Scared

Friday 30th July 2010

School is out.

For six whole weeks.

Hmm…

This fact has some serious implications.

1) My eldest son Zac will be distressed and out-of-sorts, away from the routine and structure of his Special School. Even with an array of wonderful students lined up to help me look after him and the two littler children, it will be a real challenge to occupy him as he doesn’t play with toys, watch TV, engage in activities, and has the attention span of a gnat (he has ADHD as well as Autism and Sensory Processing Disorder). You can read about our adventures with Zac on his own blog, Zachary’s Zoo.

2) My running schedule will go to pot. Three weeks of children at home full-time plus three weeks on the Isle of Wight will no doubt put paid to my plan of one long-but-slow run per week and two or three short-but-fast runs per week. My first ever proper race is just six weeks away and those six weeks are going to be chaotic. I’m starting to find myself craving routine and structure as much as Zac does!

Well, we’ll see what happens – I’ll have to take it a day at a time, and grab those running opportunities when I can.

Writing this at the end of Week 1, these have been the running opportunities so far…

Tuesday morning: Zac is at Parklands, his local Disabled Children’s Centre; Luca is at Football Academy for the day; and baby Lily-Rose is being looked after by Moby, one of our holiday helpers. So I manage a quick trip to the gym for a short and speedy 5K treadmill run (3.1 miles). So far, so good.

Wednesday evening: Children in bed (more or less), and I drive off to Chatham Maritime Marina for my Long Run. Following on from the success of my 7.3 mile run last week, I am aiming for over 8 miles. Using Google Maps Pedometer earlier in the day I worked out a circuit route of 8.6 miles. Eek! (There is an opportunity to bail out at 6.5 miles if I can’t make it all the way, but I'm hoping I won’t have to use it…)

I have a shiny new podcast to listen to, my knees are pain-free, and the evening is warm but breezy. I’m feeling optimistic!

I set off, enjoying the beautiful riverside views as the sun starts to set. Having grown up in a rather grim part of the concrete jungle that is south-east London, I never fail to appreciate the fantastic scenery and fresh air of the riverside town in which I now live.

The first 4 or 5 miles are uneventful and I’m feeling fairly comfortable, not pushing the pace too much (after all, this is supposed to be a “slow” run, according to Katie Bertie!), but then it begins to get tougher and I am once again aware of just how much a beginner I am.

It is starting to get pretty dark by now, and up ahead of me I see a “gang” of about 8 teenage lads heading towards me, one of them on a bike. Feeling slightly vulnerable I run past them, and they stare at me and several of them make comments (which I don’t catch), and they all laugh. Hmm… this is not so good. I know that I am almost at my “bail out” point, and I don’t want to use it. However, if I carry on and complete the whole 8.6 miles, I know that in a minute I will have to turn round and run past the lads again and, quite frankly, I’m a little scared.

But then I get annoyed with myself… 1) Why should I let a handful of teenagers spoil my running plans – especially when I’m doing so well? And 2), What am I afraid of anyway? Most people on the planet are basically pretty decent, and I should give these teenage lads the benefit of the doubt, and stop believing the hype and being such a scaredy-cat!

So, I reach the turning-point, and head back the way I have come and within a few minutes I see the lads up ahead of me, taking up the whole width of the footpath. Surely they can hear my footsteps behind them as I run towards them, but they don’t move out of the way at all and actually block me as I approach. I say “Excuse me” as I try to get past but they won’t let me through and in the end I just force my way through and carry on running, my heart pounding. I hear them laughing behind me and am convinced they are going to chase after me (especially the one on the bike), and I speed up as much as I can. The quote I began my last blog post with proves to be absolutely true!

But they don’t come after me.
That was pretty scary.
And I feel a bit stupid.
And I wonder whether I will want to carry on running alone when winter comes and the evenings are dark.

We’ll see.

Anyway, I complete my 8.6 mile route with no further incidents, in 1 hour and 22 minutes, which is the exact time it took me to run 7.3 miles last week. Katie Bertie must be giving me good advice as I seem to be getting a bit speedier!

Despite the encounter with the teenage lads, I am feeling euphoric as I drive home, partly from the endorphin rush that comes with exercise, and partly from the achievement of a new distance.

The next day, my running friend Dave Bertie (Katie’s husband) tells me that if I keep up the training, in a couple of years time an 8 mile run will feel like just a warm-up! I can’t imagine that, as it really had been a struggle, but it certainly gives me incentive to carry on!

Friday morning: an unexpected opportunity to visit the gym, and I clock up another 5 miles on the treadmill. That’s definitely going to be it for the week, but all things considered, three runs is pretty good. Let’s hope I can keep the training going in the weeks ahead.

Distance run (in miles): Tuesday 3.1, Wednesday 8.6, Friday 5.0
Total mileage this week: 19.8
Total mileage in July: 82.1
Total since starting blog (21/6/10): 132.1

Speed

Sunday 25th July 2010

"It is only when you are pursued that you become swift."
- Kahlil Gibran (Syrian poet, writer and painter, 1883-1931)

Following on from my last blog post, Katie Bertie was not happy with me on Friday, when she read my plan (on Facebook) to “run 5 miles as fast as I possibly can”. And when I finished my treadmill run I was met with a message stating that I should be running only 3 miles, not 5, and not as fast as I possibly could, but just faster than my long distance pace. Oops. Oh well, at least I had chalked up a few more miles!

So this Sunday evening, I planned to make amends with a nice short and speedy 3.1 mile (5K) circuit around Rochester. My best pal and usual Sunday evening running partner, Anna, is currently sunning herself in Mallorca (Jealous? Moi? Um… yes!), and so I invited my seriously speedy friend Hannah to run with me. She is a “proper” runner and has been running for 4 years, training every other day, so I was worried about keeping up, let alone being able to find enough breath for conversation, but she assured me that she would let me set the pace.

We set off up the hill and I was immediately shocked by how much faster than me Hannah was, especially given that my road is a very long, steep incline. I tried my absolute hardest to keep up with her, but after about 5 minutes had to actually slow to a walk – I just couldn’t do it! We walked for a couple of minutes and Hannah gave me lots of tips on treadmill interval training to help increase speed and endurance – I will definitely be putting some of those into practise!

We set off again, this time keeping to my (slower) pace, and completed the circuit in 30 minutes. I must admit to feeling more than a little disappointed in myself that I didn’t do a better time. I could blame it on the heat and humidity, or just put it down to an “off” day, but the truth is I’m still a beginner and clearly have a long way to go before I become a “proper” runner, whatever that means. Maybe by 2014 I will be as speedy as the lovely Hannah. I hope so!

Distance run (in miles): 3.1
Total mileage this week: 3.1
Total mileage for July: 65.4
Total since starting blog (20/6/10): 115.4

Be

Friday 23rd July 2010

Following Katie Bertie’s advice to do a “shorter but faster” training run after my 7.3 miles on Tuesday, I hot-footed it to the gym determined to run 5 miles as fast as I possibly could.

I am averaging 10 minutes per mile at the moment, which is perfectly acceptable for a relative beginner like me (so the internet and Katie Bertie tell me!). But six months from now, I’m hoping it will be a different story - so today my aim was to run 5 miles in less than 50 minutes.

I decided to leave off the headphones so that 1) I could really focus on my speed with no distractions and 2) I could run without the physical restriction of the wires and iPhone – I thought this might help my speed too.

Big mistake. Huge. (By the way, that’s favourite line from the film Pretty Woman!)

I’ll tell you why it was a mistake. My son Zachary who (as my regular readers will know) is severely autistic, also suffers from a condition called Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), which affects the way his brain processes the information it receives from his senses. This mainly affects his vision, hearing, tactile sense and balance, to the extent that certain environments (e.g. with particular lights, noises and sensory stimuli), can completely overwhelm him and cause him physical pain. In these situations he is happiest and most comfortable in his wheelchair, with his eyes closed and fingers in his ears, or headphones on, to block out everything that is hurting him.

Anyway, I got a real taste of how Zac’s SPD must feel sometimes, when I tried treadmill running with no headphones. After about 10 minutes I began to feel sick, dizzy and overwhelmed by all of the following: 8 huge TV screens on the wall in front of me, the constant piped music on the gym’s sound system, the array of bright spotlights above my head, the pounding of the other runners’ feet on the treadmills around me, and the muffled yelling of the instructor leading the Spinning class in the studio behind me. All of these sights and sounds around me combined to overwhelm my senses, and I wanted to stop and put my headphones on to block it all out, but as I was aiming to improve my speed, I really didn’t want to sacrifice valuable minutes doing so.

So I pressed on trying to focus on speed. I slowed to a fast walking pace a couple of times to grab a sip of water and check my heart-rate, and sped up several times to run an extra-fast minute when I felt able to.

