Morning After The Night Before

Hello Blog lovers

Yesterday was parkrun day, of course I was there, why wouldn't I be.  So I had a busy day on Friday, with a very busy Friday night celebrating Auntie Eve's birthday!  The gathering for Evies birthday should have started at 3 but me and Kirsty got there at 4 pm, at the pub that is.  Of course I only had coke for the first three hours, just in case Kirsty wanted to be driven home by me early.  But from about 7:30 the party started for me!  It was a good party!  Come Saturday morning I really wasn't feeling it!  "Self inflicted headaches does not warrant staying in bed" is what I told myself, so I duly got up and got ready for parkrun.

I collected Tracy and Ade, Naggyneighbour was making her own way there as she had to do something to her car.  All my other pals were there, J.J., LittleJ, Carole and Michale, K, Auriol and PinkladyJo.  My run was a 'just get around without 'chucking chunks' run, but again I was just going to not try and keep up with anyone nor was I going to wait for anyone,

We all took off and found our own pace, spreading out through the field, Naggy Carole and Michael were all in front while the others were behind me, how long that long that will last I didn't know! I heard Ade catch up to me and we started running together, to be honest, he did keep me running longer that I would have done if I was by myself but then he fell behind.  I thought about waiting for him, instead I just kept to my plan and just kept running along.  I did eventually have a walk and Ade caught up with me again, he seemed to have found his running mojo, or maybe his mojo found him, he started to take the lead and just got further away from me.  I knew it wouldn't have been too long before he started to get in front of me, just 3 parkruns and he has found his feet.

So there I was by myself again, I was going slower for the second lap.  It was quite warm yesterday morning, but I made sure that I drank some water before I left the house!  There was so much encouragement from all of my friends and running club buddies I almost felt like a celebrity! "Go on Old Girl, keep going"  And then there was Michael, "Go on Old Girl, get them legs up"  I've taught him well, the student has become the master!  But evey time someone called out to me I smiled, and then I tried that little bit harder to keep going.

Then I heard, "Hello Old Girl"  it was J.J. and LittleJ and Auriol, that had caught me up!  I ran the rest of the way with them, cheered on by Helen, she told me that she had decided to be sensible and not finish parkrun today, she had a little niggle and thought it best to sit this one out and just cheer instead! She chose a perfect place to cheer from too, at the Hook Farm end of the park, well away from all the finishers, but still with three quarters of the park to run around, exactly the spot that you really need cheering on!

So the three of us all came in together, of course I had to do that little sprint to the finish, I think I probably took off a bit too soon, because that sprint seemed to go on for ever!  I head Naggy, Carole and Michael cheering me on, and I just stayed focused on that orange funnel!  There, I did it, hangover and all!

But that wasn't the only thing I did on Saturday! Just check out my cycling blog! Ride London(ish)

Geeky stats

In, Out, Left, Right? Which Way Zippy?

Hello blog lovers.

Just the one exercise to write about today.  I was leaving Kirsty early, so I wanted to make sure I spent longer with her  in the morning. I was feeling a bit down, and didn't know how to pick myself up.  It's good that I have have Kirsty to take care off, as we do have a giggle together. I had planned on taking my bike to the rec today, on the way collect Tracy as well, obviously I wasn't going to give her a 'backie', she was going to be riding her bike, but the weather was against us again!  I am not sure, but Tracy just didn't seem convincing when she said "Oh what at shame, I was just so looking forward to cycling there"

Anyway, we got there in time for the two lap warm up jog around the rec, I did the first one and the second one I did in the opposite direction to everyone else, as I wanted to finish at the same time as everyone else, which means that I would be doing just a tad less than two laps.

ZippySherry was in the lead seat today, with speedy1 and speedy2, her two girls!  My goodness they are speedy too.  The littlest one, doing the warm up lap, was half way around the rec and I hadn't even completed a quarter of a lap!  No sense of pacing!

After the warm ups it was the drills, just the usual, skipping, sidesteps, drum majors, sidestepping and butt kicks.  Then it was on to the fun and games.  A bit of calf stretching I think we were practising as it involved an awful lot of jumping.  I think I had got hold of the rules of the game.  ZippySherry had us all holding hands for this!  Most peculiar, there we were, all holding hands in a circle, Zippy does have a way of bringing out the child in all of us.  So the game was, when she called out 'In!' we had to jump into the circle shouting out 'in' as well, when she called 'out' we had to jump out again calling 'out' as we jumped, and left and right of course.  Sounds easy, don't it.  Well that was, then she changed the rules.  We had to listen to what she said, 'Out', but we had to jump 'in' while calling 'Out' and when we jumped left we had to jump right but call out left!  So not only was we working our calv'es we were also working out our grey matter!  Well, maybe not for me, because I always get my left and right wrong, so therefore in theory I was doing things right! Right?  It was a fun game though, and then there was an even more complicated version, involving tagging someone, it was all good fun I think, my brain hurts!

After that it was time for bacon!  I know, that's exactly what I was thinking 'yummy, bacon!' But the bacon in question was a baton!  We were paired up with people of the same speed, more or less, then placed opposite each other.  The bacon (baton) was placed in middle of the 'gaming area'.  Two lines of runners, team A and team B, then we were given numbers, 1 to 5.  When ZippySherry called out "1" both team A and B numbers 1's ran for the bacon and had to get back to their spot without getting tagged by the opposing number 1.  Confusing, well, we all did eventually get it!  At first, when Zippy Sherry called out mine and Tracy's number (she was my opposite by the way) I tried the 'war scream' approach to the 'bacon'.  I did get the bacon and I started back to my starting position, but I got tagged, so the point when to the 'B' team.  The next time my number was called out I tried a different approach, I let her get to the bacon first, and then tagged her before she got back! Another fun game, and one that we have not done before.

As we were in teams already, we had a relay racing,  running from the patio to the cricket thingy!  That was good fun too.  I really tried to run really well, not too fast, I've seen too many of my pals pull up with injuries!  But just enough to get the heart pumping and the legs moving faster!

So, core training section.  It was two reps of Star Jumps, Lunges, planks and Squats, all thirty seconds long.  Zippy was kind to us with only the one discipline on the wet grass, and if we were doing that right it will only be our arms that get wet!

Back to some more running, after all we are a running club, and so ZS put us into two teams, different teams this time, the fast runners and the faster runners!  We in the fast team had the shorter route around the cricket thingy, hugging the rope as tight as possible, while the faster runners were on the outside about 2 meters further from the rope.  We had to run against the other team, one at a time, around the square, as soon as we got to the third corner we had to raise our hand to send our next member running.  First team back after doing 3 laps each was the winner!  The faster runners just beat us, but it was pretty close!

Just a nice little cool down lap of the rec and stretches finished off a fun, brain hurting, calf stretching, speed encouraging session!

Club Run - Back to Normal

Hello blog lovers.

After almost a month a 7:30 starts due to mob matches, awards evenings etc, we are back to our normal start time of 8:00 pm.  I was also looking forward to going through the woods too.  I can't believe that we have lost a couple of weeks of not going through our woods due to rain, but today we just had to do it.  The daylight hours are already going down, it seems totally wrong to me that we are already losing daylight hours when the kids have only just started their summer holidays! I am just going to have to make the most of it.

