Great South Run Sunday

Well, we did it!
It was a foggy and drizzly day in the south, perfect for staying cool on a long run.
My brother and I stayed at our parents' outside Portsmouth the night before and it was decided to get the park and ride as advertised in the paper and the radio. We parked up and waited. And waited. And waited. There was soon a small group of us and eventually I went on line on my phone and saw that it was pre booked through a travel company only. We set off again by car, the other people deciding to wait 'because it said there was a park and ride in the paper'. They're probably still there.
It took a while to get to Southsea, we then had a half hour walk from the car park to the start.
Dek dashed off with the white wave and I hung at the very back of the green wave - I was one of the very last people to cross the start line.
It was a very nice flat course and the people of Portsmouth were on the streets cheering us on.
It was damp with all the drizzle and the last two miles along the seafront were a little blustery.
In the last mile I got chatting to a runner called Jacqueline and we tried to stay ahead of Peppa Pig - the costumed cartoon character proved too speedy though and took off with 300yards to go, then Batman and Robin decided they weren't going to be beaten by a pig so raced to beat Peppa to the finish. They beat her and when they were safely out of my finishing photo range I sprinted over the line and then turned to cheer Jacqueline.
I found my parents easily but my brother who finished forty minutes earlier was no where to be seen - I eventually spotted him hanging out by the bins.
It was a lovely, friendly race - although it does not seem worth the £40 entrance fee compared to other races. Despite that I'm sure I'll run again next year and try to beat my time of 2 hours 23 minutes.
Next years race is already open for entries.

Great South Run

The GSR is ten miles. This no longer seems like any kind of distance to me as I did so many ten miles and over runs when training for the VLM. However, I can't remember when I last did ten miles! I've done a few eights recently, but got too bored to carry on further.
Lots of people I know from various running communities are also running so it will be good to see them - it will also be good to see my brother wearing the stupid handlebar moustache he said he would fashion if his sponsorship hit £300; needless to say as a devoted sister I did all I could to make sure this happened :) . I'll take some photos Sunday and share them with you!
Wish me luck and see you Sunday!

Reject!

I was quite sad last week as I found out I had been rejected from the VLM ballot - it was only with that rejection I realised how much I wanted to be part of it again.  Of all the people I know who entered the ballot none of them got in.  In fact all the people I have met who ran the VLM got in on a charity place.  These golden bonds are great but it adds a whole new layer of pressure trying to fundraise a couple of grand as you also train most of your life away.  I would never be able to take a charity place again, people were so generous this year I just couldn't ask again.

Yesterday was slow, long run day as I'm building up for the GSR at the end of the month and it was cold!  The past few weekends were lovely with our late Indian Summer, but this week all of that changed.  I missed the rain but it was still cold and took me hours to warm up once I got in - and it's not even winter yet.  It was then I saw the plus side to not getting a VLM place - I wouldn't have to train in the winter and freeze!

Parkrun

This Saturday morning I left my running shoes at home and dressed for warmth.  I wasn't running this time - I was doing my first stint as a volunteer at my local parkrun.

Parkrun is free and entirely organised by volunteers.  All you have to do is register on line and then you can turn up to any parkrun on Saturday morning at 9am (9.30am in Scotland) and run a 5k against the clock.  There are t-shirts to be won at your 50th and 100th run and some people are trying to do as many different parkruns as possible.

It was only the second week of the Oakhill Park parkrun so volunteers were thin on the ground, it was the three people who set it up and me.  In the first week there were 44 runners (you may remember I came in at number 44), in the second week there were 20 runners and 19 finishers (a nine year old girl running with her family decided one lap was enough thank you very much).  Part of me wished I had run the second one - I would have been guaranteed a top 20 finish!

My job was to scan barcodes at the finish.  As the runners came through the funnel they were timed by one volunteer, given a token by another and then I had to scan their athlete barcodes (downloaded from the website when they registered) and then their token barcode.

It was nice to have a different perspective on the parkrun experience, I cheered on the runners and got time to talk to them as well.  It was certainly easier than running!

