Run Vic Run

Danger, slow runner

2006-09-16T15:39:00.000+01:00

I'd been looking forward to doing a long run this weekend, both Saturday and Sunday.

But it was not to be - cramps meant I only managed a 6.6 mile run today at a run-n-walk pace of 9:15 per mile. Urgh! At least I went, I suppose, but tomorrow I'll make sure I take tablets before I go, and hopefully manage a lot better.

I did consider going for a second run later on, now that I feel a bit better, but the other half didn't feel like it, and to be honest, I didn't really. Tomorrow will be longer, but at least even if I don't manage more than the eight miler I'm thinking of, we've still covered 31 miles this week, including today, so over the week the mileage ain't too bad.

Still no membership numbers from the RRA. Okay, so its not even been a week yet, but I'm getting twitchy. I want to sign up for the Great Eastern, as miserable and depressing as it looks. I guess maybe I was a little spoilt, doing Grunty Fen first. It was pretty. The Great Eastern appears just to be a run through gloomy housing estates and underpasses. I suppose at least it'll encourage me to get a good time - I'll be running faster just to get out of there!

Oh dear!

2006-09-14T13:25:00.000+01:00

Well, its been a while since I updated this, isn't it?

The Grunty Fen race went well. I really was very nervous; but when we got to the venue there were plenty of 'normal' looking people, as well as the 'hardcore' looking runners. We started at the '2 hour' finishing time start, but I guess a lot of people were too hopeful, as we overtook a lot of people in the first few miles, and didn't get overtaken by them again.

It was a really hot day - around 25 degrees, apparently - and I was thankful of the water stations and sponges. I finished in 1hr 56 minutes, which was slower than what I was hoping to get, but at least I finished and my time put me as finishing in the fastest 2/3rd of people, so at least my fears of coming last were for nothing.

The race has been the reason for the lack of updates though. I've actually felt quite glum. A mixture of a feeling of anti-climax after the race, and grumpiness at the fact that there isn't another one to do until October (and we've not even registered for that yet). Even though I know I'm being unfair on myself, I'm also annoyed that my time wasn't faster, and thats made me grumpy too.

Still, I've started to feel a bit better. It was a valuable learning experience. I know now that while running without a watch in training is fine, having one in a race is a very good idea and I think I'll have to rectify that come the next race. Likewise, you need a bigger bag to put stuff in, and a plastic bag to stuff your outdoors shoes in, because otherwise they have to go in with your after-race clothes, which isn't nice. Ha, shame next month's finances look a little shaky!

We ran on Monday (only 4.6 miles but the time was okay), and yesterday (the 6.6 mile route in a slightly faster pace than Grunty Fen). Tonight is a five mile run with some 'fartlek-ing' built in - well, thats the idea anyway, we'll see how it goes.

Woo hoo!

2006-09-08T01:58:00.000+01:00

Really, really not long to go now!

Wednesday's run sucked. It should have been 10 miles, and I was doing okay until about mile 6, when my insides went into meltdown, and I had to change my route (since the other half was running with me, there was no chance of calling for a ride home) and ended up carefully walking the last half mile home. But I took comfort from the fact that at least I felt good until then.

Thursday's run was fantastic, although I've made a foolish error and I'm just waiting to see if I'm going to be punished for it on Sunday's half marathon race. We did a 10.21 mile run, and at a pretty good pace of 8 mins 31 seconds (making a total of 1 hour 27 minutes for the whole distance). Even though we've had better paces on other runs, I'm pleased because I felt good, and strong, and like I could have happily covered another 3 miles (although it would have taken me 1 hour 53 minutes at that pace).

But I wasn't aiming for the fastest time ever; that's what races are for. I just wanted to cover the distance, and we did, although right now my legs are quite achy. And thats my daft mistake - I managed to get confused about what day it was! I was under the impression that yesterday was Wednesday. If I'd clocked earlier on that it was Thursday, I wouldn't have done such a long run. I reckon I should be fine for Sunday but I'm officially resting up now until the race (I'll just go for a bit of a longer dog walking session tomorrow to stretch my legs).

