« February 2007 | Main | April 2007 »
March 22, 2007
For Juls
Juls, I pray that you and your family may experience peace in this difficult time. May the sun shine brightly once again.
Posted by karinm at 3:29 PM | Comments (1)
March 21, 2007
Planning Ahead
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and anyone there!
Posted by karinm at 2:34 PM | Comments (1)
March 18, 2007
Come Hail, Snow or Sunshine
I ran a half marathon today and experienced 4 seasons in one day.
We got up at 7 this morning and got ready to leave at 8 to get to Silverstone by 10am for the Adidas Half Marathon 2007 at Silverstone. The race only started at noon, but because there was 9000 athletes running, we figured the traffic would be murder and wanted to be there early rather than late.
When we got to Silverstone, it turned out that we might've been the only people thinking like that. We got out of the car, a 7 degree day with a really strong wind blowing from the North. This was going to be a cold race. I laced my timing chip through my laces, put on a long-sleeve top and started walking towards the race area. We had to walk about 1km and within the time it took to get there, my hands turned blue. I knew that Adidas would most surely have some form of shop / expo and I could only hope that they would be selling gloves as mine was back at home... 80 miles back.
Thankfully they did. They also had a very comfortable pair of shoes and a long-sleeve top that I simply loved... so when I lined up at noon, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be cold. I had a cotton shirt on, a ClimaCool top over it, gloves, short tights and a pair of longer tights over the short ones.
Noon arrived and with the wave of a checkered flag, we were off. I stood between the 2h20 group, noting that just a little bit in front of me, was the pace leader for the 10 minute milers and thought that it'd be fun to stick with them. Unfortunatly my right calf decided it wasn't to be - it started cramping as I crossed the start line and heard the familiar beep as my timing chip registered that I was now in the race.
Within the first mile, the sun came out and in the back of my mind I thought just my luck - I'm geared, and NOW the sun comes out. As it turns out, I didn't have to think that for too long. A mile and a half into the race it started snowing. Yes. You read it. SNOWING. I thanked my lucky stars that I was coated in two layers and shuffled along, the crowds still not having spread out enough to really run. Just as soon as it started, the snow stopped falling. The sun peeked out for a few minutes and then hid away behind the clouds.
Just after the 3 mile mark I realised that I was covered too much. I stopped and removed my long tights and one of the tops that I had on and carried on running, feeling a lot better without one layer.
At mile 4 I suddenly realised that my right calf wasn't cramping anymore. I nearly skipped with joy.
I went through the 6 mile mark at 66 minutes - a little slower than I wanted, but as I was supposed to only treat this as a training run, I wasn't too upset. It was at about this time that we got another shock to our systems. Suddenly I was getting battered and bruised by very little white pellets. Hail was pouring down and with strong gusts of wind throwing it against us, you could hear many athletes yelping and saw them trying to cover any naked flesh. I tilted my head and tried to keep as much off me as possible, but the right hand side of my body couldn't hide. My nose got properly beaten and I think it might be a few days before the bruising disappears off my right cheek. As this happened, you could hear a 'Ooooooooooohhhhhhh' rise from the spectators that were sheltered by the stands. The commentator wanted to know what was up with the weather, but we all could only hope that it would stop soon.
It was 5 minutes that felt like 15 while the hail fell, but it did stop. And as before, the sun came out for a few minutes. It was also around this time that I suddenly realised that I was feeling a lot better and managed to settle into a very nice and steady pace. I found myself thinking about wanting to pass at least that person... then the next ... then the next.
With 2 miles to go, I passed the 10 minute milers. I thought of slowing down and staying with them, but then realised that I was feeling good and didn't want to slow down. I carried on past them.
With 1 mile to go the hail started coming down again. Thankfully not as much as before, but just enough to hurt. This time it was straight from the front as well and I was thankful that I was running with shades - hail in eyes would not have been fun.
I finished the line in 2:05:34. I'm VERY happy with that. Not only does it mean that I ran my last 7 miles faster than I did my first 6, but I also realise that I'm stronger now than I have been in a while... and I had a GREAT day :)
pictures to follow
Posted by karinm at 6:41 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
March 13, 2007
Thieves Wood
My bike is in for a service. After Saturday she kinda needed to go for one - whether it means new wheels or tyres or even a saddle, my dearest bike needs a bit of care and attention that I am not capable of giving her.
