Tuesday 30 January 2018

Colourful Club Run!

Hello blog readers.

I was looking forward to my run this evening, I am afraid I had over done the relaxing bit today!  Getting up late, lunch with the  FavouriteMiddleChild and the pooch!  We even had a pudding!  It was so good! So I really did need to run, also there is this up and coming half marathon in a couple of months too!  So hills are the name of the game today.

I didn't have to pick anyone up today, Naggy wasn't running, Tracy wasn't running, so I just drove straight to J.J.'s house to walk to the rec with her.  She has got some shoe lights for some of the ladies in group 1, we are going to look so colourful as we run around the streets of Petts Wood!  I remembered to take a picture of us all before we left the rec, here, take a look.


As usual we gave our announcements for each of the groups, and then we all went to our spots to wait for the gatherings!  I had ten of us in group 1, a great number for a damp, chilly January night!  My route was to go to St Georges Road, and then along to Chislehurst Road.  I should have looked at my maps, as I completely forgot which way I went last time.  I was just a tad confused, but I was in the right direction.  Anyway, after our count up we started our run, a nice gentle start, just to warm up at first, then I hoped to pick up the speed at bit, just to see what we can get out of ourselves.

Our first hill was going up Petts Wood road till we get to Ladywood Avenue. It was then that I started to think, "Hmmm, I really didn't need to get the group to run up here!"  I won't tell them, I won't say anything, I will get to St Georges road from here.  The thing is, I couldn't quite remember which way it was and Selena told me how to get to St. Georges, so much for me getting away with them not noticing.  Still, we have done an extra hill that really didn't need to be there, Petts Wood Road!

I ran up to the top of that road with a couple of other group 1's, Gemma and K.C. and I think Carole made it up there in one go.  We waited for the back sweepers to get up to us, which was J.J. and Auriol today, as Tracy and K were not here.

I followed Selenas directions to St Georges after running along Ladywood, and now when I look at my geeky stats, I realise where I had went wrong,  I should have actually ran up Willet way instead!  Oh well, we love a challenge!  The group was keeping together quite nicely, we had to have catch ups stops, but when we were running we were running at 12:30 m/mi which is the top end of our group pace!  I was quite proud of them all. 

I wasn't taking the group back to the rec yet, so after we had run along St Georges Road we turned left and then ran along St. Johns Road to Chislehurst Road.  We turned right to run along to Crofton Road.  More hills, only ever so slightly undulating, but it is a great work out!  We all got to the Off License and had a catch up and little breather.  Just one more mile to go from here, if we go under the bridge, but I wanted to take them along the high street and over the walking bridge.  It's a lot nicer anyway, then we can run along to Towncourtt and down Kingsway, one more hill to finish, but a nice downhill one!

It was a good run, I enjoyed it, and I am sure everyone else did too.   Heres our geeky stats.

Saturday 27 January 2018

ParkRunning - Lets Chase The PB's

Hello blog readers.

I am deffo chasing my pb for my parkruns, ok so it's my pb for the year at the moment, but then I will try and try to get nearer to my proper pb.  I love parkrun, I have a few left before the beginners course starts up in March, so need to start working harder.  Naggy and I drove to pick up Tracy and then we went on to Normans park, where we met up with all our friends.

It was pretty chilly this morning, thankfully not raining, I don't think I would have liked it if it was raining too!  I saw so many of our PWR's there too, well, it's KevTwoBalls 50th parkrun!  He made these!


I so had my eye on one of them, I do love a fairy cake!  All ready at the start, we listen to the RD and then it's 'Ready, Steady, Go!'  Our group normally runs at the back of the pack, we leave the front for the faster runners!  It's only fair,  parkrun is about fun, just doing it, but occasionally there is that all important pb that needs chasing down,  But it's against yourself that you run, not anyone else, I think that's what makes parkrun so successful and fun and so very friendly!  Getting going today was a little slower, there must be at least 700 hundred people again!  It's a popular parkrun is Bromley!  I had to weave through but only after the crowd thinned down a bit, I eventually got into my stride.

The other girls, J.J. LittleJ, PinkLadyJo, Tracy, and K were behind me, Auriol was running along side me and Carole was way up in front!  I don't know how she managed to get so far through the crowds but she did!  She had Naggy running with her, so I found out after the run.  By the time we got to the end of the long straight the throng had thinned down and I could slowly pass some of the other runners, I was getting warmed up!  Auriol pulled up just by the park, for a walk, she told me to keep on going, so I did!  I like to run for the whole of the first mile at least!  Totally focused I didn't know who I was passing, by the time I got to the first mile and just a little bit further I heard "Hi Old girl!"  It was Charley!  I had passed her by further back, on the first of the short straights (the ones we do on the summer route).  I decided to start running again and chat to her, I hadn't seen her for ages!  We ran along together and chatted as we did.  We got all the way back up to the top of the park again, and then started on the short straight,  I had to have a bit of a walk!  But if it wasn't for Charley I would have walked a lot sooner.  She just kept on going, she said that she might have a walk herself after a bit, but the way she looked I couldn't see it happening. 

And so after that I was playing catch up with her!  I think I took another walk and then I had lost it!  The 'thing' that keeps you going, just as I was running along to the bit of the path and the bottom of the park that takes us up through the woody bit.  I do believe I actually slapped my arse! "Go on, Old Girl, blimmin run" I said out loud!  I could see the marshal there looking at me, I bet she thought I was a complete nutter!

I tried to keep my eye on Charley as I played catch up!  There was just no way I was going to catch her now, but I started running again, trying to keep my pace fairly steady, ignoring the achyness in my legs.  I was feeling blimmin annoyed with myself that I had walked, but that's nothing new!  I am feeling blimmin annoyed anyway with myself, being weak and pathetic anyway!  Mind you, it's not as if I booze all through the week, just at the weekends!  Yes, I was running with a hangover, after a stressful week I thought it would be nice, along with a curry too, after all it's 'Date Night" something me and the Old Boy has done for years!

