hooray

1.5 miles of run 2 mins/walk 2 mins on 1% incline.
You may scoff, but it’s been months since I felt well, and today I felt strong, and I ran with good form, and my breathing was even. I followed the advice I’ve been given by Zoë, who is lucky to have a personal trainer as one of her best friends, and I made sure I wasn’t bouncing, or leaning forward too much, or taking big steps, or any of the other great treadmill sins. 

Anyway, there we are. I’m back. And this time, fortified by more vitamins and healthy foods than a racehorse (but slightly less sleek and fast) I’m going to carry on training till I reach April. Five months, six days and 19 hours to go. Swine flu, sacro iliac injuries, chest infections, begone! I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.

hello

It’s going to be Christmas soon, hooray. In celebration I bought a lovely new mug today, and some cinnamon spice scented candles. But that’s not news of running, is it? The good news is the cough is nearly gone, I walked the dog the other day and my legs didn’t wobble once, and thanks to the lovely people at our local health food shop I’m feeling almost completely better. I do rattle when I walk slightly, due to the fact that I’m currently taking vitamins, supplements, probiotics, Manuka honey and Floradix, all washed down with Berocca. The children are really impressed that I can swallow nine tablets in one go. So anyway, I’ve rested, I’ve looked after myself, I’ve thought zen thoughts, and now I’m ready to go. Off to train with Zoe this weekend, so look out Berkshire countryside, Glenn’s girls are on the rampage.

sigh

Still here, still ill. Tired, coughing, no energy, aching joints. I have a swine flu vaccination booked for this Saturday, and the doctor has suggested that I still have it, despite the fact that I’ve had swine flu already. At this point I’m not going to argue with her! I’m getting really worried now – there was a point I’d set in my head as the cut off, where if I hadn’t managed to start a decent amount of training I’d pull out of the marathon. That point is sneaking up and I feel utterly miserable.

leaden

I really, really didn’t want to run today. I rested yesterday, because my legs were tired after Wednesday, and I thought I’d be full of energy this morning. Unfortunately I had a whole 4.5 hours sleep (note to self: staying up late when home alone with the children is a very bad idea) and this morning all I wanted to do once I’d taken the children to school was come home, curl up on the couch and drink coffee for a few hours until I felt human again.

I’ve been wondering for the last week or so why I’ve had a non-specific stressy feeling, and I realised as I was wheeling out the treadmill what it has been. I think the reality of the marathon is hitting me, and I’m nervous and excited. It’s a massive commitment, and there’s no going back on it. So instead of moaning about how tired I felt, I got on my deeply unflattering running outfit and ran.

Today’s run/walk: 1.5 miles, 20something minutes (?!). Bit slower at 4.5mph – a slow jog rather than a run. Legs tired but manageable. Too tired to write any more! Off for a cup of tea.

my dad

This one isn’t about running. It’s about why we’re running. Three years ago today, Zoe and I lived through the hardest day of our life; our father’s funeral. He was only 55 years old, and looked ten years younger. He was dynamic, funny, stubborn, loyal, kind and thoughtful. He lived in a tiny village in Lincolnshire which he happily referred to as ‘the arsehole of nowhere’, having escaped London ten years before. The last thing he did was typical of him: he’d just taken on some new employees and he took them out for a meal, because he was worried they’d be lonely and bored, having just moved to the area. That night he went home, felt ill, and died of a heart attack before the ambulance arrived.

It was impossible for anyone to believe – my dad was tall, strong, fit enough to beat the younger men at work in their occasional after-work sprint, played the odd game of football, ate a reasonably healthy diet, very rarely drank alcohol and had never smoked in his life. Everyone agreed that yes, he was a couple of stone overweight, but ‘he carried it well’, so it didn’t matter. Only of course, it does matter. His diet wasn’t really perfect (too many stops at service stations for a Ginsters pasty and a Mars bar in lieu of lunch on the way to see his beloved Falkirk FC) and in reality he was probably four stone overweight, but at 6’3″ nobody really noticed.

