Alternative view of the Cardiff half marathon

Today was supposed to be the day. The day when all the training, healthy(ish) eating, no alcohol drinking came together and I ran my first half marathon. Except three weeks ago I ran too far in knackered trainers and got injured again. It was such a hard decision to pull out - my heart was telling me that with a load of painkillers I would be able to make it round the course. I was up to 12 miles non stop in my training plan so knew I could run the distance. However, everything I had been taught at uni over the last two years was in my head, and I knew I shouldn't do it.

I even paid out to see a physio twice - costing me a whole long weekend's worth of supermarket checkout wages, in the hope that I would be able to be fixed by some miracle machine and a bit of massage. Sadly, it wasn't to be. Today was not my day. I am left wondering if it will ever be my day.

It was tempting to abscond from Cardiff for the weekend, so I could just forget all about it. However, my dad had signed up because I had, and it seemed a bit mean not to hang around and support him. Lliswerry Runners had teamed up with St David's Hospice Care to man the water station at 11 miles, so me and my mum decided to go along and help out with that, and hopefully cheer on some of our runners as well. This turned out to be a good decision; it was actually lots of fun, although quite wet at times, as the faster runners have a tendency to take a single sip then chuck the bottle in any direction therefore soaking anyone who happens to be in the wrong place at the time. It was really nice to be thanked by some of the runners for being there, I must remember that myself the next time I'm taking part in an event; I don't think most people appreciate the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes to make the big events the success that they are.

It was lovely to see people from the club out on the course, knowing how hard some of them had worked to be there and that they were within sniffing distance of the finishing line. I'm liking the Lliswerry love and happiness on facebook tonight as well. 

A huge congratulations to all who ran today, especially everyone at Lliswerry Runners and the boys from Cardiff Uni Physio 3rd year, you were all fabulous. Hopefully next year I will be there too.

Cardiff 10k

It was a nice sunny morning for my first big event; the Cardiff 10k which is a fairly pleasant flat route around the city centre, which goes through the park and past the castle. It also goes other places as well, but was more concerned about my breathing than taking in the scenery. I really didn't have much of an idea what to expect, but luckily I live close enough to stroll to the start line in 20 minutes, so I arrived fairly unstressed. I met up with a few other Lliswerry runners and chatting before the start was great for stopping me becoming too nervous and to pick up some last minute tips.

10am came and we were all off on the starting gun. I started far too fast, and was under 28 minutes at the halfway point, which is far faster that I normally run. I think I probably started too far forward, and got carried along with the crowd, and then paid for it later by dropping my pace slower than I would have liked. However, it was all a good learning experience for the Cardiff half which is just 5 weeks away now. 

So what else did I learn today? Here goes:

• If it is hot, run in the shade as much as possible (thanks for the tip Merv!). I would have been a lot slower if I had stayed out in the sun for the whole course. 
• I cannot drink water while running. It goes down the wrong way and makes me cough, then I have to stop for longer than I would have to if I had just stopped to drink in the first place.
• Other runners with ipods are exceedingly annoying as they can't hear anything and have no awareness of what is going on around them. They are not allowed for a reason - I was really surprised at the number of people that just ignore that rule, to the detriment of those around them.
• Other runners will stop for no reason whatsoever right in front of you, then tut loudly when you run into them.
• Other runners will throw their half drunk bottles of water right into your path, and therefore the half mile after the drinks station becomes a crazy assualt course.
• Other runners will think that it is perfectly acceptable to noisily swirl phelgm around their mouth before spitting it out while running right next to you. This is just horrible, as is the holding of a nostril and shooting out of snot from the other which seems to be a common habit in slightly overweight sweating men who have not done enough training.

Enough of the moaning now though. I loved being part of such a big event. It was also fantastic to be so well supported by other club members. When I was growing up, I was taken to various events to cheer on my dad and his friends in their running endeavours. To be honest, at that time I never really saw the point. But when you are struggling half way around a course, there is nothing better than people cheering and screaming your name encouraging you to keep going. So thanks guys for being there today, it was much appreciated.

I got round the course in an "official chip time" of 1.01.49, a pb by over a minute, and less than double my best 5k parkrun time. Very pleased with this indeed, especially considering the heat. I will go faster than an hour this year!

