Tuesday 25 September 2012

Tardiness is Not a Virtue

Just been reading back over my old entries and it's made me all nostalgic - can't believe that I haven't updated my blog in nearly three months when so much has happened in that time.  No excuses, I am going to start updating regularly again, I do miss it.  Watch this space ....

Thursday 28 June 2012

Not Quite The Full Customer Experience ....

Saturday: Well buying my new trainers wasn't quite the experience I was hoping it was going to be.  This particular Sweat Shop forms part of a David Lloyd leisure centre and at 12 noon on a Saturday you can imagine just quite how busy it was which was why we were flabbergasted to only find one person covering the whole shop.  Chaos ensued.  We specifically made the trip to Bristol to go to this particular store as they did the gait analysis and, as a specialist running shop, I felt that the service I would receive would be better than the likes of the more generic sports shops such as Sports Direct or JD Sports.  Unfortunately that was not the case; whichever management person decided it was a good idea to reduce cover to one person on a weekend lunchtime wants shooting.  I can't fault the poor shop assistant, in fact she was staying remarkably cool under the circumstances, but she was literally trying to serve five people at once.  Having examined my bare feet, she bought out a neutral pair of trainers to try on and then promptly disappeared to deal with another customer.  Five minutes later she was back, I got to run on the treadmill for all of 10 seconds and was then advised I had a neutral gait and she would go off and get some pairs of shoes for me to try.  In the meantime though, as I was taking my shoes off, she went away to deal with another customer.  Five minutes later I got a selection of shoes to try, got the first ones on only to find she had disappeared again to help someone else.  Tried the first pair on the treadmill, they were okay but was advised to try the others as well.  Again, no sooner had I come off the treadmill then she disappeared to serve yet another customer and it was a good five minutes until I saw her again.  This farce went on for over an hour, to be honest if we hadn't travelled so far I would've walked out but I had my heart set on a pair of new trainers so I stuck it out.  Needless to say Other Half and Sons One and Two were not amused by the whole episode and I got back to the car after an hour to find three very fractious boys!  Having said all that I am really pleased with my trainers - New Balance w1080v2 - but I think I shall be voting with my feet next time and I won't be returning there when the time comes to replace them.

The more I think about it, the more I am really disappointed by the whole experience, I was really hoping to be treated as a valued customer especially when you consider the shoes I was buying were meant to be £95 (although I got them on sale for £69) but instead I just felt like I was more of an inconvenience.

Sunday: Today I thought I would try my new shoes out, make sure I got on with them okay.  I must say one good aspect of Sweatshop is that they offer a no-quibble 30 day money back guarantee on all their trainers if you find you don't get on with them for any reason; now that's good customer service.  As the weather was reasonable, I thought I would do a long run and ended up covering 10.5 miles, all on-road; well I didn't want to get my new trainers muddy, did I?  Had a lovely run and the trainers were super comfortable, they provide so much more bounce than my old pair.

Monday: Day off today although not through choice - Other Half not feeling well so he went to bed when I got home from work which put pay to running.  Oh well, probably no harm done as I managed to get my long run in yesterday.

Tuesday: Club run tonight but not a great one.  Only three of us turned up again (we're like the terrible trio) and we did an off-road run; needless to say my white trainers are now no longer white!  Struggled tonight, I keep getting bad stomach cramps which makes running somewhat difficult.

Wednesday: Ran to Slimming World and again a really hard run even though I was in the mood for it.  For some reason legs felt very heavy and it was a real struggle to do the four miles to the weigh in.  However, great news, another pound off this week which means I have reached my 'Personal Achievement Target' of a loss of 4 st 1 lb so I now have free lifetime membership to Slimming World, a handful of certificates and a metal pin badge to show for all my efforts; take a look at my wall:


Shame we never have any visitors to show it off to!  Still, it makes me happy to see it.  I do actually want to lost another half a stone but I am now going to concentrate on getting fitter rather than weight loss.

Thursday: Club run again tonight, 8.28 miles off-road.  Lovely run but my knees are hurting a bit now.  A lot of it was through waist-high grass and I have real problems with running through such going as I naturally have a very low running action (my feet barely skim the ground when on tarmac) so having to lift them higher to stop the grass from grabbing at my legs is a real effort.  But it was enjoyable nonetheless, it's lovely running with other people for the company if nothing else.

 

Saturday 23 June 2012

Eggs ..

My Mum and Step-Dad own a canal boat - look what they found when they opened the engine compartment the other day:


Apparently they are from a Moorhen; Mummy bird flew away with a lot of squaking and flapping.  However, she returned to her eggs five minutes later so all is well.

Needless to say this has put paid to them using the boat for  while!

The Rain In Spain .......

Well much to my surprise it was a good result for the TV as it turned out to be the capacitors in the end so we're only £92 lighter.

On Thursday night I was due to run a 10k race in Chippenham but the weather was so atrocious I decided to give it a miss.  At the end of the day I do running mostly for fun (although admittedly some runs are more fun than others) and I begrudge paying £13 in entry fees to ultimately not enjoy myself.  However, not all was lost, I went to the running club meet instead where we did intervals of 200m x 8 with a 45 second rest in-between.  Really hard work due to the rain and wind but I felt, having completed it, that I could justify my chippy dinner.

Today we're off to Sweat Shop in Bristol where I am going to treat myself to a decent pair of trainers.  Up to now I have been using a pair of Nikes that were bought more as fashion trainers rather than anything else, they certainly aren't designed to be a running shoe and the miles I have done in them are starting to take their toll; the heel is just about shot in both pairs and they aren't providing any support whatsoever.  I am specifically going to Sweat Shop as I know they do the gait analysis which I am interested in having done and have around £100 to splash out so I'm hoping to really get something halfway decent for that sort of money.  The last time I felt this excited was when I was on the hunt for my GPS watch ....... yes, my life is that exciting.

Tomorrow I will be posting a picture of my lovely new trainers for your approval.

Wednesday 20 June 2012

Wednesday Update - Part Two

Slimming World tonight - for the last two weeks I have actually run there and back; yes I am bloody fabulous, thanks for asking

Anyhow, wasn't expecting great things from tonight, last week I managed to lose the 1.5 pounds that I put on the week before through eating donuts and biscuits some unexplained reason.