I went for a run yesterday afternoon. It was just a short run, about 43 minutes, but I had some fun. It was dark and my flashing armband were attached to my left arm as I ran towards Hucknall. There's a section where I run called 'Thieves Woods' that used to harbour thieves and murderers in the dark ages (or so I'm led to believe by some friends) and we were going up along the side of it. It got a bit hot in my long sleeve top and I decided to take the long sleeve top off and carry on in my sleeveless top. About 300m later I realised something was missing, and we were halfway up the hill next to Thieves Woods. I turned around to see if I could find my flashing armband and in the distance there it was.
At this stage it seemed like a good idea to turn around, so we did, picked up the red lights as we ran towards home and finished our run.
Afterwards I lay on the couch for ages, watching CSI : Crime Scene Investigation and wondering what I'm going to do tonight. Considering that it is technically a biking night, but my bike is on holiday, and the pool is closed, I'm going to guess that going for another run doesn't seem like such a bad idea. I realised this morning that I have no way of getting hold of my coach for our weekly chat tonight - seeing as he is in South Africa to take part in Ironman South Africa on Sunday and the phone number that I have for him is only half the number I need.
Yes, a run tonight makes sense...
Posted by karinm at 9:13 AM | TrackBack
March 12, 2007
Race for Life - 3rd of June 2007
For the past few years I've always wanted to do the Race for Life in the UK which is held at various locations across the country, but the prospect of having to raise funds inbetween my really hectic schedule has always scared me off just a bit.
This year I've decided to enter the race and create a fundraising page, hoping to nudge friends and family into donating - which is what the pretty new button on the lefthand side of my page is all about :)
Posted by karinm at 9:38 PM | Comments (0)
March 10, 2007
AWESOME - A tale of the Clumber Park Sprint Duathlon 2007
That's what it was! Absolutely awesome!
I woke up this morning at 6 - an exceptionally early morning for a weekend and after pondering staying in bed rather than racing in cold conditions, I got out of bed.
Being scared of a race is never a good thing, my stomach turned and my mind made up all kinds of excuses for me to crawl back into bed. I got the bike into the car and imagined the wheels to be too flat - I couldn't find the pump and there was no way I could race on those tyres.
So then off I went to Clumber Park. I got there with about an hour left to rack my bike. The girl behind the counter checked my BTA license, smiled and pointed me to a desk where they gave me my race numbers. She in turn shoved me towards the next table where a very friendly bloke offered me a shirt. I took it and voluntarily moved to the last table. Here they had a stack of race chips which they explained to me had to be on my left ankle. Without it there, I wouldn't get a result. I clung to my new goodies and walked out the one-way-system-room.
Outside Andy was looking at the people and when he saw me, scampered to help me carry the load that I had just picked up.
We walked to my bike, put the number on it, tied my shoes, got my helmet, got my shoes, got everything else I thought I would need and set off for the transition area. Once there, I racked my bike, put down my bike shoes and made sure that my mixed bottle of sports drink was in its cage. Then I remembered that I had a slipstream bottle, but forgot it at home. I wasn't about to start beating myself over the head about it, so I carried on walking towards Andy was waiting for me. Here I quickly changed the camera lens for him and then waited for the announcements calling us to the start.
The first announcement came - Go check that your bike has been racked in the right space, in the correct manner or we shall remove it.
I nearly ran to my bike, where I realised that I had racked it in the right place, just not in the right manner. I quickly took my bike to the other side of the rack and racked it again. Then I put down my second bottle of sports drink and another shirt that I thought I might need if the temperatures dropped any further. I hopped over to Andy again and watched the men that was about to start the Olympic distance race gather around the start. There were around 350 of them (some of them looked incredibly fierce) and they looked like they were freezing.
They set off and then the women doing the Olympic distance gathered. There were only about 50 of them and it was strange to see so few of them.
Five minutes later it was our turn. They set off all 200 people competing in the Sprint Distance together and it was a little daunting to line up with all of them. After a quick discussion to make sure that we didn't do 2 laps of the bike course or run course, we were off.
It felt strange to run faster than I am used to. 5km is a lot less mileage though, so I wasn't too worried. The 5km seemed to go by so fast that I thought I had about 2km left by the time I reached T1. I glanced at my watch and saw 00:25:35 - in the back of my mind I thought 'you are so going to pay for that during the second run' and jogged up towards where my bike was awaiting me.
