Marathon Number 2 - Cambridge Boundary Run

Mud, that will be my lasting impression from today's marathon.  There were many more off-road sections than I'd expected, and all were very muddy following the recent rain.  My decision to run in road shoes was misguided.  However, it was a great day and it ticks off the second marathon of the year.

It was great to be able to run a marathon so close to home.  I'm amazed I haven't done it before.  Being on my home turf meant there were many familiar faces at the start, so plenty of people to chat to whilst waiting for the start time to come around.  The last half hour on the build up to a race can be nerve wracking, but having friends around you helps take your mind off the run ahead.  Having said that, I was aware that my hands were a little shaky whilst trying to pin my race number to my running vest.  This doesn't normally happen to me.

The one gripe from today was the lack of toilets at the start.  The race started from the David Lloyd Leisure Centre in Cambridge.  Clearly the organisers had arranged to use a room at the gym as the race HQ for the day, but non of the staff at the gym itself were aware of the event going ahead.  In previous years runners were able to use the toilets in the gym changing rooms.  But this year the staff at the gym seemed to be in a bit of a strop and wouldn't let anyone through.  This meant that all the runners were confined to using two small toilets on the second floor, alongside the conference facilities that were being used as the number collection point, changing area and baggage storage.  As a result the race start was delayed as there was still a big queue for the loos at 10am.

The event itself is wonderfully low key.  There are no marshals on the course to make sure runners take the right turns.  This does mean that many runners take their life in their own hands at road crossings, as they dash across between small gaps in fast moving traffic.  The course itself is only marked by white arrows on the road that I think are made in either chalk or flour, it's hard to tell.  However, it can be easy to miss some of these, and every year people take a wrong turn because they simply follow the person ahead of them.  There are also a few locations were arrows seemed to have been missed, as you will see later on. 

Anyone who enters the race thinking Cambridge is perfectly flat are usually surprised by the one significant hill on the course.  At mile 2 there is a long steady climb from 14m up to 68m at mile 4.  A climb of 54m over a distance of two miles might not seem like a lot, but it's certainly enough to slow most runners.  It's also one of those hills that have a false peak halfway, which can be dispiriting if you're not expecting it.  However, what goes up must come down, and once at the top there is a good two mile descent for some respite.

At about the 5 mile point the whole of the pack ahead of me took what I thought was a wrong turn.  I had run the half-marathon option in 2010 and remembered the route reasonably well.  Consulting my map, which runners have the option of running with, confirmed my suspicions.  This was one of the few locations were there was a lack of any signage.  I tried shouting the other runners, but I was either unheard or ignored.  Some of the other runners near me at the time also decided to follow the pack (not that I'm calling them sheep), whilst a few others realised I'd made the right call and followed me on a footpath around a farmers field.  We all regrouped a few hundred metres later on.  I think those that went wrong probably added about 100m to their run, but had the benefit of running on dry tarmac rather than wet mud, so probably the net result was the same.

Runners reach one of the prettiest parts of the route at about mile 10, Grantchester Meadows.  It's possible to run on a tarmac path across the meadows, but the path was covered in a thin layer of slippery mud and I suspect most people were watching where they were going, rather than admiring the view.  There's history to the meadows.  This is where Charles Darwin spent his free time collecting beetles whilst studying at Cambridge University.

Before I knew it I'd reached the halfway point, which would mark the end of the run for the majority of runners.  I had the pleasant surprise of being greeted by some familiar faces.  Some of my running friends, who hadn't entered the race today, had come out to cheer me on.  I took a little break from running to thank them all for coming out and to pose for a photo.

A short distance further on I was also cheered on my way by Simon, one of my clients, and then a little further on again three girls from the Sweaty Betty running club.  I literally only saw the girls as I turned a corner, shouted my "hello" and was on my way.  I then felt bad for the fact that they'd made an effort to come out to the race and literally only saw me for a couple of seconds.