So it was a great surprise that the scales showed a 2.5 pound loss.  Which means, in 7 months, I have now lost exactly ...... hold on, just need to blow my own trumpet - da da da da da daaaaaa ........ FOUR STONE :) Happy, happy, happy :))

Time for another measure I think:

Weight: 9st 12.5lbs (10.5lbs loss since last measure)
Bust: 37.5 inches (2.5 inch loss)
Waist: 31 inches (1 inch loss)
Hips: 35 inches (1 inch loss)

mmmm, seeing how much I've lost on my bust I guess that's why I've gone from a 40DD to a 36C!  So, since the start of my journey, in total I have lost the following:

Weight: 4 stone
Bust: 8.5 inches
Waist: 9 inches
Hips: 9 inches

Ideally I would love to drop another half stone to bring me to 9.5 stones but I realise that could be quite hard so for now I will concentrate on my running and hope that the weight loss comes as a consequence of getting fitter.  Only have another half a pound to get down to my Personal Achievement Target which means that, as long as I stay within 3 pounds either side of 9 st 12lbs I get to go to Slimming World for free.  Well that's a fiver a week saved ...... I do believe I can get a bottle of 'special offer' Cava for that :)

Wednesday Update - Part One

Yesterday was certainly a day of two halves.  Early morning I decided to check the bank account to see if I had been refunded some money following the cancellation of a holiday.  Imagine my surprise when the balance of our main account was up by over £1500 more than I was expecting.  With trembling finger I clicked on the statement button to discover that Her Majesty's Tax Credit department had refunded us to the tune of £1642 (God bless you Ma'am).  I have absolutely no idea how any of these tax credits work (does anyone?) but having been made redundant on the 31st March 2011, our income did take a bit of a battering last year.  To keep the wolf from the door, Other Half was sent back to work whilst I stayed at home and lounged around on the sofa watching Jeremy Kyle looked after the children.  Anyway, around two weeks ago the Tax Credit people sent me a renewal notice which I duly filled in and sent back; I'm Little Miss OCD when it comes to anything to do with money.  I guess they must've been working on the previous year's figures (2010-2011 when I was gainfully employed) and the refund was due to the readjustment in our income levels.  Whatever the reason though, I have to say it was a lovely and very welcome surprise.

Oh, we also had our £100 refunded by the holiday company.

But something called Sod's Law came into play and yesterday afternoon our telly decided to die a death by turning itself off and flat-out refusing to turn itself back on again.  We changed the fuse but needless to say that didn't actually make any difference; mind you, I have never come across any instance where changing the fuse has made an electrical item suddenly spring back into life but one feels obliged to go through the motions.  So yesterday evening our local TV repair man came and took our lovely, less than two year old telly away.  So far he's not had a chance to check out what's wrong with it but apparently it is likely to be one of two things i) a capacitor has gone wrong in which case it's repairable or ii) the mother board has gone wrong in which case it's not worth repairing.  Guess which one I am anticipating it will be?

It's No Sacrifice .....

Over a week with no updates, I'm getting worse - think I need to go on to the naughty step until I've learnt my lesson.  Still, I'm not apologising for it so there.  Here we go:

Monday - Friday: To be honest last week seems so long ago that I can't really remember what happended, certainly nothing of note otherwise I would remember, right?  However, a couple of highlights include marshalling on Tuesday evening for a run hosted by my running club.  Oh, and we have our formal mortgage offer in place so can now proceed with pace with our house purchase.  I now realise I haven't mentioned anything about the house we are buying, but I think I shall leave that post for now and tell you all about it when we exchange.

Saturday: Saturday morning found me sacrificing my lie-in for another 7am run with a running club colleague; sometimes I feel so worthy I almost make myself sick. This time she brought along her three Border Collies and we managed to do a 10-mile run with well over 95% being off-road. I do feel very blessed to be living in such a rural area, the off-road runs are extensive and a real pleasure to run; I am not sure I would show such commitment to my running if I was forced to pound the same old pavements time and time again.

Sunday:  Shorter, slower 'recovery' run today even though my legs were holding up surprisingly well after yesterday.  I belong to an online forum called Tribesports which is geared towards people who participate in sport; pretty much any sport you care to mention is represented and has a group of dedicated followers.  It's an odd site really, quite motivational in its own way as participants are based all over the world and you choose to belong to 'Tribes' that best reflect your interests.  Additionally, participants can create challenges for others to sign up to and complete which is why Sunday morning found me running with a camera in my back pocket.  The challenge I was undertaking was "Run with the Zebras" whereby participants had to complete at least a 5k run with their route covering as many zebra crossings as possible.  The town I live in only has three crossings so I thought I would photograph them to prove I had completed the challenge.  I must say I got some funny looks from passing motorists as I stood there with camera in hand.  But, challenge complete.  Apart from my running, it was a quiet day all-round although we did have Other Half's Aunt and Uncle over for dinner.  Other Half made chilli enchiladas and salad followed by a fresh fruit/double cream/custard dessert.  It wasn't until later that I realised it was Father's Day and perhaps I should've volunteered to do the cooking!

Monday: Late evening run again following meatballs and pasta for dinner.  Ummmm, maybe not such a good idea.  Dinner sat heavy due to not having had enough time to digest it all and as a consequence I felt pretty sluggish.  But I struggled (wo)manfully on through and completed my planned five miles.

Tuesday: Club run tonight and one of the best I have done for a while.  I struggled a bit at the beginning, as is my wont, but the last half of the run went brilliantly and I felt super strong so much so that I managed to 'sprint' (although I use that term loosely) for the finish line.  I generally enjoy all my runs, one way or another, but there is nothing like the feeling you get when all the elements of what makes a great run come together.

Sunday 10 June 2012

Race Report - Race for Life 5k

Well the day dawned grey and damp, a bit like my spirits at the thought of running this race.  I booked it months and months ago, within weeks of starting to run as I thought it would give me a focus to keep me motivated to carry on training; that, and the fact that it's for a good cause.  However, my running has gone from strength to strength and I long ago gave up on this race in terms of being a focus for anything.  I have also spoken of my dislike for any kind of running which requires sustained speed which is the case with a 5k. 

The little demon in me did think about not going and telling people that I had run it (after all, who would know, I was doing the run on my own as I couldn't get any family or friends motivated enough to come along with me) but guilt got the better of me so 10.30am found my Other Half dropping me off at the gates of Lydiard Park in Swindon.  First off, I felt somewhat at sea being on my own surrounded by an ocean of pink that was 3141 other 'runners'.  A rather camp gym instructor took us through a warm up routine which I felt obliged to do seeing as I didn't really have any other plans. 