I grabbed some water and sports drink, took my bike and attempted jogging up the slippery, grassy hill towards where the bikes were leaving transition. Once I had crossed the magic line, I got on my bike. My right shoe clicked right into the pedal, but then the left one decided to play with me a bit - it took about 20 seconds to get the shoe and pedal to connect as they should, but then I was steadily on my way. The twists and turns that the bike course start out with, took me with surprise, but not so much that I had to slow down too much.
At this stage the elite men doing the Olympic distance started catching up with me. I kept hearing 'on your left' and 'on your right' and sometimes both at the same time, followed by a very quick man passing me on whichever side he mentioned.
The bike course was windy - one guy was injured (I only noticed because I had to bike past the ambulance) quite badly and it scared me slightly as I didn't know whether a car had hit him, whether he had fallen or whether the wind just swept him off the road (to the other side of the road). I kept cycling - the wind was picking up and it came at me from the side and front, but somehow never found my back. Eventually I made it back to transition and this is where the fun started.
I only had 2.5km to run. Really. I got off my bike and after putting on my running shoes, I realised that my legs weren't there. I couldn't feel them. They didn't want to work. I shuffled along towards the turnaround point where a very friendly marshall told me that I had to turn around. I flashed him a big smile and uttered 'You're my hero!' as I made the turn. My legs still didn't feel like they were there, but they were steadily taking me towards the end where Andy, a cup of water and a warm top awaited me.
As I fetched my bike from the transition area, a girl that finished behind me was phoning her mom - I only heard 'Mom, that was completely awesome!' before I walked away. And I have to agree. That was awesome.
Posted by karinm at 2:44 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
March 9, 2007
Racing Skeered
Tomorrow I have my first multi-discipline race in more than 7 years. Seven Years. And I'm scared. So incredibly scared.
Three weeks ago I told Andy that I'd like him to be there, in case I decide to chicken out, he needs to shove me back onto the course. This past Monday he made an appointment with the people from Sky to come and install our satellite television gadgets so we can follow the cricket world cup and summer track and field meetings. This morning I begged him to postphone that appointment until Monday or at least Saturday afternoon. I've not been this scared ever. Not even before starting a marathon. Not even before the most important race that I had run in my life thusfar. I really have never been this scared in my whole entire life.
I went out yesterday and bought a new helmet to conform to the standards that they require at the race. Half hoping that they wouldn't have any stock so that I would have a valid excuse to stay at home. They had stock, and since I belong to the same club as the owners (they sponsor the club), they said they'd see me there. I think the fear isn't of the race itself, but of making a fool of myself.
The last time I raced a duathlon / triathlon race, I was 21 years old, weighed about 5 stone lighter and did obscene amounts of training. This year I've been plagued by injuries and bruises and illness and competing in unfamiliar surroundings seems a bit daunting.
I guess I'll have to see how it goes.
Clumber Park Sprint Duathlon - I'll see you tomorrow.
Posted by karinm at 7:17 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 7, 2007
Quick Run
Yesterday afternoon I felt particularly stressed out and I jumped out for a 30 minute run when I got home. Andy came along and chatted to me about the pros and cons of installing Vista on my machine, but to be honest, I can't remember the conversation much as I was trying to rid my mind of all things work and IT related. We decided to try running on the cycle path that goes behind our house and found that it might be a good training spot for X-Country. The first kilometer, we slipped and slid all over the place. Then we hit a gravel path and we could finally get into a steady pace.
About 2km down the path, we found the exit - it goes onto one of the main roads in town and right across from this exit, there is a train station... the one we've so desperately been trying to find. We turned back and on the way back, a few kids spotted us running and thought it might be fun to run alongside us and taunt us. At first it bothered me, but then I realised that if I just kept running, they'd eventually run out of steam. As it turns out, we just needed 1.5km before they had to stop, out of breath and if luck would have it so, a bit more brains. The little chavs-in-training need to learn a few manners.
Once home, I was supposed to get on my bike, but somewhere along the past 2 days, something went wrong and once I heard a grinding noise, I decided I was rather going to give it a skip and take my bike into the shop today.
I got into bed, completely relaxed and this morning I am in a positive state of mind - something I haven't been for a while.
Posted by karinm at 7:20 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack