Last day of Run December



Charlie gets in da groove


Well, it's done. There were times there were I wasn't sure I was going to finish it, but my natural stubborness kicked in right when it was required and drove me on through the snow with gritted teeth and a complete lack of self-preservation.

The rest of Team #FitTwits have all completed with smiles on their faces and happy hearts. We are invincible guys!

The final total for the month is 68 miles. Not far, but then Run December for me was never about miles, it was about mindset.

I have spent the past few months, since the marathon with the words "I don't have time. I'll run tomorrow" firmly on my lips. Run December was about shaking that up and doing something drastic, before the marathon training started in earnest.

So has it worked? Not 'arf.

And what have I learnt?

1. You can always fit a run in. You just might have to give it a bit of planning.
2. You can always run. If wind, rain, sun, snow and ice haven't stopped me, nothing else will.
3. I love rest days. And I will appreciate every single last one of them in the next few months.

The celebration of finishing has begun with a pub lunch, a pint of cider and now the breakout of Charlie, my xmas ipod-playing, groovin' monkey friend. And tomorrow I get to have a rest day and cheer the lovely Hughesy on round a New Years Day 10k. Ahhhh rest days.

Take it away Charlie... "I'm livin' for the weeeeekeeeend...."

Run December - Day 31
Distance: 3.54miles
Time: 36.38mins
Weather: Warm and dry, for  change
Surface: Triumphant

Here's a tear in your eye.

Day 30 of Run December

I can't quite believe I'm almost at the end of Run December. I'll probably miss it.The past 2 days have seen me running the exact same route, but maybe not in the same way.

Wednesday is run-down-to-the-park-and-back-again night, so a man in camo can make me do sit ups in a muddy puddle. The run down to the park is (for obvious reasons) a lot quicker than the run back again.

Today was a run to the park again, but this time chasing Hughesy, who is considerably faster than I am. So the challenge tonight was to keep him in sight for the whole route. It seemed to work and he kept me a good 1min 40secs faster than last night. Might have to employ him as my pace setter.

So tomorrow is the last day of Run December. It's going to be another 3miler I think, chasing Hughesy again. Oh yeah, and then I've organised a celebration of finishing the challenge with a night of drinks and fireworks. Working title for the celebration is NYE. Join in if you like.

Run December - Day 29
Distance: 3.06miles
Time: 30.41mins
Weather: Awright
Surface:Looooooooong

Run December - Day 30
Distance: 3.01miles
Time: 29.04mins
Weather: 8C...cor phew, wot a scorcher
Surface: Pedestrian

Here's mud in your eye.

Day 28 of Run December

Hello all. 3 more days to go. Count 'em, 3. 3! 3!!!!

But enough of that, I'd better get a move on, as my Mum is impatient to read this and Upstairs Downstairs is coming on....

The post Christmas Crimbo Limbo period is causing a serious lack of motivation and the lack of a rest day is hitting home. But despite that, today's run was actually good. It was also massively faster than the previous few outings, mainly due to the 2 fruit pastilles I nommed down before heading out. All that has reignited my interest in nutrition and the knowledge that an evening meal of crackers and cheese probably isn't the best way to fuel a run. Ho hum.

So, my new year's resolution is to try to decrease the number of crisp-related dinners and increase the amount of pasta, rice and veggie related ones.

Now, that is a challenge.

Run December - Day 26
Distance: 1.41miles
Time: 18.08mins
Weather: Cooooooold
Surface: Frozen

Run December - Day 27
Distance: 1.03miles
Time: 10.25mins
Weather: Coooooolder
Surface: Frozenier

Run December - Day 28
Distance:  1.07miles
Time:  9.49mins
Weather: 0c... scorchio
Surface: Thawed

Here's (defrosted) mud in your eye.

Day 25 of Run December

Ho ho ho.

"And a jolly christmas to you to young lady!"

At least that's what I think the harrassed looking grumpy sod said as I breezed past today with a "Merry Christmas!" on my lips. In reality his response was more along the lines of "What?!? Bugger off you mental woman."