Here is a picture of my reward for my efforts today:

Thanks for reading, and happy running :-)

Holidays and other stuff

I've had a busy few weeks despite it being the summer holidays from university for a month; I have spent most of it being "happy to help" on the checkout at my local supermarket. However, I did manage to squeeze in a week away to Lake Garda with my mum, for my first holiday in two years. Aware that I was very unlikely to be able to resist the temptation of ice cream, cocktails and pizza, some damage limitation was in order. 

So the morning of my outbound flight, I was up at 7am to go for an early run with my Dad. Since I was little, I have watched my Dad run; pushing an old hospital bed around the Chew Valley bed race, and various fun runs, as well as several London marathons. I never thought that I would be able to join him, but I felt very lucky to do so, and also keep up with him most of the time. Here we are about to set out from home:

 We managed 8.3 miles, and had a nice chat as well on the way round. I found running a longer distance with someone else helped the time pass by much more quickly, as it can get a tiny bit tedious when out for over an hour alone.

I'm also quite proud of myself for managing two runs on holiday - one of three miles, and then four miles on the last day, which was hard work due to the increase in temperature. Unfortunately for me, the Italians are as glamourous when taking part in sporting activity as they are the rest of the time, while I remained a red, puffing lump as usual, and attracted some rather disgusted looks from the locals. But since none of those people are ever likely to see me again, it doesn't really matter. It was actually very pleasant, despite the heat, running alongside the banks of the lake in the early morning, watching the local people starting their day.

Here I am setting out from out hotel, wearing my Lliswerry vest:

Sadly, I'm back in the UK now, but the training is going well. I knocked just over a minute of my parkrun pb to take it down to 31.03 - I am absolutely determined to get under 30 minutes this year. I also joined in with the club's "long, slow run" on Sunday, which for me was actually very long and very fast - the little warm up was at a faster pace than I had run at parkrun the day before and I kept everyone else waiting for me the entire 9 miles. However, I found it useful to be running at a faster pace; being forced to push myself harder than I would have done had I been alone. 

I have the Cardiff 10k coming up in a couple of weeks, and then the Cardiff Half in just over 6 weeks, so will be trying my best to get in as much mileage as possible in over the coming days. I've noticed that although I am not losing weight everything is toning up now and my thighs wobble a little less then they did before, which is definitely motivation to keep going for now. 

Thank you for reading. Here is my little motivational quote for today:

Live the best life you can

Time for a little update as things have been quite busy recently. The past four weeks I have been on placement working on a medical rehab ward, mostly with elderly patients. Initally I thought this would be quite dull as the pace was much slower than the acute medical wards where I had been before that. I didn't think that I would learn very much from helping old people get out of bed and walk to the toilet. However, as these things tend to work out, I learnt far more than I would ever have thought possible.

Sometimes all people want is your time. A lot of the patients I met were well into their 80s or 90s and many didn't have relatives living nearby who could visit, and a few had no relatives living at all. I was in the fortunate position to have a fairly relaxed case load, and was lucky enough to be able to spend some time with some of the patients just having a chat. I think that the younger generation today could learn so much from those who have lived through wars, and have experienced hardships that we cannot imagine. On my birthday, I was talking to one man who was due to be discharged. I needed to do one final assessment to check that he was safe walking on his own. The assessment was quickly completed and passed, and then we had a while when we could talk. The man told me all about his life; where he had served in the war, about his wife and children and the places he had lived. Then he looked at me and told me to make sure that I lived the best life I can, because it will go by too quickly. 

Its strange sometimes that we end up gaining so much more from someone in ways that we never expect to. The man was discharged later that day and I didn't see him again. I doubt he will even remember me at all. But his words will stay with me for a long time. I don't know to live the best life I can. I think sometimes I am scared to do just that.I suppose just trying to be the best that I can be at every chance that I get is a start. With this in mind, I set off on a slow long distance run on Saturday night, and managed a huge 9 miles. Apart from aching knees, I was still quite comfortable at the end, and managing to maintain the same pace that I started with. I finally feel like I am really making progress, and the half marathon distance is achievable.

