Streaking and future plans...

I'm at the end of my first week back at work after the summer holidays and call me mad (lots do!) but it's good to have some routine back...

The summer was amazing lots of running, loved exploring new routes, still smiling about Saffron Trail and have learnt from Chilterns mistakes! So what next...

First I'm having a September run streak not massive mileage but running every day and loving it, some days it's just a mile or two with Dugs (my dog) other days a bit further. I have signed up for a couple of events this month too just to get the racing mojo back so will be off to the inaugural Thetford marathon on Sunday with friends, then a 42 mile ultra at the end of the month. Enjoyment is my running word of the month and so far it's going well!!

      Summer running fun!

As for longer term plans, I have spent some time thinking about what I want to achieve with my running and there are still long, long races out there I want to do. Next year though, I'm going to build on my successes from this year and make sure I'm confident and happy with my ability, speed and navigation etc. So at the moment (and this will be subject to change!) I'm thinking St Peters Way, Malvern Ultra (52 miles) and my long race will be The Ridgeway (86 miles). Then in 2017 I will go back to The Chilterns and I will finish it!! 

Also I am going to have a bash at getting that sub 25 minute parkrun before the end of the year!!!! 

Have a great weekend and happy running, training, racing! X 

Fun summer running and a DNF...

Not the usual way of doing things but going to start this blog with the end...

Yesterday was The Chiltern Way Ultra, 133 miles. My second attempt at the race. Well to be completely honest it didn't go well and instead of still being out there running I'm back at home writing this blog. So what went wrong...

Basically it was my head, I had been incredibly nervous to the point of making myself feel unwell all week and it did affect my running. I started off ok but it quickly went wrong. Every time I tried some speed or to power up an incline I felt I couldn't breath, my chest felt tight and it caused me a lot of worry. I got into CP1 a good half an hour behind where I wanted to be and dissolved into tears. I ate had some coke and was convinced by Maxine it was a panic/anxiety type thing and only I could sort it. So with the advice to relax and enjoy the scenery I set off again. I spoke to Richard on the phone, cried a bit and but kept moving forward, it was slow and I wasn't enjoying it. I had countless messages and phone calls from my amazing friends and family, I cried some more, kept moving, cried etc. what I couldn't do was improve my head, I had an overwhelming fear of it getting dark, relived some of my mistakes from last year and panicked some more and cried some more. I eventually made it to Cp2 way off my predicted time and told Emily and Paul I was done. They convinced me to have a rest eat and drink and see how I felt. Maxine arrived shortly afterwards and taped some blisters and hotspots that had started. I eventually and reluctantly left the CP but within a couple of minutes I knew I couldn't carry on so returned to the car park. Emily and Paul live in the same town as I do so drove me home. Do I regret my decision...

No there was no way I had another 100 miles in me, my legs and body felt worse than when I finished Saffron Trail and mentally I was a mess. Now I plan to rest, recover and look at some races for next year. 

Running and racing is my escape and needs to be fun, it's what I do to escape the stress of everyday life, it's what I love, I felt none of that yesterday, nobodies fault, it was a tough day out on the trails attempting a tough race, I was one of only 5 competitors and it just wasn't happening for me, no excuses, no regrets. One to put down to experience and move on.

     Trying to look chilled at the start!

So that's the end of my summer of running and it has been awesome, it started at the beginning of my summer break from work with Saffron Trail which still makes me smile every time I think about it and I then went on to have some amazing runs with great friends, exploring lots of new routes and enjoying some great company. 

St Cedds Pilgrimmage

This is a 23 mile figure of eight run starting at Southminster and taking in some of St Peters Way. myself, Rich, Len, Heydon and Otto (Hayden's dog) set off on a Sunday lunchtime to run this, it was my first long run since Saffron and we had a brilliant afternoon, in glorious sunshine, taking it nice and easy. It was Len's longest ever run and we ended with a drink in a pub in the sunshine. 

     St Cedds Pilgrimmage (the injury was no where near as bad as it looked!!)

Exploring Maldon.