I wasn't sure how many people were going to turn up today, as I just mentioned it is the school holidays, people go away.  So after I had told them about my route and all the other leaders had told them about their route we made our way to our post.  There were 18 of us!  A great number, we have been down on our numbers lately, but I am sure the weather has been a huge factor in that.  J.J. was back, LittleJ was back, in fact the whole gang was here.  Carole and Michael have decided to go up to the next group.  Well, Michael is a leader in group 2 and he can run in group 3, but he is supporting Carole in group 2 today.

I wanted to do a bigger route with the group 1's, go from one side of the woods right over to Goss Hill side of the woods.  I knew that it was going to be a challenge, but I know that we can do it, if we all just give a little extra. I know we can! We ran in through Dog Poo ally and then just stopped just at the map.  "Ok all!" I said "Make sure you all memorise the map in case we get lost"  Just a little bit of humour for the new guy!  Yup, we had a newbie running with us.  He found us on the 'tinternet, and came along for the first time this evening.  He is a good runner, I think maybe he will be group 2 or three.  But I am sure he will suss out exactly where he will be comfortable running.  That's what I love about our club, we have so many groups to accommodate runners from 13:00+ mi/m runners to to the 7 mi/m runners.  In fact we have decided that we need a new group too.  A group 1.5 because group 1 has started to become a group of 2 halves!  We just need a little step from group 1 to group 2 to help them on their way up to speedom!

So the first hill is the more gentle of todays hills,  it is the longest of course, but as its such a nice gentle incline I am sure everyone will do fine, it will hardly be noticed!  We ran up there and then we waited for the sweepers to come along.  i noticed that the light was fading real quick.  I really can't believe that that our days are getting shorter.  I don't want to even think about that!

Once we were all together we ran along the side of the woods, pass the woodmans place and then along the top of the woods.  Slowing down at each crosspaths so that we don't lose anyone on the way. We were making good time, I was thinking that maybe we could all make it along Goss hill before running back to the railway lines.  We ran along the top of the woods, pass the school, and then on to Botany Bay Lane.  I had sent the faster runners along the path first while I waited for the rest of our group to catch up.

When we all were at Botany Bay Lane I had decided to give Goss hill a miss, I thought that maybe it will be just too dark by the time we have to go through the last bit of the woods.  But J.J. and LittleJ said that it was fine!  I should split the group into two, I take the faster ones down Goss hill, J.j. and LittleJ take the rest and we can meet at the little bridge.  So that's what we did!  Everyone had the best of both worlds then.

We met up again at the bridge.  We just had the last bit of the woods to do.  We only had about another half mile to do, so I kept the same two groups, faster ones and the slower ones to finish off and then to meet back at the rec for a head count, and hopefully I will have a count of 18 still!

Well we all got back to the rec, and we had a count up, the first wave there were 12 and then there was the other 6 making all 18 of us back safe and sound!

A great run!  I totally enjoyed it. I think everyone else did too!  Here's our geeky stats, oh and I forgot to turn it off when we got to the rec, we had done our warm down stretches before I had realised!  But I do know that the faster half of the group had done 3.45 miles!

Late News!

Hello blog lovers.

I have been a bit late posting my last couple of blogs.  So here they are!  I hope I can remember what I was doing, and how I felt!

Ball and Beans 

 So the first is about Thursday evening.  We had Illustrious Leader being our tough but fair leader in the speed and core training session.  I was a tad late, I very nearly just collapsed on my chair and took root that night.  I was a long day!  But the Old Boy said, "Go on, go and run!"  I knew I just had to get out and do it! It was just too easy to sit down and watch mind numbing telly.

I had text Tracy to see if she was coming along but she was away for a couple of days!  I had forgotten.  No one to pick up, it really was so easy to sit down, But still I got ready, and went out, not to the car but to the shed. To help me warm up I got my bike out, I was going to ride there!  Feck knows how I had time to do that and to get to the rec for the beginning of the first two laps of the rec, but I did.  There were not as many people as there usually is, but then summer is here (honest, it is, the schools are off and everything!) so holidays have take a few of our usual Thursday rec'ers. After locking my bike up I managed to do a lap and a half with the rest of them and then it was straight into the drills.

Then next exercise was really a team effort.  Illustrious Leader  had put us into two teams.  The fast runners, and then the really fast runners! I was in the fast runners!.......What?.......What?...... Anyway, the two teams were handed a ball, a foot ball.  We were going to be running around the cricket square thingy all in a line, with the slowest runner at the front (me in our case) and then while we were running we had to pass the ball back to each member, then pass it forward again and then back again  and the pass forward again, all before the other team got back to the start.

We had a team talk while the faster runners had their team talk, then Illustrious leader blew her whistle and we were off.  Our team started to pass the ball back immediately, the other team, who by the way were on the outside lane of the cricket thingy so had further to run, kept hold of the ball!  I couldn't quite figure out what their game plan was!   But it soon became clear when we both got back to the starting position and they quickly sent their ball back and then forward and then back and then forward again!  Well, their plan didn't work, because we still won.  We had to do that again, this time the faster team had tried another plan, but guess what,  we still beat them! That concludes the 'Ball part of our session!.

After that it was a pyramid speed racing.  Again two teams were chosen, by Illustrious leader.  A mixture of fast runners and really fast runners into two teams.  I.L. had laid out two rows of four cones in a row.  Each member of the team had to run to the first one, run back and the next runner had to run to the first cone until all runners had done it.  Then it was to the second, to the third, fourth and then back to the third, second and first.  It's what we have done before, but to help with our running posture I.L had bought along bean bags, which we were to place on our heads and get to the first cone only, as quick as we can before passing the bean bag to our team mates!  That was fun!  And it really did make you think about our posture!  And so that concludes the Bean part of our session!

After that we had our core exercises, some star jumps, lunges, push-ups, bicycles and squats.  That was my Thursday evening. I didn't manage to get out on Thursday morning, so I really tried hard to push myself on the Thursday evening.  I am glad I went.  My mood picked up immensely after that, and I was really glad that I went to the rec and not just vegged in front of the telly.

parkrun!

As usual I was out on Friday night!  Just the usual 3 pints of lager, but then followed by pizza when we got home, probably not the ideal preparation for Saturday morning parkrun!  But it is what I usually do.  But still, it was no.1 reason for just staying put in my bed.  No.2 reason, you just had to look outside the window to know that that was!  It was raining, not my favourite thing to do on a Saturday morning.  I got dressed regardless!  I texted NaggyNeighbour to see if she was coming but her little boy was sleeping soundly and there was no way she was waking him up, no.3 reason for staying put.  I texted Tracy to see if her and Ade needed picking up!  They had come back really late from the time away they were not 'feeling it' for parkrun, no.4 reason!  I really had to drag my ass out of the house.

My mind was not really into parkrun mode, but I knew that I would feel better. The nagging voices in my mind, the still quiet voices telling me to just 'do it' is what got me out on Saturday.   Endorphins work!  Even just a few minutes, but the fitness levels stay, and hopefully get better each time!  

I had no one to run with, I was helping no-one, I planned on helping no-one!  I just wanted to run.  So after meeting up with all my buddies, J.J. was back to running, LittleJ had come back from her holidays and Carole and Michael were there because they just love it!  PinkladyJo had joined us too.  Everyone will be running together with someone but I was just going to do my thing.  See how I could do it!

The usual chat before the start was done and then we were off  "See you at the end" said J.J. and the rest.  Some will be there first, some will be there after I get in.  I settled into a pace and just stayed focused, I didn't want to run off with the fast runners, but I was going to go just a bit faster than the other girls behind me.  Then PinkLadyJo joined me!  She normally runs with K and Tracy but she was on a mission I think.  We were chatting for the whole of the first mile, but then she just kept on going while I started to flag a bit!  I tried to catch up with her but by then I had lost the momentum.  I was really annoyed with myself.  