The Art of Endurance

I am not happy today.  Really, crushingly disappointed with myself in fact.  It is hard not being a winner and in fact being the complete and total opposite.  You see, most things I turn my hand to I am more than capable of - I can write, act, sing, teach, recite the alphabet backwards and in police speak.  I can recite a Wordsworth poem from memory, enthuse a class of children - even make my colleagues laugh on occasion.  I can imitate pretty much any accent you could ask me to 'do'.  I always did well academically (with the least effort it may be said) and I've always been employed and employable.  I have a job I enjoy.  I achieved a life-time ambition in April by completing the London Marathon.  And here we get to it - the root of my failure.  I am a crap runner.  Despite applying myself to running for the past 14 months I am still pretty rubbish.  Not in distance, oh no - I can run 26 miles thank you very much.  But even when I do one, two or three I cannot run any FASTER and I am fed up of being a failure.

Today was the launch of the first Barnet parkrun in my local, Oakhill Park.  Parkrun is the nicest weekly event hosted by the nicest bunch of volunteers.  And here is my problem.   I kept them waiting a whole 7 minutes and 20 seconds after the runner before me finished.  

A couple of women joked about being last at the start line and I told them, "Don't worry, I'm always last".  And it is true - I am!  I just cannot run any faster.  I was last in my half marathon, last in Barnet on the Move's 5k and now last again in the Parkrun.  I wouldn't mind but I finish red faced and panting - the effort has gone in! 

When running my laps (and being lapped) I even rehearsed excuses to excuse my lamentable running skills.  Here is a selection:

• I've just had an operation (on my hand)
• I haven't done many miles over the last month (3)
• I haven't slept the last two nights
• I still need to lose some weight, don't I!
• I'm really a distance runner

Then I started telling myself my mindset was dooming me to failure, I needed to be more positive.  So I tried:

• You couldn't run AT ALL 15 months ago
• You ran the friggin marathon
• You are trying
• You keep going
• Experts say spend your first year building up the distance and the next year working on the speed

But somehow, the negative thoughts became more powerful and overwhelmed me so I am left feeling like this awful failure because for once in my life something has not come easily to me and I will have to work very hard to make small steps of progress.  It's not easy being a failure - but I guess it's a lesson we all have to learn at some point in our lives, we can't all be perfect.


I will go to parkrun next week, I just might alternate between Oakhill and Grovelands so I keep different people waiting each week and spread the misery.

Training

Oh dear.  Two people have sponsored me for the Great South Run in October.  This means I am now going to have to seriously contemplate my training.  The truth is, although I have been to the gym over the summer I've only been on one or two short runs since the London 10k in July.  Now I have to get training again and the weather is not helping- Biblical style rain has been falling all afternoon.  The kind of rain that soaks you within seconds.

It was a cunning plan - signing up for more races.  If I did not have the committment of races and fundraising my running would have gone the way of all my other bright ideas.
So, I shall wait out the rain and then don my (new) Mizunos and off we go!

Is it all over?

I have been debating this in the two weeks since the marathon.  Two weeks - it seems like much longer ago, only the blisters hanging in there seem to remind me it was so recent.

Anyway - this blog was to see me on my journey to the marathon and I have done that now - so do I still need a blog?  You will notice I had to put a subtitle to this blog as someone else had already nabbed Adverse Camber on its own.  I don't like the subtitle, 'from fat to fit' but if I am being honest I have not achieved that yet.  I am still overweight and I really am not very fit at all.  So, perhaps this blog should continue to drive me towards a healthier and fitter lifestyle?

Today was my third run since the VLM.  I have a 5k in three weeks and a 10k in ten so I need to get back into training if I want to improve on my pitiful times.  Ages ago I downloaded the MiCoach app to my iphone and yesterday I did the assessment workout and today set to work on a traning program I tailored to my requirements on line.  I had what can only be described as my first ever fartlek session - eek!  It was very much like going back to basics, walking interspersed with hard running sections.  It wasn't easy and I was very glad when it was over, but it made me realise how I have been very much running in my comfort zone.  The two MiCoach workouts have made me sweat and get breathless, which I guess can only be a good thing on the path to a fitter life?

I hope no one buys doughnuts for the staffroom tomorrow.