Week Six

Tuesday - 11 miles

Friday - 8 miles

Sunday - Half marathon race (13 miles)

This week Guilia and I finally managed to go for a run together after work on Tuesday.  I needed to do about 15 kilometres, Guilia needed to do 11 kilometres, so I planned a nice 13k route and off we went.  My appalling ability to plan routes combined with us having so much fun running round the Serpentine that we decided to do all of it meant I ended up doing 17 kilometres (11 miles)!  Giulia is faster than me so it was fairly quick too.

On Thursday night I had planned to do another run but by the time I left work it was dark, raining, bitterly cold, I was absolutely knackered and still had a bit more work to do at home.  I decided to leave it til the following morning, which wasn't likely to be any better weather-wise but at least I wouldn't be so tired.  So... Friday morning....

 These are the runs which make you a marathon runner - forcing yourself even when you don't want to to get up, lace your trainers up and get out there.  This was meant to be one of those runs where you do a fast section in the middle and as I knew I had a race coming up on Sunday I thought I could practice running quickly.  As you can see it didn't go that well... only 2 of my "fast" kilometres could even vaguely be counted as fast.  But I tried!

This was taken on the way back home, usually a beautiful view of the Shard from here but not on Friday morning!!

This weekend was Worthing half marathon.  I'd run it last year and got a PB of 1:51:25, which I was delighted with at the time, and had enthusiastically signed up for the 2017 race a few weeks later.  A year has rolled around and Toby and I were going to run it together for his first half marathon.  Unfortunately it was not to be as he's got tendonitis in his knee and was advised not to run by his physio :(

But we headed off for a weekend in Sussex, with the plan that I'd just run the half anyway.  I was due to run 1-2 hours at heart rate 135 on Saturday, but in the end I was so tired that I couldn't face it and made an executive decision to scrap the plan *shock horror*.  I slept for 9 hours, got up and ate an epic hotel breakfast, went back to sleep for another 2 hours and finally dragged myself from my bed at 2.30pm - this is not normal for me!  To compensate, Toby and I went for a lovely long walk in the Sussex countryside so at least I did move a bit.

This morning we got up early and headed off to Worthing for the race.  All the way there, I moaned.  I haven't had the right breakfast, it's cold, it's raining, I hate races, I hate half-marathons especially, why is that girl wearing a foil blanket?, why is that man carrying a million gels, it's a half for goodness sake, I hate running fast, I'm not even going to run this as a race, I'd rather do a 4 hour training run than this, I'm really cold, have I mentioned I hate races?  Toby yet again demonstrated his saint-like qualities putting up with me.

At the end of my whine-a-thon, I turned to him and said, "I'm going to race it, aren't I?" and he said, "Obviously".  And then I did. 

 

 I ran a blinder of a race.   I started behind the 2 hour pacer as I couldn't get any closer to the front - no staggered start! - but overtook him in the first few minutes.  I started making ground on the 1:50 pacer and overtook him after about a mile or two.  I was feeling good and as the kilometres went by, I started to think I could keep up this pace. Toby called me about halfway to see how I was doing and I told him I still hate races and the only good thing about going fast was that I'd be at the pub sooner, which made the bloke next to me snigger.  It was all going well until 16km when the 1:50 pacer overtook me.  Being overtaken by pacers kills PB dreams because it messes with you psychologically and I was NOT having that today.  I dug deep and picked up my pace.  At the looped section in Ferring, I managed to get away from him.  I focused on my breathing, relaxing my shoulders, taking big strides, not lifting my feet too high to save energy.  These pictures were taken in the final hundred metres and give an idea of how hard I was working:

Do I look like I'm having a fun time?  I really do hate races.
I love this picture though because you can see how massive my strides were, I was just so desperate to get to the end. 

 I survived the last kilometre by thinking, "I'm never racing a half marathon EVER AGAIN.  I am never running this particular race EVER AGAIN.  I am DONE with PBs just as soon as I get this one".  And then it was over.  Confirmed chip time 1:49:15 - not bad for an old lady eh? 

First medal of 2017!


So I haven't really done enough running this week but I think it was worth it.  I'm pretty sure I couldn't have run like I did today if I'd done 90 minutes yesterday.  I'm a bit stiff and probably will be hobbling round work tomorrow but feeling super-pleased with myself, I never thought I'd beat last year's time and it was really quite a respectable showing considering my long runs frequently hit 6:00 or even 6:30 minutes per kilometre.

I rewarded myself with the most enormous roast at the pub - life is good again!

That's it for this week, except for a little bit of kidney donor news....  This week sees the launch of NHSBT's new campaign around Living Donation, timed in the run up to Valentine's Day.  The video is pretty bizarre but it made me laugh!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TR4M1vGbSE

And the ubiquitous fundraising link: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/marathonmadness