Deely Bopper H

August 6, 2008

That is MY shoe

That is my pretty left shoe.  And the other piccie is the heel of my pretty left shoe.  Which gives you a teeny idea of what my left foot looks like.  And no, it was not a blister (despite me being stupid and running 8.4 miles in new shoes).  That was the result of a speeding van going past me, kicking up some glass that it hit and glass getting lodged in the back of my foot, the back of my leg and the side of my leg.  Mind you, the ones that hit my leg left a lot less damage... I have a cut that gave me a fair amount of grief on the back of my foot during the run.  I cleaned it out with some Gatorade Endurance Formula (which reminded me of some film, but I cannot for the life of me remember which one now).

The run itself was fun - the first 2 miles I thought the heat was going to kill me, then it started raining and for the next 2 miles I got wet before the sun came out again and by the time I reached Peg-leg at the end of my run I was relatively dry, although streaky here and there.  But at least now my shoes are DNA marked :)

Posted by karinm at 9:23 PM | Comments (1)

August 3, 2008

Various Nonsense :)

Testing Testing

Posted by karinm at 4:52 PM | Comments (0)

March 30, 2008

Shins

A quiet weekend, no major training, although today was supposed to be my last really long run before the London Marathon in 2 weeks. On Wednesday I felt a twinge in my right leg and the warning signs flashed bright enough for me to go to the physio.  The outcome:  shin splints. 

She told me to rest, ice and take it easy ... and see how I felt the first 2 miles of my run today. If there was the slightest twinge, I had to stop and head back home. So this morning I put on my shoes, and started running, fuel belt optimistically loaded and around my waist. Gels packed and all. And there was a twinge. More than a twinge really. After 2 miles I could feel that I was in trouble, because the twinge felt worse than it did on Wednesday.

So where does this leave me for London?

Broken hearted.

I'll go back to the physio tomorrow and see what she recommends, but I pretty much know what they like to say ...

Posted by karinm at 2:39 PM | Comments (4)

March 5, 2008

The Marathon

Sunday morning arrived... far quicker than I thought it would.

I got up and while I caught a shower, Andy went to wake the poor girl that was on duty at the Inn to get me some boiling hot water for my oatmeal. I felt so sorry for her.

I got into my clothes and .... attempted to show my enthusiasm for the run that was about to take place. Andy decided that the world needed to know....

At 5h20, Jeff was there to pick me up and head to the start line. I had everything. My belt was in my hand with a good amount of Gatorade Endurance Mix in it. I had honey, I had some anti-shafing gel, I had water, I had everything that was required.

As we drove towards Universal Studios, my stomach started with the familiar fluttering of butterflies, but that quickly went away as I became more excited about starting the marathon. As we arrived at the parking area, it was clear that there was going to be an amazing amount of chaos with the arrangements. First they had 3 lanes merge into one.  Then they had someone checking that you were involved in the marathon before pointing you to the parking area.

As we walked up towards the general loo area, the marathonfoto.com paparazzi overwhelmed us and asked whether they could take a quick picture or two. We managed 3 on our way and then it was time to pick up my fuelbelt, get rid of my shirt and head to the starting point. I said goodbye to Jeff and headed to the start line.

There was an amazing amount of people.  I've NEVER run in a race with more than 2000 people, so this was quite and experience for me. Everywhere was feet, bodies, heads, arms... the smell of bodyglide in the air.... I held on to my bottle of water and sat down and did a few stretches in the shade of those standing around. The sun had come up and the air was already heating up.

Before I knew it, 8h20 had arrived and it was time to start.... I started off conservatively and felt pretty well. The first mile was mostly uphill with a nice climb. The crowd at the start was great. They cheered and went crazy and in general they were just making a lot of noise, which is exactly what I wanted to hear. The atmosphere was making me all giddy and it took everything in me to not speed up and burn up every ounce of energy I had.

The miles passed and I kept a careful eye on my watch to make sure I wasn't going faster than I should.  At mile 13 I was still feeling great and only had 3 miles to go before I had to meet up with Jeff.  My nutrition was holding up, my legs felt great, I still had 3 gels left... I was feeling awesome....

... but the marathon is unpredictable - it only takes one small thing to make your day go a little off.

Mile 14 arrived... and with it my stomach decided to feel unwell. I stepped in the queue to use the porta-potty and shortly afterwards headed off again towards mile 16.  But with every step I now felt a little worse off.

At Mile 16 I spotted Jeff in a sec and he fell in next to me. He was so supportive and motivational and I felt quite bad that I was in worse shape than I would've liked to be.  My left leg started hurting shortly after and then I just had to talk to myself and listen to Jeff and it all became roses and moonlight and fluffy bunnies!

The last few miles were increasingly difficult, but the one thing I did NOT want to do, was walk the last mile. So the last 1.2 miles were hobbled/run/jogged/run through gritted teeth. 

As I crossed the line and collected my medal, were handed a drink, a blanket, pushed towards the photographers and managed to get out of the chaotic finishers area with non-runners in, emotion started to overwhelm me. I couldn't believe that I managed to finish it! My legs were hurting so badly it wasn't funny.

I met up with Jeff in the family reunion area with tears in my eyes and we made it back to his car.

That evening we headed over to Jeff's where smsmh made the most wonderful supper. I was dead on my legs though and in dire need of a lot of sleep and we went home relatively early.  The sleep I got was the most heavenly of sleep and I could not have asked for a more comfortable bed.

Posted by karinm at 7:53 PM | Comments (4)

The LA Marathon (The Trip)

On February 28th, 2008, at 11:00AM (GMT) I got on a plane to Los Angeles with Andy by my side. The 11 hours and 40 minutes on the plane was nothing compared to the 5 hours we were stuck on the I-405 towards Laguna Beach. We checked into the Casa Laguna Inn shortly after 9pm and after a quick call to Jeff quickly fell asleep - after all, our bodies thought it was well into the morning hours with the 8 hour time difference.

Friday morning arrived and after 4 or 5 or 6 cups of coffee, we had the most delicious breakfast before going for a walk on the beach and seeing the area around us.  We headed back to the inn and an hour later Jeff picked us up to make the long journey to the McDonalds Quality of Life Expo to pick up my race pack and goody bag and to venture into the world of expo exhibitors.  I managed to get away with a LA Marathon top, a running skirt, some shoes for Andy and various bars and nuts and things that the stalls handed me.

Then it was back to the inn for a quick nap.

During the course of the evening I met TC, smsmh and had the most delicious Lasagna to start the carbo loading for Sunday's marathon. TC was the cutest! Honestly, when he smiles, you can't help but melting. He's going to break hearts when he's older!

Saturday morning we woke up relatively late... I lie. We woke up at 7, had coffee at 7:30, breakfast at 8 and then decided to head to the town centre of Laguna Beach to watch the Patriot's Day Parade. It was something neither of us had experienced before and we had a ton of fun watching everyone come by. The kids that took part in the parade seemed to have a load of fun.

We caught some lovely Italian food afterwards and before I knew it, it was evening and I had to prepare everything for a very early morning on Sunday. I put my D-tag on my shoe, I put my number on my shirt (4 times), I put my socks out, my shirt, my Garmin, my fuelbelt... everything. And then I fell into bed and fell asleep while watching Without Limits.

Posted by karinm at 7:08 PM

January 15, 2008

I have a Butt

My backside hurts. The very same one that was given the workout of a lifetime last night. My legs are ok. My feet are ok. My brain is ok. Everything but my butt.

And the easy run tonight felt HARD because when I lifted my legs I wanted to groan. When my feet hit the pavement I wanted to groan. When I went up a hill I groaned, and when I went down the hill I grimaced... and then wanted to groan. All in all, I decided that since I didn't even come NEAR the pace I was supposed to, I was at least going to go the furthest I had to.

And when I finished. I hobbled home, took a hot shower and begged for a massage. Because I earned it.

Did I mention my backside hurts?

Posted by karinm at 8:14 PM | Comments (0)

January 9, 2008

I *Think* I'm Better

I think the flu has left my chest. This is a good thing. My HR is a tad lower than it has been for a while this morning and I'm taking this as a sign that I'm finally getting on that horse again. I'm hoping to be on the treadmill tonight - missed last night's run due to coughing and spluttering and dying.

I had a rough night sleeping, waking up to my own coughs and hearing strange noises (just my own breathing) and then this morning I felt a ton better and ended up getting up at 6 and watching cartoons with Andy before he left for work. He's still rough as anything, but I think he'll start feeling better tomorrow. I can only hope that the rest of the people at work will feel better soon as well. Its quite an office to be in at the moment :)

So, treadmill tonight, dodging the sick at work so I can get better, early sleep tonight.

 

Posted by karinm at 7:50 AM | Comments (1)

January 2, 2008

Ouchies

I learned some very valuable lessons today.  I left work today and instead of going straight to the gym, instead went home to have pasta and wine with my husband. I figured that if I got to the gym around 7pm, there would be a treadmill open for me for more than an hour and that'd mean that I could finish my 6 miles without having to stop every 20 minutes and get to the back of the queue.

Well, not so. I got to the gym at 7:30pm and when I walked in there was a room full of people that has the 2008 resolution to go to gym 3 times a week on average. I applaud them for their effort, but 90% of them will try to get the 156 times in within the months of January and February and it generally means that the best time to get there would be around 7am when everyone is getting ready for work!

But on the bright side, there was a treadmill open and there was no queue!

So I hopped on and warmed up and then felt that I could now select a program to lead me through my session of pickups. I pressed the program button. Hrmmm... didn't respond.  I pressed it again.  Still no response. 

Ok, so the treadmill didn't have the capability, or just didn't feel like, being programmed.  Right enough.  Last time I checked, my fingers could press 'faster' and 'slower' with ease and at least those buttons seemed to respond relatively quickly.  I did my first pickup.  I slowed down.  I did my second pickup.  I slowed down.  I did my third pickup.  I tried to slow down...OH JOY! The slower button seized to exist and I was on a good 6.5 mph.  Lovely.

I was feeling okay and there wasn't any other treadmills open, so I carried on running.  My heartrate went up, up and away!  Well, it settled around 173bpm and I was starting to sound like a steam train that got overloaded with coal somewhere. But I had 3 miles to go and I was feeling okay except for a stinging pain developing somewhere in untold regions of my body.

Nevermind that.

So... carried on running. At a faster pace than I wanted to.

But the stinging wouldn't go away.

And then... there was a crippling pain.

The need to stop.

Immediately.

Throughout the run, I had developed 2 blisters ... and 1 had burst.

I stopped. I didn't care that there was only 4.2 miles on the clock, I was going to cry and say things I didn't mean.

So... lessons learnt :

1. Get to the gym at 7am or 5pm... but not at 7pm.
2. Don't get on the treadmill that stands all alone in the corner. It doesn't like me.
3. Make sure the correct underwear is worn... or run the risk of developing a rather uncomfortable blister or 2.

Posted by karinm at 9:18 PM | Comments (0)

January 1, 2008

The Year of 'I Can'

This year is the year of  'I Can'.  No more excuses. No negativity. No doubts. Simply : I CAN!!!

I was sitting in my chair today, preparing my spreadsheet for the year and considering my options as to what I am going to do this year.  So far there are only 5 things that are certain.

1. I am doing the Stamford Valentines 30K (2008/02/10) (sadly without a partner in tow)
2. I am doing the Los Angeles Marathon (2008/03/02) (hopefully with someone pacing me ;) )
3. I am doing the London Marathon (2008/04/13) (without anyone else, but hey, the atmosphere will be soaked up!)
4. I am doing the London Triathlon (2008/08/10)
5. I am doing the Great North Run (2008/10/05) (atmosphere!)

As for goals, I have 3 :

1. Run 1500 miles
2. Lose 2 stone
3. Finish an Ironman

And all of those can be measured - publicly, you'll notice the mileage in my sidebar... I'll have to let you know about the weight loss thing... and the Ironman finish will be announced in the form of a race report sometime or another :)

I can do this. Because this is the year of I Can.

 

Posted by karinm at 5:58 PM | Comments (6)

December 23, 2007

The Long Run

ru

What you see above are two pictures of my long run today. The first is the elevation map and the second are the lap times per mile as I ran along my 12 mile course.

Outside it was miserable. It was cold. It was (and still is) foggy. It is enough to drive any sane person insane. 

I put on my shoes, my clothes, my heartrate monitor, got hold of my iPod, made sure it was attached to the Nike+ sensor, chose the playlist, put on 305, nearly fell over in surprise when it found all satellites in less than a minute (the 301 didn't like fog and generally didn't like the cold weather, so wouldn't find any satellites on a day like this). I started running and within less than a quarter of a mile knew that today might end up being a tad of a struggle.

My legs were feeling heavy, my chest didn't like the sub-zero temperatures, my feet was okay, the music was good, but rhythm was not something that wanted to settle in my body today. I struggled for 7 miles before I found any form of pace... and then the pace was too fast (I was supposed to be doing 11 minute miles today!), but I was so thankful for some form of steadiness that I just carried on. I couldn't let this weekend pass without a long run.

After 2 miles I reached a section of road where there was no curb. There was no space on the side of the road... and I was at the mercy of drivers that I hoped could see me, but even more, I hoped would have the common courtesy to not drive to close to me. 99.9% of those that passed me did. There was just one person that drove me to the point of trying to melt into the thorny hedges on the side of the road and I came off it with no scratches at all.  Now, when I reached the start of this section, I wasn't feeling particularly like carrying on. The mindset wasn't there. My body already ached. But I carried on.

After 4 miles I finally entered a smallish village with curbs and friendly people that waved and let me know just how crazy I was for doing this. A few old ladies just shook their heads and carried on walking while a few older men offered me a pint to warm me up - I must've looked cold and thirsty and running at lunchtime when you are bound to come along people on their way to/from the pub, obviously made me seem like someone that would appreciate a drink.

I declined and carried on.

And then I remembered why I've not run this route before.

Because, at the start of mile 6, a HUGE HUGE hill lay ready to greet me. I started up it, had to take a few steps of walking, but by the time I was at the top, I was thinking that my legs will be stiff tomorrow. Definitely.

I carried on through another village, and then another... and finally I got to cross the M1 motorway again and I was on the right side of it to be close to home.

I stopped after 12 miles and took a brisk 200 yard walk to my front door where Andy was waiting, ready to help me with my shoes and make me a bowl of lovely pasta :)

Posted by karinm at 3:59 PM | Comments (1)

December 22, 2007

Welcome to a New Family member

My new Garmin Forerunner 305 arrived. And not a second too late or too early. It was just on time :)

It arrived this morning at 7:30 when I was still lying in bed, bleary eyed and feeling like the nearest train had derailed and decided to come straight through my window, over me and out down the stairs. I stumbled down the stairs to open the door and sign for the parcel and once upstairs, could not resist opening the package and configuring the wrist unit.

Then there was 3 painful hours of letting it charge. And then I had to install the new software and finally I was just about ready. Now it was only the matter of the fact that I had a chest cough and that I couldn't possibly get out of bed... you know, having had an incident with abovementioned train and all.

I crawled to the lounge, clutching the 305 in its cradle and attached it to my pc.

At 4pm I couldn't help myself anymore.

It might not have been 14 miles, but I did manage 4 before I realised I was going to kill myself at this rate.

So I came back home and excitedly docked the unit and looked at the stats...

And boy was I happy :)

 

Posted by karinm at 6:01 PM | Comments (0)

December 21, 2007

Is it Here Yet?

Impatient person that I am, I can't wait for my new Garmin to arrive tomorrow. Did I mention I have the best husband in the world?  He knows that I've been looking at the cycling bits and pieces that Garmin manufactures, and in an effort to give me some cycling functionality with the new 305, got me a cadence sensor :) 

Expect photos and graphs and various songs of praise tomorrow evening :)

 

Posted by karinm at 2:42 PM | Comments (1)

December 19, 2007

Fare Thee Well Garmin

Yesterday, in a blue spark, my Garmin Forerunner 301 finally decided that life was too much and ceased to work. It won't start, it won't recharge. It won't do anything.  Which is really a pity as I was fond of the little watch.

But times change, and now I'm attempting to decide whether an investment in a shiny new Forerunner 305 is going to be worth it.  Andy has already given me the green light...

Posted by karinm at 8:20 PM | Comments (2)

December 17, 2007

Another weekend Down

'Tis was a quiet weekend with a lot of cake, some running (lotsa running) and some fairly cold weather that left some lovely frozen drops on my top while out on my long run on Saturday morning. We woke up and it was well... well below zero. I went out into the lovely cold weather, started running and as my muscles felt like they weren't warming up, listened to podcasts while counting the miles.

Somewhere along the route I had a drink... and noticed small particles of ice starting to gather on my top. I thought it was a tad funny.  The last time that happened I was running up a mountain in freezing weather and half expected it to happen when they started serving sherry at the water stations.

I finished the run and my hands felt like they were frozen in place... a hot shower later I was ok, but my feet felt like bricks and I spent about half an hour sitting in front of the tele before taking Elizma shopping in Nottingham. Andy and Fanie stayed home and made the most of the unlimited access to the television by playing endlessly on the XBox.

Saturday evening we went out for supper and on Sunday morning I woke up to some pressies and cards and a HOT mug of coffee.

The rest of the day was equally great and relaxing and even though I got a card that wished me a happy 30th birthday on my 29th birthday, I was fine :)

Now a new week starts - only EIGHT days until Christmas!

Posted by karinm at 8:02 AM | Comments (1)

December 13, 2007

The Freeze

Running in -5 degree weather was never going to be fun. No way. No how. Well. Maybe. And tonight, as the ice lay on the ground and made me run extra carefully, I had fun. Partially because it was funny to see Andy attempt to keep his balance.  Partly because I was REALLY enjoying the run, and partly because everything was sparkling in the dim light of the street lamps. It was just magical.

At times my muscles complained a lot about the cold. Other times I just didn't hear it. Its a fact that muscles weren't made to heat up in temperatures that are so cold that the frost that lay on the ground this morning never melted and are now building layer no. 2 on it. Not that it bothered me.

When I got home the plan was to go to the gym and run on the treadmills there, but once I got to the house, I realised that my car wasn't going to move from the spot where it was standing. The ice underneath it had reached the point where the car just would not move again. I still have my doubts about it getting me to work tomorrow - without a crystal ball, I can tell you right now I'm going to have to pack some sturdy shoes and head out the door and do the mile and a half to my offices on foot. Oh, to live more than 5 miles from work again...

I know that I have nothing to complain about :) I'm loving life at the moment. I'm loving training. I'm loving EVERYTHING about Winter... I just occasionally wish I could run in slightly higher temperatures :)

 

While writing this, I was listening to "No More Sorrow" by Linkin Park

 

Posted by karinm at 9:19 PM | Comments (2)

Slip and Slide

Outside there is ice all over the road... the sidewalks... the cars... and it is slippery. As I found out two days this week so far. While I'm out there I slip and slide and attempt to stay upright while having a lot of fun. My arms are generally wrapped up nice and tight, my feet find that one downhills I tend to take 1 step and travel 3.... uphill I tend to run 3 and go 1 back... but all in all the winter is fun.

I can't complain after seeing pictures of the ice storms over in the US :)

My brother and his girlfriend have been here for nearly a week now and they are starting to settle in properly. Last night they stayed up to a normal bedtime for the first time since they arrived - I've gotten used to them disappearing around 7pm to crawl into bed... it gave me some quiet time :) So when they left the room at 9pm last night, my head didn't quite register that it had happened. I stayed up and watched Sunshine with Andy before getting to bed... at which time it was close to midnight.

Tonight I'll head out for some slip-and-slide action outside again.  This time I might try to get Andy to take a picture while we're out :)

Posted by karinm at 8:08 AM | Comments (0)

December 6, 2007

December is a Great Month

Running has always been fun for me, but the past two weeks its come up a whole new levels from when I started running again nearly 3 years ago.  So much fun that I'm looking forward to the runs and the runs feel extremely short and ultimately, I'd do more if it wasn't for the fact that someone kept me in check.  Even more - it is the 6th of December, cold weather all around, and I've already done more mileage this December than I've done any December before it, including those from years and years ago.  December have never been a good running month for me.

This morning I woke up and nudged Andy.

"Let's go run."

I got a grunt in return. I nudged him again.

"Let's go run!"

He moved and tapped his alarm clock. And with that my dreams of an early morning run disappeared, because it seemed husband dearest was already late for work.  With the darkness outside and builders already arriving, I decided I'd go for a run tonight.  Andy rushed out the door and I was left on the couch with a half cold mug of tea and my advent calendar full of chocolaty goodness. (The only chocolate I see these days, and boy do I savour that 5 minutes in the morning that I get to have it)

There is only 12 and a half weeks left until LA!

Posted by karinm at 8:04 AM | Comments (0)

December 3, 2007

Gorgeous Monday

Its a beautiful day!  Blue skies, fluffy clouds, 7°C temperature.  Yes, its a beautiful winter's day in the city of Nottingham.

I managed to sleep like the dead last night and if I could, I probably would've slept until noon today.  My bed was just so incredibly comfortable that I couldn't get myself out of it for long enough to wake up until 8h30 and even then it was the shower that woke me up and not the getting up.

A great week lies ahead, that much I know. I'm in positive spirits on a Monday for the first time in a while (other times I was only fooling myself) and I can't wait until I login to my calendar in a while to see what the coach has in store for me this week. 

Only 4 more weeks until the end of the year!

Posted by karinm at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)

December 2, 2007

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

  Santa came to town.  7000 Santas.  We headed to Liverpool with the rest of them and absolutely loved the experience.  And now a few pictures:

 

First we had to get ready:

 

Santa started running during the year and found that his suit was now a tad too big

 

Santa gets his/her groove on

Waiting at the start line... it was COOOOOOLD

AND 30 minutes later... still waiting

 

So many Santas, which one wants my list?

And OFF they go!  Into the sunrise :)

It was far too much fun :)

Posted by karinm at 2:14 PM | Comments (1)

November 29, 2007

Well, THAT was Unexpected

Yeah, unexpected.  I'm talking about the pace that my run took tonight. 

I was supposed to do between 4 and 5 miles at 10:15 - 10:30 pace... and somewhere, 4 miles @ 9:35 popped out.  And I could've gone another mile if I didn't have a cramp in my leg since mile 2 and after 4 miles decided that it was enough with the pain thing.  I felt so incredibly comfortable, but my legs were more than happy to go a bit faster than usual, even when we hit my half-a-mile hill and headed up it. 

Once finished it hit me that I had run steady, but far faster than I was supposed to.

38:26?  Yeah.  Ok.  I'll take that.

Even if it was a tad unexpected.

Posted by karinm at 8:24 PM | Comments (0)

November 27, 2007

The Greed of the Charities

Charities are a strange phenomenon.  Yesterday I received my confirmation that I would be doing the London Marathon in 2008.  As I got my entry through the ballot and it isn't a Golden Bond entry through a charity, I technically don't have to attempt to raise money for any charity, but I decided that I would run for a charity and do some fundraising in any case.

I went through the list of charities in the magazine and online and finally have 4 in mind that was close to my heart.  I ordered them according to preference and this morning phoned up the first one.  I spoke to a very nice lady who informed me that, even though I had my own place, I would have to commit to raising £2000 if I wanted to run for them.

What if I couldn't raise £2000?

I'd have to pay in the difference.

Right, not running for them then.