I think I'm on a bit of a running high since discovering late Wednesday that its actually possible for me, as a non-US citizen, to enter the ballot for the NYC marathon. I'd fallen under the impression that it was only possible to do NYC from the UK by running for charity and raising £2,000 +, or paying some travel company around £1000 for race entry and flights and a couple of nights in a hotel (which is quite a bit over the odds, in my opinion).

It turns out that its a ballot, and I can enter just like anyone else, and after three rejections in a row, I'm in automatically! If I was a good bit faster, and could do a 7 minute mile, I could get in with a qualifying half marathon time of 1 hour 34 minutes, but I don't think thats likely to happen, and even if it did, the poor other half would have to get round the same distance in 1 hour 21 minutes...ouch!

So I'll be applying for 2007, then 2008, then 2009 - and trundling NYC in 2010! I've a 1 in 4 chance of getting in before then, but since I've never won anything in a raffle (except a packet of handkerchiefs as a kid), I'm not anticipating getting in via the ballot before my automatic "wow, you must really want to do this, huh?" place kicks in.

Not long to go now

2006-09-06T06:48:00.000+01:00

I really did manage to rest and not run on Monday, so yesterday (Tuesday) was interesting.

I'd assumed that I would speed round and feel great, having had a day off, but instead I had a bit of a problem getting my head in 'the zone'. I don't have a cold but over the last few days I've found that when I run my ears feel all weird, like I'm on a plane, and I can hear my breathing in my head. Its an icky feeling, but I've had it before when I've had a cold, so I'm wondering if maybe I have a little infection going on, or perhaps a touch of hayfever (I work in an office, so theres lots of coughing, sneezing, germ-ridden co-workers - and air conditioning - all waiting to attack my poor immune system).

We did the usual 6.6 miler in 52 minutes. The other half took the lead for a lot of it - he was in fine form and set quite a fast pace. It was warm, too, around 23 degrees. I have a lovely pair of Nike shorts, but they are loose round my thighs which means that when I run they bunch up and chafe; perhaps a little bit of a design flaw there! My tight lycra ones come a nice distance down my leg, but look horrible. Yeah, I know what I look like shouldn't matter, but I can't help it!

I have seen a nice pair of Salomon XA shorts which have a tight thigh length inner liner, covered by a baggier outer shell. Sounds ideal but I'm not sure how much summer there is left, and perhaps I'd be better with another pair of running tights. Decisions, decisions (both isn't an option after the new trainers this month).

An alleged ten mile run tonight, heres hoping it goes okay and my head doesn't explode!

Yawn

2006-09-04T13:06:00.000+01:00

I am mega-sleepy.

Saturday was quite a good day. We stopped in at the local Up and Running, where they had a sale on - I picked up a nice pair of Concurve thermal trousers and matching top for £20 each - which was almost exactly half price. I don't need them yet, but it's not like winter isn't going to come, after all.

I also got what seemed like a nice Odlo top for £10 and a traded in teeshirt (part of an Up and Running promotion), which seemed like a bargain at the time.

Lunch was a meal from Burger King - we had a buy one get one free voucher, and with Friday's big run and Sunday's coming run I figured 'what the heck'.

Big mistake, as it turned out. The cold windy, slightly wet weather on Saturday night gave me a chance to try my new Concurve gear - (I wasn't meant to be running but I felt like just a little easy jaunt) I managed five miles before feeling rather sick from lunch and getting dreadful stomach cramps; I had to telephone the other half to get a lift home.

Sunday wasn't much better. It was hot (25 degrees), and I used it as a chance to try out my new Oldo top. But the top was about as wicking as a bin liner, and I felt ill from the off, only managing 7 miles (as opposed to 13.1) before having to call it quits and go home.