This was another great run, Rich and I set off early to run a route he had done some years before, we took a map and my GPS. Several miles in I said I can navigate this with just the map and put the GPS away in my race vest. Well let's just say maybe I was a little optimistic with my navigation skills and our 10 mile run ended up being 15 miles! It did however make a lovely, circular 15miles run with some gorgeous trails and countryside and is a run I would happily do again!

     I know where we're going!!

Lea Valley Walk

This has to be one of my summer favourites, Richard had read about this walk and suggested we run some of it. The whole route starts in Luton and follows the Lea Navigation Canal into London and is 53 miles. We decided to start in Hertford and run to Tower Bridge, where we the. Had an invite to a party. Running 31 miles to a party is fun. It was a good route, easy navigation and in it's way very pretty, starting quite rural and ending in London was amazing and different. We even took a little detour to have a look round the Olympic site at Stratford. It was a good last long run before the Chilterns. We ran slowly, taking in the sites, stopped for a coffee, and had a really good day out. Definitely one to do again maybe next time the whole thing!

      Fab day running into London.

The summer has also been filled with parkrun, running and my stint as run director which I always enjoy immensely. Wednesday evenings have become hills night, a now quite large group of us head to Great Notley Country Park and do a hill session combined with some core/upper body exercises and quite often cake!! It is a brilliant evening with good friends and makes hill sessions much more enjoyable.

      Relaxing after hills!

This is just a snapshot of some of the runs I have done this summer, the blog will be longer that the runs if I list them all! They have all been brilliant.

So even though yesterday didn't go as planned, I won't let it spoil an otherwise brilliant summer of running. 

I have many people to thank for making this summer so brilliant, Richard your company, support and encouragement has been amazing and I will always be grateful and look forward to many more runs together while we get ready for St Peters next year!!

Len your support too has been fantastic, John Ray Walk was brilliant and again look forward to helping you prepare for St Peters as well.

Thanks to the rest of Great Notley parkrun core team, all of the hill running gang, Challenge Running for two epic ultra races and my friends and family for supporting and sponsoring.

Running is my life and I am privelaged to be able to train, race and be involved in running. This summer has been a special one that I will always remember. Back to work at the end of the week, happy and knowing that I have made the most of it with enjoyable running, great friends and beautiful trails.

Happy running all xx 

Saffron Trail Ultra take two...

I've been waiting a year for this and wow what a completely different experience! 

Last year I had my first DNF at this race, I screwed up big time and didn't enjoy it right from the beginning, my race ended by getting timed out at CP5 and although I was devastated I was glad to stop. 

Fast forward to this years race...

I was looking forward to getting back out there and trying again, I trained hard and had run the whole route in sections over the past few months including doing some in the dark, I'd hopefully learnt from last years experience, so all I needed to do was keep my head strong, focused and get it done.

Richard and family delivered me safely and unstressed to the start where I registered and then just chilled in the sunshine, I was nervous but kept calm, ate my pre race food and willed it to be 6pm! 

       Waiting to start 

After a race brief from Lindley we were on our way, 10.9 miles to the first checkpoint, my race plan was to only think about the distance to each checkpoint, not the whole distance. So a nice evening run to Hockley Woods it was. I started out a little quick but the first couple of miles are easy running so went with it, the sun was shining and all was good. I wanted to run as hard as I could till it was dark and then slow down a bit so I didn't make navigational errors in the night. I reached the first check point in just under 2:15 hours and was happy enough. Maxine offered to fill my water bottles and I realised with horror they were both still practically full, I hadn't eaten much either. I knew I needed to sort this out pretty quickly if I wanted to finish the race so tried to get back to my usual strategy of eating/drinking every 2 miles.

Leg two was just under 7 miles and again perfectly runnable, all was going well until I was struck with awful stomach cramps, I slowed down and worried how on earth I could run feeling like that. Fortunately after about 3 miles they went as quickly as they started and didn't bother me again. I reached checkpoint 2 at Battlesbridge not far off the time I wanted and feeling ok. I still hadn't eaten much and asked Maxine to fill a sandwich bag I had with me so I could walk and eat as I didn't want to stop for too long. It was almost dark by now and head torch time!

