Tuesday, 9 April 2013
Another Sunday, another marathon
On Sunday, I ran the Sussex Marathon, to finish off a 50 mile training week.
Sussex is a really hilly course around beautiful countryside, supported by excellent marshals, with really impressively stocked aid stations, which I made sure I took full advantage of! It's a great race - quite small, but the better for it, and very well organised, and I don't think there's anything I'd hope they change about it - even the medal is excellent!! :)
I did find it hard work though - as I always seem to, I went off unrealistically quickly, and paid for it later on as I found myself having to walk up most of the hills in the second half of the race. It was my slowest marathon for two years, but to be honest, I'm still pretty pleased with my time when I think how much I walked and what the elevation profile of the course must look like. I didn't do too badly compared with the rest of the field either - 10th woman and 2nd in my age group...but then, it was a very small race ;) Mimi Anderson was running too, and I got totally starstruck when I saw her before the start - I wanted to go and say hello but didn't want her to think I was a nutcase fan! ;) Mimi finished in 3:41:44 compared to my 4:26:37, and then she ran on to turn the marathon into a 30 mile ultra, which she finished in 4:19:54 - absolutely awesome!
Lots of friends were running (and supporting) at Sussex, and it made it really special to see so many of them. Getting to know people on the running circuit has really has taken my running onto a totally different level - it's just so much fun to see everyone :D I hung around after I finished, instead of jumping straight in the car and going home, and it was brilliant to see the others finish and cheer them across the line. All in all, I think it was a great day out, and it was Kaz's first race in her 100 Marathon Club vest! :D One day that'll be me! ;)
Sussex is a really hilly course around beautiful countryside, supported by excellent marshals, with really impressively stocked aid stations, which I made sure I took full advantage of! It's a great race - quite small, but the better for it, and very well organised, and I don't think there's anything I'd hope they change about it - even the medal is excellent!! :)
I did find it hard work though - as I always seem to, I went off unrealistically quickly, and paid for it later on as I found myself having to walk up most of the hills in the second half of the race. It was my slowest marathon for two years, but to be honest, I'm still pretty pleased with my time when I think how much I walked and what the elevation profile of the course must look like. I didn't do too badly compared with the rest of the field either - 10th woman and 2nd in my age group...but then, it was a very small race ;) Mimi Anderson was running too, and I got totally starstruck when I saw her before the start - I wanted to go and say hello but didn't want her to think I was a nutcase fan! ;) Mimi finished in 3:41:44 compared to my 4:26:37, and then she ran on to turn the marathon into a 30 mile ultra, which she finished in 4:19:54 - absolutely awesome!
Lots of friends were running (and supporting) at Sussex, and it made it really special to see so many of them. Getting to know people on the running circuit has really has taken my running onto a totally different level - it's just so much fun to see everyone :D I hung around after I finished, instead of jumping straight in the car and going home, and it was brilliant to see the others finish and cheer them across the line. All in all, I think it was a great day out, and it was Kaz's first race in her 100 Marathon Club vest! :D One day that'll be me! ;)
Sunday, 31 March 2013
Enigma Good Friday marathon
On Friday I ran the Enigma Good Friday marathon, around Caldicott lake in Milton Keynes. It was the perfect end to what's been a fantastic week for my running, where I truly rediscovered my mojo, and remembered why I love it so much!
There were a lot of people running the Good Friday marathon, or just there by the lake, as it was Kaz Hurrell's 100th marathon and everyone wanted to support her and cheer her on. It made it a brilliant day, and I was able to catch up with lots of running friends, including seeing Liz running with her adorable new husky Lara for the first time! To see the inspirational Kaz finish and be inducted into the 100 Marathon Club was an absolute privilege and I'm so glad I was there.
The laps around the lake were hard as ever, and it alternated between freezing cold, bright sunshine and snow! But everyone being there, the inimitable support of Karen and Foxy, and knowing we were having beer and cake in the pub after we finished, helped pull me round ;)
There were a lot of people running the Good Friday marathon, or just there by the lake, as it was Kaz Hurrell's 100th marathon and everyone wanted to support her and cheer her on. It made it a brilliant day, and I was able to catch up with lots of running friends, including seeing Liz running with her adorable new husky Lara for the first time! To see the inspirational Kaz finish and be inducted into the 100 Marathon Club was an absolute privilege and I'm so glad I was there.
The laps around the lake were hard as ever, and it alternated between freezing cold, bright sunshine and snow! But everyone being there, the inimitable support of Karen and Foxy, and knowing we were having beer and cake in the pub after we finished, helped pull me round ;)
Thursday, 7 March 2013
Running could change the world
I was bought Caitlin Moran’s book “How to be a Woman” for
Christmas. It’s not the sort of book I’d usually read, but it was looking
abandoned on the bookshelf, so finally decided to pick it up.
It had a very rare effect on me – it made me angry.
It’s half autobiography, half about Moran’s views on feminism
and its main theme is her opinion that world these days is still a difficult one for women because although we may have the vote and be able to go to work, we’re still all
hard done by and need to wake up and realise how subjugated we all still are. Although
feminist Moran has now broken though, and is living the life we all want to
live, where she is confident, independent, has a partner who shares in her life
rather than controls it, and essentially feels she can behave how she wants, there are lots of other women who can't break through.