Bit rubbish on the running front all round, really. And Grunty Fen is getting closer.

Tonight I really am taking a day off. No, honestly I am. Not even a 3.5 miler. Hopefully I'll be all better on Tuesday. But that's the last time I'm touching a BK for quite some time!

No turning back now!

2006-09-02T07:09:00.000+01:00

So, I have done it. I have registered for the Paris Marathon, paid the money and got my bib number. I'm excited and nervous but its a long time till April, and as it says up there, there are other runs to do first.

The other half is in too, and we've both gone for 3hrs 45mins bibs. Which seemed like a good idea yesterday morning, when we signed up...our predicted marathon time based on our running now consistantly comes out around 3.48 - so a bit more hard work and we could do it, I reckoned.

But last night's 10 mile run was a bit of a disaster. The other half has some new trainers, and although they're the same as his old ones, he left it a bit too late to buy new ones, meaning that he hurt his legs - and they're still hurting now. So he was running slow, and around mile eight my knee started to hurt, so I slowed up, and we ended up with an 8.24 min / mile pace. Thats rather slow for us. It's a kicker too because I thought we were doing a little better than that.

Oh well. Hopefully we'll be a bit faster on Sunday's run. There's no run today because the car's off to the garage, there's shopping to do and my brother's coming to visit for the afternoon, so there's no time.

But maybe I can just fit in a little 5 mile run. I did 33 miles last week, and I've done 30 this week - and a little voice in my head keeps urging me on to better that number...

Tuesday

2006-08-30T05:04:00.000+01:00

Considering my previous sporting non-achivements, running is such a strange thing for me to do. I was lousy at sports as a child; my weak left eye meant that catching or batting or throwing was a bit tricky, and my excess weight meant that even if I had caught, hit, or thrown the ball, I was generally too out of puff to do much else. I did practise Judo for a while, and I seem to remember I quite enjoyed that, until true teenage moodiness kicked in, and I gave it up in order to stay in bed.

But there again, maybe running is the ideal 'fitness activity' for me. It's a very individual sport; even though I run with the other half, in the end it feels like its just me against myself. On a good run, on a good day, I feel like I could run forever (or at least until my shoes gave out) - just set off and never stop. Perhaps this is something common to everyone who runs and has seen 'Forrest Gump' too many times, what do I know?

I didn't run forever last night; it was instead my 'usual' 6.6 mile run. I meant to run it anti-clockwise last night, thereby saving the evil hill until last, but I forgot and by the time I remembered I didn't feel like turning round. It seems a lot longer that way. We belted round the first third, slowed down a little for the middle third and then upped the pace for the end, so much so that I think we scared a few pedestrians, who for once actually moved out of the way - although when I think about what we probably looked like, I'm not surprised.

It took us 48 minutes, which is a 7.53 per mile pace. We've run quicker (7.16 per mile), but I'm pleased anyway.

In other news: my socks turned up. They're perfect. Thank you Kate!

Looking forward

2006-08-28T18:14:00.000+01:00

I didn't run today. Last night the other half and I got completely smashed on cheap cider and expensive vodka, and so running, even just the five mile one scheduled, wasn't happening. But a rest is probably a good thing, and I'll be running again tomorrow, so I'm okay with it.

Yesterday's 13.1 run, and the fact that I've made a deliberate decision not to fret about times and just do the best I can, has really cheered me up. This time in two weeks, I'll have run Grunty Fen, and I find myself looking ahead. There are so many cool races out there!

So far I'm considering signing up for the St Neots Half and the Bedford Half (both later on in the year), and of course, there is the Paris Marathon in April, and I'd like to do the Midnight Sun Marathon in June 2007, and maybe Dublin in October 2007. That would be three marathons in 2007 - thats probably enough (and I don't know if the wallet could take more, even if the legs could!).

I do have my eyes on the Goofy Challenge in 2008 though. Well, hey, you've gotta have long term goals too, right?

