Hello!

 Hello blog readers

Well, that was a long break!

I have no excuses but laziness.  Not to say that I have not been running since my last post, just lazy in writing things up! Ok lazy in actual running too!

I have been totally absent from running during August, work commitments kept me away, either I was just too knackered after a very long day at work or lazitus when it came to park running!  Now I am back!  I have new bosses, completely free school holidays and totally looking forward to running.

That said, after having weeks off running getting back is just like starting over!  My first run, last Tuesday (I know I didn't write that one up either) was just a very short club (sort of) run.  I checked my list for who will be running in group 1, and I had no one booked in!  So, I decided to run from my house, save taking the car to club run and getting to run in group 2, which I knew I wouldn't be ready for.  I decided to just to a very small loop around my estate.  Just as I was about to get ready, I saw naggy coming back from her run.  I called out to her and she came over to see me.  She said she would come with me and she could use that as her 'cool down' run!  

It did feel pretty good to get out but boy, did I feel it.  I was just so pleased I decided to do just a small loop!  Naggy kept me motivated and we did the Jeffing run style.  Sometimes I ran through the walk part and carried on running, it felt good that I could 'break the rule' a bit.

What was next. Of course!  Our beginners course started last Saturday!  Now that does give my mojo a well needed boost.  Just encouraging others to get into this running lark is just such a feel-good thing to do!  We had about 20 or so beginners turn up, all ready to get fit for the winter and beyond.

Then yesterday, Tuesday, it was club run again.  I looked at my list and saw there were four other ladies booked on!  No excuse this time, a full club run as on!  I chose one of my easiest routes to do, it has a shorter version, which I thought would be the best route to do.  I haven't run 3 miles in just so many weeks I needed to know that we can cut short if necessary.

No clock watching, no waiting for my Garmin to tell me to walk, I had to just get on and do what I can to keep the 'troops' happy and satisfied with their club run.  As it happened, everyone was happy to do the shorter route.  It was just as well as one of ladies had to cut it even shorter to get home to her son who needed her.

So, I nice short blog for a nice short couple of runs.  

Here is a picture of our beginners group doing one of my favourite stretches.

Picture taken by Hannah Harrison.

Harvel 5 HHHH

 Hello blog readers.

So, well....um....! I've been running!  Honest.  It's my blogging that has been pushed to the kerb at the moment. Well, when I say I've been running, I have had a couple of usual run days pushed aside too!  But I had reasons for that! Honest!

What I am writing about today is what I did yesterday!  It was the Harvel Hash House Harriers 5 miler!  Complete with 'Taylors Arms' half way around!

We had booked this race in 2019!  But that blimmin COVID 19 got to us and it was cancelled, our places were deffered....until it could happen!  Roll on a couple of years and here I was.....totally unready for 5 miles, again, just like I was totally unready for the PWR 10k last year! Just like I'm unready for the Paddock Hal marathons! (Well, that one I really did have to let slide last year! I would deffo have been a DNF)  

The H5 is a very popular race, selling out in minutes when it opens!  But it's not wonder really!  For mee there are so many pluses!  For instance, it's on a Saturday!  There are very few races that are on a Saturday.  I think race organisers forget about us sinners wanting to get together on a Sunday to spend time with Him upstairs!  Or maybe is the British Constablery that refuse permission about the whole road closures thing!  Another plus, its at a very reasonable hour of 2 o'clock start! Most civilised!  Plenty of scope for a lay, or if you're not lazy, you could always squeeze in a parkrun!  A huge plus, especially if you are a beer drinker, they have a 'bar' as the water/beer/wine stop half way round! The medal this year of course was all about the jubilee, we had a bottle opener in the shape of the queen! Fan-bloomin-tastic!   The run it self is really quite pleasant!  I think I felt relaxed and happy all the way around!  It could have been the little can of gin I had to see me round, but hey!  I felt great!

CaroleWithAnE and her hubby RefMichael and Naggy were all H5 virgins!  I think CaroleWithAnE had to be persuaded to add just a drop of wine to her water at the half way stop!  I remember my first time doing this race, I went for the water, but as I was slower that those that I came with, no one persuaded me to have a beer!  I've been edge-a-macated since then, although, I have learned not to my first pint until after the race!

