Tuesday 27 March 2018

Club Run - Mystery Tour!

Hello blog readers.

It was a beautiful day today, quite warm, although apparently this morning there was torrential rain!  I fortunately didn't see any of it, just the remnants, the shiny wet roofs of the house, the sodden pavements glistening in the lovely sunshine.  I do hope that spring is here to stay now, I am fed up of winter keep coming back, stomping it's foot and saying "...and one more thing!"......Sorry I saw that on a facebook post.  I though it high hilarious, but it exactly describes these last few weeks that we have just had!

It will soon be time to go through the woods, oh I can't wait for that time.  But for now as least we can see that the nights are getting lighter!  I was leading again today, I wasn't quite sure of the route that I wanted to do.  I wanted to incorporate some of Cardiac Hill.  I must study a map again and plot out a route involving the whole of Cardiac Hill, just to give us all a challenge when the time is right.  For next week however, it will be a nice easy route.......at a faster pace as it's move up week!  I gave my route out at the announcements and my group 1'ers didn't sound that pleased about it!  I am sure they will come to love those hills as much as.....well some one who loves hills!  I am hoping I will love hills too, but I do know that they will do us some good, and besides, as you all know, you can't go anywhere in Petts Wood without encountering a hill!

After I had given out my route and pace etc I noticed that Ruth had a map with her as she was leading group 2!  That was blimmin handy!  I could quickly scan the roads and quickly plot out a route and guesstimate the mileage. With a route sorted, and with some extra roads in mind if I thought I needed it to make up the 3 miles I waited till all the other groups had left.  Then it was our turn to leave.  We ran out the gate and turned right I wanted to get to St Georges road so that I can run along St Johns Road to Crofton Road.  That's the road that will take us to Cardiac Hill, but only to the middle of the dreaded hill.  I think I am going to plot a route that will take us from the very bottom of the hill to the very top of the hill.  I am sure Illustrious Leader used to take us on a route that did this.  I wish I could remember it! 

So really our route was a bit of a mystery tour, I hadn't a clue how many miles/Kilometres we were going to be doing but I shall keep an eye on my Garmin!  My group was in two halves.  I had some faster runners up with me, chatting away.  I had to try and slow them down and even send them up a bit further then run back to us.  I am thinking that I will be sending some of my group 1's up to group 2 next week, just so that they can have a 'feel' of it! 

All through our mystery tour my group was splitting up and regrouping, it could be that Cardiac hill was to blame, we all know that hills really give a good work out! We eventually got to the top of Birchwood road, still only 2 miles in to our run.  I have to find a mile from this point to the rec.  I decided to go straight down Birchwood, pass by Towncourt and then into the next road, I think it's called Manor Way.  All the way along till we get to the end and then turn left, left and right, which gets us to Kingsway!  The last hill of the evening and thankfully going down!

A good run today, with an extra half mile on our usual run.  I forgot to turn off my Garmin as we were doing our stretches and leaving the rec, so the time is just a bit wrong....!  But I did love this run.  I must find some more little challenges.....but for next week it's our usual 'be nice to the group 1's' route even though I am going to get them to work slightly harder!

Here's the geeky stats.



Sunday 25 March 2018

Running On a Sunday Afternoon!

Hello blog readers

I went running this afternoon!  Oh, you knew, because you read the title of todays blog!  Ok, so yes I did a run!  I have some races planned for so I need to practice this running thing, you know, at least get to 4 miles this week! Try and get up each week before the big race, the Paddock Wood Half!  I can get a few more longish runs in before the half, I just need to be disciplined. 

Me and my group 1 buddies are in this what's app group, we just chat and have a laugh and plan stuff together.  Carole shared that she went for a run today, 7 k I think she said.  That inspired me to go.  When I got back from church I had told the Old Boy that I was going to go for a run, and then promtly sat down on my chair.  My Daughter walked in with the dog and that was it, he climbed up on my lap and he fell asleep.  It was difficult to move and I could feel myself growing roots to my chair and settling down doing nothing!  So, I shared in the group that I was thinking of going for a run!  Next minute NaggyNeighbour is putting up a message "I'll come with you" she said, "What do you want to do?"  That was that, I said "Lets do Normans Park, nice flat, can go fast or slow, no worries about traffic (hills) or stuff like that!  So that's what we did, after she finished drilling holes!