1 hour, 49 minutes

2006-08-27T13:35:00.000+01:00

...to do the 13.1 miles. Rather pleased, especially since my knees were killing me, although in a completely different way from when I wore the Pegasus. So hopefully I'll get used to the Mizunos quickly enough (13 days till Grunty Fen), and maybe even increase my speed in them a little bit.

Yeah, under 2 hours seems good to me!

New shoes! New shoes!

2006-08-27T08:44:00.000+01:00

Yesterday (Saturday) was the long awaited trip to Advance Performance over in Peterborough. I got there later than I'd aimed for (10.30am-ish rather than 9am) and expected to have to wait ages to have my gait checked, but there was no queue, and an unnervingly young and fit looking guy spent the next twenty minutes or so either watching me flail on the treadmill (stupidly, I didn't think to wear a sports bra), or sat at my feet prodding my trainers.

Its times like that when I do find myself wondering what the heck I'm doing. I feel like a little bit of a fraud because inside I still feel five stone heavier than I am now, and I forget for a moment that I'm not. Every time I'm in this kind of situation, the feeling of 'faking it' lessens, but anyway, I digress.

Turns out that I am not a 'neutral runner' after all. Yeah, thanks a bunch, dodgy gait assessor at Niketown London. I am a pretty bad (or good, depending on your view) over-pronator. I laughed when AP guy told me - haha, I can't even run properly! Well, it was funny to me, anyway. Watching the replay of my feet rolling inwards, I could see straight away why my knees have been hurting, and it turns out I've been wearing a size of shoe at least 1/2 a size too small, probably a whole size. I came out of there rather lightened in the wallet, but with a pair of Mizuno Wave Alchemy's which should come very very close to curing the problem.

Saturday was also my cross country run day. It was a shambles. It was very very muddy, and very slippy, and my knees hurt almost straight away (I didn't use my Mizuno's, because of the mud). I got so fed up in the end that I walked a good third of it, and bent the poor other-half's ear badly about how miserable I felt. I don't think cross country is for me! I know there is the Hellrun to do, but after that, I think there will be no more cross country for me!

Today is a 13.1 mile run. Thats a little bit more than what's on the schedule, but its an easy route for us to work out, and hey, it'll give me a baseline time for Grunty Fen - even though I'm not getting as worked up about time any more, I still want to have some idea of what I'll do, and check that I can actually manage that distance without dying. It's looking like a warm, sunny day today; I think I'd rather it was a bit cooler or breezier, but it is what it is. I'm also guessing its probably a bit bad to break the new shoes in with such a long run, but considering how bad the Pegasus's are for my feet, it seems mad to go on wearing them for any longer.

I'll post later about how the run goes. Wish me luck!

Getting back the fun

2006-08-25T23:44:00.000+01:00

Today was another rainy day, and it rained for the whole run this time, rather than slacking off after the start. It wasn't that bad, except for the fact that I'd come out pretty much straight away after getting home, and hadn't bothered to wash off my makeup, with the result that the rain washed a nasty combination of rainwater, persperation and foundation into my eyes; I spent most of the run squinting and cursing, and vowing to buy a proper hat to run in. It was the 6.6 mile run, and I think we managed it in about 50-odd minutes.

The most important thing about today, though, was the thinking I did. Maybe I've been thinking too much. Running has been starting to lose it's appeal a bit, and I wasn't enjoying it as much. My knee hurts, but tomorrow's shopping should sort that out, I guess, and I'm fretting all the time about what time I'm running in, whether I'll manage the half-marathon in the time I want, and so on. And then it dawned on me that hey, while I think the idea of doing the odd race is good, ultimately I run because I like it, and yeah, because I don't want to go back to being overweight. Not because I want to be (or am capable of being!) a professional athelete or anything. I'm not slow enough to be classed as a complete plodder, but I'm a hobby runner, and I'll do the best I can, and thats enough.

