The Final week......

Last Sunday run done, Lisa decided to 'pass' on the Pennine 10k and join Sophie and I for my final 90 minute run, Sophie's first run since Paris and despite her suffering with a post marathon cold we had a lovely run, the sun was shining and we chatted most of the way round, 8 miles later, job done!

It's hard to believe that 5 months have passed since I was given the opportunity of running the London Marathon after previously being rejected in the ballot, failing to get a club place in the Eccleshill ballot, being drawn out as a reserve and then beyond my wildest dreams being offered a place from Hazel after she made the decision not to take part. It still seems like a dream and any minute I'm going to wake up!

I'm now at the stage when every time I think how close it is my stomach lurches. I know what lies ahead but I am unable to reason with myself why I feel as nervous as I do. I can't imagine how I'm going to feel come the end of the week if I feel like this now.

My final week has been somewhat marred by the death of my dear Aunty and although she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer we did not expect her to go so suddenly, which makes her passing all the more difficult to come to terms with. I was relieved to learn today though that I will have returned from the capital in time to attend her funeral on Monday. I will carry my memories of her around the course with me......

Tonight..... as the rest of the club members completed a speed and hills session I opted to run with a new member Debbie, we completed a 3 mile lap around Eccleshill accompanied by Gill after which they both agreed they would do another mile so I bid them farewell and set off to repeat the lap again to reach the 50 minutes suggested by my training schedule. I am so looking forward to depositing that piece of paper in the recycle bin! I may even do that after my very last run on Wednesday!

One training session to go and then it will be time to get packing!

The standard has been set

Well the standard has been set! Of the group of us opting to do spring marathons Sophie finished hers in a fantastic 4 hours 35 minutes. The photos told the story before I even saw her to get it first hand. She looked tired but very happy still clad in her marathon poncho, her finishers medal proudly displayed and then further photos of her enjoying a glass of post run wine made it appear she hadn't even run, she was glowing! Messages next day told a different story as she said she was hobbling and the stairs were a nightmare, but that she was thrilled!

Week 2 of my taper nearly over and I have astonishingly felt quite guilty, it's been difficult to reason with myself that I don't need to run as much as I have been doing. Monday (rest day) was taken care of as I was invited out for a meal with an ex employer from way back, Tuesday should have been 50 minutes easy but as I was unable to fit it in and so I left it until Wednesday and went to club, a nice easy 7 miles with Dawn and Alison took us down onto the canal and back to club via Calverley, Greengates, Thackley and Idle. Thursday's session with Mick was a fartlek session around Peel Park followed by a massage back at the cricket club -bliss! A student had approached various clubs for work experience and so we were offered the chance to help her out, and excellent it was too. I'm considering booking in for a sports massage in the week before my marathon. It's becoming reality now that our distance training course is coming to an end and our final session for feedback etc scheduled for next week signals the onset of the final few days before the big day......

I'll finish this week with a club run tomorrow, volunteering at the Bradford Parkrun on Saturday and I've opted to stay with my training plan and do a 90 minute run on Sunday with Sophie instead of racing the Pennine 10k and this brings me to the start of my final week of tapering.

The next victim for the 26.2 mile distance is Mick himself who's taking on the Lochaber Marathon, Fort William in Scotland on Sunday so it's good luck to him!

The Lone Ranger

The first Sunday of the taper when 'long run day' has turned into 2 hour day! I have been feeling apprehensive of this day all week since agreeing to 'go it alone', Sophie of course is in Paris doing the deed, Sharon ran 20 miles yesterday and Lisa & Jo were planning 22 miles today. I figured I could have joined either of them but both carried a possibility of being a contributor to my misdemeanour last week, running on Saturday as opposed to Sunday having not quite recovered from the Thursday session and joining those not wanting the same length or duration of run - yes I'm still harping on about it, sorry, but it's going to be a long drawn out process as it's etched in my mind. So I made the brave decision to stand alone just like the Lone Ranger! Some of you will know I really am not a fan of lone running, have I said that before? I couldn't even bring myself to plan my route, the best I could come up with is 'I'll run for two hours then you come and pick me up' - to my husband! Thankfully he agreed.

