Got To Get Them Miles In!

Hello blog readers.

I know there are still a few out there!  I spoke to one of you at the leaders meeting!  My ramblings are still reaching people!  I know my ramblings do me an awful lot of good, it helps me to focus on the good points of my running. For one, that fact that I am still doing it!  Can you believe it.  I started this blog way back in 2008, how many words and I written!  I am sure I must have repeated myself a few thousand times!  

When I look back to those early days it really does bring home to me the fact that I have changed my ways!  I no longer just come home and sit and veg all the time!  Oh, don't get me wrong, I still like coming home and vegging!  It's a necessary part of living!  I know some people hate that time of doing absolutely nothing for a whole day!  I love it!  Just to read, watch telly, potter about, call people!  It's perfect.  But now, since 2008 my vegging days are interspersed with my running!  Looking back at my blogs, with me asking the same questions that I now see the new beginners asking "Does it ever get any easier?"  Well, no, is the honest answer.  It's still bloody hard work, I still look a complete hot, sweaty, pink mess at the end of any run. But that fact that I can run further than a mile, which was my first ever attempt at running, without dying, is the reward!

My heart is stronger, I know it is, my lungs are stronger, especially since giving up the ciggies a year ago February, (although I did succumb to a couple a month or so ago)  back on track again though!  My weight issue is...well an issue at the moment.  I don't feel as if I am eating more than I used to this time two years ago, but feck me, weight has piled on!  It just has to be the 'wrong' foods I am eating.  I must get back to eating salads most days.

My running however, well that has been constant, apart from blimmin covid lockdown of course (which is where my weight seemed to have started piling on).

I am loving it.  I am loving leading group 1 at club nights on Tuesdays.  I enjoyed getting back to parkrun and now I am enjoying being one of the leaders again at the Autumn Beginners course.  Can you believe we just finished week 3 yesterday?  We have been so lucky with the weather, it helps with the discipline of getting people out of the house to come along and keep going.  Mind you, we could have been scuppered if people had to drive to us, the queue to get into the local petrol station was causing tailbacks and road blocks!  Blimmin ridiculous!

We were running for 3 mins and walking for 3 mins yesterday.  People were doing just fine!  I am sure they are well impressed with themselves!  

Today I went out by myself, it's Sunday, after having the rest of Saturday as my veg day, I needed to do things today!  The housework for a start!  After getting back from church and a bit of shopping, I got stuck into my housework. I was thinking I would just get on with that and then get out for a longish run!  Best laid plans and all that!  My housework took longer than I thought it would.  I was blimmin knackered!  In fact I almost talked myself out of running!  But I couldn't do that!  Not after letting the beginners know about that quote from Ben Mudge, self discipline, routine, regularity!  If I am not doing much on Sundays well then I will be running!  I have to, I have the 10k to look forward to, that's only in a couple of weeks!  I did talk myself into only do three miles though, but considering this week I didn't get out to club run, I talked myself into doing just the 3 miles. What  I really needed was to kick ass and get out and do more!

I put my music in my ears, hat on head and went out there!  I felt pretty smug with myself as I ran outside, "Look at me, doing housework for 4 hours and now getting out running! I am bad ass!"  Then I got to the end of my path, "Blimey, knackered already" I thought to my self!  I quickly dismissed that thought and just concentrated on my music, I had 70's rock anthems being blasted in my ear drums.  

Before you could say 'Bob's your uncle' I was already passing the tractor park.  If I was lucky, I could almost convince myself that I was on the way back, almost.  I mean, once I was through the park and on to the road at the other side of the park, then run to the top of that road, every step after that will be a step leading home. See what I mean about  almost convincing myself I was on the way home!

I am still doing the 'Jeff-ing'  I know Naggy said to me yesterday "Well that's going to have to stop"  She's right of course, but for now, I am still hanging on to my 'comfort blanket'. Those little regular walks helps just a little, I will cut it down by 30 seconds from next Sunday!...... There, I have written it now, I have to do it!

I keep forgetting to take pictures.  That is something I am going to have to work on too!  So until next time peoples, keep on running!

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Here are some pictures from the beginners group last week! 

Club Runs and Beginners!

 Hello blog readers!

PWR through and 
through

My bad!  I didn't write up my blog straight away!  But I am getting there.  I had club run last Tuesday.  After really struggling to get into my runpants in the first place I felt like I had already done a work out class!  I was having a 'power surge' when I was getting ready! I was just so hot and sweaty as I tried pulling up my run leggings, just think of trying to get a frog in a wet suit, two sizes too small for it, that was me trying to pull up my leggings!  Let along trying to do up my 'ShockAbsorber' run bra! I was knackered before I left for the rec. It was probably the last time we were going through the woods.  I know I said that last time, but last Tuesday really is the last time.  The nights are drawing in, even though we are starting an hour earlier than we used to, the light on the paths are just to dingy.  

It was a case of a run of two halves.  The first half was in the woods, the second was on the roads.  I took them all straight up the middle of the woods, the middle path as I call it and then out on to the 'posh' estate.  It's a tough little run!  It's all up hill in the woods and then still more hills when we get to the estate, but knowing that we are not going up any more does put a smile on your face.  