From this part of the race onwards I was running on very familiar ground, as I'd done a trial run of the second half of the marathon just two weeks previously.  Mentally, I broke the run down into sections and just focused on completing each section.  First, just get to Girton at mile 16.  This part of the route was mostly off-road, with one incredibly slippery muddy section around the corner of a farmer's field.  I almost skated around the edge of the field rather than ran.  I was sure that this part of the marathon would result in many runners landing on their arse.  Sure enough, I did see a few runners at the finish covered head to toe in mud, and I dare say that this is where they went over.

From Girton, the next 4 miles to the village of Milton was mostly on tarmac, and a welcome relief from the slippery mud.  Once at Milton I was on territory that was very familiar to me, and although there was still 6 miles to the finish, I felt that I was on the home straight.  My legs were starting to feel the strain of running 20 plus miles.  But I took comfort in the fact that I had overtaken several runners over the last few miles and yet hadn't been overtaken myself.  In fact, the runners I had passed seemed to be suffering quite badly.  Terrible for them, but a confidence boost for me.

With 4 miles to go I realised that a lone female runner was gaining on me.  It was actually a runner I'd seen at several points during the run.  We had passed each other on a few occasions.  At one point we had had a short conversation.  She eventually caught me as I stopped for a drink and quarter of a banana at the last drinks station.

The two of us then ran side by side for the last 4 miles, chatting the entire way, which helped the miles to fly by.  With just 2 miles to go we eventually got round to introducing ourselves.  I learnt that her name was Kim and that her marathon times are good enough for her to qualify for a championship place in London Marathon.

With less than a mile to go I was greeted by two friends, Andrea and Phil.  Andrea is very good at making whooping noises like an American who has just won the super bowl.  Sure enough, she whooped and hollered as I passed, lifting my spirits.  Then with just a few hundred meters to go Jamsheed, Shelley, Dan, Jo, Mike, Paul and Andy were lining the street to cheer me on to the finish.  As Kim and I rounded the last bend a few spectators egged us on to race each other to the line, but we kept to our pace and crossed the line together.  It would have been rude and pointless to race each other over the last few meters.  We thanked each other for the company, then Kim met with her husband and I was shortly joined by my friends.

My time was something a little under 3 hours and 20 minutes, I don't know the exact time just yet as I forgot to stop my stopwatch on the finish line.  I'll need to wait and see the official results when they are up on the event website.  But, it was a similar time to Gloucester, although I think it took more out of me.  I'll have to wait and see how I'm feeling tomorrow for a better comparison.  I'm glad to now have the second marathon of the year out of the way.  The third marathon is in just two weeks time, by then I'll feel as if I'm well on my way towards achieving my goal of a marathon a month.

Final Preparations For Marathon Number Two

Gloucester Marathon was five weeks ago now, but it seems like an age.  I thought that the time between each marathon would seem to pass really quickly.  I'll be very happy to get the second marathon over and done with tomorrow. 

I have a few little jitters today.  I guess everyone is a little nervous the day before a marathon, but I am feeling a little more nervous than normal for me.   I don't know whether it's because tomorrow's marathon is on my home turf and there could be quite a few friends out cheering me on.  Or because it's slowly dawning on me that I've actually set myself quite a big challenge.  I've also had a few little twinges this week, which are playing on my mind a little.  My right knee suddenly felt a little weak on Thursday when doing some squats.  I think the idea of running a marathon on it amplified the feeling of weakness, but at the same time I'm hoping it isn't the start of an injury.  I wish I had organised a sports massage during the last week.  Must go next week!  My lower back has also been feeling a bit tight in the last few days, so I'm hoping that doesn't affect my running tomorrow.

I'm also still not sure which running shoes to use.  This might seem like a trivial decision, but to me it's quite important to get it right.  The problem is that the marathon is about 50% road and 50% trail.  I know that many of the trail sections will be muddy and slippery and that my trail shoes would be the best things to wear.  The problem is my trail shoes are quite new and I've only used them for two 5k Park Runs.  Why haven't I been using them more?  I am now regretting my lack of foresight and wished I'd used them a lot more over the last few weeks.  I don't feel as if I've worn them in enough to suddenly run 26 miles in them tomorrow.  I think I'll probably settle for using my road shoes and except that I'll have to take it easy when the going gets slippery, even if I have to walk large sections.  I don't want to risk slipping and twisting an ankle.  Especially as the third marathon of the year is just two weeks later.