But despite this slight set back the run today was fun. I headed out from my parents house down to the beach and a deserted sea front. With a smattering of snow falling and the odd (some very odd) santa hat, it was a nice break from the endless eating, drinking and cracker jokes.

So that's day 25 done, and christmas day to boot. I'm off to smugly watch Doctor Who and eat 3 times more calories than I've burnt off in the past year.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Run December - Day 22
Distance: 1.9 miles
Time: 20:29 mins
Weather: All cold and icy
Surface: hilly and pavements

Run December - Day 23
Distance: 1.4 miles
Time: 14.53 mins
Weather: Cooooold
Surface: Icy

Run December - Day 24
Distance: 1.02 miles
Time: 9.39 mins
Weather: Sunny
Surface: snowy

Run December - Day 25
Distance: 2.2 miles
Time: 20.42 mins
Weather: Xmassy
Surface: Snowy

Here's christmas pud in your eye.

Day 15 of Run December

This week was always going to be a challenge for The Challenge, and it has not let me down. We're half way through and my body is starting to rebel. Let me take you through my day (I'll be quick).

If you read yesterday's blog post you'll remember that I was a tad tired. Well I managed to prove just how tired, by sleeping right through 2 alarm clocks and waking up at 8.53am. The odd expletive may have been used. This also meant that I didn't have time to sort out my kit for the run home from work.

The day continued to go downhill by including a missed delivery note from the postie to deal with *sigh* and a manic lunchtime shopping session which I returned from extremely pleased with myself for finding a cracking Secret Santa pressie, only to then realise that I had forgotten to buy any lunch *facepalm*.

So after work I had to:

1. Pick up the package from the Royal Mail Delivery Office
2. Make a pasta salad for 30 people
3. Wrap a load of pressies
4. Pack a bag with more outfits than Cheryl Cole uses in a week for tomorrow's Work/Run/Xmas party extravaganza
5. Do my hour BritMilFit session
6. Squeeze in a run for the challenge

Now, I am not a fool. I knew I couldn't fit all that in before 9pm, so I did the only thing I could do. I cheated.

The pasta salad came from Sainsburys. The pressies have gone into ready made boxes and bags. And I ran to and from the BritMilFit session. Badda bing. I AM INVINCIBLE!

(PS check out the pace of the homeward run after an hour of being beasted with the Advanced group. Think I could have walked it faster)

Run December - Day 15 (to BritMilFit)
Distance: 1.51 miles
Time: 14.46 mins
Weather: Quite nice
Surface: Hard.

Run December - Day 15 (back home)
Distance: 1.52 miles
Time: 15.48 mins
Weather: No change there
Surface: hilly pavement slabs

Here's mud in your eye.

Day 14 of Run December

Yes, yes, I know. I missed another blogging day. Well blog off, I was tired. Dog tired.

Yesterday I went back to the running club for the first time since the snows hit. And boy, did I know about it. I really like being part of the club. They push me much faster and further than I would push myself and you get to chat to that type of 'mature' runner, who never runs fast, but never seems to stop. Last night I ran with one of these runners. He could keep a conversation going no matter what the speed, and when I and another new member were seriously starting to flag, he was endlessly encouraging and never missed a step. I'm starting to feel like I am getting to know a few of the members I'm running regularly with as well, which is always a major plus point. All I need is a couple of pub meets and I'll be well in there!

Of course the downside of the running club is that it gives me such a huge high that I can't sleep for hours. Hence the tiredness. So today I eased off with a strength session at the gym and a quick mile on the dreadmill. Day 14 down, 17 more to go!

Run December - Day 13
Distance: 5.59 miles
Time: 53:44 mins
Weather: Dark, but nice and cool
Surface: Pavementy

Run December - Day 14
Distance: 1.24 miles
Time: 11:29 mins
Weather: Air conditioned
Surface: Plastic

Here's sleep in your eye.

Day 12 of Run December

Go on, admit it. You missed me yesterday didn't you?  Well don't panic, I did my run, I just didn't get time to blog about it.

