Internal Club Run, External Relentless Rain!

Hello Blog lovers!

Its Sunday morning, I had talked Nagging Sister into doing the club members 10k run today, as well as Hitchy, and she even talked her hubby into running it as well. But like I say, its Sunday morning, 9 am, I could have been in bed for another hour before going to a nice warm church. But it's my club and I do like to support it and join in everything that belonging to a club entails.

9 am, Sunday, and p......... pouring down with rain! It has been now for at least 10 years, ok slight exaggeration, but at least for the past 5 days or so. But I am still keen, and it seems the two ladies are keen, along with Hitchys hubby. So at Willet way we all headed to register, hand in cakes and biscuits, for after the race, see what cakes there to motivate us to get our carcasses around, and then........jog to the start.

The start is about half a mile from where we are, and the group 3 to 7 runners took off like we were all ready starting, and not just for a warm up. Who does a warm up jog anyway? Mark was ready on the whistle, after getting a group photo, probably the only time we all will look fairly human on todays run, because by the time we get to the finish we we all look like drown rats and smelling like wet dog!

Three, two, one, GO! Again, all the faster runners take off, and it's difficult not to run a little faster than usual. When I looked at my Garmin I was actually running at 9:17 m/ml, a little fast for me considering I have 6 miles to jog today. And the relentless rain is going to make it seem like 12 miles.

There are tons and tons of puddles to to jump over, but as we were running up Blackbrook there seemed to be a river forming, coming out of the driveways, flooding the pavement. I was already fed up of hopping and jumping over the puddles, and as for running on the grass verges, well, that was a big fat no! they were all water logged as well! So straight through the middle of them. It's surprising how warm your feet can stay even though they are soaked!

At the turning to go through the park our illustrious Leader, Anne,of group one was ready to tag along to the last of the runners to be the sweeper, after making sure all the front runners headed in the right direction. Here there were even more puddles, and these ones were edge to edge, and deep! And now, for the first of the demoralising bits, we are passing the place where we first started, well almost, but we are heading on over the bridge.

I shall be walking up and down, no way am I jogging up these slippery stairs!  And another chance to catch my breath. Now our finish point is just not that far from here, but we still have to run for another 4 miles! We head on up the hill, passing the road that has the entrance to the park and the finish line (along with tea and cakes) and up and up to the end. Demoralising point no.2!

At the top of this hill we turn right, along the flat until the roundabout and then....... its all downhill, I do love these bits.  Another turn right, on to the the road with the entrance to the park! Demoralising pint no.3!  "Why" I  hear  you ask! Because now on this road we turn right again. Away from the entrance to the park, We still have about another 2 miles to cover before we complete todays run!

This bit is also a hill! Up and UP, around the horseshoe road! Yes, horseshoe, which means that we will be popping out of this road virtually opposite the entrance to the park, to the finish, to the biscuits, and the cakes, and the tea and the awning.......sigh! Still not finished though, instead of tuning left we turn right, away from the entrance, demoralising point 4, and we run to the top of the road and turn left, and back on to the same road that we went down some half hour or so ago, demoralising point not 5!!

Not far now, straight up to the memorial hall, up the last of the hills! I could feel a blister forming on the back of my heel. Is it because my feet are soaked, or is it the silly trainer socks I have on, or just a combination of both! But I chose to ignore it, and deal with it later if it gets any worse.

 And the turn left. Just another short flat road to do now before at last we get back on to the road with the entrance to the park on it! Oh for a lovely cuppa, Just a short jog now, I must remember not to blast this bit as we still have to run around the perimeter of the park to make it an official 10k distance. I, of course, was the last, each marshal that we we past we let them know, so that they could get on up to the tent and some tea.

 Into the park now we can see everybody huddled under the awning, just the park to do, come on Old Girl. "Are you going to do your sprinting thing" says Anne, our illustrious leader "I don't think I have it in me" I said to her as we start the first quarter of the circuit. The ground was sodden, we were splashing and squelching through the grass, mud splattering everywhere, but when we got about half way, something kicked in! I started to pick up speed, I pushed it as hard as I could, I managed to get around to the last quarter and then I flagged. I could hear everyone calling to me, "Come on, come on!" I came to a walking pace again, and then tried to pick up the pace, run, Old girl, run! Oh Done It!!

