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