Yesterday was a hectic kinda day, with a killer supersets (aka pyramids) British Military Fitness session before breakfast, a shopping session and a Fake Christmas Day at my mate's, I just about had time to fit a quick mile in somewhere.

Of course, a full on Christmas meal, plus the odd bottle (or 3) of wine and a late finish, meant today was a veeeery late run. It was meant to be a mile, up the top of the hill and back, but as I topped out I felt good, so decided to keep going and add a few hills in as well. It felt good.

Run December - Day 11
Distance: 1.01miles
Time: 9.27 mins
Weather: Cold
Surface: Tarmac - finally!

Run December - Day 12
Distance: 3.1 miles
Time: 32:25mins
Weather: Not too bad
Surface: Up, down, up, down, up (repeat to fade)

Here's mud in your eye.

Day 10 of Run December

Well the ice and snow is finally on its way out. But a combination of my leg feeling a bit stiff, the oven having a malfunction and my contacts playing up all conspired to make today really difficult for a run. I didn't manage to get out until 9pm, got a stitch almost immediately and only did the minimum in the hope that the leg will be fully recovered for British Military Fitness and a longer run tomorrow. Ho hum, there's always another day to run better.

Run December - Day 10
Distance: 1.14 miles
Time: 11.06 mins
Weather: Warmer
Surface: Melty

Here's mud in your eye.

Day 8 of Run December

I got the run over and done with early today, by running home from work. Badda bing. Job's a good 'un. And why? So I could pile into the car and barrel down to Britsh Military Fitness. That turned out to be bad idea.

Halfway through the warm up my foot found a rut hidden under an inch of icy slush. My foot and knee went one way. My hip went the other way. I felt the muscles in my thigh tighten and knew that it was going to hurt. The muscles tightened further over the rest of the session, until even runnng was difficult.

So I am spending the night with a heat pack and crossed fingers that tomorrow it will just be a dull ache.

Run December - Day 8
Distance: 1.76 miles
Time: 19.29 mins
Weather: Cold and dark
Surface: Icy pavements and little hills

Here's mud in your eye

Day 7 of Run December

Thought of the day - it's a hell of a lot easier to run on ice than it is to walk.

This thought hit me as I was jogging round the city streets tonight, getting a quick mile in after work and before going to dinner with friends. There are a couple of smaller back streets which still have icy pavements and due to the scrum of shoppers in the main streets, that's were I headed. I'd avoid these pavements like the plague normally, but when I'm running, my feet can slip and slide all over the place and I still continue heading forward like a particularly slow-moving missile. I'll be jogging to work until the ice melts*.

It was a nice run tonight and the first one I have taken around the city centre for a year. I headed through the Market Square, past the xmas market and the ice rink. I was even proud of myself for not stopping for a gluhwein en route. All the twinkly lights and xmas trees made the run so much more festive than my usual depressingly dark ring road or bus-packed main streets.

So, quick change in the office toilets and then I'm off to stuff my face at Bistro Pierre. Yummmmmm.

Run December - Day 7
Distance: 1.2 miles
Time: 12:03 mins
Weather: -2C
Surface: Running on the bodies of xmas shoppers who got in my way. Grrr.

Here's mud in your eye.

* If you believe that, you'll also believe that Elvis works in my local chip shop and Michael Jackson was actually a russian spy recruited to collate blackmail material on Liz Taylor. Fact.

Day 6 of Run December

Today the weatherman said it would be a minimum of -8C. Liar, liar, pants of fire. It was at least -72C when I walked home from work (give or take a degree or 5), so the freezing fog and the fact that I had a vouchery thingy from the Council to use the gym and pool free for the next 12 days, meant that I was a namby-pamby and retreated to the sweaty hell of the gym.

It was actually quite weird to be in the gym again after soo long, and I enjoyed a 3k slog on the rower as well as an eye-popping leg press session. I was especially pleased when the gentlemen using the leg-press after me had to lower the weight by 20kg. Bloomin' southerners. Anyway, the mileage is completed for day 6 and I'm feeling good.