Heart Research work in the community to encourage lifestyle choices for a healthier heart. In other words, they get out there and tell people what they should and shouldn’t be doing. They help perfectionists like me, who would rather do nothing than not give it 100%, to realise that every positive step helps. Because I’m overweight, because I’m in a high risk category, because of my family history, because my cholesterol levels were raised at my last blood test – their amazing work makes me realise that even my pathetic attempts at training for the marathon are helping to make my heart strong. And when the time comes and I start begging you all for sponsorship (don’t worry, I’m not hinting…yet!) remember it’s not for me, it’s for the amazing work that they do and for the lives they save.

no more excuses

I wasn’t going to run today because I’m tired and I still feel grim. Then I saw a friend running past my house and I remembered that I have a marathon in just over seven months. (Seven months! Argh!)

Those of you allergic to boring details, skip this paragraph. I ran as follows: Run 1m, Walk 1m, Run 2m, Walk 1, Run 1m30s, Walk 1m, Run 1m, Walk 1m, Run 1m, collapse in sweating heap whilst walking for several minutes, Run 1m30s, cool down. For run, read jog at a really pathetic snail’s speed, but I’ve set the treadmill at 1% and I’m planning to put it up to 2% next. The back of my calves was a bit achey, so I’m hoping that was because of the virtually non-existent gradient. I’d like to say how far I ran, but being a bit of an airhead I forgot to check before I turned the treadmill off. It was probably a mile. Only 25.2 more of them, as Zoe likes to tell me on a regular basis. She’s doing really well on her training. I’d like to say that sibling rivalry is spurring me on, but instead I’m wondering if I could wear rollerskates and she could tow me along.

Oh dear. I am a bit of a mid-afternoon slump person, and that combined with being a bit tired from running has left me inarticulate and needing to have a little snooze on the couch. Can you just imagine something entertaining here, whilst I have a little sleep? Zzzzz.

ow!

I’m not channeling the late Michael Jackson, I’m struggling with sore muscles in places I didn’t even know I had muscles. Serratus anterior muscles, anyone? I had to look them up to find out what it was that was aching. It’s the push ups that are working them, apparently. As for the core fitness, well…I hurt. So that’s good, isn’t it?

In other news, I was about to say we’ve seen a treadmill on eBay, but it’s really far away and collection only, but I just looked on eBay and it’s gone. So I called K (aka The Other Runner) to grump about us missing the boat because we’re indecisive, only to discover he bought it this morning! So all those days when it’s raining, or I can’t face getting up at 5am I’ll be able to hop on the treadmill and watch television! Plus if I feel completely deranged, I can follow more of Madonna’s trainer’s advice – she recommends skipping, dancing and side stepping on a treadmill to tone lots of different muscles.

Anyway, being me I couldn’t help having a look on YouTube and when I typed in ‘treadmill falls’ this one was the first one that came up. I’m still laughing just thinking about it – go and have a look.

back to basics

Day one of doing it properly.

The fact that it’s beautiful at 5am does help to make getting up bearable. Sun sparkling on dew, rabbits playing on the verge, lambs skipping, la la la. And me thundering along terrifying them all into thinking there’s an earthquake.

I read The Book again last night, and remembered that there’s a reason it’s the no.1 running book on Amazon – it’s so inspiring, and makes running accessible to anyone, even me. So instead of trying to run before I can walk (literally) I went back to the programme and this morning I did:

Warm up walk for 5 mins
Run 1m, walk 2m x 5
Brisk walk 10 mins.

That looks like a backward step, but I wasn’t jogging at a pace slower than my usual (fairly fast) walk, I was actually running at a decent speed. It’s easy to think I’m not going anywhere, but then I remember that it’s 16 years since I did any running, and apart from a brief flirtation with the gym when no1 child was a toddler, I haven’t done any real exercise for years. So it’ll take time, but I’ll get there.

silence

Yes, it’s true. The excitement of running for a whole ten minutes has stunned me into silence (virtually unheard of round here) and I’ve been basking in my own glory since Friday.

Actually, I’ve been eating chocolate brownies and looking at our…

kittens! Ours are the two on the left. We would have liked three, but one had already been rehomed. We went to see them at the rescue centre this weekend (where the photo was taken) and we pick them up next week once they’ve had their vaccinations.

Meanwhile I must do some running really…I have a marathon to run, you know. Not completely sure that tonight’s dinner of Domino’s pizza is the optimum pre-training meal though. Reports to follow in the morning.