So what have I been up to over the last week?  On Sunday I went for an 11 mile easy pace run, meeting up with two of the girls from the Sweaty Betty running club.  We stuck to the tow path alongside the river, on what was a fairly cold February morning.  I regretted not taking my small pocket camera with me.  There was a head of river boat race on, with many boat crews taking part.  One section of river was packed with boats waiting for their starting orders.  It would have made a great photo in the early morning light, with mist on the fields behind.  I must get more organised and get into the habit of taking my little camera.

I then rested Monday and Tuesday.  I didn't even have my usual marathon client to run with on Tuesday evening, as he's off skiing.  I did, however, have double training days over the next two days.  I kettlebelled Wednesday morning (a shoulder, arm and cardio workout) and ran with the Sweaty Betties in the evening.    I also kettlebelled Thursday morning, focusing on chest and back.  I've set myself a target of being able to do 50 press-ups with no pause and at a good, solid tempo.  I managed to get to 43, so edging closer to my target.  In the evening I went for a 5 mile run at target marathon pace.  I'm settling on a pace of approximately 7 minutes 30 seconds per mile.  This will have me finishing in a time of around 3 hours 20 minutes, just like in Gloucester.

It's been mostly rest since Thursday, along with carbo loading, of course.  Providing you like pasta, this has to be the best part of preparing for a marathon.  I had a good stretching session with Holly on Friday.  She managed to twist and push me into several positions that didn't feel natural to my runner's body.  I'm sure it's doing me good, though.

I'm fairly keen to have a kettlebell workout today, but I know it wouldn't be the most sensible idea.  I'm glad I actually have this blog to write to occupy some of the time today.  It's also helping me to reflect on what I should and shouldn't be doing.  So, no kettlebells today.  And as of next week start using my trail shoes more, and arrange a sports massage.

I do hope we have decent weather on Sunday.  Yesterday we had heavy rain forecast.  The forecast is now saying that the rain will arrive today and that Sunday will be nice with sunny spells.  I hope the forecasters have it right.  I do have little faith in the abilities of weather forecasters.  Doesn't stop me from checking the forecast, though.

I'd love to go to the pub today to watch the England vs France Six Nations match, but with a marathon tomorrow I've settled for watching it at home with a couple of mates.  That way I'll definitely only drink soft drinks.  This is yet another sacrifice that has to be made.  Staying off the beer and keeping hydrated the day before the event.  Boo!

Yasso 800s and Tight Glutes

It never pays to be optimistic when it comes to the British weather.  We had some lovely Spring like weather earlier in the week, but it has since returned to being cold and damp.  I was hoping for dry weather over the next week, in the hope that the off-road sections of the Cambridge Boundary Marathon won't be wet and slippery.  Unfortunately, the weather forecast for the week ahead is not good.

I've been easing off the running in the last week as part of my taper towards the second marathon of the year.  Just as well this was part of the plan as the first three days of the week were very busy and I had little time to train.  I managed to get a quick kettlebell workout on Monday.  The following two days I had to be content with running with my marathon client on Tuesday and running with the Sweaty Betty ladies on Wednesday.

Tuesday and Wednesday were probably the high points of the week with regards to the weather.   I was even tempted to declare Wednesday as the start of Spring.  My clients seemed to be in particularly chirpy moods.  There was a lot of good natured banter going on in my lunch time kettlebell class.

I think that on Thursday I must have either forgotten that I was tapering towards my next marathon, or I was just feeling the need for a hard workout.  But instead of one hard workout I had two.  In the morning I managed to summon up the energy for a hard kettlebell training session.  I then did a lot of kettlebelling myself at lunchtime whilst teaching a class, followed immediately by putting two clients through an interval training session, whilst being scrutinised the whole time by a wallaby in the Shepreth wildlife park.  Must have been one bored wallaby.