I must say considering the sheer amount of people doing the event, the organisation was second to none.  With five minutes to spare, three flag bearers were deployed; one for runners, one for joggers and one for walkers.  The idea was to make your way to whichever flag best represented how you were planning on completing the race.  I immediately headed off to the runners flag as I had resolved with myself that I was going to try my damnedest to beat my personal best for the distance and, if possible, to come in under 25 minutes.  More years ago than I care to remember, I did my first (and only) Race for Life in Dorchester and not being race savvy at that point, did my usual trick of starting too far back and getting held up.  Well, today I decided to be Little Miss Pushy and I was going to be right at the front of the start line if it was the last thing I did.  Well, miracles upon miracles, I didn't actually have to push in and there I was, tape to chest with a few minutes to spare.  By this point I did actually get a bit nervous, what if I wasn't as good as I thought I was and was I in danger of being overtaken by a flood of runners?

Too late to worry about it, we set off right on time (once again Race for Life organisers, I really have to take my hat off to you).  A few people did overtake me right at the beginning but I soon settled into a nice, fast (well, for me) rhythm and by the half mile point I calculated I was in twelfth place.  The route was a mixture of grass and gravel trail so really lovely going.  By the first 1k I had picked off several runners and was lying in seventh place.  The pacing was just perfect, faster than I would run a 10k but not so fast that I didn't feel I could sustain it (plus, the course was pretty much flat so that helped).  However, at the 3k mark we hit a slight slope (I hesitate to refer to it as a hill) and I managed to pick off the sixth and fifth placed runners so by the top of the slope (mini hill) I was lying in fourth place!  To say I was elated would be an understatement.  For someone who moans (a lot) about hills on races they seem to be my friend.  In all four races I have done, I have overtaken several runners going up hill and, more importantly, not had them overtake me back once the hill flattened out again.  By this point I had lost sight of the runners in first and second place as the course was quite twisty-turny but the third placed lady was firmly in my sights and I spent the next 2k trying desperately to catch up with her only to be thwarted.  At one point I did seem to be gaining (there was about 30 yards between us) but I just couldn't find that extra push I needed and there we remained.  I managed a bit of a sprint finish and there were loads of people lining the route home who were cheering and clapping so that was a great boost.  Results are:

Time: 23:20
Position = 4 out of 3142

Yes folks, you read that right, my time was 23:20 so I beat my personal best by over 3 minutes.  Happy, happy, happy is the only way to describe how I felt crossing that finish line.  The fourth place was also rather lovely, but I am not so naive as to class the Race for Life as a true race but still, I was happy enough.  Heart FM were present at the event and their photographer was taking pictures at the finish line so hopefully there might be a photo of me on their website tomorrow.

The most surprising thing of all is that I actually really enjoyed running a 5k and I am now very tempted to find a few more races.  Lydiard Park hosts the weekly parkruns on a Saturday morning so I think I may just have to get me along to some of those to see if I can better my time and get it to under 22 minutes as my next goal.

Oh, and I raised £85 for Cancer Research so thank you to all my sponsors x   

Weekly Catch-Up

Yes, well, clearly, this trying to keep my blog updated at regular intervals is not going at all well.  I think I am going to just have to give up kidding myself (and therefore having to apologise on a regular basis) and resign myself to the fact that I'm a twice-a-week-if-you-are-lucky kind of a girl (and yes, I am still talking about my blogging).

So, today (Sunday) I did my Race for Life but I am going to write up a separate race report for that so for now on with the week that was.

Tuesday: Club run tonight and only three of us turned up; I never realised what a bunch of fair-weather runners belonged to the club!  In fairness, I guess because today was a Bank Holiday (God bless 'yer Majesty) most of them were forced to loving spending time with their families and possibly ran earlier in the day.  However, the intrepid three that we were set off on a four mile round the town route which was at a pace that I found just slightly too fast to be comfortable.  The only reason I was able to keep up was because it was a short route, however I am sure it does me good to be pushed that bit harder than I would push myself if I was running on my own.

Wednesday: No running for me today.  Over dinner I was saying to the Other Half that I felt I was at a stage with my weight loss / running fitness that I could take the odd day off if I felt like it without jeopardising anything.  Went to Slimming World and I have put on 1.5 pounds ...... oh the irony. 

Thursday: New girl turned up at the running club tonight which was really nice to see; there are only two regular female runners (one of which is me) so we are very 'man' heavy which is no bad thing I guess, but most of them are super-fast so it's nice to meet someone else in my speed zone.  Tonight's effort session was a timed 1.5 miles; the wind was blowing a gale and on one of the long straights we were running straight into the wind and that really upped the effort having to be made.  However, results are:

Distance - 1.5 miles
Time - 11:26

Not brilliant but then I'm a bit shite a sustaining speed for any kind of distance.  Think we are retaking this test in around six weeks to see if our fitness has improved any.

Friday: Another cold and very blustery night but 8.30pm found me heading on out the door for a five mile run.  I think Other Half is very impressed by my commitment; I'm pretty impressed with it too.  Nice run apart from the wind, I was a few seconds off last week's pace but I'm not too fussed as it was more of a leg stretch than anything else.

Saturday: Rest day today ready for the big day tomorrow.  However, took the dog for a lovely walk up to Lansdowne Monument, it's a bit of a climb so whilst I didn't run, I still did quite a bit of exercise.  This is the hill I had to climb up (you can just see the monument in the distance and that is one of Wiltshire's White Horses to the left):

Tuesday 5 June 2012

Well Slap My Thighs and Call Me Pheidippides

I am a (half) marathon runner, oh yes indeedy.  But more on that later .......

Friday:  Busy day at work today trying to get things finalised before the start of the long Bank Holiday weekend.  Ringing around and chasing for information that should've been with me a week or so ago is somewhat soul destroying so by the time I got home the last thing on my mind was running.  However, I have now actually got to the point where I feel terribly guilty if I don't exercise; it must be the Catholic in me.  Which is why 9pm found me donning my running gear and heading on out the door for a relaxing 5-miler (I love the fact that I have got to the stage where I can use the words 'relaxing' and '5-miler' in the same sentence). 

Saturday: Quiet, relaxing day with no running as saving myself for the big run tomorrow.  The Diamond Jubilee has passed us by somewhat as we don't have any plans to attend street parties, BBQs, concerts or any other kind of celebration for that matter.  Bah humbug and all that.