Tomorrow I have a lunch and an evening date, so the mileage has to be done post-work and pre-dinner. Which means I'm off to pack a bag for a cold run, a shower and going out. Think I might need a bigger rucksack...

Run December - Day 6
Distance: 3.12 miles
Time: 28:53
Weather: Baby, it's cold outside
Surface: Bouncy

Here's mud in your eye.

Day 3 of Run December

The snow has finally stopped and the sun has finally come out (altogether now... praise the lord, hallaluah). As a result, the hard packed snow has started to melt a bit and refreeze into ice. So for the first time in 2 years, I have retreated into the air conditioned hell of the gym.

I've done the induction, where a nice lady who looked incredibly bored demonstrated random machinery, most of which I'll never use in my life and then let me just get on with it. It's a council gym, so I can PAYG and only use it when the roads are too bad. And I have to admit the gym equipment is rather flash. Ipod compatible, with TV and radio screens on all cardio machines. They even have a games setting, so you can play mah jong while you work out (surely you should be working too hard to do that, right??).

Hopefully I'll be back on the road tomorrow though.

Run December - Day 3

Distance: 3.12 miles
Time: 31:13
Weather: Air conditional hell
Surface: Moving

Here's mud in your eye.
 

Day 1 of Run December

I know. I've been a naughty blogger and been a bit absent on here for a while. But that is alllllll about to change.

My #FitTwit friends have inspired a new challenge - Run December. A group of them, including non-runner Alan Selby, managed to run every day in November and it has inspired a few others of us to attempt the same feat in December. So today was the first day of #RunDecember!

The challenge:
1. Run every day in December (although you are allowed Christmas Day off at a push)
2. Runs have to be at least 1 mile.
3. You do not quit (grrrr, yeah).

Today, after 4 days of snow blizzards, I rustled up the Flatmate and forced her into 3 fleeces and a hat for the run to the Forest Rec Park and the first British Military Fitness session of the month. It was a slow, shuffley run in slush, ice and packed snow. But it was a run. I even kept Fast Eddie (my shiny new garmin) on for the BMF session just to see how far we ran.

Run December - Day 1
Distance: 1.46 miles
Time: 19:10
Weather: Baltic
Surface: SNOOOOOOW!

Here's snow in your eye

Normal people spend Saturday mornings in IKEA

I'm not sure when I realised it. It might have been as I slid down a huge hill into a rowing lake while being soaked by a sadistic fireman, or as I posted myself feet first through a giant inflatable. I'm not really sure. But whenever it was, I suddenly thought "if I was normal I'd be buying a purple coffee table in IKEA right now".

But hell, who wants to be normal, right?!

So instead of spending the morning deciding which size of yellow spatula to buy, I went and covered myself in mud and bruises at the Men's Health Survival of the Fittest race in Nottingham. The race is one of a series of 3 around Britain over successive weekends. The format of each race is the same, but the uniquely sadistic obstacles each race includes are dependent on the topography of the city. So in Nottingham the lovely race organisers use the Holme Pierrepont National Watersports Centre, the muddy riverbanks and the stairs in the Nottingham Forest football ground. In order to cover all these, the race is slightly longer than Cardiff or Edinburgh at 11.5km.


Runners are set off in waves of 250, with coloured wristbands denoting your wave. You pick up your wristband and your race t-shirt the day before and all runners must wear their t-shirts on the day. Colette and I were in Wave 8 and lined up with our dayglo pink wristbands and shiny white t-shirts (WTF?!?! Seriously, white!?!?!) with about 4 other women and 244 testosterone filled, gung-ho guys. As you can see, we were rather nervous, but very clean and shiny.

We set off at 11.45am and immediately hit the Hay Bale Wall. 8ft of hay bales made into a wall. You get the picture. A couple of miles later there was a bit of parkour, involving running along planks (arrrr Jim Lad), jumping off platforms and hoisting each other over walls, then it was off down the Trent to the first of the mud - the Army Assault Course. Huge, slippery, climbing frames, monkey bars and a seriously muddy cargo net. The mud didn't last long though. It was a quick dash past some very confused looking kayakers and senior citizens walking their dogs and then into the rowing lake firstly via a muddy bank and then via a massive hill slide (with the assistance of Nottinghamshire Fire Brigade). A breath-taking (literally) swim across to another muddy riverbank (are you getting the gist of this yet?) found us on our way back home.