In the evening I met up with Jamsheed, Andy and Paul for a run.  We expected a couple of the girls to turn up, but they cancelled at the last minute.  Andy was keen to do a Yasso 800 training session, so the four of us headed off to Midsummer Common where we know that a triangular configuration of the footpaths is almost exactly 800m in length.  The idea is to run 800m as fast as possible for a total of 10 times, with just a 2 minute recovery in between each fast interval.  It's a tough workout and it is definitely preferable to do it with a group of friends so that you can egg each other on to complete the next hard piece of running.  It's a good test of your level of fitness.  It is also said that your average time for all ten intervals in minutes and seconds equates to what you should be able to do in a marathon in hours and minutes.  I managed to average 2 minutes 49 seconds for the 800m intervals, which is suppose to indicate that I can run a marathon in 2 hours 49 minutes.  I wish that were true.

My two hard training sessions on Thursday left me feeling very stiff on Friday.  I also found it really difficult to sleep Thursday evening.  My body was feeling too awake.  I don't normally train in the evening, as it's usually the time when I'm busiest training other people.  I'm hoping to keep Thursday evenings free until Easter so that I can continue to meet the rest of the running gang on a regular basis.  I'm guessing it will take me a few weeks to adjust to training hard late in the day.

I met Holly as usual on Friday for my weekly one-to-one Pilate's session.  I am starting to notice real improvements to my flexibility.  It will still be a long time before anyone nicknames me Billy Elliot, but things are definitely moving in the right direction.  It was also useful having a good stretch following the previous day's activities.

I was going to go to Park Run this morning.  But I woke up with my butt muscles still a little achy, so I thought better of it.  I had the sense to remind myself that I'm supposed to be on a taper.  I plan to do an easy 10 miler tomorrow morning.  I'm now feeling super keen to get the next marathon of the year out of the way.  Roll on 27th February.

Long Solo Run

I was left to be a Norman no mates today.  All my running friends were off running in the Stamford 30k race in preparation for Barcelona Marathon in three weeks time.  As I was on  my own I thought I'd check out the second half of the Cambridge Boundary Marathon in preparation for the full event in two weeks time.  I've only ever run the half marathon before, and most of the second half of the full marathon course is completely new to me.  For good reason I discovered.

So, at 8.45 this morning I set off for the village of Coton, the end point for the Boundary Half Marathon.  The spring like weather of the previous week had disappeared to be replaced by a blanket of white cloud.  Thankfully, it didn't rain, but the wind and the cold had made a return.  It was a 5 mile run to Coton on familiar territory.  From the village I was running around the north-west boundary of Cambridge on roads and tracks that were new to me.

Shortly after Coton the route of the marathon turns onto a footpath that borders a farmer's field.  After the recent rain, the path was wet and covered in slurry like mud that was impossible to run on in road running shoes.  I slipped and slid around like a cartoon character stepping onto ice without ice skates.  This made me wonder whether I should run the marathon in trail shoes just for this section of the route.  Fortunately, 200m further on the ground condition improved and it was possible to run again.

After a further 1.5 miles I'd reached Girton, where the route of the marathon passes through the private grounds of Girton College, which was to be out of bounds to me today.  Girton College is the furthest university college from the centre of Cambridge.  It was originally established in the 1870s as a college exclusively for women, and was located some distance from the city centre to discourage marauding male undergraduates.  Of course, it is now mixed and the University is more liberated in its views.

I skirted around the perimeter of the College and ran on residential streets for a couple of miles before reaching yet another slippery, muddy footpath.  My stumbles and slips weren't quite as comical this time.  After this I reached the Kings Hedges area of Cambridge and ran alongside the ill fated guided busway, which has been completed for some time but doesn't yet have any buses running on it due to an ongoing argument between the County Council and contractor over some areas of outstanding work.  This part of Cambridge has undergone a massive amount of redevelopment in recent years.  I once lived nearby and can remember when the area was nothing but fields.  Golly, I'm getting old.  It's now an area of high tech office blocks and modern housing.