I phoned the second charity.  Once again, a very nice girl at the other side told me that I'd have to commit to raising at least £1500.

Oh dear.  Things weren't looking good.

I phoned the third charity.  An elderly lady, by the sound of her voice, answered.  I told her I had my own entry.  Then asked her whether I had to commit to raising a certain amount if I wanted to run for them.  Oh, yes.  £1500. Unfortunately.  She didn't agree with it, but rules are rules.

A bit demotivated I phoned the fourth charity.  This time it was a male voice that answered.  I repeated the process of telling him that I wanted to run for a charity, that I had my own place and would I have to commit to a certain amount.

Oh the joy and surprise when he said 'No, any amount you raise is great. Even if it is just £20'.  So, I'm running for Marie Curie Cancer Care.  And I get a deely bopper to decorate myself with on the day.  I'll have to setup the page this afternoon, but at least now I feel like I'm doing something nice while enjoying something that I like doing.

Posted by karinm at 11:59 AM | Comments (5)

November 26, 2007

London Marathon 2008 Here I Come

Lunchtime was a good time.

I got a Flora London Marathon 2008 confirmed entry!  My acceptance letter and magazine arrived this afternoon and I whooped and hollered and nearly did some cartwheels around the room when I found out that I got an entry.

So tonight I shall celebrate.  Because the third time was a charm :)  And because, 6 weeks after the LA marathon, I'll be doing the London marathon :)

Posted by karinm at 3:31 PM | Comments (1)

November 24, 2007

Saturday Caught me Again

Lazy Saturdays are a good thing when you're sleepy and have a house to clean after something created a hole in your ceiling.  I slept most of the day away before I got up and did some housework and then realised that it was 7pm and I hadn't gone for a cycle or run yet.  At least I carried a lot of things around, ran up and down the stairs and got other things in the house done.

In a few minutes I'll fall over and sleep and then tomorrow morning I'll go hunting to find the Clowne Half Marathon.  If I can find the spot where it starts from, I'll take part and then tomorrow you'll have a whole race report to read :)

Posted by karinm at 9:20 PM | Comments (0)

November 23, 2007

One more Week

After today there is only 7 days of NaBloPoMo left.  Woot!  And so far I've kept it up.  Barely.  I've made so many nonsense posts that it could not possibly be rectified within the next year, but that's ok. 

I've had blue sky to look at all day - quite a change from the past couple of weeks where rainy weather, snowy weather, fog, overcast weather and just general miserable weather had taken the sky hostage and made it terribly grey.

Tonight is a rest evening, but I'm considering heading out for a smallish 3 or 4 mile run to see whether my left leg is in need of a massage or some other form of treatment, or whether it will finally behave in a manner suited for legs that want to run a marathon in March.

But before then, I still have to get home and enjoy the sunset. :)

Posted by karinm at 3:40 PM | Comments (1)

November 22, 2007

Running in rain...Again

Well, that sucks.  I went out for a run tonight again, and it rained.  And it was quite cold with the wind blowing and all that.  And I very nearly had a repeat of Tuesday evening's events with contorted muscles and all.  I felt the niggling, but thankfully it didn't hurt.  I slowed down when it started niggling and it seemed to stay at that point in time.

Andy was next to me during the whole of the run.  He kept checking on me with 'Are you okay?'  and 'Is your leg ok?' and 'Are you hurting?' I'm pretty sure that if I answered that it hurt or that I wasn't okay at any stage he was going to make me stop and drag my butt back home.

So, with the rain falling outside, me wondering about the London Marathon (despite the fact that I'm definitely doing LA), and Angel on the television, I bid you farewell for tonight.  I have ice to put on my leg and stretching to do.

Posted by karinm at 8:16 PM | Comments (0)

London Marathon Online Ballot

Dear Flora London Marathon online ballot entrant,

As one of 10,000 people who entered the 2008 Flora London Marathon online ballot in August, you will be waiting anxiously to find out whether or not you have successfully secured a place in the 2008 marathon.

We are pleased to announce that you will find out whether or not you have been successful by postal notification between 30th November and 10th December. Results will also be available online from 10th December and we will let you have details about how you can do this nearer the time.

Please note that if you entered via the online ballot and receive an Accepted notification but have not yet paid your entry fee, you must make your payment by Friday 21st December to guarantee your place - so please don't forget.

We will also email you again soon to remind you between now and then.

Good luck and happy running!

The London Marathon Team

P.S. Don't forget there are many charities who would love to have your support by running for them on 13th April 2008, so why not pick one from the list below?

They might as well have waited.  I nearly had a semi-heart attack when I saw the email in my inbox.  Then I thought, what if?  I opened it and the page couldn't load quick enough.... only for me to get yet another reminder that I have to wait until the end of November ... at least ... to find out whether I got rejected for the third year in a row.

Posted by karinm at 4:11 PM | Comments (0)

November 20, 2007

You Put Your Left Foot In

It was once again, cold tonight.  And I went for a run.  Thankfully with Andy in tow, so he could inspire me to run.

As we ran, I felt quite okay for the first 2 miles.  And then my left calf cramped.  And then my shins. And then the right side of my quad on my left leg.  And my leg felt all contorted and weird and incredibly, mind-numbing, paralyzing, sore.  So just over half a mile later, I was at my front door and out of my shoes and on the floor, stretching with a bag of ice in my hands.

Ouch.

I don't know why it happened, but I sure hope it doesn't happen tomorrow morning.  I want to run tomorrow morning.  And running with a leg that pulls the wrong way while the muscles work on their own instead of together - well, that isn't a good thing. Not by a far stretch.

 

While writing this, I was listening to "Ironmantalk Episode 3" by Bevan James Eyles and 'Coach' John Newsom

Quote of the Day:
False freedom leaves a man free to do what he likes; true freedom, to do what he ought.
--Anonymous

Posted by karinm at 8:15 PM | Comments (0)

November 19, 2007

The Snow be Gone

Week	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Km	0	3.01	47.07	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

The snow is gone. And I slept until 8h00.  Which meant that there was no running for this gal this morning.  Instead I had a mug of coffee, a shake and watched Just Shoot Me.  Its a strange start to the week, because even though it is 8h15 now, it is still relatively dark outside and its a strange darkness. The weather is completely and utterly weird.

I'll head out to the gym tonight and grab a treadmill (I'm pretty sure that if I get there before 6 I'll get one of those without having to wait).  At least the gym should be warmer than it is outside :)

Posted by karinm at 8:24 AM | Comments (0)

November 18, 2007

Winter Snow

Running.  Running in the rain.  Running.

And then, just as I thought I had gotten used to the rain, the weather decided to throw me a new curve ball.  Snow.  No more rain.  Just snow. Cold. Icy.  Soft.  Snow.

My toes are frozen.  My legs are frozen.  My knees are frozen.  And no amount of hot water or wheat bags or fluffy duvets are going to warm me up.  No way no how.  I am too cold to ever heat up ever again.  And tomorrow the second week starts.

Posted by karinm at 6:26 PM | Comments (1)

A tad Lethargic today

I'm listening to older podcasts and sitting upstairs, considering going downstairs, finding all my running gear and heading out into the cold, to run.  My body fears the cold.  It honestly does.  I don't like being out in the cold and feeling like I am going to keel over because my lungs don't like the cold.

Which is probably why I'm considering the craziness of running 8 miles on a treadmill.  My toes might like that more than running in the rain.  The icy rain.  The cold rain.  The wet rain.

Yes, I know anyone can run in dry, comfortable weather, but its Sunday and I want to take a day out from the bad weather :)

 

While writing this, I was listening to "Ironman Talk Episode 2" by Bevan James Eyles and 'Coach' John Newsom

Posted by karinm at 12:54 PM | Comments (0)

November 14, 2007

I Shall Run

 

I found this in Vanilla's blog and although its pretty awesome how two people fight it out, what stuck with me, was the closing words on the video :  the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra. 

Last night I went to bed, fuming at an email I received from someone that I don't know and right now, really hope I never get to know. Without knowing me, he tried to give me advice that I didn't ask for and as it turns out, he's a bit of an elitist jogger.  You know, one of those that finish a marathon sub-3:00 and figure that anyone that can't run a marathon sub 3:30 shouldn't be allowed to take part.

This morning I woke up and figured that I wasn't going to give him a direct response.  If he wants to believe that the taking part doesn't count, then he is entitled to his opinion, but he's not someone that I want to talk to.  I enjoy running and plodding and just because I don't run 10 miles every morning, it doesn't make me any less of a runner.

Now I'm off for a run.

Posted by karinm at 7:39 AM | Comments (1)

November 13, 2007

Day 2? Check!

6 Miles.  Day 2.  And I did it!  I finished my second training session this week ... in cold weather, with my shoes a tad too tight, my garmin on my wrist, my gloves on my hands, my hat on my head.  And this time I forgot the light.  I was completely blind in the darkness of the run, but oh boy was it fun!

I pretended that I was sneaking up on people and had to restrain myself from trying to scare them as I approached them.  A few dogs gave me some snarls, but thankfully they were on leashes and couldn't get their teeth at me.

The air wasn't as cold as yesterday, but my body still felt the chill.  Afterwards the shower was such a welcome treat.

They're expecting a very cold morning tomorrow morning.  Something tells me my double layer of clothing isn't going to be enough...

Posted by karinm at 7:35 PM | Comments (0)

November 12, 2007

Sub Zero

Week	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Total
Km	0	3.01	5.23																8.24

This morning seemed like a good time to start running in the early mornings.  Well, it seemed like a good morning last night while I was crawling into my lovely and warm bed and I hadn't seen the weather forecast.

Andy mentioned something about below zero, but I didn't really listen and this morning I woke up to a really cold morning.  I mean, REALLY COLD.  -3 degrees outside and ready to get colder by the looks of it.  Was it not for the lovely, beautiful sun rising at 7am, it probably would've gotten colder too. 

No problem, right?

I grabbed my long tights, a long-sleeved shirt another shirt to put on over that, my iPod, my garmin and I was ready.  I started running and at first the garmin was a tad shellshocked at my decision to use it.  It took roughly 250m to find a signal in the clear skies and then started telling me how slowly I was poodling along.

One thing I noticed this morning was the amount of early-morning dog walkers we have in our neighbourhood.  I encountered 4 or 5 owners that could control their canines and another 5 or 6 that couldn't.  Thankfully their dogs were small enough for me to not be completely terrified of them and I was able to escape unharmed.

As I finished my run, I started feeling a tad like I was drowning.  My lungs had obviously had enough of the freezing air and felt like they were shut. I got home and took a 20 minute shower to heat myself up, but I could feel that I was outside. 

Dressing made me feel a bit like the Michelin man.  I put on the clothes I was wearing to work, a huge coat and then wrapped myself in a duvet for a good 20 minutes before I felt human enough to get off the couch and out the door and off to work.

But the run is done.  The first one for the next 16 weeks.

Posted by karinm at 9:36 AM | Comments (1)

November 11, 2007

We Rode off into the Sunset

Whoever thinks that riding off into the Sunset sounds like a happy ending has obviously never ridden off into the sunset.

This afternoon we drove home from the in-laws and as luck would have it... the sun was setting ... and we were driving into this spectacular bright light that was at the end of the highway.  Of course I was in the driver's seat and being a tad blind, the sun's glare was enhanced by my glasses that I was wearing. 

Everytime we went underneath a bridge my eyes would burst into song for the relief it was getting, only for me to suffer a temporary 3 second blindness and star spell when we came out from under the bridge.

Needless to say, I mentioned this to Andy and he instantly started to suffer from white-knuckle syndrome  I was so thankful when some clouds decided to save the day that I instantly stopped at the nearest Primo Coffee and got something to drink.

Unfortunately the time of day and sub-zero temperatures has kept me inside for most of the day and the only part of my body that's been doing any running since Wednesday has been my nose.  Thankfully it decided to start taking a rest since this afternoon and I'm feeling a ton better now.

I'm sitting upstairs, too lazy to go to the lounge, considering getting out the dvd that's been in my bag since Friday and doze off even though it is only 7pm.  I've already set my alarm for the new regime that kicks in tomorrow - an early morning swim followed by some work ... followed by a run. 

I've run out of excuses, now the work starts.

Posted by karinm at 6:59 PM | Comments (0)

November 10, 2007

Another Runless Day

The bad news is that I didn't run today.  The good news is that there is a 75% possibility I will run tomorrow.  My head cold seems to have reached its last legs without reaching my chest and it is slowly disappearing from this world.

Tonight we're heading out with Andy's parents for supper in honour of his mum's birthday which takes place on the 13th, followed by some hot chocolate and then a lot of sleep until tomorrow morning when I'll most probably wake up to the most delicious smell of lunch being prepared.  Its not that I sleep that late, its just that his mum starts preparing lunch that early.

After lunch we'll zip home (well, its an hour and a half's drive) and Andy'll accompany on the bike while I go running.

I have to mention that outside it is 2 degrees Celsius.  Thank heavens for gloves and hats and various other warm pieces of clothing!

Posted by karinm at 6:45 PM | Comments (0)

November 9, 2007

Having a Winter Cold

I'm a sucker for punishment.  I am.  And this morning I'm wondering why I'm sitting on the couch at 7:45am with a blocked nose and feeling like I should be crawling undernearth a duvet and staying there until summer comes out.  So far, I've managed to keep this cold/flu from heading down to my chest (that's good, right?), but I'm still not well.

I'm dosed up on so much vitamins and minerals that they could probably establish a small mine in my blood system at the moment.

My nose is not my friend today :)

Maybe I'll be able to get back on the wagon like the amazing hip by this weekend or coming week... here's to hoping :)

Posted by karinm at 7:53 AM | Comments (3)

November 7, 2007

Last Night was the Last Night

Andy comes home tonight!
Andy comes home tonight!
Andy comes home tonight!
Andy comes home tonight!
Andy comes home tonight!

Ok, so I'm a tad excited because last night I started hearing imaginary noises while I was lying in bed, alone, in the dark house.  I ended up finding a can of Deep Freeze spray and putting it next to the bed in an attempt to have some makeshift mace.  This morning I woke up and realised that it was probably not the best idea in the world - the can has a childproof cap on and it wouldn't have been easy to get that off in a hurry.  But it was the feel-good-thought that counted at the time I guess.

I slept like a log :)

Its a wonderfully cold morning with a lot of clouds and even more leaves off the trees this morning. 

Quote of the Day:
A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered, nor false because spoken magnificently.
--Saint Augustine of Hippo

Posted by karinm at 8:28 AM | Comments (1)

November 6, 2007

Guy Fawkes is Over and I love NaBloPoMo

I like NaBloPoMo.  Its great to wake up this morning at 7h30 and when I opened up my RSS reader... it was full of wonderful posts written by wonderful people and I just love that.

After all the fireworks last night, it is amazingly quiet this morning and there is no smoke in the air.  I was quite surprised at the amount of smoke that the fireworks kick up.  I imagine its just like a very colorful warzone during Guy Fawkes.  Except with less death, and with less burnwounds (although I imagine some hospitals got their fair share of idiots that lit fireworks in their hands or got hit by one of the flares).

I fell asleep just after 22h00 last night and I do believe I'm in a very good mood this morning, except for a sore throat (which I imagine is just an after effect of Sunday and Monday).  I'm hoping that the change-of-season flu will skip me and that this is just a sore throat and no more.  It'll be the first time in 3 years that it skips me, but there is always hoping :)

Time to get ready for work I guess :)

Keep on Writing!

Posted by karinm at 7:57 AM | Comments (0)

November 2, 2007

TGIF!!

Its a cold morning but a good one nonetheless because

1. Its Friday
2. The sun is shining brightly

After surviving a week of getting home in the dark, I'm really happy that this morning I'll be able to take a walk to work in the sun.  I don't like the fact that the sun starts going down by 4 and that it is dark by 5 these days.  I have to put on far too many gadgets to make sure that drivers see me, even if I stay on the pavement. 

I sometimes feel like I'm a target with all those on.  You never know when some crazy person might pass you and see it as a challenge to see how many times he can hit a flashing-light bearing yellow vest wearing runner.  Especially on a bad night.

There's only a month now until the Santa rush in Liverpool - I can't wait to see Andy in a Santa suit.  I have to set a reminder to take my dinky camera to make sure I can take piccies on the run.  Its 5km, so I don't mind carrying it around.  And its not like we'll be rushing anywhere :)

Right, walking to work time.

Posted by karinm at 7:49 AM | Comments (1)

October 16, 2007

Training in the Rain

 

This evening we went for a run - yes, we.  Andy was dragged along because it was cold and dark and raining and I was fearing the youths that might be lurking in the bus stops and behind trees and other small buildings.  Its one of those fears that I picked up in South Africa and never quite lost.  Not in areas that are built up.  In the country I could easily run on my own in the dark, but being a woman, that's probably not the safest thing on earth to do.

The run itself was fun - some patches were cold as ice, some were bearable, and some were incredibly wet, but surprisingly, warm.

As we neared mile 2's finish, Andy faked falling over something and as I was about to give him some remark, my left foot hit a tiny little pipe that was sticking out from underneath the footpath we were running on.  Before soon, I was skidding, on my stomach, on grass, towards the tarmac on the other side.  I felt my hand touch the footpath, heard a scratching sound, and came to a stop.

Andy, ever concerned, burst out laughing.  He resisted screaming out 'TRYYYYY!!!!' in reference to my current favourite spectator sport, rugby, but he laughed nonetheless and helped me up.  In return, I wiped my muddy hands down the sides of his naked arms.  (That's what you get for running with a sleeveless shirt!)  The rain took care of cleaning him up, but my legs didn't quite get the same deal.

By the time we got home, Andy was squeaky clean, but I was still quite muddy.  My skirt was properly soggy and my shirt was wet as a sponge at a carwash.

Winter is here, and I need warmer clothes.  Definitely.  But first, I have to go take part in the Lady Godiva Half Marathon on Sunday and chill!

Posted by karinm at 7:24 PM | Comments (0)

I'm in the Mood

I’m in the mood for a long bike ride. Out on the open road with no-one else around, my iPod tucked into one ear and the other earphone tucked beneath my shirt. Sadly this time of year it isn’t all that safe to go cycling on the road as it becomes dark pretty quick and some drivers find it hilarious to hit and run. Almost like a bad Britney impression.

So, during the week I’m pretty much stuck. I’ll have to make do with my trainer, my What It Takes DVDs and a big bottle of mixed water. The only wind that I’ll feel through my hair will be the wind that comes in through the open French doors that lead to our backyard. Thank heavens we can open both. On nights that it doesn’t rain or doesn’t look like rain I might even be able to put the trainer outside and cycle... even if the only view I’ll have is the fence ....

After a week of stomach aches and pains and plagues that had both myself and Andy cringing when we saw food, I’m ready to get stuck into training again this week – I’m doing the Lady Godiva Half Marathon at the weekend as part of training and am looking forward to another run with fellow runners. Its always fun (not to mention I like the shirt they sent me!)

Tonight I’m supposed to be doing an hour run ... I think. Or is that half an hour? I’ll have to check when I get home. LA is going to sneak up on me before I know it! Its only 19 weeks away now...

Posted by karinm at 1:47 PM | Comments (1)

October 11, 2007

Mexico politician denies cheating

"I had to stop after 21km and I went directly to the finish line for my clothes and my medal for taking part," Mr Madrazo said. "In sport there are no short-cuts, there are personal challenges."

"My marathon times have been between three hours, 14 minutes and three hours, 54 minutes - never two hours and 40 minutes," Mr Madrazo said. "It would be impossible for a 55-year-old man to do that."

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Mexico politician denies cheating

Sooooo, he STOPPED after 13 miles and headed STRAIGHT to the finish line, crossed it... and claimed a medal because he took part.

The medal's for finishing you twit, not taking part. You're a cheat. And if you don't understand that, then its probably a very good thing that you didn't win the election last year because your country would've suffered by your stupidity as Zimbabwe suffers under Mugabe.

Posted by karinm at 11:42 AM | Comments (3)

October 9, 2007

Winter Training Begins

I intended to run yesterday, but as life goes, that didn't happen :(  Andy went to play golf and sadly, forgot to take his house keys. As I entered the house I noticed them on the floor behind the front door - he'd dropped them through the post box. I waited and waited and waited and around 8:30pm he waltzed through the door. It was too late for a run then. 

Thankfully today was more successful. I got out for a run!  And it rained!  We ran around the neighborhood for 30 minutes and apart from one incident where a few yobs yelled a few sentences of inaudible nonsense after us, it was relatively nice. The winter weather is arriving in leaps and bounds now and I'm starting to wish that I had more long running pants in my closet. (Like I need another reason to go shopping).

Tomorrow morning I'll get out on my bike and go for a swim - it should be fun :)  I have a timetrial scheduled and heaven knows, I'm going to enjoy it.

Posted by karinm at 7:11 PM | Comments (0)

Another Event Entry

The London Triathlon 2008 Entry Confirmation

This email should be considered as full confirmation of your entry. You should keep a copy of this email should you have any queries about your entry.

Your Details

Please ensure your requested race entry category is correct, as changes are not permitted. If you have entered the wrong category please contact us immediately!
Should your address or personal details change, then you can re-log on to our system and update this information by simply running a search using your e-mail address and date of birth. It is important that update any details otherwise you may miss out on important race information.

In order to complete this entry process you have confirmed that you agree to our terms and conditions. If you have queries about our race withdrawal policy details can be found at www.thelondontriathlon.com.

What to expect from us

We are looking forward to what we know will be another fantastic event. In the build up to the event you should expect to receive monthly emails to keep you updated with the latest news and competitions.

You will receive a race pack a couple of weeks before the event day. This will contain your race numbers and an information booklet which will contain all the information you require for the race day.

In the meantime, check the website www.thelondontriathlon.com for up-to-the-minute information.

All that remains is for all of us here at The London Triathlon to wish you the very best with your training. Should we be able to help or assist you with anything else then please do not hesitate in contacting us.

Good Luck!
The London Triathlon
Pier House
Strand On The Green
London
W4 3NN

Posted by karinm at 4:31 PM | Comments (0)

October 7, 2007

A Quiet Weekend?

As the countdown to our trip to the US continues, so does my new-found fondness of training. Indeed. The fact that for the past few weeks I hadn't run an inch over 7 miles during any one run, didn't stop me this weekend. Jeff was in town and with his contagious inspiration and motivation and cheerfulness, I was not going to have a tough time :)

On Friday afternoon I picked Jeff up at his offices and we took the scenic, hilly, green, twist-and-turn-until-you-feel-like-you're-going-in-the-direction-from-whence-you-came route back home. It only took about an hour and a half before we reached the safety of home. A quick walk and some supper later sleep was my calling, but Andy and Jeff stayed up and watched some film - I think it has Star Wars somewhere in the title.

After a leisurely late lie-in, myself and Jeff readied ourself and tried to convince Andy that he WANTED to ride his bike and carry our water. Andy unfortunately didn't feel like playing along, but then again, he was on call and couldn't really leave the area and be more than 20 minutes away from home.

So out to the Cloud trail we went. Never before has 12 miles felt so short. Between various jokes involving various names I tried to catch my breath, but as soon as I did, the next one arrived and I would once again try to control laughter. It had more of a wheezing sound to it than laughter in the end :)

The run reminded me that that trail was there and I seriously do need to get there more often.