And once I remembered all of that - that it doesn't matter if I do Grunty Fen in 1hr 50 or 3hrs 50 , that what matters is I do it, and ditto with all the other races and stuff, I felt much much better and happier.

So I'm going to try and stop stressing about time. I'm going to go back to running because I enjoy it, and if I come in last, well, I've still done my best. As long as I feel I've done that, I think I'll be happy.

It's all in the mind...

2006-08-24T23:38:00.000+01:00

Not an especially good day running wise.
I'm still fretting dreadfully over the half marathon in September, and spent far too long playing with the numbers on the Race Time Calculator over on the Runner's World site, and ended up convincing myself that I would be looking at a time of two hours minimum to do the run...and getting quite depressed about it

When did I start getting so obsessed about what time I would run? I know when I started I was happy with just the thought of getting round successfully, but now its become about time too, which is dumb because I haven't even managed one race yet. So whatever time I manage will be a PB, and heck, just to finish will be good, I know. So why can't I remember that more often?

Today's schedule was a speedwork session. 90 seconds fast, 90 seconds recovery. I've still not got a watch that I can use (I'm planning to get one on Saturday), so instead we ran laps round the park - half the lap fast and half slow. It felt like roughly the right amount of time. I'd been feeling very grouchy about doing it; I wanted to do a 'proper' run (our 8.1 mile route) as fast as possible to see if I could match last week's time.

In the end though, the other half won and we ended up doing the speedwork. I was surprised by how hard it was - stupidly I thought it would be easy and now I'm worrying about my level of fitness as well as everything else. Oh, I do hope other people are right, and in just over a fortnight I'll re-read this and laugh. Right now, I'm not convinced though.

Tomorrow is a 5 mile run, I think, and then cross country on Saturday. That'll be interesting, I've only ever run on roads.

"Rain, rain, go away..."

2006-08-23T20:29:00.000+01:00

The rain kicked in about 3pm, and it didn't stop. I don't mind a 'light drizzle', but this was more like a monsoon. Still, the '6M Steady' was on the schedule, and I remembered a quote from Bill Bowerman. He'd said "There's no such thing as bad weather, only soft people," and if I'm going to be serious about running these races, there's no point wussing out when its a bit wet.

So we went, and we did the run. It was actually 6.61 miles, but I hate running 'laps', so its a case of working with the routes we've got, and we managed to do it at a steady speed, mostly. I like running with the other half - I don't need to worry about any of that 'lone woman runner' safety stuff because I'm not running by myself, and I've got someone to help spur me on when I don't want to go...but we run to keep up with each other and its very easy to find our speed slowly increasing until we've gone from 'steady' to 'fast', and have to slow down again.

Today's speed was 6.84 miles per hour (8 mins 46 seconds to cover a mile). Thats slower than I want to do Grunty Fen (I'd like to go more for 8 mins - 8 mins 10 seconds per mile), but for a 'steady run' I reckon it was okay. Mostly I'm getting a kick out of the fact that we ran in the rain; it makes me feel optimistic that we'll be able to keep running when the weather gets really bad in autumn and winter.

Sock it to me!

2006-08-23T06:16:00.000+01:00

I almost pulled out of last night's run. I really didn't want to do it, but the other half was going, and while I suppose I could have refused to go, I ended up dragging myself round the five mile route. That was completely different from what my schedule claimed I should do, but what the hell, I'll try and stick to it more from now on. Its just hard when it says I should do just a few 90 second sprints, even though I know it would do me good, because unless I run at least a few miles, I don't really feel like I've achieved anything. No such problems tonight though; it recommends '6M Steady'.

Anyway, the five miles was completed in 41 minutes. Which means 8 minutes and 14 seconds to do a mile. I'm not sure if I've managed to find a pace that I could run 13.1 miles at yet. The pace at the end of the run felt good, but I don't know, I'm starting to stress so much about the damn half marathon that I'm half wishing I'd never entered it. The other half cheerfully assures me that after I've run the race I'll look back and wonder what I was worried about. I hope he's right.
While I was out in the USA in July, I bought a couple of pairs of Nike Shox Socks (try saying that when you're drunk - or exhausted). Yes, this was at the same time I bought the demon Air Max 360s that stuffed up my feet.