With no music or podcast to distract me, all kinds of random thoughts went through my head as I ran and, just for fun(!), I will share some of my musings with you:

1) Katy Perry’s I Kissed a Girl came on the sound system at one point, and I wasted at least 2 minutes trying to think of some new lyrics to make the “cherry chapstick” line rhyme with “Terry Pratchett”!!! It has to be do-able, but I couldn’t do it! Maybe some of my songwriting friends can come up with something – I’ll let you know in a future post if they do!

2) I never watch darts and know absolutely nothing about it, but there was a darts game on one of the TV screens and I noticed that all the players seemed to have an appalling sense of style – from weirdy-beards to straggly ponytails and horrendously ill-fitting clothes. I’m all for freedom of expression, but this struck me as almost some kind of dress-code. Do you have to have bad style to play darts, or was it just a co-incidence?

3) Looking around me I couldn’t help but notice that some ladies had underestimated the importance of a (preferably industrial-strength) sports bra when running… take note fellow treadmillers – 20 years from now you may regret it!

4) There was a news story on one of the screens about kangaroos being shot for their meat in the Australian bush, and the slant of the story seemed to be that this was particularly shocking because kangaroos are so cute and cuddly. Hmm. I have been a vegetarian since I was 16 and am always surprised when non-vegetarians are shocked at the killing and consumption of cute animals. I don’t see why this is anymore shocking than killing, say, a chicken. Well, I’m not going to get preachy (even if this is my blog!), but I did think it was odd.

Anyway, after what felt like an eternity, I completed the 5 miles in… 46.44 minutes. A new record for me and an average of 9.17 minutes per mile. I was pretty happy with this, but totally exhausted.

After the run, I stretched, then moved to the mats to do my 200 sit-ups. I always do this after a gym run, and try to do 200 sit-ups every day at home too. (When you’ve had 3 children, you have to work extra hard for firm abs – but it definitely pays off!)

Next to me on the mats was a lady doing the most amazing yoga positions. I’m guessing she was in her mid 50s, and she was extremely flexible and graceful. We got chatting and I asked if she’d mind if I took a photo of her for my blog, and here it is! And her name?

"Be".


Distance run (in miles): 5.0
Total mileage this week: 18.5
Total mileage for July: 62.3
Total since starting blog (20/6/10): 112.3

Mariners

Sunday 18th and Tuesday 20th July 2010

Firstly, some news...

1) I have entered for my first ever race! Katie Bertie has persuaded me to join her in running the Great Forest Run on 11th September; a 10K fundraiser for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

2) A quick update for anyone who read my “Russian Roulette” and “Jim” posts a few weeks ago… the Nivea Kids Factor 50 sunscreen proved to be deadly after all! I tried it again – just on my arms – and within 4 hours suffered a pretty extreme reaction of itching, burning and redness which lasted for the next 5 days and required a course of anti-histamines to bring it under control. Hmph. I won’t be forgetting that one in a hurry. So, I will once again be playing Sunscreen Russian Roulette…

Right, on with today’s post. Having agreed to enter the Great Forest Run, I felt that my next run should be a 10K one, just to keep my body used to running that distance. I have run 10K (6.2 miles) several times now, but my recent runs have only been 5 or so miles, so I will obviously need to start increasing the distance as well as the speed of my runs, in preparation for the race.

So, Sunday morning, saw me back at the gym programming in 10K on the treadmill of doom. This was, once again, an issue of child-care, so I’ll say no more about it, other than that I completed the 6.2 miles with no problems. (I will however say that, for a change, I listened to music instead of a podcast, and found that Heavy In Your Arms by Florence and the Machine proved to be the perfect tempo and mood for a treadmill run, and put a smile on my face for 4.44 minutes!)

The following evening I met up with Katie Bertie to see the movie Eclipse (3rd time for me, 1st time for Katie) at Bluewater, and she was full of good advice for my race preparations.

Apparently I now need to do a weekly run that is further than 10K, but to make it a slow run, focusing on distance rather than speed. Then I need to do one or two shorter but faster runs per week, focusing on speed rather than distance. Hmm… there is more to this running lark than I originally thought!

So, Tuesday afternoon, with Lily-Rose fast asleep in Grandma’s care, I set off to the Medway Marina at St. Mary’s Island, setting my sights on 7 slow miles. This would be my longest run so far, and on this incredibly hot and humid afternoon I wasn’t sure if I could do it.

