It feels almost inevitable that I will do this run. I've even been toying with the idea of getting sponsorship. I don't know. But then if I am definitely going to run, why not try and fleece my friends and colleagues as well? (As in, why should I be the only one to suffer?)

There is a bit of me which wished I had gone with my first instinct which was to keep this whole thing a secret from everyone and just turn up at work the following day and announce I'd done it. But it's too late for that now.

I have discovered that the secret of making a training run painful and tiring and generally unpleasant is to go out for a drink or 2 the night before. So no drinking in the week before the event (but I kind of knew that anyway...)

So nothing more to report about today's early morning run - it was routine (if harder work than normal cos of the booze...) and I'm beginning to see the same people running round the downs each time I go out there. It's quite nice - I expect they're all in training for this thing as well. And they all look like they're better than me. But that's OK as I have resigned myself to the possibility I might not win.

I think I needed more than one day's rest to get over my amazing achievement on Sunday (slight exaggeration...) but I did do the 7 mile route this morning.

There is something wrong with my right foot: it kind of twists as I push off it. It's very annoying as I'm sure it's going to give out on me at some point. But what can I do other than make sure my shoes are tied up firmly and hope for the best?

Anyway, I think I've almost definitely decided to do the run. I wish I had a charitable motivation - then I would have no excuse not to go for it. Plus I'd feel a lot more righteous when hurling myself over the finish line for my glamorous photo and in the post-run interviews with the media I can tearfully say why I put myself through this ridiculous ordeal.

Hey ho. 2 weeks and 5 days to go.

Everything hurts. My back aches, my shoulders ache, my knees are painful, my thighs ache, my calves hurt, my hips are stiff as rusty hinges, my feet hurt, my blister's popped...

...but I've run 10 miles!

I feel I've acheieved something. It wasn't even as impossible as I thought, although I'm suffering now.

It's a case of mind over matter, keeping going when you know you're going to suffer later, when you're bored of running and when you fantasise about going back to bed with a cup of tea...

So can I do that again (and a bit more) next weekend (as well as do at least 2 7-mile runs during the week)?

It feels like this is now the final push which I'm pleased about. I wonder how much running I'll do once it's over. I am promising myself a shopping spree when it's done although I dare say I 'll have lost weight and so I'll have to make plans to stop piling it all back on again (keeping up the morning runs should do it)

But I'm not there yet - it's 3 weeks today - a lot can happen in that time...

Thank goodness I went out early...


Yes, I was up with the asthmatic larks this morning and running like a loon around the backroads and open spaces of the 'hood...
It was OK I guess - I still don't feel I am making progress but I guess that's normal. I'd have to do a lot more exercise to see any real progress for sure.

I checked with the training schedule for the 1/2 mara and apparantly I'm kind of OK. I need to go for a 100-minute run this weekend and a 115 minute run the one after and a few normal ones dotted in between and I'm there. I think I should be able to do it so long as I don't run out of steam - I feel sometimes I'm running on empty which is a little alarming but apparantly they dish out revolting energy things along the route.

oh, and as for why it was good I went out early - I got dressed in the dark and was wearing my running shorts inside out...

Horrible horrible horrible

I know a short run is better than no run - but to feel clapped out after 5 miles is really disheartening.

The forecast for this morning was for downpours (it was correct, too) so I thought I would run after work yesterday. I managed to drag myself round the 5-miler route and felt like poo. It's a horrible feeling, like all the hard work I've done has been for nothing. I am doomed to forever be a early-morning runner...

So now I don't feel like I even want to attempt the 1/2 marathon - after feeling so positive about it yesterday.

I mustn't crumble at this stage though (I will keep the baling out option open for a while yet though) I will run tomorrow morning and see how that goes. And then a longer run at the weekend. And then I shall be all positive once more.

Possibly.

It’s OK
Despite last week being rather sedentary (apart from longs walks around lovely Scottish moors and rivers) it seems I can still do the 7-mile route without expiring. (Hurrah!) So I guess I'm still on for the Big Run on the 17th September. I will have to run longer and harder for the last 4 weeks of training but I can now envisage myself running the race. Well, I can today at least, tomorrow might be a different story…

Mettle tested and found wanting.

Went for one run the whole week, felt tired and had to walk. I think the combination of too much food and wine and too many late nights and generally 'being on holiday' meant that running felt like a chore and therefore should be avaoided.

I've tried on various strategies to feel better about this slightly pathetic behaviour and am sticking with the theory that rest days are just as important as the training days.