In other developments, I have managed to bugger up both knees by falling over while out walking. They were probably made worse by the fact that I was wearing shorts and walking on a stony track when I fell, meaning that I had to hobble back to the car with blood pouring down both legs. I was also forced to sit on the floor for several minutes as the friend I was with at the time was too busy laughing to be of any use in helping me into an upright position. I was then humiliated by having to ask the nice people at Castell Coch (near where I happened to be at the time) for some wet wipes so I could clean myself up a bit. I've now got two rather unattractive scabby knees just in time for my holiday next week. Looking on the bright side, I'm not actually properly injured just a bit sore.

And finally, tonight I managed to run 5k in under 30 minutes for the first time. There was a time trial session on the track with the club and I decided to just go for it. Got round in 29.44 and although I am still bringing up the rear of the field, I am getting faster all the time. When I started running, I never thought I would get anywhere near 30 minutes, or run 9 miles or even stick with this for long enough that I started to enjoy it.

Thanks for reading.

First 10k :-)

Having now been back in training properly for two months, I decided that it was time to up my game a little bit and take part in some events. One of the main benefits of being a member of a club is that you get to hear about what is happening locally, and try out some smaller scale runs. 

I'd seen on the club facebook page about the Rose Inn race - held once a month in the summer, over a distance of 4 miles. I thought that would be perfect - a distance that I would be able to manage, but far enough to be a challenge. However, no one mentioned just how competitive it would be, or how flat the course is meaning that it's fast. On starter's orders, everyone flew off like a speeding bullet, leaving me at the back with one other lady, which is where I stayed until the end. I completed it though, and in a faster speed than I had ever run before, proving that competition is good for you, whether you are fast or slow. It's also lovely that a large number of the competitors hang about to cheer on the last finishers, which is a really nice touch when struggling the final few metres. 


One of the main attractions of this event, is the free beer token which comes as part of the package - although in my haste to get the bar, I neglected my cool down stretches meaning sore quads for the next few days.

Feeling invincible after my Rose Inn encounter, I thought I might try a little further, and rocked up for a 10k at Pontypool Park last night. The event is part of the Gwent Leisure Centres League series, where local clubs compete against each other over various courses in the summer. I surprised myself by running the whole way - apart for a big mountain of a hill at 3 miles which I marched up, and I finished in 1 hour 6 minutes and 49 seconds. It was hard work at times; at around 5 and a half miles every muscle in my body was screaming at me to stop, but the sense of satisfaction on completing it was huge. The final part of the course is a lap of the stadium, where again the faster finishers wait to cheer on the slower competitors as they reach the end. One of the things I really enjoy about all of this is the camaraderie between runners; I think that most people appreciate that everyone else is trying their best, and the pace, finishing time or position really doesn't matter that much.

When I started running, 10k seemed like an impossibly far distance to complete, but now I can do it. I'm even enjoying it a little bit. As it's my birthday tomorrow, last night's run marked my last event as a senior lady; I officially become a veteran at midnight, which is all a bit much to take in. However, looking on the bright side, I am far fitter than I have been during the last ten years and I am doing things that I never thought I could.

Thank you for reading. 

 

Faster and Fitter

Just home from another fab training night with Lliswerry Runners. It was a track session tonight, and I downloaded the info from my Garmin, and was pleasantly surprised. I have been quite happily plodding along at 11 minute miles for the last couple of months - and it seemed to make no difference if I was going 200 metres, or 5 miles, I was always moving at the same speed.

However, tonight felt more comfortable. I still puff around the track like a cross between a giant marshmallow and a jellied eel, but I am not struggling to the point it hurts the whole time. And as the following information from my Garmin shows, I am actually getting faster:

It's strange how I haven't noticed that I am getting better, it has just crept up on me. The session tonight involved some intervals with short rests inbetween, but even so, I am moving my arse faster than ever before. Just goes to prove that, like most things, you need to put the effort in and stick with it.

This new healthy thing is also taking over the rest of my life. I expertly prepared my pot noodle tonight; one of the staple foods of any proper student diet. In fact, I eat them all the time. I thought it was horrible. Processed, artificial and it tasted revolting. I threw most of it in the bin and had an apple instead. I'm not quite sure what is happening to me.