I had worked out a route beforehand, which seemed to be just over 7 miles, and downloaded a podcast onto my phone that was 1 hour and 40 minutes long (just to be on the safe side, as I had no idea how long it would take to run 7 miles!), and stocked up on water.

The heat and humidity were pretty bad but there were a few cool estuary breezes to be had. The pathway was flanked on one side by the sparkling blue river and, on the other, by trees, bushes and hedges, full of flowers and butterflies and the scent of lavender. The half-way point of my run was the stunning sculpture The Mariners, by Sam Holland. I wished I could have stopped to take photos of everything, but I needed to keep going. Occasionally, when the wind was blowing in a certain direction, I could hear an air-raid siren from the Chatham Historic Dockyard nearby. (A great place to visit!)

The last half-hour of my run I was aware that my knees were starting to hurt, and this got increasingly painful as I went on. Heart sinking – I haven’t had knee problems for weeks - I knew I would have to dig out the frozen peas when I got home and ice pack them as soon as possible! I made it back to the car in 1 hour 22 minutes, and my running app told me that my distance was 7.349 miles! So, whist my run wasn’t very speedy, it was a new distance for me and that, despite the knee pain, made me smile.

I am writing this the following day, and the knees are still pretty sore, so I will rest today and tomorrow, and plan my next (shorter and speedier) run for Friday.

Distance run (in miles): Sunday 6.2 and Tuesday 7.3
Total mileage this week: 13.5
Total mileage for July: 57.3
Total since starting blog (20/6/10): 107.3

Run of the Mill

Friday 16th July 2010

I’m writing this on Friday afternoon, having run 8.2km (5.1 miles) on the treadmill at the gym this morning. I also ran 9km (5.6 miles) yesterday morning and the same on Monday. All on the treadmill.

This is not good.

Well, it is good in terms of my weekly mileage, which now stands at 21.5 – a definite improvement on last week – but not good in terms of the fresh air, spectacular views and general feeling of wellbeing that outdoor running brings. As opposed to the plodding, hamster-on-a-wheel, feeling of going nowhere, that treadmill running brings.

But sometimes it’s the only option available.

There is an article on treadmill running in the current issue of Women’s Running Magazine citing benefits such as; safety; access to showers; ability to monitor speed, distance and calories burnt; air-conditioned, weather-proof environment, etc. etc. And for me, with a young baby, the crèche facilities at the gym are the big attraction. (I have considered running outside whilst pushing Lily-Rose in her pushchair, which she would no doubt enjoy, but somehow I don’t think I would manage more than a mile at the very most!)

So, it has been the week of the treadmill.

The need for distraction is far greater when running on a treadmill, and these are some of the things I have done to distract myself:

• Listened to the BBC podcast From Our Own Correspondent, as well as Smartmouths and Imprint podcasts.


• Interval training – interspersing 10km per hour running with 1 or 2 minutes of extra fast running (12.5kph) every 10 minutes or so.


• Facebooked on my iPhone whilst running – easier said than done!


• Worried about my son Zac - he has had a particularly difficult week – his Autism and Sensory Processing Disorder seeming to “peak” on Tuesday causing him to shut down completely, to the extent that we couldn’t get him off the kitchen floor, let alone dressed and on his taxi to school. (You can read about Zac on his own blog, here.)


• Fretted about the impending 6 week school Summer holiday and how I am going to manage an out-of-routine Zac for that length of time, whist occupying 6 year old Luca and baby Lily-Rose. All my friends who are parents of Autistic children (many of whom I have met through the online Autism communities) are feeling the same way, and there is a general sense of anxiety as we face this particular mountain!


• Made a huge mental list of things I need to pack for our upcoming holiday at Freedom Families (for children with Autism and their families) on the Isle of Wight.


• Promptly forgot the entire contents of the list.

Well, it’s not been the most exciting of weeks, running-wise, but I have put in the miles, and hopefully have continued to increase my stamina. (And today’s 5.1 mile run was completed in 50 minutes and 13 seconds – a new personal best for me!)

My next run will take place outside. I am determined!

Distance run (in miles): Thursday 5.6 and Friday 5.1
Total mileage this week: 21.5
Total mileage for July: 43.8
Total since starting blog: 93.8

Beautiful People

Sunday 11th July 2010

World Cup Final night – Spain v Holland. Also, being Sunday night, it is running-with-Anna-time.

Dilemma?
Absolutely not!

Running shoes on, and off we go, leaving my husband and 6 year old Luca happily settled in front of BBC HD.