Anyway, the socks are lovely. Padded and seamless on the inside and nice and cool. And, it would seem, not sold in the UK (here, regular Nike running socks are betwen £7 and £10, although you can probably find them for a bit less in places other than Niketown). But hurrah for eBay, where I managed to find someone selling Shox socks, and not charging an absolute fortune in postage. I was quite delighted to win the auction, beating off fierce competition from another bidder (who cheekily bid a whole dollar more than me), and landing the socks for $7 a pair inc. postage (much cheaper than regular socks here).

You know its bad when you get excited about some socks. I must be getting old!

So tired!

2006-08-22T13:03:00.000+01:00

I am very tired today.

After yesterday's post, I decided to stick to the schedule and just ran the 5 miles listed. Funny how I can say 'just 5 miles' now, whereas a year ago, I wouldn't have dreamed of saying that.

But I am feeling tired. I'm not sleeping well at the moment, I'm feeling a bit down with some other stuff thats going on (nothing major but its playing on my mind a little) and I think its all starting to affect me - and my running. I really had to force myself round last night, and although I didn't check the time I ran, I know it was slow.

I'm hoping that my enthusiasm will kick in again when I get a nice new pair of trainers on the weekend; till then I suspect its going to be a case of mind over matter.

Too much, too soon?

2006-08-21T12:25:00.000+01:00

I've been saying I'm going to run Grunty Fen, the Great Eastern Fun Run (both half marathons) and the Hellrun for what seems like ages, but last night saw me put my money where my mouth is for Grunty Fen and the Hellrun, and fork over the cash, an event which was quickly followed by a minor attack of panic as theres no way I can get the money back so I really do have to go through with it now.

But despite that, I've found myself looking for other runs to do. Theres a local half marathon the week after the Hellrun, but I'm not sure if that'll be too much too close together, although by that time I should be able to do 13 miles on consecutive weekends, I guess. Then theres another half in December (despite my early reassurances to the other half that we wouldn't do any runs in December), and even one on Boxing Day (but I'm not sure if I want to do that). I can't help wondering if its a good thing to be planning what races to run when I've not even done one yet, but I guess I'll try and hold off booking anything else until after Grunty Fen so at least I have more of a feel for things.

Tonight should be a five mile run. I'm following a training plan from Runner's World, but I'm impatient and want to run further than that; now that I'm back into it, I like doing at least my 6.5 mile run, and I can't help feeling that the plan is too easy and maybe I should be looking at the 'advanced' schedule. But there again, by the time the weekend rolls round I'll be doing 10 or 12 miles, and with my knee being slightly iffy, perhaps I shouldn't try pushing it. I guess maybe I'll just play it by ear (or knee!) and see how it goes when I'm out there.

Sunday

2006-08-20T19:58:00.000+01:00

Yesterday's run was good, and I was pleased, but today was a struggle. I suppose I can't be too surprised as I did have both wine and vodka last night, and I think that, combined with the shake drink I had for breakfast, combined to make today's little run (6.6 miles) more of a challenge than I expected. Still, I managed it in 55 minutes, giving me a speed of 7.21 miles an hour (or 8 minutes 19 seconds to cover a mile). So I won't complain too much.

It has made me decide to cut out alcohol from now until Grunty Fen though. I went through quite a long period of not drinking at all, and I can take it or leave it most of the time, so it shouldn't be too much of a hardship. Rich has said he's not going to, though, but since he'll be drinking cider, I won't be jealous.