Sunday: Up with the lark and sacrificed my much needed lie-in today for a run, how self-righteous do I feel?  And it was raining to boot.  Having met up with the other runners and donned a lent Camelbak off we set at a lovely, leisurely pace.  I was warned advised that the pace would be slow and the worst of the hills we would walk but I didn't really believe it as I have been 'advised' before that a run would be on the slower side and then struggled to keep up.  But what a fantastic run it was, all of it off-road and across countryside that was undulating but, with the exception of a couple of hills which we did indeed walk up, very doable.  My feet were soaked within minutes of setting off, in fact I was soaked up to my thighs as some of the grass we were running through could've had elephants hiding in it for all I know it was that overgrown but it just added to the fun element.  I adore off-road running and because we were going slower it was easy chatting to my fellow runners and that just made the time fly by.  The plan was for me to do the first part of the run and then peel off when I had reached my limit which I was hoping would be around the 13 mile mark.  The slower pace meant that we reached 10-miles without really thinking about it which did surprise me as the weekend before I struggled towards the end of the race and I'm not sure I could've gone much further; in fairness though the heat and the faster pace took it out of me.  As I still felt strong I carried on going to the next peel off point which was at 13 miles and it was at this point I bid my fellow runners 'adieu' and set off on my own for the last couple of miles which brought me back to the road so that Other Half could come and collect me.  In total I covered 15.4 miles and to say I was pleased with myself was an understatement; I felt such a huge sense of satisfaction that I had managed to cover 50% more distance that I had done before and still feel strong at the end.  Running with a Camelbak was also a new experience, it was not as cumbersome as I thought it would be; guess it's something else I am going to have to invest in!  Maybe these longer distances suit me more than shorter, faster runs?  They are all heading off again for another long one in a couple of weeks time and I will be there, maybe towards the back of the field, but there nonetheless.

Monday: Really thought my legs would be protesting about yesterday's run today but, whilst my thighs were letting me know that something had happened to them, it was no worse than if I had done a shorter, faster run.  Decided to give running a miss today (mostly due to tomorrow's Club run) I thought I ought to do something exercise related so did a 3-mile powerwalk with Rommel.  

We also had a bit of a family get-together this afternoon and Other Half cooked up a storm on the BBQ.  Why is it that you can't keep men away from cooking on a BBQ but have to employ all your feminine wiles to actually get them to cook dinner in the oven?      

Thursday 31 May 2012

Mid-week Catch Up

And so another week in which I don't make regular updates on my blog has gone flying by ~ I honestly, truly don't understand where the time is going.  When you are young you never believe people who tell you that time goes past faster the older you get but damn right it does.  To be fair it has been a busy old week and that always seems to make time run away from you.  Without further ado let's catch up with my week:
Monday: Took a rest from running today, my legs though were surprisingly fresh feeling, I really thought I would ache far more than I did.  Went to see two houses at lunch time which had just come on the market.  Both of them in the same street and both of them really nice in their own way.  In fact, one of them I am very taken on and it made me appreciate how small, in comparison, Rowde was.

Tuesday:  Spent most of last night thinking about one of the houses I had seen and although I had second viewings lined up for both of them on Saturday, really think that the house could prove popular so I managed to persuade Other Half to finish work early and we viewed the house at 5.15pm.  The second viewing went even better, the house is lovely, a proper family home and we are very taken with it.  An offer will be going in tomorrow.

Club run again tonight, a special 'Cherhill Challenge' around Cherhill village where one of our members lives.  It was a really lovely run, over 95% of it off-road and although it was somewhat hilly, it was very doable and I managed to keep up.  Felt so much stronger than last Tuesday where I had the terrible run that actually made me so disheartened.  Did 8.06 miles tonight so really very pleased.

Wednesday: Two offers put forward on the house today, the first was rejected but the second accepted so hopefully we're on our way.  Mortgage adviser came round tonight to finish off the paperwork and the official application will be going in tomorrow.  With any luck the surveyor will be instructed next week so within the next couple of weeks we should have a formal offer in place.  Solicitor is on standby although I have asked her to hold off doing any searches (because they are so bloody expensive) until we have the offer on the table.  Part of me is hugely excited as it really is the almost perfect family home; it has lots of indoor space and, being semi-detached and on a corner plot, there is loads of outside space too.  The garden in fact is one of the great features of the house, being divided into distinct areas of patio, vegetable garden, flower borders and a large lawn area to the side.  It has been my dream for a long time to have a vegetable patch at home so this could be the answer to my dreams.  However, until we have that official offer I won't be able to rest easy.  Everything is very firmly crossed (which makes it a real bugger to type).

Did a five-mile run today, was pushing myself quite hard (or so I thought) but clearly not quite hard enough as I didn't manage to beat my PB for the route.  I did however manage to overtake another jogger and doing something like that still gives me a little thrill.  Sad I know.

Talking of thrills, another 3.5 pound loss at Slimming World tonight which just goes to prove I can get away with eating cake for breakfast EVERY SINGLE DAY as long as I run 33 miles a week!  Only another 2.5 pounds to go until I reach four stone ~ I am beyond stoked.

Thursday:  One day closer to the weekend thank God although I was knackered all day today; I cannot stop thinking about the house which makes going to sleep very difficult.  If I am honest, our offer on the Rowde property being turned down was actually the best thing to have happened.  I was never as excited about that property as I am about this one, in fact I did have quite a few reservations although it was a lovely house and it would have given us the village life we wanted; it would also have given us direct access to the school we wanted.  However, the new house is so much better in every way even though we have spent £7k more on it than we offered on Rowde but the extra cost really is worth it.  The best thing about it though, and what sold it to us more than anything, is that it is still in the catchment area of Rowde Primary School and, failing that, it is also in the catchment area of my preferred Devizes school so hopefully it's a win-win situation.  

Mortgage application has gone in today, on tenterhooks now until we get the official go ahead.  Of course, and typically, we are going to be hampered by the two-day Bank Holiday but I am hoping we still get an answer within the next fortnight.  There really shouldn't be any problems, the mortgage is with the Woolwich who are part of Barclays and we have both banked with Barclays for umpteen years and have a great credit history with them so I'm hoping it will go through as a fast-track.  Please keep your fingers crossed for us.

Running tonight was hard work, really wasn't in the mood but I still dragged my sorry arse down there.  Two of our regular runners, Nichola and Dave, are 'ultra' runners and regularly enter 30+ mile races.  Well they are doing a 30 mile training run on Sunday and guess which damned fool has agreed to join them?!  I am aiming to cover 13 miles, I think the 30 miles is way beyond me but if I could get to something approaching a half marathon distance I will be well pleased. 

Sunday 27 May 2012

Race Report - Kennet Kanter

Well I have to say it was with some trepidation that I set off to Devizes Leisure Centre this morning as, although the race start was pretty early at 10.30am, the sun was already beating down and there was not a cloud in the sky.  Knowing that I hadn't covered 10 miles before, there was definitely something of the unknown about the whole thing.  Race organisation was pretty good all-round, went to collect my number and was able to walk straight up to the table (one of the bonuses of entering in advance).  There was then a good 10 minute walk to get to the start line which actually was pretty handy as a gentle warm-up.  It was also pretty handy to make up some of the time I had in hand as I found the Centre a lot easier than I thought I would so consequently I had plenty of time to waste.