Obviously the home route wasn't going to be easy, and I needed Colette half dragging me along for parts of it. Obstacles on the return included the Men’s Health at Work (clambering over safety barriers, another scare-filled climbing frame and a massive slippery slope to head up), the Urban Jungle (running up and over skate halfpipes, shimmying under park benches, through cars and more bike barriers to try to get over), the inflatables (posting yourself through a large red inflatable... weird) and finally up, down, up, down through Nottingham Forest’s Riverside Stand.
By this time, the finish is in sight (behind the infamous 8 foot MH Wall of Fame). With the assistance of about 3 guys pushing my enormous butt I just about managed to scale the damn thing, then helped haul Colette to the top as well. Scariest thing of the whole race? Jumping off the top of that thing onto a crashmat which make my duvet look plush.

10foot later and we were over the line! I'm a Survivor, I'm gonna make it, I will survive, Keep on survivin'. Don't think my t-shirt will be ever be white again though.

Race report - Survival of the Fittest
Time: 1:31:29 (creditable)
Organisation: Can't fault it... but then it is by Rat Race, so its bound to be slick.
Course: Awesome, crazy, sadistic.
Would I do it again? I'm saying no, but you know what I'm like. Expect me to be out for a PB next year.
After effects: 3 showers later I was still a bit pongy. Oh yeah, and even my mum can't get my t-shirt clean.

Here's mud in your eye (and your ear, your toe, your nostril....)

Tweets, Beats and a lack of sweets

Me again!

Errrm Dobby... you remember? ... the idiot doing marathons and burpees and mud and stuff?

Yes! That Dobby!

No, no, I haven't been ignoring you, I've been busy. Or lazy. Honest. What?? What crazy-ass stuff have I been doing now? Well nice of you to ask...

September - Tweets, Beats and a lack of sweets.

You may recall that September was my Month of Half-Marathons (if you were born when I last did a blog post anyway), and what a month it was.

I'll get this out of the way early on, so you can tut and sigh and say 'serves you right' and all that. My training over the summer consisted of one 10k race, one 5k Race for Life with the flatmate and several British Military Fitness classes. That is all. No running. You are now up to speed with why pain is involved so heavily in the following.

It started with the Rodley Run, a lovely (but painful) 13.1 miles meander by the Leeds/Liverpool canal. it's organised by my twitter buddy @nimblerunner and there were only about 100 of us taking part. You can walk it, bike it or run it. The flatmate and Mr Flatmate decided to bike it, while Hughesy and I ran it.

The course starts under a bridge just outside Leeds. And this is where we found Stephen (Nimblerunner), with a clipboard, a worried expression and Suzanne Shaw. I hadn't seen Stephen since the kilomathon and it was lovely to meet up again, even if only for a quick hello. He even introduced me to Suzanne (what a lovely lady).

Mr and Mrs Flatmate headed straight off on the bikes at the start and Hughesy soon left me for dead as he legged it off into the distance closely followed by my 'save me a burger' scream. But being left alone for the run was actually quite nice. The event is so small that everyone chats, and you run with first one person, then another. I even spent the last few miles walk/running with a lovely lady called Jill who was suffering as much as I was. We crossed the line together with big grins on our faces and hearty back slaps for helping each other along.

Race report - Rodley Run:
Time: 2:38 (eeek!)
Organisation: Excellent
Course: lovely, mostly flat (beware 5 Locks!) and not too crowded.
Would I do it again? Oh yes.
After effects: Walking downstairs backwards for 2 days.




Run two was the long-awaited Run to the Beat in London. I was looking forward to not only running this race, but also meeting up with loads of my Twitter buddies who have been so brilliant, encouraging, funny and inspirational over the past year. A few of us were staying in the same hotel the night before and more were meeting up for a pasta party at Canary Wharf as well.