We decide to run the 5.2 mile circuit over the Medway Viaduct, which is my new favourite route – Anna hasn’t run it before. The day has been unbearably hot and the air is still a little too warm for runnning, so we feel especially virtuous as we head up the hill towards Borstal.

Gossip and news flow freely and we speed along, feeling lean, healthy and good about life.

Suddenly, stepping straight off the front cover of Runners World Magazine, we are overtaken by a Beautiful Couple. She is petite, tanned, blonde and has amazing legs. He is tall, handsome and rugged. They are running at what seems like 50 miles per hour, smiling, gazing at each other, and exuding an air of smug satisfaction at their own incredible fabulousness as they zoom past us.

Instantly we both feel slow, dowdy, un-fit and un-cool. Hmph.

Oh well... onwards and upwards! We make it up onto the viaduct and sacrifice a few seconds to appreciate the amazing view and snap a couple of photos. (The Beautiful Couple are way over the horizon by now.) There is noticeably less traffic on the roads for a Sunday evening - presumably most people are watching the match, and we wonder what the score is. Running down into Strood we pass a pub and, climbing up onto a wall, we manage to look through the window and see that it is still 0-0 at 43 minutes! (See photo.)

Over the historic Rochester Bridge and we pass several more pubs in Rochester's cobblestone high street, overflowing with footballs fans watching the match (several of whom shout "Faster, faster!" at us as we run by) - still 0-0. Then the usual, painful uphill mile home.

Still 0-0, but we are back in time to watch the rest of the second half and Iniesta's fantastic 116th minute victory goal.

Distance run (in miles): 5.2

The following morning I was able to grab an hour at the gym and ran just over 9Km (5.6 miles) on the treadmill.

Distance run (in miles): 5.6

Total mileage this week: 10.8
Total mileage for July: 33.1
Total since starting blog: 83.1

Bananas

Friday 9th July 2010

Back at the gym today for another treadmill run, with baby Lily-Rose in the crèche. In a way it’s a good thing, as it is unbelievably hot outside and the gym is cool and air-conditioned.

Now that I have managed over 8K (5 miles) on the treadmill, it seems a bit pathetic to go back to the 5K runs that I usually do on here so, gritting my teeth, I program in 8.3K, just to make sure…

After about a mile I start to get terrible stitch in my right side, which is unusual for me. I try to run through it but eventually I have to slow down. I grab my iPhone (I am listening to a shiny new episode of the Imprint podcast) and attempt some serious multi-tasking.

I slow down to 6.5Kph (which is still a pretty fast walk) and log in to the gym’s wifi network – no easy task typing in user names and passwords when you are walking briskly on a treadmill! I then Google “stitch when running”, which brings up a nice list of results, mainly to do with running and sport, but the odd one about embroidery!

The tricky part was reading the information on the tiny iPhone screen, whilst trying to keep up my fast walking pace. Here is a selection of the advice on offer:

• eat a banana 2 hours before your run.
• don’t drink anything for an hour before your run.
• stretch both arms up above your head for a few minutes, whist running.
• adjust your breathing so you breathe in for 2 counts and out for 3.
• breathe from your diaphragm.
• strike the ground forcefully with the opposite leg to the side the stitch is on, as you breathe out.
• breathe out forcefully as if you are blowing into a paper bag.
• drop your arms down to your side and breathe out twice through your mouth.

Hmm… well, it was obviously too late for the banana and the not-drinking beforehand! I sped the treadmill back up to 10Kph and tried stretching both arms above my head (feeling very self-conscious), and the 2:3 breathing, neither of which had any effect. Being a singer, I am used to diaphragmatic intercostal breathing, so I tried that next, but again no effect.

Striking the ground with the opposite leg to the side the stitch was on, whilst breathing out, was tricky took a few attempts to get the rhythm right (and gave my brain a work out at the same time!). I then tried the paper-bag breathing AND the dropping-arms-down-and-breathing-out-twice.

Nothing worked!!

However, the combination of concentrating on all the breathing and advice, plus the amusing dialogue on my podcast, helped to distract me from the pain of the stitch enough that I could finish my run.

Next time I will definitely eat a banana first!

Distance run (in miles): 5.2
Total mileage this week: 13.5
Total mileage for July: 22.3
Total since starting blog: 72.3

Spectrum

Tuesday 6th July 2010

Several people have asked me why my blog is called Rainbows and Running Shoes, and I guess the answer is mainly to do with my son Zachary, who has Autistic Spectrum Disorder. (He also has severe Sensory Processing Disorder and ADHD.)