I started to beat myself up for the rest of the next two miles.  I kept catching up to a couple of girls, there were my 'targets'.  I caught up with them and then over took them, then I had a bit of a walk and then they took over me!  For the two miles left of the route that was how it was.  But again, when I had left it too long to be able to catch up to them again I beat myself up!  I knew that I wouldn't be able to beat them to the funnel this time!  I took a look at my watch.  Now it is all against me and time.  If I try hard enough, for the last half mile or so, I could at least beat my PB for this year.  So I tried to stay focused, I just kept on running, trying to pick up the pace.  I looked behind me, towards Hook farm car park and I could see J.J. and LittleJ, they were waving to me!  I waved back and then just put my head down, metaphorically of course, because our heads should be up, always when running, and kept on running.

I was so pleased to be able to see the finish funnel and I just started running as best as I could.  People who had finished were calling out saying, 'nearly there, keep going'  I could see the orange of the funnel, I stayed on the pavement for as long as I could.  A runner overtook me about 10 feet from the finish funnel, he had taken the grassy approach, I tried to catch him up but I am not as fast running on the grass as the pavement!  He beat me by about 5 seconds!

The now familiar feeling of nausea was coming over me, as I walked through the funnel to collect my finish token.  I had to concentrate real hard on not throwing up, try to get my breathing under control again and just wait for the feel good little magic stuff to do it's thing! 

I did, it.  Two days of not really feeling it, but I managed to drag myself out.  I felt good, I felt really pleased that I had got out and did exercises, I usually do. No, let me correct that, I always feel better after exercises.  It's when I don't do exercises that I feel yucky!  I really need to try a lot harder!

Geeky stats for parkrun, which by the way wasn't the faster for the year, second fastest though!

Mob Club Run!

Hello blog lovers

Our captains
Steve and Emily

Yesterday was our annual mob match with the Orpies!  Just for your information........ WE WON! I am just a little bit proud of our club right now! And more importantly, every group was well represented from our club!  Group 1 through to group 11, and we all made a difference!  That is what mob match means! There were 174 PWR's and 85 Orpies and 26 BVAC who joined as guests.  Which means that 85 members of our club were in with the scoring, and all of the Orpies runners were in the scoring.  How it works is the first person back gets 1 point, the second get 2 points, the third 3 points, etc etc.  The team with the least amount of points win!  I know, it's strange, but it works!  All our 85 of our fastest runners were of course in the 'scoring zone' and the whole of the Orpies were in the scoring zone, which of course means all their slower runners collecting more points! Confused yet, well I was for years!  But I think I now get it!  We over ran our friendly rivals, with a huge sea of black and white vests, and we retain the cup!

So to the run itself.

All 285 of us squeezed on to the start line in the middle of the path at Jubilee park, the marshals were all set all over the place, the registration team were either running or doing other marshaling duties, DiscoRich had taken over the mic from Illustrious leader who was our tail runner.  And the count down began, 3, 2, 1, GO!  The front runners flew from the start the rest of us funnelled through on the path and the the race began!  I was running next to Claudia and another lady, "Oh good, you're here, you can pace us!" said Claudia.  I don't think she realises just how well her running has come on!  "I think you will be in front of me" I said, and she just gave a little laugh!  I don't think she believed me!  Tracy and Kay were behind, me, and the rest of the group 1's and 2's were scattered through the pack.

It's only us, at the back of the pack!

The weather had been threatening to rain, I felt just a couple of 'spits't of rain but thankfully that was all there was, I can't think of anything worse than turning up to the Bickley Manor, after a warm 5k run and wet through from the rain! (of course there is always celebratory drinks after a mob match!)  I was running along with Selena, one of my group 1 members,  her running is coming along just brilliantly, by the way. it is also her first mob match.  She just didn't know what to expect and was a little apprehensive.  But we ran along together, chatting, we were doing quite well actually.  There were people passing us, but not that many as we were at the back anyway!

The first mile was done, through some lovely paths through Jubilee park, I do like this route.  The first of the front runners came passed us, Roger Vilardel, a PWR followed by the second front runner, and Orpie, Matthew Steere.  I couldn't quite believe it, we hadn't even finished our first lap, (there were two laps of the park) and there they were, almost at the end of their run!  Talk about speedsters. We had the first two ladies back too, in 26th postion was Rachel Bently and Hannah Robertson was 36th postion!

All I thought about is that ass soon as we pass the finish funnel at least we won't be in the way of the finishers!  We got to the finish funnel with cheers and whoops and we passed it by, of course, because we still had one more lap to do.  Me and Selena were still together chatting away, pacing each other.  I kept her going when she was flagging and she kept me going when I was flagging!

But there did came a point I though, right, I need to do this, I need to see if I can run by myself in a race situation, and not 'use' the excuse of  'I shall run with you, if you want".  I know I have been hiding behind that for quite some time.  Maybe by running mojo is getting strong again, because some where along that second lap Selena fell behind.  I kept going.  I so wanted to go back and encourage her to keep on going, but I really wanted to see if I could do this to!  So I kept on running!

I managed to catch up to three people, I think they were ORR because on of then had already completed and was just running along with the other two ladies to keep them going!  I was kind of 'slip streaming' at their heels.  I was feeling pretty good and was doing some good running, but then I did flag a bit and fell behind, I was once again running by myself, being cheered on my our fabulous marshals of course.  Without them it just wouldn't be the same!

Just little ol' me!

Just the last couple of corners, I could hear the crowd at the finish!  I just fixed my mind to just run, no walking, just run.  The last path, the path where we started seemed to stretch out before me.  I could hear my name being called out, the music from the speaker that we had set up and I just looked straight ahead to the finish funnel.  There were people milling about, people cheering and Kev on the floor with his camera!  No jumping this time, I want to power on in to the finish line and I just went for it, with what I had left.  I still think I could have pushed myself a bit more, but I didn't fancy puking in front of everyone!

Look at that concentration!
Running for the funnel

Mob match done!  I felt proud of myself, I stopped my Garmin and noticed that I had finished quicker than my parkrun on Saturday!  I can live with that!  After that it was all down to the Manor for celebratory drinks and the presentation of the cup!

Our mens and ladies captains with the trophy!

As I said before, it really is a run for all our groups, and just as before, look at this brill picture, taken by Kev, group 11 runner (our mens captain) with me and Tracy, group 1 runners, we all won this trophy together as a fantastic club!

Not to forget the fantastic social afterwards, standing side by side with our friendly rivals

Here's my geeky stats for the run,

Parkrun

Hello blog lovers

This morning my alarm went off way to early!  It was the Old Boys work alarm!  I turned it off and tried to get back to sleep.  I don't think I was 'feeling it' this morning!  But I got up, it's a good job I say that I am picking up Tracy otherwise I could quite easily have stayed in bed!

I got myself ready and went over for NaggyNeighbour and then we went to go pick up Tracy, Ade was also joining us today, and he deffo wasn't feeling it! He said he didn't go to sleep until 4 this morning!  A good run is just what is needed then to kick start the day!  I said that to myself as much as to Ade! At Normans park we parked up and walked over to the top end of the park to the start.  There was also a cycling event taking place this morning, that would be starting at around 10:15 I think Matt (Run Director for today) said.  So it was quite busy in the park.

