Pork Pies

Less than two weeks to go! eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek.

My training has been going ok. Getting a bit bored of it now to be honest, it sort of eats up the whole weekend as I am either:

a) not going out with mates because I will want a beer and that is bad (and therefore sulking)

b) preparing to go for a run

c)going for a run

d)recovering from going for a run

All in all, this is very, very dull.

So to spice things up a bit I went for a run on Saturday rather than Sunday, the park was quite busy considering the weather wasn’t great. Everything went fine apart from the fact that I misjudged the amount of water I drank that morning – 30 minutes after leaving I was bursting for the loo. Why is it that I have never, ever seen tiny children weeing in the park until I need the toilet? there were loads of them, their parents waving them in the air so they wouldn’t wee on their clothes. It was very rude and I blame them for the defeat of my mind over my bladder. After a coughing fit that nearly led to an accident I realised I had better find the toilets. Luckily they were open, and clean. However I did have to run up a hill to find them and I had to wait for children (who were surprisingly using the toilets) to stop faffing around in them.

There was no-one drinking Special Brew this week, but I did see a cat eating a piece of ham and a squirrel eating a pork pie (I am guessing that these items were left behind from a picnic) the cat was ready to defend its ham but I think I could have scared the squirrel off if I had wanted the pie.

So who is coming along on the 10th to support me? you might even get a St Dunstan’s clapper…

Special Brew

After working really hard over last few months I had a bit of a downer last week -  I sort of got a bit panicky about the Half Marathon then had a few bad runs which didn’t help. Writing a blog about it sort of compounded the anxiety, which wasn’t good (I started composing the blog about 10 times and had to scrap all of them) but hopefully things are back on track now!

It didn’t help that I had been out the nights before going for my runs (I was socialising, it would have been rude not to have a drink!) which made things much harder than they needed to be (and meant my legs gave up about 1 mile before I had hoped they would) and I felt physically sick once I made it home.

My long run yesterday went much better (had no alcohol the night before and even went to bed earlyish) I wore my St Dunstan’s running vest to check it was comfy and my new shiny trainers were broken in and ready to go. I was ready. I had even arranged for my long-suffering boyfriend to cycle down and find me in the park and supply me with a bottle of lucozade after I had been running for an hour, just to check that my body wouldn’t reject it and force me to go to the toilets and leave my body like something from the exorcist.

Upon arriving in the park I ran past a man in his 50s, in exercise gear (not fancy stuff, but it was football shorts and not jeans) he appeared to be drinking Special Brew. I couldn’t see it clearly and didn’t want to appear to be gawping, so I didn’t slow down to check – I must have made a mistake, it must have been a can of soft drink. I saw him again about 20 mins later and had a better look, it was definitely a can of Special Brew and I even saw him have a swig (which made me feel a bit grim, and makes me feel a bit grim writing about it actually) Can you imagine? swigging flat, warm Special Brew whilst exercising? uuuuuuuuuuurrrrg.  The next time I saw him he was with a shifty looking man who was getting something out of his bag. I spent the rest of my run wondering what this was – was it money, as it had been a bet (or to buy more beer); was it fags to go with the beer? was it a card for alcoholics anonymous?

That was the only excitement of the day, there were a few birthday party picnics, but nothing worth snooping on. Boring!

So I thought I had broken all my records and done a really good run. When I checked my Runkeeper when I got home, it turned out the thing had gone a bit mental and recorded about 1.5 extra miles which I hadn’t actually run. This was a bit gutting, but looking on the positive side, the run felt quite easy (as opposed to last week, where from mile 6 I thought I was going to collapse) and I felt ok enough afterwards to go out with some mates for a big Sunday lunch (and was able to communicate!) Going forward I will not trust Runkeeper quite as much and will maybe map the run better before heading out, so I have a rough idea in my head and will not rely upon technology!

I really need to start hassling people to sponsor me too, I have been far too nice to them so far less than 3 weeks to go now…

Shiny and New

Feeling a bit better now, not sure if that is because I’m not as tired or because I have been spending money on things like trainers and T-shirts.

I ran home from work last night and I actually quite enjoyed it (until maybe the last mile) it wasn’t the slog it has been for the last few weeks and I actually shaved a couple of minutes off my time (over 10 minutes faster now than when I started!) People getting in my way are now more of a moving challenge than an annoyance. Not sure if it is because I know the route a bit better or because I am getting better at running it, but I am now prepared for people getting in the way and I was actually ducking and weaving around them (and not just in my mind this time)

I think my recovery is also improving as I was able to go out with friends afterwards for dinner and actually hold down a conversation. Admittedly, by 10pm I was knackered and would much rather have been at home in bed, but this is a marked improvement  on previous runs.

When I finally arrived home I found a shiny new pair of trainers had been delivered by the postman. It felt like I hadn’t actually had my old pair of trainers for very long. But putting on my new ones I realised the others were a bit past it, and probably rather smelly. I love new trainers, maybe I should have got a new pair sooner to cheer myself up a bit.