I got my stuff on, my legs was feeling stiff for some reason, I can't think why as I didn't really do a lot of running yesterday, but they deffo felt like I had lead in my legs! So heavy!  I went over to her house, once she had drilled one more hole we were ready to go.  We drove to the park, parked the car and then walked over to our starting possition, which is by the Lodge.  Then it began, the running.  We ran together for the first long straight then NaggyNeighbour said that she was going to go ahead.  Naggys mojo has been flagging of late, finding excuses not to go running, like drilling holes!  So being out here now she just needs to get and do her thing!  Which is speedy running!  I need to get on and do the best that I could!  With every 10 seconds Naggy was a little further ahead,  she is so going to lap me before I finish my 4th lap.  I thought she lapped me at parkrun, but I asked her after and she said she hasn't done that......yet! 

On my way round I met the walkers, the dog walkers, families with kids, with kids on scooters with kids on bikes, I saw dads carrying kids bikes and even pushing their kids on  their bikes!  The thing is they noticed me too.  A few of them said "Well done" or "It's tough isn't it" as I passed them by on the first time.  Some said, "Good for you, I wish I could"  It is possible for the to run, but right there and then was not the time to recruit for PWR.

By the time I completed the third lap I was thinking I could quite easily quite right about now! But the comments I was getting from the walkers and dog walkers and.......you know everyone else kept me going!  One of them, with the child on a bike, asked how many miles I was doing "Four times around thats about 4 miles" I said.  And then I started my forth lap.  I had no idea where Naggy was I couldn't see her.  I ran up the long straight towards the park,  it's the best bit, I can put on a bit of speed down this bit as it's kind of on a slope!  I got to the park and I heard some feet pounding behind me "That's Naggy, I know it's Naggy" I thought to myself.  It turned out to be a runner with a dog!  Phew. Ok so I need to concentrate get the job done, maybe she is waiting at the Lodge after all.  but knowing Naggy I knew she wouldn't be.  I passed the park and then took a sneaky look behind me!  There she was, just getting to the park! Flipping eck. she is soing going to catch me up, I still have half a lap to do!  I ran a little bit faster and then I heard "Keep going Moosh" she said to me from behind.  She was close enough to chat to me now.  I kept going and then just as she got to me 'Ping!'  My bra strap came away!  Darn it.  I am not going to stop my stride and ask her to fix it so I kept running.  Then she passed me by with a "Keep going, see you at the lodge"

I kept my focus on Naggy again as she once again pulled away from me.  I kept going and going. Of course I did my walking, my geeky stats will show that.  I passed the 'end of parkrun' point and kept on going.  I need to get to the lodge and that will be it.  I was feeling ok, no energy of course and lead legs, but if I was doing a 6 mile run I could so easily carry on.  The lodge was just ahead, I could see Naggy going along for another lap!  No, surely she wouldn't be thinking that.  I decided that I will pass the Lodge and then follow her.  She got to the pavillion and then she turned around.  Of course that was what she was going to do.  I decided that I would get to her and then stop my watch.  When we did meet I stopped my watch, "I need to get to 10k, just a bit more" she said.  I look at my watch, "4.75 miles" Nah I can't leave that like that "Ok, I have got to make it 5 miles" I said so I restarted my watch and ran till it got to 5 miles.  which was just about back to the carpark after doing the little bit of path around the woody bit!

Yup I am happy with that, here's my geeky stats


Beginners Week 3

Hello blog readers

This weeks beginners was a bit of a toughie! For me anyway, after having a brilliant night out with my daughter, sister, niece and auntie!  It was a great night!  The Prosecco flowed freely......for an hour and a half that is! There was food as well! Anyway I showed up at the rec actually feeling like a wreck!  Runners are tough though, we can run through treacle, if we had to!  Just look at last week, all that snow yet still they showed up, plus other new comers too!

ZippySherry was leading this weeks session, three minutes running and three minutes walking! It's just an extra minute for running but I know, it can feel like an hour! (especially when you have had a good night out the night before!)  Anyway, I was quite pleased it wasn't me leading on Saturday, the whistle would have gone right through my head! Anyway back to Saturday, we still had new people turning up, it's still totally doable for them to get to the Graduation, keep it nice and easy on the running sections, brisk walks to keep the heart rate up as well as the homework, totally doable I say! 