From Kings Hedges the marathon route heads towards the village of Milton via the Mere Way footpath, which was once a Roman Road between Cambridge and Ely.  Sounds like it should be a nice part of the route, doesn't it?  Unfortunately, the southern end of the path borders a travellers encampment where menacing dogs bark and bare their teeth at passers by from behind the chain link fencing.  I ran on keeping my fingers crossed that there were no holes in the fence for the dogs to get through.

A short distance further on the path then borders Cambridge's landfill site.  The smell of rotten rubbish filled the air.  I tried to run through it by holding my breath for as long as possible, which isn't advisable.  It doesn't make for efficient running.  I didn't see any other users on the footpath, which isn't exactly surprising.  And although it is close to a landfill site, the path is clearly used as a rubbish dump itself.  I had to dodgy smashed bathroom sinks and a dumped fridge-freezer.

Fortunately, a couple of miles further on I reached the River Cam towpath and could enjoy the spectacle of seeing many teams of rowers out training in their eights and fours.  Hopefully, there will be a few crews out on the day of the marathon to provide a brief distraction to all the tired marathon runners.  I was now also back to running on familiar territory, at least for the next few miles.  I could put the map away and focus on just running and thinking about how close I was to the finish.

The route did take me on to a footpath that I'd never used before.  When I reached it, it also seemed to be another one of those paths that not many people use.  It was signposted from the road towards a field, but at the corner of the field itself there was no evidence of where the path went.  I followed what I thought was the path, but soon came to a dead end so doubled back on myself.  Eventually I found an opening in the tree belt that surrounds the field and assumed that it must be where the path is supposed to go.  I ran through the tree belt, which lines a ditch that was once a railway line, and on the other side could make out where I needed to go, but wasn't convinced that I was following the route indicated on the marathon map.  If not, hopefully the organisers will make it clear on the day.

With the problem of the unclear footpath behind me, I was once again on familiar ground and just over 2 miles from the finish line.  By the time I reached home I'd covered a total of 19.7 miles in a little over 2 hours 30 minutes.  Not bad considering I was running and reading a map for much of the run.  Now I can look forward to another two week taper before marathon number 2.

Could This Be The Start Of Spring?

A week has gone by since my last blog entry, and it seems to have gone by at a fair old pace.  The weather has been very kind, on the whole, making training runs a pleasure, apart from the odd shower here and there.

After the high winds of last weekend, the weather became somewhat calmer by Monday afternoon.  Monday was a non running day for me.  Instead I had a quick 40 minute kettlebell practise session in the afternoon, between seeing personal training clients in the morning and teaching three kettlebell classes in the evening.

The running shoes came out again Tuesday morning for a 8.5 mile run which was made into an interval training session by doing four 1 mile fast pieces.  For those who like stats, by average mile pace was 5 minutes 50.5 seconds, with a fastest mile of 5 minutes 39 seconds and the slowest at 6 minutes 4 seconds.  Quite a big variation, which I put down to residual wind from the weekend.  Still, I was quite happy with these times, and it felt good to put in some hard efforts over a one mile distance.

I almost repeated the process whilst training a client on Tuesday evening, who I also made run 1 mile intervals.  My clients times were more consistent, but a bit slower at about 7 minutes 50 seconds per mile.

I had another double training session on Wednesday.  I put myself through another kettlebell workout in the morning, although only a short 40 minute session.  In the evening I had the privilege of guiding some 38 ladies on a 7.5 mile run around Cambridge as part of the Sweaty Betty Great British Run.  The aim was to get as many ladies along as possible to run as many miles as possible in one evening.  The event was a competition between all the Sweaty Betty stores nationwide to see which store could cover the most mileage.  I still haven't found out who won.  I know that our ladies completed about 261 miles in total.  I'd also run 2 miles to the store and then back home at the end of the evening to make my mid week run a total of 11.5 miles.  The weather was glorious on Wednesday, which made a very nice change for a Sweaty Betty challenge night.  We've had some bad weather in the past.

The weather turned again on Thursday, my busiest day of the week.  I got nicely wet on a couple of occasions.  I was going to go for a late night run, but decided I'd had enough of a drenching for one day.  A night in reading my book felt luxurious, I didn't feel guilty about missing a training session.