It ended up with 20 of us signing Happy Birthday to @jamesthekat while he blew candles out on the best Pacman cake I have ever seen. Huge respect to @TARDIS900 for his excellent skills with an oven and many packets of jelly tots and I mean it - adopt me Michael.

The next morning we donned special Tweet to the Beat t-shirts designed by the ever-bouncy @raywise and headed off through the tube-cancelling chaos to the O2 Arena. To say it was cold is an understatement (as the photo above will attest to). Most of the crew set off (over 45 mins late) from pen 2, including @nuddypants and @runningfairy trying to run/stalk the luscious #902... God help him if he ever goes to another race with any of us. He'll be bundled into the back of a van and delivered to @runningfairy before he's passed the 3rd mile post.

Hughesy and @jamesthekat legged it past me from pen 3 10mins later. I saw @TARDIS900 disappear in pen 4 soon after. I however, got right royally stuck at the back of pen 5 and crossed the line 39 mins after the gun, freezing cold and with literally 12 people behind me. As a result I did nothing but pass people the whole way round and hardly ever got overtaken. Race tip: it's very good for the ego when you start in the last 20 and finish in the last 1400. Go me.

All the twitterers did wonderfully well with special mention to @raywise for a storming 1:30 (were do you get the energy Mr Bouncy?!?) and @ScotLassRuns who despite recovering from a serious back injury managed the whole race in a cracking 2:16.

Race report - Run to the Beat:
Time: 2:20:51 (PB!)
Organisation: Delayed start, confusing pens and not enough music for a music marathon.
Course: Boring and the race profile is just a plain lie.
Would I do it again? Probably not.
After effects: Exhausted, but very happy.

So there you go, all my September races accounted for.

What's next? Well I've joined a running club and this Saturday I get to nearly kill myself at Men's Health Survival of the Fittest in Nottingham. But more about them when I've got something to tell.

Here's mud in your eye.

Hi Honey, I'm home!

It's been a while since I blogged. This is mainly due to the fact that I managed to get my life back after the months of agonising training and partly due to the fact that I actually haven't been doing anything worth blogging about. I doubt you'd be interested in what I had for lunch (pasta with out-of-date chicken).

But my Year of Crazy has taken another turn and not satisfied with a marathon, I have set myself a few more challenges. So here we go!

September
This is now known as 1/2 Marathon Month. I have 2, Hughesy has 3 (yes I know, but he wouldn't listen).

The first is going to be the Rodley Run. This is organised by one of my twitter buddies @Nimblerunner. He's quite an inspirational chap having lost nearly a Dobster in weight and raised over £25,000 for Cancer Research UK in the process. The Rodley Run is quite a small, friendly event. It hasn't got any marshalls or big inflatable start line. It won't have a grandstand finish either, just a BBQ and hopefully a few of my other twittery buddies eating burgers and downing a few beers. This one is going to be a warm up for the rest of the month...

The next weekend, I'm off to get slightly squiffy at The Wedding of the Year and Hughesy is off to do the Great North Run. Bit sad I can't be there to cheer him on as he's been such a great supporter for my runs, but I shall be thinking of him as I down my 4th champagne and bust a move to the grease megamix.

The weekend after that is the biggie - Run to the Beat in London. There are a whole load of us going as a Tweet to the Beat group, in twittery tshirts and possibly garish pink leggings if @nuddypants has her way. I've challenged myself to do this in under 2 hours. So that's what my training is going to be working up to over the summer.

October/November
A few 10ks planned around Nottingham during these months in prep for the new year and...

January 2011
Run Rampage!!! Yes, the twitter mafia has struck again and I am now part of a 3 woman team ready to compete on a xc, muddy, hilly, off-road vehicle-testing track on Bagshot army barracks. Oh yes, in JANUARY. Lots of hilly, fast runs and lunges required for the training for this one. @Harerunner, you have a lot to answer for girl!

March 2011
Probably do the Beast again. Be rude not to. Oh and the Kilomathon if its happening.

April 2011
The pain has subsided, so the new year will be spent on 20mile training shuffles again for the Brighton Marathon. Hoping for a sub-5hr on this one. We'll see.