Every child with Autism is different and occupies a unique position on the Autism Spectrum – sadly, Zac is on the severe end of it. But he certainly makes life colourful, and no two days are the same (much as Zac would like them to be… children with autism crave sameness and predictability above all things!).

Autism affects the whole family dynamic and any expectations of a “normal” family life are usually pretty futile. Infinite patience, nerves of steel, a wicked sense of humour and bags of energy are a must. This is why I run!

The rainbow is also a symbol of hope and promise. (And, at the risk of sounding cheesy, “If you want the rainbow, you’ve got to put up with the rain”. Dolly Parton, and David Brent!)

(If you want to know more about how Autism affects our family, you can read my son Zac’s blog here.)

Well, on to running matters… tonight, being Tuesday, is the night my husband plays football with his friends, so I only had time for a quick run in between putting the children to bed, cooking a vegetable stir-fry (with noodles, garlic and soy sauce), and sacred football time!

I have a great 5K circuit that takes me from my door, uphill into Borstal, down the incredibly steep Shorts Way to the river, and then a beautiful long run along the riverside, with wide open skies and an amazing view of Rochester Castle and Cathedral. The route then goes up to the historic cobblestone high street, around the castle and moat, and then the long uphill back to my house.

It felt great to run as fast as I could on the downhills – such a feeling of freedom and childish abandon – almost like flying!


Distance run (in miles): 3.1
Total mileage this week: 8.3
Total mileage for July: 17.2
Total since starting blog: 67.1

Jim

Monday 5th July 2010

First things first: a quick update! Anyone who read my “Russian Roulette” post will remember that I took my life in my hands by spraying myself with an “unknown” sunscreen (I am super-allergic), and was unsure whether I would have a reaction or not. Several people have asked me what happened. Well, I didn’t react, BUT, as I showered immediately after my run, I may have just washed it all off, so the truth is, I still don’t know if the Nivea Kids Factor 50 (green) is safe or not!

Anyway, back to today. Just a small window of running opportunity, and it would once again have to be on the treadmill at the gym, because of the need for childcare. Baby Lily-Rose is almost 18 months old and is not yet walking or talking much (she can say “shoe”!), but understands an awful lot. However, when I say “Let’s go to the gym”, she instantly looks round hopefully and I just know she is looking for Jim, Anna’s husband, whom she likes very much!

Once she is safely settled in the gym crèche, I hop on the treadmill and program in 50 minutes – that’s all I have. I’m still on a high from seeing the preview of Eclipse last night (which was FANTASTIC!) and I have a new podcast – an analysis of the film – which helps detract from the boredom of treadmill running.

The other thing that detracts is, of course… people watching! Let me introduce you to some of the regular faces I see at my gym.

There’s Bendy Ponytail Man – he must be in his late 60s or early 70s, an ex-hippy, with a long grey ponytail and an extraordinarily flexible body, which he likes to contort into various yoga positions in the middle of the gym floor. He’s pretty cool!

Then we have the Golden Girls – a gaggle of 4 or 5 “mature” ladies, their leader being very tall and thin with bright orange hair. I have never seen any of them do any form of exercise, but they are always in the lounge area of the gym, clad in lycra, sharing tea and cake and enjoying a gossip.

There is Highlighty Beefcake Man – he has stepped straight out of the early ‘90s with his long blonde highlights, fake tan, tiny shorts and bulging biceps. I think that in his mind he is a Gladiator (think Ulrika Jonsson, not Russell Crowe).

Also, we have Leggings Lady – an extremely large girl probably in her early twenties. I believe she would be categorised as morbidly obese and I admire her dedication very much, as she is at the gym pretty much every time I go, usually on the exercise bikes. She has a long way to go, but is obviously seriously trying to improve her health.

There are lots of other regulars, and I will introduce you to some more another time. I wonder what name they would give me!

Distance run (in miles): 5.2
Total mileage this week: 5.2
Total mileage for July: 14.1
Total since starting blog: 64.0

Total Eclipse

Saturday 3rd July 2010

My best-friend-in-the-whole-wide-world, Anna, has been my Sunday evening work-out buddy for about the past 4 years. It is an almost sacred tradition that she comes to my house at 6 o’clock on a Sunday evening to help bath Zac and put him to bed, after which we engage in some kind of exercise - usually running in the Summer months, and step aerobics or a fitness DVD the rest of the year. This is often followed by a bacon sandwich made by my husband, and a plate of Marmite on toast for me (as I am a strict vegetarian and would no more eat bacon than chew off my own leg!).