Stop my Garmin! 1 hour and 12 mins and 34 seconds. I believe a PB for this distance!

I must say a big thank you to the marshals, all have stood outside in the pouring rain directing the runners which way to go. Big big thanks to you all!

Geeky stats from Garmin,

This is me coming in last with our sweeper, just look at the face, that is not a smile!

And again, just at the end, trying not to think about chucking up!

Club Run - And Celebrations!

Hello blog lovers.

I am writing this today a whole 24 hours after the event! It has been a while since my last run, I do believe it was a whole 5 days before. The weather has been dreadful and just not very runner/cyclist friendly at all.

I was looking forward to today's run, I have missed it. I am not sure how I am going to do, but I was also looking forward to after the run as well. We were all meeting up at the pub to congratulate all our spring marathoners, and I was particularly looking forward to seeing the group 1 runner to see how she had done.

I had forgotten my Garmin, so there are no geeky stats for this blog, but also no looking at it and going slow because I had reached a mile into the run! We were running through Jubilee Park, the first time this year, and it feels good! But it was soon back to road work, and on the roads that I know like the back of my hand. I know how long, and how far it is to go before we turn left or right. I know that it sometimes my handicap! Even with the couple of stops to all regroup!

On the route back I was in my usual place, at the back! But after we reached the road to turn right, we had a short break. We continued on from here non stop and I managed to stay with the pack then. Well, it was not far to go to the end and of course there is the celebrations to look forward to.

As we were running up Tudor Way, group 2 came from the other direction and we were neck and neck as we headed for the club house. They wasn't running as fast as I thought they would be, and they only just managed to edge in front of us as we crossed the road to go up the last road. Nagging sister is in this group, and I heard her call out "Good going Old Girl, see you up there" The first one in buys the pints" I shouted out to her, and her reply was, "Well its going to be you anyway, you have the money"   Darn it, so I have!

But the 'sprinting me' took over as soon as we touched foot on to Crossways. Group 2 members did too, and a couple more of group 1 seemed to be sprinting up the last bit, its the inner club friendly rivalry that is spurring us all on.

I was about 5 seconds behind Nagging Sister, so in fact I could use a bit of her geeky stats, i.e. the time as to how long we were running for!

So geeky stats are: distance  about 3.75 miles, time about 43 min (I think, I can't remember now, I do miss my Garmin!)

I would like to share this with you all though, our group 1 runner inspired and filled me with encouragement when I listened to her. She only started running in September, after her daughter entered her for the VLM, and so she thought she better join a club and get into training! She is only a year younger than me! She ran her first ever marathon, in fact her first ever race, 26.2 miles  of it, behind a pacer, doing jog/walk etc, in 5hrs and 18 mins. I was well impressed!  Well done Sue Banks!!

Get Me Out Of It, Please?

Hello blog lovers.

Well today I did promise Nagging Sister that I would go running with her, up Summer Hill and back again.  But after coming back from do some errands I was about to text her and let her know that I wasn't really up to it. My neck and shoulder seem to be aching, and I have bad memories running with a pain similar to that before. The doctor called it an impact injury, and told me to keep up with the paracetamol and ibuprofen. And then there is that stupid weather!! All, dark and threatening.

But NS told me that the sun was shining where she was and that we should miss it.  Anyway the short of it I went, obviously, because I'm writing a blog! But because of the time issued and the impending weather we decided to do a short jog, but still take in Summer Hill.

So after I drove to her house, I parked my car, in her drive, my blue car, that I have had for ages, and then had to move it up a bit so that she could get her car out, because we were driving to the top of her road, (I am telling you this for a little bit more bimbo-ism from NS a bit later in the blog) we drove to the top. We had about a quarter mile warm up jog before we got to the first part of Summer Hill, its the shorter hill down.

It always feels good to be running down and even though I wasn't in any great mood for today's little short run, (you could tell by the look on my face when I arrived at NS's house apparently) I do enjoy down hill running.  But that was all soon done and the longer part of Summer Hill climbed and climbed in front of me!!

