Returning to London the second time was less nerve-racking than last year. Weather predictions in the week prior to the race had been for a sunny day, worryingly up to 22 degrees C. Thankfully, race morning was overcast, as we met the rest of the Asthma UK running team just inside Greenwich park for a team photo.
After this, I left PeakSteve at the entrance to the red start and did what I had done the year before - found a nice tree and sat under it for a bit. As I was perusing my course notes, a few spots of rain started to fall; unpeturbed, I continued reading, only for an absolute deluge to commence a few minutes later. At this point in time, I had to think about handing my bag in; so I had to make the decision as to whether I would hand my waterproof jacket in, or keep it with me. I was getting drenched, and I hate getting wet whilst running. I kept hold of the jacket.
I was very thankful for that, as it was actually a bit chilly whilst waiting for the start, hanging about in the pens; people around me were covered in goose bumps and a few looked really rather cold. Once we'd got going, I started to warm up (and it had stopped raining completely by the time we'd started) and took off my jacket at mile 2.
Once again, the atmosphere and support were amazing; in no time at all, it seemed, I was crossing Tower Bridge - and overtaking Richard Branson, would you believe! Soon after, I reached the Mudchute Runners' World support point at Mile 17, and immediately after that, the crazy AUK supporter team at mile 18.
The last few miles were once again more challenging, but I found the whole thing a lot easier than last year, and I can honestly say I enjoyed the day and the challenge. I only walked approx 0.3 miles out of the whole 26.2; which I am very proud of, compared to last year where I probably ran/walked from about mile 16.
My finish time was 4:50:58, nearly 22mins under my previous year's time.
Every single one of the officials involved, from the Expo to the finish line and beyond, were unfailingly cheerful, enthusiastic and helpful. What a wonderful bunch!
Tuesday 27 April 2010
Sunday 4 April 2010
Medal #23: The Non-AUK 10K
This year, unfortunately, Asthma UK couldn't afford to run their annual 10K at Dorney Lake - so we upped sticks a whole 24 hours to the Sparks F3 5 & 10K at the same venue.
Having run a half marathon the Sunday before, and having done my last marathon-training long run of 20miles on the Wednesday, I wasn't necessarily holding out great hopes for this 10K run, but I was really pleased to knock nearly half a minute off my 10K PB to come in at 53:44. Predictably, the race was really windy due to the exposure vista at Dorney, but other than that the weather held out nicely.
Organisation-wise, this race was a definite Could Do Better. The car parking marshall was little more than a human bollard, not providing any direction; the race marshalls all seemed to have sore hands and a lack of voice box; and the goody bag was disappointing to say the least, considering the £20 entry fee. The medal was nice, though, and the race director who did the pre-race briefing was energetic and enthusiastic enough to make up for his marshalls' inertia!
Having run a half marathon the Sunday before, and having done my last marathon-training long run of 20miles on the Wednesday, I wasn't necessarily holding out great hopes for this 10K run, but I was really pleased to knock nearly half a minute off my 10K PB to come in at 53:44. Predictably, the race was really windy due to the exposure vista at Dorney, but other than that the weather held out nicely.
Organisation-wise, this race was a definite Could Do Better. The car parking marshall was little more than a human bollard, not providing any direction; the race marshalls all seemed to have sore hands and a lack of voice box; and the goody bag was disappointing to say the least, considering the £20 entry fee. The medal was nice, though, and the race director who did the pre-race briefing was energetic and enthusiastic enough to make up for his marshalls' inertia!
Sunday 28 March 2010
Medal #22: The Forest of Dean Half
In some sort of divine blessing, the weather for the FoD half this year was marvellous again. Unfortunately, it hadn't been in the previous week - so there was a fair bit of mud around!
The FoD half has evidently been becoming more popular due to its great reputation, but I think this year it had slightly exceeded its organisational capacity. There was a woeful lack of toilets at the start considering the number of runners, and once the course left the main driveway and deviated onto the forest trail, it became hopelessly congested. Mind you, it wasn't helped by some runners who appeared slightly surprised at the appearance of mud, who actually stopped and walked around it. This, predictably, created chaos amongst a congested field, with people almost tripping over each other in the resultant bunching up.
There was a fairly sharp long descent within the first couple of miles, which meant the rest of the course was almost relentlessly uphill. There were a few downhill runs, don't get me wrong, but certainly after that first descent we had around 6 miles of gradual uphill. Around mile 12, heading up towards the finish, there was approx a mile of shoes-sucking muddy uphill - great fun, but gruelling at this stage of the run!