I picked some other runners ahead of me to be my 'race' and chased them down.  There was one lady that obviously had me in her sights, because she ran, over took me and then had a walk, then I over took her and stayed in front.  I could hear her as she started running again, she was quite fast, but then she would have a little walk and I would over take her again.  So she then became my 'race'. If I heard her running behind me I had to try and keep her there!  Something I had managed to do only on the last short straight to the finish funnel!  I just kept running and put on a bit more speed, I could hear her keeping pace with me, I really thought she was going to overtake me, but I kept on going!  I crossed the finish just a second in front of her! Phew!  Done!  A great run, and we had a little chat as we walked up to get our tokens!  We were side by side and the token lady almost handed the first one to her!  I had worked hard to stay in front of her!  I had a little chuckle as the lady said about fighting over the tokens, nah, that had happened out on the course!  I had guessed that maybe all the cakes had gone, but I walked around to where it is normally served and I was right, but there was more cake there, it was Sarah's 250th parkrun!  So I managed to get cake after all!  Oh, you know how the power of advertising and clever photography can do wonders, well KevTwoBalls cakes were actually those mini cakes, here, look!
Oh and just one more thing, our mens captain had managed to gain the coveted No.1 token! Here look


My Garmin and the official time had married up exactly again,  37:40 official parkrun time and 37:40:19 on my Garmin!  Slight slower than my fastest parkrun this year!  Got to work harder, get mean with myself, stop being weak and lazy!  Here's my geeky stats.




Thursday 25 January 2018

Scadbury and Track...Done!

Hello blog readers.

I woke up to a beautiful sunny morning!  So much better yesterday with all that awful rain!  Anyway, dry January broke and my morning discipline broke!  Four days now without doing my sit ups and planks etc! Tut. Weak, lazy!  So today, I signed up for the Paddock Wood Half!  Now I have a focus, now I have something to work towards, a goal!  I sent Naggy a photo of my entry just so that she would get a movie on and enter too, we have both been talking about it for blimmin ages now!

So, this morning, I picked up Tracy and we drove to the rec.  We were going to be going 'off piste' today, somewhere where we have never run as group 1 before.  In fact it is so 'off piste' that we had to all pile into two cars to drive to the start of our brand new route.  IllustriousLeader was taking us through Scadbury Park.  Yes, I know we all 'touch' on it when we do our runs, but we are going a little further into the park this time, we wouldn't normally be able to get to the middle of this park in the time that we have normally.  So the cars were necessary. 

We drove to Leesons hill and into the first car park on the left.  I didn't even know this car par existed as it looks like it should be the entrance to the school.  But it's a dual entrance with the public car park just on the left as we turn in. 

Once out of the car we walk to the grassy path and start our run........it's a bit wet!  I think this run is going to be a tad muddy! There were eight of us in this mornings run, IllustriousLeader, Tracy, Kay, Carole, Auriol, PinkladyJo and Paula.  Not bad for a Thursday morning!  We were all looking forward to this new place to run.  I.L. had told us all about the moated house!  Here's a picture of it, I grabbed the image from the interenet!  I forgot to take my own photo! 

What a lovely place, I can just imagine what the house looked like, before the Townsend pulled it down!  Now why would they do that?  Still, a fascinating place. 

We continued our run around the park, covering some of the paths that I had done years ago when I ran the Chislehurst 10k, and we also ran on the other side of the delightful game keeps cottage that is being restored.  We only ran for about 2.75 this morning, it was very wet and muddy and we were not the fastest this morning, but I must say, it was one of the most loveliest routes that we have done, I think we should do this one again when it's all dried up!

This is all of us at the top of a particularly steepish hill!  The view from here was beautiful, we were next to this lovely house, again it's an empty house that has been boarded up!  Who wouldn't want to live in a place like that!?

On the route that we had to go to get back to the path there was a tree that had fallen over night!  The friends of Scadbury Park, or the local parks people were busy cutting it away so the path cold be opened again.  The thing is, we really needed to go around there, So we said that we would traipse around it, in among the brambles, the prickles and the holly!  I.L. went first then I followed her. In the meantime the busy volunteers cut away through the branches and the rest of them went underneath it!  The easy way! 

We were not far from the car park after that and we finished our run with a quick stretch.  Some of the ladies went on for a coffee after but we in I.L.'s car had to get on with the rest of the day!  Here is our geeky stats.


Thursday Track

I was looking forward to running track this evening.  Stretch my legs a bit,  start my training for the half marathon!  The session was 3 x 1600m with 2 mins rest in between.  In my mind all I could see was 3 x.......only three lots of something! Even I could do that, 3, 1, 2, 3 and then it's all done. Simples.  The thing is, I don't do 'new money'  I have no idea how far 1600m is.  I couldn't even remember how many times around the track it is, I think maybe I didn't want to think about it.  But still, it's only 3 times, right?

Naggy and I were just a tad late, they had already started on the 10 minute warm up, marathon pace lap. So we started to run up to the start line, ripping off our top layers so that we could join in.  I had remembered to turn off my auto lap thingy on my Garmin so that I can try and see how each of the laps I do!  I know it's only three, so I should remember to push the buttons.

After the 10 min warm up with had a couple of strides out and back and then straight into the session.  PhysioMikeTheMod with his new JuniorCoachPear ably assisting him we began our session.  There seemed to be loads of athletes today, so many.  Some coming for the first time too.  I just did my own pace, using a new technique to remember how many laps I had done!  .......oh, if you want to know, it's based on something that I heard PhysioMiketheMod say ages ago, which is to help you keep your arms relaxed try touching your thumb on your finger, not squeezing just touching.  So on the first lap I touched the first finger, the second lap I touched the second and so on!  It worked well!  I managed to run all four laps of the track and not get confused as to how many I had done, which usually after running even just 1 lap on the second reps I used to get confused as to how many I had done! After each lap JunioCoachPear was saying "Well done" each one, and high fiving her dad and brother as they ran passed.  She herself is a runner, a speedy runner.....just like her dad and brother!  As soon as she is old enough she will be running with us on track as well!

The faster runners were lapping me after I had done one lap, they were so going to be finished before I had even end my second rep!  It was quite a tough little session actually, I didn't want to stop or even think about slowing down.  I kept on running around,with my thumbs and fingers busy counting each lap.  My friends all encouraging me as the pass me by!  It's the only time I do get to run with the big boys and girls, when we are all contained in the track!  Of course, they had finished their 3 rep just as I had finished by second rep!  The session was over, I didn't manage to do the third rep of 4 laps, but I had a cool down lap, with all the other faster runners running behind me to have their cool down lap too.