As usual ZippySherry started them off with the walking around the field, twice!  At least this week there is no snow, but the grass is a bit, well, muddy! Probably just as well, at least I didn't have to run too fast!  I nice gentle miander around for me, taking pictures!  At least I could look like I was on the ball!

We did our warm up drills and then we started our watches,  ZippySherry, RefMichael and me!  Between the three of us we can keep an eye on the time!  Although this week I knew I would be keeping a close eye on those 5 running reps that we did! I did take some photos, and on some of the running sections I did, stop and walk, walk the other way to chat to our wonderful beginners. It's a great excuse to stop that pounding motion!  I said to some of the beginners before we started, after they found out from my mates that I had a good session the night before, I said to them, "I do these things to prove a point, it's blimmin hard to run with a hangover"  Well that was my excuse anyway!

We did the session, and I still wasn't quite sure of how many reps we did, considering how I was feeling I had a great time!  I also found out the one of the beginners had some celebrations happening the night before too! And yet she did it, and she was smiling at the end!  A great session indeed.  So next week it's the easter holidays and we have a break.  Does that mean we stop running!  Nope, we just have an unofficial session, repeating what we did on Saturday!  That way people won't miss out on a session if they go away for the weekend and it also gives another chance for anyone else to come and join in before we pass that magical moment of running for more minutes than walking!

So here's is the only photo I took!  I thought I took more! Oh well, next week!




Tuesday 20 March 2018

Club Running - On The Way Towards Summer!

Hello blog readers

This is the last club run for the GMT time! Next week we shall be running an hour earlier, BST, summer,  officially starts!  Oh if only!  I can't wait for the warmer weather, I have had enough of the cold!  I was going to sort out a new route, taking in Cardiac hill!  I shall work on that one for next week I think.  Today I took everyone to Tillingbourne Green.  You should hear the groans!  They love it really, everyone loves to just push themselves just a bit each week.

I had a group of 11 ladies today, IllustriousLeader was joining us too, J.J. was back and Carole was too.  We also had a newbie starting with us too, someone who had come through the beginners from the last course.  Tracy was running too, without her sidekick K!  I am sure she is going to do brilliant!

So after everyone had gathered by their leaders we watched and waited till we were the last out of the green.  Then it was our turn.  Out the gate turn left and then at the end of the road turned right!  All the way to the top of Birchwood.  The first of the little challenges.  I have to keep going, mainly because I am leader but also because summer is on it's way!  I have a bikini body somewhere in this winter warmer body of my mine!  I just can't remember where I put it!  The only way I am going to find it is diet (blah!!!! I hate that word) and more exercise!  It's the only way!  Less calories going in, more calories burning up!  Simples, right!  So I need to attack these little challenges on my club runs, but still keep it nice and pleasant for everyone else!  Run at your own pace up the hills!  It's a simple as that!  There will be some that will run faster, and some that will run slower, but all will push themselves to get up the hills.

We turned right and and ran till we were opposite Sherbourn road.  A nice little down hill and then the green itself.  A lovely challenge!  ...... What am I saying!? Delirious I think, but it really is a lovely challenge.  Every time I run around this green I try and get further before I have to stop, this time I am pleased to say that I didn't stop running until I got all the way around the green! Yup, deffo enjoyed that little challenge.  I was glad that we had a little break while we waited for the others though.

The next little challenge was to far off, in fact it was as soon as we all regrouped after the green,  The cheeky little hill that leads up to the main road.  Everyone up, run it, attack it, get up there as best as you can, we can do this, beat it, beat it, get it done!  I ran with Tracy, she wasn't looking for to it, I can tell, the vibes, the looks.  But I know Tracy can get up this hill like a boss!  I ran with her, "Come on Tracy, get up there, keep going"  Do you know what?  She did it, she even passed some of the other runners, the sweeper swept passed them and waited for at the top for the others!  I think she was pleased then.  Excellent running!

After that it's virtually all down hill! A perfect run.......oh plus the last bit of Petts Wood Road and that really is the last of the inclines! All done.  We got back with in the hour, feeling pleased with ourselves and did our stretches in the rec.

