspired by the commitment of the other people that have completed it and am struggling to get my head around the fact that I'm going to become one of them! It really is just amazing.

262 miles in 10 days.  It's going to be a massive challenge to complete, but it's a charity event and that will help me through - I'm going to aim to raise at least £3,000 for the Brathay Trust who organise the 10in10 and the Windermere Marathon.  Brathay are a charity that inspires and supports disadvantaged young people across Britain, helping to improve and transform their lives - they do amazing things for these children, creating a tangible difference to their lives now, and their lives as adults, and raising money for them will make a massive difference to keeping me going not only through training but through that event itself.

So - here goes... I've got 10 months to train, to fundraise and to get in shape to complete the hardest endurance event I've ever faced, 10 months until 10 marathons in 10 days.  I can't wait :D

Thursday 21 June 2012

Running at midnight

Yesterday went like this:

5:30am: alarm rang - I turned it off.
7:30am: got up, 2 hours late
9.30am - 5.30pm: at work.
6pm: train to Chelmsford with a sandwich for dinner
7pm: watched the T20 cricket game between Essex and Kent.  Amazing match, great atmosphere, and very exciting towards the end...came down to the last ball! Kent needed a 4, Essex got a wicket, so Essex won.  Fantastic!
10.10pm: wandered back to the station from the cricket ground.  Realised the train was in 2 minutes.  Sprinted & got to the platform at 10.13pm, missed the train.
11.10pm: Finally got home.
11.30pm - midnight: Went out for a run!



That's very late, even for me, a seasoned night runner, to be heading out of the door and so I didn't go far, but am pleased I went.  I barely saw anyone out on the roads, but there was a group of teenagers coming up the street, I assume from the pub, in the opposite direction to me.  As I got closer I could hear them asking each other "Is she really running? At this time of night?" and then they started applauding and cheering me as I passed them, as though I was running a marathon.  It raised a smile and was all well intentioned ;)

Despite getting to bed so late, I actually tried to get up at 5.30pm this morning in another attempt to get my run in before work.  Needless to say, I slept through! Unfortunately, we're going out again tonight so I'll be running late again, although this time I'll hopefully be home a bit earlier, which is a good job as I need to do about 8 miles.  Fingers crossed it doesn't turn into another midnight run, not sure how long I can keep this up! ;)

Wednesday 20 June 2012

A return to Juneathon - day 20

After yesterday morning's gym session, there was a tiny part of me that wondered whether I would actually make it out for my run last night, but very pleased to be able to say that I did and my Juneathon exercise has restarted and my training is back on track.

Having watched the first 10 minutes of the England v Ukraine game, I headed out of the door, and ran a hilly 8 miles at what felt like a decent pace.  I didn't take my Garmin, but had one of those runs where I felt strong, my legs were moving well, the sun was shining (although by the time I got back it was setting & the skies were red) and pretty much every song that came on my ipod was one I love. I was home in time to watch the last 10 minutes of the football so I was able to enjoy the England win too - yesterday was a very good day :)

Unfortunately, I did have a bit of pain in my right ankle during the run and it's still hurting this morning...to go with the DOMS that I've developed from the gym session.  My arms, back and abs are all really aching, but the DOMS is a good thing - it means the gym workout was effective!  The ankle pain is less positive though - I can't identify what the cause is, but I've got a support on it this morning, which has definitely helped.


I meant to get up early and get today's run done before work, but when my alarm rang, I must have turned if off and fallen straight back into a deep sleep, as I didn't wake up until 2 hours later!! It wasn't a consious decision - yesterday's exercise obviously tired me out - but it has caused me a bit of a problem. We're off to watch the cricket (Essex v Kent Twenty20) tonight, and probably wont get home until about 10.30pm, so today's run is just going to have to be a very late one. I need to get it done, as this week is a really big week in my training - last week was an easy rest week, but this week is high mileage - I'm aiming to hit 57 miles, and I'm not going to do that unless I run tonight!

Tuesday 19 June 2012

A wedding, some walking & a work-out

No blog for 5 days.  No run for 4 days. So what have I been doing?! Well, although I didn't manage to blog about it, on Thursday I did get up early for a 5.5 mile run before work, which was lovely - I need to start running more often in the morning and take advantage of the early sunshine!

