Running in the daffodils

How useless am I - No blog post since the 9th March! And there was I planning to try and manage a post every day!

So how it all going? Well i'm still alive, still running and still looking forward to the marathon which is now only three weeks away!

The weather has improved so much in the last week I even managed a run with my shorts on this week - back to longs today, but still out in only a T shirt. In fact I gave my Children's Society running vest a trip out today to see how it fitted and how warm/cold I was in it. Pleased to report its pretty comfortable and i'm very proud to be wearing it (and its my favourite colour).

Loving the sights and sounds and freshness of everything as I run. Saw two gorgeous chaffinches chasing each other today (looked like 2 blue birds flying around in the snow white movie) put a smile on my face! The daffodils are gorgeous and I can see all the bluebell plants getting ready to flower in a few weeks time. Lots of spring buds and catkins and even lambs in the fields.

Last week I managed my longest run yet at 15 miles. It took be just under 3 hours to complete, so no great achievement on the time, but i managed it without enough water, with no cheering squad or support and it was the first time I tried using gels to boost the energy levels after 2 hrs. So i'm pretty confident about the marathon distance.

Today I managed 11 miles in 2 hours, so I had a good pace, and felt as though I had plenty left in the tank when I finished. It should have been a 16-18 mile run today, but with a niggly back ache and knees a little sore this week I decided no to push it to the point of no return, and today's run has boosted my confidence and I felt no pain, so I think i did the right thing.

I did search on line as to what I should do this weekend, and generally it was suggested that this week's run would not 'make' a marathon, but it could 'break' a marathon, so hence I took it a little easier than my training plan.

Now i'm into my last three weeks, the training is starting to taper to allow my body to recover. So I can look forward to 30 minute runs this week (and so can my dog)!

I'll try to post a bit more in the next few weeks!

I ran my first half marathon ever!

I ran my first half marathon ever on Sunday!

I ran in the Bath half marathon with 11,000 other people and finished!

I never imagined I would run a half marathon purely to train for something bigger - but that is exactly what I did at the weekend. In preparation for the marathon in about 6 weeks, a half marathon was the ideal way to gauge how my training was going..........so how is it going?

Well; I finished in just under 2 and a half hours, which was exactly what I was aiming for, I ran the whole thing, I could still walk the next day and I did not do myself an injury....so it was a successful training run.

The last three miles were hard, but I beat my 10 mile personal best by 2 minutes compared to the Gt South, and I managed 11 minute miles till about mile 8. It was a mental issue rather than a physical one towards the end, and being a 2 lap race I was lapped at about 3.5 miles and had to watch the front runners go towards the finish when I still had another lap to do....both those factors were quite hard.

I now have to keep the training going to double that distance on the 17th April. That though scares me a little, but I also feel more prepared for what it to come, now I have managed to run half the distance under competitive conditions.

Enjoy the photos!