I am loving my running again.  Got to do more of it!

Geeky stats.




Saturday 17 March 2018

New Beginnings!

Hello blog readers.

Last Saturday we started our new beginners course, from couch to 5k in approximately 9 weeks!  We should have started the week before but the 'Beast from the East!' was around and so we postponed it. We had a fair few people turn up the following week though, in spite of all that snow the week before. In fact last week it was positively spring like, well, I think maybe there was a hint of rain, free hydration I call it!

We had 29 people wanted to reach that goal of 5k parkrun, completed, in what every pace they chose.  All they want is to just do it!  And so at Willet Recreation ground is where they all came.  That was the hardest bit.  Getting up from a nice cosy bed and putting on running shoes to go out and run with complete strangers, or coming back to running after leaving it behind for a couple of years.  It's hard to do.  But once they were all there, standing there, looking at ZippySherry, RefMichael, me and a host of other PWR's to help them on their way to Rundom, parkrun family and hopefully after that to being park of Petts Wood Runners!

They all looked terrified.........ok, a slight exaggeration, but they looked nervous, but not as nervous as I was feeling.  I was first to lead this March 2018 session, the spring session, and I was also to introduce everyone to our members.  Well that was a first for me!  Usually DiscoRich would do that and the pass the baton to me and Sherry, but last week he was in Crystal Palace with about 1000 school children!  Yup, crazy I know.  That postponed week threw us all off balance, but I am sure that DiscoRich will come along and introduce himself to our newbies next week, that's next week from today, not last week that I am writing about....er....um.... well I am sure you know what I mean. 

After trying to put everyone at ease I was ready to start doing the drills........uh ah! nope, it should walking around the rec first!  See what I mean about being nervous!  We started our brisk walk around the green, twice, at a nice brisk pace just to get our heart rate up and start warming up muscles in our legs and arms.  Once that was done then we did the drills, some gentle skipping and side steps and butt kicks up to the imaginary cones, I had forgot the cones, but and this is going to be silly, not only had I forgot the cones, forgot I had the cones, and not only that I didn't even notice I had the cones with me in the car when I changed my shoes to my muddy ones!  Yup, this is me, a 'not a morning person' leading new comers. 

After the drills done then we got on to the best bit, the running!  We were only going to be running for 1 minute and then walking for 5 minutes, five times, it sounds so easy doesn't it!  Well, if  you have never run before then try it, is all I can say about that!  One minute seems a lot when you're running, especially as you are not quite sure of the breathing, if you should be running fast, just plodding along, how long strides etc.  I know when I first started running I tried to run like Mo Farah does!  I know, it was ridiculous for a 13.5 stone woman of well over 40 years old, especially when I hadn't ever done any sort of running or exercise before! It just goes to show, that if you carry on, don't give up, you can do it!

I did do my usual thing of missing the prompt on my super duper Garmin!  On the third rep of running I was chatting to someone who was really struggling, so we slowed to a fast paced walk for the running sections, it was only when RefMichael shouted from the other side of the park "Old Girl, time" that I realised that we had actually been running for about 3 minutes! When I say we, I of course meant everybody else apart from me and this lady I was talking to! Everybody seemed to have coped well with my 'planned' mistake!  Just to show everybody that actually running for three minutes is possible even on week 1.  ..........No, I don't think they bought that excuse either!

We continued to do rep 4 and then 5, and that was it!  All done!  Fantastic, everyone still had a smile on their face as we were doing the cool down stretches.  Sherry gave out the big 'H' word...homework, there is always homework! And that was it.  Week one complete!

Week Two

Wow, week two!  Week 2 was more like week 1, the original week 1 where we had all that snow!  That was what it was like today!  We had a decision to make, to run or to stay in bed and wish we had run!  ZippySherry had put something out on twitter and the facebook page that we are going ahead!  So I got my gear on and went for it!  The snow was coming down quite fast, it had settled on the grass and the grass verges, my car had a thick coating of snow but there was no snow on the roads of the pavement, it had melted!  Well that's good, I think.  I drove to the rec and saw ZippySherry on the way, she was nearly there actually but I stopped to pick her up.  RefMichael came into the rec next and then we saw just a couple of other people who had got their early but were sitting in their warm cars.  "Ok" I thought to myself "We could have more leaders than runners this morning"  But as it turned out there were people coming in all the time after that, we even had new people come and join us!  It totally made it worthwhile getting here.  I was thinking to my self "These guys are hardcore"  They really want to this 5k under their belts, I mean if they are prepared to come out here in this weather to run around a wet soggy muddy field then they really, really want it!