We waited at the top of the park and then everyone else met up there, Carole and Michael, Dave, Kay, Mat!  And an awful lot of blue shirts!  It's the Zero to Hero's graduation day today!  A new influx of runners into this crazy sport, keep fit malarkey!  After all the preliminaries had been done the count down started, 3, 2, 1 go!  We all started running, Naggy and Carole were running together, Naggy was going to pace her to help Carole get a new shiny PB.  She didn't think she could, but by the way that Carole has been running, she has deffo not reached her peak yet!

I just started to run by myself, Tracy and Kay would be running along together.  Then Ade came up and said that he would run with me again.  Oh good, I have someone to nag......encourage to get round. We started chatting as we were running, it's good to help take your mind off the actual running! And I guess going to bed at 4 in the morning is going to take a lot of effort!  Ade  really was struggling but I just kept at him to keep going! We were still gaining on some people though so I overtook a them expecting Ade to be next to me.  I carried on running, and checked behind me....no Ade!  I even looked up in front of me to see if he had over taken a few extra people. But no!  He was even further back than I thought, and he was looking for Tracy and Kay.  I don't think so Ade, "Come on, get back here with me" I said to him. We carried on a bit more, just around the other side of the little brook. A quick stop type stop was needed for him to do his shoe lace up but then we were back to running.

This week though, Ade was really finding it hard to get to the first mile, again he was just a bit behind me so I got him back to my side to get to that first mile.  My legs were feeling quite tired, but I knew if we just keep on running this will soon be all done, that rush of endorphins will come and a big smile on my face will be guaranteed!  We got to the first mile and Ade took a little walking break but only for a short while.  The faster runners started to pass us by as we ran along the long straight!  Their run nearly over, we still had to do one more lap!

The second lap was a bit slower, but I tried to keep Ade going, he wanted me to go on without him, but you know me!  That wasn't going to happen, well, not yet, not while we still had the whole of the lap to do!  Once we got to the Long Straight again we ran together, Ade again said "Go on, you go I'll see you at the end"  Well I did have a place in mind where I would take off by myself if Ade had said that, but we were still only half way along the Long Straight, so I stayed by him until I got to the top end of the park "Ok, I'm going from here, see you at the end" I said to him and I just picked up the pace.  Ade had only one way to go, there really wasn't and room for him not to finish now so I felt confident that he will finish todays parkrun.

I picked up the pace a bit more and crossed the top of the park and started on down the short straights. I dare not walk now, Ade could see if I did or not, after the nagging I gave him I just had to keep on going.  I could see the pavilion and now started to get a bit faster, then I heard the gang, Naggy, Carole and Michael "Come on Old Girl, you can do it"  Naggy started to run next to me, and you know what that means! "Come on a bit more, you can give more" I started to push a bit fast, I caught up with the blue shirts of the Hero's group, the people that me and Ade had passed earlier but then they over took us "Oh look a race" they said, I expect the encouragement from Naggy is all they could hear!  I managed to get past them and got into the funnel.  Then that familiar feeling came over me, the feeling that maybe I shouldn't have pushed so hard!  Nausea!  But at least it wasn't as bad as that first time I really felt nauseous, heaving and farting!  So lady like!

I just stood bent over for a few seconds to recover!  It was a good run!  I enjoyed it! I enjoy the finish, and the beginning, it's the middle bit that I struggle with!

Here's the geeky stats.

Thursday Core Session!

Hello blog lovers.

I have only been to the rec today, I didn't manage to get out running this morning as I was having to wait for repair men to come along!  And guess what time he turned up? One o'clock in the afternoon!  I had plenty of time to go for a run, get back, get showered get everything done that I usually do in the mornings!  I do hate that 'You time slot is 09:00 to 12:00'  because you know they never turn up when you really need them to!

So the evening is the only exercise for today.  I got back home and just sat down for a what I thought was a few minutes and then I looked at the time, I needed to be out!  I quickly got ready and was out of the door again on my way to pick up Tracy, she was waiting outside her house.  I could tell she was clock watching!  We got to the rec and I pulled into the car park, just as they were all finishing the first warm up lap.  Michael was pointing to his watch!

I was still not quite ready to run, I still had my hair down, my run pants were still undo and my booband wasn't comfortable!  I am giving this boobuddy ad thorough testing!  I have even forgone my fav sports bra to test it on one of my old ones that I should have thrown away, because I never use it.  But I must have known that one day they might come in handy for testing such things as this!

Anyway, back to it.  I was finally prepared for the session and DiscoRich was in Leader Mode today.  There was no rest for the wicked here!  We started on the drills.  Butt kicks, side steps, knee highs, all the way to the line of cones with jog back to the beginning each time.  No resting, no 'let me show you how to do it' it was, bish, bash, bosh!  Then it was our fist speed session.  DiscoRich split us up into 3 groups of 4.  We were going to do relays, between the four of us we will be running twelve lots of 60 meters!

We did ok!  I even think the team I was in came first on the second rep!  My boobuddy was beginning to annoy me though!  It actually annoyed me when I first put it on with this old bra, this 'Upper Decker, Knocker Checker' black boobuddy was not being very 'buddy' like!  I kept it on, giving it the full testing experience.

After our speedy 60's we had a drink and then straight into the core strengthening.  We did, mountain climbers or stair master as DiscoRich called it, and then there was planks, spotty dogs, push ups, burpees!  I tell you we did it!  The burpees were the last ones that we did, I think DiscoRich let us of a few when he took one look at us, all struggling, making the most unusual noises every time we did one! "Ok, that's enough" he said "Look at you all"  Well, we were not polished, and looking like those fitness videos that's for sure!  It was after that bit of my exercise session today that I found my 'Upper Decker, Knocker Checker' was no longer checking the knocks but heading down, and became a middle decker, flabby checker' instead as it was trying to contain my waist line!  Hmmm, I don't think this BooBuddy is the thing for me!  Back to my fav sports bras for me, Shock Absorber, I am sorry!

After that it was a usual Farlek or relays again for 15 minutes!  Some cool down stretches and that was it! Done!  A great session as always. I must try harder next time!

I did put my Garmin on, just to keep an eye on my heart rate.  it's at the bottom, although I some how switch it back on for the journey home in my car!  Oops!

Special Blog - Me

Hello blog lovers!

I have come up with this brilliant idea of trying to inspire and encourage our beginners and hopefully any others who read my ramblings,  to keep on running and to never give up.  There are a lot of people that start our beginners course, some do just a couple of weeks, others even finish the course but don't continue running. Sometimes life just gets in the way, sometimes its just that silly ol' mojo that takes a walk and disappears from your life!  And sometimes people just can't find the love of running!  I know that I am hugely inspired by reading other runners stories!  I don't mean like the big stars, Mo Farrow or Kelly Holmes, although their stories I am sure, are inspiring, I must admit I have not really read anything about how they became runners!  Sometimes when you read of the people in the headlines you kind of put yourself out of their league,  outside of the hallowed 'famous' box, never to enter it because 'you're not fast/good/fit enough' to be inside that box.  Those really are just stories on the telly of famous people, professionals,  athletes!

Well let me tell you, we have some truly inspiring runners in our club! Our very own heros that have worked hard to get where they are and where they want to be.  I have been chatting to people in our club, people from the very fast running groups to the very slower runners in my group.  So far, a couple of ladies have agreed to write a blog for me.  A couple of very inspiring club members that had me in tears just listening to them, who totally moved me!  I have also heard of another runner in our club, who just loves to run, and loves to lead, and has no interest in beating records or anything like that, but he just loves to run.  I have yet to approach him!  And still, another runner, or I should say a family of runners! Maybe these people will know who I am talking about and will start writing up some notes for when I approach them!