We met some other PWR's there as well, LouLou and Terry, (Terrey wasn't running so he was our unofficial bag drop) Nigel, Mike, Barbara, Steve, Chris,  as well as other faces from ORR and other clubs too! Like I said, it's a popular race, the ques for the loo would vouch for that!  After I had done my second lot of queueing for the loo I noticed that my mates were all ready for a photo, so I did a quick dive to get in!

It was also the first time I used the Aftershoks in an official race, the RD said that we could use them, the inear ones are not allowed as we are on roads for some of the race!  I made sure though that I didn't have the turned up to max volume, 1, is that the 'buzz' on my ear and 2, I didn't want to miss any of the cheering.  If the cheerers are there giving you support then it's totally rude not to acknowledge that!  I really smiled when I was running through the woods and the kids were there holding out their hands for a high five, of course I obliged!  But then one of them started running after me, over took me and said "Look at me, I can run really really fast!"  I just laughed and said "Yes you can!"

That cheeky little hill is still there, of course it's still there! Why would that flatten that just for me?  The ambulance guy on his bike, who I saw at the corner of a particularly evil little sharp left turn, it's on a hill going down and really gravely and broken brick type of path, well he had passed me just a short while ago. I had wondered if he had actually attempted to cycle up it!  I know there are some people who would do it with no problem!  But he did have have some rather heavy looking paniers on both sides of his bike!  After I got to the top, (walking of course) I began running again. I saw the first aider and I asked him if he rode up.....What do you think his answer was?

Any way, the return back to the party on the green was back on the roads.  I tried to run as much as I can while I was on the roads, hoping that some of the people I did pass wouldn't catch up to me again!  I felt remarkably strong as I went for the finish! Could it have been the gin......maybe it was because I hadn't actually ran for well over a week and my legs were well rested.

Loved this race, I will deffo be ready, fingers poised, ready to gain my entry for next year!

ps, I went out this afternoon, just to stop my legs from seizing up. Right now, I am in smug mode!!!!

Some other photos curtesy of LouLou and CaroleWithAnE, and I think maybe one maybe mine!

Hi! I'm Still Here!

 Hello blog readers.

Me, coming back from 
my solo run

How can it be that long since my last blog?!  Cor blimey!  It's not as if I haven't done anything cos I have! Honest.  There has been the beginners each Saturday, of course.  Also there has been club runs!  Have we had easter since my last one? Oh well, anyway, I'm here now, blogging away.

I have put in for a race, my first race in quite a while, well, since last October when I won a place in my running club's very own 10k!  I have actually paid this time to run 5 miles in Eltham.  It's a race I have done with quite a few of running buddies, and one that I have done with my mate Tracy too.  She enjoyed doing this one, so I will try and do it all with a smile on my face!

Our beginners are going really well, we have a few great runners at this stage, with only one more week to do and then we are going to do the parkrun Graduation.  Always a great time then!

I did a solo run, that was last Sunday.  I must admit, it was not pretty!  I procrastinated far too long.  I had an extremely poor diet the day before, I was totally lacking in energy!  But I did it!  There is never a bad run, just a slower, tougher run!

Yesterday was club run. With me leading, the sun staying in the sky so much longer, the woods is the only place to go!  Blimey, I remember when I was so happy to be out of the woods and running on the pavements again, being an old townie, too much nature for me the woods were, but now. Now I just love running through the woods.  The hills in there, well I still hate them with a passion, fecking hills!  I try and remember how far I used to get to before I gave up and started walking, when I was at my fittest of course.  Compared to now, now I just look at the hills and my legs feel like that have ran a marathon!  'It's all in the mind Donna' I say to myself! I still try and convince myself that hills are are friends! And still the hills try and kill me off!

There were 14 of us in group 1 yesterday, which included a group 3 runner who arrived late (fecking traffic lights at the roundabout still) and she tried to run into the woods to see if she could find them.  She was heading back out just as we were running in!  We don't leave anyone behind, so we told her to come and join in with us!  Might as well right?  Her name was Donna too, I remember she used to run in Group 1 way back when, before there was a group 1 and 1.5, when there only about 9 groups or so!  We have twelve now!  She enjoyed running with us though, at least she could keep Dee company away in the front!  But I did tell her not to follow her when we came to two paths!  