For the evening we headed out to a Mexican restaurant and a movie. Run Fatboy Run was a great feel-good movie that made me laugh ... its definitely worth the watch :)

Early this morning we had to say goodbye to Jeff. I was sad to see him go, but we'll catch up with him again in Feb.

Right now, I'm snoozy, sleepy, and in need of a night's rest.

Congrats to Juls that finished the Chicago marathon!

PS. South Africa beat Fiji in the Rugby World Cup earlier! Woo!

Posted by karinm at 6:41 PM | Comments (3)

What Everyone Suspected All Along

Jones admits drug taking

It was never easy keeping up with the Joneses and yesterday the reason became clear. In one of the most seismic confessionals of a sport long tainted by liars and cheats, Marion Jones admitted she had taken steroids before her five-medal haul at the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000. She faces up to six months in jail. She attended the US District Court in New York yesterday to plead guilty to charges of having lied to federal agents about her doping and another matter relating to a counterfeit cheque.

Rick Broadbent, the Times

What a pity.

Posted by karinm at 10:33 AM | Comments (0)

October 3, 2007

GNR - deferred and training

Two days in a row now I've run. On Saturday morning I woke up, feeling like a train had hit me and left me with a clogged up head and coughing and spluttering. So I headed over to the festivities at the Quayside and handed in my number and timing chip to defer.

Then I remembered that Paula Radcliffe was going to do a signing somewhere around there and decided to stick around for it. An hour later, clutching my signed shirt and a few pictures, I headed back to the hotel where I slept. And slept. And slept.

On Sunday morning I woke and after catching a very full Metro train, headed to the finish. We found a nice comfortable spot at the end of the race and waited for the women's race to finish. Kara Groucher put up a great race, but as it was the return of Radcliffe to racing, it seemed that the press and everyone else was waiting for her and completely forgot that there were other women in the race.

We didn't stick around for the men's finish, instead choosing to get out of Newcastle earlier and head home. I still wasn't feeling well and it just seemed like a good idea.

As soon as we hit the road, I fell asleep and woke up a good three hours later as we approached home.

Monday morning I woke up and although a tad shaky, feeling a whole lot better. I waited until the afternoon and planned to do a 30 minute run, but ended up doing a 36 minute one.

Then yesterday arrived and it didn't look like I was going to be able to run as I had to make a trip down to London.

I got nearly 2 hours down the M1 when an unfortunate breakdown made sure that I wasn't going to be able to make it to my London appointment. The friendly RAC helped me out and a few hours later I was back at home, my car not about to be used until it got to a garage (incidentally, that'd be on Friday).

So, late last night, I took my frustration out and ran for 40 minutes. And now I'm hoping that I'll be able to do the same tonight.

Quote of the Day:
I’ll note you in my book of memory.
--William Shakespeare

Posted by karinm at 7:00 AM | Comments (0)

September 26, 2007

All Set

Visa - Check
Flights - Check
Hotel Booking - Check
LA Marathon Entry - Check

Days to go until the LA Marathon - 159
Days to go until the Comrades Marathon - 264

Can anyone say Crazy? I have everything organised for our trip next year and now I only need to get on that plane and get to LA to have my third continent covered. Yes, I've done marathons on 2 continents. well, almost. Because technically England isn't on a continent and therefor I need to get a European marathon covered at some stage, but it isn't going to happen this year ... or next year. I have far too much on my plate for next year as it is.

And now I'm getting ready to travel to Newcastle on Friday to take part in the Great North Run on Sunday - and maybe catch a glimpse of Paula's great big comeback. I really hope she has a good run. It'd be a pity if she didn't.

Posted by karinm at 1:18 PM | Comments (1)

September 18, 2007

Moody

Time to head to the gym and lose myself.

 

Written while listening to : Eminem - 8 Mile (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture) - Lose Yourself

Posted by karinm at 6:13 PM | Comments (0)

September 10, 2007

What a Feeling!

Alberto Salazar came for a run with me tonight. He told me to keep going. To push it. To not give up!  Yes. With him reaching me from my iPod, I had the most fantabulous exercise.

I also have to declare that Pump It by Black Eyed Peas is my new powersong. It was absolutely great! It really really gets me going.

Posted by karinm at 8:43 PM | Comments (0)

August 23, 2007

1. I ran!

Comrades Training
Training Run No. 1
Distance : 3.01 miles
Total miles : 3.01 miles

I ran! Woohoooo! Andy joined me on my outing as we witnessed one of the most beautiful sunsets ever.

Not much else to say right now :)

Posted by karinm at 7:57 PM

July 18, 2007

I got me a Skirt

Last night after work I headed over to a local sports store to stock up on some running shorts as on Tuesday night I realised that there was absolutely no tan-enducing running clothing in my cupboard.  I got to the store and after uhm-ing and ah-ing around everything and considering getting this and that I settled on 3 pairs of shorts when I noticed that a pair of running skirts were hanging right next to me. I considered getting it for a second... then decided not to... only to turn around again 4 seconds later and taking one pair.  Trying them out won't hurt, right?

Right.

So I headed back home and decided that tonight was as good a night to try out the running skirts. I slipped into them, grabbed my iPod and headed out the door with Andy on one side of me. The run itself was bliss - the sun was lovely and bright, there was enough shadowy places to cool us down every now and again. All in all, it was great.  The skirts were great!  They didn't bother me at all  (which is what I thought they would) and I'm considering going back tonight and getting another pair or two. They're absolutely wonderful!

I noticed the first little tad of tan on my legs - its the middle of summer and I don't have a proper tan yet!

Oh dear.

That'll fix itself in the next few weeks :)

Posted by karinm at 9:20 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

July 11, 2007

I'm Training!

Last night I went out for a bike ride - I was on my Seduza and Andy on a mountain bike (he had the option to climb atop a road bike, but declined) and we ventured out into the unknown area around our area of living. As it turns out there's a very nice amount of hills when you leave this town - I think we might have managed to hit every single one of them. Its a different way than I normally take and it turned out into a very energetic ride. Strangely energetic.  By the end of the hour and 6 minutes I was puffing and panting and my legs were complete jelly. It ain't good for the heart to huff & puff like that!

Then today arrived and I had to go for a run. I decided that the way to go today was through the Portland Park. I felt good, but a tad sluggish. My legs did not want to go as they should've, but it was still fun as Andy was with me and I had Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (courtsey of the amazing hip) in my ears. I had to walks bits and pieces due to a high heartrate, but it was all good. Somewhere along the route some nettles beat me on my stomach, causing a tiny fire that left me with tears in my eyes. Those things sting!  But by the time I finished I was happy as can be and ready for a long and hot shower.  We walked a tad and I was inside the house, into the bath and shortly after that, in front of the television. Which is where I'm parked right now, ready to finish watching Terry Pratchet's Hogfather and then climb into bed.

Yes, today was a good day.

Posted by karinm at 8:50 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

April 18, 2007

Early Morning Madness

This morning at 5:30 my alarm woke me up and I killed it. I got to bed too late last night and I wasn't about to lose out on some sleep. I cuddled up behind Andy and dozed for another hour... so much for sleeping. He got up and ready for work - at 7am I was sat in front of the television with a huge mug of coffee, watching The Emperor's New School and itching to do something energetic. So I got dressed and headed out the door with a pair of sunglasses to hide my eyes from the brightness of the emerging summer's sun.

Outside it was already really busy and my heartrate monitor probably didn't realise that I was running as it didn't pick up my heartrate for the first 10 minutes of my run. I hopped onto the footpath that went past behind our house ... you only have to run about half a mile before you hit some sports fields and this morning I was going to do a "boring run around the fields". As it turns out that wasn't a good idea :)

I got to the fields only to find that the whole county's dogs and their owners were there, waking up and getting some exercise. I've found that most people can control their dogs, ran past the first few and found that these were not those. I suddenly had 5 dogs in tow, running with me as they must've thought that I was playing with them. Ten meters or so behind them were the owners ... it took me about 100m before I stopped and as each dog owner gathered his friend up, breathed a bit. I wonder how long I would've had to run/fear for my life before the dogs would've given up and run back by themselves?

I checked my watch a few miles later and at that moment it was showing the actual time and not the time run... it was only 7:19 ... I ran for a few more minutes when the lightbulb went on and I realised that I was wearing the only watch in the whole house that wasn't adjusted for DST. Great :) I had to be at work at 9 and it was already 8:25 ... thankfully I wasn't far from home and I got home with a huge smile on my face as the builders shook their heads at me.

Posted by karinm at 9:37 AM | Comments (0)

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 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

February 27, 2007

Being a Hero

Tonight I was on my bike and I was watching Heroes at the same time.  To some extent watching that episode completely took my mind off the fact that I didn't like riding my bike today.  I felt tired and out of it, but by the time Heroes was over, so was my bike ride and I didn't realise I had finished it.  Looking back on the files it looks pretty good and steady though, so I can't complain.  I did the whole ride at a cadence of between 90 and 110 in a not-too-easy gear and managed to get over 20km in 45 minutes.

Its only a week and a half until my first duathlon (I'm going to have to twist Andy's arm into coming along and taking pictures to prove that I took part!) and I can't say that I feel completely confident about it all just yet.  I think the fact that I was out for a few weeks might have to do with this, but we'll see how it goes.  The weekend after that I'm taking part in a half marathon... another feat that I can only hope to complete.  The run last night has left my back slightly tender - I still can't do much high-impact sports and running for an hour seems to have taken its toll.  I think the anger that everyone thought I was supposed to feel is coming out now.  One of those things that I'll have to deal with.

In a month my mom's here... can I ask for more?

Posted by karinm at 9:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 26, 2007

Pain

Tonight's run was one of feeling. I was getting rid of frustration and hurt and a whole lot of mixed feelings that have been building up over the past few weeks. I ran to get away of it. To get rid of it. To completely lose it.

In the end the music helped me through the run and I ended up being completely relaxed and completely at ease with life. I finished my run out of breath and with my knees feeling a little unsteady. Myself and Andy walked around the campus at Nottingham university and talked about things. Running is so relaxing, such good therapy. I've said this before, I'll probably say it again. I've missed running like that, without thinking about my heartbeat and where I was going. I really enjoyed it on a whole different level than normally.

As I finished off and listened to Just Jinger singing about how he was falling harder than he pretends and with that the day was done.

Tomorrow morning I have a bike session scheduled. I'm looking forward to it :)

Posted by karinm at 9:16 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

February 21, 2007

Massage Therapy (or is it just Mental?)

Tonight I went to the gym after attending a rather painful session with a massage therapist.  She worked her magic on my back and by the time I walked away from her, I wasn't sure whether my back was healed or whether my mind just convinced me it was because I didn't want to go back.  I do enjoy going there, since I always feel great the day after, but during the massage itself, she has a way of inflicting pain in ways previously unknown to mankind.

At the gym I got on the treadmill as instructed and jogged for 20 minutes before getting off, stretching and making my way home to watch Cool Runnings for the millionth time while downing bottle after bottle after bottle of wholesome water (the filter jug is getting a proper workout these days).  The couch is really comfy after a long day and I'm looking forward to my swim session tomorrow - the last time I tried to swim I couldn't use my right arm without putting my back into spasm, so it should be fun to see how it goes tomorrow.  Its a 2400m session which should go quicker than normal.

I can't believe its only 6 months until IMUK.  It feels like the time is positively flying by and pretty soon I'm going to have to line up with the rest of the competitors and hope for the best.

Posted by karinm at 10:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 17, 2007

A Time to Remember

This afternoon I finally managed to start training again.  Very few know, but about 2 weeks ago someone shoved me down a flight of stairs while I was out celebrating a friend's birthday with them. It was a case of mistaken identity, but the after-effects was a very sore back which had gone into spasm, a slightly sore ankle and a bruised body.  I have a few places where the girls managed to make their shoes connect with me and it shows by means of a little blue bruise here and there.

So, as I mentioned, I managed to get on the bike today, with my back feeling about 99% better.  The fact that I hadn't managed to get on there for the past 2 weeks definitely kicked me in the gut a bit as I suddenly felt incredibly incredibly unfit.  My lungs didn't want to co-operate.  My legs felt like jelly.  But in the end I finished 45 minutes on the bike and felt good about it.  Hopefully it was just a case of first-exercise weakness and not anything more serious than that.  I'll try do all the sessions I'm scheduled to do for the next week and see how it turns out.

Tomorrow I have a 2 hour run scheduled... anyone interested in joining me for it?

Posted by karinm at 7:18 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

January 29, 2007

A Long Run to Remember

Yesterday I did a long run with Andy. This in itself was something to enjoy as he doesn't like doing anything longer than 45 minutes and he managed to go the full hour and a half with me yesterday! We ran out the door in the cold cold weather, feeling my hands freeze (I have to find my gloves!) and feeling sorry for Andy because, even though he said he wasn't cold, he was wearing a sleeveless t-shirt and this made me feel even colder.

The roads were unusually busy for that time of day. Normally the roads are dead quiet on Sunday afternoons, but for some reason everyone and his brother was out. It almost felt like we were running in the middle of the week on a day when everyone else was at work and we were witnessing all the school runs taking place.

After about 45 minutes my legs were starting to complain that they were tired, but I kept running, taking a minute walking break every 15 minutes and having some water, honey and chatting to Andy about the coming year. Around the end of the run he mentioned that he might want to do a half marathon this year. A half marathon! Andy! Its made me really excited, as he'll be training with me from now until whenever his chosen marathon takes place :)

Now I'm all excited!

Posted by karinm at 9:04 AM | Comments (0)

January 25, 2007

Club Time

Last night I headed over to the track to see what the Triathlon club that I wanted to join was like. I got there and the first thing I noticed was that everyone was looking extremely fit. I spoke to the coach and he told me to join the session. Considering my legs were like jelly because I was scared of these people, I wasn't too keen, but I got on the track in any case.

The track was completely iced over. You could plotter along at a slow-ish pace, but the moment you wanted more grip to propel you forward, it was very obviously not there. So we ended up running on the grass on the inside of the track, leaving our footmarks from point A to point B.

It was the first speed workout that I've had since I've started running. No, seriously. My first speed workout in 2 years that was a proper one. My legs felt confused. My arms felt confused. I was freezing to death without my long top and dying of heat with it.

The workout itself was a lot of fun and afterwards I felt good about it all - so good in fact that I joined the club! They weren't extremely social, but they did seem serious about training and everyone did at least smile :)

So, I'm a member of a triathlon club now - and there's at least one other member tackling the same Ironman as me :)

Posted by karinm at 1:39 PM | Comments (0)

January 9, 2007

Do You Know Where your Child Is?

Running in the dark was never my favourite, but running during peak hour traffic seems to be even less fun. Apart from the fumes that you inhale and the people resenting the fact that you obviously already got home and they're stuck in a queue there's the fact that you actually have to stop at every single street crossing.

But when you look past that, the run itself is still fun :)

Last night I went running 10 minutes after I got home and for the fun of it, I dragged Andy along. He didn't complain too much, just settled into an easy pace with me and after we got past the queue of cars and onto a much busier road which didn't stand still, we started kidding around and did hops and skips and jumps inbetween steps. This is when I realised I have no coordination - and that I favour my left leg over my right leg.

We ran for an hour, passing one of the modern dangers of our time - 8 & 9 year old kids walking around and kicking random objects. As we passed one of these packs of dangerous beings, the one closest to the outside of the herd kicked at a stone on the ground, lost his balance and would probably have stormed off crying or swearing or whatever it is they do when they get hurt after falling flat on his nose. I caught him though, pushed him back towards his pack and carried on. Whether this was a kind deed or a method of self-preservation I'll never know, but no tears were shed.

I got home and realised that my cough was gone - I think the cold weather finally killed it. Immediately I felt better about the whole day and a nice shower later I was in bed and fast asleep. Lack of sleep finally caught up with me and demanded that I sleep for 14 hours.

This morning I felt great :) So great that I wish today was a running instead of cycling day!

Posted by karinm at 11:14 AM | Comments (1)

December 21, 2006

Foggy Misty Running Evening

This evening I got home after checking my mail, put on my running gear, which included a headlamp, flickering armband and high visibility vest, and ventured into the foggy wonderland that is currently England. I could hardly see 10 meters ahead of myself, but it was so much fun for absolutely no reason at all that I just didn't care.

Andy was running next to me and we kept making jokes - we could actually throw signs into the air by using our headlamps and hands and we kidded around about the batman sign and various others for a while. The pace was slightly slower than normal, but the -3 degree temperatures didn't allow us to completely warm up and we just puttered along as steadily as we could. Teeth chattering all the way.

Motorists that approached us from the front seemed to be confused by either our armbands or our headlights. Many of them stopped dead as they seemed to see us and waited until we passed them before going off again. Now that I think about it, maybe we blinded them to the point where they just couldn't see anything. I might have to check on that.

We finished 5 miles before we got back home and passed the infamous ugliest house in the village. Honestly, you must be able to see that thing from space with the amount of lights that it has mounted on the walls, roof, trees and shrubs.

Back at home a very welcome hot drink and shower awaited me and after stretching I came and sat on the bed, wondering what I should be doing tonight.

Tomorrow we're moving to our new house, which might mean that there'll be a fair bit of silence from me until the 8th of January - our phone line will only become active then and Andy'll have to arrange for our broadband connection to also be switched on on that particular day. Hopefully I get to post a few posts from work until then.

Everyone have a wonderful xmas - I know we will. Andy and myself will be entering a 10K on Boxing day and I'll be sure to let you know precisely how we enjoyed it!

Posted by karinm at 8:55 PM | Comments (2)

November 19, 2006

Finding a Pub

I'm sleepy. This morning at 8 I woke up to go run and in the end, I only got out the door at 9, but at least I did get out :)

Andy came along and we noticed that the area looks a lot different to the last time we went for a run here. Everywhere yellow and brown leaves make up a colourful portrait which at times makes you wonder whether you're not going to slip and slide across them instead of running. Fortunately we never fell down.

The course we took was a bit of a mix and match - I get so used to running the same courses over and over again that I sometimes forget that there are other routes that might take you to a new and exciting place (as exciting as the countryside can become). In today's case, it led us to a pub in Wilson - which we were quite thankful for. It meant that there was no cooking required at home.

We did of course finish our run first, got a shower and then went back to the pub, but it is one we weren't previously even aware existed. Now I know that they serve lovely cheesecake and will most probably go there a bit more often.

There is other more exciting news that I want to share, but in fear of jinxing the successful outcome of this particular piece of news, I'll not mention it just now. Hopefully I'll have more news on Monday :)

Posted by karinm at 3:32 PM | Comments (1)

September 18, 2006

Recovery Over - Next Goal In Mind

This morning I woke up at 5:45 and my alarm told me that I had committed to going for a run at 6. My body groaned and told me there was no way I was getting it out in the cold. I replied with a thought that if it didn't get up, I'd have to set my alarm for 5 to have the same conversation every morning. My body told me it'd just go back to sleep if I did that. I said I'd only hit the snoozer. My body gave in and got up and finally I made it out the door at 6:30.

I headed to the cloud trail, my legs wobbling a little, but feeling relatively good. My head felt a little fuzzy, but the air was crisp and the sun was glowing on the horizon - what I could see of it through the trees. The whole area was quiet, not even the cows moving. As I closed back in on Worthington, I noticed a car - Andy's car. He stopped and offered to take me home, but I just gave him a quick kiss and carried on towards home.

Something I noticed while I was running, was a huge amoung of slugs making their way across the trail and roads. It seemed a little odd, but at the time I thought it was pretty amusing.

There are only 335 days until Ironman UK 2007 and a lot of training needs to flow into the logs before then :)

Posted by karinm at 9:44 AM | Comments (0)

September 10, 2006

Robin Hood Marathon

Well, here's where i'll be posting the basic "real time" blog for Karin and Jeff as they run the Robin Hood Marathon. Sadly its not going to be as real time as i'd like because i dont think i can match pace with either of them whilst lugging the laptop, camera, spare clothes, sports drinks and so on and so on.. but here goes.

We got here at around 7:30am to pick up Jeff's race pack and hung around chatting and genereally getting psyched up beforehand. Jeff is just SO excited to be here and its amazingly contageous... i think it even helped dull Karin's nerves. AFter a couple of hours hanging around, they made their way to the start line. They've both opted to start ih the "sub 4 hour" category. At 10am they got started, both of them seemed in high spirits, the weather was cool and humid, but literally at the buzzer to start, the sun popped through, and now the temperature is rising. It'll proably hit the mid 20's (centegrade) later. i heard that the first runners did the first mile in 4 minutes and 50 seconds.

I'm currently sitting at the 13 mile point, and will be taking photo's as I see them both. THen i'll "run" to the end, sit in the grandstand and wait for them both to finish. I'm hoping Karin enjoys it as much as Jeff will.

Will update in about .. an hour i figure...

Posted by karinm at 9:45 AM | Comments (3)

September 8, 2006

A quick Update

345 days to go.

For nearly two weeks I’ve been absent from blogging and from real life. I was down in South Africa on a short trip to see my parents, but fear not – I am back here now.

Tomorrow I get to meet our great, legendary leader – Jeff! (if he gets to make it out of Chicago) and on Sunday we get to do the Robin Hood Marathon! Life is good and life is busy.

I’m sorry I’ve been so quiet – I’ve not been ignoring you. I’ve just not been here. As I was down in SA, I was pretty much cut off from everything internet. My parents don’t have internet (not even dial-up) at their home and the one or two trips I made to my dad’s office – they were just too short to do anything.

After being held up in Johannesburg for a day due to a missed flight, I finally made it back home on Tuesday and then had a million things to catch up with at work. At least I still got in two swims (which I should remember to put in my log) and a few runs and I’m feeling fairly confident that I’ll be able to at least finish the marathon on Sunday. I’m not expecting a fast time – I just expect to finish.

I’ll keep you up to date – Andy (for those who don’t know, my husband) will be posting pics during the marathon – so watch this space to see me and Jeff around the course. He might even give some wordy updates every now and again as well!

A race report will be done during next week. And for now, that’s all I have to say. I’m super excited about this weekend!

Posted by karinm at 2:42 PM | Comments (0)

August 24, 2006

Running in the Rain

This morning I ran in the rain. Heavy rain that soaked me within minutes and made me shiver all the way home. I enjoyed it - I really did! I just wished that I had worn something a little warmer and less absorbent. As I was running a fair few cars came up and helped the clouds in their quest to make sure that there would be no small part of me that didn't have water on it.

A cow gave me a look of sympathy as I ran past it. I just laughed and carried on.

My legs are feeling good and there's only two and a half weeks before the marathon. I can't wait!

[Edit] I know this post makes no sense. I just wanted to update :)

Posted by karinm at 12:09 PM | Comments (2)

August 12, 2006

I'm such a Geek

The first person to note that I was a geek was Jeff. He was of course right, but I'm pretty sure he didn't know just how much :)

This past week I've received a few goodies and gadgets and I'm in hog heaven. Below are two pictures - the first being one that contains my new pedals, a Polar S625x that someone lent me to try out (more on this later) and some energy gels and energy mixes that I've been experimenting with (keeping in mind that I needed to find something to use in both the upcoming marathon and next year's Ironman). It doesn't take much to make me happy and keep me busy for hours on end.

