Double Beginners!

Hello blog readers.

I have been a bit lazy writing up me blogs! So I have squished together to beginners reports, for the last two Saturdays.

28th October 

That was a real good session.  We had a special 'guest speaker' that came along to to have a chat with our beginners.  PhysioMiketheMod!  He is a wealth of information and advice for anyone that is starting out running, or even for someone that has been running for sometime.  We had a usual two lap walk around the rec and then PhysicoMiketheMod shared some of his information.  Talking about running technique, running style and breathing!  Yes, I know we all learn how to breath as soon as we 'pop out' but a bit of control and discipline is needed for when you are trying to run and breath efficiently to help keep up your energy levels!  It's all very informative.  And then we started our running!

We kept it in the rec, because then everyone could take advantage of PMtM, captured in the rec.  And also if he could see anyone that was struggling a bit he could nip in and give some more advice and encouragement.  Running for eight minutes, we were, and some of our beginners were so surprised and very proud of what that had achieved so far! Of course I am not surprised!  I knew they all could it!  If they have got this far then they will go on to finish the course and graduate at the Bromley parkrun.  

I took some pictures of this session, here they are!

Don't forget those hips!

Clams, not just delicious to eat, but
good for your glutes too!

So, we just gonna watch, or shall
we try it?

4th November

So, Saturday just gone! Oh my goodness, what a morning it was!  I woke up to rain soaked windows!  I so just wanted to curl up in my duvet and go back to sleep.  But being a leader is a great motivator, because I knew I had to get out there and lead!  I knew that once I was there, wet, it will be fine! I picked up Tracy on the way too.

This was to be the first time out on the streets for our beginners, I wasn't sure how many there would be, I mean, if I was tempted to turn over and stay in the warm, I was wondering if our beginners were thinking the same!  But when I got there.....or I should say, after I got there the beginners started to arrive, along with our hardy PWR's.  There must have been about 20 beginners and almost as many PWR's.  It was almost a 'one on one' pairing for our beginners!

Sherry, being the kind and considerate one, thought the beginners would prefer not getting wet feet for a change, because we would be running out on the streets anyway.  I think I would still have gone around the green, get a good warm up, wet feet!  We're hard, we can 'hack' it. And besides, once your feet are wet, your body warms up your socks and you don't notice it!  Honest!

But we still did our warm up walk and silly walks out on the streets of Petts Wood.  So just imagine, 20 beginners, 15 or so PWR's  all gaily skipping along, kicking butt and doing side steps. Usually we are running with the houses surround us in a little cocoon that is our rec. But that morning we were on the outside, showing all of Petts Wood what we have been doing, we emerged from the green like beautiful butterflies!  Ok, so a bit of poetic licence, we probably looked like little frozen drowned rats!

We left the rec at Townsend and worked our way around to the entrance in Crossways.  by then we were ready to hit the hill!  It was the first time to show our new group the hill!  Some already knew it, but others just didn't even think they could get up there walking, let alone running!  The stint in the rec these past weeks should hold them in good stead.  All that informtion, all those evenings/mornings running will get them up the hill with miles and miles still left in their legs.  And it was just as well because some of them would be doing the loop three times!

I was with the group that did it just twice!  And would you believe it, the second time they went up the hill they ran it so much better than the first time.  It was because by then they were totally warmed up, totally relaxed, mainly because they knew the hill finished pretty quickly.  I was with one young lade, she was running with her son.  She was struggling a bit, with a bit of a sore knee, but her son kept her going!  It's just so heartwarming to see the children encourage the parents to get fitter!  I had a smile on my face every time he said something encouraging to his mum!  Just so sweet!

We finished our session at the rec, to do some cool down stretches, just as the rain started!  I did as many as I could, as I didn't want them all to get to cold.

Another fabulous session!

Double Day

Hello blog readers.

It's been a couple of weeks since I've done a double Thursday, I wasn't sure how I was going to to.  The first of course is the morning run.  It was a bit foggy when I work up, and I just knew it would be a bit chilly, but it actually didn't feel that cold out, it still felt quite mild. I met up with everyone in the rec, there were about 15 or so of us.  DiscoRich divided us very expertly into our groups.  There were four of us in my group, me, Tracy, IllustriousLeader and Paula.  I was going to take them on the easier route around the edge of the woods, Tracy is still nursing a sore tendon and I was planning on running in the evening at track, but I still had a good run.  Both me and IllustriousLeader took it in turns to lead and sweep!  First I led then I.L. lead.  That way it meant that Tracy always had someone with her.  Well, I didn't want her to get lost, not in the woods, I would definitely not find her if she went on walk about.