So here is my geeky stats, and my splits were not too bad for the two laps I did, which was 11:23 and then 11;30.  I wished I had managed to do the third rep, just to have a look and see if I managed to keep it steady.  Maybe next time!

Tuesday 23 January 2018

Get Out There Woman!

Hello blog readers.

I am so pleased I have my club to run with and that I was leading too! I could quite easily roll over and .....well, maybe not roll over, but pull my blanket over myself and watch the telly!  It's been a bit of a day! The fact that the last time I ran was last Thursday evening too!  I know, I've been lazy, and broken dry January too!  Weak, just a weak woman!  I need those still quiet voices to kick me up the arse and get me out!  But I know those still quiet voices now need to be 'shouty, shouty out loudy, slap on the arse and get out the door' voice.  For tomorrow me and Naggy are signing up for the Paddock Wood Half! So no half arsed running anymore!

Naggy and I picked up Tracy and Ade and drove on to the rec, we were greeted by our running club buddies! There were quite a few today, it must be because it's quite a mild January evening!  A little tiny bit of rain, which soon cleared up before we even got out of the car!  I planned to take my group up Birchwood again, just like last week, but then go to the left instead of the right. It's our K9 route, it still involves some tiny little undulations, but not as long as last weeks Tillingbourne.  So after all the leaders had given out their routes, distance and pace they all gathered around the leaders with the paddles for a count up before going for our run.  There were 15 of us in my group, not bad at all!

All the groups left the rec, one by one, we were the last group to leave, and just on the opposite side of the entrance to the rec was KevTwoBalls, he had brought along his camera to film us all as we left the rec, I am looking forward to seeing this film that he is busy working on.  He captured this picture just as he was setting up, before he started his filming!  Doesn't it look brill!
Captured by Kevin Howarth,
aka KevTwoBalls

We all ran passed KevTwoBalls and ran along to the end of Crossways and then turned right up Birchwood, our first little hill this evening.  We are a mixed bunch of athletes in group 1, some can run faster but still can't quite manage to do the extra distance in the next group, so we were spread out a little bit this evening.  Tracy and Kay were doing a great job of sweeping.  These two ladies just keep on running, non stop, because while we at the front stop for a catch up as soon as they have caught up then we start running again!  No rest for the wicked as I said to them when we got to Kevington Drive!  I do like to do a little bit of hill training on this particular little hill, it's only very short.  I like to see how many times I can run up it before the sweepers get to me.  Today I only ran up and back down again before  they got to us.  I think RefMichael managed to do two reps.!  But of course we all had to run up it to get back back to the rec.

Once we were back on to the main road we ran down to the big roundabout ready to do the very best bit of this evenings run, the long down hill to Crossways.  It was a good run today, a run that did me the world of good.  I needed to run, to get those feel good vibes through my body!  They never arrive when I am running, only for that split moment or two after a run!  But at least its there!

Next week I shall try to remember to take a picture or two of my group!  They really are a fab bunch of people, all with their own inspiring stories!  Here's our geeky stats anyway!




Thursday 18 January 2018

Track Thursday!

Hello blog readers.

I didn't manage to get our running this morning, I needed to be elsewhere, but I still did my daily 5 disciplines before I even left my room!  18 times of each discipline plus and extra second added to the plank!

I didn't know if I was going to make it track this evening, but I did, I had told NaggyNeighbour that I might be a bit late, she decided to get out of work clothes and into Pj's instead of running gear!  I know, strange right!  Anyway, I sent her a message saying that I will be back in plenty of time so she had to go get changed again into her running gear.  And then we drove off to the the track at Norman Park.

Just as we were on Bromley Common the heavens opened!  Big fat bits of rain fell down, "Shall we just go to the pub" was Naggy's response to that, and just as quickly as the rain came it stopped!  "It's the weather having a laugh with us" I said to her "Weather was a bit keen and thought we were already at the track, but now it's stopped and it's going to wait until we are half way through our session"  You just know something like that is going to happen, don't you! I decided that I was going to leave my warm dry hoody in Naggy's car, I didn't want it getting wet if I had to leave it on the railings while I ran!

There were a few people there this evening, the usually fast runners, the marathon runners and a a smattering of others and me!  I like track, I know it does me good, and I do really try and do exactly what PhysioMikeTheMod tells us to do.  This session was 5 x 1k with 90 sec rest after a 10 minute tempo warm up run with some strides thrown in.  But for the runners who do park run 30 minutes and slower will do 5 x  800m with 90 sec rest, so that's my work for this evening.  I had asked Stephen to show me how to count laps on my Garmin, I really wasn't quite sure how it all works, evening now after all this time of owning the watch!  So a quick lesson and then we started our running.  We ran the first 10 minutes at a nice steady pace, or marathon pace as PhysioMiketheMod said.  Apparently I was running at 5:20:00 to 5:10:00 pace, which was quite amazing as both my marathons I did in just over 7 hours!  But on the day, it is totally different, it was for me anyway! I had managed to correctly time that 'lap' and so after we did the strides and got back to the starting line for the laps I set the watch going again to start recording the 800 m laps.

I completely mucked it up! But I did get some recorded, I missed out one lap altogether!  And off course I have my watch set in 'old money' so it's set in miles not meters.  I wish I could understand what all the info says......its at the end of the blog by the way.  How fast I had done each lap, etc.  I completely messed up lap two, it didn't get recorded at all!  Never mind, it's all new to me.  I shall know for next time.

Joanne ran with me from the second lap onwards.  She is doing this REDJanuary thing, crazy, I know, but she is being sensible about it only doing 2.5 to 3.5k runs and then club runs and parkruns as well.  So she just wanted to take it easy, and so she joined me.  She kept me going actually, I am sure, feeling they way I have been feeling, I could quite easily take it easy myself.  With the silly excuse of "well  I had a bit of a day today"  having Joanne next to me, running and chatting with me kept me focused and I kept my pace up.