I was so pleasantly surprised to see not just 1, nor 2 but 6 new people joining our group!  In the snow! Hard core, that's all I can say.  RefMichael was doing this weeks session, it's his first time leading the beginners out! No pressure RefMichael!  But really, he did an amazing job!  At least he was doing it in the right order!  He lead us all out for the two lap walk of the park, you know, the brisk, get the heart rate up, type of walking.  You know what, my legs were warm, by body was warm and my arms and hands. Even my ears were warm because I put on my headband over my cap!  It was my face that was freezing!  I tried to put my buff up over my face but that just made my glasses steam up as my breath crept up and over the buff! If I smile while running at least my my face freezes it will have a lovely smile on it!

Then we did the drills of course, RefMichael drew a line in the snow, where we were to jog, skip and butt kick a way there.  I think if I put the cones down they would have been covered in snow in no time!  Then it was time for the running.  I was looking forward to this, at least RM was deffo going to be watching the watch, no accidentally running for longer.  So we ran for 2 minutes, then walked for 4 minutes.  We did this 5 times!  Twice as long running as last week, well, apart from the little hiccup we had on my shift!  It is difficult, mentally it's difficult but I think this week the difficulty really was getting out of the door.

I was flitting about chatting to as many people as I could, I felt more confident doing that this week as I am not leading, so no missing vital whistle times!  There was one young lady I was chatting to.  She was finding it hard this week.  She joined because she had heard about the beginners course, she has given up smoking only a couple of months ago!  I know that, because I gave up smoking (again) on January 2nd. There has been a couple of relapses for me, but on the whole pretty good!  I just wanted to really encourage her to keep going.  Now she was running pretty fast, for someone who hasn't ran before.  I told her to slow her pace down, and to concentrate on her breathing.  If you get your breathing right you can run very well indeed.  It takes practise though, and you are not going to get the practise in if you are trying to speed along and then get short of breath!  It becomes hard, you get disillusioned and lose energy quickly.  So slowly, slowly, practise running with a nice steady breathing patten.  You will be surprised just how well you can do.  That's why these beginners courses are brilliant, you find out all this stuff, not only that but you find new friends too!  One other lady said to me that she finds easier to run with people.

The whistle went for the first rep of running, then the second rep, the third, forth!  That fifth rep seemed to have come around really quickly, I mean here were all were, running in the snow, on a soggy muddy park and everyone looked like there were enjoying it, and it went by so very quickly!  There was this one guy there, when I say we were all hardcore for being out their in this weather, well this guy turned up in shorts!  I took a photo of his knees (with his permission of course).  Now that right there is an athlete in the making! In fact all these people are!

Well done March2018 group, I really am totally impressed by you all!  Oh and just as we were about to do our stretches, Hannah turned up to give support! She was out for a run anyway and thought that she would just see if any crazy people turned up for the second session and she was totally amazed by them all!

One last thing, this is one of lady's that came along again, she allowed me to use her picture of her, arriving back at her home!  Don't you agree, PWR Beginners ROCK!
Yup, the course was on today!


Thursday 15 March 2018

Its A Double!

Hello blog readers
This is just at the other end
of the path from the bridge

It's been a while but I eventually managed to get a double run today.  But not the track though, but let me tell you about it from the beginning.

This morning I picked up Tracy to go for our usual Thursday morning run.  It was a pretty damp morning and it got wetter as we ran along.  There were quite a few people missing this morning when we turned up at the rec, numbers were well depleted in the two faster groups, some were at the races others had work!  Our group was quite healthy, number wise!  I decided that I really needed to go through the woods.  I knew that some of the ladies wouldn't like it as it was going to be muddy!  But I am not a heartless leader, honest, its true, I was going to choose the easiest, probably the dries parts of the woods to go through, throwing in some road work too.  The best of both worlds.  I get to run in the gorgeous woods and the ladies will get to keep their shoes fairly mud free!