I think everyone had a good run, some faster bits, some slower bits.  We got back to the rec, the fog was quickly disappearing and it looked like it was going to be a good day.

Geeky stats.

Track Session

These dark nights, it's so much harder to get out and do stuff for myself.  It's fine getting out when I am leading, but actually getting out for myself, well it's pretty hard.  Just thank goodness that NaggyNeighbour was going and Mr.S wanted to be picked up too!  

We were there quite early for a change, I think it's because Naggy wasn't quite sure of the start time!  But that's fine, it gives us a chance to acclimatise to the cool the evening air.  It's still quite mild really, perfect running conditions.  The session was 400 metre run, rest for 90 secs, ........that was what was said on the Facebook page, but then PhysioMiketheMod changed it to 60 sec rest.  We had to do that 12 times.  I am not sure how many times I did it, but I did try and do my best.  With the 'not feeling it' and a niggling sore knew I just knew I was going to struggle.  

But there is one thing, I am glad I went'  I may not have done as much as everyone else but I still went out and did some exercises.  I went out even though I just wanted to curly under my blanket and keep warm while watching crap t.v., I still got myself ready to go out and run.  

Next week I shall have to start throwing in mu solo runs again, I gotta keep this weight down and off me, at least until December this year!

So geeky stats for Normans Park Track, it was good running also side Dina Asher Smith,.....ok totally behind her then........ok, to be able to run in the dust clouds left by her......actually even her dust clouds disappear just as quick, but being in the same running track is very good! 

Club Run - Spooky Times

Hello blog readers.

NaggyNeighbour drove us this evening, we picked up Tracy and got to the rec! There were already loads of people there, a good turn out considering! It was an interesting night to go for a club run! All Hallows Eve, running along dodging, ghosties and ghoulies! One PWR even came along with his face painted!  Although no one came in black, well, most people were wearing hi vis or had lights on them. Maybe next year I will try to remember to bring some 'treats' so that I can give out some sweets to the kids, it will make a change from taking sweets from the public! At least that way we won't get egged, I do believe that another group had to dodge 'egg missiles'!  They went down the same road that we were heading down!  So they  'cleared' the way for us!

Anyway, I gave out my route and the pace, and distance, as indicated on the new paddles! Yes, that's right!  We have these new 'paddles' with a great big number printed on them, obviously the one that I was holding was the number 1, it also has on it the pace, the distance in miles and kilometres, depending if you are old money or new money! I stood by the side with my paddle held high and waiting for all of my group 1's to join me!

I had one new person that joined me, she hasn't been running for quite some time, I really wasn't sure how she was going to do.  But if you don't try, you don't know.  If it's not right for her then there is always the beginners course in the spring next year!  It's not that far off really!  So I had 9 of us in the group, Michael was joining us this evening, it's always lovely to have him with us but I am missing some of my regular crew!  Tracy is with us and Kathy and Auriol. 

I had planned on running up Birchwood but when I found out that I had a newbie with me I decided to do my nice and easy route, up Kingsway and then it's fairly flat after that, all the way to the rec.  Unfortunately with just the the run from the rec to Kingsway our newbie decided that she just wasn't ready for group running.  Tracy suggested to her that she comes along to the next beginners group.  I just hope that she wasn't too disappointed.

We carried on our run and we bumped into group 2 who told us that some little darling ghoulies had thrown eggs at them!  Kids being kids, but I wonder how they would have felt if the eggs were taken from them and thrown at them!?  We ran and walked all the way around the 3 mile route today, and we were all pretty tight together, even though there is still a gap between the front runners it wasn't that much this evening! 

It was a great run, I had fun, it was good seeing all the kids out with the buckets, the houses decorated, although, I do think that we have succumbed to the hype of halloween, trick or treat!  How did that happen? Oh well!

Geeky stats.

Blogs! At Least 3!

Hello readers!

Well, it's been a stressful and a happy week or so!  Daughter getting married must be THE highlight of the year!  The wedding went off without a hitch and of course the bride looked gorgeous!  Here, take a look for yourselves!

Before the wedding though, last Thursday on the 19th of October, I managed to get a run with my pals in the morning.  We had a great time, just the 5 of us, I took a picture of us when we got to the little river, here, this is us about half way through our run.

Paula, K, PinkLadyJo, me and Tracy!