Some of the faster runners were coming in, finishing their final 5th lap and we still had one more lap to do!  I didn't think that I would have enough time to do the final lap, but both Joanne and PhysioMiketheMod said "Yes, of course, there's plenty of time".  Ok, so no getting off the last lap, nor would I want to, off course, I am here to work hard.  That's what I love about the track sessions, it's all about you, what you can do, what you can run, what you can get out of yourself.  All the other runners are there running their race too, chat to you on the way round, and us from group 1 get to run with the faster runners, but of course there we don't slow them down! And there's no waiting while we catch up!  It's perfect!  I am sure I say that all the time, but I do love these track sessions.......oh my goodness, I said something positive again about my running!  I think my mojo is slowly making a comeback!  See, all that DISCIPLINE and I will DO IT!  I just need to keep on keeping on!

We finished our last lap, and joined in with the stretches at the end.  A fabulous session this evening, NaggyNeighbour was so pleased that she got out and ran too! Just what we both needed.

Geeky stats for you, see if you can make head or tails of them, remembering of course that I had missed out on one 800 meter and I am sure I 'blended' two laps together somewhere too!






Tuesday 16 January 2018

It's A Chilly One! - Club Run

Hello blog readers.

The sun was shining brightly this morning, I was expecting it to be a lovely warmish day, but it was deceptively chilly!  Of course I didn't find that out until I had left to go to work, before that I had done my 16 repeats of my five disciplines!   Exercises, before I even get out of my bedroom! It's still pretty hard going, even just adding on one extra rep each day!  How I am going to feel when it's in the twentys I don't know!  And then what do I do next month?  Anyway, back to the running. 

It's club run and I'm leading again.  We did the easy one, then we did a slightly challenging one and now we are doing an even more or a challenge, with a longer hill, and hills to get there......and a couple of inclines after that!  You should have heard the group when I told them that we were doing Tillingbourne Green, anyone would think they didn't like a hill!  But I know that they will love it.  We had a new comer in our midst and she wasn't quite sure what to expect, so when she heard the group groan I thought we would have lost her there and then!  But seriously, I think if you have managed to get your shoes one, coats on and down to the rec, then there is no way that you will go home without trying us out first!

After our count up, by the way we had a bakers dozen, which to me is so much nicer than unlucky 13, runners, I led them all out of the gate, turned left and then turned right to run up Birchwood, a nice warm up hill to get us all in the mood!  It really was very cold, I was thinking that maybe I should have kept my PWR hoody on to start with and then I could have tied it around my waist when I warmed up!  I so hate being cold, I was glad that I had chosen this route, some lovely hills to get us warm!.........did I just say lovely hills!?  I think I must still be chilled and my brain frozen!

We did the first one and waited at the top for the rest of the group to catch up.  One of the newer runners asked if that was the hill, I just said 'No', I didn't think if fair to elaborate much further than that, after all running is fun, right! We then carried on by turning right, we ran along till we got to Sherborne, the road opposite Kingsway, we crossed over and then ran till we got to the beginning of our little loop, the longer, steeper hill. The one that group 1, the ones that know, groaned about!  I took a little breather there, waited for everyone to catch up and then we started the loop. 

We ran up the shorter hill and then ran down, down down, all the way around the green, knowing that we will have to run up it again to the place where we started!  When we got to the point on the loop where it starts to go up again I looked at everyones shoes and saw that quite a few of us have these fabulous lights, and I wanted to take a photo of us but I had forgotten my phone, some of the other ladies had their phone so I suggested we waited till we get back to the rec to take some pictures! ( I so wish we had done it there and then as I forgot about it when we got back!)  So next week I shall take some pictures!

Once the loop was done we still had a little hill to do, it's the hill that I like to do Hill Reps on, you know, run up, then run down, then run up etc.  I only had two others who wanted to do just one extra rep of the hill, Emma and..... oh blimey, I have forgotten her name!  I must try and improve my memory skills....does anyone know how to do that!  So, hill rep, all I asked was just one little rep, only two of them wanted to do it, so we ran up to the top and then ran down, fantastic effort from the two ladies,  I then started back up the hill, "Are we going back up there?" was the confused question from the two ladies "Yes, of course, this is part of the route!" I said they thought that we were going back along Sherborne road! 

We got to the top of the hill and then ran all the way down to Crossways, it's a nicer part of route, everyone loves a downhill, you don't even have to think about it.  I was going to see what the time was, how far we had done, and how my group was doing before deciding on the end part of our run.  I looked at my watch after our sweepers got to us and decided that we could so manage the very last incline up to the top of the road and then run along to Towncourt and then down Kingsway!  Everyone that was there were doing brilliantly, chatting away, no one was struggling too much.  We then ran along Crossways and into the rec. We ran 3.21 miles, we a few undulations to keep us warm.  Viral then invited us to join in with his group 6 to do some fantastic stretching out! 

A lovely group of people today, our club seems to be getting bigger and bigger.  It's a popular club!  Here are our geeky stats.

 


Sunday 14 January 2018

First Solo Run

Hello blog readers

I’m still doing a ‘first’ of the year!  This is my first solo run.  I decided yesterday that I would try to get out and do a run. Even if it was just a short one. After church I came back and got changed virtually straight away. I didn’t want to be distracted by anything else.  No housework or washing or anything.

I searched for my iPod, I felt I needed to have music in my ears as I ran along. Blimmin typical it had run out if charge!  Then I remembered that I have Spotify on my phone, so I got that up, found some running tunes playlist and then I was out of the door.  I didn’t have a route in mind I just wanted to get out, so the old favourite was going to be it. Up Turpington Lane and then back again via Greenway. I was just running up Farringdon when I heard a ‘beep beep’, it was the Old Boy!  Just as well I got out at that time, or I might have found things that needed to be done!

The last time I had done a solo run I think was in October! From that month I think my mojo went down hill and stayed there. Smoking and drinking and chocolate seemed to be the order of the day instead.  The still quiet voice, the nagging stopped, I couldn’t hear it, I felt abandoned and lost my mojo was just no where to be found.  It was just as well I had my club to keep me going, if I didn't have mojo then I had my sense of discipline to get me.  Every week, Tuesday evenings, rain or shine I was there. I saw this great inspirational quote today, "DISCIPLINE is doing what needs to be done, even if you don't want to DO IT.'  I like that, I can relate to that! So it’s just as well that I lead group 1! I just know if I didn’t have them I would have no discipline, I would be glued to my chair in the evenings. I think it’s quite good that my mojo took a dive at the end of the year because there is nothing better to get you started back to something than the new year resolutions!  Normally I fail on all my resolutions so I try never to make any, but it has taken up to now for me to realise that the still quiet voice needs to be a loud shouty scream from myself to myself. No one is going to get me out of the door except me.  My mates can encourage me of course, but not from my sitting,  only if I get out there and do it!