Unfortunately though, I haven't run since, but I do have my Juneathon excuses lined up:

On Friday, we were on holiday! We drove 3 hours up to Derbyshire, to go to a friend's wedding.  Although there was no exercise, the wedding was absolutely wonderful - I shed more than a couple of tears during the ceremony and we slipped away from the reception for a couple of hours to watch the England v Sweden match in the Best Man's hotel room! A great day :)

Saturday - No running again, but we went for a 8 mile hike around the village of Grindleford, where we were staying.  Definitely counts for Juneathon, as going up and down the hills in the Peak District was hard work at times, but I absolutely loved the walk despite the frequent and heavy rain storms! The walk took us through different types of landscape, from fairytale ancient forest, to dales dotted with flocks of sheep, to standing high on the heather moorland looking over the view down the valley, to the Grindleford Summer Festival from which, for 20 minutes before we arrived, we could hear the sound of bagpipers, and along muddy paths by the river.  The countryside in this part of the world is absolutely beautiful and we'll definitely go back...there are even loads of runners to make me feel at home - I saw more runners on Saturday than I usually see in Essex or London in a week, and they were all running on trails and more often than not, up some very steep slopes!





Me in the pouring rain

Sunday - we carried on with our Derbyshire site-seeing tour and drove back home, getting back at about 9pm and although I'd planned to, I didn't go out for an evening run - we'd walked quite a lot during the day but I know that's a poor excuse! We also ate ice-cream, chips from the chippy, chocolate, pastries, scones....a terrible day's eating, although it was all very tasty ;)  Sunday though seems to be the day for bikers as opposed to runners in Derbyshire - we saw more cyclists attacking the hills than we saw when we were in Tuscany a couple of years ago (when we drove along what is apparently the world's best cycling road) - and I've never seen so many bikers as we did at Matlock Bath where they all park up along the street and have a pint! 


Monday - back to work, but still in holiday mode - total Juneathon fail as I sat on the sofa after dinner and decided I couldn't be bothered to run, again!

Tuesday - hurray....and I'm back....healthy eating today, exercise and blogging.

This morning I went for a free trial session with a personal trainer at my gym.  I was very nervous about it and worried about feeling self-conscious, but the trainer was excellent, and and I really enjoyed myself.  We did intervals on the rower, mat exercises with swiss balls and medicine balls, and then some work with the weight machines and I was astonished at how much I felt it in my muscles...and how weak I was in some areas! The difference having the trainer there was incredible and he also explained which muscles the different exercises were working, and how they would all help with my running which was really interesting. I did things I've never tried before, and now have aches in places I haven't felt before ;) I've already signed up for another session next week!

I was originally going to run long tonight (a 20odd miler) but as I'm already aching from this morning, I'm not sure I'll make it that far, so think I'll do the long one at the weekend instead, and try and do about 8 miles tonight, back from the train station home with a rucksack :)

My 30 mile run is now just 2 and half weeks away and my 50 miler is in just 4 and a half weeks!!

Wednesday 13 June 2012

My favourite downhill run...uphill

After a couple of days of failing at Juneathon (i.e no exercise of any sort) today I reminded myself what I meant to be doing and went for a run in the unexpected sunshine we had this afternoon.

I didn't go too far as I was quite disorganised time-wise today, and managed just over 5 miles, but I did take some inspiration from my last blog post, and achieved something I've never done before.

There's this one hill that joins up some of my regular runs, but which I rarely go to.  It's about half a mile and crazy steep and I go so fast down it, that it I struggle to keep control of my legs so generally don't worry about that and just let gravity take control instead!  I absolutely love it and so occasionally do treat myself to a downhill trip but don't run there too often in case I get used to that feeling of freefall and don't enjoy it as much.

But that's downhill.

Uphill is a different story.  I've lived and run here for 3 years, but have never run up this infamous hill because it just seemed far too steep, and far too hard - I didn't think I could manage it.

Today it was sunny, I was enjoying my run, so I treated myself to a downhill run.  When I got to the bottom, unusually I stopped. I turned around and looked up the hill - you can only see about a quarter of the way up but I considered what I should do next...I remembered my blog, I remembered that I'm meant to be so confident I can take on really hard training sessions, and I knew what I needed to do - I ran straight back up!

It was hard, I had to stop once for a breather, but I made it to the top and you know what, I'm really proud of myself and I'm going to do it again, only next time, I'll do it without stopping!




Tuesday 12 June 2012

It's no jedi mind-trick but you need to believe in yourself

After the race on Sunday, and my big mileage week, I was aching yesterday and so took a day off from running, although in the spirit of Juneathon, after work I walked the three miles from my office to the train station - a journey I usually make on the tube. While I was walking, I was pondering an exchange of tweets I'd had earlier in the day, about starting out as a runner and then improving pace, and how you could keep improving.