I didn't run again until the Saturday morning, the day after the wedding!  I know! Crazy eh!  But it was the beginners session.  I wasn't sure who was going to turn up from PWR's as it's the school holidays, so I just had to be there to make sure they had someone to encourage them.  It was only doing the repeat of the week before, so we ran for 6 minutes and then walked for 2.  There were actually loads of PWR's there, including DiscoRich who was thinking that he would be leading the beginners.  Michael even turned up with his whistle, just in case too!  I tell you, it makes you proud to be part of a great team and a great club, the way we all just muck in and get on and do things!

My next run was of course the club run, I had actually already written a blog about that.  I just wasn't feeling up to trying to remember all about the other runs.  I am still trying to remember what happened on them now!  So now, I am up today!  This mornings run.  It's Thursday, so it's a nice gentle run through the woods.  The weather wasn't too pleasant, we had that fine rain coming down.  I made sure that had my old 'muddy woods' shoes on.

Tracy was with me, I picked her up this morning, and we met up with Auriol and loads of other runners!  But they were all in the faster groups, 1 2 and 3 (for some reason on a Thursday morning, group 1 is the faster group!) I was just going to do a small loop around the woods, I wasn't feeling to well anyway, I think I have a cold starting! Tracy is suffering a little too, with an pain in her leg!

We all left the rec, we were last out and we headed for poo ally.  I took the left path planning to run all the way up Botany Bay lane, rather than going to Goss hill.  I knew that Tracy would be a little behind but we could always do loop backs.  I also make sure I wait at where the path meets other paths, I don't want Tracy getting lost in the woods!

It went well, we had a good run, with a few stops and a great chat.  I do like Thursday morning runs, and I am quite glad I went as this evening the cold bug has taken hold and I feel blimmin rotten now!  Sniffles, sore throat and headache!  Oh well. No track for me this evening, just curling up in my blanket with a lempsip!

Geeky stats for this morning run are not here!  I had forgotten to put turn on my Garmin!  I also had my tee-shirt on back to front and according to Tracy I just looked as if I wasn't 'there'!  And that was just the beginning of the cold!

Oh, and because I don't have any geeky stats, here are some mushrooms we saw on our run last Thursday!

Club Run!

Hello blog readers.

This evening is our club run!  It's also half term and that means that some of our members go away for a few days during the school holidays, so numbers were depleted in all groups, but in my group the numbers were really down!  When I had a count up there were only 2 of us!   So I made an executive decision that we will join group 1.5 and swell their numbers as they were somewhat depleted too!  Just then three more people joined us, one of the new group 1 ladies from last week, one of our regular group 1 ladies and a chap who usually runs in group 6!  But he decided to run along with us in group 1.5 as group 6 had already gone!

Newly qualified LiRF Joanne was our leader in group 1.5 and I was sweeper along with IllustriousLeader.  I knew that a couple of my group 1's will find it a little challenging this evening and I didn't want then to feel as if they were holding anyone up.  I could always take my group members on a shortened version of Joannes route!  We were kind of doing the route that I was going to do anyway, with just a couple of different roads thrown in.  So I knew that the group 1's can do this.

Joanne was a fabulous leader, she kept a tight reign on the front runners, not letting them pull us along too hard.  The route was a nice route, with no hills, maybe just a very small incline, quite doable for us, even running at a slightly faster pace!  It was a fun filled run, we almost lost our group 6 runner to the Orpies, 'someone' thought that the group that was running along was our group 6 but it turned out that it was ORR's!  There was also some quizzing going on apparently as some of the members swot up on their general knowledge!

We in group 1 did take a couple of the shorter routes and got back to the rec a few minutes before the rest of the group, ready for the stretching, which Joanne delegated to me to do!  I loved it, and it also showed our group 1's what it's like in the next group up, whether they are ready for it, or even if they could actually move up to group 2! 

Geeky stats.

Solo Run

Hello blog readers

I got home early and decided I needed a run.  With a weekend of very little running, a little too much drinking on Friday and indulging in  chocolate I really needed to get out.  The wedding is just a couple of days away, I am panicking just a little, "Is everything done, have we done all that we need to do"  I don't want my little girl to miss out on a thing!  She's a good girl and a very good mum.  I am immensly proud of her.  And now soon, very soon, she is going to be a wonderful wife to a very lovely man!  So, no pressure to make sure it goes all as planned! A plan that she herself has done!

I was in the house for only a few minutes before I went upstairs to get changed and out of the house.  It was still light out, but I think it will be dark by the time I get back, it's only 6 o'clock and I am thinking about getting home in the dark!  Where has the summer gone!  I miss the summer already, happy feelings, warm feelings, getting together with friends and family.  That's what I love. Still, time moves on, seasons change.  Maybe I should try and embrace autumn and winter. 

