seven days is too long

Woke up this morning 6.15 realising I hadn't changed the clocks. The gout is all but gone and will at some point today test it over a 3 mile run. Got get myself organised, what to wear, what and when to eat. I get the feeling this week is going to drag like nobody's business. Didn't do the run still had a niggle in my toe-thought I'd post a few of my friends who will be running with me.

great expectations

The thing with this hobby of mine is that you really cannot judge a book by the cover. You look at people on the start line and think they'll never finish ahead of me and blow me they do and conversely younger fitter people finish behind me.
Websites tell me that I should be able to run a marathon in 3hours 45mins based on a 5k run at 24mins 22secs, how this works bearing in mind a marathon is over eight times the distance. Looking at some of the names on the list of entries,I will be well down the list of finishers. I have been this nervous about a run ever.
When the race is over I will be on a strict diet and looking to lose 2 stone and will be looking to reduce the race times dramatically.

well pissed off

Woke up this morning with a gout attack so with two weeks to go I am seriously in danger of missing out again. This is getting boring and I am paranoid that someone somewhere is doing it deliberately. Twelve weeks of training possib ly up in smoke.

inspired

Yesterday I was support to Mandy doing her first half marathon. This was just as nervy as doing the event myself. She did the job and was only let down by the organisation, having to queue to get across the finish line. All the Tamworth team did well. It's now my turn to take centre stage and i've a lot to live up to. Strangely nervous this morning I am about to head out on my last longish run of twelve miles.

not a happy bunny

Woke up this morning feeling crappy-postponing my run. Received my race pack through the post to find water being given in cups, gates having to be opened and running over cattle grids. My running number is 876 which considering the race was closed at 650 is odd. Thinks back to bed might be a good idea.

nowt to do with me

This weekend sees the running of the Birmingham half marathon and Our Mandy is running it, her first attempt at the distance. Also running will be Lesley,Linda,Janice, Chris and Richard from our running club. Good luck to one and all.

a century of blogs

It wasn't so long ago that blogging was not in my vocabulary and a diary was something confined to love sick teenage girls in a different era and here i am 100 not out.
As the end of the journey rapidly approaches some nerves and doubts are raising their combined heads, failure to complete the twenty two hasn't helped.
Desparately avoiding sicknotes and hoping the gout doesn't return.
The gaffer thinks that I should abandon all thoughts of time and of course any time will be a pb.

make or break

This might sound a bit dramatic but tomorrow's run I believe is just that. Twenty two miles, two laps of 11 miles, This is a ten per cent increase on last week. If I can't manage this what chance 26.2 miles in just under a month. Wish me luck.

Mullered

There's a part of Michael Macintyre's show where he uses any word to describe being drunk. My new word for dead on my feet is mullered.
Today's effort was twenty miles. Two laps of ten miles,very hilly at the start and finish,interspersed with five miles of flat canal. Today's run was intersting in that I couldn't get across the road for about 100 bikers, then a squirrel raced me for fifty yards. The canal is great because it is flat but there are too many gates and today too many puddles.
Dead on my feet at the end but twenty miles completed for the first time ever and around the the four hour thirty minute pace.

cynical me

Someone said to me I don't appear to have much faith in people, they were right. When it comes to running they were spot on, people always seem to have great and good intentions. These intentions usually start around the end of March/early April and last as long as the next holiday or rain shower in some cases. The biggest draw is usually alcohol, getting bladdered is a much easier options that going out in the cold. Why is it that some prefer running in the blazing sun to a cold crisp December morning, do they not realise its much harder?
Yesterday I got my rejection letter from the Virgin London Marathon, this was not unexpected as my chances were approximately five to one. My major gripe with this race is that my rejection will allow someone who can barely run a mile attempt to do something that is completely out of their ability range. Fair play to anyone who attempts it and especially if they are raising money for charity but isn't it supposed to be a running race?
Tomorrow sees my first effort at running twenty miles, this will be two laps of ten miles around the Polesworth canal area. given the fact it is currently lashing down the path will be a touch muddy-oh no perhaps I should stay in bed instead.