So there you go, a full run down of my racing year. Looking forward to 1/2 marathon training where my long runs can actually stay within one city, nevermind one bloomin' county. And hand weights have been purchased to help build up my leg strength for all those hills.

Will keep you posted on the way with anything that is vaguely interesting and feel free to tell me when I ramble on inanely.

Here's mud in your eye.

Hell and back

OK, so Beeston may not strictly be hell, but it feels pretty diabolical by mile 15.

Tonight I did my last long (long) run of 19 miles. It was long, painful and slow, but very very useful. And did I mention long?

A lot of training plans advocate one peak mileage run of 20 miles about 2-3 weeks before the race. Mine advises 2 at weeks 5 and 3 and is one of the reasons I choose it. As a complete novice to marathons I knew I'd have a lot to learn, and needed the extra run to sort out any problems.

So this run involved the testing of new socks (dual layered - essential), new running tights (Nike capris and excellent), new bottle holder (room for sweeties and keys) and new fuel (Tooty Fruities). Although the tights and bottle holder were useful, they were nothing on the Tooty Fruities!!

When you are expecting to be on your feet running for 5 hours, you are going to need fuel. The body uses up the easy-to-convert, glycogen stores in your muscles as energy first. However it is finite and once used up the body turns to its fat reserves. Fat metabolism is not as quick and easy, and when this happens you Hit the 'infamous' Wall. The only way to delay or avoid the wall is to make sure you have more glycogen than you'll use by carbo-loading and taking on carbs during your run. During the run you can use drinks, gels or food to take on carbs.

I have been using Powerade for runs over 90mins for a while. It is tasty, gives me enough energy and electolytes to keep me from passing out and doesn't upset my stomach. But I was going to need something for extra quick energy en route. I'd tried gels (bleurgh), and jelly beans (not too bad) and was willing to try something else. Cue the Tooty Fruities. 2 fruities per 30mins gave my legs that little bit of extra energy needed to stop me running out of muscle power by mile 13.

So it looks as if I have sorted out most of my strategy and kit for the big day. Onwards to the day now. Only a bit of training still to go:

• 5x British Military Fitness sessions
• 3x interval speed sessions
• 2x 4 milers
• 1x 15 miler
• 1x 10 miler
• 1x 8 miler

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

Here's mud (sweat and tears) in your eye.

Challenge 2.5...

Hello blogville.

It's been a while and I haven't really felt like blogging. 'But why??' I hear you cry? Well I have been slogging my way around long runs and knackering tempos feeling like I'm getting nowhere (not very) fast and generally not feeling very good about my running.

So it was with a bit of trepidation that I set off on Sunday for the Derby 10k. The last 10k (and only my 3rd ever race) was a hilly, x-country style race in Wollaton Park, Nottingham. I did it in 58:30 and had to have a little sit down afterwards. The lovely Hughesy had entered me in the Derby 10k with an estimated time of 55mins making me a bit nervous. 3.5 mins off my PB was a challenge which I was not sure I could meet. But he had faith in me, so off we set.

The Derby 10k is rather a bigger event than the cosy Wollaton 10k. Instead of 400 runners, I found myself in the midst of thousands all penned up under their expected finishing time in the shadow of Pride Park, the Derby FC stadium. He had warned me about 'undulations' at 3-5km, but apart from that I had no idea what the route would be like and as the gun went and the strungout line edged towards the line, my nerves rose. Everyone looked like they could run me into the ground before breakfast. But as I headed off into the city centre, I found myself sprinting past professionally kitted out runners, who were walking, panting and sweating it out at 2km. Why the hell were these people ahead of me?!?! What time did they put on their application forms?!?!

The route was actually a pleasant amble around the city centre, taking in the sights, before heading back along stretches of the river. It is not in the slightest bit hilly, but has a couple of little undulations, including a couple of bridges to negotiate. Many seemed to find these difficult, but after 18 months of being beasted up hills by camo-clad British Military Fitness instructors, I managed to take them (literally) in my stride. The start was a bit sparse on spectators, but by halfway, they had crept out of bed to wave and cheer us on. Always nice. I would seriously recommend this race to any newbie runners as their first 10k. It was well organised, easy and fun.