I was running along Farringdon Avenue, thinking about all sorts, getting emotional, stressing, when I heard a 'beep beep'  it was NaggyNeighbour!  I stopped for a few minutes to chat with her, talk about the wedding, saying how my mum would have loved this wedding!  Still, it is what it is, it's going to be a wonderful day watching my little girl say 'I do' to her man!  I carried on up the road feeling a little lighter, but still with thoughts racing through my mind!

I struggled all the way around my 5k this evening but I came back thinking 'At least I did it'  it's no big achievement, but it was a little bit of me time!

Geeky stats

Club Run - Enter The Newbies!

Hello blog readers.

This evening was one of those evenings when I just felt like I wanted to sit on my recliner, with my blanket over me watching crap t.v.  But I didn't, thank goodness I am a leader!  If I wasn't then I think I would most certainly have cried off running this evening.   

So to shake out any residual 'I don't want to be here's' my route included Tillingbourne Green!  It's a fabulous hill (did I just really say that.....write that?) It's a hill that when you have completed the little circuit you think to your self, "Yes I did it!"  This evening however was a little different!  When I arrived at the rec, and all the leaders had given out their route, pace and distance I went over to our pole to await all those running in group 1 this evening.  I was amazed to find not 1, not 2 but 4 newbies which included 2 returnees!  Kate, Hannah, Jasmine and Tendi (I think it's spelt like that) as well as our regular lovely ladies, Tracy, Auriol, Selena and Clair, so that's a lovely 9 of us running this evening.

I wasn't detered though, I still want to do the tough little route of Tillingbourne, well, it's only a couple more days before my daughters wedding.  I am trying to balance my weight, I don't want to lose anymore weight at the moment, because I don't want the dress that I bought to hang off me, but then I don't want to put it all back on either!  It's tough this 'maintaining' lark! 

There were quite a few runners this evening spread over all our 12 groups!  Our club gets bigger and bigger every year, we are such a popular club!  Even our own PWR 10k event is normally sold out weeks before the date, it's a 'most do' on runners lists of 10k's.  I wanted to get started pretty quick, so after having a count up, a quick welcome to the new comers (trying desperately to remember who's who) we were off!  Out of the gate, chasing one of the faster groups, I had to call a couple of my group back, just in case the got caught up in the faster group!  We crossed over the road and then group 2 passed us by, they were going to be running up Birchwood too!  Again I had to just gather my group in together, just like a mother hen, so as not to lose anyone!

We ran up Birchwood and then took a little break while we caught our breath and then continued on our way, turning right at the top.  I was hoping that the hills will not frighten off our newcomers, I feel sure that if they do this and look happy about it then they will deffo be back next week.  There really is no escaping hills in Petts Wood, so a baptism of fire will deffo be a good thing!

We crossed over the main road and then headed for Tillingbourne, it's down hill mainly, until we get to the green.  I pointed at the 'little' hill that we had to run up, some of them said "What we running up there?"  I didn't want to say to them that it was the smaller of the hills on the Green!  Why let them worry about it until it was necessary! Not that they would worry anyway!

The run around the green was good, the main body of the group all kept tight together, then I sent up the faster group 1's to run at their own pace.  Some people like to just run as fast as they could up hills, just to get it done, others like to take it nice and easy a steady pace all the way up, which is a very good way to get up hills.  I know some panic and start walking, I know that, because I used to do it myself, in fact I still do when I see a particularly nasty little hill!  The ones in the woods always get me puffing hard and getting me to walk some them!   But this little run around the green, up the longer hill I did it!

We had to run up one more hill to get to Petts Wood Road, and then we could enjoy the down hill all the way to Crossways!  All the ladies thought that was the end of our run, that we would run along to the rec from here.  But of course I do like to make sure that we have done a 3 mile route, and going along Crossways from here would leave us short!  There was only one way to go and that was up the last hill of the run.  I ran at the back with Tracy and I sent the faster runners up at their own pace along with Auriol, she had done a brilliant job of sweeping and now it was time to just let her have a little stretch of the legs and get a bit of speed going!

We ran up to the memorial hall, passing the fish and chip shop which smelled so good! Then we turned right and then right again so that we were running down Kingsway to Crossways!  Now our run was over as we made our way back to the rec to do some cool down stretches!  A fabulous run with some fabulous ladies, all still had a smile on their faces, so I feel sure they will be back next week to continue with their running!

Geeky stats.