Me!

But as I wouldn't ask anyone to do something that I wouldn't do myself, I will be first to write one of these special blogs!

Where to begin? Hmm, well as any of you know me, I am not your natural runner, that's for sure! I am truly the natural couch potato ever, I never even had a runny nose! I was quite happy to sit and eat, and do as little exercise as possible. But these days I exercise regualry, I cycle and run, I run slowly though, I have never ever gone much faster than a 09.50 minute mile!  I did it once, when I was at my fittest just a few years back.  I seriously ran one mile in just under 10 minutes!   I was a pleased as punch!  I wish I was good at 'filing' because then I could find the blog that I wrote about it in!  But still, I am having fun looking through all my blogs as I write this up this one!

But let me start from the begining.  When I started running, like quite a few other people, it was a knee jerk reaction to life changing experience, in my case it was losing mum to cancer! And it really was life changing,  She was and will always be my total inspiration for me starting to run and  contining to run!  When she passed away in November 2007 it was like a light switch had been turned off inside of our family!  We really didn't know what to do, my brothers and sisters and me and all our kids just felt a total loss! She was our center! How do you even get over losing your mum, it's not something I had even had to think about, not until 2007!  Up until that year my mum was the life and sole of the party!  She was always going out with friends, going out with us, having family bbqs, she was doing new things with her life after retirement! She was the first on the dance floor and the last off it! All my brothers and sisters headed down to my mums every week, kids in tow,  just so that we could all spend some time together with her, it was usually a Wednesday. There was always stuff in her fridge and freezer that we used to all cook up and share a meal as a family, all of us!  Spag bol, was the usual meal on those days, we could make that by the bucket load to fee us all!

My mum started to have a pain in her tummy in the early part of 2007, she didn't tell any of us, "There was no need to" she said to us after things became obvious there was something wrong.  But then she got more pain, she became ill, and lost weight.  Now there was need to tell!  She was diagnosed in June 2007, pancreatic cancer!  That's what she had.  By this time though, mum was sick, she couldn't keep anything down, but she tried to stay positive.  That was what my mum was like!  They said that she could start chemo, as long as they could control the sickness, because the chemo would make her more sick,we needed to get her stronger first!  Well, we never did get that sickness under control.  She was never 'well enough' to start the chemo.  The last three or four weeks we moved our mum into my sisters house, where me and my sister cared for her.  Mum passed away with all her children around her, at home!

We were like headless chickens, we were angry with the doctors, with cancer, with God, with anyone that couldh've, shouldh've, wouldh've helped mum to have just a few more years so she could enjoy her retirement and her new friends that she made over the couple of years of retirement, and us! Anger is not a good thing to hold on to.  It's quite a distructive emotion really. So when my sister  Dawn (Bims in my blogs)  had come up with this brilliant plan, to help us do something,  to raise money for cancer research uk, all the girls in the family said "Yes!"  It's the only thing that we could control at that time. The chaps had their part to play, they had the bbq to sort out for aftwards!

So me and my sister started out training plan,  to help this fat, old, lazy mare of a couch potato (that's me by the way) to do that very first 'race for life'  and little did I know then, that Race For Life, for me, meant exactly that! I will be racing/running, for the rest of my life, or for as long as I have strength in my body!  I started writing my diary, my open diary, on line in the form of these blogs. I didn't mind that people would be able to read it, I was hoping that they would write something in the comments and 'nag' me to keep on going!  I wrote:-

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Who knows how difficult it is to even think about starting to get fit. When you have reached my age, and that is passed forty, then you start to wonder if it is even the most dangerous thought that has ever popped into your head. After all, running after kids and pushing the vacuum around is hardly exercise, and now that I have wooden floors even that little bit has been taken away. But there it is, this thought lingering in my mind. Not only that but then someone suggests that I do a 'fun run' for charity. A fun run?! I ask myself, what on earth is fun about running. Of course I make all the excuses under the sun, like why that is probably not the most positive activity for me to do at this time in my life. But does that stop the said someone from giving me the emotional blackmail, 'Oh, but we are going to have mums picture on the tee shirts, and its for Cancer Research UK

unquote

That was the very first paragraph  of my very first blog, you can read the whole epic blog by just clicking  Here

The 11h March 2008 I first penned those words.......well, typed, I typed those words. And yes, I was 45 years and 3 months old at the time, not exactly in my prime of life.  Totally unfit, and a hefty 13.5 stone in weight! I was, am, 5 foot 2 inches tall, so I was quite a blimp, here is a picture of me.

This was at my daughters baby shower
just before little dude was born, my grrandson!

This picture is from 2009, about a year after I started running in the begining, as you can see I didn't keep it up,  I more of less stopped after I did the 5k!  We completed the run by the way.  All twenty of us, all wearing the tee shirts and pink hair!  It was the most emotional

But that first 'training' to do a 5k, well, I had my sister and some others to keep me going.  It's hard to do thing by yourself.  I know because I tried. I really did! I had to go and buy new stuff to go jogging with, my fat backside needed room, it needed to be comfortable too.  So I went shopping!  It was bloody hard trying to find something that would accomadte my fat arse.  All the shops that I went in only seem to cater for skinny arses.  It also seemed to be, around that time, that people just wanted these 'jogging' clothes to just 'hang around' in, not actually do any jogging, so they made them exactly for that purpose, track suits that were never meant for the track, trainers that were just for hanging around in.  It didn't occur to me that I should have gone into a 'professional running/sports' shop! Well, I wasn't an athlete was I.  I ended up getting my matching outfit, non tech material of course, but I didn't know then, out of a 'fashion store'.   Here, this is what I wrote about it.  I know somewhere I had a picture of said arse in the jog pants, but I think it was maybe on an old phone!



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Well I’m home now, obviously as I’m writing blog. I got my lovely new jog suit out of the bag, I look at it admirably, Oh yes, I shall look the business in this tomorrow! But, (its back again that but) on the ‘butt’ of my jog pants, that I hadn’t realised before (because I never looked at my butt when I tried it on in the shop), in baby pink, is the word, ‘Athletic!

I laughed to my self at the picture in my mind of that word stretched across my bottom. ‘Athletic!’ The only thing athletic about my butt is that you could probably use it for the vaulting events in the Olympics.

Unquote

Click here to read the rest of the blog if you like!

My family just absolutly cracked up laughing!  So did I!  But at least I had a 'track suit'  I still didn't understand about sports bras though!  Over the next few weeks I quickly learned 'the girls really needed to be under control.   The weight started to come off very, very slowly even though I really wanted to have instant results!  I thought with all my running it should be showing that I am working hard!  Even with the the distances I ran, I expected instant results, I ran a mile one week therefore I should be able to run for 6 miles following week and at 5 m/mi.  All that exercises I should slim down to size 10 in a month!  If only!  I was running, and the occasional cycling too, on my trusty Raliegh bike, great big heavy thing, (cross training was something I learned about)  me and Bims took our bikes for a spin through the woods a few times! That was great fun.  I have progressed with my cycling these days.  I have cycled to Brighton a few times, once over night too, boy that was great fun.  I have done a couple of other Friday Night Rides to the Coast as well.  Bought myself a real cool road bike.