Instead of going in through the woods via Dog Poo Ally I ran up the road a little further and turned right into Little Thrift.  There is the two ally ways here, the left path goes to Jubilee park over the new bridge the right path goes through to Petts Wood and Hawk Wood, over the two old bridges.  We were going right, over the two bridge and then straight on to Botany Bay lane.  I do love this name for this road(?) path, it is a very pretty path, I love running up and down here.  Thankfully it wasn't that muddy.
This is the gate where I rested
after getting up the fist bit of
Botany Bay Lane

We ran down to the little river, then it was the up hill to the gate and the lovely house there is there.  I just set my sight on the gate and ran it all.  It was a struggle, 'Hills are our friends' did not come jumping into my thoughts!  Once the other ladies caught up, that's, Auriol, Tracy, Kay and PinkLadyJo, we had a bit of a rest, and then a walk to the first post, where the electric lines are attached.  "Ok, let's see how well we can get up to the next flat bit, count the posts that you pass as you run" I said to them.  I started off, Auriol by my side and a steady plod up the hill.  The other girls fell in behind going at their pace.  I started counting, 1, 2, 3.  It's not a particularly steep hill but it's enough to get you working hard if you put you mind to it, 4, by now Auriol was just behind me, 5, 6, 7. I didn't quite make it to the 8th and final one.  I should have done, I should have pushed that little bit harder to get there.  next time.  Auriol said that she got to post 5, the other ladies I could see were running up, I didn't know if they had done any walking on this bit, but PinkladyJo came up to us and she said she hadn't stopped at all, and she got further than me!  Brilliant.

Just getting up to the road now we had to pass by the side of the school.  There are trees planted all along here and some of the school kids were hiding there having a cheeky ciggie!  Oh I remember those days, good old school days, having a fag behind the gym! Long time ago!  Now were had a bit of road work to do, along the front of the school and on towards the Tigers head.  More school children, well actually I should say students outside the school gate, not smoking this time, just chatting away.  A little further up I saw some other ladies, three of them sitting on the steps of some building, I don't know what the building is, I don't think its part of the school, I always thought it was where the nuns lived, but there were all sitting there having a smoke too. "Go on girl" they said to me as I huffed and puffed my way towards them "You're doing well" they said.  I just indicated that I would like a puff on the ciggie!  "She wants a fag" said one of them to the others "She probably would do as well" said Auriol as she past them.  I just laughed!

We got to the main road and then crossed over to run through Scadbury park.  Just the edge of it and only just a little bit of it as I knew it was going to be pretty muddy.  This was to be our last bit of running through the woods.  We came out to run on on the pavements, try and keep the speed up get a good run in.  I think I was running a bit fast though as Auriol said to PinkladyJo that it was her turn to 'keep me company' in front.  Ooops!

We finished our run down Birchwood, smashing!  Love running down hill.  The rain was really coming down now, a fine misting rain but enough to get you very wet.  I needed to get back and showered before I go see Kirsty so I said to the ladies I would do my stretching at home, they all agreed that they will be doing the same too!  A lovely run, I am glad I managed to get out.

Thursday Evening

So, here is my evening run, it wasn't at the track either!  It was way to easy to say that I couldn't cope with the marathon sessions that PhysioMiketheMod had planned for all those doing the marathons in the spring.  The sessions are perfect for them, I kind of look at them and think "hmm, maybe that's not for me" and then don't do anything.  I usually can just go along and 'do my own thing' based on what PMTM has planned, but then NaggyNeighbour suggested that we could go our running early in the evening do our own thing, as she didn't really fancy doing the marathon training too.  So that's what we did.  Pounding the pavements is not what I like to do, undulations usually slow me down and I get despondent, so I suggested we still go to Norman Park but run around the park instead, do the Bromley parkrun route instead!  Three laps, about 3.5 miles, perfect for a Thursday evening!

We drove to the park and had to go around to the Hayes entrance (after going in through Bromley entrance and speaking to the security guard who was about to lock up) And then it started!  The nagging.  I wanted to do just a little bit of a slow run to warm up! Oh no, "Well, that's what we are doing" says Naggyneighbour "Come on".  Hmm, yup I have missed running with our Naggy!  Of course the first half of the lap I was chatting away, and keeping up, or I should say she was staying down with me.  I know that Naggy can run a lot faster.  I was quite pleased actually because she had the light!  I had forgotten to charge chest light!  