I remember when I started running
in August 2007 I was very unfit, and my first non-stop mile took about 12 minutes.kept at it though, purely because I desperately wanted to run a marathon, and then, because I'd been given a charity place for the London Marathon, had raised lots of money and it was too late to back out! Eight months after I started, I ran my first ever race, a half marathon, in 2:14 (10.16min/mile) and a month after that, ran the marathon in 5:00 hours, which means my average pace would have been 11.27min/mile.

After achieving my goal of completing a marathon, I was very pleased with myself, but completely stopped exercising, and by the time I decided to come back to running in January 2010, I'd lost all of my fitness, weighed nearly 13 stone (which on my 5'5'' frame was far from ideal & I was heavier than when I started running the first time!) and had inevitably got very slow again.  


With only four months training, I then ran my second marathon in April 2010, for the RNLI, in an agonising 5:41... so that's 13.02min/mile.  I'd gone backwards in the very worst way! Despite looking quite happy in this photo (taken at about 13 miles) it was an awful race, and afterwards, I started to take my running more seriously.  

I went from that 5:41 performance in April 2010 to a 4:55 marathon in April 2011, to running a 1:49 half marathon (at 8:03 min/mile) in April 2012 and a 3:49 marathon at Brighton later the same month, which was at 8:49 min/mile pace.

While I was walking home last night, I decided to write a blog post about how I've improved my pace over the last two years, as an answer to the tweet I'd been sent, and I was going to create a list of the top 10 things I've done that I believe have helped...they included losing weight, doing some speedwork, increasing my mileage, running hills, lots of races, race day prep; you know - all those things that Runner's World and the forums tell us we should be doing!

As I thought about it though, I realised that although these have each been a significant factor in increasing my pace, and that it's only with the right training you'll get fitter and faster, it's impossible to start doing any of them effectively without one thing that you don't really read about in the magazines.

The biggest factor, I think, in improving my marathon time was discovering my confidence as a runner. It's been about believing in myself and in my training. Now, I know that sounds new-age and probably very wishy washy...and obviously there's no jedi mind trick that makes you into a faster runner overnight, but I do think that self-belief makes a difference. I'm convinced that for a long time my pace wasn't as fast as it could have been because I had a mind-set that said I was a slow runner who would try and go faster but I never pushed myself in training - if I'm honest, I was probably scared of the pain in my legs, in my lungs, scared to keep running without stopping, scared of trying too hard in training incase I still failed to achieve what I wanted in my races...




I'm not entirely sure where my new found confidence came from. I think the amazing running community on Twitter probably had something to do with it, and the relentless optimism & encouragement that flows from them ;)  Seeing what seemingly ordinary people can achieve has been so inspiring - particularly in ultra running - and also the realisation that sometimes everyone fails, but it's not a DNF or a bad performance that defines us, it's how we carry on afterwards - there's a confidence to be found in realising it's ok to crash sometimes!  Writing this blog has probably also helped as it really focuses my mind on my goals, and has been a true record of just how far I've come...

Becoming a more confident and positive runner has made me train harder, and race harder.  I've still got a long way to go to be the best runner I can be - I am convinced that somewhere inside me is a sub 3:30 marathon - but whereas once I didn't believe that I'd ever break 4:30 in the marathon, now I have the confidence to know that if I really put my heart and soul into it, train hard and run races with the most effort I can muster, eventually I'll achieve my goals even if I have some setbacks along the way, rather than training and racing within that safe zone, where you're not risking anything, and nothing hurts that much.

Monday 11 June 2012

Southend Half Marathon

Photo from Valerie Bloomfield
(@romfordrunner) with her dog Max
Yesterday was not only day 10 of Juneathon, it was also the Southend Half Marathon. I've run it once before, in 2010, and although I couldn't remember much about it from the first outing, a general impression remains that I'd really enjoyed myself, and so I was looking forward to a decent race.

Despite being really tired after getting in late from a friend's house party on Saturday night, I still managed to crawl out of bed at 6am on Sunday, and was rewarded by the sun shining brightly and a bright blue sky.  It was even quite warm - a complete contrast from recent days and it made me a bit nervous about how the race would go as I'm not good in the heat, but so nice to have a summery morning for once ;) 


It was a pleasure driving down to Shoeburyness to the race start, as I love driving in the sunshine with my music blaring, and as I left really early to avoid the traffic build-up to get into the race car park, the roads were quiet and I was relaxed. By the time I got there and had parked up, I had more than enough time to wander up and down the coast path as the start is just by the beach, and it was lovely.


However, the race itself wasn't as pretty....