The start was by the Wharf in Devizes and to begin with there was plenty of milling around with no real clue as to where the start actually was.  However, with a few minutes to go the organiser and his trusty megaphone did a pre-race announcement (including advising of the fact that there was a fallen tree across the route that could not be removed in time and therefore would have to be treated as an obstacle - interesting!).  I had no real idea where to place myself in the line-up, certainly the organisation in terms of that was nowhere near as good as Corsham however, it was a much smaller race.  But, as luck would have it, I must've chosen wisely as within a few strides I was up to my racing speed, I didn't have anyone to overtake for a while and nobody overtook me either so all good. 

The start of the race, in fact the first few miles, really lull you in to a false sense of security as they are mostly flat or, at times, downhill.  However, with age comes wisdom (so they say) and I knew that at some point in the not too distant future we would have to pay for the downhill sections.  One comment I would have to make was the complete lack of anything approaching shade on the whole length of the route.  This made it a much harder race than it would otherwise have been as the sun was beating down relentlessly and there was hardly any breeze to speak of.  The water stations were very much needed (luckily there were three of them in total) but a huge thanks must go to the man at around the 3.5 mile mark who was spraying the runners with water from his hose; I think I was already so hot that I actually started to steam! 

Well, my supposition that we would soon be paying for the relatively easy start was realised when we crossed over the canal at around the 5 mile mark and started to climb up the Caen Locks.  Oh God, the climb was relentless; over one mile in total.  But, through gritted teeth, I did actually make it to the top and ran the whole way; in fact, I managed to run the whole route which, considering my lack of experience at the distance, I am really pleased about.  After the Caen Locks the route levelled back down again and, barring a few short, sharp uphills, it remained pretty flat the whole way back to the finish. 

I have to say it was a really lovely course, a good mixture of off-road (some trails, but mostly canal towpath) with a few quiet country roads thrown in.  It was probably a good introduction to a 10 mile race and I would certainly enter it again next year.  Stats wise:

Time: 1:35:22
Position = 109 out of 186
Category Position: 18th out of 46

At mile 7 or thereabouts my body did start to protest, I don't think it could understand why I was forcing it to continue running when we've only raced 10k in the past!  I know that if it had been a training run I would've been tempted to come back to a walk but in racing mode I find my mental strength is far stronger and I managed to get myself through the few minutes of doubt.  After mile 9 I was in unknown territory but actually it was nowhere near as hard as I thought it might be to keep going. In fact, I was really thrilled as I managed to overtake more than half a dozen people during that long run in and that is always a boost to the old ego especially as most of them were men!

I am really pleased that I entered, even more pleased that I finished in a reasonable time and I have a lovely medal and 1173 fewer calories to show for it.

Saturday 26 May 2012

I Give Up ...

What the bloody hell is the matter with me?  Why cannot I not seem to find five minutes a day to update this blooming blog?  If it was a school report I would definitely be getting a D- with a "Must Try Harder" comment.  Anyhooo, are you sitting comfortably?  In which case I shall begin:

Tuesday: Put in our offer of £153k which was also rejected after much deliberation (or so it seems).  They still cannot make their books balance apparently, the problem being is they are actually selling the house at a loss (they paid £160k in June '07) so why they are even selling is beyond me.  It's so hard to know where to go from here as I don't actually think it's technically worth more than the £153k we've offered, however is it worth more to us personally?  In truth it's a very nice house and it's in the village we want to live in as the primary school has a great reputation and Ofsted Report and it feeds into a secondary school that is also well regarded so it's hard to know what to do.  The other problem is that the lack of housing stock on the market; the village only consists of 450 houses and it seems as though the population is very stable as the last house to sell in the same road was in 2009!  This seems to be the story pretty much for the whole village according to the Land Registry site.  Looking at the roads where the average house price is in our range, there have been no house sales in the past two years!  This would be a long term prospect for us so do we offer another couple of thousand, which although is over the true worth of the house, actually wouldn't ultimately make much difference to us as we're likely to be there for at least the next 7 years or so (if not longer)?  Decisions, decisions.

Training wise, did a 3 mile in the morning and then out with the Club in the evening.  Boy did I struggle for some reason.  I felt ever so slow and sluggish and couldn't keep up with the rest of the group.  We only covered 5.5 miles, it was a bit undulating but nothing that I hadn't been able to do before.  Felt very deflated to be honest, but I guess we all have bad runs occasionally.  I think I felt more disappointed than anything else as I haven't felt like running was such an effort in a long time.

Wednesday: Four mile run in the morning and felt strong and healthy so that put my mind at rest.  Slimming World rewarded me with another half pound loss which, considering I have had cake for breakfast every morning this week was pretty much a miracle.  Less than half a stone to go to my 'target' weight, it's coming off slowly but surely.  Think I might send my story in to Slimming World magazine as you get a free makeover which will be nice; maybe they can work out what to do with my mop of hair!

Thursday: Three mile run in the morning and gave the Club a miss tonight as it's the effort session.  I did think about going and just taking it easy but I know my competitive nature would have kicked in and I don't want to risk getting injured for Sunday.

Friday: Five mile run today and the fastest time I have done the course yet.  I have knocked over a minute off in the last couple of weeks so I'm pretty happy.  I'm not going to set the world alight but it appears as though I am making slow and steady progress.

It has been lovely running in the mornings this week, the weather has been gorgeous and seeing the mist across the valley with the sun on top is just lovely.  It does make it a much more pleasant experience.

Tomorrow I am going to be having my rest day (Saturday) and mostly be psyching myself up for the 10-mile race on Sunday.  I am confident I can get the distance, just need to make sure I pace myself and keep on going.  Really hoping to get in under 1:30 hours.

Monday 21 May 2012

Buggery Bollocks

Arse!  How tardy have I been in keeping this blog up to date?  This is definitely the longest I have gone without any entries, sorry to what few readers I may have left.  I shall now try to rectify the situation and do quick update of what I have been up to since my return from the god-forsaken hellhole that is Butlins.
Saturday (12th): No running today, decided to have a day off as tomorrow on Sunday I planned to do an 8-miler (my longest distance yet).  Did do a few more house viewings but haven't really seen anything to better the house we found in Rowde.

Sunday: Today was the big day, eight mile run planned as part of my preparation for the 10-mile race at the end of the month.  Was really looking forward to it and it went surprisingly well.  Bit pissed off though as went to put the Garmin on and found the battery to be totally flat.  Not surprising really as I haven't charged it in days but this week I had planned to do a 'Marathon in One Week' as part of my training challenge and seeing as I can't log the eight mile run, the possibility of logging 26 miles ain't happening! Thankfully the route was all on-road so I was able to map it using the computer software and it reckons the route was 8.2 miles so I'm happy.  Did it in around 1:15 so the pace is pretty consistent at around 9-minute miles.