I set off from my house - I can't remember the last time I ran up my street - and headed for Apperley Bridge, I made the wise decision to set off fairly early despite wanting to watch the Paris Marathon on TV. It was brilliant sunshine but at 8.50 it was breezy too, perfect. Continuing Past Rawdon Meadows it felt odd not to be going into the car park, I carried on up the hill and through Woodlands, at the top of Knott Lane I did a right towards Rawdon, onto Guiseley, yes you've guessed it, through Menston and down to Otley, with 35 minutes still to spare I decided to take a right upon reaching the river, on towards Pool, or so I thought, hmmm slightly lost and running round the houses I finally found the right road as I spied Otley RUFC and then on past Stephen Smith's Garden centre, what a lovely tranquil area to run, I'm definitely coming back I thought as I ambled along, it was now quite warm, whoa the watch hit 2 hours. I would be kidding myself if I said I hadn't thought about what mileage I would do although it shouldn't have mattered I thought I might touch 12 miles, examining the watch it was 11.55 so not too bad and lo and behold I had actually enjoyed it. So whilst I still wouldn't choose to run alone, the next time I might not be so nervous as I set off.

My thoughts are for Sophie now, I'm on edge waiting to hear how she got on, although I still have faith she will be downing the wine and cheese as I type, I'm looking forward to the all important text.......oooh la la!

Two weeks to go..........

Inaugural Parkrun

I felt this occasion deserved a short blog of it's own. Today I rose early to get down to Lister Park with Marc to lend a hand in the first ever Bradford Parkrun. Heading for the bandstand to meet the other willing volunteers, the sun was shining on the beautiful park. I knew everything was going to go well. While we walked the course discussing where marshals were needed , Linda was already busy putting up directional arrows around trees and anything else conspicuous enough to point the runners in the right direction!

Cue the runners - they began turning up - everyone was chatting excitedly. After observing Tom from Leeds Parkrun demonstrate the barcode reader and timer/counter I decided that I would like to carry out a duty which provided least opportunity to 'muck it up' - marshaling it was then. Off I went to my prescribed position, by the flower beds at the front of Cartwright Hall, I waited eagerly to catch a glimpse of the first runner, I didn't have to wait too long before the leader of the pack, Mick Hogan from ERR came into view, and in the lead he stayed finishing first in 20:23. It wasn't about times today more about getting the logistics sorted but I couldn't help feeling a sense of pride that Marc came third. I'd like to see if I can get a marshal position nearer the start/finish next week as I kind of missed the excitement.

We are now looking forward to the first official run next week, and I'm looking forward to getting to grips with a run round Lister Park once I return from that there London having bagged a marathon the week after that!

Marc and I proceeded to walk to Peel Park for football training - all in the name of cross training I suppose!

Local Celebrities!

After my disastrous encounter on Saturday I resigned myself to resting until Wednesday when I intended to attend club as usual after a Parkrun meeting in Lister Park arranged to give the organisers of the new Bradford arm of the free timed 5k runs on a Saturday morning an insight into the general rules for staging such an event. I myself have volunteered my services and when not needed I intend to run. BUT the meeting didn't get started when it should have and, therefore, ran over. Before I knew it I had missed the 7 pm deadline by half an hour. I thought about going for a run on my own as I had my kit on underneath my clothes but the call of nature prevailed and I found myself having to go straight home in a hurry! Once there, it began to draw in and as I'm not the greatest fan of lone running it didn't take long for me to make the decision to get into my PJ's and watch the football on TV as the boys of the household had gone off earlier in the evening to a concert in Leeds - home alone - bliss!

Oh and Sophie & I are now local celebrities thanks to the Telegraph & Argus who printed a piece highlighting our respective Paris and London marathon efforts in the running log section of the paper in Wednesday's edition.

So, with Thursday's distance training now qualifying as my 'comeback' I have to say I was a little apprehensive at the thought of taking part in our 5k time trial, Mick ran through what we were going to do once we had weighed in - I've lost 2.5k since we were weighed back in week 1 - no doubt some of it is due to my illness at the weekend. Mick talked us through race 'procedures' based on his own experiences, timely arrival, warming up, dealing with nerves etc. He really does have a wealth of experience to pass on and it seems to be much more meaningful coming from the person than reading a multitude of manuals! So pep talk done, warm up done, we moved on down to Gain Lane for the time trial. I felt great on the way out but once more suffered with my breathing on the way back, a great shame as the legs had plenty left. Nevertheless I took 30 seconds off my first time which I suppose under the circumstances I should be pleased with but I'm not. I am considering a visit to the doc's just to check all is well and I haven't picked up a chest infection or anything. Maybe I'll wait and see how I get on over the weekend.

