You think it looks bad now …..

..... you should see it on.


They claim it’s XXL but it feels like an L or even an M. Bits hanging out the sides that definitely shouldn’t. The current Mrs L bought me a vest a year or two ago, it wasn’t a good look at all. Neither are hats but that’s another (and only marginally more interesting) story.

Anyhow, 13.1 miles, what’s that all about? I’m doing the Reading half-marathon in just over a week and whilst I wouldn’t use the word confident I know that I can do the distance although the time may not be very impressive.

SPONSOR ME NOW BEFORE YOU FORGET!

The last race I entered into went pretty well. Bramley (nr Reading) is a lot flatter than Tadworth (nr Epsom) and as such I managed to get my time down from 2 hours (very, very, very slow) to just under 1 hour 45 minutes (just very, very slow). These times are for 10 miles by the way. I’d set my Garmin to bleep at me and shout ‘SPEED UP’ if I was going slower than 11minutes/mile and ‘SLOW DOWN’ if I was going faster than 9 minutes/mile. For the first mile whilst the Garmin was ‘sorting itself out’ I must have given a very good impression of someone playing space invaders as it couldn’t make its mind up what was happening. After that it was annoying and fairly vocal (if that’s the right word) but I think the constant warnings improved my run slightly.

One of the reasons I’m currently ok with (and almost looking forward to) the half-marathon is the long runs I’ve been on. Apart from 2 x 10m races this year I’ve done an 11m adirun and a 12.5m run last weekend. The adirun was brilliant, as it always is, and you can always find someone to run with and talk to while running, although it’s not a skill I’ve perfected due to my solo dark runs with just my mp3 player for company. It’s very organised, they have helpers at the front, middle and back and there’s biscuits, bars and tea at the end as well as a massage if needed. Having done 3 of these (5m, 8m and 11m) I’ve ditched them temporarily as a few of my fellow Fetchies organise Sunday morning runs in either Bushy Park (Teddington) or Richmond Park which start at 8am so I can do 12.5 miles very slowly, have a cup of tea and a bacon sarnie and still be home by about 11.15.

Last weekend 6 of us met up at the Bushy Park main car park (by Diana fountain) and set off together through a bit of Hampton Court Palace, over the main road and along the river from Hampton Court towards Walton. I’ve never run here before although the Kingston run in October did go over Hampton Court Bridge before heading towards Scilly Isles, Surbiton etc. The weather was perfect (although did get very hot later) and the scenery was gorgeous. There’s nothing to beat running along the river in my opinion and when the nights get lighter I’ll be doing a lot more of it. While I only ran with people for about 5.5 of the 12.5 miles (4 at the beginning and 1.5 at the end) it wasn’t a problem. People need to go at their own pace and be neither hampered nor unnecessarily stretched by others and I like to feel I can run just as well (or do I mean badly) with others or on my own. The one problem with my towpath plan is the cycling community who think they own it and in my opinion need taking down a peg or twelve.

Other recent good news is the other week, the day before Bramley, Rosie (nearly 6) expressed an interest in running with me. We went to Richmond Park and ran together, very slowly, along the running track that goes all the way round the park doing 3 x 200 metre jogs (approximately) and then running back without stopping. I had to stress to her that the greater the distance the slower you should go to conserve energy as she wanted to sprint off quickly. The good news is that she really enjoyed it and we plan to make it a regular activity. Becky didn’t get into the Moonwalk this year so may do one of these 5k race for life things. I think quite a large percentage of people do these as a run/walk exercise but she seems fairly determined to run it all so watch this space.

Juggling work, family and running wasn’t difficult enough so in an attempt to further my career I’ve started CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) which involves lessons for 2 evenings a week and no small amount of homework. I may have to cut down the running a bit or just organise myself a little better. Just realised I forgot to add FFC into the whole juggling equation. Oh well.

Why blog? Isn’t it incredibly egotistical?
The reason I’m doing this is three-fold:
1 – I enjoy running and feel I’m improving but I’m not a natural runner/athlete by any stretch of the imagination so I do thrive, to a certain extent, on encouragement and the more people who know about my running, the more encouragement I get to carry on. Sounds a bit strange now I’ve typed it but I think it’s correct.
2 – I always feel I have to aim towards a goal i.e. a race or else the likelihood of me packing it in would increase greatly. Entering a race is also a good opportunity to raise some money for a charity that I wouldn’t do otherwise. If people have bothered to sponsor me, I like to tell them how I’m getting on.
3 – I think it will be fascinating to look back on these in a few years when I’m either 28 stone wedged into a chair somewhere or a world class athlete with new knees.

Other random odds and sods:
- Got lost in Chiswick doing an 8.5 mile run in the rain. I love running in the rain. Got through the creepy dark part of Chiswick, turned right at Barnes Bridge and ran along the railway for what seemed like hours. Found my way back onto Barnes Bridge and Robert was indeed my mother’s brother.
- Did 174 miles last year (took August off for hols and November off for injury) and have already done 117 miles in less than a third of the time

Last call for sponsorship