I had a nice route through the woods, it's about 3 miles around, I started my Garmin, or at least I tried to...the fecking thing ran out of charge!  'That's ok' I thought to myself, 'I shall just use Strava!'  I started that off.......so I thought!  The blasted thing didn't work! I was so annoyed!

But I did capture this lovely picture of us, just by 'Bug City' near the little river!

Not the most flattering of angles! 

Here are a couple more pictures of the beginners too!

So, that's it for now, until next time!

Keep on Keeping on!

Hello blog readers.

I know it's been a while since my last blog, and I know I promised to blog after each run.  But time just kind of runs away from me!  Weird that, you think as you get older time would be a thing you think you have tons of. "Oh I will do that later," or "tomorrow is another day"  Well this last month has been a tough month, not just for me, but my other friends too.

My long standing friend, my running buddy, my work buddy, my nagee, passed away.  It seemed like only just a short illness, bloody cancer!  It don't care who you are, rich or poor, fit and healthy or down on your luck, it can get you!  It knocks the bloody stuffing out of everyone that is connected to that person.  Tracy, 'Get Your Legs Up' Tracy, passed away, we had her funeral last Tuesday, would you believe on a running night!  Well, Tracy you can now 'Rest your legs' Tracy, I have no doubt we will meet again.

So for the past few weeks my running hasn't quite been up to par, but we did start our beginners course, the first of the year!  It was pissing down with rain but we still had a good number of 'Athletes in the making'.  I know I speak for the other leaders, ZippingSherry, RefMichael and Hannah (yet to be assigned a nick name) that we totally love leading this course, watching as they all surprise themselves and run their first 5k.  There are quite a few now who have gone on to join PWR, completed 10k's, half marathons and full marathons!  It swells your heart!  Next Saturday will be week 3, blimey that really has gone quick!

Group run last night was good, we tackled just a couple of hills, with a little bit of hill training in the middle of the run! Mean!? What me? Never!  It will do us all a bit of good.  Mind you, this morning I am feeling it!  

So just a quick blog, just to let you know where I am in my 'Trying to keep fit' stage.  And just a little tribute to my mate 'Get Your Legs Up Tracy' You will be missed, your smile at the back just kept going, unless of course you were throwing daggers at my back when I nagged too much 😊  

Dee, Tracy and me!

Happy New Year!!!

 Hello blog readers!

Ok, so I am slightly late with the salutations to the new year!  Wow, how time flies eh?  I was thinking it was only a couple of weeks ago when I last wrote my blog! 

Well, I haven't been idle in my running, not totally idle any way.  There has been club runs and parkruns and.....a solo run.  That was last week!  Boy, I just can't get over how its been way over a month since my last blog!

Club runs have been good.  We have had some great numbers attending in group 1, of course I keep choosing to lead!  There has been the occasional time when I just haven't been able to get there due to the timing of getting home from work feeling totally exhausted!  I am hoping the brighter evenings will be coming soon, to trick my brain into thinking it's not night time, there's hours yet!  At least when I was a kid it always seemed that way!  Who liked going to bed in the middle of the day just because mum told you it was 9 o'clock at night and you had school the next day?

We had our usual group 1 runners and a couple of newbies plus Viral joined us as he is recuperating from injury!  His walk is faster than my running! Only a few weeks ago he tried to keep up with us while walking (his doc said that walking is better at the moment) and now, well, do they still do walking races in the Olympics, because I am sure he could qualify!  This is aw picture of one of our runs in group 1 a couple of weeks ago.  I remembered to try and capture some of our runs for prosperity....and blogging!

Then there is parkruns.  I think I missed the first couple of the year, I think I just wanted a lay in....lie in...?  A duvet morning!  But that first one back, I was totally prepared!  New Brooks running shoes, Nike dri-fit running pants, parkrun 100 tec top, pink New Balance running wind cheat, PWR buff around my neck, Aftershokz in my....oops... on my ears and my white signature running cap!  Totally prepared.  Even my running buddies were there at Norman park! I have all the gear! I may not look (shape wise) like an athlete but my goodness I'm dressed like one.  I set my Garmin and started to run when the time was right.