The energy gels from High Five arrived yesterday and like a kid I opened up the pack to see exactly what was inside. I asked for a mixture and they sent me citrus mix, orange, berry mix, summer mix and chocolate flavours. All in all I have 25 gels (well, right now only 24 because I had to see what the chocolate one tasted like while I was cycling today). I also got some mix to put into my bottles and it doesn't taste too bad :)

The pedals - I ordered a pair of pedals and some new shoes during the week, but due to the "incredible popularity", they didn't have my size in stock, so I'll have to wait another two weeks before it arrives. This morning we sat in the living room and I tried to explain to Andy how it works. Ten minutes later the cleats were stuck in the pedals and for the next 20 minutes we sat trying to get it out with our hands. I have to admit I've only ever used my feet to try and remove these, but since they weren't attached to my shoes, it proved to be a little harder :) Now all I have to wait for is my aerobars and I'll be set!

The S625x? Oh... after all the trouble with my Garmin, I thought I'd try and make it a little jealous. A runner from the club who isn't actually training at the moment, and not really taking part in anything, offered to lend me his for a week. I'm feeling SO technologically disadvantaged right now with all the settings, but once I got some basic settings in, I actually enjoyed it while on the bike. I'll try the footpod tomorrow on my long run and then compare it with my Garmin's measurement after the run. That is if it doesn't lose satellite signal again. I'll let you all know next week whether I might go in search of greener waters or stay faithful to my Forerunner.

Right now, I might just go and fall on my bed and sleep, dreaming happily away about my new little gadgets.

Yes. I'm such a geek.

Posted by karinm at 9:21 PM | Comments (0)

August 9, 2006

Where Be My Motivation?

Tonight after swimming, I knew that if I got into my car and drove home, I wasn't going to get out and go for a run. I was lacking motivation after a hard day at work and feeling a little sluggish as well. It was quite convenient then that I didn't have to get in my car, but instead could go for a club run.

I ran with Brian today - if you remember my first club run, its the same guy that I ran with at that stage - and we took it really easy and slow. I think my legs needed a bit of running and stretching and running and stretching. That's precisely what we did tonight.

He was telling me how, years ago, he trained with some guys for a Half Ironman and how they used cross-country courses as their training courses to keep things interesting. I love listening to him when he tells you how they used to train and then suddenly wishes out loud that he could still train like that. He recently got a hamstring injury and the physio told him to stop running. Not that he listened :)

A funny but painful part of the run was when we managed to "brush" by some nettles. My calves stung for a good 30 minutes later - nothing a shower couldn't cure. I think it was quite funny how we managed to miss that those were there :)

Hopefully my motivation will be back tomorrow. I might just do a morning run rather than an afternoon run :) That way I can't skip it!

Posted by karinm at 9:05 PM | Comments (0)

August 7, 2006

Random Post

This past weekend we had some friends over and to make a long story short, very little running got done. Then I woke up this morning and felt distinctly sick, but decided to go out for a run tonight in any case. As it turns out, I think my body just wanted to get rid of some toxins, because now that I've run and swum, I'm feeling extremely good.

My Garmin has packed up though. With no clouds in sight, and no trees or buildings or electrical or phone lines, it keeps losing signal. Of my heart and of the satellites. I've just about had it with it now. I beg, I plead, I make promises that I intend to keep. I speak nicely, I scold. Nothing. Nada. It just doesn't want to work. Does anyone else have similar problems?

So I might ... get a Polar device. Purely because everyone that I know hasn't mentioned problems with theirs, but the Garmin owners seem to have problems every now and again. Or maybe I should get a shiny new 305. Maybe that's the message.

We'll see. Maybe mine just needs a little bit of rest :)

Posted by karinm at 8:21 PM | Comments (1)

July 27, 2006

Ironman Appeal

It is a fairly hot day here in the Midlands, UK. This morning when I drove into work I saw some drops of rain fall on my windscreen and thought to myself that today was the day we were going to get another thunderstorm and the air will cool down a little. As it turns out, those few drops that fell just contributed to the humidity in the air and made things less pleasant than before.

But enough of that. I have something to tell you, something to ask you, and hopefully I can help someone make a dream come true, even if it is a drop in the bucket, many drops eventually does fill the bucket. I don't normally do this, but it breaks my heart to see someone as talented as this woman, seeing a dream slip away from her.

Yesterday I found out that a woman in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, won her age group during Ironman South Africa. In doing so, she qualified to go all the way to Kona and compete in the Ironman World Championships on the 21st of October. The problem is that in South Africa, the exchange rate is completely nonsense. The average salary a month is around R8000 – which roughly translates to about $1000 or £615 a month.

A return ticket from Port Elizabeth to Hawaii costs around R20 000. When she found out that she qualified (way back in March!), she paid the entry fee and decided that she would try to raise the money via various fundraisers and even her club jumped in to help, but from what I hear, she’s not had much success.

At this moment, three months later, she still hasn’t reached the halfway mark, and with every passing day, she trains her heart out, but when I spoke to her yesterday (I phoned her to find out how it was going), she fears that she’s not going to be able to make it to Kona.

I think it is heartbreaking that someone who has worked that hard won’t be able to get to take part in something that is probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Is there anyone else out there that feels this way and might want to help? I’m posting this on the odd chance that someone might want to contribute to helping her get there. I’ve already contributed to her fundraising myself, but a few more drops will definitely help her.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll keep you up to date on how things are progressing, but in the meantime, if there is any way that you feel you would like to contribute or help, please email me or leave a comment and I’ll get in contact with you.

Her name is Davera Magson – if you want to see a picture, go here– on the front page she’s the one on the left and on the news section of the page, there is a bit that she wrote as well as the appeal to her club members to help with fundraising.

Posted by karinm at 10:56 AM | Comments (1)

July 25, 2006

Life

We all have good years and bad years. Good months, bad months. Down to good days, bad days. And when you've run for years on end, and then returned from the dark side and started running again, life tries to drag you back to the days of sitting on the couch, knowing every actor's name in every sitcom, and every single thing that is on television. Or for that matter, the internet.

Since I've started running again last year, I've become injured, had an incident with cows, a snake and a few bugs that felt that I was threatening their very existence. I got a recurrence of glandular fever. I became incredibly busy at work. And after all of that, I was still running. Life didn't get me down.

Until three weeks ago. I decided to call in the help of a professional to keep me on track. That's right. I got a coach. At first I thought it would only be to help me on my bike, but after a lot of chatting and realising that he helped a lot of people get to the finish line for their first Ironman, I decided to let all of my training needs with him.

So far he's made me incredibly tired, but I feel better about my training than I have in literally ages.

So tonight I was pondering all of the above and thinking about the days ahead. All this while I was on my run that was supposed to last for 60 minutes. I decided at the beginning of my run that I was going to look at my watch as little as possible. The first time I looked at it was at the top of a hill, a spot that I know is 1 mile into my run.

I then drifted back into thought for a while and just let it go. Minute after minute after minute passed.

When I came back from the land of many thoughts and ideas, I decided to have a look at my watch and I'm sure my heartrate instantaneously went sky high. I would be able to tell you how high, if only it wasn't that my watch had stopped at 1 mile - the last time I looked at it - and it was showing me a lovely 1.61km on the screen.

At first I thought I was going to scream. I had no idea how far I had run or for that matter, how long.

So very calmly, I figured that my body would know when I had run for an hour and I continued. When I stopped I reset my watch and started it again, as it logs the start time of each run. When I got home, I realised I had run a full 1 hour and 1 minute :) I'm more than happy.

Afterwards I went to measured the course, and although I only ran 8.8km, I'm quite happy with it for the time being. It will improve with time :)

Posted by karinm at 7:46 PM | Comments (0)

July 24, 2006

What's up with the Weather?

Today started off hot and got hotter with every passing second. I half expected the pool to have no lanes when I arrived there tonight, but luckily there was some... and almost no people in the pool! Yay! We shared the lane with one other woman who is training for something, but she stopped so few times that I couldn't even chat to her to say hi. She must be a swimmer and not a runner. Runners like to chatter here and there :)

Afterwards we went to the track and had some macaroni and cheese (that I made from scratch last night) next to the track. Andy had packed us plates and appletizer and everything! Of course I couldn't go straight into a run, so we walked around the track afterwards for a while to let the food settle before we started jogging.

My legs felt incredibly heavy. Almost like I had tied a house to them and was trying to pull it apart, brick by brick. So we stopped and stretched. And jogged again. Somewhere I become comfortable and settled into a pace that didn't feel awkward.

Afterwards I stretched and relaxed and the ride home was heaven. It meant I didn't have to stand on my feet, although I had to use them to drive. After standing at work for the better half of 8 hours, I was definitely ready to get off my feet.

Tomorrow there's no swimming, but an hour of running. I'm going to have to find an excuse to write a spec at work tomorrow so I can stay off my feet :)

Posted by karinm at 8:31 PM | Comments (0)

July 23, 2006

I tried Gels!

After a hot week we woke up to thunderstorms this morning and I could already see myself going for a swim run in the rain. I was looking forward to getting soaked, believe it or not. Of course it had to wait until this afternoon at 5pm before I would go... which meant that at 4pm the sun came out and heated up the area enough for me to be able to run in a sleeveless top today.

Since we're not lucky enough to have water fountains nearby, Andy jumped on my bike, armed with bottles of water and a bag of gels that I was dying to try out. It all started out great... and stayed that way. I tried a gel, an energy bar and a high carb drink along the route, supplemented with a LOT of water. I still can't get over the fact that I had nearly 2 litres of water and 500ml of sports drink during my two hour run today... And it worked! Its the first time in a few years that I tried running with some proper gels (was about time!), but I need to find me a flavour that I like now :)

Right now I'm lying on the couch. For some reason my feet are throbbing.

On the upside - I have a parrot predictor that doesn't say 'Sub 42km week'!

I'm going to have cashews and water now. Have a great evening!

Posted by karinm at 7:30 PM | Comments (0)

July 20, 2006

The Heat Is Gone!

An update on my lip : the swelling has gone down a load. This is good news although my lower lip is still a little pouty. I'm not worried about it though, I'm sure it'll be fine by tomorrow morning.

Tonight we went to the pool and lane swimming is back in its normal slot outside. I couldn't possibly tell you how glad I was that this was so :) There was two old ladies who slowed everyone down, but it was a load of fun. I'm starting to recognise the faces in the pool. Its always the same ones and they always ask you what you're going to do on a particular afternoon.

Two kilometers later I got out the pool and since I slept in this morning (even though it was cool enough to run), I then got into my running gear and started my one hour run around the lovely cool and shady fields of the leisure centre. My legs felt like lead (I guess the swimming took more out of me than I realised), but I was just happy to be out in the open and jogging.

Some people were training their dogs on the fields and I made the mistake of running past them the first lap. I love dogs and had to stop and play with the smallest of the lot. The owner didn't seem to mind. She probably thought I was crazy to just stop while running and playing with a dog I don't know.

Afterwards we came home and Andy made the most lovely pasta and meatballs.

I'm going to go for a nice shower and nap now. Tomorrow is an off day, so I'm going to enjoy getting some sleep tonight.

Posted by karinm at 8:56 PM | Comments (2)

July 19, 2006

Me and my Big Fat Mouth

Tonight's run was going to be a fun one. It was a hot day again, which meant that I was going to go for my run in the evening when it had cooled down again. I returned from said run about 2 minutes ago.

As I started running, Andy was asking a lot of questions about my future racing plans and I was telling him a little on what I'd like to do. Considering that I'm running so slowly, I managed to keep a good conversation going with him... until about 20 minutes into the run that is. I suddenly choked up mid-sentence, my eyes watering and my tongue burning.

No, I didn't say anything to hurt myself, nor did I strain my tongue - a small bug had landed in my mouth, and given me a nice sting/bite! At first I thought it might've been a wasp, since it was stinging like you'd not believe. Then my mouth went numb. Andy laughed, trying to make me feel better, but 5 minutes later my mouth was still numb, to the point that drinking water felt odd.

Another 2 minutes went by... and my lower lip started swelling. Andy went home on the bike to fetch me some water / anti-histamines / anti-inflammatories ... but by the time he arrived, my lip was already so swollen that drinking anything feels really sore.

So here I sit. Me and my big fat mouth.

Posted by karinm at 8:58 PM | Comments (3)

Swimming Woes Continue

Yesterday afternoon I didn’t have a swim scheduled, but myself and Andy decided to go do a few laps in any case. Big was my surprise then, when I got to the leisure centre and had to hear that lane swimming was now subject to the lifeguards’ discretion. Immediately my blood boiled, which means it was probably a good thing that a few minutes later we were in the pool and cooling down.

I watched as one of the guys that always comes in during weekdays and does lane swimming, arrived and was told that there was no lane swimming yesterday. He was told to go swim in the inside pool if he wanted to do lane swimming, and considering that the water in there feels like bath water, I doubt he enjoyed his swim if he indeed even started it.

We didn’t stay long, just long enough to cool down and then we did a bit of grocery shopping.

As with the rest of the northern hemisphere, it was a blistering hot day. I didn’t dare go for my run before it cooled down and this only happened at around 9pm, but as another blogger so rightfully said, sleep when you’re dead. I went for my 60 minute run – after 20 minutes Andy stepped to the side and stretched while I carried on running in order to turn back after 30 minutes.

My heart rate was doing well, I was so proud. I kept it between 155 and 166 bpm and after 50 minutes I really thought I was going to make it through the whole run without my Forerunner going insane and beeping to get me to go slower and get that heart rate down, but then I managed to scare myself witless with my imagination. I thought I saw my friend Mr Snake and my heart rate spiked to a level I haven’t seen before. I should’ve worn my HRM the day that I saw that snake, then I’d probably have a better idea of my maximum HR.

After a minute or two of walking, my heart rate went down, but still not to a desirable level, so I finished the 60 minutes with a combination of walking and running and hoping.

I got home and slept like the dead until this morning when Andy’s alarm woke us. I phoned the leisure centre this morning to raise my complaint and had to hear (surprise surprise) that that was not what the manager had decided and that yesterday was a one-off.

We’ll see about that. Alternatively I’ll just go swim in the bathtub they have indoors :)

Posted by karinm at 8:32 AM | Comments (1)

July 17, 2006

Drown & Run

I had a good day today. I sat in a 9 hour meeting at work (yippee!!!!) that had nothing to do with me and during lunch amused my colleagues (who I suspect are starting to think I'm strange) by stretching my calves and knees while chatting to them. My legs felt better during the day and by the time it was time to go home, I was ready for a run!

First my swim though. So, I got to the pool and as I approached the pool, I realised that they had only set out one lane for lane swimming. My blood pressure went up slightly. Right. 14 people in the lane, a 25m pool... this was SO not going to work. I floated my way to the life guard and asked him why they haven't set out a second lane.

"Because there are too many people left in the rest of the pool"

WHAT?!?! The schedule says lane swimming from 6 - 8! So calmly I told him it wasn't acceptable, as with 14 people in one lane, someone was due to drown. It took another 15 minutes before they put out the other lane... at which time swimming became a lot more enjoyable. Afterwards I had a quick word with the manager of the leisure centre and he wasn't very happy to hear that he had been disobeyed - and ensured me that it wouldn't happen again.

Oh well....

Then we started running. And I felt incredibly stupid, with me running at an incredibly slow pace, but for the first time I managed to keep my heartrate below 166 bpm! For more than 95% of the run! Okay, so I hit 207 at a very odd spot (I got scared by a stick that cracked), but I managed to keep my heartrate pretty steady!

My muscles aren't sore anymore tonight, I'm feeling really good, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the week now :)

Posted by karinm at 8:47 PM | Comments (0)

July 16, 2006

Sunny Sunday

This morning I woke up at 6 ... and 7 ... and 8 ... and 9. At which stage I was so slept out that I needed to get downstairs, get a mug of coffee and plonk myself down to watch some cartoons. Alas, the cartoons was just about to finish and I watched some Tour De France highlights instead.

At about 11, I poked Andy and mentioned that since it is such a lovely day outside, we should go for a cycle. He however remembered that I also had to do a long run today, so he suggested that I run while he cycles (something about two birds with one stone or something similar). Or course, I decided to agree.

Which meant that 30 minutes later I was ready to go outside in my running gear, with a water belt around my waist and my heartrate monitor and watch to go with it. Andy got his bike and we hit the Cloud Trail.

Considering that the aim is still to keep my heartrate under 166 bpm, I ran slowly. After about half an hour I started having trouble staying below that limit, so I walked. As soon as my heartrate got to 170, I would take a walk until it was down to 145, and then start running again. Unfortunately I'm still trying to get the hang of heartrate training and I had to walk a few times.

The fact that the temperatures were in the upper 20s didn't help much either. I felt like I was baking (I have a tan to prove that I was now!) and the water that we brought along didn't last long either. I'm going to have to remember to bring more along from now on. Everytime I hit the shadows, it felt like a blessing. Then I'd hit the sunny patches again and I'd feel like I was going to overheat (strange how I became so used to living in cool temperatures, that summer feels like I've landed in the middle of a desert).

After an hour and a half, my heartrate just wouldn't stay anywhere under 166 and I decided to call it a day. It went better than during the week, so I'm quite happy :)

Posted by karinm at 1:27 PM | Comments (0)

July 13, 2006

Naughtly little HR Monitor

This morning I have mixed feelings about the run I just did. I started running and it felt absolutely wonderful. Last night I got to bed at 23h00, so I felt a little tired, but I felt incredibly good after a cup of coffee. About a kilometer into the run, I saw my friend the bunny (I'm going to assume that it was the same one as yesterday) and he hopped in front of me for about 100m before disappearing again - I need to take a camera with me the next morning that I go, just in case :)

Then my heartrate monitor started playing up. It just seemed to stop transmitting. I stopped, wiped the monitor, adjusted it, and it seemed to fix the problem. A minute later it stopped picking up my heartrate again. I repeated wiping and adjusting the belt two or three times before giving up and just tried to keep a pace at which I didn't feel out of breath.

I'll have a look at changing the batteries and see if that fixes it, otherwise I'm going to give up on my Forerunner and go in search of a new gadget :)

Posted by karinm at 6:43 AM | Comments (0)

July 12, 2006

Heartrate Bunny

This morning I started running with the idea of heartrate training planted in my mind. The aim was purely to keep my heartrate at or below 166bpm. The first 30 minutes was easy. My heartrate stayed at around 164 with the occassional jump to 165 or 166 and then back down.

It was the first time that I ran on the Cloud trail since the snake run a few weeks ago. Until now I've been too afraid to go back, but this morning I figured that it was time I got onto the trail again. Snakes may be encountered, but armed with my epi-pen, I'll be perfectly okay.

As I turned off the road to join the trail, a bunny suddenly appeared from the grass and hopped in front of me as if to say - catch me! I thought for a while that I was dreaming, because this little fuzzy creature, hopped with me for about 6 minutes before turning back into the grass and probably making its way back to the starting point to wait for the next runner in need of a training partner.

Where was Andy? Wednesday and Thursday mornings he has to be at work at 7h00, which means he leaves at 6h30, and I only left for my run at 6h10, so he felt that he woudn't be able to get back in time to get ready for work and leave in time.

The run was fun, although I feel like I have a lot more energy now than when I normally run - you know, the runs where I average 178pbm or higher. I think there might be something to the HR training, but until I get used to it, I think I might get frustrated with having to run slower to keep my heartrate down.

Now I need to go get me some coffee :)

Posted by karinm at 6:24 AM | Comments (0)

July 10, 2006

Early Morning Monday

Its getting hot out there. After a weekend of wind and thunder and more rain than we wanted, this morning the sun was out early and the temperatures got an early start. Who knows what it'll be like in another hour when I'll be sitting in traffic on my way to work.

Andy woke me this morning and reminded me that I wanted to go run. How I managed to also drag him out of bed and onto that trail, only he will know, but he did get up and join me. We didn't speak much, we were both too asleep to think about much other than that our feet were supposed to move in a running way... and not in a walking.

Afterwards he jumped through the shower and went to work. Which leaves me sitting on the couch, considering getting ready for work and getting some breakfast :)

Posted by karinm at 5:50 AM | Comments (0)

June 28, 2006

Just Another Wednesday

I only have 3 days at my current job. Yes, I'm changing companies next week :) The new offices are about 4 miles closer to home, but still close enough to the other office so that I won't miss the Friday lunches we do. Every Friday at lunch we go down to the local pub, have a snack basket between the five of us and have a drink each to celebrate the past week. The past few weeks have been stressful and I had a lot to get done, but it does seem like it will be finished by Friday.

With that said, the swimming the past few weeks have really helped keep the stress under control. Yesterday afternoon I didn't particularly feel like going for a swim, but Andy got me through the gates and into the pool and in the end I was really glad that I had done it.

Then I woke up this morning and did a bit of cycling. Not much, just a little bit, but every little helps on the road back to fitness. This evening I'm supposed to go meet Andy for another swim at the leisure centre, and afterwards meet a friend from the running club to go for a 3 or 4 mile run.

I feel a little more inspired every day!

Posted by karinm at 6:37 AM | Comments (0)

June 14, 2006

Snakes and Burning Wagons

This morning Andy had to be at work at 7:00 AM, which meant that unless we got out for a run at 5:30, he'd not be able to come along. Unfortunately he also didn't want to wake me this morning, so at 6:30 he was out the door on the way to work.

I pondered waiting until tonight before going for a run, but knowing that my current state of mind is lazy, I decided to get out there!

Now, just about everyone knows that the Cloud Trail is one of my favourite places to run. It has a large flat section, but there are a few hills on it that I can run when the mood strikes me. This morning however, the CT obviously felt like it needed to scare me witless.

A few months ago an asphalt plant was built alongside the trail where the quarry is. There was a lot of fuss from people in our village as it would cause some noise (I haven't heard any since it was built), and the quality of air would go down (I read the pamplet). This morning as I was under the trees, I smelled something. I assumed it was the asphalt plant, as they start work at around 6. Obviously the smell didn't bother me enough, because I carried on running.

At the end of the first part, just before you have to make a turn onto a bridge, I noticed something smouldering... someone had slipped a trailer down the path, and in the middle of my lovely trail sat a burning trailer! Well smouldering... it had obviously burnt down in the early hours of this morning. What upset me though was that it was slipped down a part that couldn't have been an accident. And if it hadn't hit a pole that didn't budge, it would've been in the middle of a load of trees! Seriously... did they want to burn down all the trees around the village?

Enough of that. I carried on jogging and then turned back. On the way back I was starting to wonder about the trailer. Then I saw something that made my mind go numb and my watch beep frantically to tell me that my heartrate was going above the limit I set. I stopped dead in my tracks and froze. A few feet in front of me a snake was having a lovely slither between the trees.

After what felt like a lifetime, the snake slithered into the grass and between the trees again. It took me a few more minutes to unfreeze and stop the bleeping watch. I couldn't get my legs to move properly. I managed to start running with my jelly legs after a few steps and then the adrenalin reached my muscles and I probably ran faster home than I have in years!

Now I'll have my tea, take my shower and go to work. I have never been so scared.

Posted by karinm at 6:39 AM | Comments (1)

June 11, 2006

World Cup Weekend

This weekend was mostly spent watching World Cup football, but I managed to have the tele all to myself for an hour or two and see Asafa Powell blitz that 100m off in 9.77 seconds. What an amazing run :)

The weather has been quite hot the past week - at 9 tonight though, it cooled down enough for myself and Andy to get out for a 20 minute run. We ran into the most beautiful sunset before having to turn around towards the house during the last 5 minutes - where's a camera when you need one?