Today we also had a little BBQ party for Son One who turns three tomorrow - the time has flown by, can't believe my little boy starts school next year!

Monday: Did think about doing a shorter recover run today but thought better of it and actually did my five mile route in 48 minutes so pretty pleased that I had strength in my legs after yesterday's longer run.  I can definitely feel that increasing my running is starting to turn me into a stronger run; I guess if you want to get better at something the answer is to do more of it.

Tuesday: Did a 10k on / off road with the club tonight. Really like our Tuesday runs as we always seem to manage to go somewhere I have never been before and I have found lots of new off-road runs as a result.  Running time was around 57 minutes which is a bit slower than I would normally do but they are a bit of a stop-start affair.  Really glad I took the plunge all those weeks ago and joined the running club as it does make a nice change to run with other people and they are all really nice and friendly.

Wednesday: Did a version of last night's run today and because of that it came in around 8k.  Still, considering I set off at 5.30am in order to get the run in before Other Half has to go to work, I don't think 8k is too bad at all. 

Other good news today was the gaining of my 3.5 stone certificate from Slimming World as tonight was a 1.5 pound loss.  I am really surprised at this as I have not been watching what I have eaten for the last couple of weeks at all, I can only attribute the loss to the increase in my exercise. regime.

Thursday: Quick 5k first thing this morning and then interval training at the club in the evening.  Tonight was possibly my most favourite of all the intervals we have done.  Basically we started in a line and when the trainer said go we had to run as fast as possible up the hill; when he shouted stop we had to turn back round and jog back to the start.  However, we didn't always get back to the beginning (depending on how far we had got on the way out) so as soon as he shouted start again we had turn round from wherever we were and then run as fast as we could until he shouted stop once again.  Rinse and repeat for 10 minutes, we then had a 2 minute rest and then another 10 minutes of effort.  I love these shorter efforts, I do surprisingly have a quick turn of speed (I left approximately half the field standing) but lack of stamina means I fade if I keep the speed up for too long.  However, I am definitely starting to reap the benefit of the intervals, my legs and breathing are far stronger than they were even only a matter of a few weeks ago.

Friday: Another 8k loop again this morning.  Whilst getting up at 5.30am for a run is a bit of a pisser, it really does set me up for the day and it's great knowing that I have got my exercise out of the way.  Not sure I could face doing that sort of run after work.  The only downside is that sometimes I do feel a bit dehydrated first thing but I have yet to run with a water bottle.  Maybe it's something I need to get used to doing?

Saturday:  Rest day again as tomorrow I have a 9-mile run planned.  Went to see a couple more houses but once again the one in Rowde is the one that stands out.  The only trouble with it is that it is very over-priced so, whilst we have agreed to make an offer on it, I'm not sure how well it will be received as it is £14k below the asking price.  Time will tell ....

Sunday:  9-mile run today!  Was surprisingly looking forward to it, decided to do the first part the same as last week's long run and was very pleased with myself that I managed to dig deep and run the whole hill that defeated me last week.  In fact, throughout the whole run I felt surprisingly strong and I managed to complete the 9 miles in 1 hour 22 minutes so keeping a really good average pace.  The most pleasing thing is that I did not tail off and managed to do the last three miles at the same pace as the first three miles.  Really psyched up for next week's race now, doing the distance shouldn't hopefully post too much of a problem.  My aim is to do it in under 1:30 hours although I know there is at least one long stinky hill (by the Caen Locks) and goodness knows what else there is.  Still, I hope to keep a good pace and do myself proud.

Today we also attended a Staffordshire Bull Terrier meet in Chippenham organised by a Facebook group I belong to.  It was a lovely couple of hours and over 20 staffies were there; not surprisingly other dog walkers gave us a very wide berth.  It was great meeting other dogs I have only ever seen in photos and I was so proud of how well behaved Rommel was.  We managed to let him have a good run around with some of the other dogs and he loved it.  Sunday night we had one very tired boy!

Monday: Short 5k recovery run this morning although, if my Garmin is to be believed, the fastest I have ever run it as I came in at 27:27.  However, I did take Rommel with me and as I had to stop and start so many times (in order to let him catch up) I'm not sure how accurate that time is (although I do have my Garmin set on autopause so that it stops recording if I stop moving).  This is definitely the last time I take Rommel with me, he clearly doesn't enjoy the run, think I go to fast for him nowadays. 

On other news, our offer of £151k for the house has been refused although it was not a flat-out quick refusal which, considering the house is on for £165k I would have thought it would have been.  We have spent the whole weekend debating on what to do, we have been told the owners would probably settle on £155k but I don't think the house is worth that.  Now have to decide what our next step is to be ... currently debating on offering £153k as a take it or leave it final offer and seeing what happens.  Think I might be making that call tomorrow...

Friday 11 May 2012

Butlins

I have to say that this is my first experience of Bultins and, very likely, to be my last.  To be honest I didn't expect that much (we only paid £175 for a Mon-Fri break) and Butlins didn't disappoint.  The chalet was okay but not very clean; although they allow a 6 hour window between guests leaving and new guests arriving, this doesn't seem to allow them time to do more than a very cursory clean.  In fairness, the bathroom was spotless, but the rest of the rooms did leave something to be desired and my stomach did turn when I found a pair of (used) false eyelashes on the bedroom floor. 

Butlins certainly seems to cater for a very specific clientele; we stood out like a pork chop in a synagogue.  However, the boys loved it and that really is all that matters.  The staff were, on the whole, surly beyond belief and it surprised me how bad they were at interacting with the kids.  I'm not sure when clicking your fingers and going "Oi you" became a recognised way of interacting with the under 5s! 

The leisure pool probably was the highlight of the park, nice and and large with slides and a wave machine.  However, never in my life have I seen quite so many beer bellies and tattoos proudly on display. The men weren't much better either.

Glad to be home :)

Monday 7 May 2012

Had a day off from running on Saturday as I didn't really feel 100% and my muscles were still aching from Thursday's hill repeats.  I have been cajoled / persuaded / volunteered (delete as appropriate) into running a 10 mile - yes, 10 miles not 10k - race at the end of this month.  Mixture of on and off road, it promises to be a nice race around Devizes; the only slight sticking point is that approximately 5 miles into the race there is a mile climb along the side of the Caen Hill LocksI suppose, if nothing else, it will be a scenic run.