The Dirty Weekend

Two years ago, as part of a crazy work challenge, I entered the Mudrunner Oblivion event at Eastnor Castle. This is a 10k cross country course, with lots of uphill sections, obstacles, and wading through mud, which is up to waist height in places. It took me three hours, and I hated every second of it, but having paid my entry fee, and with a dozen colleagues and assorted friends waiting for me at the end, I struggled on and vowed never to return again.

However, the pain of that day had faded, and needing a bigger challenge than the 5k parkrun, I signed up again this year. The event has grown since the intial event, and was now being held on two days and has been named the Dirty Weekend, with camping within the grounds of the castle overnight. I opted for the Saturday event on the basis that I would be able to enjoy a cider or two afterwards, and watch my more ambitious mates complete the course on Sunday. 

Saturday afternoon was bright and warm, and I was actually quite excited driving to the venue. However, this excitement quickly turned to blind panic on seeing the hill at the start of the course. I have not done any proper hill training since November, and ended up strolling up the hill with all the other people who had opted to start the race in the slow wave. Still, it was very scenic, and at least I had time to enjoy the view.

The course then progressed through deep tracks of mud, which is so gloopy that it rips your trainers off your feet, and a variety of obstacles - fences to climb over, monkey bars (which if I'm honest I took one look at, then chose the alternative crawl under a cargo net), a spiders web of ropes, a quick dip in the lake, and then a mountainous slope of solid mud where you need to pull yourself up on a rope:

 

This is me a few seconds before I fell flat on my face, and was left dangling on the rope, before some random man took pity on me, and hauled me very inelegantly over the ridge at the top of the slope by my arms.  The final obstacle is another longer dip in the lake, before an uphill jog to the finish line.

This is me and my friend Vicky at the end, very glad to have finished the course. I was not particularly fast, but I didn't come last either. However, unlike last time, I absolutely loved taking part. I am now suffering from the type of pain which is agonising but strangely satisfying at the same time - I started today on a care of the elderly placement as part of my course, and struggled to keep up with the chair based exercise class aimed at my 90 year old patients, as my legs will barely move, but it is all worth it.

For the past month, I have been on a acute respiratory placement, including working with patients in intensive care. I think this has made me realise just how fragile life is, and how much I take my good health for granted. None of us know what might happen tomorrow, and from now on, I fully intend to make the best of the opportunities that I have. Some challenges are not meant to be easy, but that makes their completion all the more satisfying.

The story behind the name.

Over the past week, a couple of people have asked why I chose to give my blog the name that it’s got. So I thought I had better explain….

Anyone who knows me well will know that I have a rather colourful dating history. For many years, I have tended to be attracted to men who are bad for me – in fact with one recent notable exception, they have been varying degrees of vile. Of course, I have been oblivious to this until long after it is over. I had the dubious pleasure of bumping into one of them in a pub back last summer, and I told him during the course of our conversation of my intentions to sign up for the Bath half marathon. Spluttering into his beer he told me that I would never manage to run even a mile as I am far too fat and lazy. To be fair, I was perhaps rather foolish of me to expect him to be in any way supportive as his pet name for me was, and in fact still is "Lard".

Another equally charming ex, on terminating our relationship told me that he had made an exception for me, because normally he only dated thin, pretty girls. That statement has stuck with me ever since.  It would be understandable if he had the benefit of supermodel looks himself, but sadly he does not.

I am well aware that I am not exactly skinny. I haven’t been since I started working in McDonalds and discovered beer when I was 16. But I have come to realise that even if I had been a size 6, those men would still have made those comments – I wasn’t about me, or how I looked, it was about them and their odious personalities.  And as they both march quickly towards middle age, and all the disadvantages that go with it, I am becoming a better person than they ever deserved.  I will probably not ever be skinny again, but I will be happy and that is sometimes the best revenge anyone can get.

Fat or thin, I will complete the Bath half marathon, and I will do it with a smile on my face. And I will do it just for me, because I can. I have named this blog in celebration of who I am, and when I do complete the race it will because the things that they said about me made me stronger.

  

So there you go, my sad little story.  I could actually write a book on the men I have known and their strange habits. Maybe that will be my next project.