All in all I felt happy with the exercise that I did this week. If only things can carry on this way now :)

Posted by karinm at 8:48 PM | Comments (0)

June 7, 2006

Early Mornings

This morning we woke up at 5:30 again - which presented the opportunity to find ourselves out in the crisp morning air again for a quick run. I wanted to try and run for 10 minutes at least before taking a walking break this time. I was pleasantly surprised when 20 minutes went by without me needing to take the break, despite really tired legs and next to no breath.

Afterwards I was rewarded by a lovely glass of orange juice while Andy got ready for work. Outside it looks like it is supposed to already be noon :) I guess summer has finally arrived!

Posted by karinm at 5:29 AM | Comments (0)

June 5, 2006

Being Able to Run Again

My last post was a happy one. I'd just gotten married and life felt good.

The week before my wedding though, I felt incredibly ill and even on my wedding day, I didn't feel at my best. The Friday before, I went to the doctor and he took some blood tests. The Monday after, I found out that I had glandular fever... and from the look of things, I had had it for a while.

So once again I was out of running or any exercise at all for that matter. It felt like one thing after another was hitting me this year in order to keep me from enjoying exercise.

The past few weeks I've been receiving treatment and two weeks ago the doctor told me that I was healthy. A week ago, he told me I could start doing light exercise again, but I could hardly manage the lunchtime walks before being out of breath.

This morning I did my first run in the golden rays of sunrise. I had to take two walking breaks and the pace was really slow, but at least I was able to do it.

The road back to fitness is going to be a long one :(

Posted by karinm at 5:52 AM | Comments (2)

April 23, 2006

Running Backwards

Today I did the impossible. I ran backwards.

Before you think I've gone crazy - let me explain. I went out for my long run this afternoon (being inspired by so many runners at the London Marathon) to clear my head and relax a bit. I started out great... until after 400m my Garmin suddenly decided that it didn't have a signal anymore and started flashing the little dish at me. 200m later I stopped and stretched and when Garmin still didn't want to pick up a signal reset it, switched it off, switched it on and within seconds it had picked up a signal and I was on my way again.

Now I have a tendency to check the watch every time it goes off to let me know a km had passed. There's something about knowing how fast I did the last kilometer in that just makes me feel good. The first kilometer went by, then the second... I had settled into a lovely pace by now and the music on my iPod wasn't bad either. 700m later I looked at my watch and estimated where the third km beep would take place. As I approached the spot I looked down.... and nearly stopped dead in my tracks. My Garmin was now telling me that I had run 1.95km so far... a whole km got lost between the 2.7km mark and where I was at that moment.

A little upset with it all, and not trusting the mechanism of doom on my arm anymore, I decided that the one thing it couldn't lie about was the time I had been running (then again, it is evil, so it could) and with a decision to disregard the distance and go on the time from that moment on, I finished my run many kilometers later.

As I stopped, my legs turned to jelly. Stopping on a hill was probably not the best idea I've had in ages, but then again, it all makes for good training.

Now I'm sitting here with ice on my legs, hoping that this evening won't go so quickly that by the time I go to bed, it is too late for me to get a lot of sleep.

Posted by karinm at 7:37 PM | Comments (0)

April 19, 2006

Running in the rain

Tonight's run was a load of fun. I got home just after 6 and while the rain was pouring outside had a quick mug of hot chocolate before heading out of the door.  Andy said that he felt good enough to come run with me and out the door we went.  It was absolutely wonderful.  The rain fell down and within minutes we were soaking wet, but still going strong.  We ran onto the Cloud Trail and towards Breedon, which we were planning to run through, but in the end, we ran up the hill towards Breedon Church.

We had two choices - either up some stairs which is 200m long... or via the road which is 800m long. In the end we ran up the stairs and down via the road and we then made our way towards home. I was incredibly tired, but I really wanted to average 5:40 / km, so I tried to speed up towards the end of the evening.

Right now I'm sitting on the couch, listening to the rain, watching a bit of Will and Grace and waiting for supper to be served.  Hopefully the rain will stop by tomorrow morning - Andy has to leave early for work and I don't fancy running in the rain by myself :)

Technorati Tags : running, rain

Posted by karinm at 7:25 PM | Comments (0)

April 18, 2006

I need a new Routine

Unless you test yourself, you stagnate. Unless you try to go way beyond what you've been able to do before, you won't develop and grow. When you go for it 100%, when you don't have the fear of "what if I fail," that's when you learn. That's when you're really living. - Mark Allen,world chamption triathlete.

Every morning at 6h00 I wake up, hit the snooze button 5 times and then sit up to have a cup of coffee and read my daily blogs and news. I get out of bed, get ready for work and just before 8h00, I am finally in my car and on my way to work. I then spend the day fantasizing about the afternoon's run and by the time I get home, I'm generally so tired that the run doesn't happen and I keep kicking myself about it for days afterwards.

That is my routine.

Which is why I am in desperate need of a new one. One that gets me up in the morning and out the door before I can think about it. One that doesn't have me sitting on the couch at 22h00, wondering and wishing that I had done some form of exercise.

So, thinking about that all day, I got out of the door tonight and dragged Andy along for the first 800m. Then his knees started feeling sore, so he stopped and turned around. By this stage I was getting into a nice rythm that I didn't particularly feel like stopping and after Andy had turned around, I found myself picking up the pace and enjoying my surroundings. I enjoyed the run, despite my legs acknowledging the fact that I had too little food and water today and that the 6 mugs of coffee didn't do me any good either.

As I got onto the last part of my run, with lovely trees on either side of the trail, I noticed some new buildings where there used to be a lot of trees. An ugly asphalt plant had sprung up on my route! It completely spoils the view and atmosphere, but with a lot of imagination, it disappeared and I managed to finish my run without feeling any form of tension.

Tomorrow I get to go run with the club :)

PS : I noticed my first sign of tan lines tonight! Summer is here!

Posted by karinm at 7:08 PM | Comments (2)

April 17, 2006

A Quick Run

While Jeff was busy with the Boston Marathon, I finally got out for that run that I so badly wanted to do.  The hail stopped for a short while just after 19h50, which meant that I had very little time to get out before the sun was going to set.  My Garmin was missing, but I managed to remember where I put it in time for myself and Andy to get onto the Cloud Trail. 

Small drops of rain quickly made sure that I was wet - running down my face and into my long sleeve top with others falling onto my top and being absorbed very quickly.  It was chilly outside and breathing was hard with the cold air that we inhaled.

But the run was fun.  A whole lot of fun. 

With only 3 weeks before the Shakespeare Half Marathon, I really need to get out and run a bit more than I have been doing for the past few weeks.

Technorati Tags : running

Posted by karinm at 7:32 PM | Comments (0)

The Hail has me Watching the Boston Marathon

This afternoon I was supposed to go for a run, but a few minutes ago (as I was getting ready to go out), it started hailing - the one thing I wouldn't run in because I have a fear of hard little pieces of ice hitting me. So instead I've switched on the television in time to watch the start of the women's race and I'm waiting in anticipation for the rest of the field to start.  Who knows, I might be able to catch a glimpse of  Jeff  in the crowd :)

Posted by karinm at 4:11 PM

April 9, 2006

Rosliston Trail Run

It was a nice morning when I left home, but by the time we got to the Rosliston Forestry Centre it was getting a little cold. I entered, received race number 177 and stretched a little while waiting to see who else would come run from our club. Soon after we arrived another 8 or 10 people from our club arrived.

The start of the run was nice and easy... some gravel and a few patches of grass, but nothing seriously bothering. A km and a half into the race though, we turned a corner and I found myself ankle-deep in mud. The marshal pulled a face (trying not to laugh), asked if I was okay and I was on my way.

Now my shoes were heavily soaked with water and mud and to make things worse, it kept picking up stones, grass and more mud along the way. 3km into the race I was feeling ready to just stop and give up. Then I saw H from the club and thought to myself... when I was younger than 20, I ran all my cross country races barefoot. Why not today?

So I took off my heavy shoes, left them with H and ran along. Now as I passed people along the route, I heard the words "she doesn't have any shoes on" a fair few times. This was normally followed by "how can she run like that?" But my second loop of the two loop course went a whole lot faster than the one with shoes went and by the end I even had a little bit of energy left to make sure I finished in front of the woman that was chasing me the whole second loop

It was a good race, although it was closer to 6 miles than the 5 miles that the organisers advertised. It was a load of fun, took me ages to get the mud off me ... and my shoes are hung out to dry since I had to give them a good wash when I got home.

Posted by karinm at 1:54 PM | Comments (4)

April 5, 2006

A club run

Tonight I went to the club to find out about the weekends Trail run and also to catch up with some of the friends I've made there. As we split into groups, our group was joined by a lady that is 6 months pregnant. She was a pretty fast runner prior to the pregnancy and haven't quite come to grip with not being able to run at the pace she's used to. As we ran, it soon became clear that someone would have to stay with her as she needed a fair few walking breaks and as the other two in our group is in training for London, I decided to be that person.

The run was enjoyable. She chatted away and I listened, occassionally throwing a "Hmmm" or "Ahhhh" into the conversation. The sky was absolutely beautiful as the sun set, making me feel like I was running in a fairy wonderland. I wasn't particularly fussed about the pace we were going at - I was just glad to be out there.

Afterwards as we stretched outside the leisure centre, I brought my leg down from one stretch and banged my shin on a pole. Not even the pain could spoil tonight. I'm in a very good mood.

PS. My boss gave me next week off - how great is that?

Posted by karinm at 7:23 PM | Comments (1)

April 4, 2006

Morning Running

This morning early Andy woke me up and reminded me that I needed to go for a run. It was still slightly dark outside, but you could see that the sun was attempting to rise over the hills in front of our house. I would've tried to crawl back under the duvet, but the lights were switched on and Andy threatened to rudely steal those preciously warm covers from me if I didn't come willingly.

5 minutes later I was outside, slowly jogging along, with Andy by my side. We chatted and looked at the fields and sheep which were covered in frost. Last night must've been quite cold, because the area was pretty white. The days are warmer now, and longer, but a lot of nights still get really cold and in the mornings you spend a fair few minutes warming your car up and getting rid of that nasty layer of ice that formed overnight.

We ran for 35 minutes before arriving back in our village and strolling home. At that stage the sun was casting a golden light across our house and lighting up everything. It was really beautiful and peaceful.

For the first time in a while, I have some energy this morning. I really feel good :)

Posted by karinm at 7:36 AM | Comments (1)

March 20, 2006

Easy Out

This morning I woke up, tired and stressed. I immediately knew what the problem was. I haven't run in 2 weeks! Which is why this evening I found myself running while watching a lovely sunset and chatting to Andy about the past few weeks and how busy work has gotten.

I requested to be on support for the past 2 months because in general it is less stressful, but as life would have it, it turned out far busier while I was on it than was anticipated. Which left me exhausted at night and in general unable to do anything but fall into bed. I was so tired that I found myself unable to sleep.

Tonight I'm sure I'll fall asleep without problems though. I had a nice 20 minute run and a 32 minute cycle and feel much more relaxed already. As we speak, Andy is in the kitchen, busy frying the chicken in tikka paste and preparing some jacket potatoes. I'm slightly sleepy, but ready to take a nice, long, hot bath and then crawl into bed and drift off to dreamland.

In other news: As mentioned in the previous entry, I volunteered to be a marshal at the Ashby 20 which is hosted by our club every year. At 9h00 when I arrived at race HQ, I was informed that they didn't expect me (somehow my email apparently never reached them), but since another girl didn't pitch up, they had a space for me to encourage and point the runners in the right direction. The point I stood at was at both the 1 mile and 19 mile mark, which was great as I could basically see how the runners looked at the start and how they changed faces during the race.

It was a really cold morning and I had a nice thick coat that I took along to keep me warm. After all of the athletes passed me after the first mile, I made my way to the 8 mile mark which was only a short walk down the street. There I helped out with filling water cups and handing it out to a few of the leaders. When it was time to go back to my station, I walked up and... left my coat in the car.

Unfortunately there was no time to go back to the car before the leaders arrived and after that it was one after the other ... 2 hours later... after standing in 1C weather the whole time, I finally finished up and got my coat. My hands were blue with cold, but thankfully I didn't pick up a cold.

The race was great and I felt quite inspired after watching all of the people finish - some with very painful looks on their faces, others with big smiles.

Posted by karinm at 7:42 PM | Comments (0)

February 20, 2006

The Rain in Spain

... came to England.

This morning when I woke up I did a few things. I firstly got up and made myself some coffee. Then I found the papers that I was supposed to revise and sat down on the daybed in the spare room. I peeked at the laptop and figured it wouldn't hurt to open up bloglines and first read a few blogs (notice that I'm trying to avoid the revision...). I then had to write a blog entry myself (not wanting to only read and not write). By then my coffee was cold, so I had to make a new cup and only then did I start any revision.

Before I knew it, I had to get ready to leave and by 9:20 when I walked into the testing centre to take the last of my MCSD.NET exams, I wished that I hadn't read the blogs and instead revised.

It turns out I didn't really need the revision and I passed :)

The rest of the day consisted of working hard, watching the rain, listening to the rain and wishing that it would stop raining in time for me to go for a run.

When I got home, it was freezing and wet outside, but the rain had stopped and I had no excuse. Andy felt like going for a run as well, so both of us started out on a really easy run. For some reason every single car tonight felt that they needed to scare us with their headlights even though we weren't in their way and perfectly visible (according to us). I was blinded a couple of times, but was enjoying the fresh air that the rain had brought with it and not about to let the cars spoil my night.

After the run I sat on the bike, peddling while listening to some podcasts and feeling utterly lazy. I'm in need of some sleep, this I know - I only got about 4 hours of it last night. So off I go... to drift to the land of weightless sleep... while outside... it is raining yet again.

Posted by karinm at 9:05 PM | Comments (0)

Unoriginal Sunday Run

Yesterday morning the rain came pouring down and the 4C weather made me want to stay in bed the whole day. There was an 8K to run though, and it wasn't going to happen while I was in bed. So I got up (rather lazily around 2PM) and with Andy on the bike next to me, started jogging out towards Bull Hill Lane.

About 500m from home I heard a sliding/skidding sound and looked around. Andy somehow managed to slip... on the bike. He waved me on and I kept going until about a km into the run when he finally caught up with me.

Now, the day was cold and there was a lot of cold moisture in the air. My hands felt frosty as I clinged to my MP3 player (the iPod needed some charging) and huffed and puffed around the road. I was doing the same course that I did 4 weeks before (while Andy went to play golf with Adas), but backwards this time. Andy must've felt a little lost until we got to the farmyard where we normally turn around from the other side.

At this stage I was running comfortably at 5'40" per km and enjoying listening to the music and in a way "being alone with my thoughts". The course is only about 7km - when I got to the point that I could just go straight home or turn onto the cloud trail I naturally followed the route of the cloud trail and managed to find just about every person with a dog on it. I barked hello to every single one of them as I passed them and just hoped that none of them had misbehaving dogs that would be chasing me down the trail.

With 50m to go, there was a hill. I shook my head and turned around. There was NO way that I was finishing my run on a hill. Absolutely no way.

Afterwards I had about a 2km walk home, but Andy felt like jogging and instead gave me the bike which I happily peddled home.

I enjoyed the run and there was no pain / discomfort in either of my legs. :)

Another 11 weeks to go!

Posted by karinm at 7:47 AM | Comments (1)

February 16, 2006

A Need for Sleep

Last night I was going to go for a 5km run with Andy accompanying me on the bike. I arrived home and he wasn't there. He sent me a text to let me know that he was going to help one of the neighbours with an IT related problem. I set about making some supper while I was waiting for him, but when he still hadn't come back 40 minutes later, I decided that more action was in order.

I was heading out the door just as he came through it. I quickly directed him in the general direction of the food and ran out the door, got in my car, and 10 minutes later I was at the leisure centre. At first I thought that I had missed the club. Then one by one, the other members arrived. I saw Victoria and Cheryl and as they mentioned they were only doing 3 miles, figured that they were the ones to stick to.

The run itself was a very social affair. We chatted and gossiped and laughed and nearly got run over by a car that would have claimed he couldn't see us despite our reflector vests. The fact that we were on the sidewalk wouldn't have made a single bit of difference to him.

The 3 mile run turned into a 5 mile run.

Over the last 3 km we seemed to push the pace more - by the time we finished we were happily out of breath. A good stretch later I finally could go home.

Once home, I had a bit of supper, before I suddenly just felt by whole body falling asleep. I was sitting in my chair, about to blog. The next moment I felt my eyes closing, I felt my body going into hibernate mode. I stumbled to bed and crawled under the duvet. The next thing I know, I was fast asleep and I only woke up when Andy had to leave for work this morning.

I guess the lack of sleep (nothing severe, just me getting to bed an hour later than I would like to) finally caught up with me.

Today is a rest day. I have no exercise planned and I very much suspect that I am going to have another early night tonight.

Posted by karinm at 6:34 AM | Comments (0)

February 14, 2006

Intervals How I Have Missed You

Happy Valentines Day!

Tonight I did my first interval workout in literally ages. The plan called for 5 X 400m and that was what I was going to do - despite the fact that I had to be at a friend's house at 7. It was going to be close.

Now, there is a track at the local leisure centre - which is the closest track to me. But there are no sources of light, and since it doubles up as a rugby field, there are two major considerations before I go there. (1) I might run into the rugby goal posts and (2) I might step into a hole caused by said poles or some rugby players. During the weekend I was trying to figure out how I could do my intervals without having to put my ankles at risk.

I found a nice flattish piece of road and with some rough calculations figured that with my warmups, I'd be able to do the intervals and finish just before a murderous little hill that would take me back towards home.

I warmed up for 15 minutes and felt my hands froze. I forgot my gloves at home, but since it was mild and it was only the start of my run, I figured it would warm up soon enough. I got to the flat part of the road just as my warmup was finishing and felt quite happy with my calculations.

And so the intervals started.

I ran the first four 400s in 1'45", 1'40", 1'47" and 1'46" respective and as I was taking my "rest jog" after the fourth one, realisation struck me. My calculations were off and I was going to be halfway up the hill when I had to start my last 400.

So the last 400 was run in 2'11".

Afterwards my leg felt like jelly as I jogged back home.

I made it to my friend on time and even got home relatively early. Now to feel that lactic acid sink in....

Posted by karinm at 9:44 PM | Comments (0)

February 10, 2006

No Run This Week

There was no running this week. After feeling hurt on Monday, I took it easy and just rested, but right now, I'm starting to feel like I REALLY need to run. I'm starting to suffer from running withdrawal and at night I lie awake with too much energy to sleep. My leg feels good today though, and I might attempt a short run tonight once Andy has come home.

This week was the first week that I could notice that summer is coming closer. When I left for work there was light, and leaving work wasn't as dark as it was last week. It was by no means light, but it was lighter than it was the previous few weeks. Pretty soon it'll be light when I get home and the runs won't all be on road, but on the trail again.

There's less than three months now until the Shakespeare Half Marathon :)

I'm looking forward to the training that will lead up to the race. Someone at the club told me that it is a really nice race to run. Of course, it won't be as much fun if I'm too unfit to enjoy it. :)

Posted by karinm at 3:55 PM | Comments (0)

February 2, 2006

There's Something about Running

There's something about running that makes me happy. For the past few weeks I've been going through a rough patch called homesickness, but after every run I take, I feel that life is good.

A lot of fellow South Africans that live in the UK (and US) mention that after they've been back for a holiday in South Africa, home sickness come to camp out on their doorsteps once they're back here. Whether it is the lack of sunshine, warmth or just good old biltong and beskuit, no-one knows. There is only the guarantee that this illness will keep you company should you leave for a foreign country again.

For some a cure never arrives. For the other lucky ones, another holiday is sure to bring a relapse.

I'm not sure whether I'll find a cure, but for now, running is my sanity.

Posted by karinm at 5:02 PM | Comments (1)

February 1, 2006

Goals

Yesterday was the last day of January and after taking a short run to loosen up I looked back upon the month with some satisfaction as I had reached the goal that I set for myself.

January :
Goal : 67km
Distance : 67.36km
Time Spent : 06 h 43 m 12 s (5:59/km or 9:38/mile)

It could've been more, but my legs still felt a little sore after the run on Sunday and I just wanted to loosen them. Then I added up the kilometers in the training plan for February and came to my next goal : 105km for February. This starts with a club run tonight.

Posted by karinm at 7:42 AM | Comments (0)

January 27, 2006

Inside out Run

Tonight Andy is out of town and I half expected to be out of town until at least 21h00 as well, but by 18h00 I was home and quite upset because I could've gone with Andy had I known that I was going to be home early.

So, seeing as I was home early, I figured that another club run this week wouldn't do much harm. I quickly changed and headed over to the Hood Park Leisure Centre where they meet every Wednesday and Friday at 19h00. I was a little early, so I had a look at the notice board. Some runners arrived and smiled at me, but didn't say anything. The women's captain arrived and after a short chat during which she herself couldn't stop smiling we were about to start.

That's when I noticed it - my shirt was on inside out. I suddenly realised why everyone had been so cheerful and happy. I was the joke of the evening!

I changed my shirt round and then the run started. Myself and another one of the girls felt relatively good and although we weren't supposed to, managed to push the pace a little harder than we probably should've. But it was all great fun, running in the rain and catching up with them after not having seen them in more than a month.

On Sunday we're all going to take part in a cross country race - it should be good fun, and I expect I'll be quite muddy afterwards.

Posted by karinm at 9:26 PM | Comments (0)

January 26, 2006

Club Run

Last night I opted to go run with the club for the first time since 2006 started. We arrived 10 minutes before 7 and there was not a runner in sight. When by 19h00, there was still no-one, I figured that by some agreement, no-one was running on a Wednesday anymore and asked Andy if he wanted to go run with me.

We locked the car, handed in the keys and just as we were about to start, we spotted a lone runner arriving. Andy breathed a breath of relief and went to the gym while I chatted to the newly-arrived runner. 20 minutes later a whole load of other people have arrived and we were just about ready to go run.

I asked Brian (the guy who leads the group that I ran with at my first club run) if he would mind me running with them as the group I normally run with wasn't there and the group up from that, well, they're just a little too fast for my liking.

So off we went; the cold weather didn't allow our muscles to warm up much, but the chattering, laughing and generally great social atmosphere kept us warm and going.

Ten minutes into the run I felt my left foot twist from under me and the next moment a pain shot through my ankle and up my leg. At first I thought I might have mildly twisted it and that the pain would subside within a few hundred metres. Unfortunately it didn't. When we finished 30 minutes later I was still in uncomfortable pain.

Once home, I kept my foot up and tried not to lean on it at all. By this morning the pain was gone, and everything seemed fine.

I'll try jogging a bit tonight, just to check, but I think it was just a "fake" injury last night that wanted me to stop running in the cold and search for the warmth of the fire.

Posted by karinm at 3:35 PM | Comments (0)

January 22, 2006

Sneaking a Long Run

On our run yesterday Andy felt a little sore after his experience of JuJitsu on Thursday. His ribs were a little tender and breathing hard seemed to hurt. This morning he still wasn't okay and I felt incredibly sorry for him. Since he won't take rest himself, and feels guilty when I go out for a run by myself, I waited for my chance to sneak out for a run. At 12:30 that opportunity presented itself. He went out for a round of golf with Adas!