The only thing is that I have never actually run that distance before, really my maximum so far is the 10k races.  So, this means that I have approximately 4 weeks to get myself up to running 10 miles therefore this is my cunning plan; this weekend, run 7 miles, next weekend 8 miles, the weekend after 9 miles and then that leaves race day itself to do the extra mile.  Cunning eh?  So, yesterday I completed the first part of the plan - 7 miles.  It was actually not as bad as I thought it would be.  The first part of the run was along the cycle track but then I decided to do the rest on-road and I found a nice loop which unfortunately turned out not to be quite long enough!  An extra up to the roundabout and down later, and I managed to cover the distance required.  Stats for yesterday:

Distance = 11.53k
Time = 1:08:11
Average Pace = 5.55kph
Average Heart Rate = 154bpm

Pretty pleased with the timings, there was a couple of tricky uphills in the run which slowed down my pace.  I didn't struggle to get that extra mile so all in all I'm happy.

NB: No updates now until at least Friday as we are off to Butlins this week!!  I shall be taking my Garmin and continuing with my training.  My God, when did I become so dedicated?

Saturday 5 May 2012

And That Was The Week That Was ....

Another quick catch-up of the week that was. 

Monday:  First day of using the Garmin in anger, I used it on my morning run.  Decided to do my longer loop to check it out as part of it has quite a bit of tree cover and so wanted to see how the GPS would react; not an issue, it never lost the signal once.  I must say I'm impressed with how quickly it locates the satellites at start-up, I've read all sorts of comments that it can take two minutes or more.  Well, I can honestly say it has never taken it more than 25 seconds to work out where we are which I don't think is an unreasonable time at all.  Anyway, I had estimated the run to be around 4 to 4.5 miles because of how long it took me but according to the Garmin it's 5.03 miles so I'm well chuffed.  Anyway, today's stats:

Name:  Dump Loop (perhaps I need to think of a nicer name for what is a nice run)
Time: 49:25

Tuesday:  Club night tonight, we did a recce of the race that they are hosting next week, the Roundway Chase.  This is the club's biggest race of the year and one I was hoping to marshall at but we're on holiday next week so won't be around.  The race starts with the hill that we did last week so it's a bit of a toughie.  The rest of the race is around Roundway Down, very undulating with a couple of sneaky hills but the worst is the going underfoot.  All the recent rain we have has turned the paths into a quagmire and, with around 100 runners expected, I dread to think what the course will look like when the race is over.  I don't think anyone will be getting a personal best on this 10k!  The recce was planned to be quite stop / start (as people were shown and explained their marshalling points) so I took Rommel with me and he loved it. 

Wednesday:  Did the dump loop again this morning, the poor dog was suffering on the run, I don't think he had enough recovery time overnight bless him.  Anyway, I am finding the Garmin a real motivator (even though, at the minute, I am not using the virtual racing partner function) and really wanted to beat Monday's time.  Today's results:

Name:  Dump Loop
Time:  47:47

Very chuffed, managed to knock one and a half minutes off the run even though the going is getting worse every day due to the continuing rain.

Thursday:  Interval night at the club once again and probably my favourite session by far.  When the trainer told us it was going to be hill repeats, I just about died.  Speed + Hills = Loathing.  However, it turned out to be right up my street!  The idea was to run a 50m uphill section as fast as possible and then run back down, quickly but in a controlled fashion.  As there was six of us altogether, we did it in a relay style.  Two people started at the top and ran down - the two people at the bottom then ran up and handed over to another couple who ran back down.  The first couple then ran back up and so on and so forth.  This meant that the repeats went rest, run uphill, rest, run downhill, rest and then repeat.  It was a great session and I was finally able to hold my own against the lady who I was partnered with.  I can tell how far I have improved in a relatively short time as a few weeks ago there is no way I could've kept up with her, let alone beat her several times.  We didn't actually cover that much distance however my average heart rate was 145bpm including the rest breaks so I think that's pretty good.

Friday:  Couldn't help myself, decided to do the dump loop once again to see if I could beat my Wednesday time!  I ached quite a bit although not so much my legs as more my arms; I guess that's where I was pumping them to get up the hill yesterday.  Today's results:

Name: Dump Loop
Time:  47:14

Woohoo, I have managed to shave 2 minutes off my time for the course this week!!  See what I mean about the Garmin being a great motivator?  Really am going to have to rethink the dog situation though, I'm getting fed up with having to stop to let him catch up.  I think he's really overdone it this week, I guess Staffies aren't really built for speed and stamina.  He's fine on the grass sections, but as 50% of the run is track, he's just not coping. 

Wednesday 2 May 2012

Love Me Tender, Love Me Do

I have fallen head over heels in love.  He is a hard task master who likes to keep me on the straight and narrow but he is just what I need.  I am overwhelmed by his intelligence and the clear and concise manner in which he likes to get his point across.  He has smooth flowing curves and I adore his dark and handsome looks.  Other people don't approve of him I know,  I have read some of the nasty comments they have written about him but I think it's because they have not taken the time to fully explore all he has to offer.  Her certainly offers me all that I need and more, oh so much more.  He knows so much about me in the short time we have spent together; in fact, he probably knows me better than anyone else.  He can get to the very heart of me.  He has changed my world like no other and every time we are together, he makes my heart beat that bit faster.  We share the same interests - I truly think I have found my soul mate.  I can't imagine life without him in it now.  Oh yes, how I love thee ....... my gorgeous Garmin Forerunner 405 x x x     

Saturday 28 April 2012

Garmin Forerunner At Last

Hurrah, I have finally managed to swap my ex-display Garmin Forerunner 305 that Halfords tried to fob me off with as new for the Garmin Forerunner 405.  I now just need to learn how to use the damned thing and seeing as tonight I can't even work out how to turn it on, I am guessing it's going to be a very steep learning curve!  I am hoping that once it is fully charged all will become clearer.

Heddington Hill and Other Bits

First of all, yet me again apologise that I have not updated my blog all week; for the life of me I cannot fathom out why I cannot get a few minutes together of an evening to update this thing.  I guess life really does get in the way sometimes.  Oh well, I'm here now so on we go:

Monday:  Not much to report for today, I did a shorter morning run as Monday's a nursery day so I have to get the boys ready to get out the door by 7.25am so a long run is not really feasible.  Felt pretty tired all day but think that was just the weekend catching up with me.