I made up for the missed run by having another double session on Friday, despite not feeling my best in the morning.  I'd seen two clients in the morning, but my stomach was feeling a bit dodgy.  As a result I cancelled two afternoon sessions.  I also thought about cancelling my one-to-one Pilate's session with Holly, but I knew I'd still have to pay for the session as a late cancellation.  Being a tight bugger I opted to go along and do my best.  Surprisingly, I felt fine during the session and much improved afterwards.  Holly gave me a good stretch on Friday, and I believe I'm starting to see real progress in my flexibility.  I'm still a long way off from making into the Royal Ballet, but progress is definitely being made.

As I then felt so much better I went for a gently 10k run in the afternoon.  The weather in the morning had been glorious, so I decided to pop on my shorts and get my legs out for the first time this year.  Typically, 10 minutes into my run it started raining.  My intention had been to just run at a steady pace and to not push myself.  When I got home and reviewed my pace, as recorded by my Garmin, I was surprised at how fast I'd been running.  My average pace was 6 minutes 47 seconds per mile, and I ran my fastest mile in 6 minutes 13 seconds.  Not bad considering I wasn't even trying to push the pace.  The intervals on Tuesday must have been taking effect.

I had intended to do a kettlebell training session today, but instead felt obliged to go into town to buy a Valentines present and to then get home in time to watch the rugby.  I was expecting the England vs Italy game to be an easy win for England.  However, I wasn't expecting a 59 - 13 scoreline.  The game was more exciting than expected with England dominating in all aspects of the game.  A few silly mistakes were made, but on the whole England are looking very convincing.  I hope to watch England's next game against France in a pub, but as my next marathon is the following day I will need to be restrained and stick to soft drinks.

I'm planning a 20 mile long run for tomorrow.  This will be the last long run before marathon number 2 in two weeks time.

Toughest Training Run To Date

A few of my bright spark marathon running friends decided they'd go for a 22 mile training run today.  These are the guys and girls who have sensibly decided to jet off to Barcelona in March to do their first marathon of the year, which will be one week after my second marathon and a week before my third.  The decision to break with tradition and do a long training run on Saturday instead of Sunday was due to some of the gang having plans to be out late tonight, myself included.

Six of us made up the running party today: running couple Suzy and Chris, elite girls Jo and Shelley, relative newcomer Tony and myself.  Jamsheed was supposed to join us, but he's been feeling under the weather for the last few days, so decided he'd have a weekend of rest.  There was some discussion as to the route we should take.  It was blowing an absolute gale when we met at 8.45am.  Tony wanted us to stick to residential streets on the grounds that it would be more sheltered from the wind.  There was a lot of sense in his suggestion, but the majority wanted to get out of the city and into the countryside.  The wind was a strong south-westerly.  It would have made sense to head out of the city to the west so that we could have had the wind on our backs on the latter half of the run.  Unfortunately, in all the years that we have been running in and around Cambridge, we haven't established any long running routes to the west of the City.  Something I intend to rectify over the coming months.  The girls were all in favour of sticking to a favourite circular route heading east of the City, even though we knew that whichever direction we did the run would mean running into a headwind towards the end.

So off we went, starting with a 2 mile loop to make our well known 20 mile circuit into a 22 miler.  After the initial 2 miles, we headed almost directly due east for the next 5 miles, with the wind blowing us along, making the miles seem to fly by.  We then turned to run north east through the villages of Bottisham, Swaffham Bulbeck and Swaffham Prior.  This was a 3 mile stretch with the wind directly behind us.  Swaffham Prior is a nice little village that is unusual for it's two churches that stand side-by-side on top of a small hill.  I always admire the churches for their odd proximity whenever I pass through the village.  Chris and I commented on the fact that we should really look into their origins.  So with the power of the Internet I unearthed a bit of history:

Swaffham Prior is famous amongst Cambridgeshire villages for having two churches: ...St Mary the Virgin and SS Cyriac and Julitta.