Of course I walked some, I am old, and.....well just look at all previous excuses and reasons already used so far, there was no way I can run up hills! But I tried, even if I wasn't going at a snails pace, I was still bobbing up and down in a running like manner!

A quick short rest at the top and we noticed that we had already ran just over the mile. So today's little jog is going to be a two mile hill workout! The nice longer run down, so good!  I was moving NS to the left as we crossed over the road because down here there is a huge kerb stone, but NS wasn't budging.  I had to tell in the end to look as there is a huge step and it would be better if we went up the little hill bit "Oh I didn't notice that" she said. I should have let her run in front to see what would have happened.

Up the shorter bit, and I really tried to b positive and said to NS "It's the shorter hill, its a piece of cake, in fact we could skip up it, right" and with that we both tried to skip up the hill. We did for about 10 seconds!

I was so pleased to get to the top, it was hard work, ok it may have been only a short distance, but its up hill! Just the little bit of flat (well compared to Summer Hill) road to do now, back to the car. The sky was really dark now, and I really thought we would get a soaking before we got to the car! We did it. We attacked Summer hill, we ran just over two miles in the threatening weather.  Just as we got in the car the heavens opened!!

It came down in bucket loads!  Very difficult to see through the windows! my glasses was all steamed up, the car windows were steaming up! Yup! I am glad we didn't do a 4 mile run today, not that I would have had time to!  We drove home, just as we got to NS's house the rain eased off so, again we avoided a soaking to get in her house. But before we got out of her car she said to me (now remember I told you all about my car in great details) she says to me "Who's car is that?" I just looked at her, I didn't know whether she was joking or being serious, but when I told her it was mine, I realised she really meant it!! Bimbo is alive and well and living in her own little world.

Geeky stats.

Club Run!

Hello blog lovers.

Today is club night, and our illustrious leader has returned from her holidays. She has obviously been informed of the distances the 'fill in' leaders have been leading us as she said "Today we are going to be doing 4 miles!"....   I am just glad that the resource that she uses to map her routes is quite generous with the mileage!

Well, let me get all my excuses and reason out of the way for my poor, lazy performance again. First of.....I am an ex couch potato, secondly, its bloomin cold, there was torrential rain earlier and altogether weather was not nice. Thirdly, the Old Boys 'back on the programme' bike ride yesterday was still in my legs, my muscles were aching, from my wrists, my back and my knees! Erm, I'm sure there are other reasons but I might just save those till next time.

Oh, yes, and a huge blond moment from my sis, I must tell you about it. As you regular readers will know, Nagging sister is running in Group 2 while I still bring up the rear of Group 1. I use my Garmin to collect all my geeky stats, Nagging sister uses her IPhone with the endo meter thingy app on it. Stay with me, this is good! Well just as we about to set off in our groups I turn on my watch to connect to the satellites and Nagging sister Realises that she left her phone in her car. "Oh know" she says, how am I going to know how far and fast I went" .........now this is it, this is the truly blond moment, "Send me your geeky stats over when you finished" She said!......... I know, its sad isn't it.

Anyway, after explaining to her that her group leader has a garmin, and it is best to use his geeky stats we set off.  A gentle start, and all the running is towards my home!  It's so hard running past your neighbourhood, and knowing I got to kind of run past it on the return neck of our run today! I was floundering at the back as usual, I know my place! But our first stop, at the top of Oxhawth we found out that we have two of our group runners running the The London Marathon this Sunday! Its quite encouraging to know this little fact. Just because she is running in group 1 it didn't stop her from entering the London Marathon!!

We ran down to The Harvesters and our Illustrious Leader said that we are going to do a little loop, but those that didn't want can wait at the roundabout at the Harvesters. Well, there was no stopping to see who was going to be staying here waiting, so I just had to go with the flow, and do the loop like a good PWR should do!

The long road up now and just a we were about to cross over the road to finish our little loop we saw group 2 pop out of the road that we ran down. There were looking good, and soon pulled away from us. Of course Nagging Sister is in this group, so maybe she can use a bit of my geeky stats, no doubt she will think like that!