On a more cheerful note, I ran 5 miles this week without stopping. It was a bit slow at times, as it was on the road out of Abergavenny where I am currently on placement with university, and much of it was uphill, but it felt fantastic to complete that distance. If I can repeat the same next week, I think I might try to find a 10k to enter, and again I will finish it with a smile on my face.

Back to parkrun

After several weeks of putting it off, the time had come for me to face up to my fears and go back to parkrun - scene of the big fall nearly 6 months ago now. I had considered going to the Cardiff one instead, but I like the route at Newport, and somehow it would have felt disloyal to Lliswerry Runners who organise it to go elsewhere. 

So the alarm was set for 7am in order that I could fuel myself with porridge ready for the big event - it doesn't taste any better when its two months past its best before date, but as a humble student I wasn't going to let it go to waste.  A tablespoon of sugar eased the discomfort a bit, but I still think its disgusting.

It was a lovely clear morning today, but not too hot, so perfect conditions for a little run.  However, going back for the first time was never going to be about whether I could physically run 5km. I know that I am capable of dragging my flabby self around that distance without stopping. The problem was the fears in my head, especially when I thought about the part of the course where I fell, and due to the double lap of the route, I had to run that bit twice. 

I was actually quite calm about it all until I pulled into the car park, where I had to fight the urge to drive home again and get back into my warm bed. I think I had probably chosen a good week, as most of the club members that I knew were off an another event, so I was left alone with my thoughts, rather than having to make conversation before the start. I decided that I would just concentrate on getting round, and not worry about the time it was taking me. Summer appears to have brought out a whole lot of new runners; usually I am near the back and after the first 500 metres I am mostly on my own. Today I found myself running with people the whole way, and even managed to overtake three people. It is great to see that parkrun is bringing running to the less athletic in society though - although its good that there is a competitive edge amongst the front runners, most of us will never achieve a sub 20 minute PB, and I personally think that there is much more for the organisers to be proud of when someone new to exercise finishes in 50 minutes, than when the course record is broken. 

In the end, it was ok. I was terrified the whole time, and it was probably one of the toughest mental challenges that I have ever faced, but I made it in one piece and even managed a little victorious sprint towards the finish line. I was very pleasantly surprised on receiving my confirmation email to learn that I had smashed my PB for the course by 66 seconds, finishing in 33.55 - faster than I ever thought possible when I started, and creeping closer to the sub 30 minutes that I'm ultimately aiming for. 

So all in all not a bad day. Thank you for reading.

 

Beach run

I’ve taken advantage of a “reading week” at university and removed myself out of the rat race down to my parent’s caravan in Devon. The weather is glorious, and since it’s not the school holidays, thankfully the site is almost free from screaming children and barking dogs.

I thought it might be a nice idea to go for a little run along the beach, and had visions of me striding, Pamela-Anderson-in–Baywatch-style across the sands through the breaking water. Hmmm.  It didn’t quite work out like that. Running on sand, whether it be dry (gets in your trainers) or damp (makes your feet wet) is actually bloody hard work. The blazing sunshine probably didn’t help either, and the fact that I was wearing black made me sweat like a pig. Still I impressed myself by managing to go 2 miles – although very slowly, without having to stop.

I then decided that I’d run back on the coastal path, which has the most stunning view of the beach, and is surrounded by fields filled with happy little lambs, and it almost made me glad that I had made the effort. Apart from the uphill bits, which I had to walk because my lungs still don’t do uphill. For anyone who knows the area, I went from Woolacombe beach to Putsborough Sands and back along the south west coast path.

All in all, I’d managed 4 miles, with just a tiny little stop in the middle. It took me 47 minutes, which I know is not very fast, but I am proud of myself for making the effort. I might try it again later in the week and see if I can do sub 45 minutes.

Due to a limited internet access I have struggled to find an appropriate motivational quote for the week. However, I did find the following on my phone which seemed appropriate. It struck me while I was on the coast path, between desperate gasps for breath, that however much I might have been struggling at that moment, I was actually incredibly fortunate to have the good health to be there at all, and the freedom to just go for a run. Sometimes I do like to moan a bit and I forget that actually I am incredibly blessed in life. 

Thank you for reading.