Why, one might ask, are there two churches here? The reason seems to be that, unusually, there were two manors in the village of Swaffham Prior. The first churches in a settlement were often built by the lord of the manor to provide for their vassals; for the most part, since villages tended to develop under the aegis of just one manor, one would end up with just one church in each settlement. There are exceptions, though.

The two churches served completely separate parishes, despite the fact that the population of Swaffham Prior was never more than a couple of hundred people. The parishes remained distinct until the beginning of the 19th century; but they ceased functioning as separate entities in 1667, when an Act of Parliament united the two vicarages. At that point, the two congregations combined, and adopted St Mary as their place of worship.

I'll have to run with a camera at some point to add some photos of my running routes.

We turned to run in a north-westerly direction just after passing the two churches.  From here we got our first taste of the strength of the wind.  It was hitting us side on as we headed on a dead straight road through flat Fenland countryside for almost 5 miles.  These 5 miles felt tough, and the thought of reaching the River Cam and then having to turn south-westwards directly into the wind was daunting.

The footpath that follows the first 2 mile stretch along the river is on top of a flood defensive bank.  So there we were, elevated above the surrounding countryside, with no cover whatsoever, running directly into a 26mph wind.  Not surprisingly, our effort level increased and our pace dropped considerably.  This was hard work.  However, once we'd completed that 2 mile stretch we were onto a decent footpath directly alongside the river, with a belt of hedgerow and trees providing some shielding from the wind.  We were still more or less running into the wind, but it certainly felt easier.  This stretch of the river is also very familiar territory to us all, as we often run it as a longish mid-week run in the summer.  We all felt like we were on very familiar territory and close to home, even though we still had 5 miles to go.

I got a nice surprise just as we reached the outskirts of Cambridge with 3 miles to go.  Although Jamsheed wasn't feeling well enough to join us on our run, he'd made arrangements with Jo to meet us and provide us with any drinks that we might need for the last stretch of the run.  I felt uplifted to see his smiling face, and was grateful for the squash he'd made, as I was almost out of drink.  He also offered us some biscuits, which seemed like a rare treat on a long run.  If there was an award for nicest person on the planet, Jamsheed would get my vote.  What a top bloke.

With just 3 miles to go we pressed on for home.  Every now and again we'd be hit hard by a gust of wind as we headed back towards town.  With a mile to go we had another change of direction to head more-or-less due south back to the start point.  Jo and I had built up quite a gap between us and the other four runners.  I contemplated stopping and waiting for the rest of the gang, but Jo wanted to press on and complete the run.  The other four were all together, so I decided to keep Jo company.

By the end of the run my legs felt more tired than they had done after Gloucester marathon two weeks ago.  It had taken us a little over 3 hours to run the 22 miles, which is pretty good going considering the wind.  Once everyone had finished, we quickly reflected on the run and congratulated each other on a job well done.  Everyone is looking in good form and should perform well in our respective marathons that will soon be upon us.

Now that I have had a restful afternoon it's time to start preparing for tonight's night out.  I'm due to go night clubbing with my non-running mates.  Yes, I know, clubbing at my age!  I'm not sure how my legs will cope with dancing into the early hours.  We're off to a Guilty Pleasures night at The Junction, where the theme of the evening is Club Tropicana.  Time to dig out my summery beach casuals.

Pain & Guilt

Oh, the guilt!  I have to confess that I didn't get to go for a run on Monday, after all.  Friends and clients will be shocked.  Guess I'm only human after all.  I'd planned to get up at 6.45am to be out of the house by 7.15, do a 10 mile run at a steady 7'30" pace per mile to be home by 8.30am.  Then I'd have just enough time to stretch, shower and have breakfast before leaving home at 9.20 to meet my first client at 9.40.

However, the alarm went off and I still felt really, really sleepy.  So I hit snooze, thinking to myself that I'd just get an extra 15 minutes kip and go for an 8 mile run instead.  But I lay in bed talking myself out of an early morning run.  I did feel as if I was still exhausted from the weekend.  Although we'd had a really relaxing time with our friends up North, I didn't get as much sleep as I would normally - due to the late, alcohol laced evenings.  So I reasoned that I'd have enough time in the middle of the day to run. 