For some reason, by the time we were due to start, my relaxed mood had disappeared, and I was finding everything annoying.  The girl leading the group warm-up had a voice and an overly-enthusiastic attitude that really grated on me, then they delayed the start (only by a few minutes) because people were late which also wound me up (as I'd got there so early) and while waiting for the off, I realised I was being eaten alive by mostiquoes (and this morning's lumps and bumps on my legs prove how much those 
mosquitoes hated me!)  So, I certainly wasn't feeling in the best frame of mind, but just eager to be off. 

Runners get under way
Unfortunately, half a mile into the race, I was wishing I was back in the mosquito field...I realised this race was going to be hard work. My legs felt tired and my pace wasn't where I'd hoped it would be.  In the run up to the race, I kept telling myself that I wouldn't be trying for a PB...that I'd plod round...but as soon as a race starts, I always find myself going for it...except yesterday it seems that my legs had been listening ;)

Had I set out planning for a 8:30 paced race, I may well have been ok, but I set out trying for 8.15, which after half a mile I revised to 8.20 but that was still just too fast when I had already run 57 miles in the previous 8 days!  My average pace kept creeping up, I got a stitch at about 4 miles, I was too hot, and taking a drink was becoming more of a hindrance than a help because it really interrupted my heavy breathing.  
I spent the whole course battling to keep going and I missed out on admiring the sea views and appreciating the crowds, who were really enthusiastic, and I'm sure on a different day it would have been a fabulous race I would have enjoyed. 

Anyway, somehow I managed to convince my legs to carry me onwards and I finished in 1:51:20, with an average pace of 8:29. If you'd told me 6 months ago I would run a half marathon in 1:51 I'd have been absolutely over the moon, but having run a half marathon in April in an average pace of 8:06, I'm disappointed to have gone backwards (although the sensible part of mind is telling me that in April I tapered for that race so no wonder I ran faster, and that recently I've been focused on endurance, haven't done any speedwork training, and so it's no wonder I've got a bit slower!).


On a more positive note, Valerie (@romfordrunner), a friend from Twitter, was also running the race, and once I'd got my all-important medal, I walked a few meters back up the course, to watch for her to finish.  We're very similar in our goals and our running, and Valerie has really inspired me to increase my commitment to running over the last year, and I've been hoping we'd meet at an event for ages.  


It's not often I stay to clap in the other runners...I'm usually too busy collapsing on the floor...but seeing everyone come through was an absolute highlight for me. Surprisingly, I found I felt really emotional about it, and I kept tearing up: there was the the man, welcomed into the final straight by his family, who caught the hand of his little boy as he passed them, and then they ran through the finish arch together...and the people who were obviously very close to getting a PB and so absolutely sprinted to the end with such determination on their faces...and the man who collapsed with literally yards to go with cramp, but who was helped to stretch it out by a stranger from the crowd who went to his aid so he could finish. It was all really moving, and reminded me just how proud I am to be a part of the running community. 


Soon after, I was pleased to see Valerie come through, and she finished really strongly - I cheered and clapped - and then, typically, lost her in the crowd as she got her medal and her chip timer removed.  So, we didn't end up meeting, but hopefully it will happen soon :) 

--
I ran an extra 4 miles after I got home - they were hard work and I really didn't want to go, but it's good practise running on tired legs, and I'm pleased I made it because with those extra, I've run my most miles in a week ever....54 of them!  I stayed awake for a few hours afterwards, but soon fell asleep on the sofa - running so much appears to have given me narcolepsy ;)


Saturday 9 June 2012

Not every run is worth blogging about

Not sure what happened to my run last night...up to about 9.30pm I fully intended to go out but the next time I looked at the clock it was an hour later, I was still sat on the sofa, mid-way through Unforgettable (my current trashy American police drama of choice), eating jaffa cakes and didn't make it out of the door.  I am sometimes a very bad runner!! This also means that I will now have to run a few miles tomorrow after the Southend Half Marathon to bring me up to my week's target.

I did make it out today though, but for a very non-eventful 6 miler along the pavement by a main road.  I take that route sometimes because although it's not pretty, there are some decent hills which make for some hard work, which is so often missing when I take a flatter, easier option.

So, no run yesterday, a dull run today - at least tomorrow I have the race which will hopefully give me something more interesting to blog about, so I don't end up losing all my readers before the end of Juneathon ;)

Friday 8 June 2012

Running in the monsoon

My day off work yesterday was as welcome as ever and the weather in the morning, as I lounged on the sofa having a leisurely breakfast and watching TV, wasn't too bad.  No rain, a bit of wind, a bit cloudy, but ok...pretty much ideal running conditions.  Needless to say it didn't last. Below is my entry from my dailymile.com site about yesterday's run....