Leg 3 is where it really fell apart for me last year but no such problems this time, navigation was going well. I was on my own and had been since Hadleigh, there was three people behind me including Ian and Simon who were sweeping, so I expected I would run on my own for most of the race. Mentally I felt good and I was enjoying myself. I can't remember where exactly but a whole family were outside their house on that leg and clapped and cheered me through! I made it through the creepy graveyard and onto CP3 feeling strong. I was now well inside cut off times. 

Leg 4 would take me through Chelmsford and I was slightly worried about running through the city at what could possibly be pub/club chucking out time but all was good and I was half way into the race. I stopped in the park as my Garmin had died and I had Richard's in my pack so I swapped them over and found some different food. I was feeling a little sleepy and looked forward to reaching CP4, where my sister, Michelle, was volunteering and had lucozade for me. I really needed some caffeine. Then I had the most surreal experience of the whole race, a man appeared asking if I was ok. He'd been following the online tracker and living very close to the course was supporting the runners. He said he had coffee and gels at the next bench, as we approached the bench another figure appeared, my brain was saying 'look it's Dan' but it didn't make sense, it was nearly 3am, why were people in the park at that time? I had no idea at that time how many people were losing a nights sleep watching the tracker and supporting me, Dan thank you so much for coming out to see me it was amazing and to Andy for being brilliant, seeing I made it safely through Chelmsford and that coffee was the best coffee ever!

I arrived at CP4 about 3:15am and it was great to see Michelle and Dan. I was still feeling good and was having the best time! I did get slightly overexcited about a tub of strawberry custard, amazing what is appetising at that time of the morning, it was one of the few things I actually enjoyed eating during the whole race. I knew the next leg quite well and knew I only had about an hour of darkness left all was good and I still well ahead of cut off times.

      Enjoying strawberry custard at CP4! 

I laughed when I got to Great Waltham as I remembered phoning Lindley last year and telling him I'd had enough, I nearly text him this year to say I was having a great time but my phone was in my pack and I didn't want to stop! I sang to myself and chatted to the cows as I ran, it was only a very slow run but it was running and the miles ticked past, the head torch was put away and I was still having fun. As I ran into Felsted, John appeared to offer some support and see how I was doing, thank you John was much appreciated. I had a text from my son about 4am saying 'your legs might hurt but you're still as strong mentally as when you started' it was perfectly timed and a real boost, thanks Ben. I was looking forward to CP5 for many reasons:

    1. Rich, Len and Dan would be there.

    2. Bacon.

    3. I wasn't going to get timed out there this year.

    4. Bacon!

I arrived at CP5 at about 6:30am (I think) that was two and a half hours quicker than last year and I didn't feel I was moving very fast. It was a massive boost and just the best CP ever, the bacon sandwich was great and Rich, Len and Dan you are just the best friends a girl could have, thank you. As much as I would have loved to stay longer I knew I needed to keep moving so bacon sandwich in hand, hugs gratefully received I set off again, less than a marathon to go. A little voice in my head already saying yes you're going to do this!

     Awesome support at CP5

Next stop would be Tilty church and I knew Michelle would be manning that one, less than eight miles that wasn't much! Legs were hurting now but all was good! I ran/walked/shuffled along, it rained a bit but it was quite refreshing. The closed footbridge didn't collapse when I crossed it and it was an enjoyable leg that I knew quite well so didn't require as much concentration to navigate. Grapes and bananas was all I could manage to eat but was enough to keep me going. The weather had brightened up and there was just over 15 miles left, I really was going to do this! 

The next leg isn't my favourite though the overgrown fields weren't quite as bad as when I ran them a few weeks before. I was walking a bit more but still managing to run downhill but it just seems to take forever to get to Newport, I had known all the way if I could make it to Newport then it was in the bag. So arriving at CP7 was the best feeling. I felt as though I had blisters forming under my big toes but decided just to get through the last 4.9 miles and sort them at the finish. Chris and Liz were at this CP and there was custard (never had a thing for custard before this race!!). Was great to see Chris thanks for making the last CP a good one.

The last leg...

