Since my last blog entry, my fundraising pack has arrived for my 10K race on September 11th in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care. I have my yellow charity running vest, and have set up my Just Giving sponsorship page, with a modest target of raising £200. After all, this is my first ever charity race, and I have no idea whether people will sponsor me or not, but hopefully this is an achievable target. (There is a link to my Just Giving page on the bottom right-hand corner of this blog, or you can click on www.justgiving.com/KatieBarrettRuns, to donate or just view my progress. Any donations would be extremely gratefully received. And thank you so much to all those who have sponsored me so far.)
Anyway, on with today’s post… Having survived Week 1 of the school holidays, Week 2 begins with a traditional Sunday evening run with my best pal Anna, who has returned, bronzed and relaxed, from Mallorca (yes, I’m still jealous…). By the way, I am counting Sundays as Day 1 of each week, in terms of my running – you may disagree with me (Anna does!), but that’s just the way it is…It’s great to run with Anna again, and we have lots to catch up on, having not seen each other for a couple of weeks, but she is tired and still a little jet-lagged and so we just plump for a 5K circuit of Rochester, taking in the beautiful riverside and castle views.
This happens to be the same route I ran last Sunday evening with my super-speedy friend Hannah (see blog post: Speed), when I struggled and was reminded of just how much a beginner I am at this running lark.
But this week I was the speedy one!
Two weeks of training on my part, and two weeks of dining out and relaxation on Anna’s part, have resulted in a small but noticeable difference in our fitness levels (hopefully temporary) and, whilst Anna struggled up the mile-long Hill-of-Doom towards my house at the end of our run (just like I did last week), I was able to manage a sprint finish!
Tuesday 3rd August 2010
Zac, Luca and Lily-Rose are at Day Respite, Holiday Club and Grandma’s house respectively, and this is my one and only opportunity of the week for my Long Run. Following on from my 8+ mile achievement last week, I set my sights on 9 miles. Gulp.
The previous night I used Google Maps Pedometer to plot out a 9 mile circuit route, which is basically a figure-of-eight. The largest loop is the 5 mile “viaduct” route which I often run (and which seemed like such huge distance the first time I ran it! See blog post: Viaduct), and the smaller loop is a 4 mile countryside route taking in the village of Wouldham. I plan to do the smallest loop first, which gets most of the steep hills out of the way in the beginning of the run… apart from the inevitable uphill mile home of course!It is a very hot and humid morning and I know the route offers little shade, so I smother myself in yet another potentially allergy-producing sunscreen (see blog post: Russian Roulette), and grab my new teeny-tiny purple iPod (donated by the lovely Anna), filled with a fresh playlist of speedy tunes, and a bottle of water, and off I go…
The first two and a half miles are almost entirely uphill and I am so tempted to slow to a walk and sip my water, but I manage to keep going, and the relief of the downhill run into Wouldham village is fantastic.
After 5 miles I am high up on the viaduct, running super-speedily, enjoying cool breezes and smiling along to “Ours” by The Bravery – the perfect tempo and mood for running – 3.48 minutes worth of motivation!
The last 4 miles are up and down (literally) and I have to slow down 4 times to take a 30 second walking break and sip water. I would love to be able to say I ran the whole 9 miles without slowing, but I’m just not there yet.
The last mile uphill to my house is a real killer, but I manage it without slowing, and collapse in a heap of victory when I reach home! I can’t believe I ran so far… I could never have done it two months ago. (And my time? Exactly 90 minutes, to the second!)
But then I think… if I were to do a marathon one day (and I have to admit, the “M” word keeps playing at the edges of my mind), I would have to run 3 times as far!
Distance run (in miles): Sunday 3.2 and Tuesday 9.0
Total mileage this week: 12.2
Total mileage for August: 12.2
Total since starting blog (21/6/10): 144.3
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