I was attempting to work out my times at each km marker, and not do my previous mistake of setting out too quick and regretting it. I hit 5k at around 29mins, which worried me... a lot. At that rate I would be lucky to beat my PB. However the second 5k was flatter and more strung out, so no fighting my way past pink tutus and bananas. I also felt quite good. True I was puffing like a steamtrain, but nothing compared to many around me.

At 7km I passed the Thunderbirds. After losing the Kilomathon to a banana, this felt good.

By 8km I was utterly convinced I was going to take over an hour, so it was with elation that I entered Prinde Park to a roar of spectators and music and saw the clock at 54' 12". I sprinted to the line. My gun time was 54' 42", but once the time to cross the line was factored in, my chip time was a staggering 53' 42" giving me a chip position of 1525 out of 2993. Well happy. Add to that, I was 84th home out of 380 in my category and I was even well happier.

The lovely Hughesy did a chip time of 48' 13", shaving 6mins off his PB for the race and coming in 181st out of 454 in his category. There was much celebration that night *pop* *fizz* *glug*.

All in all, it raised my flagging spirits hugely and gave me a much need confidence boost - that I wasn't getting slower, I was capable of running well and I wasn't going to be the last finisher on this marathon.

20 miles are beckoning ths weekend. Bring 'em on!

Here's mud in your eye.

What a difference a day (+ or - 504 others) makes

So I'm into week 4 of my training programme and the longer runs are hitting double figures and taking well over an hour now. That is a lot of 'me' time and I am not one of those runners who head into blissful meditation when they run. My brain runs faster than my feet. And it was during my tempo run this week that something occurred to me - I wasn't thinking about the run. Up until now every run had involved some element of how much Jim was hurting, how I wasn't sure I was going to make it, or why I wasn't as fast as that guy in the baggy lycra legging it up the hill in front of me. And that in turn led my thoughts to how difficult I used to find all this just 18 months ago.

It was a dark and stormy night... Well it was raining anyway, as I headed over to the park for my first British Military Fitness class. At that time I was a stone heavier, couldn't do a press up, had never heard of a burpee and couldn't run 100 yards without having a cry and cake. I watched all the mental Duracell Bunnies in the 'elite' green group bounding effortlessly up the hills and decided I wanted to be one of them. So I started trying to run and I found several things very hard -

1. Heating. I never seemed to heat up on runs like other people and ended up running in big jumpers and two set of leggings. I envied these runners in a t-shirt and shorts. But as I have got fitter, my internal thermometer seems to be working much better. I can now run in a thermal top and thin jacket on even the coldest of days and be perfectly warm.

2. Routes. I live at the bottom of a hill. To the east is a red light district. To the west dark, lonely streets. To the north an uninspiring ring road and to the south a rowdy city centre. Finding a route that kept my interest was impossible. But now I can run further, I can get to the interesting parts. Result.

3. Speed. It's difficult to do speed sessions when your 'easy' run is as fast as you can go for 30 paces without turning grey. As the miles notch up, the short speed sessions become possible and feel more credible.

So some of the basics problems I encountered at the start seem to have worked themselves out. And now, I am a very proud owner of green BritMilFit vest myself, although my hill bounding is anything but effortless...

Here's mud in you eye.

You're doing what...?

"You're doing what...?" are words I have heard a lot lately. Along with words like mental, nutter, insane, crazy... You get the picture. It's all because I have decided to embrace life and stop sitting around regretting not doing stuff. So about 14 months ago I made a decision which has pretty much changed my life and I joined another group of nutters trying to get fit. Since then I have got back into running, made a few new friends, discovered I can do a press up and spent many hours in the shower trying to de-mud myself.

My family thinks I'm insane and I'll grow out of it. I think it's a bit late for that. But one of the best quotes I have ever heard (please let me know if you know who it's by) is "Do something every day which scares you".

What have you done today?

Here's mud in your eye.