I think at the time I honestly thought that I would get the run done at lunchtime.  But once I'd seen my first two clients I felt too hungry to run.  My stomach's needs won out over my legs.  After lunch I then realised I needed to plan for my three evening classes.  In the end I was a victim of time - an excuse many of my clients use, for which I tell them it is always possible to make time.  So, by the end of the day, I was feeling very guilty for not doing my 10 mile run.

Not wanting to have another day of guilt, I got up promptly on Tuesday and did the run I'd planned for the previous day.  It went well and my legs felt great after having five whole days of non-running.  Despite telling myself over and over that I needed the rest, I still felt guilty for not running the previous day.  Is this normal?  Maybe I was only wrestling with my conscience because I often scold clients for missing exercise sessions.  As of now I intend to put my guilt to one side and get over it.  I am only human and I'm sure I'll miss plenty more training sessions in the course of the year.  It has occurred to me that maybe it is the process of making my training public that could be affecting my conscience.  I'm also sure that even if I do miss the odd training session, I still exercise more than most.  And to prove that point I had a double exercise session on Wednesday.

After seeing a couple of clients early Wednesday morning I returned home for a quick kettlebell blast.  I did a 45 minute session during which I mostly focused on lifting exercises.  Boy do I know about it today.  In the evening I went for my customary 3.5 mile run to get to Sweaty Betty in Town.  I then took the ladies for a guided 5 mile run ready for the Sweaty Betty Great British Run that will take place next Wednesday.  Essentially I will be leading a group of female runners on three 2.5 mile loops around Cambridge.  Last night we just ran the first two loops.  The aim is to get as many women along to the club as possible to run as many miles as possible in one evening.  Those who turn up have the option of running 2.5, 5 or 7.5 miles.  After guiding the ladies over a 5 mile run I then ran 2 miles back to home.  So over the evening I'd run 10.5 miles.  Not bad for a days work.

As a result of the run yesterday I woke up in pain this morning.  The pain isn't the result of a running injury as such.  I don't have aching calves, or painfully knees or a clicking hip.  No, I am in pain as a result of running into a cycle rack on the back of an inconsiderately parked car.  My route to Sweaty Betty last night took me along Riverside.  Those who run in Cambridge will know the stretch from Stourbridge Common to Elizabeth Way Bridge well.  It's a common running route as it follows the river and is quiet of traffic.  Most runners do as I do and run in the road alongside the river, where there is the occasional parked car.  I had to run past a car that was parked front on to the river railings, rather than alongside the railings.  As I ran round the back of the car I hadn't spotted that it was fitted with a cycle rack with the two prongs for holding bikes sticking out at hip height.  As I smacked into the end of the prong, first with my right wrist, quickly followed by my right hip, I shouted something along the lines of "Oh, bother!".

My head swam with a mix of emotional responses ranging from feeling stupid for not seeing the cycle rack to wanting to wring the neck of the idiot who had parked their car in such a manner on a street that is used by many runners and cyclists.  But mostly my head was filled with the fact that I was limping from pain and hoping no lasting damage had been done.  Fortunately, after another mile of running my gait had returned to normal, and although my hip was still painful, it felt as if it was just bruised.  By the end of the evening I'd completely forgotten the incident.

This morning I woke just before my alarm.  I rolled over onto my right side and felt a sharp pain in my hip.  Ouch!  The pain instantly re-awakened my anger towards the owner of the car with the attached cycle rack.  Getting out of bed and going to the bathroom, I expected to see a massive bruise on my hip.  Bizarrely, there is absolutely nothing to see.  My hip has been hurting on and off all day.  Fortunately, it didn't affect my running during an interval training session with a client.  I feel a bit of a wimp for being in pain from something that has left no visible scar or bruise.  I'm assuming that there is bruising to the bone and that the bruise will come to the surface in a day or two.

I was going to go for another run this evening with some friends.  But decided I'd done enough over the last few days.  The only important run to get done this week now is an 18 or 20 miler at the weekend.  Anything else will be a bonus.