Here's the blog about our first Race For Life that we did.

With my running though, I didn't give up, although, 2009 was a pretty hefty year for me, as you can see from that picture of me!  In 2010 I decided to do another race for life, well my friend persuaded me to do another one, and so we started training together, we worked hard at it.  We even got some other friends to do the race for life, Bims came along, and me and her even wore our teashirts again.

 But it was that year that my friend Olivia suggested that we run in the Petts Wood Runners 10k.  That would have been the furthest that I had even, willingly ran!  It seemed incredible to me that I would even consider running that far! But I put my name down, although Olivia didn't!  It was just after we had done the 5k earlier that year she descovered that she was pregnant!  But my other friend put her name down, Karin aka NaggynNeighbour!  So we started to train together!

The route, the people, the event of the Petts Wood 10k was just brilliant, my family came along to support me and watch me.  It was just truly amazing, I loved it!  It was also this year that I thought about joining the running club, and to help me do well I joined the beginners, DiscoRich was taking it at the time, it was the last week of the course that year, but he encouraged me to join the club in group 1. I loved the idea, bcause then I could do the 10k whenever I wanted! Little did I know then, when you join the club you become part the team, a team of marshals!  But that was still such a brilliant time, encouraging all those runners! Well, I think maybe I have the cronological order mixed up, but it was something like that!

I have been part of Petts Wood Runners ever since, and not just a member who turns up just once a week on Tuesdays, I run on Thursdays, twice in the day in fact.  I run on Saturdays at park run and have done over 50 park runs now.  I have also become a LiRF, me, can you Adam and Eve that!? But I wanted to give as much back to the running club that it gave me.  As you can see, running on my own, I was very intermitten, maybe running twice a month! But with the club I was there every week, I was there when there was beginners to encourage, I just wanted to share what I have achieved through running.  I have I told you what I have achieved through running? I don't think I have. I have achieved fitness.  I am not the fittest Old Girl in our club thats for sure, but I am fitter than I was twenty years ago, thirty years ago even, because back then I couldn't even run for half a mile! I have found a way to run out my anger, I have found a way to run out my sadness.  I have found a way to run when I am feeling on top of the world.  I have made some amazing friends! You just couldn't write this stuff up of how friendships are made for a soap opera! Oh, and have I told you I have run in the Virgin London Marathon.....twice!  Once for Cancer research uk and the other time for St. Christophers, a place that my mum had to go to for a short time, and the nurses there were just simply beautiful people!  My blog for my first marathon is here

That first marathon I did, oh my goodness!  It was tough, and a very emotional journey for me.  My thoughts that day towards the end of the run was firmly on my mum.  How could I have got here, to running a marathon!?  My goodness, couch potato to marathon runner.....and more!  I even organised a racing event in memory of local legend that used to run around my area.  His name was James Gilson, a total charactor, this is the event here.

 So you can see, my mum passing away, it really was a life changing experience for me!  It changed my life.  I still miss her like crazy, and I still want to do something to help ease the hurt in my heart and the anger that still comes to me when I think of those horrible days before she died.  It's all documented here on my blog site. Just peruse along at your leisure, I have add links to some of the blogs that I have spoken about, just click on the highlighted blue links.   I will share this with you though, a video I made, to help with our fund rasing back then, to show everyone what a wonderful, fun, loving mum we had, here take a look.  That second to last picture though, that is what cancer had done to her. I put that picture in, although it upsets me and my family to think of her like that, but it also reminds me that cancer is a bastard, and I need to keep just a little bit of anger inside, just to keep me on my toes, to do the one thing that will keep me healthy and to raise cash for nurses, research or things like that with my running or cycling.



I am not going to go and tell you about all 9 years of my running. I used to call it jogging, but I feel now that I can say I am a runner! A slow runner of course.  Jogging is what you do on a treadmill, or on the spot, or a quick jog to the shops! Nine years now, nine years and I still struggle with keeping fit.  But I know that I am a lot fitter than I was nine years ago!  I still can't believe it myself.  I am just glad that I wrote a shit log of blogs about every single run or exercise or bike ride that I have ever done!  Yes, you read that write.  I have written about every run I have ever done.  Most of them are in this blog,  Running for Running Sake, hundreds and hundreds of posts!  Because now I am just running for running sake, still struggling to keep fit, stay fit. But now my running is for fun and friendships, and because I can! Oh there are times when I think "You're running Old Girl, cos mum's not here".  There are times I wish I could share with her about my running, my first ever marathon for instance!  The London marathon, in 2013.  That again was a great family day, because my husband and kids and all my brothers and sisters and nieces were all there in London!  What an emotional day that was!

Who would have thought that from a 5k run, that I had to be almost dragged to, dragged around to train for, (and then we all walked it anyway!) that I would run two marathons!  Not only that, but I joined a running club and become a leader! I have also got myself a draw full off running gear, several cycling shirts, complete with the padded tights and shorts, wo bikes, busy working on wearing out my second Garmin and have made some incredible people through running and cycling that I call my friends for life! It's a great feeling this getting fit malarky.  If you reading this and thinking I can't do it, then go read ALL my blogs!  The amount of times I felt like that, yet here I am 9 years later.  I have no intention of stopping of slowing down........I should say that I need to get faster!

Next special blog to follow.

Another Wet Club Run!

Hello Blog lovers.

This is Britain, it is a green and pleasant land!  It stays green an pleasant because ......of the rain of course, I mean how do you keep your lawns and flowers looking gorgeous.  If there is one thing that we on this little island love to do is to moan about our weather.  But for some of us we embrace it, we continue to run in it!  "I have to go to work in it, why not play in it?" the Old Boy often tells me when he's off on a fishing trip in the pouring rain!

I already knew that LittleJ wouldn't be there, and J.J. she wouldn't be coming either, rain and her just don't mix!  Tracy had made her excuses......reasons.... for not being there but I hadn't heard from K.  But I think back in the dark recesses of my mind there maybe be something she told me about not coming!

Anyway, there were a couple of us regulars in group 1, me, IllustriousLeader, Selena (who I always forget her name!) Auriol and........dun dun dahhhhh! Kev2Balls!  He is going to be filming!  I know, it's piddling down raining and Kev2Balls will be filming.  He asked for volunteers to be in the film.  The title or the reason for the film.....Why I Run.  Now that's quite a thing to think about really, especially on days like today. It should be summer, it should be warm, it should be all sunshine a blue sky and running free through the woods.  Yet here we are, the five of us in group 1, with Kev2Balls filming with that "Why I Run" in mind.  Well, on days like this it is hard to wonder why I run.

But I know what got me running in the first place.  And that was my mum!  I am busy writing a blog about it actually, all about Why I Run, I will have it finished soon, I promise!  But today, well it really does make you think about it.  I think craziness comes into it!  But what the heck, we won't melt, right!

I was going to take my group just around the pavements, as running through the woods when it's wet and horrible is not everyone's cup of tea, but with the added excitement of the camera, the wet muddy woods is to irresistible, we just have to have a go.  So after I found out that Kev was coming with us I quickly rethought out another route which included a little bit of the woods before we finished on the pavements.