I was thinking about all of this as I was running along. I remembered my blogs in the beginning, when I first started logging all of my exercises, the Ling epics, and on the odd occasion, funny.  Maybe I should add another resolution, try to get back to that, a fun read.  The nick names I chose for my buddies too!  Mind you, I have met so many great people since running I just can’t think up enough nick names!

I ran pass the Harvester and I decided that I would do the loop in the opposite direction. Do things differently, things can’t stay the same all the time, can they? I certainly need to get a move on, my waist line is virtually disappearing!  And these thunder thighs!  Well it all has to change.

I did the loop, it felt a lot easier going that way round, and then I started on my way back home.  I didn’t feel as if I had run very quickly, I was quiet annoyed with myself and the nagging started, “Come on you lazy mare, you gotta do this”.   I started to think again about how I got to this stage. Ten years ago! Ten years ago!  A lot has happened in those ten years, since my mum died. A lot of laughs, new loves, for my girl, new babies for my girl! But the pain and the tears for my mum has never been far from the surface. I always wonder how long does it take, but I guess it’s different for everyone. Some can deal with things like that easily, others just constantly miss them with every new mile stone that happens. That’s me, just a big old softy, who hates when loved ones go.

Well you can imagine that I was a bit of a mess again, as I was running down Southborough Lane again, just as well I was sweating!  At least I was working hard, even though I did some walking on route I ran quite a bit, but I am still annoyed with myself, I could do better, I should do better!  My next solo run I shall really have to get my shouty voice out!

I got back to my road, not with a pb for this route, but there is room for improvement, lots of improvement!  As long as I keep getting out of the door then it can only get better! So not so much a blog about my running, but about why and what is keeping me running!  Oh the the what is keeping me running, of course its me, but also........I've worked blimmin hard to get this far, there is no way I am going to give up!  I hate giving up! 

My geeky stats.

Saturday 13 January 2018

Parkrun

Hello blog readers

I had to be at parkrun this morning, it was our Caroles 50th run! There was cake, and a tray bake!  It's one of the best reasons to run!  I was driving this morning, Naggyneighbour was ready and we collected Tracy.  I wanted to be early because last week the parking was just almost impossible!  We were there in plenty of time!  We met up with the rest of the gang, J.J. LittleJ, Auriol and Carole and Michael!

There looked like quite a few runners again, there must be at least 700!  It's a popular past time this running thingy!  Andy was the RD today and he introduced the new sign lady, I am sorry I have forgotten her name, but there are a few people that are deaf that love running too!  So after all the preliminaries and also giving out the congratulations of the mile stone runners, like our Carole, we were ready to get back into line and get ready for the off.

I started at the back as usual, with all my buddies, but I am on a mission, a mission to chase down my new P.B. I know it's going to be bloody hard, but I need to put the effort in so I got to work hard.  That was in my mind, So as soon as I could I just moved up the field, I had to go on grass which was a bit muddy.  I was feeling pretty good, a bit tired, sleeping is not been to good lately, but I'm still with the no drinking and the no smoking.  I just need to cut down on the food intake now!  I had worked hard on Thursday, my first double of the year,........ok ....you're right, I am laying the foundations for when I reveal my official parkrun time a bit further on in my blog!  But excuse or not, my legs were still a little sore after the double running.  I haven't done any sit ups or planks for a couple of days either, my abs still hurt a bit.  I shall give it a bit more rest time and begin again with that on Monday, hurty or no hurty!

I could hear all the chatting as I was running along, I can't remember too many conversations but what did stick in my mind was the fabulous support everyone gets and gives at parkrun!  You can hear people telling people they are doing well as they pass by them, there are people there doing their first parkruns with their mates and to hear them encouraging them is just brill!  The first lap I just knuckled down, I felt as if I hadn't done as well as I did last week, for a start I wanted to stop running after just doing half the park this time, but I did keep my fat ass moving forward!  The next lap is when all the faster runners start passing by, some of them pass by before I had even got to the start line!  And that's when I start to hear, "Go on Donna, you're doing well" and "Hey Donna" as they pass by!  I wish I had a photographic memory so that I could remember everyones names!

I was running along the long straight on the second lap, and  I heard my name called again from behind me "Hi Donna" he said, I said "Hi" back.  He passed on by with his boy, "Say hi to Donna" and his little boy trotted on by! There were quite a few others that passed me by as they lapped me, all PWR's of course.  I guess when I am up at the front on a Tuesday evening taking group 1 as leader people do get to know my name! 

On the final third of a lap Carole and Michael passed me by!  I was quite pleasantly surprised too, as she said that she was just going to take it easy, but there she was overtaking me and looking pretty strong.  I smiled, I thought maybe I could even try and keep up with them, but I just didn't have the energy!  I did some walking, doing a Jeffers as NaggyNeighbour had told Carole to do if she found that she was getting tired or too many twinges.  But looking at her go by I don't think she had any intention of walking!  As one of a couples who joined PWR through our beginners course I felt rather proud!

Anyway, back to my ass kicking, I was pretty annoyed with myself as I tried to keep up an failed miserably!  I kept on at myself to keep on going, I ran as fast as I could along that last short straight to the finish line, having picked my targets to over take or keep in front of (and one of them was Neil and his boy, sorry Neil, but when I passed you I felt pretty cool!)  Mind you, I am sure his boy was taking it easy as he was having a swimming lesson straight after!  I managed to get in the finish funnels at 38:16 official time, and guess what my Garmin said? Yep, that's right, 38;16!  So a good few seconds slower than last week, I am pretty gutted with that, and I did tell myself off too!  Gary was token volunteer today and he said "Well done!"  I finished it, I did it, I shouldn't beat myself up......but I can do better!

Geeky stats.

Thursday 11 January 2018

Doing a Double!

Hello blog readers.

I'm still doing 'the first of the year' bits and bobs, and today is the first double of the year!  I didn't do it last week, I am sure I had a brilliant excuse, but I can't remember what it was!  Anyway my double today was the morning run with the usual Thursday group and then track this evening!  Here's the low down on both.