A meeting at club is forcing me to miss my Friday run so maybe I'll recce the Parkrun course after we finish 'test driving' the event on Sat and my training plan tells me I need two hours on Sunday, fingers crossed all will go to plan..... Just two weeks on Sunday to go now.

Many thanks to the latest generous people to sponsor my marathon efforts, Claire, Mark, Angela & Chelsey, Rowan, Sue & Ged, Mrs O'Shea, Liz & Chris, but there's always room for more if you visit my justgiving page

My 3 hour Pants run!

I am feeling really low today after yesterday's pants run. Yes I did have pants on but that's not the reason it was pants, that is a word I have adopted from Lisa after yesterday setting off down to Apperley Bridge to complete a 30 minute run up through Woodlands before returning to meet the girls, Lisa, Jo, Sophie & Sarah for a 2 hr 30 min run along the canal towards Leeds. Sophie on the other hand was joining us to complete only 90 minutes ahead of her last week of training before Paris next Sunday, she was positively buzzing and looked stunning as she had turned out in her shorts in the sunshine having just had her hair done - the excitement was contagious!

So 4 miles done I felt relatively good and ready for the off safe in the knowledge that this was the very last long run on my training plan, I was hoping to cover at least 18 miles in total. However, it cant have been more than 3 miles along the canal and I really started to feel fatigued. I ran through the options in my head, go back now, go back with Sophie? Hmm I figured I would 'come round' if I carried on. Sophie departed and then there were 4. It was very humid, one minute really sunny, the next overcast, it felt like a storm was brewing, we all agreed that the combination of the humidity, the route and anything else we could add to that of our own, and I certainly had plenty, was making this run unpleasant, I, on the other hand felt way beyond unpleasant, I have never before felt this bad on any run, my stomach was cramping, I started to feel sick, I just had nothing in the tank. Getting back to Rodley nature reserve and having a sense of how much further I had to go I did my utmost to tell myself 'head up, shoulders back, relax', which usually works, but not today.

I was ever grateful to the girls as they ran back occasionally to try and spur me on but I knew their efforts were in vain and nothing was going to help me, I just needed to get this over with. Despondent and feeling really sorry for myself, the girls did their utmost to comfort me when I finally dragged my sorry self back into the car park at Apperley Bridge unable even to feel glad that I had finished it. I did take on board their advice though that this is my first bad run, and I can run the marathon, put it behind me and look forward to my three weeks of tapering. After sleeping most of yesterday evening, unable to even eat except for a mere morsel I still don't feel much better today, so again on Jo's advice I am going to rest until Wednesday, try and analyse where I went wrong and hope that gets me back on the right track.

Meanwhile, I am wishing 'Bonne Chance' to Sophie who will be setting out on her journey on Friday and returning a few days later with the fantastic achievement of completing the Paris Marathon! Go Sophie!

Taper in sight number 24610

I went to club as usual on Monday - I began to suffer with my breathing (more than usual!) upon attempting to run up Stott Terrace, we had decided to run up the three different levels as a pyramid 1, 2, 3 without stopping. On the third pyramid I had to 'give in' and cut off early. I really felt tired.

I welcomed the rest day on Tuesday and felt much better at Wednesday's Woodhall club run - 8 miles. I don't think I had appreciated it on Monday as the weather was so bad but tonight it was a pleasant change to run most of the route in the light.

This week's distance training was an interval session at Esholt. Just what the doctor ordered. We did our usual warm up then a jog and then we did the St Bede's time trial route for the interval. Mick's instruction was to do it at a pace where we could just speak (not hold a conversation) and not to race it. I was first to set off as our starts were staggered, I was really pleased to get onto the filter beds and back and up to the top of Station Road and half way down Hollings Hill before the first person over took me! Talking to Lisa she had suffered with her breathing too since Muddy Bottoms so I guess it did take it out of us and I feel relieved that I have recovered and hopefully suffered no ills.

I have now received a VLM magazine which has everything I need to know in it, I have begun to read it and now know that with my number 24610 I am starting at the Blue start. The more I read, the more the excitement is building....

Tonight is a 5.5 mile steady club run and tomorrow I have my very last long run - 3 hours - so I'm starting on my own and meeting the girls 30 to 45 minutes later to finish off, I intend to relax with the family on Easter Sunday and eat my well earned chocolate! I can then begin my three week taper on Monday............