After all the leaders gave out their routes and pace/distance etc we started running, I was heading for the woods through Dog Poo Ally and then turning right to run up towards Orpington Road.  Kev ran up ahead to get in position to do some filming.  We just ran along at our group 1 pace.  I nearly gave Kev a brill shot for 'You've been framed' but nearly tripping up ......again......!  The bruise on my are is still quite large!  It's turning some lovely colours now tho!  After successfully getting up the hill, Selena doing it in one go, which she was very pleased with, we came out of the woods and unto the pavements.  I was taking them to the little loop around estate, the one with Kevington Road!  Maybe even get them to want to do some hill reps if I talk about how much hills are are friends! Yeah!  Maybe!

We started to run towards the estate, and Kev ran through a puddle, he dropped down and started to film us but we didn't run through the puddle, we were thinking we didn't want to get him wet, or his phone!  But then after he told us we are more than welcome to run through and splash about he started to look for another puddle!  We had the nice down hill towards the little roundabout, Kev had noticed that there was a puddle at the bottom, so he ran down and got into position, we all started to run towards him.

Back up the other side to Kevington road, with that little hill training. Hills are our friends!  I must remember to say this more often, and not only in my head, I need to share this good news with the others! Hills are our friends.  So we come to the little hill we do normally do a couple of reps on.  Could I persuade Selena and Auriol to do it.  Well, Auriol is coming back from injury, so I wasn't so sure, And Selena, well, she is just starting out on this wonderful thing called running, and she hasn't even come through the beginners ranks, she just turned up one Tuesday, ready to run!  Hills are our friends. "Come on then, up to the top, just by the car and then back down again" I said to my little group!  It's raining, it's been raining since we all walked out our door, we've been running in the rain for about 1.5 miles, do you think I could really encourage my group to do at least 2 reps of the hills.  IllustriousLeader of course was first up there and running down again, Selena ran up to the top and said "There's no way I am going back down to run back up" she said.  But the thing about this running malarkey, you just have to see if you can do it, and the next thing you know, you are doing.  Selena started running down again, ready to do a second rep, complaining all the way though!

We ran all the back to Orpington Road, Auriol had pulled something so was walking back, she wouldn't be doing the rest of the run, so Kev decided that he would walk back with her to the rec while we all finished off the route today.  But before he and Auriol went back to the rec he found a big deep puddle for us all to run and splash through!  Lovely!

So a good run today, a little added extra excitment of being filmed, just a little experiment for Kev2balls to see if it was possible.  The lighting was awful, so we shall just have to wait and see.

Geeky stats for you, I have just realised that the satellites had not picked us up until we got in the woods! K9 not looking completely together!  Which means that we did actually run over three miles!  (Just)

Ouch! I Fell Over!

Hello blog lovers.

A gloriously warm sunny morning greeted me as I woke from my slumber!  It's going to be a warm one!  The Old Boy, potted about getting ready for work while I tried to catch just a couple more 'winks' before I needed to be up.  Eventually I really had to force myself to get up and then panic as I busied myself getting things together that I needed to take with me! It's Thursday, I needed to get a clean set of clothes for when I go to see Kirsty!  I had remembered also, that I was to test out a couple of products for the SLGR club and Boobuddy.  I was looking forward to see if 'The Girls' would be in even more control!  And some laces too.  Tie once and then no more apparently!  We'll see!

So I made my way to the rec, with everything that I should have....except my hat!  The one thing that I really do like to have is my hat, it just helps to keep the 'glowing' from dripping in my eyes! Oh well, I have run without a hat before, I can do this!  I got to the rec and met up with all the others.  After a quick chat we sorted out our groups and then we set off.  The girls wanted to go up the path that we used on Tuesday so I quickly thought of a route that was doable in the time we had and we set off.  Going through Poo Ally, which was having a clean out, a huge lorry was parked right next to the tunnel, we had to edge our way around to get in the tunnel.  A four man crew were there in the 'oranges' a big old tube that was shoved down the drain!  They don't call it Poo Ally for nothing you know!

Once through the tunnel we turned left to go in search of the path the 'hugs' the field.  I used to get the wrong path to run up but as I had only used it last Tuesday it was still fairly fresh in my mind, I remembered it was the first path on the left when we we coming in the opposite direction from the little river!  I knew that, I could see it in my mind, yet I still flew past it!  I saw the little river and then had to go back!  My plan was to run up to the top, then continue to run up so that we come out at the bottom of the housing estate and then we could run to Scadbury.  That was my plan!  Sometimes I am so glad that plans don't come together!  Carry on reading and you will find out why!

It's a climb to get to the top of the woods, and I just wanted to try and run as much of it as I can.  I stopped half way to check on the girls behind.  K and Tracy were at the back and LittleJ was with me.  Once we could see the two girls again we continued our running up.  We got through the woods and out on the path between the two fields, still with the rest of the climb to get to the top.  There was no right or left turn on this little bit so I just looked towards the top and decided that was where I was going to stop and wait for the others.

I could hear LittleJ behind me, so I just kept going, the sun was beating down on me, I was sweating, and I just didn't want to stop.  A chap came passed with his big dog, I knew LittleJ wouldn't like that. so I slowed down, the dog came bouncing down, looking very happy, but she just turned her back and closed her eyes! The dog went by, and we carried on running to the top!  LittleJ said that I kept her running, but hearing her behind me kept me running!  We both wanted to get to the top.  We waited for the other two to get to us.

Once we were all together we carried on running and then I realised I had completely missed the path that I wanted to use to get us to run through Scadbury! Darn it!  Now, here is why I am glad that sometimes plans don't come together.  When I had realised what I had done, I decided to see if we could get to the estate by another route.  I saw some paths that even I have not used before, heading in the right direction that I thought would take us to where I wanted to be. This could be interesting!  There is no getting lost as such in the woods.  We could hear the road, the railway was all the way down the bottom of the hill, as long as we got that, we are fine!

So I headed on the paths that went left, some great paths, it felt good to be able to run 'freely' without an agenda, plan or route, just see a path and run on it!  Then we cam across the back of someones garden, and then a little opening onto the estate.  but now where I wanted to be, we were further up the hill!  The girls would be pleased.  I looked at the little skinny path that headed right, running along the backs of the gardens,  now that was a path I had used before, on a solo run.  But this morning, we will go out on to the road so that we would run through a bit of scadbury.

Up the road, on the tarmac, each of us having enjoyed a little adventure on the paths.  From here we will be going along our usual paths.  We ran through scadbury, chatting away, me and LittleJ, K and Tracy.  Then we had to cross over Leesons Hill and the back over Orpinton Road.  Then we were back in our woods.  We were running along here chatting as usual, Tracy and K behind us just out of sight when I happened on a rock!  This rock was well camouflaged with grass growing all around it and I just missed it!  When I say I missed it I really mean I didn't see it. I tripped up it and fell heavy on the floor.  My legs landed in the brambles but fortunately I found the only bit that was fairly clear of the sharp pointy bits!  I grazed and bruised my arm but I also pulled my calf muscle which at the time was hurting more!  (It still hurts now actually, the pain killers wearing off!)

I picked myself up and then continued running/walking for the rest of the way!  I still had all intentions of turning up for the core training and speed session this evening, but as the day wore on, more aches and pains came along.  A sign of getting old surely, when I fell over as a child I am sure I didn't ache like I do now!  My back, my arm, my leg!  It's all hurting!  I am sure with a days rest I will be fine! This is my bruise this evening, it's got bigger!

So that's my exercise for the day, and here's my geeky stats.

