Light At The End Of The Tunnel!

Hello blog lovers.

A whole week has gone by since my last blog! Can you believe that?! This cold thing, or maybe I should re-categorise it and call it man flu, really has done a huge number on me!  But I'm back, kinda, to wanting to get out and do some proper running!  The cough is still there, driving me nuts, and probably every one else too, but I know I am feeling tons better!

So I took out group zero to do their thing, there were six today.  DiscoRich has my lovely assistant today, ready to put the faster runners through their paces.  I chose to do the Birchwood route, but in the opposite direction.  Mainly because I think the hills are a little more harder for them, (can you believe the I am actually writing that, about hills!) after all this is to help get them back to group 1 fitness and speed.  (It is also helping me get back to full fitness too!)

The hills along Hazelmere, Great Thrift etc, do seem to be a little harder.  It's like when we talk about Summer Hill, the leaders will always say things like "We are running along Summer hill, but the nice way"  Everybody understands exactly what that means.  It means they will be running DOWN the long hill and then up the shorter one!  Going anti Clockwise on the Birchwood route is similar.

DiscoRich soon had the lead as we ran towards Pettswood Road, ready to run all the way to the roundabout.  There is the nice short down hill, just to Crossways,  but then the longer hill  up!  See what I mean about it being a little more challenging running this way round! But once at the top though, there is the fabulous run down Birchwood, all the way to the rec.

When we got to the Round about, DiscoRich was just taking a quick break with the faster runners, and he said that the back markers were not that far behind!  So there is the improvement already!  Fantastic today ladies (as it was all ladies today).  You will soon all be ready to move up to group 1 or 2!

Group 1

Now, this is where I really noticed just how much this rotten old cold has affected me.  For the first mile, I am guessing this as I thought I had pushed the start button on my garmin, but I actually didn't, so the first mile I was doing ok, but then my breathing was getting a little be harder,  I began to feel bruise like aches and pains around my ribs!  I can only imagine its where I have been coughing for the last 3 weeks and have overworked my muscles! 

I kept on running along though as best as I could.  But then I started to get a stitch!  Now this is deffo my own doing! In fact I could blame Wendi for making such tempting cakes, my will power when it comes to cream cakes is totally non existent!  Wendi from my group 0 bought along a couple of cream horns that she had made, which she game to me at the end of group 0 session.  They looked totally delicious!  What I should have said, was I shall put that in my car and have it after my group 1 run, but both DiscoRich and I just looked at them and that was that.  As quick as you could say the 'Horn Of Plenty' then they were half way gone!

Could I use 'eating a cream horn before a run' as an excuse for not doing very well at all! In fact I did so bad I only did half a run!  Janel was running with me, so I gave a whistle to the main group up ahead to stop, and then Janet rejoined them while I went home for an early shower!

But the thing is, I am looking at the positive side of it.  Last week I couldn't even finish group 0, yet here I am today, finished group 0 and done at least half of group 1.  Now I'm no mathematician, but I am sure that works out as being three times better that last week!  Can really say now "Bye bye man flu, bye bye"

So glad to be able to do what I did this evening though! So glad indeed!  Now I shall get back all my fitness, and get even more fitter!  That's my plan for this year!