Wednesday 16 March 2011

Running away...

No, not me, but the days/weeks/this year! I don't know why time is going past so quickly, old age? That's mid March already, nearly a quarter of the year gone in, and the days are lengthening quickly now. It's nice to wake up to the lightening skies and have an hour after work when it's still light.
It's 10 days since the Barcelona marathon, we ran in bright sunshine and 22C had the same glorious weather the following day which we spent walking around the city, watching the residents enjoying their holiday weekend and then got off the plane to 3C and rain!
It was a run of mixed feelings, I didn't get the time I was aiming for as I had a really tight left leg from 3km onwards which then led to the right hand side glutes and ultimately lower back seizing up so I felt like I was running bent in the middle... on the positive side though it is definitely the strongest I have ever felt running a marathon, and by far the strongest finish to date. I usually end up run/walking in the final 500m but this time I kept going all the way to the line totally fixated on the finish line and determined to keep going, it was hard work but I was so proud of myself :-) so perhaps on another day without my sore leg and maybe a little bit cooler I would have got what I was aiming for... I know it's there and I know it's getting closer so am not too downhearted.
It's a very well organised event and a great course, pretty flat with a mix of city and seafront running, it's well supported in most areas and the combination of nice weather and the Carnival weekend brought supporters out in numbers, many still in their fancy dress.
It was straight back to work on the Tuesday morning and then back into the birling maelstrom that is our work life at the moment...
In no time it was Friday and the weekend was upon us, we went out on Friday evening for a couple of hours with some friends and as the designated driver I managed to get through 4 Sprites! I woke on Saturday morning feeling as if I'd had more than 4 pints!! I had a head that felt as if someone had put an axe through it and generally felt yuk... It didn't help that the weather was foul, grey miserable and snowing! I have to confess that I barely went out of the house all weekend, I was still suffering from sore back from the race so had no motivation to go out and do anything. I missed my diehard bootcamp session on the Sunday which is probably a good thing as the challenge was to run up and down hundreds of stairs in a football stadium!
So all in all it was a funny old week last week and I'm glad it's passed :-)

Monday I had a physio appointment and he did a lot of work on my back managing to finally elicit the "crack" he was looking for :-) simple things that give some guys pleasure....
Seriously though although I feel like I have been kicked by a carthorse and then run over by the cart, I do feel the difference, I have much more mobility again and although I didn't do any exercise on Monday, I managed a steady 5.5km treadmill run at lunchtime yesterday and my bootcamp session in Stirling last night. It felt good to be back doing "stuff" and I am back at bootcamp again tonight in Linlithgow. This is the last of the 10 weeks of the Diehard programme, I'm glad I signed up for it as I do think it has made me stronger and fitter and I've made some new friends too. I will keep going once a week while I train for Edinburgh as it is good cross-training and I may do another 10 week session over the summer between Edinburgh marathon and our summer holiday...

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