She discusses themes of “being a woman” and describes how Western women seem to live double lives - where outwardly they're happy, independent and confident, but actually they exist in some archaic nightmare, spending forever
and a day doing their hair before going to the shops, not stepping out of the house without their make-up done and their fake tan applied, hating wearing heels but
having to, being the downtrodden one in relationships, being criticised by the
masses if they decide not to have children, being considered on the scrap heap once they go through the menopause and generally not achieving anything. There was a quote about women just BEING not
DOING – we exist but don’t actually contribute anything.
What made me angry was the assumption (maybe the reality)
that the majority of women are actually still living like this in the Western
world. It's a totally alien concept to me - that's not the life of anyone I know, but the idea that there are still women and girls out there who can't behave as they want to, even when
they live in countries and under political regimes where they have total legal
equality, is appalling. Whether it's true that life is still like this for lots of women, and that they are still subjugated, to be honest, I don't know.
What I do know, though, is that running marathons, and particularly ultras, has, without a
doubt, changed how I perceive life and how I feel about myself.
It’s opened my eyes to a world where men
and women compete in the same event, and sometimes the women win, but where, in fact, no-one seems to care whether
you’re male or female because actually we’re all just runners; where you can
wear no make-up and be covered in mud and sweat and look the messiest but the best you’ve ever
looked and are considered amazing because of what you’ve just achieved! The
running community has given me incredible male and female role models, from
every age group and background, and has taught me the value of dedication and
hard work, of setting the most ridiculously lofty goals, which everyone around
you actually encourages you to aim for, and then the joy of achieving them after putting
your heart and soul into months of working towards them. It has also make me
realise and truly appreciate just how wonderful other people are - how
supportive, caring and selfless they can be to someone they don’t even know
yet.
Marvellous Mimi Anderson Holder of numerous world records for ultra running |
No female marathon runner I have ever come across is anything
like the negative descriptions of subjugated women portrayed in Moran’s book.
It deeply saddens me if it's true that girls are growing up thinking they
need to become a WAG or a reality TV personality to be successful, or just to
be considered “normal” they have to subject themselves to wearing heels they don’t like
or plastic surgery they don’t want, and a lifetime of supporting their man
instead of actually achieving their dreams. If they were exposed to the running
culture, surely it would help to counteract the negativity of the celebrity and patriarchal culture that Moran tells me we’re still living in.
This is exactly
why it always pleases me to see children at running events, like the RDs' children who help out at the Challenge Running and Enigma races. Exposing them to our world
must surely inspire them – not necessarily just with the actual running, but with of those
other things that are more important – that age, gender and appearance are irrelevant and it’s all
about working hard, looking after each other, and pursuing your goals.
I’ve decided - running could change the world – we need to get
everyone else to realise it.
Friday, 1 March 2013
Getting back to normal
Although my knee is still problematic, I'm really pleased with how I've felt this week after the weekend's 45 miles. On Monday I was a little stiff, but not really any pain or restriction of movement, and if it hadn't been for my knee still being very painful I could probably have run on Tuesday. To recover that quickly is a real blessing, and I'm also very grateful, to be honest, that my gamble with running so far in brand new shoes paid off and I wasn't left with any foot problems to contend with either.
But despite feeling pretty good, I haven't run yet...I want to wait until I can walk without any knee pain before I start running on it again, but in the last 24 hours it's definitely improved, and so tonight I may try a five miler around the streets, and on the back of that, make a decision about my plans for the weekend. I've got a place in the Cambridge Boundary Marathon on Sunday, which is another self-nav cross country affair - it'd be a good opportunity to have another go in my now favourite Salomons, but no doubt it's going to be a very muddy day and lots of hard work! To be honest I'm looking forward to the string of road races I've got coming up which are inevitably going to easier...
The other thing I'm considering is going along with Heather (another 10in10er from Billericay) to her fitness training class on Saturday morning. It sounds pretty brutal but I think I need the motivation of other people since I stopped seeing the personal trainer. Now that the St Peter's Way is done, I feel I can really start focusing on the 10in10, which means also making a real effort to concentrate on some strength training in conjunction with the running. I think I've got the diet and nutrition thing finally in hand now, and have lost nearly a stone since the beginning of the year which is of course a good thing, but I do need to start stepping up my game in terms of improving my general fitness and getting stronger!
It's time to really get back to proper training rather than just running races at the weekend!!
But despite feeling pretty good, I haven't run yet...I want to wait until I can walk without any knee pain before I start running on it again, but in the last 24 hours it's definitely improved, and so tonight I may try a five miler around the streets, and on the back of that, make a decision about my plans for the weekend. I've got a place in the Cambridge Boundary Marathon on Sunday, which is another self-nav cross country affair - it'd be a good opportunity to have another go in my now favourite Salomons, but no doubt it's going to be a very muddy day and lots of hard work! To be honest I'm looking forward to the string of road races I've got coming up which are inevitably going to easier...
The other thing I'm considering is going along with Heather (another 10in10er from Billericay) to her fitness training class on Saturday morning. It sounds pretty brutal but I think I need the motivation of other people since I stopped seeing the personal trainer. Now that the St Peter's Way is done, I feel I can really start focusing on the 10in10, which means also making a real effort to concentrate on some strength training in conjunction with the running. I think I've got the diet and nutrition thing finally in hand now, and have lost nearly a stone since the beginning of the year which is of course a good thing, but I do need to start stepping up my game in terms of improving my general fitness and getting stronger!
It's time to really get back to proper training rather than just running races at the weekend!!
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