My feet hurt, maybe I should have sorted the blisters but I ignored the pain as much as possible, I just wanted to finish. I cursed the last few hills but tried to find some sort of speed, there wasn't much! Going through the gates at Audley End I knew I was almost done and had a small emotional moment. Just a little further through Saffron Walden to the common and there it was... the finish, Michelle, Richard, Holly, Becky and Chris had all come to see me finish, Lindley presented my medal and it was the perfect end to an amazing race.

     Finished! 

It didn't really sink in till this morning that I had done it, it was amazing, I loved it from start to finish and I haven't stopped smiling yet! 

Thank you to Lindley, Maxine and all the volunteers at Challenge Running, I couldn't have been looked after any better.

Well done to the other runners I didn't see much of you but you were all awesome. 

Sorry to those friends/family who lost sleep because of the tracker but thanks for supporting virtually!

Special thanks to Richard, Holly, Becky, James, Michelle, Len, Dan, Chris and John for giving up some/all of your weekend to support me, I am really very lucky to have such amazing friends, love you all.

Abbi, Ben, Mum and everyone else who sent messages and have sponsored me thank you too.

Have an amazing week and happy running xx 

       Awesome medal 

A new chapter...

Sometimes life throws stuff at you that makes you stop, think and reassess. I guess the last couple of weeks have done that for me. I don't write much about my personal life in these blogs and I am not planning on starting now as this is all about my running journey, but my training has been affected and I  needed to make some changes.

The biggest change is I decided being coached is no longer for me, I am physically fitter and stronger than I have ever been and I know from what I have learned that I can continue to train hard and know what sort of sessions I need to do in order to reach my full potential and finish races.

As for mental strength it is only me that can alter that, nobody can make me mentally stronger it has to come from me, I have to believe I am good enough, find ways to deal with highs and lows in races. Push myself on, beat cut offs and most importantly enjoy the journey.

The main reason for this blog is to thank Lindley for everything he has done for me over the past eighteen months. I wouldn't be the runner I am today without his help, support, advice and training plans. It has made a massive difference to me as a runner and I have great respect for him as a coach, race director and friend.

     At the end of St Peters Way (before the beard!)

I always enjoy taking part and helping out at Challenge Running events and will continue to do so as they are brilliant and there is still the small matter of a Grand Slam to finish! 

So again thank you for everything Lindley (and if anyone needs a running coach he is highly recommended)

www.challenge-running.co.uk

Have a good week and happy running xx 

Great Notley parkrun...

A year a go today was the first Great Notley parkrun, I went along as it was now my local parkrun and I knew someone in the core team and wanted to offer some support. I had previously mainly run at Colchester parkrun which I had always enjoyed.

Great Notley parkrun was different, from that first event it had a friendly, welcoming feel where you were made to feel really welcome and I soon changed it to my home run and that's where I have spent most of my Saturday mornings since then. 

parkrun for those of you who don't know is a free 5km timed run (in parks all over the country) run entirely by volunteers which take place at 9am every Saturday.

All runners are encouraged to volunteer every so often and parkrun can't go ahead without them. At first I volunteered for easy jobs (turns out they are all easy!) and worried when asked to do timekeeping or something I perceived as difficult. Towards the end of last year Richard, who had been part of the core team since the beginning, mentioned Len was looking to expand the core team and I should join them. My initial reaction was 'no way, couldn't possibly do that' but the seed had been planted and quite quickly I began to think that maybe I could do it...

Now I wonder why I ever had that initial reaction because being part of Great Notley parkrun's core team is one of the most rewarding, fun and fulfilling parts of my life. Richard I will always be grateful to you for getting me involved, thank you. I was immediately made to feel like one of the team, and love my weeks as run director as well as supporting the rest of the team, the volunteers and runners and I still get to run a lot too, making it to my 50th run earlier this year.

So today we celebrated our first birthday, the theme (we love a reason to dress up!) was grass skirts and loud shirts beach party. So early this morning dressed in a sarong and bikini top I headed for the park. It was brilliant, runners and volunteers get awarded points over the year and I was proud to win The Women's Points trophy for 2014/15. 