As we are running up the group was pulling away from me, the aches and pains start to niggle me, first one knee then the other and the my back! And the back pain deffo feels like a muscle thing going on! It's not as if i have pulled anything, and I am certainly not going any faster than usual. In my head I am beating my self up as I watch the group pull further up the road. "I can't understand why I am not up there in the front" I said to our Illustrious Leader. "But you're here, doing it, running it" she says.  I try not to be too hard on my self.

We run along towards Crossways now, Crossways where I always do my little sprint thing. What with the aches and pains I didn't think I could do it, but as soon as I turned that corner my legs just take over! I start 'Running like the wind'. The pain in my back is pushed to the back of my mind. The little aches in the knees almost forgotten, run on the road Old Girl, run on the road, don't stop, keep running.  I heard one of the other ladies saying to one of the others "she always does this sprint thing"  I think my body just gets possessed when I reach this road, and just get pushed and pulled along to the end.

I always feel good running fast, but I look at the sign that directs to the Rec, and that feeling of nausea starts to come, and I keep telling my self to "keep on, just a little bit more, go for it. Don't stop"  Where does that little bit of energy come from, I just don't know! But I am quite proud of my little bit of 'real runner' that finds me at the end of each run I do now. So, all excuses used,  it don't matter, I was pleased that I got out and ran today, and with an average moving pace of 11.22, yup, I'm pleased with that.

So, geeky stats, and no Nagging Sister, they really are no good for you to judge how long and fast you ran for.

Club Run - A Country 3 Miles!

Hello blog lovers.

Today it was my club run. I love running with my club, the social aspect, the cajoling, the camoradarie, and the encouragement to move up to group 2!

As our illustrious leader is still away in South Africa and so we had another group leader to go with today. She thought she would share the love, the leading love, I will explain in a minute, but first off its the 'Call Out'. Its where the group leaders tell us how far we will be going and where and how fast, just in case of those that are ready to move up to the next group and judge and see if thats where the want to be.

Our group 1 leader said that we will be running a 3 mile route of around 11 m/mi and no hills! No one from group one let the leader know that we usually run around 3 and half to 3 and 3 quater miles. I was planning on doing my best, as its a shorter route, so I will just try and keep going.

Now, sharing the love. Our group leader suggested that we all take part in leading, leading at our own pace that we usually do in group 1. So the first volunteer started leading at her pace. She was pretty fast actually, but I was thinking, its only 3 miles, we all can handle it!

Mind you, when I think of it, when the group leader mentioned going up the path behind the school, I should have realised that is about 2 miles away, and then we still have to turn left and head of on the homeward bound, which would be well over another mile! So it looks as if we will be doing our usual 3 and half miles.

When we got to Crofton Road I was expecting to to turn left and head on back to the meeting point, but in fact we turned right and headed on up towards Orpington, with the intent of turning left at Addlington, one of the other routes that we do! Now I know that is going to be well over 3 miles, in fact it will be over 4 miles!

I kept up as best as I could, there was a couple of other ladies with me as well, and even a chap as well! But the other lady that I was running with for the first 2 miles must have found her 'zone' because she was way up in the front of the group, which by now had spread out. We all knew where we were going by the time we reached the Off licence on the corner, which was about a mile from our finish!

I was thinking that I may of pushed it at the beginning and I wont be able to do my sprint, at least that was what I was telling myself. There is no-way now that I can run this bit with out pushing myself. I do it on every run that I do now, just that last few feet, just push it, run hard, its nearly all over and I can rest! So, I sprinted.

A stretch back at the club house, and we all discussed our '3 mile route' which turned out to be 4.55 miles! A 'Country' 3 miles!

A great run today, and I know that all in group 1 enjoyed it, we sometimes need to be pushed a bit, and reminding our leader of her '3 mile route at 11:30 minute miling" she said that she didn't remember saying 3 miles!  Well I hope our usual leaders don't use that as an excuse, or maybe they should......!

Geeky stats.

Wet Wet Wet!

Its a typical bank holiday Monday. Wet, chilly and windy. I have had a pretty lazy Easter Weekend. On Friday, I was totally lazy, ok so Saturday I went for that 18 mile windy bike ride. And on Sunday I was with my family having a fantastic time, with food and beer, and more beer, and just a blooming great time with my family!