Tuesday:  No nursery today so I did the longer run that I discovered last week.  At least today I knew exactly where I was going and it really is a very nice run.  Took me just under 45 minutes so I do think it probably is around 4 miles as there is a very stinky uphill climb about a third of the way in which does slow me down somewhat.  The club run tonight was a 'race' of sorts.  It's called the 'Heddington Hill Climb' and basically it's a mile climb up the side of what, to me, felt like the alps.  However, it actually starts off in a small village called Heddington and goes up towards Roundway Down (where a famous battle took place in 1643).  It is a steep climb and, quite frankly, it was bloody hard work.  There was eleven of us in total and I came in ninth ....... sounds not so bad until I admit to you that the tenth and eleventh placed runners won't be seeing their 70th birthdays again!  Here is a link so you can see the elevation details.  My stats are:

Time: 10:56

You can see how I struggle with hills as at the Corsham 10k I must've been averaging 9 minute miles to complete in the time so by adding a hill I am 2 minutes slower.  Guess I must try harder (oh, and that is a photo of Roundway Down at the top of this post).

Wednesday: Weather this week has been atrocious but I still struggled out of bed at 5.30am so that I could do the longer run again.  The rain was lashing, the wind was howling but off I set.  Ran about 200 metres and realised the dog wasn't behind me.  Called him but no sign.  Retraced my steps and found him huddling on the front door step; so much for vicious Staffies, the dog is a bloody wimp.  Still, I enjoyed the run even if he didn't want to go.  The rain does make the going pretty horrid underfoot as most of the run is across grass fields.  I can't imagine my trainers are going to last much longer with the soaking they receive every day, I am just waiting for the glue to give up hold!

Thursday:  Shorter run this morning as it's intervals at the club once again.  The dog decided to join me today and you could tell he hadn't been out the day before as he was full of running.  Intervals tonight consisted of 8 x 2 minute runs around the field.  We all started together, the trainer blew the whistle and off we set.  The idea was to get as far as possible in two minutes.  Then a minute's rest and back to the start with the aim of getting there within the two minutes.  A minute's rest and then rinse and repeat for another three times.  Again the idea on the second and subsequent runs was to get as far as you had on the first run but I'm afraid I didn't manage it; I stopped around 20 yards short on my second run and then another 20 yards short between my second and third runs.  On my fourth run I did get as far as I did in my third attempt!  Again, something I found really difficult, I have absolutely no speed to speak of and I just cannot seem to persuade my body to keep up the pace.  However, on the last leg of the last run I was advised to treat it as though it was the finish sprint to a race and to run it as fast as I possibly could.  I took the advice seriously and literally gave it my all and was amazed to be told by the trainer that I completed the last leg 25 seconds faster than on the run out!

Friday:  Although today was a nursery day I thought I would risk doing the longer run again as the weather was actually pretty nice and I thought I ought to make the most of it.  The dog did agree to run with me although in some ways I wish he hadn't as he was a pain throughout.  The run is all off-road and I guess because of the time of day it is there is loads of wildlife around.  This mostly consists of deer, pheasants and rabbits all of which Rommel enjoys chasing.  He kept disappearing into the fields after something or other and because he was constantly out of sight I had to keep stopping to ensure he could find me / catch up again.  This made the run very stop / start and consequently it was not that enjoyable.  The down side of taking the dog on all these runs is how fit he is getting; only a few weeks ago it was all he could do to keep up with me, he certainly didn't have any excess energy to run after anything! 

Monday 23 April 2012

Race Report - Corsham St George's 10k

Well the day dawned bright and early for my second 10k.  Unfortunately I probably had one of the worst lead-ups to a race that it is possible to have.  This is my sleeping pattern for the last few nights:

Friday:  Get up 5.40am - bed 3.45am

Saturday:  Get up 8.00am - bed 12.30am

Sunday:  Get up 5.45am

So a grand total of 9.30 hours sleep in a 48 hour period - I know it's only a 10k but still hardly the ideal run up to a race.

Corsham is a very popular run, it had over 700 entrants last year so I was expecting big things from it.  It did not start well.  We got to Corsham okay but absolutely no signs for the race start were to be seen.  We did see several 'caution runners' signs so we knew we must be in the right area but we ended up having to ask a local to interpret the rather hopeless map that I had been sent with my entry confirmation.  Black mark to the organisers me thinks.  However, I must admit that the rest of the race was faultless and a big contrast to Bowood in that it seemed much more slick and professionally organised.  A DJ from BBC Wiltshire radio was there entertaining the crowds, there were organised warm-up routines hosted by a local gym and, the most important thing for me and what attracted me to the race in the first place, chip timing.  Because I'm a middling runner, I don't want to start too near the front as I don't want to get in the other runner's way but this does mean it can take me 30+ seconds to go through the start gate and therefore my race timing will always be out; I appreciate that this might only be less than a minute or so, but it still upsets me that the timing is not accurate.  With chip timing your individual time is recorded as you go through the start and finish regardless of how long it may take you to get to the start.  The other aspect that I thought showed great organisation on the running club's part was the use of pacers.  Because it is such a well attended race, I guess the start could easily turn into a bun fight if people just randomly place themselves on the start line.  By having four pacers (men holding little wooden signs) one at 45 minutes, one at 50 minutes, 55 minutes and 58 minutes this allowed the runners to place themselves at the start according to their expected finish time.  I stood right next to the 55 minute pacer as that was the target I had set myself and although a few people did overtake me right at the start of the race it clearly worked as I was quickly able to get into my stride and not having to overtake loads of people early on.  It was certainly a contrast with Bowood where I ended up starting too near the back and then being held up for a mile or so until I could start to overtake. 

I clearly didn't read the race details properly as I was expecting some of the race to be off-road but it was exclusively a road race.  The course was circular although the first and last ½ km were run on the same route.  I would describe the course as undulating as there were several hills but nothing too hard to tackle.  The good people of Corsham certainly turned out in force to support their race as there were significant crowds lining the route in addition to two brass bands!  This definitely helped to lift the spirits and provide a boost just when needed. 

I found it a challenging race and I can't say I really enjoyed it  but that is probably due to the fact that I was so tired rather than anything against the race itself.  I started off well and was pretty happy when I managed to leave the 55 minute pacer behind at around the 2km mark.  However, he did eventually catch me up again and in fact ended up being around 50 yards or so ahead.  I was not at all happy about this as I really wanted to get sub-55 minutes so I bucked my ideas up and put a bit more effort in and overtook him again on the home straight.  I even managed a sprint finish and overtook several runners on the run-in; if I'm honest I wish I had kicked for home a few hundred metres earlier as I still had the tiniest amount left in the tank at the finish.  But, these are my stats:

Time:  54:57
Position = 436 out of 724
Category Position: 39th out of 115

How happy am I that in my category (Female Vet 35-44 Years) there were only 38 runners better than me; and I was better than 76 other runners!!

All in all it was a pretty good race and all runners got a goody bag and a commemorative Diamond Jubilee mug to celebrate.  I would definitely do the race again next year as I think I could better my time with a bit more of a concerted effort but I am very still very pleased I got in under the 55-minute mark.

I now need to find me a race for the month of May.