The first lap went fine, I think, the second lap was a different story.  My lunch seemed to want to remind me that it was still very much with me!  I had one of those ding ding curries from Sainsburys!  When I bought it I had actually forgot what day it was, even though I had been running in the morning, but the thought of a little curry popped into my head when I was thinking about lunch and so it just had to happen!

The second lap, it was interesting.  Naggy couldn't believe the....um noises coming from behind her as I burped my way round.  It wasn't pretty and it certainly wasn't pleasant.  How I managed to keep the whole of my lunch in place I don't know!  Suffice it to say that a couple of 'tasty burps' is really not pleasant.  Being a lady at that point was totally out of the question too.  Thank goodness we had opted to do the park and not the track is all I can say about that, although I do enjoy the track!  I shall be back to it soon!

The third lap was a big struggle, as I plodded on after Naggy, my garmin had ran out of battery a long while ago, I think I managed to get the first mile on there!  I was just relying of Naggy to let me know the pace.  I kept on doing small walking sections, Naggy refused to stop so I had to run faster to catch up to her!  She then told me, after we got to the very last Pavilion on our run that if I had just slowed down my pace she would have slowed down but because I had stopped running she kept the pace going and I had the hard work to catch up!  Oooo, she's an expert, isn't she!  I might try that on one of our Thursday morning sessions.  Mind you, that will mean that I will have to run non stop all the way from beginning to end!

But not a bad run, in the dark, around Norman park.  It was also quite warm, I opted to wear short sleeves for this evenings run and I was sweating like it was midday in August!  Surely this should have dealt with that curry I had for lunch, oh and that chocolate eclair!  And I wonder why I am not losing weight! tut!

No geeky stats, but I shall grab them from NaggyNeighbour!


Tuesday 13 March 2018

Club Run - Pieces of Eight!

Hello blog readers.

The rain had managed to stay away for our run this evening, thank goodness, it was still a rather mild night, I was glad that I only put on two layers!  I knew there were a few ladies missing today, our LittleJ is missing permanently from club runs these days, but thankfully we still get to see her at parkrun.  J.J. is looking after Kirsty and Carole is suffering too.  But Auriol is back!  She was a bit nervous of coming back to running but she needn't have been, she done so well! So we had 8 lovely ladies in the group this evening,.

I had planned the route to include a couple of hills, we need hills to improve ourselves, apparently!  I still have a love hate relationship with them!  NaggingNeighbour wasn't coming running today so I picked up Tracy and then drove on to where the rec is.  I popped into to see J.J. and then looking at her clock Tracy thought we only had five minutes to get to the rec!  So we said our good byes and went to the rec.  We had a bit of a warm up run to the rec.  Tracy really put a bit of a spurt on too!  When we got there I had noticed after a couple of minutes that we were actually early! Oh well, the warm up was quite nice.

I gave out our route for the evening and then waited until everyone else had done the same.  With all 11 groups done (group 12 meet up half hour earlier) and gathered we waited till everyone had gone, more or less and the we started on our run.  It included a few small inclines!  Just a few at most! The first one is Birchwood.  We've not done this little incline for a while and I just pushed on up it.  We shall take a breather at the top and wait for the sweepers.  It was happily surprised to see the the second pair of ladies up the hill happened to have Auriol in it!  I think she was pleasantly surprised too, she was thinking that she was going to be sweeping along and trying to keep up, but her fitness level hasn't gone down that much!  Brilliant.

My group was running pretty well actually, the front runners were not that far behind and we didn't have to wait too long before they had caught up at the top of the hill.....er incline!  We turned left and crossed over the road, now we were going passed the houses with the fantastic lights shades well, chandeliers actually, but oh my goodness they are stunning! The other house has a move contemporary feel, not so ostentatious!

We just that cheeky little hill to get over we headed for Kevington Drive.  I always think of that bit as fairly down hill, but of course it has that little hill to get over!  It's a brilliant route to do for us in group 1 who like a bit of  a challenge!  It's been a while for me to get to wanting to do some hills, even if they are very small and short ones.