So today, I was feeling very lethargic, in fact almost comatose! I really didn't fancy going out. The Old Boy said to me "You don't have to go, I'm only going for a short one anyway" But when he says that my tiny little  brain cell hears it as a challenge.

Upstairs, sort out my running gear, and also sort out my old running shoes! I don't want my Asics out in the mud! We chose our route, just a short one, just to keep us moving, keep our enthusiasm going, and get the motivation back on track. Straight up the middle of the woods from 'Dog Poo' ally, along the top and then down Botony Bay to finish the loop back at 'Dog poo' ally!

Well, that was my plan. When we got to the top of the woods and running along Coopers School, the Old Boy said, "lets run through Pond wood, it been a while since I was in the part of the woods" I was going to avoid Goss Hill, and the path that runs along side the river, where we will need to run. Oh well, we are soaked anyway, we are out, and we are muddy! Whats another half mile going to do!

Well, I'm glad we did. As we got near the pond in this part of the woods a heron took off from the pond. We obviously disturbed its feeding, and it sat up the top of a tree watching us as we looked into the pond. After a good look at the pond we started off again, popping out on Goss Hill.

As we wasn't going through Jubilee park today, we were going to turn left and run along the river. Just as I thought! Its muddy, with puddles. It was a challenge, but strangely fun! We seemed to cover this ground fairly quickly, or is it because I know that we are nearly to the end of today's run!

I am pleased to say that no one slipped or fell and no twisted ankles, well, only slightly from me!

Enjoyable though, and I have very pleased I went out, even the lethargy has left me!

Geeky stats.

Club Run!

Hello Blog lovers!

What a difference a week makes! Last week was still suffering the effects of that nasty cold virus thingy, and today, thankfully its more or less gone! I was looking forward to tonight's run, especially after Sundays 6 miler and yesterdays rest, I thought I would do quite well. And the weather! wow, I was thinking of putting my puts boots into the cupboard for the winter, but maybe that is just a little bit premature now!

So you can imagine my disappointment when the rain started. But I wasn't going to let that deter me from running, and I was quite pleased that Nagging Sister was still keen to get out there too!

I was still going to go into group 1 tonight though, group 2 will be on my agenda soon! Today's group 1 leader, however, is our Kit Man. Our illustrious leader is off on her holidays, running, I think somewhere in South Africa!

"How far doing you usually run, is it 3 to 3 and half or is it near 4 miles" I try and explain that it was the shorter route, but the rest of the group said its more the other way, those darn health freaks. "Oh good" he says "Cos I have that in mind"

We set off and I'm sure I saw our leader decide just then which way to go, now was this the easier way or the harder way. Well, it was the long hill going up, so I am guessing.....hmmmmm easier, get the hills out of the way in the beginning.

I was feeling good, in the front of the group, as per usual unlike last week where I was at the back, and not because I volunteered to be sweeper! My cough was well under control and I was concentrating on my breathing, trying to get that all back to how it should be.

But also on this run, our leader today, being as he has been running since he was an egg, gave us some tips. "Pretend that there is a helium balloon tied on your head, keeping your head up, just run like that between just two two lamp posts and see if you can notice any difference" We all tried it, and memories of running with Naggy Neighbour came flooding back, they normally do when I have to hold my head up, shoulders back, look ahead, BREATHE Oh, the times she nagged me, pushed me, pulled me, threathened me, and generally kept me going. But it does work, it does feel easier, and I should be doing that all the time. Now that the lighter days are going to be here, I shall concentrate on doing that more, (no looking at the floor, because it's getting darker)

I found the hardest bit of the run though, running towards where I live! Knowing that my house is just down the road, the road where I dare not stop running! I could be sitting at home, not in this drizzly rain (which by the way, I am quite enjoying really) but I have got NS's car keys! Oh well, on wards and upwards!

I managed to keep up with every mile, nearly! I was at the back, and only lost a bit towards the end of each mile. But I feel I am getting stronger and better. Maybe I will be flying through group 1 and joining group 2, soon!