Morning Run

It was very pleasant out there this morning!  It was grey, it was wet and it just felt miserable!  It did nothing to lift my spirits.  Maybe the run would do that.  I decided that going through the woods was the only answer.  I didn't fancy doing the Cinder path again, and I don't know any other tarmac paths that go through parks that are in group 1 distance.  So I decided that I would try the woods,  we met up with all the other Thursday Morning runners at the rec, there were 5 of us running today, IllustriousLeader, Tracy, Paula and PinkladyJo.  There were loads of other runners in the two faster groups too.  

I chose to go straight up the middle path and hoped that it would not be too muddy!  I wanted to run rather than get slowed down by muddy puddles.   We set off just after all the others, we chased them out of the ground and into the woods.  We could see one group just disappearing up the middle path by the time we had got there.  I have missed running through the woods, its so much nicer, fresher, you have have 'me time' in there and just enjoy your running.  

It didn't seem that long till we were up to the top of the woods.  I was going to nip out of the back entrance of the housing estate, but when I looked at the distance on my Garmin it would mean that our run would be so short, so I decided that we would run along he back of the woods and then up Botany Bay Lane.  We then ran along the road to the end and crossed over the main road to run through Scadbury Park.  Of course we had to have a look at how the renovations of the game keepers cottage is coming along.  It looks amazing!  We continued our way and then got t Leesons hill where we were joined by the faster group, let by David.  We all crossed over the road again to finish our run through Petts Wood.  I was running along and found myself trying to keep up with the faster group, which was not good for our group so I took them along Rhododendron path and then out of the woods that way.  It was a lovely run actually, even with the drizzly weather!  Geeky stats for you.

Track Thursday

So this is the double, I finally got back to track today.  I didn't have my running buddy NaggyNeighbour to kick my ass out of the door, so it really was all down to me.  And that is the way it will be, until I get to track! 

When I arrived there most of the others were there, some even turned up like they were going for a gently jog on a warm beach!  I again had more layers than an onion, including my big warm coat that was in the car for when I drive home. 

PhysioMikeTheMod didn't keep us waiting around too long, he sent us all off on a tempo run around the track for 10 minutes, and then we did some strides before the session.  And boy was it a session.  I don't think I have done this particular session before, he had tailored it to suit athletes like me to athlets like Stephen and Matthew Pond, group 11-12 runners.  When you look at the session on paper, again it looks pretty doable.  But listening to the faster runners they were saying it looks pretty hard! The session was to run 10 min tempo, 1600 (for the real faster runners) 1200, 1000, 800, 600, 400, 200 with 90 sec rest.  But I was to start off with 800, and then 800, and the real faster ones were to start of with 1600.  I told you he tailored made it to fit all! 

I started with the tempo run, PhysioMiketheMod was going to let us know what our 'marathon pace' is after we done just one lap, mine was 5:30.  If only that was the case for when I did actually do the marathon!  After we ran for the 10 minutes it was time to do the session.  I was looking forward to, it seems to be right up my street, running longer then getting shorter and shorter laps.  Perfect for ex couchies like me!  But in actual fact it was blimming hard!  I really tried to run as best as I could, I was sweating and working real hard.  I could feel those 3 miles in my legs from this morning, and I think I did hold back a bit.  Maybe next week I could push myself a little bit harder.

It felt good to be back, PhysioMiketheMod keeping a close eye on all, helping those doing the spring marathons, taking care of the first timers.  And as everyone else it just felt good to be back!  The encouraging 'Hey Donna' as people ran pass me was so good to hear!  Yup, I just hope this is my year!  In this body is a thinner, faster Old Girl!  I can feel it, I just need to focus all my energy on me!

Geeky stats.

Tuesday 9 January 2018

Club Run

Hello blog readers.

Tuesday club run, I do love a club run.  I am leading, I hadn't thought about which route to take.  Last week I did the easy route, which is mainly flat, this time I wanted to make it just a bit more challenging.  My thinking is that people will be well into their new years resolutions and will soon be wanted to see results.  I know that I do!  I am the "I've been on a diet for a whole 3 hours, why am I not thinner" or even "Ok, so I ran for 1 minute non stop last week, why am I not running next to Mo!"  We all want instant results, we live in a world of faster planes, faster cars, fast food, fast wifi!  Those things are possible, but faster 'us', thinner 'us' takes time, patience and hard work!  So, it is a bit more of a challenging route, and I kept the pace up the first hill at just under the fastest pace that our group does, so a nice steady 12:40 min/ml.  Perfect.  It's doable for our group, and I am sure that everyone here will enjoy it.  Of course we have our stops so that we can all catch up, then faster runners can do loop backs,  run to the back of the group and  come back up to the front.  Well, it's still early days, even for me!  Maybe next week I should lead by example!

With the first hill done, we didn't hit another hill until we were on the last mile back.  So from the top of the hill, just before the round about on Petts Wood Road it was all just nice and flat with a an ever so gentle slope down as we headed towards Petts Wood high street!  There was one young lady who was more than capable of going into the next group, but she just wanted to do one more week in group 1, probably just to boost a little bit more confidence, but I think she is most certainly ready to move on to the next group.  I feel that after just a few weeks in group 1 with the newbies they will soon be wanting to move up to the next group.  Everyone has had a good run, and it was good to have J.J. back in our midst, even with the rain! Our J.J. doest usually come out in the rain, I think she made a special effort today as its Caroles birthday!  Carole is recovery from surgery and was with us in group 1 today, and Tracy and K were there, doing a brilliant job of sweeping.  Auriol made up the rest of our usual group 1 posse, my team!  There were 13 of us in all, Pherenice joined us as well, she to is recovering from surgery!  Now, this is a club!  How many other clubs have as many groups as ours or even cater rehab, total beginners and lapsed runners back into the fold? Not many, right! 

Me, well, I felt pretty good.  My legs were not too sore, my lungs seem to be better (I think they are healing after all that smoking).  Let me tell you, don't smoke!  I've tried it.  I got slower, sluggish, and it felt harder.  My running, I think, is beginning to feel a lot nicer!  I was going to say easier, but as I have always said, it never gets easier, why I don't know!  But today, my running felt nicer!  Weired I know, but it's they only way I can describe it!