Despite the challenging nature of the course, I managed at PB in 2h 9mins, which I was really pleased with. As long as the organisation improves, I would certainly do this again as it's a lovely forest run, albeit a challenging one.
The FoD half has evidently been becoming more popular due to its great reputation, but I think this year it had slightly exceeded its organisational capacity. There was a woeful lack of toilets at the start considering the number of runners, and once the course left the main driveway and deviated onto the forest trail, it became hopelessly congested. Mind you, it wasn't helped by some runners who appeared slightly surprised at the appearance of mud, who actually stopped and walked around it. This, predictably, created chaos amongst a congested field, with people almost tripping over each other in the resultant bunching up.
There was a fairly sharp long descent within the first couple of miles, which meant the rest of the course was almost relentlessly uphill. There were a few downhill runs, don't get me wrong, but certainly after that first descent we had around 6 miles of gradual uphill. Around mile 12, heading up towards the finish, there was approx a mile of shoes-sucking muddy uphill - great fun, but gruelling at this stage of the run!
Despite the challenging nature of the course, I managed at PB in 2h 9mins, which I was really pleased with. As long as the organisation improves, I would certainly do this again as it's a lovely forest run, albeit a challenging one.
Sunday 7 March 2010
Running Down My Batteries
Right, so finally a blog-like update!
Training has been going OK-ish - did some snowy runs, which were great for core stability. However the cold, unpredictable weather we've had through February thoroughly threw me off track, and, combined with a break in the Lake District, resulted in me losing my running mo-jo for a little while. But we're back on track now, combined with my mate setting up a circuits class in Solihull which is great for cross-training and all-round strength.
14 miles today (actually it was 14.2) on top of 5.8 yesterday with the running group. So 20.5 for the weekend, which really does give me a good psychological boost. I had a flare in my ITB a couple of weeks ago after I pushed myself up the Hagley Mile, but, after some icing and finding a new stretch for it *crosses fingers* it's been fine and hasn't bothered me today. Stupidly, after it bleeped a low-battery warning at me yesterday, I forgot to put my Garmin on charge. I realised this five minutes before I went out this morning - so quickly stuck it on charge, not expecting it to last the run. My MP3 player, though, was showing two bars of battery, so I thought it should be fine.
Of course, in a delicious stroke of irony, my MP3 player gave up the ghost within 25 minutes and my Garmin lasted until I was back home. You do the math, as our American friends say.
Now I really need to get going on my fundraising. In a perhaps the most bizzare fundraising story, I earned my first £20 by helping to push an old lady's car from off a rock in the Lake District. I've set up my new fundraising page - www.virginmoneygiving.com/drcathsmarathonwheeze. So tell all your friends, and let's get that money rolling in! Cheers :)
Well, I had a nice long nap (about two hours of it) this afternoon, because I was knackered after the long run. But I'm still pretty tired, so I think an early night may be in store - but after House, of course.
Training has been going OK-ish - did some snowy runs, which were great for core stability. However the cold, unpredictable weather we've had through February thoroughly threw me off track, and, combined with a break in the Lake District, resulted in me losing my running mo-jo for a little while. But we're back on track now, combined with my mate setting up a circuits class in Solihull which is great for cross-training and all-round strength.
14 miles today (actually it was 14.2) on top of 5.8 yesterday with the running group. So 20.5 for the weekend, which really does give me a good psychological boost. I had a flare in my ITB a couple of weeks ago after I pushed myself up the Hagley Mile, but, after some icing and finding a new stretch for it *crosses fingers* it's been fine and hasn't bothered me today. Stupidly, after it bleeped a low-battery warning at me yesterday, I forgot to put my Garmin on charge. I realised this five minutes before I went out this morning - so quickly stuck it on charge, not expecting it to last the run. My MP3 player, though, was showing two bars of battery, so I thought it should be fine.
Of course, in a delicious stroke of irony, my MP3 player gave up the ghost within 25 minutes and my Garmin lasted until I was back home. You do the math, as our American friends say.
Now I really need to get going on my fundraising. In a perhaps the most bizzare fundraising story, I earned my first £20 by helping to push an old lady's car from off a rock in the Lake District. I've set up my new fundraising page - www.virginmoneygiving.com/drcathsmarathonwheeze. So tell all your friends, and let's get that money rolling in! Cheers :)
Well, I had a nice long nap (about two hours of it) this afternoon, because I was knackered after the long run. But I'm still pretty tired, so I think an early night may be in store - but after House, of course.