These Sunday evening work-out sessions are also a chance to catch up on the week’s news and gossip, exchange stories and plans, and generally have a good old giggle. They say laughter is the best medicine, but I think laughter plus exercise has to be the ultimate work-out!

Anyway, this weekend I am breaking with tradition because of a Most Exciting Event. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a huge fan of the Twilight Saga (a series of books by Stephenie Meyer), and on Friday 9th July, the film of the third book, Eclipse, is released. My friend Donna, also a Twilight fan (or “Twi-hard” if you want the technical term!) has managed to get us tickets for a preview showing this Sunday! I can’t begin to explain how exciting this is!

I could just talk about Twilight for the rest of this blog entry… it would be very easy for me to do! But, well… this is a running blog, so let’s get on to the running part.

The upshot of all this is that Anna and I decided to go for a quick run on Saturday night instead. (And she still promised to come at 6 o’clock on the Sunday to help with Zac, even though I would be effectively “ditching” her to go to the cinema with Donna afterwards – that’s true friendship for you!)

I was dying to show Anna the Rochester Riverside area I had explored on my last run so we set off from my house and headed down towards the River Medway – this time I knew exactly where I was going and how to find the elusive entrance to this wonderful open space. We ran pretty much straight along the riverside, enjoying the amazing evening light on the water and the view of Rochester Castle and Cathedral from a completely new angle. We both agreed it was a great place to run… especially when we discovered a blue tardis-like box, which turned out to be a conveniently placed loo (I won’t say which one of us used it!). Anna has just returned from a 10 day conference (she is a Press Officer) and we had a lot to catch up on (from new red trousers, to her guest entry on the Church Mouse Blog, to the latest antics of Zachary…) and the chit-chat helped once again to distract from the pain of all the running!

Anyway, we made it back home with the weird feeling that it was Sunday night, not Saturday – I couldn’t shake this off for the rest of the evening and it was very disorienting!

Distance run (in miles): 4.2
Total mileage this week: 24.1
Total mileage for July: 8.9
Total since starting blog: 58.8

Russian Roulette

Friday 2nd July 2010

Today was hot. Ridiculously hot for England. And humid. Not great conditions for running, but I had a child-free couple of hours at about 9.30 this morning and it was a case of “now or never”...

I put on my shortest shorts and my ultra-breathable running vest and my cap to keep the sun out of my eyes, and then began the usual hunt for the “safe” sunscreen.

I am allergic to about 70% of the sunscreens on the market, but can never remember which ones! Being a family of 5, we buy a lot of sunscreen… the children each need a bottle in their schoolbags, and we have some in the car, in the baby-bag, in the cupboard… we have baby sunscreen, kiddie sunscreen, water-proof sunscreen, coloured sunscreen, high-factor, low-factor, in-between-factor. We have bottles from last year, the year before, the year before that… half-empty ones, half-full ones! You get the idea. Every year I buy more sunscreen, as I can’t remember which of the previous year’s bottles I reacted to, and which are safe. I even posted on my Facebook page this year when I discovered one that I reacted to, but that was weeks and weeks ago, and I just don’t have the will to scroll back hundreds of pages to find the entry!

My arms are still recovering from a reaction to the yellow Asda bottle of sunscreen I tried the other day – at least that’s one bottle I now know to avoid. So I grabbed the next one available – Nivea Kids, factor 50, waterproof, coloured green – and sprayed it on, internally flinching at the potential itchiness and soreness I may or may not be inflicting on myself. Talk about Russian Roulette! But at least I wouldn’t burn…

My plan was to try a new running route - the Rochester Riverside area. This is a huge area of formerly industrial land, about a mile and a half from my house, that has been cleared to make way for a new development of luxury houses, bars, restaurants, hotels and green spaces. The recession caused plans to be put on ice for a while, but the land is cleared and has pathways and riverside walks, but no actual buildings yet. I wasn’t even sure how to get onto it, as it is behind an industrial estate and railway lines and not accessible by car, and I had never explored it before.