21.41 mi in 03hrs 16mins 09:08 pace and 2540 calories
This was a run in absolutely torrential rain from about four miles. I was relatively happy to start with but by about 14 miles I was pretty fed up with the driving rain & with my absolutely soaked through top sticking to me like cling-film. At about mile 18 a large truck drove past me, and , just like you see in the films, it splashed an enormous wave of water all over me. I'm sure the other drivers must have thought it was hilarious...I didn't, but by that time I was so wet it didn't make me any wetter and so I just carried on running. Good distance for mid-week though :)

So, despite getting absolutely drenched, I was really pleased to have got out, and to have carried on in such awful weather, even if I did spend quite a lot of the latter part of my run regretting that I hadn't worn a coat!  I think I'm quite lucky I was running a circular route as once I'd gone so far, I just had to keep going to get home!  I'm also quite relieved to have got a long run done yesterday, as in my original schedule for this week I was due to have to run for a second time on Sunday, after the Southend Half Marathon. Most of the times when I've planned to run after a race, to add some additional miles for the day, I haven't managed it! At least now, I look well on my way to clocking up my highest mileage in a week ever, of 54 miles.  I can't believe that I'm going to have to run that far all in one go, in just 6 weeks!

Thursday 7 June 2012

No run for Day 6

Yesterday was a bit of an odd one...first day back at work after such a long weekend was always going to be a challenge and I didn't end up running.

I went out at lunchtime for about a forty minute walk, which although as it was walking didn't contribute to my 2012 in 2012 target, it meant that I did move a bit for Juneathon, but I hadn't been organised enough to take my running gear with me to work, so I couldn't run home, and after a nightmare tube commute back in the evening, I didn't walk through the door until gone 8pm and just didn't want to go out.

I also decided that the four day weekend just hadn't been enough, so booked today off work too. When I decided not to run last night, I knew I had today off, and knew that today would see me running about 20 miles, so I think that probably helped with my decision not to go out but to rest my legs in advance of an unexpected mid-week long run.


Wednesday 6 June 2012

Twitter motivation

Despite it being Day 5 of Juneathon yesterday, it started out being a VERY lazy day!

We didn't get up until about 9am, before going to pick up a new (read second hand) sofa that we'd bought from ebay.  Aside from a bit of furniture shifting that I did to get the old sofa out, and the new one in, I then proceeded to spend the rest of the day sat on the new sofa...ostensibly trying it out, to make sure it was comfy ;) (it was...looks like new and is lovely!). As it was the last day of the Jubilee celebrations, we watched the parade through London, the amazing crowds of wonderful flag wavers, the displays by the guards and the flypast on TV, but even after that was all finished, I still managed to find more TV to watch.

I knew I had to run, but kept putting it off - I'll go out in an hour, I'll go in a bit, I'll go after the Queen's speech...

By about 6pm, I decided that I fancied a Chinese take-away for dinner...we've not had one for ages, and being a Bank Holiday, though it was just about justifiable. However, I was really starting to struggle with the idea of still going for a run, and was rapidly losing all motivation for it, especially as the weather worsened outside - so I took to twitter, and asked for help:

Can you all convince me that I do actually want to go for a run today?!  
Oh dear, this evening isn't looking good for a run. I'm still stuck to the sofa & now we're planning a take-away for dinner 

The response was fantastic, as always and pretty much immediately I had a stream of people encouraging me to run. I've copied my feed from last night so you can see (although had to remove everyone's fab avatars as Blogger can't cope with the formatting). If anyone ever asks "what's the point of twitter?" this is the sort of thing I tell them about....

I'm very pleased to say that even though I devoured a huge but delicious take-away dinner, and despite the weather outside last night being absolutely atrocious, at 10pm (two hours after dinner to let it digest a bit) I did lace up my trainers and get out of the door.

I know I wouldn't have managed it without the encouragement and support from the 
lovely people below, so thank-you all!

Had I gone out earlier in the day, I would have done 8 miles...in the end I did 6, but that's good enough for me, especially as I ended up having a great run, where for the first time in ages, my legs felt strong, I flew round and really enjoyed myself! There's a lesson in all of that somewhere ;)


 I went first thing and it was a fab run in the country before the rain set in. You go though, you are a proper runner, be strong
 zip up you're man suit and get on with it. Earn that dinner!
 run to get the takeaway? The long way round!
 Go one, get out there, I have just done Intervals after too much lunch. I didn't vom, I call that a 
 I am dithering re my run too. Had a nap for an hour after our Street Party. We really SHOULD go. How about 7.30pm?
 doooooo it, you will feel better once sat on the sofa again.
 Go for it and the take away will be guilt free!