    

216 runners joined us to celebrate today and I joined the volunteers as tail runner. It was a brilliant morning and just reinforced my love of our event. Happy, smiley people enjoying the sunshine, some new on their running journey, others like myself have been running for a long time. We have a real sense of community which is sometimes missing in other parts of our busy day to day lives. Len asked this morning during the runners brief if anyone had met a new friend at parkrun during the last year. I am lucky to have met lots! 

All that is left to say is my heartfelt thanks to all of the core team Len, Rich, John, Dan, Chris, Pete and Jenna (and your families) you are not just core team but friends that I am privileged to have in my life. I am extremely lucky to be involved in an event that brings us together every Saturday morning, in all weathers, to run, support, volunteer and most importantly have fun. 

To every runner and volunteer who I have met this year thank you too xx 

     Enjoying tail running! 

Have a great week and happy running xx 

(Photos by Mike Eldred) 

Training, training and a bit more training...

It's been a tough couple of weeks that have consisted of me running, going to work, running, eating, running, sleeping, running... You get the picture. I knew it was going to be hard, the last big training month before my next race. 

The last three weekends I have done back to back long runs averaging about 50miles over each weekend. Fortunately I have been lucky to have friends who have joined me on some of these runs and that has made it easier. The good thing is I have now run all of The Saffron Trail so no excuses for navigational errors on race day (night, this race starts at 6pm and is 70 miles long!). 

This weekend began with parkrun, the training plan said 25-27minutes, it took 28 and that was pushing it, hadn't really felt great all week and had just put it down to tiredness, but possibly had a bug of some sort who knows?! 

Saturday afternoon I threw a few extra miles in by running to Colne Engaine with some friends, Colne Engaine had declared themselves independent for the day and had a WW1 themed fete, Richard thought it would be fun to grab our passports and run over to support a friend who is involved in raising funds for a war memorial in the village. So on Saturday afternoon Richard, Len and myself set off from Braintree we met Michelle (yes she really is my sister!!) on the way and arrived in Colne Engaine to a round of applause and free beer!! It was a really fun afternoon and a very pleasant run.

     Running to Colne Engaine! 

Sunday the training plan said 30miles. I had arranged with Brian to run from Chelmsford to Saffron Walden to recce the rest of the route we hadn't already done, we thought it would be just over 30 miles. I woke up feeling, tired, grumpy and achy and didn't even feel like running 3 miles let alone 30 but it needed to be done so I reluctantly got my kit ready and headed off to meet Brian. We weren't starting till lunch time so I expected a late finish as I knew it wouldn't be quick. 

As we ran across the park in Chelmsford we ran into Naomi who was also doing a recce of the route, so we joined forces and off we went. My earlier reluctance to run soon disappeared and I was soon enjoying the sunshine and the company. 

A quick stop for more water and some snacks in Felsted and we carried on our way. The route was good a little overgrown in places but navigation was good and I didn't feel too bad. By 20 miles though I was starting to feel very tired and my legs were protesting, I ran when I could, walked the hills, kept eating and tried to keep positive. We came to one bridge over a river where the foot path was closed, there seemed to be no obvious (quick) detour so forgetting all this equality stuff we let Brian test the very dodgy looking bridge, he didn't plummet into the river so Naomi and I followed suit, fortunately we all made it safely across!!

     Big orange barriers are meant to be climbed over aren't they? 

Naomi left us at about 23 miles for her lift home and Brian and I carried on towards Saffron Walden. I wasn't particularly happy that we still had 12 miles to go but kept moving forward. It was starting to get late and I hadn't packed a head torch so we needed to be finished before dark, it was the longest day so I guessed we'd be alright. Brian suggested we see what time it was when we reached Newport and then decide what to do. I interpreted this as stopping there and getting a taxi back to Saffron Walden. I may have thrown a slight tantrum when we eventually got there and I discovered his plan was to just run along the road to Saffron Walden. At that moment I hated everything but as Brian just ran off I had no option but to follow but told him there was no way I was running! I hadn't eaten for a while so grabbed a cereal bar, some chocolate and jelly beans and gradually my mood improved, I refused to run along the road, if I was going all the way then I was doing the proper route! At that time I had a message from Richard asking how my run had gone and I replied we were still running (shuffling) and I wasn't hapay, he replied with just the right words of encouragement to get me back on track, pick up the pace the best I could and get it finished, thanks Richard. I am so glad now that I did and that I managed to snap out of the lowest point of the day and get it done. Eventually 37.5 miles after we started we arrived in Saffron Walden. We followed signs to the car park only to find it wasn't the car park where my car was. We asked a policeman who was in his van who very kindly let us hop in and they drove us to the correct one, an amusing end to the day's running!