Awards Evening

Hello blog lovers

Yesterday we had a special cub night, it was our awards night!  We still had a usual group runs of course, so for those that were receiving their coveted Grand Prix trophies, well unless KevTwoBalls can photoshop them, will reflect the fact that it was a very warm evening for running! There were ten groups so ten lots of winners, plus the trophy for the members 10k to be award too!
But first off, is the run.  We were beginning the run at a completely different place, from the Bickley Hotel which means that I wouldn't be using my usual routes around the woods.  I still wanted to run through the woods though, it was a very warm evening and just perfect for going running in the woods.  I suddenly realised that I needed to 'map out' a 3 miler only a few hours before we had to meet at the hotel!  But I was doing things and completely forgot about it again until I arrived at the venue.  When it came to the leaders giving out the info for the route, well I kind of just said "We will find a route!" but pace and distance as per usual!  The group 1's looked a bit dubious, maybe a bit worried, but I assured them that "It'll be just fine, trust me, I'm a Leader"  Oh, that reminds me, my new up to date LiRF card came through from England Athletics, stating just that!

Once we were all ready we started on our 3 mile run!  At least I was hoping it will be about that!  As I said, it really was a very warm evening, I was looking forward to getting into the woods to find some shade.  I was making the route up in my head as I was running down Thornet wood land so that we can run down Barfields Road, the road that leads to Goss hill!  I couldn't think of a flat route, not without going through the woods, but I think everyone enjoys the woods, and besides, nobody really notices the distances when you are running in the woods, it's just too lovely to be interested in things like that!

To keep things all nice and happy I didn't take them up Goss Hill, no, we will be running down that particular Nemesis!  We took the right hand path and ran along by the river, I am sure if we keep running quickly the mozzies won't be able to land on us to have their dinner!  Oh my goodness, I hate bitey things, bitey things are equipped with a particular set of skills, and they will use those skills and then it will find me, and when it finds me, it will eat me! Seriously, I have only just discovered that taking an antihistamine tablet helps the impending mountain of a spot that will appear after being bitten, plus the the bite cream too! Fecking hate bitey things, but I so love running in the woods.

Right, back to the running.  I led them to Botany Bay lane, and we turned right to got along by the rail line, and so the climbing starts.  We were running along here and another group came along, I think it was maybe group 5, it had DiscoRich as sweeper anyway, they were coming in the opposite direction, we hi-fived as we passed by.

Normally I would have probably taken this group over the bridges, and back through Jubilee Park, but the Jubilee bridge is still missing!  Network Rail, get a move on will you! I didn't want to take them all the way to the middle path because then the route will be just that little bit further than a normal Tuesday run, so I took them up a path I've not used in a club run before, mainly because I always get slightly lost (ish) I mean, you can't really get lost in the woods, but you can end up on paths that you didn't intend to!

Up the first left path just after running the the river on our right!  It is up as well, it's a path that is used for our 10k route, just 'hugging' the field on our left.  I know when I see the field that I have done the right path, more or less!  And there it was, even before I saw the field and we ran over the little wooden bridge, I knew that we were on the right track!  Phew, maybe we will even get to the bar before all the other groups get there now!

Once we got to the top of the woods we just had to run along by the back of Coopers school to Botany Bay Lane and then along the little path that leads to the top of Goss hill!  Nearly done!  I sent the faster runners down the hill first and asked them to wait for me at the bottom.  I do love a down hill (I'm sure I have mentioned that before!) and it was sheer bliss running down there.  Before I got to the bottom of the hill I could hear a loud cheering, obviously another group had got to this point, the same time as us!  They will be at the bar before us! Oh well!  Once we were all re-grouped it was just the last two up hill roads to do, Barfield and Thornet Wood and then.......the social after!

The awards evening was a brilliant affair!  I just love the fact that we don't have a 'special evening' for it, I mean, we don't all just turn up to the venue, all suited and booted, smelling as fresh as Gucci or Armani, or Channel!  No, we all go for a run, in mid summer, and come back and receive awards in a vests, shorts, lycra, smelling as the entire laundry of Team GB after the Olympics!  We are athletes you know.

I didn't win a trophy this year, there were just not enough group 1's taking part!  I think there are just only so many trophies I can win like that way! Grand Prix is not about competing aagainst yourself, its a healthy competing against your mates.  None of your namby pamby "everyone's a winner" Good honest healthy competition. Anyway I don't think I did half as many races as I needed to anyway, just because of that I didn't want to be the only one again!

Mind you, I was still so very surprised to be called up to receive something!  A bottle of prosecco!  I couldn't believe it!  Getting something for doing the beginners group! Both me and ZippySherry got one!  I haven't the heart to tell them that I am only there to recruit members to group 1, just so that I don't have to run in the faster groups!  Well, actually I love beginners group, just letting someone know that they can run 5k from being a couch potato is reward enough for me!

Here's some pictures from the evening

Club captains, Stephen and Emily

Thanks guys!
Sonja, David Moy and me!

The venue

Smile
Me and Matthew

selling club kit!

Winners!

And more winners

There were so many winners last night!  It was a great evening!

Anyway here's a geeky stats, and I forget to switch off my Garmin so there is a long pause after we got to the venue! We covered about 3.5 miles in just under the hour I think. so not too bad, and some of my group 1's actually got there before me because I sent them to the end at their own pace!

Park Run

Hello blog lovers

So a day late for my parkrun blog, but it's finally done.  I really wasn't 'feeling it' on Saturday, in fact I thought I would just go along and support.  But I still got my running shoes on and made an effort, see how I felt when I got out side!

I did feel a little better but decided that I would be running at the back with Tracy, whether she likes it or not!  But I had decided that I wouldn't nag her today, well, if I can't actually do the whole thing how could I possible nag someone to do it too!  We all started together, me, Naggy, Tracy, K, PinkladyJo, LittleJ and......boomerang Wendimoo!  Yup, she is back from her travels and is down this end of the island for a bit!  She is kind of looking for her running mojo too, a new place, new friends, it will take time to get back into it, but she will, our Wendimoo is a lovely soul!  Naggy wasn't feeling it either, so she offered to pace someone to their PB!  No one took her up on it, but those faster runners all moved ahead of me, K, Tracy and PinkladyJo.

After a little while it was just me, Tracy and K left from the 'gang' and chatting along, but then K started to get ahead.  Good, that's exactly what I was hoping.  Although I wasn't going to nag Tracy around todays parkrun I wanted her to see that she needs to push a little bit more, but that she needs to push herself along.  It's all psychologically, I know, I've been there, I am there and I know I will be there again!  But the sight of K pushing ahead, I was hoping that it would do the same for her too.

We were also joined by Helen as well!  Now that lady totally inspires me!  She had cycled down to get to parkrun on time, she has had hip replacements and she is in her seventies! In total awe of her!  She was chatting to us, and she also gave Tracy some advice too which was good.  Parkrunners are great people!

We plodded around the route but the last bit we did some very small interval running, or fartlek training!  Just to get the blood pumping.  Tracy is very good at sprinting, she can really get some speed in there!  Of course we had to do the sprint at the end.  With just a short way to go I said to her "Come on Tracy, over take me! I promise not to speed up any more that this"  I was just in front of her, matching her pace, but I wanted he to go pass me and get to the finish.  Michael saw us as we got nearer, "Come on Tracy, you can do this" She then started to pick up the pace, she managed to catch me up and then she over took me. She started to make some space between us and so I picked up my pace to match hers!  She was running so well, I really pushed hard to try and get to her before the funnel but I didn't manage it!  The girl done good!  Well done Tracy!

So Geeky stats for parkrun 1 July 2017!  I can't believe we are already in the 7th month already!