Which means I have done a lot of very important work over the past week.

Hmm.

Back on the road again....

Having survived various symptoms of lergy (lurgy??) I am back on the long road to wherever 13 and a bit miles will take me...

It wasn't too bad, once the first mile or so was done. This bit is all slightly uphill, so imagine setting off at 0620, uphill, feeling a little queasy and a lot knackered and you get the picture... But despite allowing myself to think about cutting the route short and taking it easy on myself, I did the whole thing and felt like a real trouper (trooper??) when I got back to safety and managed to separate my feet from my shoes.

So there you have it - I'm still in the running, whether I like it or not.

Was chatting to a friend who has just taken up running and claims to love it: she goes for about 3 and a half miles and feels on top of the world. She knows a person who runs 13 miles for fun then runs home up a steep hill. That person is obviously unstable and is to be avoided. How can anyone get to the stage when 13 miles is a 'fun run'?

I see Nick Rose running round the downs a lot - I remember him from way back (can't be sure when) and he was a terrific international runner, winning lots of races and generally being a local hero. He still goes at a hell of a rate and I'm sure he's just jogging...

I'm off on holiday tomorrow but the trainers are coming with me. A week away from the routine will test my mettle...

3 days and counting...


Feel bad about not running - I'm starting to think I'm going to have a lot of ground to make up when I do finally get going again and that's really not the plan. There have been good reasons not to run, mostly to do with the lurgy which I think I have mostly shaken off. Felt like an utter wimp though when I had a call from an old friend who's been diagnosed with ME - now that's a proper reason to take it easy...

So tomorrow is the big day - a 7-miler before breakfast and cycle into work full of vim and vigor.

Watch this space.

It's been 2 days since my last run....

OK it's hardly the end of the world but when you wake up and try to walk and your right foot is telling you it's been mashed and broken, and your back's aching and your calves are hurting and... and... and... you don't want to go for a run.
Call me a wimp, perhaps, but the other side of the coin is going out when you're not fit to means you're likely to hurt worse and I don't like the hurting bit.

Still, tomorrow is another day and I have no plans for a lie in.

Eight and a half miles... woohoo!

I am exhausted.

I added on a little extra loop going round the downs and hey presto I've gone over the 8 miles mark. Can't say it was very enjoyable and I realise I am now going to have to keep doing this route at least once a week before upping the distance even further.

Beginning to realise (if I hadn't before) just what I've taken on. I keep having dreams about it and in these dreams I've finished and thought, 'well, that was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be'. That used to be OK but recently the dreams have continued with me finding out I've missed out the whole of the Portway section (about 7 miles) so they're not very encouraging dreams...

My ankles are aching. My shoulders are aching. My lower back is aching.

My instep blister seems to have hardened up (hoorary for running and boo hiss for wearing strappy summer sandals) but I have a new blister on my right middle toe. And I think I'm getting a black big toenail which I believe is a badge of honour among long distance runners.
So why I have one is anyone's guess...

The other thing is 'runners' face' - you wear a bra to stop your boobs heading towards your knees, but what about face fat? Jowls I mean - as you pound along you can feel every single bit of loose flesh which isn't packed up tight is wobbling - so surely it follows that eventually after a lot of running these bits will sag. Unless you lose the fat before this happens? Oh well. what it really means is that I must remember to smile (or grimace) as I hurtle along in order to keep my face firm against the ravages of pavement pounding...

Or am I being a bit paranoid here?

Arghgh

I am not unhappy about going out first thing and pounding the streets, I am not unhappy about getting out of breath and red in the face - I'm not even unhappy about being overtaken by geriatrics.
What is making me very unhappy is the blister on my instep - it's back and it's bigger than ever.

How am I going to get round it? I need to let it heal - but that will take weeks and then there's no guarantee it won't come back. I think plan B has to be to use my old shoes which didn't rub at all and hope this gives my foot time to heal and then try the new ones again.

It's weird this being disappointed about not being able to run... It's a new thing for me!

OK

It's fine - I am back pounding the streets at half past sparrow's fart in the morning and it's ok. Some days I guess are better than others.

Small personal advance: I have added a small amount of extra hillage into the run and I'm not taking any longer over it. Feel proud until I remember that I passed no one this morning - everyone and his dog ran past me. But the dog was struggling.

Just peeped into another 1/2 marathon blogger's blog and hit on the phrase, 'it's all about the photo finish'. At last I have a realistic goal - to cross the finish line upright, injury-free and photogenic.

I have my work cut out.