My knee problem is getting a bit worse though. My left knee aches quite badly sometimes when I run for a longer distance, and it started to hurt quite early on in the run today; I guess it hadn't quite recovered from yesterday's run. I'm pretty sure it's my trainers combined with the fact I run on pavement. Apparently I have a neutral gait, and was recommended a pair of Nike Pegasus shoes. Of course, this was from the Niketown in London, so I guess they weren't going to suggest a pair of Brooks! I got on great with the Pegasus shoe until I ran longer distances and my knee pain started. I figured I'd worn the cushioning out, and bought another pair of the same shoe, which, to be fair, did stop the pain a little. This was a month or so before going on holiday, and just before we left, the pain started up again, pretty much as bad as before. So I then bought a pair of Nike Air something-or-others. Those stopped the pain in my knee wonderfully, but I guess they were too small, or the wrong shape, or just not designed for real running (despite what they said in the shop) as I then started to get blisters on my toes and my toenails really started to go a bit gruesome.

So I'm back wearing the Pegasus, which aren't doing in my toes, and spraying Deep Heat now and again, and counting down the days until Saturday, when I'm off to Advance Performance to get my running checked again, and buy a new pair of trainers. I'd rather not have to, but I don't want to damage my joints!

Today also really flagged up the difference between running and walking. The run was in the morning, and later on in the afternoon we took the dogs for a longer walk. We covered 7.5 miles, both off and on road, and it took us three hours (although the dogs do dawdle given the chance). It still burnt off 526 calories though, and the dogs enjoyed it, but goodness, you burn them off so much quicker running.

...but what if I come last?

2006-08-19T20:43:00.000+01:00

For what its worth, we managed the 8.1 mile run in 65 minutes. That works out at 8.07 minutes to run a mile. I'm pleased enough with that - I did a little bit of speedwork in there (a sustained sprint as fast as I could) which wore me out more than I bargained for so my speed dropped for the last couple of miles. If I could run all 13 miles of a half marathon at that pace, I'd be looking at a time of 1 hr 44 minutes. Allowing for me to get tired, though, and my speed to drop over the latter half, I'm reckoning 2 hours. That wouldn't be too bad.

However, I've not run a race since school, and I'm really quite nervous about it. I'm really quite scared of coming last. Apparently, its not all that bad, according to an article on Runner's World...and I guess someone has to come last. I just don't want it to be me.

It's worrying me quite a bit, and I'm hoping that as we build up the distance leading up to the race, I'll start to feel more confident, otherwise I'm just going to be a bag of nerves come race day.

For some reason, the run really wore me out, and I found myself in the Tate feeling dizzy and faint. I did manage to get to see the piece that I wanted to see, as well as Lictenstein's 'Whaam!'. 'Whaam!' was a bit of a let down though. I've seen the piece so much in reproductions that the it simply had no impact any more. It seemed like other people felt the same - visitors strolled past it without even looking (but then, maybe thats what people are like on a Saturday). Down in the Tate's shop, they had a whole range of tat...sorry, 'products' with 'Whaam!' on, from notepads to mugs and a two part poster of the piece. I found it strange; after all, 'Whaam!' had been in their storage for years, why didn't they bring it out earlier if it's worthy of making such a fuss over?

Hurrah for the weekend

2006-08-19T07:36:00.000+01:00

I've been on call for the last two weekends, and thats meant I've been pretty much stuck at home, waiting for support calls. Now that I'm off call, I finally get to do something!

So today we're going to the Big Smoke, and visiting the Tate Modern (to see their rehang) and some sort of prision museum (which I'm guessing will be a complete bundle of laughs) and fork over some cash at the framing shop, where I've got one of my posters in for framing. Not that I can complain, I guess, as I know they'll have done a good job. I'm just a bit grumpy about paying for it, as its not one of my favourite posters, and I can think of lots of other things I'd rather spend the money on. Still, it will be nice to have it back, and maybe I'll feel different when I see it again.

Before heading off though - in fact, as soon as I finish this post - we've got a run to do. Today is an eight mile run that loops in a circuit through a couple of local villages before swinging back round to home. Its a pretty run, and I don't get too bored with it.