I do have to say a massive thank you to all of you that have been involved in my running exploits this month, nearly 200 miles so far, it's been fun (most of the time!) just one week of tough training left before tapering for Saffron Trail Ultra. Love you all x

Have a great week and happy running xxx 

Long runs and Stour Valley Marathon

The last few weeks haven't been easy, had a small crisis of confidence about my running ability, not going to go on and on about it as it's something to move on from and this weekend has helped me to do that, writing about the negativity I have experienced I don't think will be helpful. I am fortunate to have a very supportive coach and friend in Lindley and lots of running friends who have put up with me recently!

This weekend I had a 20 miles run scheduled for Saturday and Stour Valley Marathon (27 miles) on Sunday. Saturday I decided to get up really early and run 'the long way' to Great Notley parkrun, so planned 17 miles on the Flitch Way ending up at Great Notley Country Park and then run parkrun to make it up to the 20, this would give me the afternoon to do boring household stuff! I guessed a 5am start would get me to parkrun in time to help with set up if needed. My friend Richard said he would come along and even though he moaned a little about the crazily early start we had a great run in the early morning sunshine. 

      Early morning miles with Richard

We arrived at parkrun at 8am having run faster than I had planned, legs felt a little tired but I was looking forward to running with my sister (a fairly new runner) at parkrun. It made my day to help her get around in 30:35 a new PB for her and was a confidence boost for me that as I was helping her and not thinking about my running, I hadn't felt tired at all. So 20 miles was done and the total running time was 3.5 hours. Thank you to Michelle and Richard for a great morning of running. 

Stour Valley Marathon

Sunday looked to be another warm day but I was looking forward to my run, I had run this marathon last year (again after a long run on the Saturday) and knew it was a tough but very scenic route.

I arrived in time to catch up with some friends and have a relaxed, chilled out start, it was just a training run, no pressure, an enjoyable run in beautiful countryside and I'd get a medal at the end. I met up with Katie who was going to run with me, I hadn't run with her before but it worked well, and we were a similar pace.

      Just some of the stunning scenery

I used the route description backed up with GPS to navigate and we didn't get lost at all. Something I had realised the weekend before when running with a friend is I walk all too easily and probably keep my pace inside my comfort zone. So I did my best to ignore my slightly tired legs and run as much as I could. I had forgotten just how hilly the route was but was good to find I can walk uphill really quite fast and the hill training I do has meant I am much more confident on the descents and was able to have some fun running down the hills at a good, fast pace. 

The miles ticked by quickly, it was hot but a breeze at times kept it bearable and my eating/drinking strategy was working well, I was able to keep positive, enjoy the scenery and the company. About half way in, I knew we were on target for about a six hour finish, I was starting to tire, but we agreed to push on as much as we could to try and get that time. 

A real positive boost for me was that we managed to overtake a few people in the last 5 or 6 miles, we weren't  moving fast, but we were steady and always moving, keeping our checkpoint stops brief before carrying on.

As we came back into Nayland we knew we only had a matter of minutes to get six hours so we picked up speed and headed for the finish line. According to my Garmin I finished in exactly 6 hours, I was extremely pleased as it was 20 minutes quicker than last year. It was also good to see Lindley who had come to see people finish. 

      Katie and I at the finish

Thanks to Kevin and all the volunteers who made it a great day. Very well organised and a great medal. Will be back next year, maybe I will even rest beforehand and see if I can run it quicker! 

It really was one of those weekends of running that makes you thankful you are able to get out and do it. Good, positive running, great friends, sunshine and beautiful scenery, and finishing a weekend completely shattered is always a good feeling. 

Thank you to all involved in making it a brilliant weekend. I am feeling much happier, more confident and feel I know what I need to keep doing in order to reach my goals.

Have a great week and happy running xx