Gadgets and gizmos

My parents very kindly bought be a fancy Garmin Forerunner 110 for Christmas - ironically purchased on the very same day that I fell over, and therefore it has remained in the box ever since. However, spurred on by reports of friends doing brilliantly in various 10ks and half marathons over the last two days, I thought it was about time for me to get moving again. 

According to the box "Hotfix GPS helps you get started with your run faster than ever". Maybe this little device is just what I have been looking for. The box contains the watch device thing, a plug, a usb cable and 12 separate instruction manuals in different languages - which seemed like a bit of a waste of paper to me. Surely there could be a single leaflet directing people to their website, which they could put the instructions on instead of this:

Despite this, the watch is nice and easy to use, and I didn't even need to set the time, as it gets that from the satellites. This did unfortunately involve me hanging around on a street corner for five minutes, while it searched for the satellites, making me grateful that I was clad in lycra and tatty tshirt, otherwise I may have attracted some unwanted attention.

I headed out after dark - I suspect this will become more of a problem within the next month because I don't really fancy going out after 10pm as summer approaches, but I'm yet to get over my fear of being seen by someone that I know. I pressed the start button, and off I went. This handy little gadget keeps a record of the distance and the current pace, and beeps every half mile just to let you know its there. 

Unfortunately, I have regressed to even worse than when I started back in November, and my lungs felt like they were on fire after 200 metres. However, I managed to keep going for 2.24 miles before I had to stop, which is further than I thought I would be able to do. My legs feel fine and could keep going; it is my breathing control which is the problem. I know that this will improve quite quickly - I just need to stick with it. I'm going to aim for for 3 miles continuously by this time next week. 

Plugged the little watch into the laptop on my return home, and it really is quite cool. It produces a little map and shows all the stats (including how pathetically slow I actually am!) just like this:

I think it will help with my motivation when I can see how I am improving as the weeks go by, and I just need to believe in myself a little bit more than I do now. I like that it tells me how many calories I have used as well, I can justify the supersize of my chicken nugget meal by running an extra mile now.

As usual, I will finish with today's motivational quote. Thank you for popping by.

 

I'm back with a boob

It's now over four months since my little fall, and apart from the occasional twinge, my ankle feels almost back to normal. So inspired by my little brother's amazing performance in the London Marathon on Sunday I have decided that it is about time that I removed my increasingly lardy arse off of the sofa, and got back to my plan to become an athlete.

I thought that going for a little swim to get myself back in the swing of exercise might be a wise idea, so yesterday I grabbed the only swimming costume I could find and headed down to the pool for a few lengths. It did not go well. Turns out that the swimming costume was a size too big, and after having happily completed a few laps, I stood up only to find that my right boob had escaped and was now on display to the entire pool - including several children who were having a lesson at the time, and will no doubt now be traumatised for life. I escaped as quickly as possible before I could be stopped by the staff for being a flasher. Not my finest moment. 

Anyway, its back to the running club tomorrow night, and I'm just hoping that it isn't one of the hideous hill sessions. I have also signed up to the Cardiff Half Marathon in October, and will be training with my housemate for that so hopefully we'll be able to keep each other motivated. 

Here's my little motivational quote for today: 

 Thank you for reading.

Sadly, not this year.

Well, nearly a month has passed since my little fall, so thought it was about time for an update.

Sadly, I do not think that I will be running the Bath Half this year, as my ankle has not healed as well as I had hoped it would, and at present walking remains a bit of a struggle. I have seen a physio a couple of times, who thinks that there is damage to the achilles tendon, which would account for the swelling that is still there. I am very sad at having to admit defeat in this challenge - but I will be doing it next year, even if it means being pushed around in a shopping trolley.

I've not given up though - I'm aiming for one of the autumn half marathons - Cardiff, Bristol or Birmingham, and any recommendations as to which one would be best would be great.

I've noticed that in the last week that my arse has increased in size without the regular exercise, and therefore I have joined weightwatchers before I turn into a lump of wobbliness. So therefore I am currently obsessing over the points value of cottage cheese, and have filled my fridge with fruit and vegetables in anticipation of a much healthier diet. Hopefully weighing a bit less will make running that little bit easier when I resume my training, and will also make my legs a lot less likely to give way from underneath me again.

I saw this and it made me smile:

Thanks for reading.