Leap Day Run

Today I made my proposal, a proposal not of marriage but one of commitment. It was a challenge to myself to get 'back on it' in terms of my marthon and cross-training to support my marathon plan.
I was up at sunrise and after the stndard morning faffing of feeding cats, brushing teeth, choosing which trainers to run in I set off for a leisurely trot along local roads.
My legs were still a little sore post race and the missing club run last night in favour of an extra 12 hours rest seem to do the trick as I was feeling much fresher for it.

Post race buzz!

Up early and eating my porridge I was slightly apprehensive about my knee niggle giving me problems at the Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon today but I needn't have worried, my body fell into race mode as soon Dame Kelly Holmes started the race at 10am this morning.
Travelling to the race win a car full of PWRs we chatted and laughed, grateful for the glorious weather, perfect for racing at around 8-10degrees and sunny.
On arrival we saw more PWRs and other familiar faces in the crowds as we stopped off to collect our race t-shirts before the start (making sure we got the right sizes). A bottle of powerade and a banana later we were heading up to the 2 hour space in the start corral. After only 2 miles I heard a shout for PWR and then my name and spotted Mike R in the crowds with his trusty camera filming us. I also said a friendly hello to some Orpies, spotting Dave my fellow night runner - suggesting that we were making leaps and bounds in the local rivalry running side by side!
The two pacers for a 2 hour marathon were close by so I knew I was on track to get round in a sub-2 and hopefully with my knee in tact. Trotting along comfortably as a decent clip the miles seemed to drop away happily and before long we were approaching the dreaded and now infamous Spring Hill... I managed to ignore the hill and make some quips to some non-impressed runners about a sign for potatoes 1/4 mile ahead, suggesting that if they can make the potatoes they'd be full of carbs - not sure they were impressed but it made me smile!
Onwards and upwards, I heard the two hour pacers behind me shouting at their follower not to stop at the pub, there was still more hill to come. The pub in question was home to a band and lots of screaming fans which is always good for a boost especially on a hilly section.
Gels and water were next and by god gels are the food of the devil, a texture that defies explanation but is surely one of the worst to have ever been created. They are not a good thing! I stuck to the jelly beans being handed out by kids (lets hope they hadn't suffered the same fate as Jerry's jelly babies!)
As I neared 10miles I spotted Dalaine and Laura up ahead and I approached gradually, unable to speak due to a man blocking my way I continued ahead. Within a couple of minutes Dalaine had sped up and rocketed past me, not to be seen again until after the finish. Then the mind games began, less that a 5k to go, that's less that 30minutes even if I slow down, but I didn't want to slow down I wanted to keep going. Then y next target slipped into view around 12 miles, I could see Simon's trademark red cap bobbing along and gradually, slowly but surely I counted off the runners between us and closed the gap. With probably less that 400m to go I made it past but I made my move too soon, I could hear my name being called out by the other PWRs who had already finished and as I rounded the corner Simon called out, 'where did you spring from' and instantaneously everyone else around us faded into obscurity as we raced, spurring each other onto the finish line and Dame Kelly Holmes. We crossed in unison, I began to heave as is my way on a sprint finish then we were awarded our medals! 
Before departing we celebrated with chocs from Sarah, hot tea and some homemade cupcakes from Tracey, yum yum.
I continued my post race buzz for the next few hours and it is possibly only now that I am on the come down. I had truly forgotten how great you feel after a good race (only a few months since my last but it felt like forever) and Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon was a good race, I will be back in years to come.


Check out the video here... I am in about 0:32 and at the finish at about 1:34 (on the video, not the race!), you will see Simon trying to catch me but I just pipped him by 1 second in the final chip times!

Making the most of free time

Fitting in my training runs has seemed very difficult for the last couple of weeks, I seemed to get back on track in Ireland and then volume seemed to decrease again. 
This morning, knowing I had only done one run and that I will be racing tomorrow in Tunbridge Wells I decided to go out with my garmin on but on a screen that meant I had no idea of pace but planned a route that would give me legs a good loosening for tomorrow of around 3 miles.
According to my plan, my pace should be around 10min/miles for an easy run so imagine my surprise when I got home and loaded up the stats to find that I had paced at almost my perfect marathon pace. I wasn't out of breath, I was comfortably pootling along just enjoying the run, so my body knows the speed it wants to go at but now we just have to make sure I get the miles in and come the 22nd April lets hope it all falls into place once again!