I was running with Pat for a while, before she found her pace and did her own thing, then I was just running along trying not to think about how unfit and a chunky monkey I have become!  When blow me down I saw a guy in front of me, when we got to the top of the park, he was wearing, I kid you not, a donkey jacket, jeans, wooly bobble hat and ordinary trainers! Could they have been converse, I don't know!  But talk about being totally unprepared!  Did he just decide to take a walk in the park just as parkrun started and think, "Feck it, I'll join in"  Who knows!  But it did put a slight dampener on my run that day as I tried to keep up with him!  I did get a sneaky picture of him, from the back! I did think maybe he was just running through the park because he was late for something but when he continued on pass the exit I knew he was parkrunning!

We also had a 50th parkrun to celebrate, now that did help me get my arse out of the door! That was Terry, with Loulou, and I think it was Sherrys too!  They had cake on offer!  Also, this week, quietely whispering in our ear Louise said it was her 50th parkrun too!

So that leads us on to my solo run!  After missing a parkrun and a Club run I just had to give myself a kick up the back side and go on out.  As soon as I got back from work on Wednesday last week I just went upstairs to get changed for running.  No thinking about it, no 'Lets just do this little bit of work first".  No. Just upstairs, running gear on and out of the door.  

I chose to do Norman park, run around there for 3 laps, that's about 3.5 miles, just slightly more than parkrun.  It's the only way without any short cuts home!  I know I have to do three laps, just to make it worth while driving my car there!  So I did it, it wasn't pretty, but then, as IllustriousLeader once said, running is not the most glamourous sport ever!  I mean, I daren't wear make up, it would totaly slip off my face and down my running gear!  You would never get the stains out!

So there's my running for the last 4, 5...6 weeks!  It's club run tonight!  I'm looking forward to that!

Christmas 2021! It Can Only Get Better

 Hello blog readers.

I can't believe how long it's been since my last blog!  I am imagining (I won't say I will be making!) my new years resolution!  Put it this way, if I'm blogging then I've run!  So, here's to loads more blogs for you all!.....hopefully!

So a lot happened between the last blog and now, of course I was leading group one on the Tuesdays, also my daughter came over from America to see me just in time for my birthday!  We had a fabulous afternoon tea at a very special place called Sketch.  It's the most quirkiest place that I have ever been too, let alone the most expensive place I have every been too! But I thoroughly enjoyed my champagne afternoon tea!

From that weekend, 26th November on, I caught a cold!  It has gone on for ages, I missed a few club runs, #SecretLondonRuns Christmas Lights run, one that I was so looking forward to going to for quite a while!  Pat had asked if I was going, I had said yes, so she put her name down.  We were going to be traveling together!  Both of us dressed up looking ridiculous!  Two of us could get away with it!  But it was a big fat no for me!  Pat had to travel by herself, on the train. I had hoped she would meet some of the others on the train station!  But she said she travelled alone!  Dressed like a Christmas tree, complete with Lights!  Oh I wished I was a fly on the wall at Pettswood Station! Bloody cold,  I had time of work too, I was floored!  It was that bad, I was testing every day with the lft's just in case it turned out to be the dread 'rona!  Fortunately it wasn't,  a PCR test assured me of that!  But since I have been back running I have been really struggling.  Coughing and spluttering my way around our 5k courses.  I kept reassuring everyone that I was 'COVID' free! I am just left with this awful cough!  It is getting better though.

So the high lights of all the runs that I have done since 10th November has to be....well it's the last two runs.  The Woo Woo run and this mornings 'earlier than usual' Club run. Let me tell you about the Woo Woo run.

It's become a bit of a tradition now, the last Tuesday before the Christmas Big day is a Woo Woo run.  I usually get a few defectors from other groups too, and this year was no different.  RefMichael joined me, Nigel joined me (well he had actually had a sore foot but wanted to test it out!)  Not only that his wife Auriol who was booked into another group also came and joined in with us!  Our usual group was with us, J.J., CarolWithAnE, Dee, SweeperRob and his Mrs Karen!  Our Mat was there too!  We also had a newbie join us for their first ever run!  What a run to join in, Collen from our latest Autumn beginners group joined our happy band of PWR's.  Pat from the Spring beginners group joined in our woo woo run, as well as Marius, it was their first Woo woo run too, fortunately for me.....Pat chose to be designated driver, woo woo! Double woo woo time for me!