Just the last mile to do now, and our Kit Man was giving advice to all of us today, as he is also the clubs physio!, Its good to have a 'tight ass!' and thats your glutes by the way! it helps with the whole running gait (I think that is what its called) to help your legs run in a straight manner, I know mine used to kind of swing round in front, run like a duck, as I called it. I'm not sure if I still run like that now though! And what with the over pronate thingy going on, plus the whole couch potato attitude, it's a wonder I ran at all!

Just the last road now, and you all know me by now, that last sprint up to the rec gates! I just have to do it, it's the only time that I really push my body to the point that it start to think "if this road was any longer I would throw up" Usually I stop when that thought comes into my head, even if its a couple of steps from the sign, but today I just went a tad further and tried to run even faster!

I didnt throw up, thankfully>

Geeky stats.

I Just Had To Do It!

Hello Blog lovers!

Another glorious day today, even if it was a bit chilly to start with, but after I had been to church the sun came out and shone! I just had to do it. I just had to go out on a solo run, just me, myself and I, with my IPhone playing some tunes, (which I must get some more added to it!)

Now, do I go on a long slow run, or do I blast out to dear old Turn around lamppost or something in between? Mmmm

I just had to do it! I had to attempt my 6 mile route! There was no getting away from it. But I did justify it by saying "If you can't manage Old Girl, at least there are so many routes to 'pop' down to cut it short" So with that in mind, ear plugs in ears, and IPhone in boobs! (don't ask) it was off towards Bromley Common! All the while with the thought in mind that there are several road that can take me home for a short route!

I had some weird tunes playing on my IPhone, I must get around to doing a running play list (as soon as I know how to do it!) but they kept me going, and kept me in my own little world, to the point of distraction as I crossed a road and only heard the 'toot' from a car as it went behind me! It's been while since I last ran solo!

I managed to go straight past the left hand turns, and turned right at the top of the road! Heading into Bromley! So far it looks as if I am on route for a 6 miler! But still, there are those other turnings to take me on a shorter route! But I just had to do it! Keep on running Old Girl!

I was determined. I made sure I clocked my watch at 3:50 miles in, just to tell the Old Boy what time I ran it in, ok so its a different route, different terrain, but same distance! Even with hills!..........oh the time was 43.08 mins for the 3.5 mi mark!

That game me a little incentive to go for the 6 miler, even with those other short cuts on my route. And the other little hill to do! Going to to Bickly School though, being overtaken by another runner on the other pavement got me down slightly. A feeling I hate, so I just told my self "Hey Old Girl, look at you, your in last of your forty something years, lost pounds and pounds, nigh on 4 miles jogging, don't beat your self up!" ......Unless that was old Couchie talking again, trying to distract me from my mission today! I just had to do it though! Keep on running

The entrance to Jubilee park was coming up now, and there is still one other short cut that I can do to call it a day. Stuff it I'm out here now, there is no way I'm cutting this short! So through the park I went. And just as I got to the open space of the park Lynard Skynard started in my ears, #So, what do you want to hear?...........Freebird..........I can't hear you..........Freebird# A big beaming smile just spread across my face. I love this song. My first thought was "I wonder how far I will get before the end of this song!" Now this song I have on twice, its from my album, one is about 12 mins long and the other is about 15 mins long.

With the smile on my face I was jogging along, goodness knows what people were thinking as I was running along. Through the park, down the path, where me and the Old Boy normally finish our run together, and on through to Pettswood. The song still playing in my ears, me desperately trying to not sing out loud, like some people do on the buses and tubes! How much further can I get with this song in my ears. "keep on OG, just listen to the music and run" To be truthful, I can't remember if I did do any walking while listening to this song, I probably did, but Lynard Skynard was in my ears, and I didn't care!

Just as I reached Rolleston Avenue the last note faded out! Well that's not bad! Brilliant song.....I should have ran harder mind!.......but still I am quite impressed with that.

Now to push on to the last bit, I was feeling good,....as good as any almost 50 year, ex couch potato, lager loving, wannabe fit person can feel, (especially after running almost 5 miles yesterday!)

I even had just a tad bit let over for a slightly faster pace back up my path to my house!

So geeky stats. I have just checked my stats from last time I done this route and I have knock off about 4 mins so I am pleased with my time.