Some of the group was wanting to run down Birchwood but that would have been too short, I don't like to short change people, no, we were going to the round about and then running down to Crossways. where the park is.  Just over three miles, 5k, that's all!  A great run with a great bunch of people!  I forgot to take a picture again!  I can't wait for snappyHannah to get back to us!

Beginners

Yesterday was week one of our Autumn beginners course.  I look forward to helping lead these sessions every time!  Even though I still get nervous standing in front of everyone!  It's daunting, all those pairs of eyes looking at you, mind you some of them look just as nervous as me, so it's not so bad!  I think I counted over 30 people this time.  The Autumn course is generally the harder one, mainly because it gets colder as the weeks progress!  You really have to be made of stern stuff!  But with the help of all our PWR's that come along to encourage we have a very good number who get to graduation! 

I had every intention of getting up early, running along to the rec and then running back! Yeah, that didn't happen.  my duvet kept me prisoner and the granddoggies needed me to cuddle them for a little longer!  What can I say?  I dragged my self out of bed, luckily no power surges while getting into my lycra and jumped in the car to get to the rec on time!

We went through with the walking, the drills and the running, which was run 1 minute, walk 2, with our cool down stretches and everyone still had a smile on their face!  Brilliant,  that's how we need it to be every week, and it generally is!

I am looking forward to next week, RefMichael is leading so I can take pictures!  We love a photo shoot!

Today

Today I had to go and do some running!  I mean, so extra miles!  I stuck on the #AfterShokz, (Alice I need to arrange for you to get the back) just because they are still here, then just went out.  I knew I wanted to run around Normans Park, just once, but I 'negotiated' with myself as to how I was going to get there.  Either straight down Southborough lane, or through the park and out by the pub, or through the tractor park!  "Come on, you need the miles, go through the tractor park, then we negotiate the rest on the way back"  This is how my brain works when I run solo.  With no naggy to keep me company/nag me I chatted to myself!  I still convinced myself to do the 2/2 run/walk.  All the while I am looking at my watch to see how long left on the running and it's showing more than 40 seconds left, I need to keep at it!

When I got to Normans Park I felt quite pleased, even though I still had to run around it, I knew I was on the way back!  This is where I negotiated with myself again, do I go straight down Southborough lane, or Turpington lane, or maybe even got back along the A21 to run through the Tractor park!  That last one got about 2 seconds of thinking time.  No, I am going to run down Magpiehall lane, then through the park and home.  Should be about 4 and half miles.  Next time I will run an extra mile!  That should put me in good stead for the 10k!

Little Run With Pat

 Hello bloggers

Look at this!  What did I tell you yesterday?  Eh? Eh?  She's only gone and done it again!  Ran, blogged, boom!  Mind you, it was Pat that said, "Go home and blog now"  She was one of my readers of yesterdays blog!  So she knew what I had promised to do!  I remember years ago, when I started my blogs, that I was going to send them over to her to proof read!  I know how my English and spellings wind her up! I think she would have got bored with my blogs by now, he he!  Anyway, what's a Donnas blog with out the atrocious gramma, awful spellings and double double words in place!?

Todays little run we did the same thing as on Sunday, one slight change, Pat tried the AfterShokz on!  She loved them! Ooo Hang on, another little plug here for the Headphones  " #ItriedAS " said Pat!  Pat normally runs with a head band on, and it didn't interfere at all with he buff around the head!  There was another little change, we did more running than last Sunday.  We started our run a little earlier on the course and we finished a little bit further to our stretching point!  I reckon we must have ran over an extra quarter-half mile!  We still kept to our 2 minutes of running and 2 minutes of walking!

Our route took us around the tractor park near us, to the top of the path and then down the side.  Of course we ran to Turnaround Lamppost.  That makes me smile, it makes me remember when I first started running.  Walk/run to Turnaround Lamppost and back, I was thinking 'I was all that' if I made it with only 3 walking bits.  But as we are now professional athletes, we didn't exactly go back straight away. After turning around from Turnaround Lamppost we took the path on our left and followed it around to a new turnaround point, now know as Turnaround Fence!

Now Pat has this thing in her head, her little routine, (something that I spoke about yesterday)  she likes to do a little sprint...in the middle of a route, half way around!  I had to plan it so that we were still on the zig zaggy path, but we did it.  I ran behind Pat this time, see how fast her sprints are!  Not too bad!

After that retraced our steps through to the other end of the park and then back past the tractor park.  Just the home straight and we were done.  I told Pat that we would run up to the gate that is across the park, no matter what the Garmin says, walk or run.  Last time we walked this bit. We finished off strong, smiling and glad we came out!  

We did our stretches and then said our good byes.  I continued with the 2/2 walk/run till I got home!  Back to work tomorrow, hopefully I will be totally relaxed then I can enjoy getting back to normal!

Geeky stats.  Since the blog site updated it don't seem to post the pictures of my garmin, so I am afraid if you want to see it just click on the link!

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