A minute or two after the car was out of sight, I was out of the door and on to explore the road we "discovered" yesterday. I didn't know where it led, or how far it was, but I figured that if I reached 6km and there was still no end in sight, I'd turn around and go explore again another day. As it turns out, I didn't have to turn around. The road is just a farm road that joins two main roads with 2 farm houses and the whole road only stretches for 2 km.

The other main road is the one that we normally take to the doctors, so instead of turning around, I ran towards home on the main road. Up and down, my legs sometimes feeling like jelly, but by the time I got home, it was nearly 7km - it'd be perfect for the mid-week runs in 4 weeks.

Andy's still not back; he'll be back in a few minutes... and be none the wiser about the little run that I took :)

Posted by karinm at 1:41 PM | Comments (1)

January 21, 2006

A New Route is Found

After cycling this morning, I didn't think we'd make it out for a run this afternoon, but we did! And during daylight too! It was really relaxing, although I felt a little bit of a niggle in my hamstring which I'll have to watch during the week and tomorrow's planned run. I'd hate to hurt anything now - I'd much rather be able to run around whenever I feel like it!

After not being able to run on Wednesday, not being able to get out for a run on Thursday and feeling incredibly exhausted yesterday, today was absolute heaven to get out for a run this afternoon. We tried out a new road which I haven't noticed before, right at the top of the second hill on our regular route. The new road is actually just across from the top of the hill, but for some reason I've never noticed it before. I think it might be because I always had my mind set on turning either right or left before we started the run. When we plan our route for tomorrow, we might go further down it than we did today - I'd love to see where it leads to.

Posted by karinm at 5:01 PM

January 16, 2006

At last... distance goal for January

"When I first started running, I was so embarrassed, I'd walk when cars passed me. I'd pretend I was looking at the flowers."
- Joan Benoit Samuelson

I had to share that, since it is how I sometimes feel when people in cars pass me. I almost feel like I should stop, look at the view and pretend as if I have been standing there for a while, just enjoying nature.

My goal for January : 67km

I feel that this is a reasonable goal, since I have 19km planned for the coming week, 23 for the next week, and to finish it off.

Posted by karinm at 3:42 PM | Comments (1)

January 15, 2006

Gebreselassie Shatters World Half Marathon Record

This man is amazing!

Read More Here

Posted by karinm at 6:13 PM | Comments (0)

January 14, 2006

Reading Material is here!

This morning we were woken by the mail man knocking on the door. He had two packages that failed to fit through our door, so he felt that he couldn't leave them out in the rain. A good thing too - because those two packages contained three books which I have ordered recently.

They are :

The Quotable Runner (Mark Will-Weber)
Marathon (by Hal Higdon)
First Marathons - Personal Encounters with the 26.2-Mile Monster

Now I have some reading time ahead of me!

Posted by karinm at 11:54 AM | Comments (0)

January 13, 2006

Entry No. 100!

Before I started writing this tonight, I noticed that I had posted 99 entries - which means that this is entry no. 100!

This evening when I got home, things happened fast. I got into running gear, managed to get gloves, cap, warm clothes and reflecting vest, all rounded off by shoes and my forerunner and out of the door within 8 minutes of walking in the door.

The first 10 minutes of our run was hard. Well, it felt hard. Considering that the first 8 minutes are up a hill as well didn't exactly make it feel better but once the first 10 minutes was done, we started running more fluidly and even started chatting exitedly about what we want to do this weekend. The last km or so was the best, as there was absolutely no real effort to it. We were just enjoying it - and for the first time this week there was no problems with my breathing afterwards.

If tomorrow is sunny (not likely), we might go for a bike ride. We're also off to a store to get a new home entertainment system. That is if we like the one we've been lurking about for the past month or so on the internet. We finally decided that we need to see it for real before deciding if we'll buy it. Then I might go out to get a few pictures of the area around here - it is absolutely beautiful at this time of year.

Good luck to anyone that might be racing this weekend !

Posted by karinm at 8:44 PM | Comments (0)

January 10, 2006

The First Run

Tonight we ventured out for our first run of 2006. After 2 weeks with quite a bad cough I didn't want to overdo it, but I wanted to do at least 20 minutes of a slow jog. A slow jog it turned out to be. Andy kept looking at his watch and figured that we were going much faster than we actually were - when I told him that we had done 3km he thought we had done 4, and by km no. 5, he thought we must've done at least 5.5 already.

The run was good, although cold. I had 3 layers of clothing on, a cap, gloves and 2 pairs of socks. My feet were cold! I kept wondering if my chest would play up as it still felt a little tight this morning, but it turned out to be perfectly fine.

I'm looking forward to building up some training again now!

Posted by karinm at 7:20 PM | Comments (1)

December 12, 2005

Running at Dusk

After spending a lazy day at home we finally went for a run at 4 this afternoon. It was sunset. It was absolutely beautiful outside, although it was cold enough for polar bears to join us and not overheat. I had my gloves and full body covering on, while Andy braved the cold in short running shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. Crazy!

As we ran the sun set and in the end we were two lone figures running back towards our village in the darkness. It was absolutely beautiful though. The run felt good - even though we went slower than we've gone in ages. Afterwards we got home, relaxed a while longer and ended up just watching television.

I can't believe in three days we'll be in South Africa and probably find it odd that it will still be light at 6 o' clock in the afternoon.

Posted by karinm at 12:12 AM | Comments (0)

December 8, 2005

Shakespeare Half... here we come.

While running today I realised a couple of things. The first thing was that running in 1 degree weather requires more warmup than when you run during summer. We ran a km, stretched and then started running again. Unfortunately my body didn't feel warmed up enough yet and a km later, my muscles started complaining that they were feeling a little cold still. So we kept at the pace we were going and vowed to either get warmer clothes or spend more time warming up on our next run - which would be Sunday seeing as how tomorrow evening we're going out for the end-of-year supper with the rest of my office and on Saturday we have a fair few things that we need to finish before the coming week.

Another thing I realised is that some people have no sense of when Christmas decorations outside the house is just too much. We ran past a house in the village which would make a great example of when too much is too much. I'm all for some lights and decorations to make your house look festive, but to try and light the whole village with your house is a little much. We'll go back there tomorrow on our way to the supper and take some pictures so we can display it for all to see right here.

Andy opted to run the Shakespeare Half Marathon with me on the 7th of May next year, which means he's got some incentive to start training as well now. He ran with me tonight and I seemed to get the idea that he liked it, although he ended up feeling a little hotter than he wanted to and once we stopped running and started walking towards the house he gave me the chills as he took off his warm top. Luckily it is only 100m or so that he was without it, but still - it was FREEZING outside. I'd never have been able to do that.

Nooooo, instead I was the one that got home and jumped into a hot bath in order to stop shivering.

Righty. Since midnight has arrived, I shall now go and get some sleep - 5km was run on the 8th, and that's all there is to it.

Posted by karinm at 11:56 PM | Comments (1)

December 7, 2005

How Hard ... How nice!

Tonight we went for a run. Not long by any means - only 3km. But it was a start. And as I was running I was thinking that I need a goal. So.... Ladies and Gentlemen.... I've entered the Experian Robin Hood Marathon for 2006 - which takes place on Sunday, 10 September 2006. My entry was processed all of 10 seconds ago :) And although it is only a year ago, I figure that it should be enough to keep me going until then! There's nothing like knowing that you're already entered to give you a little motivation to start and keep going.

Now, when Andy comes back from his visit with a friend, I'll inform him of this very bold move on my part.

Next week this time I'll be in South Africa, probably relaxing outside next to a fire :) There's a nice race down there while we're there which I might attempt to make it to. But seeing as we're on holiday I somehow doubt I'm going to get Andy up at 6 in the morning to make it to the start. We'll see.

Everyone have a great evening!

Posted by karinm at 9:18 PM | Comments (3)

November 30, 2005

Sorry for Being so Quiet

Last night I went for my first run in nearly 2 weeks. The reason? I was probably a little lazy.

By now I've accepted that I won't be running in the London Marathon this coming year and have started looking towards something else. I've decided that the Shakespeare Marathon is probably the better choice since it gives me two extra weeks to get ready for it - and a slow training program to just get me round started last night (short, but darkness scared me).

Since some snow fell on Monday and some of it hasn't melted yet, it was incredibly cold. My gloves barely kept my hands warm and I was quite thankful for the extra warmth of the reflector vest that I had on. Andy came along and we decided to keep it short and just start off slowly again. He wanted to make sure his hip was okay now and I just wanted to jog a little to get loose.

Tonight I'm running with the club (it should be a load of fun in the dark) and afterwards I have a whole lot of work to do. Outside it is close to zero degrees with rain that is falling. Something tells me I'm going to need something warmer to run in tonight. :)

Posted by karinm at 1:21 PM | Comments (1)

November 13, 2005

High Peak ...

I have learnt valuable lessons today.

- If someone advises you to arrive at a race with a long vest and gloves, do it. There's probably some experience behind the advice and it shouldn't be laughed off.

This morning I woke up with a little bit of a cold and feeling a little sluggish and off, but since I had a relay to run, I got up and went to the race headquarters to get my number. After that I went to the starting point of my stage and chatted for a while with two of the other club members. It was absolutely FREEZING. I had taken the advice of another one of my team members and arrived with a long sleeved vest, but unfortunately didn't pack some gloves. This left me with some lovely blue hands. :)

Soon it was our turn to run (although, the timekeepers were ALMOST late) and as we set off, my legs told me that it didn't like the cold weather. My calves felt really sore as they wound themselves up nice and tight. I decided to just take it easy, but as anyone knows, knots in calves don't leave without pain. I kept running, but after a mile and a half I was in extreme pain and with 2 miles to go, I took a walking break. 200m later I felt okay again and I ran at a steady pace to the end of the stage. It wasn't too slow either :)

I think I'll remember my gloves for the rest of the winter - and some nice long tights while I'm at it.

Right now, all I want to do is get some sleep.

Posted by karinm at 4:13 PM | Comments (0)

November 11, 2005

London Marathon, Injuries and Odd Dreams

With each passing day the weather is getting colder and more motivation s required to get me outside for a run. Our cheques for the London Marathon was cashed a few weeks ago, but since we bequeathed our entrance fee, we won't know whether we got an entry until early December. From what I hear and read though, the chances are slim that we did get an entry (something about the date it was cashed on) and that leaves open the question of whether we want to do another marathon if we didn't get entries for London. There is the Paris marathon which is a week earlier and the Shakespeare Marathon which is two weeks later - I guess we'll keep on training and wait to hear from the London Marathon organisers - should anyone else have any suggestions on other marathons around the end of April, please feel free to let me know!

On Wednesday after I had run, blogged and done all the things I wanted to do before supper, I went downstairs to have some supper with Andy. As I sat down an intense pain shot down my right leg and up my spine and left me in a great amount of anguish. I managed to sit up and find where the actual source of the pain is and the rest of the evening I spent half-sitting, half-lying with a heat patch and a heated wheat bag on my leg. I still have no idea precisely what happened, but thankfully it had gone away by last night.

Last night we went to 2 hours of pilates - I really do enjoy it. Afterwards I felt a little tired and we relaxed in the spa after which I was ready to go home and sleep. I slept well, although I had a strange dream which involved me turning up at a triathlon event without my wetsuit and bike. How bizarre!

On Sunday I'm taking part in the High Peak Relay - and apparently parking is a problem at some of the handovers, so we'll go early and try to find the place I'm supposed to be at. Afterwards I have to jog the 3.5 miles back to the place I started at, which should be a fair amount of fun, but it gives me the mileage I have to do for Sunday, so I'm happy.

Righty, more work awaits.

Posted by karinm at 12:15 PM | Comments (5)

November 9, 2005

BBBBBRBRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Yikes, it is COLD out there my friends! Tonight we arrived at the club and found that many people preferred their nice warm fireplaces inside their houses to running outside in 6C weather.

We set off with a nice mild group - Andy joined us tonight! - and after about a mile a faster group joined up with us, which led to some of the people in our group being pulled along. 2km later and we realised that 2 of the girls that started the run with us was no longer with us. Myself and Andy volunteered to turn around and find them and after that Andy went back to the club, while I jogged with the two ladies for a few miles.

It was a nice and relaxing run and I feel a lot better than I did this time last week. Although, then I was recovering from illness and now I'm almost perfectly healthy again!

We got our schedules for the race on Saturday - I'm running the 5th leg now instead of the 2nd (a whole mile longer :) ) - and I'm starting to really look forward to it.

Hope everyone is well. I need to go in search of a fire now....

Posted by karinm at 8:52 PM | Comments (1)

November 6, 2005

Winter is Here

Winter is finally here. After a weekend of rain that is now a definite.

Yesterday afternoon I felt like a little run (I had 5km scheduled for Friday, but didn't feel quite myself, so I skipped Friday and vowed to run on Saturday) which led to me and Andy heading out the door and onto the Cloud trail. We took it really easy and for the first 3km things were good. After that the Forerunner decided that it was too cloudy and lost signal until we got home, at which point it paired up with some satellites again. Luckily I know that at the point that we turned around (3km), the route that we took back is exactly 2km, so I wasn't too upset by it.

This morning we woke up to a cold, windy, soggy morning. The bed was really snuggly and with the promise of a fire being made, chances were slim that I would want to willingly leave the comfort and heat of the house for the cold weather outside. I had 10km to run though.

Just before 2pm I put on some shoes, Andy got his mountain bike and we set off on the road. It was such a great and relaxing run, and I didn't feel that the pace that I was going at was too fast at all. It was just right. I ran the little hill that kills you at the start of the run, found some even ground and stayed on it for the next 5km, then turned around and with 3km to go, turned onto a downhill before hitting the last 2km which were slightly uphill again. It felt good though.

And with no illness threatening to strike this week, I think I might have a good week ahead of me. :)

Posted by karinm at 5:12 PM | Comments (0)

November 3, 2005

Running in the Rain

Last night I arrived at the club to go for a slowish run, but then Carolyn asked whether I wanted to run with them (which I knew was going to be a much faster pace) and I went with the faster group. There were a lot more runners in that group last night and the social aspect of running as a club really showed up.

The first mile went by very quickly. I got to speak to one of the newer members of the club and then to some other people. What surprised me though, was that last night we did a route that is much more hilly than the route we ran the past few weeks. At first it didn't hurt or bother me, but after 3.5 miles, running at 8:30 a mile was starting to really speak to my legs. My legs and chest started hurting, but I kept up and felt really good about not pushing myself - falling back at times and catching up when I felt stronger.

After 4 miles, one of the girls in the group said that she was also hurting and since we were relatively close to the club we went on another route towards the finish (slightly shorter, but still with an uphill). We finished just short of 5 miles and although I was utterly tired, it was one of those satisfied tired feelings.

Andy didn't run with us though - he opted to go to the gym instead and then went home and cooked supper, which was ready just in time for us to eat once I got home.

Tonight I'm not doing any running, but tomorrow evening I'm running with the club again.

Posted by karinm at 1:13 PM | Comments (0)

October 31, 2005

Cycling Halloween

Well, what a weekend. As previously mentioned, Andy fell ill - we thought he may have overdone it on the run, but doubts grew when by Friday afternoon I was starting to feel a little ill myself. I got home and decided to take it relatively easy during the weekend. In order to cheer Andy up though, I dragged him to a store on Friday evening where he made a new friend : Nike Air Pegaus. To be precise... these :

Myself - I've been looking for a pair as well, but the purple and pink colours didn't really suit me... so I opted for these :

So off to home we went, where we lay like a pair of old socks, feeling sorry for ourselves, but not too much ;)

Saturday and Sunday were spent getting better - with the help of some delicious pancakes (with strawberries and peaches) made from a recipe Jeff shared with me. They were SO incredibly good that we had them on Saturday morning and Sunday morning... and if we could, we probably would have had them this morning as well.

This morning I wasn't sure that I should go to work, but I made it there and the day turned out to be pretty productive. After work though, I found the experience of my first winter in DST a little odd. Coming to work in the dark of the night isn't something I'm used to and I sure didn't think it would arrive so soon. :)

I got on my bike an hour after supper, but not before loading my iPod shuffle with some music that I LOVE. As I sat on the bike, I didn't notice the time much - I was trying to sing along to the music, which is the reason that I think nobody dared to knock on our door. I'm actually quite surprised - the kids in the village seem to have skipped our street, and there are no kids on our street either!

Right now I feel pretty good. I think my bout of illness has left the building and with any luck, it ain't coming back.

Posted by karinm at 9:00 PM | Comments (2)

October 26, 2005

Cold Weather makes for A Good Time

Our weekly (okay, so we've only been running there for 2 weeks :P ) club run took place tonight. We joined the same group we joined on Friday and the pace was relatively easy going and we all had a good time chatting. Andy seemed a little uncomfy, but everytime we asked him whether he was alright he nodded, or said 'yes' without giving us any idea that he was in pain.

After 5km I glanced at him and one look was enough to tell me that he wasn't okay. Apart from the breathing (I was breathing harder than normal as well, since we'd gone from a 5:45/km pace to a 4:45/km pace in 1km and stayed there for another 2km... not exactly the pace I normally run at) he seemed REALLY uncomfortable. I told the others in the group to carry on as I was going to slow down.

They slowed down as well - after all, we were running as a group! (and one of the girls said that the pace is MUCH faster than they normally run) - and for about another km we ran at the pace we started off at again. They then turned left to run about another mile while we carried on straight towards the club. We cooled down and walked the last 500m during which Andy told me that his hip and ankles were literally killing him.

I immediately thought I was going to kill him on the spot. I told him before that if he felt ANY pain he should tell me since he then rather needs to stop or slow down rather than risk injury which could keep him out of running for months at a time. He said that I seemed to be enjoying myself and he didn't want to spoil it. :(

In any case, now he's not running for the next few weeks until he's gotten (1) new shoes and until he is (2) injury free. He said that he might want to cycle with me again, but I doubt he should. I think he should just give those joints complete rest. His hip was just starting to get better too!

In any case... time for me to go crawl into bed. I'm really sleepy tonight.

Posted by karinm at 9:27 PM | Comments (0)

October 23, 2005

Thistles are not a Good Seat

Ouch. My bottom is sore. :)

This morning I went to donate blood - I do it every 4 months and afterwards I know I should probably take it easy for a day, but sometimes I don't listen ... usually nothing goes wrong.

So, this afternoon, 5 hours after donating blood, myself and Andy headed out the door onto the trail for a run. It was quite humid, but we were having a good time. After 2km Andy turned around because he was feeling a bit more tired than he thought he should. I still felt pretty good, so I carried on.

A km later I turned around - I only wanted to run at least 5km. With 800m to go, I suddenly felt a bit dizzy; I realised that if I didn't sit down right there and then, I'd probably fall over. So I sat down on the nearest patch of grass. As I sat, all dizziness disappeared and I jumped up quicker than I sat down. The adrenalin and shock was probably what made sure that I didn't faint at that stage. I had sat down on a nice little patch of thistles!

So with an itching and burning bum, I walked home as fast as I could, trying not to laugh, and at the same time not to cry or scream. Once home I got into a bath and a quick scrub later all felt well again.

All of this has taught me a valuable few lessons.

1. Don't go run on the day that you donate blood and
2. Watch where you sit down!

Posted by karinm at 6:09 PM | Comments (1)

October 21, 2005

Club Run : Take Two

Tonight was SO MUCH FUN! We went over to the club for our second run, and this time the women's captain came over and had a chat with me. She suggested another group for us to run in and said that since she and her training partner were taking it easy, they were going to run with us as well. It ended up quite amusing though :)

Firstly we all start off together - about 9 of us in the group. The first km goes well as everyone tries to warm up their muscles in the rain and wind and it passes in about 6 minutes. All is well.

Then for some reason, myself, Andy, the TC and her partner sped up and 2km later we had lost the other half of the group. We were going at a lovely steady pace of between 8:30 and 9:00 a mile. After 3 miles we saw another group from the club and joined them for the remaining 2.6miles. It was slightly slower than when only the four of us were running together, but it was still a nice pace. By the end we had done 5.6 miles!

It was absolutely wonderful to run with them. My legs didn't feel heavy, I wasn't out of breath too much, I could hold a conversation, but I broke a sweat and afterwards it felt like I had run.

There's a XC relay 3 weeks from now and the women's captain have asked if I could run on that Saturday. I've of course said that I'd love to run! Andy has to check whether he's on call, but he might run with the men's team :) Right now, he's downstairs though, claiming that the run had killed him - I'm sure its nothing a little bit of chilly can't cure though.

It seems that tomorrow is going to be a very rainy day, which is a good excuse to tell him to take a nice rest. I have a squash game around noon, but apart from that I plan to take tomorrow easy as well - then go out for a relaxing run on Sunday.

Good luck to everyone that is doing races this weekend - I'll be thinking of you!

Posted by karinm at 8:49 PM | Comments (1)

October 19, 2005

The Club Jog

I know that running with a club is about running with a group with similar abilities than yourself. Tonight was our first run with the club - although I didn't expect to run extremely fast, I didn't exactly think that myself and Andy would end up in a group that ran approximately a minute and a half slower than our average pace on a 5 mile. We ended up running just less than 4 miles in 40 minutes. We didn't even break a sweat and we could quite easily have joined a faster group, but then again, they might have been too fast for us.

Afterwards the group leader said that we should go with a slightly faster group on Friday - apparently there will be a "mid" group between the group that we were in tonight and the one up from us which he thinks we should join until we feel comfortable to join the faster Wednesday group. We'll see how it goes :) Wednesdays could easily become a nice slow run between two hard days - myself and Andy tend to push each other when it is just the two of us - maybe we need a bit of slowing down :)

Posted by karinm at 9:14 PM | Comments (3)

October 18, 2005

A Great Easy run

Tonight's run was absolutely wonderful. From the word go we knew that we didn't plan on running so fast that we would end up breathless. Today's run was meant to be truly relaxing, easy... and if I dare say it, slow. We never pushed the limits beyond the point where we could hold a conversation - in fact, we had a conversation the whole way through.

When we started it was already getting dark. After 2km it was completely dark and we had to watch where we put our feet. Considering that we were running on a trail between trees, we mostly had to guess where to put our feet. Not that it stopped us from enjoying ourselves. Along the way we were making jokes and having fun.

Tomorrow evening is our first club run. Afterwards we'll decide whether we'll go every Wednesday and Friday or whether we'll just run on Wednesdays. Fridays is supposed to be our complete rest day, which could be moved, but ideally we'd like to keep it as a day of rest.

Right now I need to go get my contacts out. Have a wonderful day/evening!

Posted by karinm at 6:58 PM | Comments (0)

October 16, 2005

Dead Legs Running

This afternoon we went for a lovely run. Just 5km planned. And we weren't going to do it fast. Well, not the second half. The first half flew by. It was absolutely amazing to feel like you could go faster. Then our legs remembered the cycle yesterday and immediately it felt incredibly heavy. Mind you, still not uncomfortable, but we had to work to keep up the same kind of pace.

We slowed down and just ran home. Afterwards Andy said that his legs felt dead, but we're glad we went for a run :) My legs feel fine now that I've stretched them out a bit, but I think they might ache slightly tomorrow!

Posted by karinm at 6:41 PM | Comments (1)

October 11, 2005

I Guess Everyone has Bad Days

Yesterday evening we did our first run in the dark. After work I met Andy at the gym so we could run on the grass, and after a quick change of clothes, we warmed up, stretched and then set off on our planned 22 minute run. The cold was hurting my knees and my other joints, but that could be due to the lack of exercise last week too. My legs felt heavy and horrible and although I knew I could speed up if I wanted to, there was a lack of energy that kept me from doing so.