We met up at the usual place, usual time but we just looked a little different, a bit more colourful!  Quite a few of us remembered to bring along some hydration too........well, a little something warming in a hip flask!  I brought along my mate Jack Daniels!  We then headed for the streets to do our woo woo run.  Woo Woo here has two meanings, when you think about it.  Firstly it started off on our very first run with the added luxury of hip flasks, the more we got into the run the more 'warming' we felt, the more appreciative of the Christmas Lights we became and we gave a 'Wooo' when we ran past and so the Woo Woo run was born.

St Georges Road in Petts Wood never disappoints and we actually did that road twice, we ran one way on the way out and then opposite direction when we ran back.  They really do go all the way with their lights.  It was even featured on this morning when they did the weather forecast from the street! Here is some pictures from that run.

Sugarbum fairy, captured
by Kev Howarth photography

The gang!

A selfie with the gang

Todays run was completely different.  There were only two of us for a start, Tara, KevTwoBalls Mrs, was my running partner.  She was on fire at parkrun last Saturday, smashing 25 seconds of her PB.  And yet, she was running with me this morning!  I am glad she did, otherwise I would have been by myself.....or encouraged to join group 2!   I decided to do Tillingbourne Green, at least Tara can have a good workout as I am going to be a little slow....ok a lot slow!  Probably not going to be sounding to healthy either.  Running always make me cough anyway, but with the added, well established cough already in place.  It was then that Tara said she was looking forward to a slower paced run anyway, as she went eyeballs out on Saturday.  

We also had a slightly added pressure of the newly introduced group 0, the injured walkers group, saying to us "We are going to try and keep you in our sights, follow you on your route!"  I had already told Viral that I was going to be doing a 3 mile route.  Everybody started off together, and I mean everybody! Out of the gate, groups around 13 groups of runners exited. Some had just a few runners, others had at least 8-10 in there.  I should have taken a photo. Another thing not to put on my non existing new years resolution list, take more photos!  

The first road of course is flat, is Crossways, but we turn right and that's the hill!  Half way up this hill I turned to see how far the walking group was behind us and I saw them!  It was an incentive to try and put some more space between us! I think en-route I turned around a couple of more times and only saw them once more!  I was so pleased!  It's the little things isn't it!

Once we got around the green, Tara running up that steepest part of the hill, we ran up the short hill to the main road.  A little walking break and then running along to the roundabout!  We crossed over and ran down Petts Wood Road towards the park where we start from. There was still with no sign of Group 0!   I was feeling pretty knackered by this time, I was coughing a bit, my chest felt a little tight!  But I wanted to finish this run, I wanted also to make sure it was 3 miles! That meant running up to the memorial hall!  More hills! The last one!  Once we were at the top we turned right and made our way to the nice little down hill of Kingsway and then a left turn towards the park!  

A lovely run, even if we were not the greatest of adverts for running, both of us were coughing!  But a most enjoyable run. 

So from the highlights of these last two months to the lows of these last couple of weeks. That is, both my daughters with Covid, one son in law with covid, two grandchildren with covid, two nieces with covid and one brother with covid!  The rotten cherry on top is that my car broke down on Christmas day just as I was delivering the kids  presents to them!  COVID you can go do one!

Having no car will make things awkward for getting to club runs at 7 pm on Tuesdays!  I may have to miss quite a few of them until I get myself a new car! I am absolutely gutted!  There are a few things that could work at them moment that will allow me to get to club on time, but we shall just have to wait and see how it all works out with the first week going to work using public transport......or my bike!  If I use my bike it can only mean that I will get fitter, silver linings!  Also walking back home after work in the mornings means more steps for me!  Think positive!

This is me in my cosy hoody, a

Christmas present. Perfect for warming

up after a run!

My new shoes, another present this Christmas!

Have a great new year every one!   Look for the positive in everything next year!  They are there...somewhere!

Getting There!