Sunday 24 January 2010
Medal #21: The Telford 10K.
The Telford 10K should have taken place in December. Unfortunately, it iced up and snowed over, so it was postponed. Then it iced up and snowed over again, so it was postponed again. It finally took place on January 24th, so in some kind of weird anachrony, I have a medal from the Telford 10K 2009 which was actually run in 2010....
The Telford 10K is a great little run, mainly completely flat; it is a sort of 2-lap course, with one little hill at the start which is short and sharp, and with a corresponding short, sharp downhill soon after. It's PB-tastic; I wasn't exactly in race condition, so I didn't really make the most of it, but still managed a reasonable time despite having had to miss the Cov and Kenilworth halves due to that grotty chest bug which I blogged about after the Brum Uni 10K.
I would definitely recommend this one for PB potential, and it was nicely organised too.
The Telford 10K is a great little run, mainly completely flat; it is a sort of 2-lap course, with one little hill at the start which is short and sharp, and with a corresponding short, sharp downhill soon after. It's PB-tastic; I wasn't exactly in race condition, so I didn't really make the most of it, but still managed a reasonable time despite having had to miss the Cov and Kenilworth halves due to that grotty chest bug which I blogged about after the Brum Uni 10K.
I would definitely recommend this one for PB potential, and it was nicely organised too.
Monday 23 November 2009
Losing My Religion
This is not a post to spark religious debate. So please, if you're reading it, don't try to start one. Thanks. Sorry if this sounds stompy, it's just I have seen how these things tend to degenerate, and I don't want people falling out on my blog :-)
I don't really believe in God. I believe in Jesus, yes, he existed, he was a great bloke, did many impressive and wonderful things. I also believe in the spirit of love and goodwill that Christianity embues. I just don't really believe in some being floating above in the ether somewhere.
My sort-of-religion is my asthma control.
It's something I've really had to work on over the last few years. It's taken me a long time to really get to know my asthma; to learn how to work with it, rather than against it; when I can battle on regardless and when I really do have to take notice rather than just judiciously ignoring it. Something I have taken very great care over is an almost religious routine of taking my meds every morning and every evening, and making sure I'm taking them in the optimum fashion to maximise the benefits I can gain from them. So yes, I still look like I'm about 12, because I use a large-volume spacer with my MDIs; this is because large-volume spacers ensure the greatest possible drug delivery to the lungs. If I'm going to take time to take my inhalers, I may as well get the greatest returns from them.
People sometimes tell me that they can forget to take their preventative inhalers & tablets. I don't. I can't. If I don't take my routine meds then I start feeling rotton pretty quickly. And that really gets on my wick, big time. Waking up in the night, feeling tight, just ruins your sleep (and I do love my sleep). Coughing your way through morning surgery isn't much fun. And not being able to run really does get me narked.
So I've been pretty narked the last few weeks. I had a slight sniffle when I ran the Brum half, which pretty quickly developed into a rip-roaring flu-type illness; I bimbled around the Uni of Brum 5K because I really wanted to, but there was absolutely no chance of me going faster than the 29min I managed alongside Vixx, and I felt rough for days. Truth be told, I really shouldn't have done that race. Common sense prevailed and I pulled out of the Cov half, because I was really rather concerned there may have been an episode of Completely Inadequate Ventilation.
Since then, I have been a) recovering and b) studiously avoiding going for a run, whilst c)simultaneously being frustrated about not going for a run. Studiously avoiding, because I knew the first run back would be hard work, with a battle against the Truculant Twins being on the cards. But I knew it was a step that I needed to take - running really does help with my asthma control, and I need to get that edge back. So I had to face the psychological hurdle head on; it's a bit like having to tear a plaster off a wound. You know it's going to sting like hell, but it's got to be done.
It's difficult to describe the sensation of the internal battle whilst you're running with asthma. The result certainly makes you feel like someone's been pummelling you lightly in the lower-to-middle-rib area. All I know is that, with some hefty encouragement from Vixx early on Saturday morning, I managed around 5 miles of running (the last mile walk-running) at a pace I've not seen on my watch since about a year ago, and a level of breathlessness I'd nearly forgotten. I'm not quite sure what's gone so wrong - I had longer off running during the summer, and didn't feel quite so grotty on my return as this weekend.