I am looking forward to my next run!  Oh and I am still doing the 'roll out of bed and do exersies' thing too, I am doing five disciplines, planks, squats, sit ups, lunges, push ups.  I over did the fist couple of days, and really hurt my abs!  My daughter suggested to me a few days ago to do one of each and then on the second day to do two, and the third to do three.....etc.  As it was the 4th of January when she told me I decided to start from 5 of each!  It still blimmin hurts, but I want to continue, I will continue!  Especially now that I know I have abs in here somewhere, cos they blimmin hurt!

Anyway, here's my geeky stats.  I forgot to stop my Garmin when I got back to the rec, but I edited the geeky stats to read the correct miles and times!  I wish Garmin could allow you to take off bits of your route, for such occasions as this!

Sunday 7 January 2018

Train Run - January 2018

Hello blog readers

This morning I very nearly over relaxed!  I was awake in time, in fact I had plenty of time to fully wake up, but then I chillaxed just a little too much and I eventually jumped out of bed at 8:05 this morning!  Considering I had to be at Petts Wood Station at 8:20 I was cutting a little fine!  After quickly getting dressed and making sure I had my train ticket, keys and money I drove as quickly as I was allowed to the station.  There was just one parking space that I quickly nipped into and then rushed up the stairs to meet with my friends.  Here, this is them....

PWR Train Gang

I was the only group 1 runner there, but at least group 1 was represented, there were about 5 different pace/distance groups on the train run, the shorter distance runners are getting off at Knockholt and running back to Petts Wood, and the longer distance runners are heading for Sevenoaks, which then split in to two groups.  I was of course on the Knockholt group.  We all piled on the train and headed off to our destinations, this is us.
Taking over the carriage


And so, from Knockholt, we all piled off the train and Illustrious leader gave out the route, the three different groups, the 'Get to Petts Wood at faster pace', the 'Do an extra bit after Petts Wood' and the 'Get you to Petts wood, no matter what!' group, I was in that group!.  But I took a picture of us all once at the station,  one of those 'pano' pics, but I can't get it to upload here, so I screen shot it and got these, the Knockholt group!


Illustrious leader and Knockholt groups

Some of the faster runners

Some faster runners and us at the back


We didn't hang around too long, all though the weather was just blimmin perfect, it was still a bit chilly, at least no snow and ice this year!  We started off running, running at quite a pace actually, keeping up with the faster runners who will soon be running along at their pace, leaving us 'Get you back no matter what' group to our own pace.

I am sure you all know by now, the route is a lovely route, it does follow the A21 but we follow it via the fields and smaller roads, until we cross over it when we get to Farnborough.  Yes, I did say fields, I was expecting mud, maybe some more mud and possibly even a big muddy puddle or two.  But actually it wasn't that bad!  The faster runners had pulled away in front of us, and we were left with just the five of us, me, IllustriousLeader, Ruth, Sarah and Hannah. I was talking to Ruth as we were running along, once we got up the first hill she had said "I had forgotten that hill, the is only one more after this one"  Well, she told me one she thought was 'only one more' and then I reminded her of the one near Cudham North Lane, Old Hill!  It's funny how your memory protects you from nasty things like huge great big hills, otherwise we might not decide to run anymore!

So the first one done, or was it the second.....anyway at the top of it are the goats!  I do love seeing these little fellas, bleating (do they bleat of is that just sheep) away, wanting us to go over and pay attention to them.  I took some pictures, my eldest daughter loves goats, her hubby adopted one for her, at Buttercup Goat Sanctuary, called Pooky!  She was absolutely thrilled with it!  Anyway, if I didn't take pictures of said goats and she had found out.....well, just as well I did.
Nearly at the Goats

Are they not just adorable

I was totally having a great time running, my legs were hurting, my abs are hurting (yes, I have them somewhere in there, after over doing the situps, planks and push ups)  but it all felt good.  Like I am heading in the right direction again.  Maybe this time next year I will be at the front of the 'Get me back' group!

Another hill, in a field.  Look, can you see how steep it is!
Hills!! Gotta love em


Thankfully all these hills are just short and steep, they do flatten out quite quickly.  And with each hill I do I realise just where we are and start to feel positive, 6 miles is really not that far.  I have done 10k in under an hour and half, several times, but this route is just a little bit more challenging, and of course it's a bit more social too!  We do love a chat, catchup and look around.
Nearly caught up with them

It's amazing just how quickly the miles disappeared as we ran along, enjoying the very mild December.  I thought I had put on too many layers, "More layers than and Onion" as the Old Boy says, my top layer kept coming off and going back on, depending on the terrain.  When we were in the open air of the fields my jacket stayed on but when we got to the built up areas or the woody bits it came off!  So maybe I had the whole layers thing just about right!
This is Old Hill, the pretty way!

When we got to the Cinder path, I couldn't believe that our run was nearly over.  Of course it wasn't easy, it still hurt, I still walked, I even wonder how on earth I had ever done two London Marathons! We ran on through to Shepperton, then on to Station Square, with another group just coming around the corner! Some of the other runners were already there, at the Cow and Bean.  It's a small place, so there was no room for us to sit inside, so we decided to go over to the other coffee shop, Costa. Anyway,  I finished it, I finished it feeling good, feeling like 'Yup, this is my year, a year just for me to kick my own ass into shape, nobody else can do it for me!  But having my running buddies to lean on, when I am feeling shit is really going to help me stay focused and of course I can help kick their butts too, !  Running solo is doable but having the best club in town totally understanding where you're coming from is amazing!

Good friends are hard to find, harder to leave, and impossible to forget!

That about sums up Petts Wood Runners!  When I ran their 10k back in 2010 I though, "This is where I need to be"  I joined up that year and have never looked back!  Thanks PWR! You are amazing!  Here's my geeky stats.







Saturday 6 January 2018

parkrun - And One Extra!

Hello blog readers.

I am very bad lately about my blogging!  I need to keep on top of it!, How else am I going to look back this time next year to see how my running and moods and my life had been going!

So just a quick mention about my Thursday morning just gone.  The first Thursday morning of the year and it was a soggy one!  I am on my "Get your lazy ass out and run Old Girl" kick at the moment, which means that who ever is with me in the morning is going to be pushed just a little harder too, well, all those that usually run behind me, because I will be trying to keep up with those that usually run in front of me!

