Last 4 in 4 post

So my first week back running went OK. :)

As you know, Monday's run went well, and I felt no ill effects afterwards. During the week we were still down in Bristol, and my drink fuelled binge celebration of my achievements (!) consisted of having a small cocktail in Frankie and Benny’s and going to see Judge Dredd at the cinema with Mark.

Work colleagues can be a bit like families sometimes, you can't choose them you just have to get on with what you are given. Mark is an anally retentive annoying knobhead (his own frequent description of himself - he's very self aware ;) ) whom I quite frequently want to strangle, but really secretly I am of the opinion that he is one of the most lovely kind people I know. In the context of work, if I turned out to be as clever as him and was as respected as him I would be well pleased, and in the context of friendship he has sat and listened to me in the car, having a whinge and moan about the problems I think I've got (yes - I know I don't have any really). He often provides quite a good balanced male sided point of view and actually good advice. I don't know what I really give back in this friendship (I go running with him I suppose) but I will really miss him when we're not joined at the hip every day.

Wednesday I did an easy run with the club, no problems. People seem to be confused as to why I'm only running 3 miles and slowly! I've just bloomin' run 105 miles in 4 days, and whilst it was easy paced blah blah and I have good powers of recovery, I'm not going to muck up my future running plans (more on that later *mwahahahaha*) by getting over keen too soon after the event. (Gobi is probably laughing here as I have had a whinge about feeling fully recovered and not doing enough miles to make me happy this weekend) I do know what is right and sensible really.

Many years ago long before I was born, my Dad had a motorbike, which he fell off of quite badly. This meant that he had to have a blood transfusion, and since then he has given blood on a regular basis - he is nearly 70 and has given over 100 pints/units/armfuls. When I was 18 I got persuaded to go with him, and I have followed in his footsteps. I'm healthy and fit all the criteria. They helped my Dad, so we help them. I think when I went to the donation centre in Birmingham this Thursday it was donation #47 for me. I got to be a guinea pig for a new style swivelling donation chair which they had only been using for a day, which almost resulted in me being tipped out backwards in a comedy style-ee; I am also participating in a study around donation intervals - I might be going more often. Record quick donation time - I was on and off the chair of doom before people that were already lying down. If only my running was as speedy.

So since I started running I get a little paranoid about weather doing this actually has a knock on effect, hence the fact I tend to engineer my donations so that I do them after a marathon or other important running event. I do notice that for a week or so after I tend to sleep a bit heavier, and fall asleep more easily during the day e.g. in the car if I am a passenger, but I've done some fairly reasonable runs a few days after giving, so I can only conclude that the combination of training / racing that I do and when I donate these days means I don't ever notice a significant impact. I hope it stays this way.

So, future running plans. Friday I went for a little 3 miler and had a bit of a think. I got back and entered the Manchester Marathon in 2013.

Bored Natalie + Lack of running miles + Computer + Credit card = trouble.

Despite the frozen hurricane of 2012, I liked the Manchester course, I loved the support and I live in hope that Morrissey might be there and that I will somehow get to touch him. I look forward to doing it again, and next time hopefully get that 2 mins and a few seconds of a sub 4 monkey off my back. I’m thinking if I train well and consistently I want to not just scrape it but smash it to make sure. I would be happy with a sub 4, but the impossible dream for one day if could manage it would be to get a qualifying time for Boston Marathon. Thankfully now I have gone up an age category this would be a mere 3:40(!). If I got that time I would definitely go out there and do it. I suppose it’s good to have a goal.

This weekend I was up in the Lake District visiting my friend V, her 3 dogs, cat and 4 chickens. Not much running going on, we went to a dog show to try and find a "boyfriend" (stud dog) for one of her girls, and going out to nice places like ice cream farms (one of the parts of her job is dairy inspector so she knows all the best places. This weekend Guernsey cow ice cream oh yeah!).

Nom.

Saturday morning I went to Barrow in Furness Parkrun - a 5K - to see what my legs were like since the Quad. Barrow Parkrun is hilly, and there is usually a strong breeze. It did surprise me by the fact it wasn't raining. I did a warm up, and off we went for 2.5 laps of Barrow Park. I had done just over a mile, when I saw quite far ahead of me, a kid pull up on the grass and start rolling around. This has actually happened to me before, and weirdly the last time was also at Barrow (different kid though). I cannot believe that the 4 or so people between me and this kid didn't even appear to acknowledge let alone help a wailing crying child and carried on past him. So I stopped and asked him if he was ok. "No" (inconsolable crying) "I've bust my knee". Ok so what to do....? I thought the best thing was to just get someone who knew what they were doing, so I told him not to move, he'd be OK and I would be back in a minute to get someone. This involved me running back up the course the wrong way to tell a marshal who came and sorted it out. Obviously this cost me some time.

Do I care? No I don't give a sh!t. It's not the Olympics, it's a council park in Barrow with a view of the nuclear submarine factory. How could you live with yourself if someone flaked out in front of you, you ignored it and then on the next lap someone was there giving them CPR?! I've said before after a friends sprained ankle incident I should get myself on to a little first aid course. It has travelled higher up my list of things I want to do.

The view from the top of Barrow Park

For what it is worth I ran 3.35 miles at Barrow (so an extra 0.25 miles) in 27.35, which on average is about 8.15mm pace, and take off 10 seconds for my "chats" and I'd have been looking at a 25:40-50 ish run without the incidents. Considering the stress I've put on my legs with the Quad I'm pretty happy with that. I want to get down below 7.45 avg for this distance and past 7.30 pace for a 5K (e.g sub 24), I hope it will come with a bit more specific training. I did feel in the last mile I had no uphill power, and it was a slog, but the last 0.35 miles was on a bit of a downhill gradient which I did at 7.00mm pace so there can't have been too much wrong with me right? I did a mile WD and left, feeling slightly depressed, not by the pace I ran but the whole place in general.

Some of the people at my clubs have suggested I should continue this blog, and I think I will do in the hope that it will give some positive encouragement to anyone who can be bothered to read it. I'll probably not write as often because I suppose I just don't have as much to say, but the club has got quite a lot of XC races etc coming up so I may well write about those and anything else I think is interesting.  Look out for a new link because this will be the last one in the "4 marathons in 4 days" one :)