At the moment this is being classed as a 'long run' as its the furthest distance we do, but before Grunty Fen rolls round, we'll have to be another 5 miles further on at least.

Choices, choices

2006-08-18T11:57:00.000+01:00

My original plan had been that I would run the London Marathon. Reading around, I discovered just how small my chances are of getting a place through the ballot system - I'm looking at something like 1 in 5. Considering that both of us (the other half and myself) want to run, the chances of us both getting a place through the ballot in the same year looks even smaller.

I suppose we could have run for charity. Around a quarter of all places on the marathon are 'sold' to charity (10,000ish places out of a total of 45,000).

Theres plenty of charities offering places, but the prospect of having to raise £2,400 or more for the two of us to enter was just too daunting. Don't get me wrong, its great that so many people raise so much for causes they believe in, but the 'price tag' of £1,200+ a place seems very high indeed - far too high for me to manage, anyway.

Other marathons don't seem to have this huge 'do it for charidee' aspect; you can run them for charity if you like, but otherwise its simply for the personal achievement. You can simply apply directly - no ballot or anything.

So in September, we're going to cough up our 50 euros and sign up for the Paris marathon in April, 2007. If by some miracle we both get into London, then I suppose we'll just write off the Paris entry fee - but I'd rather get our entries in now, before everyone else who gets rejected from London has the same idea.

In the meantime, though, it seemed like a good idea to do some shorter events, to get used to running in a proper race, since its going to feel quite different than just going for a run after work. Once again, the Runner's World site was a source of inspiration, and I found myself eyeing up several different runs with an air of enthusiasm that I wouldn't have believed possible that first time I staggered round my first run.

One 'race' a month seems about the right number. It means I've got something to aim for every month, rather than just one big event in Spring next year.

So: September 10th is the Grunty Fen half marathon, October 15th is the Great Eastern Run, and November 12th is the Hellrunner.

Out of all of them, I think I'm looking forward to the Hellrunner the most. Classed as 'adventure running', it goes through woods, and mud, and water, and then up sandy hills. Its all off road, and its going to be very hard indeed for me with my pavement, on-the-flat running, but you get a teeshirt at the end, and I'm hoping its going to be a cool one (I'll be devestated if I do it all and the teeshirt doesn't say 'Hellrunner' on it!). And it'll certainly be an experience!

Keeping Track

2006-08-17T17:06:00.000+01:00

I've been running since August 2005, when I took it up as a cheap form of exercise to help me lose some extra weight.

The first run I tried was three and a half miles, and it took me over 40 minutes, and I had to stop several times on the way round.

But I kept going, and earlier this year I ended up getting quite serious about it; early May saw me (and a sometimes unwilling Richard) regularly running six miles in the evening, in around an hour, as preparation for my holiday in Yosemite National Park and my hike up Half Dome (with its scary cables). I felt I needed to be as fit as possible to do it; the thought of not being able to climb Half Dome because I was too unfit was enough to spur me on to keep running.

It worked too. I was able to trundle round Yosemite perfectly happily, sometimes covering sixteen miles in a day, without any problems. It was fantastic and felt like a real achievement for me. But with the holiday over, I found it difficult to spur myself on to run. There was no purpose - the simple 'keeping fit' reason wasn't enough. I needed another challenge, and the idea of running a marathon fitted the bill perfectly. It would involve training, it would be one heck of a challenge, and there was a set date to aim for (April 2007).

Like I tend to do, I threw myself into finding out as much as I could. I found the Runner's World website, and picked up some pretty useful information - including training plans. I filled in my London Marathon application form, and I discovered that there were other races I might want to do when the inevitable London rejection letter comes through.

And so here I am, August 2006, planning for marathons and half marathons, eating muesli, dried fruit and weetabix rather than toast and chocolate, and wriing this blog to try and keep some sort of track of where I'm going - and where I've come from.