There were quite a few of us for a Thursday morning, it must be the News Years Resolutions kicking in!  I know there were a couple of ladies coming back for just that reason!  And because of that, strike while the iron is hot and all that, I decided that running through the woods would be a bit slow, squishy and too much opportunity to tippytoe around the muddy bits.  So our route was the Cinder path, including the loop around the little housing estate at the end, and that goes for me too!  I usually wait for the catchups and then run with them in the opposite direction to meet up with the faster ones!

We did pretty well, and we covered nearly four miles in just under the hour that day! My geeky stats will give you all the low down!


Bromley parkrun

Now I am up to date with my blogging, ish, anyway!  But for the year, I am totally on it!  This morning I got up, no hangover, because I am doing the silly dry January thing!  Also there's the no smoking thing happening, which I am totally in the zone with that!  Mainly because I still have a cough from the stupid cold virus and I feel sure that it would have cleared a lot sooner if I hadn't been smoking like a chimney!

I picked up Tracy and we drove to Normans Park!  I had forgotten that Beckenham parkrun was closed today and I feel sure that most of those that usually go there had turned up at Normans Park! It was so busy!  I didn't think I would be able to park my car and I would have to try and fight to leave the park and find space in the adjacent streets!  But I managed to squeeze my car into the overflowing carpark!

We met up with some of our other friends, Carole and Michael, Carole was doing her first parkrun after her surgery around 12 weeks ago!  Auriol was there and that was it for group 1's!  Well, I didn't see anymore.  There were of course loads of PWR's from all other groups there!  And I feel that there are quite a few "Right, new year, new me" resolutionists there too!  It looked like there was a thousand people ready to run! We had a wait for a little bit, however, because there were just so many people someone had parked in the wrong space in their eagerness to chase their pb!  At least next time they will know not to park there!

And so we started, this throng of people, all managed by a fantastic team of volunteers, gently snaking along the path to the other end of the park.  I was being passed by runners, and I was also passing runners.  The conversations that I heard (and can remember!) were "There are so many people here, I wonder if it's like this because of Beckenham"  Of course I said to them as they ran pass me "There's normally just over 600 runners here most Saturdays".  I carried on running around the top of the path and then I over heard another conversation. "I usually do squats in my bathroom while brushing my teeth!"  "Wow!" I said, "What a brilliant idea, multi-tasking" as they came up beside me, ready to overtake me! "I know, right" said one of the other ladies, "Time management"

After that I just knuckled down to my running.  I really wanted to have a walk, but I hadn't even done a full mile so no way was I going to walk!  Ass kicking came in my mind instead "Don't be lazy" was the saying going around, and another quote, one that I can remember reading from Ali who runs with Orpington Road Runners, "Don't be shit".  Well, I don't want to be shit, not anymore.  I don't want to be lazy, I want to do well.   I have already missed out on one of my favourite runs because I was too complacent about entering, the Harvel Hash House Harriers 5 mile run!  A brilliant run it is, and PWR's organise a coach, and everything! So I knuckled down and managed to run the first mile in under 12 minutes!  I haven't done that for a while!  The second and third mile were a little slower, but not as slow as most of the parkruns I had done in the last 12 months!  Oh I hope I have turned a corner, I hope this is not just the old cliche 'New Year, new me!'  I am going to have to keep on kicking my ass to achieve my goals.  Finding that happy sweet spot, finding that, 'yup, this is me' spot.  It's out there somewhere, I know it!

Here's my geeky stats for todays parkrun.





Tuesday 2 January 2018

Club Run - First Run Of The Year!

Hello blog readers.

It's  started and it started well!  It wasn't and ideal day, but at least it started off on the right foot and hands.....and backs!  This morning, instead of having and extra ten to fifteen mins sleep I got out of bed and did three reps of squats, sit-ups, lunges, push-ups and a thirty second plank!  Yup, that's right.  This year I am going to do it (again) no more killing myself slowly with ciggies, chocs, and over indulgence of booze, no more excuses, I need to kick my ass! Hence I dragged myself out of bed and flung myself on the floor.   It wasn't a pretty sight that's for sure.  As soon as I had finished my three reps (I decided to go gentle for the first week, I am not completely horrible you know!) I got myself ready to go see Kirtsy.

So, club run is next.  I was looking forward to it actually, looking forward to getting back to it after the Christmas festivities.  I seriously almost went back to Old couch potato days!  Apart form 1 parkrun I hadn't really done anything healthy!  To be truthful I wasn't quite sure how I was going to do today,  I was still feeling a little rough, still suffering from the cold virus that was shared about by all recently! Flipping nora, first run back and first excuses!  Tut, tut!  Butt kicking time again!

Anyway, in group 1 today we had 10 of use, some have come back, the New Year resolutions making them do it! Our Carole is back after her surgery from months back!  It was good to see her,  as well as our usual group members.  Yes, we have all over indulged and everyone was pleased that I did chose our 'easy introductory' route, the one that goes up Kingsway way first, and then Crestview road and all around Crescent Drive.  It is a lovely flatish route, and usually we can get around it quite easily.  But today, with the rain and the cold, it was quite difficult for us, I think storm Eleanor is coming to visit!  The cold started to get to us especially as the rain just fell almost as soon as we started to run, it had been dry until we left the rec. 

As we were having a catchup point on the corner of Shepperton Road we saw group 2 coming along from the other end.  Auriol had a brill idea of seeing if our faster group 1er's would like to finish off with group 2.  Well we had 2 of them decide that they would like to try and see if they can do it, Ruth didn't mind taking a couple of extra's and so we watched as they all ran up Shepperton, we followed on moving just a tad slower than.  With a catchup up at the top of Shepperton I decided that we needed to just cut our run short for the sake of not making our coughs and colds worse or indeed come back.  Tracy has only just come back from her bout of flu!

I took them left to head down Petts Wood high street, we were going to go back over the foot bridge and then run all the way down Petts Wood Road till we get to Crossway and then back to the rec.  It was a short run, it was a wet and windy one, but it was absolutely fab to see my running buddies!  Year 2018 started off......ok!  Now to sort our nutrition!  I need to eat properly now, a small pot of fruit and a few biscuits is probably not the best if I wanted to push myself real hard today, just as well I was leading group 1 today!

Geeky stats.

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