 Hello Blog Readers

How you all been.  I've been better! Thankfully not ill, just recovering from surgery.  I had a procedure done on my tear duct last month on the 26th October.  Blimey, it didn't 'arf  'urt!  I had the same procedure done years and years ago, on my other eye, I am pretty sure it didn't hurt as much as this time did.  Back then, after I came out of the hospital, I popped to the pub before going home!  Mind you, that was then and this is now, things were a little different. Back then I had an overnight stay in hospital.  This time round I was in and out on the same day, conveyor belt style!  Did that make the difference, who knows, could it be that I am older, and things take a lot longer to heal!  Probably!  Anyway, I missed several running sessions which I am not happy about!

I went along to the beginners on Saturday, but my face was still pretty sore, achy and bruised,  having my glasses on my nose is quite painful, so I just went along for support and took my camera (read that as phone).  It was the first time this group would be running up the hill.....well, sort of.....they tried to do it the week before but the weather was just too horrendous so it was abandoned!  We have quite a few of our runners left from when we started this autumns session, and we had quite a few PWR's to help run along with our runners too, to encourage them, especially up that cheeky little 'bump' they have to run up!  Here, this is some of our beginners in action.

So fast I almost
missed!

So, yesterday, was the first time I have tried running since the surgery.  Goodness knows how I was going to feel.  Mentally I was ready, oh I was so ready!  I just didn't want to wait another week without running.  Being in the lower running group, I feel that I might just lose fitness.  When the other groups have time out, they can still get to run club and maybe run in a slower group, but us in the lower group, we have to challenge ourselves when we have 'time out'.  I guess the best thing really is to just pull my finger out and start to try and move up the groups!  We'll see!

There were only six of us in group 1 yesterday, quite a pleasant evening too.  It wasn't freezing cold, or raining and Crofton school were having their fireworks do! Perfect running conditions for me really, well I think the fireworks are maybe a bit over the top for my return, but hey 😉  Nice low numbers, so we are not going to be stretch out too far from each other, not good when I guessed I would probably be leading from the back! Not to cold that I am not going to enjoy it, it really was just perfect conditions.  I had planned to do our 'easy' route but do it the opposite way round, just so that we could keep the fireworks in our view, maybe, just maybe get to the school while they are still going off!

SweeperRob said it was more challenging going the opposite way round, which everybody quickly said yes!  I hadn't really thought about,  I was beginning to waiver and say 'ok, lets go the usual way around' but they all chimed in and said I should stick with my plan, as they really only just having a little moan, I said at "least we will have the downhill and the end, which is always good" , so we stuck with the original plan.

The fireworks started almost as soon as we left the rec, I was thinking to myself then that maybe we would not make it to the school for the grand finale, but you never know, I could surprise myself, right?  That first hundred yards or so my legs started to feel like lead weights!  I could just 'feel' the messages they would be sending to my brain:- 

Legs :"Hey, um brain, what do you think you are doing, I thought we had stopped with all this nonsense?"

Brain: "No, don't be daft legs, I was just resting up old face ache up there, you know, trying to heal the bruises before she frightens any more kids"

Legs: "Well, I would rather not, if you don't mind, I was enjoying sitting crossed leg watching telly"

Brain: "Just get on with it, I'll speak to you later"

That was it, brain switched off signals to legs and legs just had to get going!  It didn't help that running was not doing my head any good, and I don't mean the mind, I mean my head, my glasses were hurting my nose and I kept trying to push my glasses further back but then that hurt the scar and the scab! But there was one thing that didn't hurt, that was my mind! Mind was having a blast, Mind was having a conversation all by herself

Mind: "Oh this is so good, oh look pretty sparkles"

Brain: 

Mind: "oh it's soo good to be back running with these guys again, oh wow, that was a big one"

Brain:

Mind "What route should I do next week, oohhh wow that one was sooo loud!"

My brain really wasn't taking any notice of tired legs, of hurting noses, my brain just let my mind take over and enjoy my run.  Yes I was slow, and yes I was leading from the back again, but I was feeling really good.  It's amazing how just a couple of weeks off from running and you are just gagging to get back to it!  I like routine, I don't like missing things, I like leading, it's a great discipline for me to be there!

So yes, there it is,  my ramblings for today, weird ramblings, but hey ho! Enjoy!