By the time we finished I was all too glad to finish the run.

Hopefully tonight will be a better one. :(

Posted by karinm at 10:35 AM | Comments (1)

October 10, 2005

The Rest is Over

The weekend was good, although I haven't done any training in almost a week - apart from a lazy 8km mountain bike ride yesterday. This week it is full-steam ahead again though, and training will be more normal.

The weather is getting colder now. We had darkness and freezing temperatures this morning until about 7, after which the sun came up, but the temperatures stayed more or less the same. The central heating seemed to be off, although I checked, so maybe we'll have to check some of the radiators. One of these days I'll need a kick rather than a shove out of bed to get out and train.

I'm expecting my bike trainer to arrive this week - Andy ordered me one for those cold mornings during which I should go cycle, but feel too afraid to. The darkness scares me - I'm afraid I might be hit by a car or something.

The program the next 4 weeks::

Week Start	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
10/10/2005	Run : 22min Swim : 29min	Bike : 58min Run : 29min	Run : 22min Swim : 39min	Bike : 77min Run : 39 min		Swim : 48min Bike : 97min	Run : 48min
17/10/2005	Run : 24min Swim : 32min	Bike : 64min Run : 32min	Run : 24min Swim : 43min	Bike : 85min Run : 43 min		Swim : 53min Bike : 107min	Run : 53min
24/10/2005	Run : 26min Swim : 35min	Bike : 70min Run : 35min	Run : 26min Swim : 47min	Bike : 85min Run : 47min		Swim : 58min Bike : 118min	Run : 58min
31/10/2005	Run : 22min Swim : 21min	Bike : 42min Run : 21min	Run : 22min Swim : 28min	Bike : 56min Run : 28 min		Swim : 35min Bike : 118min	Run : 35min

Posted by karinm at 1:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 4, 2005

Rest is Good

Yesterday afternoon I arrived at the Hood Park fields straight from work in the hope of having Andy's first run with him. He said that his hip was feeling better and there was no pain, so we figured it'd be okay. As we were making our way to the fields though, he felt a dull niggle, which then made him decide to rather not run. I did a slow jog around the fields for 18 minutes before my calves started to cramp up. My legs were still feeling a little stiff from the race on Sunday and I didn't want to run into injury, so I stopped.

An hour later though, everything was fine... no stiffness, no soreness. Nothing.

This morning I woke up and wanted to go for a run, but just in time realised that I was already late for work! Andy said he felt okay this afternoon - once again we met at Hood Park and this time he ran with me for a full 20 minutes without any pain. I was taking it relatively easy - it is after all a rest week - and only started speeding up in the last km.

I feel a little tired though. It could be due to a lack of sleep, or maybe I picked up a bug somewhere and its just working itself out. Tomorrow will have to see whether it gets any run at all :)

Posted by karinm at 7:41 PM | Comments (0)

October 2, 2005

What Goes Up Must Come Down

... and what comes down further than it went up, must go up again.

This morning I woke up, groggy and not really willing to leave my warm bed for the utterly cold weather outside. I saw clouds from my pillow and knew that once I left the house, there was no turning back. The temptation was big.

I got out of the bed though and made my way to Kimberley in Nottingham to run the Goose Fair Gallop 5 mile race.

We didn't really know where we were going as we were driving, but Andy had a relatively good idea in which direction to drive. The map we had was useless, but thankfully the signs to the Leisure Centre was really good.

Now, I read on Runner's World that the course was Undulating. This was a big factor in my decision to run, as I didn't feel that I was in a shape to do a lot of hills and end up being so tired that I walked more than I ran.

Km 1 - The Start
We all walked from the gathering point to the start and I took my place in the middle, not too close to the back, but not quite to the front either. In front of us was a load of buildings and the local people came out and clapped hands as the alarm sounded and we started our run. The first km was all uphill. No, seriously... it was all uphill from the moment we started. I managed to keep a fairly decent pace, so I wasn't too bothered, it was almost as if I was running at home.

Km 2
The hill would not end. After running a kilometer, I realised that there was more to come, purely because it was as clear as daylight. I looked forward and saw more hill ahead of me. Around every corner there was one. It seemed like there was no end to it. Luckily after another 500m, we suddenly hit a footpath and it started going downhill!

Woo! I let my legs just fall and enjoyed the absolutely wonderful scenery that lay ahead of me. This downhill, as luck would have it, went on for another 1500m until we reached the 2km mark. It felt a little odd, and I knew we were going down steeply, but I didn't realise what I was in for the next 5km....

Km 3 - Km 8
At the 3km mark, a marshall handed me half a glass of water and I slurped it down - the sun shone down on us during the downhill and by now I was a little thirsty. So thirsty indeed, that I nearly choked on the water as a few drops went down the wrong way.

Then I turned the corner and another hill stared me in the face. I ran my steady pace, feeling a little out of it, but in general enjoying it and just carrying on, doing my own thing. All in all, I was there to just enjoy it, right?

The hill didn't stop. For about 5km it seemed that every corner we took, it was an uphill. At some stage I thought that there couldn't be more hill, but there was. And more. And more! Another girl ran with me and at some stage she muttered 'Someone should have warned me about the hill!' to which I silently agreed.

Just after the point of 6km, I felt my back starting to go into spasm. This happened during the Worthington 5 Mile race as well, and I got scared, seeing myself lying next to the path, not being able to finish. So I started walking, rubbing my back, hoping to get the spasm out.

Luckily it did go out and I could carry on with my journey.

By the time we reached the 5 mile mark, I didn't feel as "fresh" as I thought I would, but I didn't feel as dead as I thought I would either. I actually felt pretty good. I crossed the line and made my way towards the table to receive my T-shirt when a little girl ran towards me. "Number 359! Excuse me, can you go over to that table - you won a spot prize."

So I went, received some hot-cross buns, received my t-shirt and a package and put on some tracksuit bottoms. It was still freezing and I was in no mood to get ill.

I'm relatively happy with the time I ran though ( 43'44"), and looking forward to my next race - whichever that may be!

Km 1 5'11"
Km 2 5'01"
Km 3 4'34"
Km 4 5'43"
Km 5 5'26"
Km 6 6'20"
Km 7 5'33"
Km 8 5'12"
140m 0'40" - Total of 43'44"

Posted by karinm at 3:41 PM | Comments (1)

September 28, 2005

Another run on the Cloud Trail

Yesterday afternoon's run was quite relaxing - taking some stress off my shoulders and clearing my head after a really rough day at work - I didn't have much time to myself over lunch and working on as many things at once makes you wonder if you did the right thing with each one.

The run was good though - Andy joined me on the Cloud trail, although he was on a mountain bike, riding alongside me while I was puffing and panting, trying to keep a relatively good pace for the whole 29'00". I did manage to keep a roughly steady pace, which made me completely and utterly satisfied with the run.

Something I've noticed is the darkness that arrives so early at night now - when we started running the sun only set at around 8:00 PM. Now it goes under before 7:00 PM and since I only leave the house after 6, it sometimes feels like its a race against the sunset.

This morning I printed out some entry forms for the Goose Fair Gallop 5 mile which I intend to do on Sunday - mind you I need to make sure I get up nice and early to make it to the start! It'll serve as a nice long run with lots of people around me and Andy is considering doing it with me. If he doesn't, I'll ask him to take a picture or two :)

Now it is time to take lunch :)

Posted by karinm at 1:12 PM | Comments (2)

September 26, 2005

I Think I Had a Heart Attack... or should have had

224?!?! My heartrate went up to 224bpm? I suspect not, but that it is a slight glitch on my Forerunner's part. Or rather, I hope so. It wasn't for long, just 5 or 6 seconds, but ... that isn't supposed to be able to happen, is it?

In any case....

The run itself went pretty smoothly. I enjoyed it; running in the strong winds of autumn reminded me of home and the fact that in 11 weeks I'll be in sunny South Africa while the rest of the UK and Europe will be in the midst of winter.

I found a race that we can run while we're there - a half marathon that'll hopefully be as much fun as our training at the moment.

The weekend was good - I managed to do a few chores around the house and discovered that gardening is a great cross training exercise that should be approached with caution and gloves. My hands are still sore after the amount of pruning I did around the house - the upside being that we now get sun on the house in the afternoon since I snipped a few trees too short. We ended up having to take 14 bags full of garden refuse to the tip yesterday morning. Fun fun fun :)

Posted by karinm at 7:56 PM | Comments (1)

September 22, 2005

What a Fabulous Run!

I just had the most fabulous run! I think I've picked up some speed somewhere and it really feels great when I run without thinking and manage to get a time like this.

Tonight I ran from home and Andy was on the bike next to me. Before I started I decided that I'd only run 4km and after that cool down and walk home. The course we went out on is about 7km in total.

The first km I thought I was going to die. My legs felt really heavy - the time after 1km : 6'02". I carried on running, working my way up a hill and just relaxing, listening to the sound of the bike on the road. After the second km I looked at my watch and was pretty satisfied to see that my pace have picked up.

1km further - my legs felt really light and I knew that things were going a lot faster than it normally did.

When I finished I just HAD to look at what the time was, not to mention the splits.

1km : 6'02"
2km : 5'21" (11'23")
3km : 4'52" (16'15")
4km : 4'38" (20'54")

I was so excited I nearly forgot that I was supposed to cool down! Andy must've thought I was crazy because I had a huge smile on my face and no-one could wipe it off :)

Posted by karinm at 8:11 PM | Comments (0)

Week 24 is Almost at an End...

My bike ride on Tuesday really took a lot out of me - the course isn't of the flattest, and there are a lot of hills in the course (if I can train on this, hills won't be a problem in the future!) since wherever you may want to go from our village, you will hit a hill. My legs were incredibly sore by the end of the ride and it took a walk and a good massage from Andy to give me back the feeling in my legs.

So yesterday was a "rest day". I took an easy 20 minutes of running on grass and mixed it with an easy 20 minutes of swimming after that. My legs were feeling a lot better by last night and I managed to get some energy back. Tonight I'll be running as per normal, but at least my legs won't be falling off anymore. The swim last night was also surprisingly quiet - there were almost no people in the pool - lane swimming finished just before we arrived - and kids weren't splashing around.

Andy's been put on rest until further notice, which leaves me without a training partner for running. His hip started hurting on Sunday during our run and last night he jogged for 15 minutes until it hurt again and he had to stop. Running without a partner is always a little harder since when you don't feel like running, you tend to just stop and rather take a rest. When I run with him though, we end up being race horses to each other - one goes faster and the other feels that they should keep up. I have fun training with him, I'm just hoping he recovers soon and then I'll do my easy runs with him until he can join me for the longer ones.

Posted by karinm at 9:03 AM | Comments (1)

September 20, 2005

Swimming Brats

Trying to swim in a pool where there are other people splashing around is amusing. More so because some people expect other to give way to their kids (who will, without a second thought, swim right over/ into you) all the time. This was the case last night. One child went as far as to watch me approach, stepping in front of me and walking towards me. It must've have frustrated him slightly when I changed my course and swam around him. He then turned around and as if intentional, made sure that this time he stayed in my path, so that I would have to stop. I stopped. I gave him an earful. His mom gave me an earful. I couldn't help myself and informed her that he obviously takes after her. If she approves of his disregard and disrespect for other peoplek I wonder why she took such an offense to my statement.

By all means, I don't expect anyone to keep out of my way when I swim at a pool during non-lane swimming times, but don't go out of your way to make someone else's swimming experience an unpleasant one. The last few lengths of the swim was fun, I swam around the poeple playing in the pool and some kids dove under me while I swam and waved at me. From tomorrow though, I think I'll be doing my swimming during lane swimming times only until I join some club sessions.

Then this morning I woke up and my legs made it clear that they were in no mood to run. A slight stiffness in them made me feel sluggish. A decision of will was made and with a promise to myself to take it easy, I went out.

The first 5 minutes went by without me noticing. The second 5 minutes I felt a little heavy, but the run still felt easy. The third 5 minutes I ran across wet clay; my legs didn't want to do that. Then I got off the clay and the next 9 minutes went okay, although I could feel that I was still tired from the weekend and yesterday.

Tonight I have a bike ride scheduled and tomorrow morning a short run. I think I'll see how I feel before I tackle those and if I do it, rather take it a little easier than I intended in the first place. No use in over-doing it :)

Posted by karinm at 9:53 AM | Comments (1)

September 19, 2005

Early Morning Bliss

Waking up on a morning when it is cold is hard. Waking up and going for a run on a cold morning is harder. That is, however, what I did this morning. Andy woke me up with a cup of coffee and left the house with a 'Enjoy your run!' coming up the stairs before he closed the door. When I considered not going for a run then, a twinge of guilt kicked me out of bed and dragged me outside.

The run was quiet - apart from my breathing and footsteps on the road. Even though it was after 7 already, there were not a single car around to disturb me. I ran past a woman and her dog. She smiled at me. I ran past someone that was out for a walk. He nodded at me. There were no birds, no animals, nothing else that made a sound.

When I finished, I was out of breath and completely happy. It was a good run. It might have been hard to get out, but in the end, it felt like it was worth it.

Posted by karinm at 12:36 PM | Comments (0)

September 18, 2005

Nettles, Bike Rides and Wrong Turns

Going to Healing was a spur of the moment decision on Friday. Once I got home, I went inside for a cup of coffee and Andy started packing the bikes. At 20h00 we were on our way towards Grimsby and shortly after 22h00 we were there.

Andy's dad was slightly surprised to see that we brought bikes along, but he didn't say much, just helped us unpack.

Saturday morning we took the bikes and explored the area around his parents house, before managing to get slightly lost and thus increasing the time we were away from home. Andy's mom wanted to go see Pride and Prejudice with me, and we had to be home before 13h00 in order to leave on time.

We got home after a rather long extra bit, but it was an absolutely lovely outing.

Then we thought that we'd go for our run this morning, but discovered that some clothing was left behind... it interfered with our plans ever so slightly. We left his parents' two hours early and made our way back to our house.

On arrival I don't think even 10 minutes was spent before we were out of the door and pounding the road. I felt really good and the pace didn't feel that fast as we made our way to the Lount footpath.

The previous time that we ran on this particular footpath, we lost the path and ended up in restricted area - we had to go through security to get OUT - leaving them to wonder how we ever got in.

This time we managed to find the missing path, but once on it, it became clear that we wouldn't stay on it for long. 100m after we got onto it, the grass became a little wobbly. A tractor must've been on there recently and the danger of our ankles getting twisted was too high, so we turned around and went back on the way we came. On my way out of this field of doom, a few nettles stung me - the burning has yet to leave my legs.

We ran towards the Cloud trail and it was at that stage that I realised we were going much faster than we normally do.

We normally run around 5'55"/km, but today we had the following splits :

1 km 5'41"
2 km 5'49"
3 km 5'49"
4 km 5'52"
5 km 5'17"
6 km 4'49" - 33'17" total!

It didn't feel that fast, but it was not what I expected. I expected to run at around 6'00"/km and after 6km I wanted to slow down and run the last 4 minutes slowly in order to cool down somewhat.

After 6km I started running slowly... REALLY slowly. Andy's hip was sore; I walked a bit with him, before jogging the remaining few minutes for a total of 6.76km.

I love surprises like that :)

On another note - my ankle feels absolutely fine. I think the 2 days rest definitely did it some good :)

Posted by karinm at 6:01 PM | Comments (1)

September 15, 2005

And the Rain Came Pouring Down

Running was... interesting tonight.

On my way home, the rain came pouring down by the bucket, almost bringing traffic to a halt, but an hour and a half after I left work, I got home. Andy had a mug of hot chocolate waiting for me - always a good thing.

While he was making supper we were contemplating just staying in tonight. We were going to go for our run once my hot chocolate were finished, but it seemed more and more likely we weren't going to go at all - the rain seemed to get worse, and with the wind blowing like it did, we just didn't want to face the weather.

After supper our minds changed. The wind had stopped and the rain was only drizzling now. We put on a few layers of clothes and out of the door we went.

1km later we hit our first hiccup. I stepped into a hole covered by water and twisted my ankle slightly. Half a minute later I felt okay though, so we were on our way again. We jogged a little slower, but as I didn't feel any pain, we picked up the pace gently. Our aim never was to run fast tonight, just to run.

Another half a kilometer passed before the rain once again tooks its place around us. We were soaked. We did however finish the 32'00" run and managed to run in around less than 6'00"/km, so we were happy.

Now I'm just waiting to see if my ankle got hurt badly - at the moment I'm icing it and then keeping it warm. We'll see tomorrow.

On another note - thanks for importing my mileage Jeff! Now I can start putting in more!

Posted by karinm at 8:35 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Biking and Plans

I love winter time. It reminds me of when I was younger and doing cross-country. I loved XC more than track and my mom (at that time my coach) wouldn't let me do road races until I was 16. I loved the fact that every race we ran had a different course - things didn't get boring.

This may also explain why I enjoy running around our village as well. The trail I run on have so many different routes that I can take, and the area around our village are really runner-friendly. There aren't a lot of cars racing from point A to point B and if I feel like it I can always disappear on the National Cycle Network trails which have areas where cars aren't allowed.

Yesterday evening we went for a mountain bike ride around the area - we took a few turns that we haven't thought of before, and ended up getting onto one of the busier roads in the area on our way home. My butt got slightly sore from the ride, but I figure that's because I'm not quite used to it just yet. The road bike doesn't seem to hurt me as much as the mountain bike does though. Andy mentioned that his quads were really feeling a bit stiff - I just nodded.

This morning I planned to go for a bike ride, but because of the rain decided against it. There's something about rain and roads with cars on it that scares me. Methinks an investment in a trainer is called for... Tonight we're going for a run - about 32'00

Posted by karinm at 12:10 PM | Comments (0)

September 9, 2005

The Not so Fresh Aroma

Since we live out in the country and the village is surrounded by farms, sometimes you walk out the door into a rather horrible smell. You can't always just stand the smell either, which was the case last night. I climbed out of my car, trying not to gag until I got in the door and then shut every window and door tightly.

The stench was horrible. How do you possibly run in that? Sometimes it doesn't smell quite as bad and you run in a direction that will at some stage lead you out of the offensive area. Last night we had supper, and after supper Andy dared to go outside and see if there was any improvement. Luckily there was.

We put on our gear and for about 25 minutes jogged, trying to get used to just running together and having some fun. Andy had a stitch (for most of the way), but kept up until the last 10 minutes. I left him behind (he asked me to) for 5 minutes, then turned around and once I got back to him, jogged the rest of the way home with him.

Then we took out those bikes and went for a short ride. Our bottoms felt a little tender after the previous evening's ride, which probably means we should either get other seats, harden up, or get gel seats. Whichever would be our choice.

Tonight we're going to go watch a cricket match, so I doubt there'll be any running happening, but tomorrow we'll take the bikes out for a ride on one of the trails and I'll probably end up running a few miles over the weekend as well. From next week normality will return and everything will be as it should.

Posted by karinm at 7:56 AM | Comments (0)

September 4, 2005

London Marathon Ballot Entries

Well, for the past week I haven't really run. My mom has come to visit and since we walk in excess of 6 miles a day, at the end of the day I'm generally just too sore and tired to even attempt going for a run.

Last week myself and Andy sent in our ballot entries for the London Marathon. We were joking about the fact that only one of us might get an entry. It'd be slightly amusing if he was the one that got it since he hasn't run a marathon before and plans on that one being his first. He's quite sure that if he's the only one that gets an entry, he won't attempt running. I somehow don't see him not running after all the training.

My Garmin Forerunner 301 arrived, and I'm quite happy with it. It seems like a bit of a waste, but to get a feel for it, we went for a walk around the lake at Clumber Park. When we got home I managed to see how "well" it works and I think I'm really going to enjoy the new gadget - it is yet another thing that I have to put on before my run, but hopefully it'll help a little.

Adas last week asked if he could start running with us again. If you remember, a few months ago I wrote about him. He stopped running with us - because we run too little - and he was going to rather get on a treadmill in the gym. Well, it is about 3 months later and he's been in the gym about 5 times since then. He's gained about a stone and obviously now feels that we run a sufficient amount for him to start running with us again.

I don't have a problem with him running with us. The only thing I fear is that since myself and Andy run about 4 days a week, and he'll only run about twice weekly, he'll end up a significant amount unfitter than us and if Andy feels sorry for him, might end up destroying our training sessions. I know that I should probably then schedule our easier training sessions for when Ad runs with us, but then that's not exactly good for his training either.

I guess I'll have to wait and see.

Its early. I should go and switch on the kettle and make everyone some coffee, served with rusks and other breakfast treats.

Hope everyone is still having a wonderful time training. I'll be back on Monday!

Posted by karinm at 7:03 AM | Comments (0)

August 24, 2005

Running Food

Yesterday afternoon I arrived home just in time to start making food. I meant to go running, but when I got home, I also wanted to start cooking. How to manage both?

I made all the elements of supper and put them all into a casserole dish (chicken, pasta, mushroom, egg and cheese) and put it in the oven where it was supposed to stay for 20 minutes. Then I hurridly put on some running clothes and finally jumped out the door with Andy ... we ran at quite a pace and 21 minutes later we were back home and the food cooked to perfection. Ta-daaa! A 3km run and supper all within an hour!

The rest of the evening were less eventful, although we didn't expect the cold weather and rain that we got when we woke up this morning, which meant that some running shoes that were put out to dry with the laundry are now soaking wet.

I love English weather :)

Posted by karinm at 8:02 AM | Comments (0)

August 22, 2005

Sunday Afternoon Pain

Running yesterday had to bumps - one minor and another that is maybe a little more serious than I am willing to admit at this stage.

When I stepped outside our front door yesterday afternoon I was hit by a really strong, very unpleasant aroma. Farmers were working in the fields surrounding the village, which explained a lot.

The music was good tho and I wanted to complete the Worthington 5 mile course since the last time I did it, my back went into spasm with very little to go and I didn't move for several minutes before completing it.

After 3 miles I still felt okay, although my legs felt a bit more tired than I had hoped it would. After 4 miles all was well and I felt strong. With 1 km to go I felt pain like I had never felt it before. My back had gone into spasm again and I couldn't think straight.

After standing completely still for a few minutes, I walked home where Andy helped me by giving me a little bit of a massage before I climbed into a hot bath. Half an hour later I felt like myself again, but still a little grumpy because once again I couldn't finish the course.

I went for a walk with Andy later on, but it just didn't feel like a good end to the day.

This morning I woke up with rain pouring down outside, my bed feeling very snuggly and my head telling me that it would be okay to postphone my run until this afternoon. :)

Posted by karinm at 1:00 PM | Comments (0)

August 18, 2005

Bright sunshine run

This morning Andy left at 6:20AM and after that I lay in for a while longer, with my alarm going off every 10 minutes and me hitting the snooze button. At 7 I thought it would be a good idea to get up and get some tea. Instead I had a glass of water and decided to go for a run.

As I was getting ready for my run, it struck me how much longer it takes me now to get ready. When I was 10 years old, it was a matter of putting on clothes and shoes (sometimes not even that) and walking out the door. Now I have to get the right shorts, the right top, my iPod, my Navman, my watch... and when I want to do a long run, some water. It takes at least 5 times longer because usually I end up searching for my Navman, iPod and watch. The rest are relatively easy to find.