In a similar way to any religion, it's most difficult to keep the faith when times get rough; it's just hanging in there and waiting for things to get better that's the challenge. I've got to keep going; I've already committed to AUK to run the marathon again for them next year. I've also got a half marathon coming up in just under four weeks; this is what's really worrying me at the moment, based on Saturday's "performance". Psychologically I've got to put that behind me and move forwards; the only way I'll do that, though, is by going for another run. And that's a separate challenge of its very own.
I don't really believe in God. I believe in Jesus, yes, he existed, he was a great bloke, did many impressive and wonderful things. I also believe in the spirit of love and goodwill that Christianity embues. I just don't really believe in some being floating above in the ether somewhere.
My sort-of-religion is my asthma control.
It's something I've really had to work on over the last few years. It's taken me a long time to really get to know my asthma; to learn how to work with it, rather than against it; when I can battle on regardless and when I really do have to take notice rather than just judiciously ignoring it. Something I have taken very great care over is an almost religious routine of taking my meds every morning and every evening, and making sure I'm taking them in the optimum fashion to maximise the benefits I can gain from them. So yes, I still look like I'm about 12, because I use a large-volume spacer with my MDIs; this is because large-volume spacers ensure the greatest possible drug delivery to the lungs. If I'm going to take time to take my inhalers, I may as well get the greatest returns from them.
People sometimes tell me that they can forget to take their preventative inhalers & tablets. I don't. I can't. If I don't take my routine meds then I start feeling rotton pretty quickly. And that really gets on my wick, big time. Waking up in the night, feeling tight, just ruins your sleep (and I do love my sleep). Coughing your way through morning surgery isn't much fun. And not being able to run really does get me narked.
So I've been pretty narked the last few weeks. I had a slight sniffle when I ran the Brum half, which pretty quickly developed into a rip-roaring flu-type illness; I bimbled around the Uni of Brum 5K because I really wanted to, but there was absolutely no chance of me going faster than the 29min I managed alongside Vixx, and I felt rough for days. Truth be told, I really shouldn't have done that race. Common sense prevailed and I pulled out of the Cov half, because I was really rather concerned there may have been an episode of Completely Inadequate Ventilation.
Since then, I have been a) recovering and b) studiously avoiding going for a run, whilst c)simultaneously being frustrated about not going for a run. Studiously avoiding, because I knew the first run back would be hard work, with a battle against the Truculant Twins being on the cards. But I knew it was a step that I needed to take - running really does help with my asthma control, and I need to get that edge back. So I had to face the psychological hurdle head on; it's a bit like having to tear a plaster off a wound. You know it's going to sting like hell, but it's got to be done.
It's difficult to describe the sensation of the internal battle whilst you're running with asthma. The result certainly makes you feel like someone's been pummelling you lightly in the lower-to-middle-rib area. All I know is that, with some hefty encouragement from Vixx early on Saturday morning, I managed around 5 miles of running (the last mile walk-running) at a pace I've not seen on my watch since about a year ago, and a level of breathlessness I'd nearly forgotten. I'm not quite sure what's gone so wrong - I had longer off running during the summer, and didn't feel quite so grotty on my return as this weekend.
In a similar way to any religion, it's most difficult to keep the faith when times get rough; it's just hanging in there and waiting for things to get better that's the challenge. I've got to keep going; I've already committed to AUK to run the marathon again for them next year. I've also got a half marathon coming up in just under four weeks; this is what's really worrying me at the moment, based on Saturday's "performance". Psychologically I've got to put that behind me and move forwards; the only way I'll do that, though, is by going for another run. And that's a separate challenge of its very own.
Sunday 18 October 2009
Medal #20 - The University of Birmingham 5K, 18th October 2009
A nice little trundle around the Uni campus, wreathed in nostalgia for me, as this was where I went to uni. And it was at a very civilised hour of day too, an uncommon finding for races - it started at 11:30. Nice.
Having been suffering with a rather stinking cold over the last week, I decided that an all-out race was definitely not going to be on. Vixx wanted to get sub-30, so I stuck with her and we got round in 29:18. Lovely weather and a nice pleasant course, nothing too "up", nothing too "down".
One to do again next year, I feel.
Having been suffering with a rather stinking cold over the last week, I decided that an all-out race was definitely not going to be on. Vixx wanted to get sub-30, so I stuck with her and we got round in 29:18. Lovely weather and a nice pleasant course, nothing too "up", nothing too "down".
One to do again next year, I feel.
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