I powered up the GPS on my iPhone, plugged into a new episode of the Smartmouths podcast, and set off clutching my running bottle of water. It was so hot! I made it down to the industrial area of Rochester behind the railway lines, and could see the riverside area, but there was just no way that I could find to get to it! I tried several roads, all leading to dead ends and I had to keep back-tracking. I didn’t mind really, as it was all adding to my mileage, but it was a little frustrating. I kept following the direction of the river, feeling closed in by all the industrial buildings, and eventually I came to a tiny narrow entrance to a footpath and, squeezing through, like Alice in Wonderland, I suddenly found myself in a huge green open space, with beautiful pathways, level ground and wonderful breezes off the river – I had found it!

I wasn’t sure whether to go left or right as the pathways appeared to stretch for miles in either direction, so I randomly picked the right-hand path and set off wondering where I would end up. As it turned out, the path followed the river for only about a mile, and then another tiny footpath entrance brought me out to an area of Chatham that I knew, and from there I ran the long uphill route home. (Next time I will take the left-hand path and see where that leads to.)

Reaching my house, I checked my iPhone, eager to see the distance I had covered, and was surprised and delighted to find it was 10.1 miles! However, it took me about 5 seconds to realise that that couldn’t possibly be right! The whole run had taken 47 and a half minutes (according to my watch and the iPhone), which would mean I had been running at 12.8 miles per hour to cover 10.1 miles in that time!

Something had seriously messed with the GPS. Maybe it was the heat, or maybe it was the fact that I was constantly back tracking, trying to find my way to the riverside area, but either way I had no idea what the distance actually was. I couldn’t even calculate it on Map-My-Run or any of the mapping websites, because the whole riverside area didn’t even officially exist yet and the pathways and routes are not up to date on Google Earth or Maps.

So… for the purposes of my blog and my mileage records, I will have to estimate it the best I can. Based on the time of 47:30, and my recent running speeds, and the parts of the route that I can measure, I would say the distance was somewhere between 4.5 and 5 miles. Shall we say 4.7? I think that’s probably fair enough!

And I guess I’ll find out tomorrow if the sunscreen was “safe” or not.

Distance run (in miles): 4.7
Total distance this week: 19.9
Total distance for July: 4.7
Total since starting blog: 54.6

Geek

Wednesday 30th June 2010

Let me start today’s post with one exciting word: iPad.

(Yes, I know this is a Running Blog… I will get to the running part in a minute, I promise!)

My beautiful, gorgeous, amazing, long-awaited, long-anticipated iPad arrived in the post yesterday afternoon.

Did I get a chance to play with it?
No.
Did I get a chance to play with it today?
No.

This is what happens when you have three wonderful children all needing varying degrees and types of attention. (Am I complaining? No.)

So… this evening I was faced with a choice. Children all in bed(ish), husband otherwise occupied(ish)… do I play with my new toy? Or go for a RUN?

Decisions, decisions.

I go for a run! This is so out of character for me… I am a geek to the core, and get very excited about new technology – I was ITCHING to play with my iPad! This running business must be getting addictive!

So, feeling very virtuous, I set off on my new favourite 5 mile circuit over the Medway Viaduct. It was fairly late evening by now and the sun was low and red in the sky, making fabulous views over the river. I was feeling good (no knee pain) and fairly flew along, especially on the downhill stretches. I really pushed myself, to try and beat my previous time of 54:25 minutes.

(I think the fact that my iPad was at home, just waiting to be played with, was extra motivation, and lent me wings!)

In my last post I contemplated “running etiquette” and whether or not to make eye-contact or greet other runners. My “proper” running friend Dave Bertie (husband of Katie Bertie, mentioned in earlier posts) responded, advising me to just raise one hand in greeting. I almost tried this when passing a runner, but it just didn’t feel quite right… maybe it’s a “guy thing”? I smiled instead! Perhaps I’ll try the hand-raising next time…

Anyway, on top of the viaduct I couldn’t resist the view and sacrificed 20 seconds or so to snap a quick photo with my iPhone. The breeze was gorgeous and I would have loved to stay longer.

I pushed myself round the rest of the circuit, struggling with the final uphill mile towards my house. It was worth it… my time was 49:19, a whole 5 minutes faster than before!

I know this is still a pretty poor time, but this running lark is all about the journey (pun intended) and is a work in progress – I will improve!

And, I’m happy to report, I finally got to have a good play on my iPad whilst ice-packing my knees after the run! I even downloaded some games apps and played iPad Othello with my husband, which was fab. Tomorrow, I think I’ll download iPad Scrabble. Does life get more exciting than this?

Distance run (in miles): 5.2
Total distance this week: 15.2
Total since starting blog: 49.9