Emergency! Stop! Where are my shoes!?!

Where are my shoes!! Where are they, they have to be here, they just have to be, when is the train, oh too soon too soon, can I get home to get them, I don't think I can, I need my shoes where are they? - Just some of the thoughts running through me head after my interval training at the gym this morning!
Now lets go back a couple of hours, I woke up with the alarm nicely refreshed and got my gym bag together thinking I may try and make the early spin class. Then looking at the time and thinking better of it I decided I would try out my knee on the treadmill (I had a bit of a niggle of Sunday). I did 1 mile easy to warm up and was feeling good so decided to do some intervals instead as I was unable to get to the track session last week.... they were going superbly well, with 400m hard (at 7:03 min/mile pace) followed by 100m walk recovery. I did the first set of six and then the bad luck began I somehow pulled out the emergency stop tag and the treadmill (as it should) came to an abrupt halt and gave me my stats, argghhhhh what to do now. Well I figured it happened at a good point and just restarted the treadmill and back into my second set of intervals. 
I did the next set and although it was getting tougher and sweat was pouring from me so much so that my t-shirt had completely changed to a darker shade, I did my cool down and headed to shower and change for work.
Then it hit me, I had left my shoes at home, I must have, they were nowhere to be seen much as I willed it - now this wouldn't normally be a huge problem, I could have popped home or I have spare shoes in the office but not today. Today I was going to catch a train straight after the gym for a meeting in London. I two choices; (1) be late and go home to get the shoes risking schools traffic or (2) just style it out and go to the meeting, they were after all web developers and seem to mostly wear jeans and clothes reserved more for dress down days in the offices that I am used to. Decision made, I would style it out..... I looked a fool, bad day to be wearing a dress and black tights with bright white gym trainers! doh!

A tale of two runs

Saltdean under cliff walkway

After failing to get out and run yesterday morning as planned I opted for a Sunday morning run despite being at a friends house on the South Coast. One of our friends was running the Brighton Half Marathon this morning and we were going down to cheer him on in this, his first race. 
So in my wisdom I decided I would run from their home in Seaford, along the coast via Newhaven, Peacehaven and then at Saltdean I would drop down onto the under cliff walkway to take me the remainder of the way into Brighton to see him racing. By my calculations this was about 14 miles and I would add some on getting to the 7 mile marker to see him running. 
I was running well and at about 5.5 miles into the run and on my way up the hill out of Newhaven  I got a sense of a car slowing, I turned in time to see my friend and her little boys waving ferociously at me from their car whilst beeping the horn, this gave me a lovely boost and I kept going well at a good pace. Onwards and upwards I went along the undulating coast road, I passed the carvery and took a moment to think about how nice a roast dinner would be about then, at which point the rather portly man - I assume the manager - came over from within and unlocked the door, his substantial belly put me right off and I continued on my way.
Meanwhile at this point my friend must have been at the start line, getting ready to set off. Hopefully he had remembered all the race day wisdom with which I had battered him with that morning and the night before!
Going down the steps to the cliff front walk my knee had a little niggle but seemed to righten itself again before long. As I ran along the path the waves were crashing over the sea wall and the cliffs were highlighted by a beautiful blue sky - a really fantastic day for a run.
Another couple of miles on I had passed the Marina and was beginning to struggle, I was unsure if I would make it to see my friend, then as I started along the seafront past the marina, as I turned, my knee just gave up and I was forced to walk for a while. 
I made it to some steps up to the race route and saw the pacer for a 1:45 time just pass me by, this was around the time I thought my friend would come in at so I tried to step it up and run down the slope on the pavement alongside the runners, turning the corner near the pier I heard a shout from above, my friends were there on a wall, I had just missed our friend by a couple of minutes (the minutes I was forced to walk, doh!).
We made our way then towards the finish line, grabbed a cuppa and a bacon sarnie before positioning ourselves to cheer him in. I layered up as I was beginning to get cold and we shouted out to the runners as they came towards the finish. I saw Brian O and Steve J from PWR who both looked comfortable and fast and gave them a big cheer.
Before long we saw our friend, looking tired but still running strong, we all screamed and cheered him on and he waved enthusiastically back at us before the final dash for the finish line. His time 1:42:22 - amazing! He celebrated with a cheeseburger and chips!

postsrcipt - so it turns out the course was long at 13.42 miles.... adjusted time for my buddy was 1:39:55 POW!