The Royal Parks Half marathon is a month tomorrow, St Dunstan’s is putting together a supporters team for the day. If you are in the area and would like to come along and do some cheering (and lets face it, it is easier and much more fun!) please give us a call on 020 7616 7966 or email fundraising@st-dunstans.org.uk Fingers crossed the weather will be nice, it should be a good day (for the runners too hopefully!)

Knackered

5 weeks to go and I have to say that I think I have been training pretty hard. I was hoping by now that I would be feeling super fit and enjoying the training. But to be honest I am knackered all the time and I really, really didn’t want to go out for a run yesterday I did manage a ten-mile run, but I am quite achy today and I am a bit of a misery guts.

It took me 3 hours from starting prepare to go for a run to actually getting out of the house. I was ok once I got out, but for some reason I just found it really hard to get myself motivated and get on with it. I didn’t even have an excuse  that the weather wasn’t nice, it might have been a bit humid, but it wasn’t exactly the Sahara.

Once I finally got out the house (and after going the wrong way for a couple of minutes) I headed off to Brockwell Park, which was much more busy than I had expected!  There was an Urban Green Fair (which you had to pay an entry fee to get in – I didn’t have any money on me, so can tell you no more about it I am afraid) which looked very interesting and very popular. There was also a fairground (which you had to pay an entrance fee to get in – a bit of a trend there) which had a Ghost Hotel (a more pricey Ghost House I reckon) and some inflatable slide things. I think the ethos contrasted with the Urban Green Fair (which was solar-powered) as it had massive generators pumping out music and to keep the rides from grinding to a halt. 

The fair ground didn’t appear that busy, I like to think that was because all the kids wanted to go on the steam train but as the train takes 5 minutes to complete the 200m track it isn’t the most scary of rides.

Four laps of the park (with my attempting to snoop on the fair and the fairground) and then home again. 10 miles. Somehow this feels like is should mean something, like I should be pleased with my progress. But I am just too tired to really be bothered. And it isn’t really like I can eat loads of chocolate to feel better, maybe it was the guilt factor before, but now I am hungry all the time and I need to eat for energy it sort of takes the excitement away. Bad food (like my favourite the cheese savoury sarnie) just makes me feel grim, my body wants healthy food, but my head wants trashy food. It is a battle of wills and I am not sure who will win.

I was sorting out my bedroom the other day and was disturbed to find empty bottles of Lucozade, For Goodness Shakes and numerous water bottles. Running clothes, magazines and paraphernalia were all over the place. I went to the pub with a friend over the weekend and I only had one alcoholic drink because any more and I would find my run the following day more sluggish. Is it bad that training for the Royal Parks appears to have taken over my whole life? arranging the rest of my weekend around my run? Is the first thing I want to see in the morning numerous pairs of trainers scattered all over the floor? Have become everything I always despised?!

Is this going to get worse or can it only get better? Is venting on my blog better than just being driven slowly insane by the drip drip drip of only ever thinking about running/eating after running/ that something aches after running.

Bank Boringday

As it is only 6 weeks until the Royal Parks Half Marathon I couldn’t do any  3 day parties this Bank Holiday, bummer. Be afraid once this is over!

I went for a run on Friday but I wasn’t quite sure whether it would be a long one or not – I had a massive bruise on my leg (no idea where from,  not even a UDI) which made it a bit sore to run. I had planned to meet my friend Bunches on Peckham Rye, so I figured if it was uncomfortable I could always head home after a couple of miles.

The weather was pretty overcast and I was convinced it was going to rain (another good reason to head home after a quick run – can you tell that I really wasn’t up for it?!) I picked Bunches up at her flat and we trotted down to the Rye. Peckham Rye is a funny one, a sort of triangle shape park, the pointy top bit is really quite busy with cars. In the middle you have an awfully nice cafe (for all the yummy mummies and their sprogs to have a nice drink after they have fed the ducks) and then you have a couple of playgrounds, a skate park and an outdoor gym (which I think is so clever. I wish I had invented it) maybe I’ll take Dunstan there  for a workout.

Peckham has a bit of a bad reputation, which I have never really understood – my only problem with the area is that it sells lots and lots and lots of fish (I hate fish) although the Rye isn’t really great for running around – the majority of the time you were pretty close to a main road and even though a lap of it was around 1.3miles, it still felt pretty small – I still think it is a very cute park though, with a nice pond and very nice gardens.

It was nice to go for a run with Bunches, she did a couple of laps with me before heading home. Being about 3 foot taller than me she thought I was a bit of a slow coach, but she put up with me! After she went home the weather had picked up and I felt I was doing ok, so I decided to attempt a total of 9 miles. I just about managed it, but my legs were really quite tired at the end and I was walking a bit weird for the rest of the day.

No injuries, which is obviously good (I am touching wood though, I am not superstitious, but I am clumsy!)