We got to Kevington drive and by that time I had developed a stitch, I had tried the whole holding on it to make it go, breathing in through the nose and puffing out, stretching it!  It didn't go, I just decided to give it a little rest.  Serves me right for having a  Sainsburys curry for lunch a little later that I should have done!  It didn't shift doing any of those things, I had the faster runners running up the hill twice, while I watched and waited for the back runners to get to us.  By that time the stitch wasn't as bad but it was still there.  There is only one thing left to do and that's to.......ignore it!  I feel it will go away on its own. So I hit the hill like it was as flat as a pancake.....almost anyway,  I did attack it, as I had the others running it twice and I was only doing it once!

We ran back along the road we that came along and on to the main road.  Straight down to the round about.  Before we got there we saw another group coming out of the turning that takes you to Tillingbourne Green, another cheeky hill, which could quite possibly be our next weeks route!  I love a hill......not.......but hills....are......our .......friends! Right?!    They gave us a little round of applause.  So now just this last little push to the roundabout and then the lovely down hill section that goes to Crossways!  I decided to go down here as we had not made up the time to do this extra bit.  Seems strange to me really as it felt it was a lot quickly..... weird eh?

We got to the rec and I had noticed that my Garmin said 2.90 miles, well I couldn't have that, I had to make it up to 3.00 miles.  I think those that had gone up the hill twice could quite possibly have managed to do the 3 miles, but my Garmin was showing 2.90. Nope  that wasn't happening so I ran around the car park to 'fill in the gap'.

It was a lovely run, and it was lovely to have Auriol back, she seems to have really enjoyed her run and is so pleased to be back!  Keep on running everyone keep on running!

Geeky stats.




Tuesday 6 March 2018

Snows Gone!

Hello blog readers.

It's been snow joke that there has been no running for over a week.  We are just not used to it, we can not cope with it and we just come to a stand still when the cold white stuff falls from the sky!  It put paid to running, especially for club running and parkruns!  I guess I could have tried t do a solo run in the mornings, but really, I am just not good at staying on m feet if I start slipping all over the place!

Anyway, here we are post snow and everyone is keen to get back out there.  As Joanne said on a post on Facebook, "I've been eating like its Christmas"  I know exactly just how she felt.  If there was anything to eat in the house I was eating, I think everyone felt like there were 'snowed in'.  I do know I was going stir crazy!  There have also been a few of us off  with the dreaded flu too!  It's been very poor running for at least two weeks!  So to ease us all back into it and because it's move up Tuesday, I chose our easy route, while our sweepers were on a total 'go slow' as its was these two lovely ladies, K and Tracy, that had the flu bug!

I can't tell you have good it felt though, standing out in the front of all our running buddies in the club, describing where we were going to run and at what speed.  It was just brilliant.  I really have missed my running!.......Oooo, and there it is, my running mojo making an appearance!  Lets hope it stays around for some solo running! We had to wait just a little longer than usual for K, she told us she would be just a tad late, and so there nine of us in our group this evening, all raring to go.

I was going to be taking it nice and easy, as gentle and as friendly as possible.  Get us all back into the frame of mind of running.  In the faster groups if they miss a week or two, then they would think about dropping down a group to recover, we in group 1 are it! So i just drop the pace to as slow as I can but also to keep it as enjoyable for the faster runners as I can.  It's a balancing act.  The offer of loop backs is always there.

We bumped into group 4 when we came across the walking bridge the first time round. They were having their catchup stop exactly where we have our catch up stops.  It's a 'natural' stop as I call them.  And we had a few 'natural stops' on our route today, stopping at every road crossing, whether it was a short run or a longer run.  but we stopped and let the back runners catch up.

When we got all the way along Crescent drive and to the end of Shepperton we saw another group, not quite sure what group there were in. It seemed everyone was staying local today.  I decided to go a slightly different way to the rec, and we turned left to go through Petts Wood high street and back over the bridge.  I was going to check the time when we got over the other side of the troll bridge.  If we had time then we were going to go the long way round, but we didn't have enough time so we were going to do next longest route, down Towncourt Crescent and then Crossways.  The best bit is that it was all down hill!  Fabulous, a little treat for us all for a great 'get back to running' club run.

Geeky stats.