In any case. I stepped out into some really bright sunshine and turned back into the house. I needed a cap to run with today. 2 minutes later I got out of the house again and stood just soaking in the rays until I heard that familiar beep that said it was ok to start running. My Navman would in a way record how far I run.

The music was good and as I put one foot in front of another my mind drifted, while I just enjoyed looking around me. I turned down the Cloud Trail and eventually landed under some trees. My feet were ok. My legs were just about dead. My breath was little. I kept running and got startled by a load of trucks passing me on the path next to the trail.

After 14 minutes I turned around, having worked out that if I turned around at that point, I would reach the point where I wanted to stop just within the 20 minutes that I planned to run. After 20 minutes though, I realised that I needed just a little more to finish 4km today.

I finished the 4km in 21'30". I felt so pleased that I would've run further, had my legs not turned to jelly the moment I reached the 4km mark.

In other news... I placed a bid on a Garmin Forerunner 301 on eBay and hopefully I'll win the bid. I've been wanting to get one for a while, and now seems like about the right time. If anyone has any thoughts on it, please drop me a note :)

Time to run!

Posted by karinm at 12:15 PM | Comments (0)

August 17, 2005

An Unexpected PR

Yesterday afternoon I wanted to go for a run - as per the plan - for 20 minutes. I still felt a little stiff after our gym session on Monday, but I felt good about running and once I got home I immediately hit the road. I put on my iPod shuffle (I run on a trail, so there's very little chance of me being hit by another moving object, unless it is a bike or another athlete) and while listening to the good music, just ran my heart out.

After 16 minutes I felt a little out of breath. I figured it was just the unfit body of mine complaining about running and wanting me to take a rest. I glanced down at my NavMan and nearly fell over. I had covered 3km already! Wow, a pace faster than 6'00" without really thinking about it or trying. I was having a good running day. So I kept on running, but my legs started feeling increasingly more heavy than it did before I looked down.

I worked at it though and decided that I'd keep on running until I managed to get to a 5km mark. My time : 27'49"! It was the fastest 5km I've run since I've started in April. By more than a minute - which is the 5km I ran about 5 weeks ago. I was so happy I got a big smile across my face as I slowly jogged the last 500m home. Only when I got home I realised that sweat was literally dripping from me. I obviously am taking in enough fluids.

Andy gave me a cold drink while I stretched a little and then I took a shower.

I love runs that unexpectedly become faster than you thought it would be. :)

Posted by karinm at 11:12 AM | Comments (0)

August 15, 2005

Monday Morning Dogs

When I woke up this morning the last thing on my mind was going out for a run. After our gym session from hell yesterday I felt really tired, sore and stiff. My body was complaining about the neglect for 4 weeks and a hard first session.

But shortly after Andy left I pu on my running shoes and set out for a 20-minute run Three minutes into the run I came across my first obstacle : Four untrained Labradors with an owner that couldn't control them. The dogs ran to me and jumped up against me. When I tried to keep them off me with my hands and one knee, the owner told ME that there was no need to get aggressive with her dogs. Aggressive my foot. Was I supposed to just stand there until they jumped on me and I fell to the ground? If you can't control your dogs, put a leash on them!

The rest of the run went okay, with the sun leaving my face with a bit of a pinkish glow. When I got home the shower was extremely welcome.

Posted by karinm at 1:06 PM | Comments (0)

August 10, 2005

Pain, Breathe, Pain, Breathe

Ouch. Can you say pain?

I've been ill for 5 weeks. Today was the first day that I managed to get myself to go for a run, and I felt up to it, really I did. I got home about an hour ago, and after sitting on the stairs for about 5 minutes, I walked into the room, opened the drawer and took out the clothes, half fearing that some moths might have found their way into my running gear.

I put them on and ventured downstairs to find my running shoes. I found them, still without laces or inner-soles, left like that after I washed them 5 weeks ago after our soggy run in the Worthington 5 Mile. I found the inner-sole, and pushed Andy to find my laces. He found them in the living room. I laced up my shoes, wondering why the holes were so small and then tied my shoes tightly.

Outside I waited a little while. My NavMan isn't used to being used anymore. A minute later it beeped - the signal was received and I was on my way. The first five minutes went okay. Then my breath started feeling heavy. My feet automatically fell in front of one another.

A lady pushing her bike was walking up the hill, facing me. She smiled at me with a smile that said 'You fool.' I nodded and carried on. I passed a man and his dog. His dog barked and ran after me for about 50m until his owner called him back. I found a turn in the footpath and headed up the hill again. I saw another man and his dog. Everyone owns a dog but me!

At the top of the hill I got the crazy idea to turn around and go down it. Once again I found another dog and his owner. The owner was bopping his head to the beat of the iPod that occupied his ears. He smiled and waved. I grunted and waved. 5 minutes was left before my pain could end. Only 5 minutes.

I ran home the way I went, but no longer did it feel like it came automatically. I had to work for my distance.

23 minutes 22 seconds after I started I stopped. 4.01km had been run. The jello that is my legs wobbled up the hill to our house. I walked straight through the house, out the back and collapsed at the back of the house, wanting to stretch. Andy handed me an understanding bottle of Lucozade Sport.

I'm running again!

Posted by karinm at 6:08 PM | Comments (0)

August 8, 2005

Learning to Walk before you Run

Yesterday afternoon after Celine and Adas left, myself and Andy went for a walk. After being ill for more than 3 weeks, it felt like a real strain just trying to walk the 2 miles that we have so often run. It felt odd and after 5 minutes I felt a little weak, but carried on with the walk.

I needed to get out of the house and some fresh air - the sky was absolutely beautiful, alive with the colours of fire. I wished for my camera right then, but it was too far away - good reason to go for a walk again tonight!

Its not funny how I lost so much fitness by getting ill. Will have to work on it again now. :(

Posted by karinm at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)

August 1, 2005

Getting Back on Track

Well, I'm finally feeling better and ready to start training again. The past few weeks have really gotten me thinking and made me realise that there is nothing to gain when you train whilst ill.

So, right, am off track for the Robin Hood Half Marathon, but we might still jog it slowly. In the meantime we have to work on a little bit of fitness again now. So we'll start with just doing our 25-30 minute runs again this week. Tonight actually.

Yesterday I went to relax in the sauna, but it didn't quite work out as I'd have liked. We meant to go for a swim, but the pool was occupied by the local swimming club, which meant we'd have had to wait another 40 minutes to get near the pool, and by then it would've been 9 o' clock. I had a long day, needed my rest and we decided to rather go home and just spend some time together. So tonight we'll run again.

Posted by karinm at 12:11 PM | Comments (0)

July 14, 2005

No Running :(

We didn't run yesterday, and I very much doubt we will today. Yesterday on my way home I realised I had no appetite, my glands were swollen and I had difficulty breathing. I also felt incredibly tired. All of these combined reminded me of the first time I had glandular fever, so I'll see how the day progresses and then decide whether I'm ok to run tonight. If I feel the same tonight, I'll rather go see a doctor first and then see if it is anything serious.

Meanwhile I've had some breakfast - lately I fancy tuna/salmon on toast for breakfast. It keeps me full for much longer than most of the cereals we have, but from next week it'll be me and Weetabix again. I haven't had it in a while, but I figure it can only be a good thing since it is full of all that wheaty goodness ;)

If I feel ok tonight, we'll probably only do a short run. I really want to write about how I'm enjoying running again - it frustrates me that I can't go out and take a jog. I think the glands were the reason for my hardness of breathing yesterday afternoon, but then again, what do I know. We'll know by tonight.

I have something to write about, but it might take a while to put it all in words. Hopefully it'll be ready by tomorrow so I can post it. :)

Posted by karinm at 6:12 AM | Comments (0)

July 11, 2005

The first run after illness

This morning I decided to go out for a walk. Then before I even started walking, I decided to run - Andy sort of encouraged me to do it when I got dressed, so I thought a 10 minute jog couldn't hurt. It turned into a 20 minute run with which I feel incredibly pleased. I started out slowly - but as always, when you leave our town, you hit a hill, so 200m from home I started the upward climb on the first hill.

Once I got to the top, I felt good, and just carried on at the pace I was going, running along the beautiful cloud trail.... a mile into the run, I noticed a family of bunnies waiting next to the path, cheering me on. I jogged by and they just sat there... I ran up the hill and a 100m later 10 minutes had passed, so I turned around. On my way back, the bunnies were still there. I swear they were waiting for me. I tried to keep my pace relatively steady and when the 20 minutes were over, I was tired. Really tired. But I felt good.

So, the first run after being ill for almost 2 weeks felt good. I just hope that I can now build up my training again and hopefully feel back to my old self in another week or two.

Posted by karinm at 1:14 PM | Comments (0)

July 8, 2005

Worthington 5 Mile Pain

On Tuesday, after a week of being ill and barely able to stand, nevermind walk or run, I find myself in the pickle of wanting to do the Worthington 5 mile race. Hmmm, what to do?

So of course, I do the most stupid thing you can after being ill and decide to do the race in the rain. Yes, you read right, in the rain. We went and entered 45 minutes before the start and stood outside with the drizzle making us sufficiently wet to not want to wear the clothes we are in, but dry enough to not change into anything else just yet.

It was Andy's first race and I really wanted him to enjoy it. So, at the start, we were joking about chafing of nipples etc, and he laughed when I mentioned that it does happen. We started too fast - the first mile flew by in 8 minutes, and we were aiming to do them in about 9 minutes each to just finish in 45 minutes.

Two and a half miles into the race I felt the first warning sign - a cramp in my back. I told Andy to carry on, and 200m later, I was in enough pain to bring me to a grinding halt - leaving me to walk up the hill to the 3 mile mark. I wanted to scream, but since there were still some other people around, managed to keep it in for a while.

The four mile mark came too slow. It was still quite fast, but definitely took me too long to get there. Now there was only a mile left. I tried to keep the pace - the end was almost there! 200 yards and it happened. I fell to the ground, my back in a spasm that didn't listen to my pleas to leave. It held me there. Some marshals ran to my aid, as did some of the other runners that had already finished.

I stood up after a while and finished the race while walking. I wasn't proud of how it happened. It was horrible. Andy went to get the car and came to pick me up so we could go home. My first race since we started running had ended horribly.

The next day I was in bed. As ill as I was the week before, and feeling ten times worse. I learnt my lesson - stay in bed when ill, don't run, and when you start again, take it easy. It isn't worth the pain to put such stress on your body when it is still weak after its battles with the germs.

I've rested since, and feel a lot better today - this weekend I'll take it easy and start training again next week. I might take it a little easier than I want to, but at least I won't get ill again.

Posted by karinm at 1:14 PM | Comments (0)

June 22, 2005

The First Real Speedwork Session

Yesterday afternoon myself and Andy went to do our first speedwork session since we started running. The track that we planned to use was occupied by some archers, and since we had no wish to be pierced with any sharp object, we took our positions on the football fields that are just next to the track - the football fields aren't really for use though, as it slopes towards the one side, leaving you with 2 stretches of uphill, and 2 stretches of downhill. When you run along the edges of these fields, you get a total of 540m per lap.

We were going to do 600m repeats (only 4 of those), so we figured 540m repeats were going to have to do, as we didn't want to measure out the last 60m - lazy, I know! We set off, nearly dying on the first lap. We didn't quite know how long the field was at that stage, so Andy pushed it a little harder than he should have, as did I. Once we finished that first lap, we took a breather and ran the second one - even faster than the first one. Having a sip of water was in order now. Then we did the third, and my legs were starting to give in, but I still managed to run a time similar to the first 2 laps. The fourth one was the killer. I really pushed all the way and managed to make the last one my fastest and the one that ultimately made my legs as wobbly as jelly.

I felt really good after this run, but I'm glad we don't have to do something similar today - today is just an easy longish run. Fun :)

This morning when I woke, I was tired, but the first thing I realised when I woke, was how heavy my legs felt. It was as if someone had tied a bag of bricks to both of them. It took me about 30 minutes to just properly wake up and convince myself to get out of the bed.

Posted by karinm at 6:16 AM | Comments (0)

June 21, 2005

A Slowish Jog in Extreme Heat

Myself and Andy DID go for our run last night – I did it not really knowing that it was already past 20h00! We started off quite easy, with our legs feeling really heavy and like there was only going to be about 10 minutes of running. 30 minutes later we stopped – with 5km behind us. The run was relaxing and did me a world of good – now I’m looking forward to our speedwork tonight – even though I still feel a little like a corpse, drained of all energy and as if I’m going to fall over with the slighest bit of exertion. We’ll see how it goes though. Afterwards I’ll attempt swimming the 16 lengths required of me tonight – that I don’t feel will be a problem.

Posted by karinm at 1:17 PM | Comments (0)

June 10, 2005

Pushing the Pace a Little

Yesterday after our warmup, we wanted to complete our 30 minute run, but we didn’t really feel like doing just the plain run as we have been doing for the past 9 weeks… so instead we did 2 X 5 minute intervals with a 5 minute jog inbetween, followed by some easy jogging. My legs wanted to kill me after the first 5 minutes … and the second one was quite the revelation – Andy is a natural runner and runs away from me by miles!

The route we took was directly onto the Cloud trail – it is EXTREMELY beautiful, I have to tell you. The trees make a tunnel with their branches, shielding you from the sun and keeping us perfectly cool, although it still felt humid and there was a fair amount of itty bitty little flies that managed to get stuck on our shirts (luckily not in our eyes and mouthes). We passed a signpost which said that Derby was 12 miles on … we might try to run there sometime and catch a bus or something back to home. I think that if the whole route is like the part we ran, it’ll be a really relaxing run.

I felt really tired after the run, and we went off to the spa where he swam while I relaxed in the sauna for about 20 minutes. I think the tiredness that I felt was just due to the fact that I got to bed a little late the previous evening – something that I think is true, because this morning (after getting to bed just before midnight), I still have that tired feeling in my body. Luckily tonight is a rest night (not sure how good that is J )

Tomorrow we’ll go for a shortish run, with Sunday our long run day. We’ll probably only run about 50 – 60 minutes, and hopefully manage to make it past 25km for the week….

Posted by karinm at 1:18 PM | Comments (0)

June 9, 2005

Legs Hurting - Body Tired

This morning I felt an exhaustion flow through my body that I haven’t felt in a while – it is probably just the iron levels that have dropped to below some acceptable level again. I stood up from my chair at work earlier and my legs felt heavy without me trying to pick them up. At first I thought it was just that I had sat down for too long, but then I felt a dull pain spreading from my feet up into my quads. It only left me once I sat down again … which leads me to ask whether I have actually done too much exercise in the past couple of weeks and need a break from it?

Then I thought again and realised that it was probably just a lack of sleep – I only got to bed around midnight last night and was up again this morning just after six. Andy nudged me at about 6h35 and in return got whapped with Buttons (one of the 101 Dalmation stuffed toys) … he just chuckled as I tried to get some measure of sleepiness out of my body and some life into my thoughts. A cup of coffee would have done me good.

The reason he woke me up was that we were going to go for a run this morning, but … I just wouldn’t have made it past the street in front of our house. I desperately needed that extra hour or two of sleep that I usually manage to get in when I go to bed at normal times.

So this afternoon we’ll try again – I’ll arrive home and he’ll probably ask me when we’re going to run to which I will HAVE to answer “Now.” , or it just won’t be a run.

I’m looking forward to it, don’t get me wrong. After a hard day at work though, the only thing I crave is the couch. Running makes me energetic and I think that’s what my brain fears the most. That it will get out of the state of couch-potato and actually WANT to go to the gym after the run and relax in the pool for a few lengths before hitting the sauna for a good 20-minute sweat.

So it shall be….

Posted by karinm at 1:21 PM | Comments (0)

June 8, 2005

Attack of the Cows

Soooo, yesterday afternoon I didn't really feel like a run. I must admit. But after supper (we had some curried chicken), I felt this little nudge from my conscience and myself and Andy went for our run. We only planned to run for 30 minutes...

We started on our run, heading up Bull Hill lane to do our normal run on the Cloud trail, but for some reason, I decided that we needed to turn right instead of our normal left and this started one of many little mistakes that I made - our run turned into a classic one of climbing over hedges, trying to find the public footpath, chasing sheep and fending off murderous thorns. After 14 minutes we managed to find the road again and as could be expected, some hills was there to greet us. We enjoyed it though and after finding the road, the pace turned up quite a bit.

Our turnaround point was near a gate, and we pushed the pace, finishing the 30 minutes at about 15km/hour - which is a lot faster than we normally run.

Now, our normal cooldown consists of stretching, walking a few 100m, jogging a few minutes and then walking till we find home. Today was to be no different. After our run, we walked a bit, climbed over a hedge onto a public footpath and then stood in the field, stretching. 5 minutes later Andy noticed that some cows were jogging our way. No problem, right? That's where you're wrong. These two cows were of the male species and shortly after they reached us, they started jumping in a threatening way... I screamed a little, and they seemed to back off.

During this time, a third and fourth one had reached us... and the one seemed keen to engage in battle with me. I walked 3 steps backwards, he bounded three steps towards me.

"STOP!" I shouted. He stopped. Then he realised that I was about 10 times smaller than he was and came for me again. I looked at the hedge where we climbed over. Two more cows had blocked that exit, meaning that if we were to leave the field, we were doing it via the gate, 500m away on the other side of the field.

I looked over at Andy.

"Do you think you can sprint 500m?" I asked.

"Can you?" he asked.

"I don't know. Want to try?" I replied.

"Sure... " came the answer.

So I turned around and sprinted, the cows following us ...

I have never been that afraid. Never. I didn't think we'd make the gate, but we did... greeted by a horse who luckily had no intention to scare us even further.

And that... was our first speed training session since we started running....

Posted by karinm at 1:22 PM | Comments (1)

June 1, 2005

How I started Running

When I was 9 years old, I was in a school where taking part in Athletics (Track & Field) was compulsory. So I went to training as was required. At our house meeting, I took part in my first 800m. I finished second, but felt so good about the run and wanted to do it again.

At the next meeting, two weeks later, I took part in the 800m again. And the next meeting. I finished second in every race. At the Pietermaritzburg and Districts meeting I ran and finished last. But the running bug had bit me and I wasn’t about to give up.

The next year (1989), my mom told me to take part in landsdiens and when I heard the word landloop (cross-country) on the intercom, I thought that was what she meant and went to the meeting. I loved training.. the coach was fun and she kept the training sessions interesting. I never got bored.

My first cross-country race took place at Crystal Springs near Kokstad (South Africa). My mom came to watch. I was incredibly nervous and afraid of the run, so to calm me down, she started braiding two pigtails down the sides of my head. She was just starting to do the second one, when my coach came up to us, looking a little confused and surprised to see me there. I had missed the start of my race!

I rushed off to catch up with the rest of the runner and didn’t slow down. I had so much adrenalin rushing through me that I didn’t feel a thing – not even when I lost a shoe in the mud on the course.

By the time I reached the end, I was exhausted. I finished and a marshal came to give me a place disk. My face morphed into one big smile. I had won the race, even though I started a minute behind the field! For days after my parents and coach teased me, but that was the last and only time I missed the start of a race.

That season was what planted my love for running firmly in me forever.

Posted by karinm at 1:23 PM | Comments (0)

May 20, 2005

My first and only marathon thusfar

When I was young and inexperienced I decided to run a marathon. I ran about 30km per week, and had only run for four months after coming back from a year break, bur I felt confident that I was ready for the 42.2km that lay ahead of me.

So at 5:00AM on a cool Saturday morning, I lined up with 500 other runners and when the gun went, started what would probably be my longest marathon ever.

The first 2km went quick – too quick – but I felt good. I had a cup of water and half a cup of the coke and carried on running.

The 10km mark approached. When I looked down at my watch I noticed the 00:50:00 staring back at me. It was faster than I expected. My body told me I felt good. My mind told me to slow down. I ignored my mind and carried on at the comfortable pace that I was managing.

At the 15km mark my legs started tiring a bit. I took a short walk while sipping the energy drink that an attendant had given me and started running again. I ignored the dull pain in my calves that should have warned me that cramps were going to attack.

Less than half a mile later I was forced to stop and walk. My calves were hard as bricks and cramping to much that I didn’t even feel the tears in my eyes stinging. There was a first aid station 500m ahead. I forced my feet to carry me to it. Once there, I was greeted by a physio that smiled with a smile that said ‘FOOL’ without a sound. She made me lie down and started inflicting pain on me with those cruel hands of hers.

Thankfully it seemed to help and 10 minutes later I was back on the road, dragging my feet meter by meter. A friendly runner spotted me and my pain. She pulled up next to me and started talking, trying to distract me. I started counting the kilometers to the end.

18 … 19 … 20 … 21

My legs felt like dead logs, sending pulses of incredible pain into my body and brain. The friendly runner stayed with me, walking when I walked, plodding when I plodded.

22 … 23 … 24 … 25

I was past the halfway mark. Stubbornly I carried on. The friendly runner tried to give some advise, passed me water, handed me gels, squeezed sponges full of water over me. I tried to smile, but I think I only managed to scare the other people around me with a snarl.

26 … 27 … 28 … 29

We made a turn near the finish. The friendly runner was still by my side. By now I was running 300m, then walking 500m. I felt like I was dying. Other runners that passed us, wheezed, whispered, spoke and shouted words of encouragement. I had finished more than three quarters of the route – there was no giving up now.

30 … 31 … 32 … 33

We got to the top of the last hill and I wanted to cry. My legs were killing me. I finally understood that I was too unfit to have run the race. I went out too fast in the beginning stages. I wish I hadn’t woken up at 3:45AM to get to the start line on time. Every muscle in my body hurt.

37 .. 38 … 39 … 40 … 41

One kilometer to go and I could see the end. I had no energy left, but I managed to get enough together to carry on running without walking. I crossed the line with a smile on my face – glad that it was finally over. One marshal put a medal around my neck while another pushed an energy drink into my hand. The time : 04:25:16 My first marathon was over.

I sat down on the grass to get the weight off my legs – when I wanted to get up again, I needed help, and lots of it. For days afterwards I couldn’t walk…

Now, years later, I’ve set myself a goal. Next year, I want to run the London marathon. If I should fail to get an entry, I’ll run the Paris marathon.

Let us hope that this time, it won’t hurt as much.

Posted by karinm at 1:24 PM | Comments (0)

May 9, 2005

Oh Pain And Suffering!

Our run tonight was interesting, to say the least. All 3 of us brough along MP3 players with our choice of music on them. So we set off, and within the first kilometer hit a wonderful 200m long hill. Not steep, but just steep enough to take some wind out of our sails. It also seemed that all 3 of us were listening to relatively fast paced music, because we ran our first 10 minutes at a blistering pace before feeling the effects in the second 10 minutes of our run. My calves were killing me (they still are) and A seemed to suffer a little. We reached the end of our course with a minute to go, which meant we had to go around the field until the minute was over. I thought I was going to die. A thought he was going to die. But we didn't. We finished the run and then out of breath and energy, took our tired bodies to the pool to paddle for a couple of minutes before heading home.

When we got home, we had a quick supper and thought we'd be brave and go for a smallish walk just to loosen our muscles. Unfortunately we took a wrong turn in some field and ended up walking for half an hour more than we planned to - by the time we got back home our legs were killing us.

So, I took my shower and now I intend to go lie in front of the television and relax until I want to go to bed and fall asleep :)

Posted by karinm at 8:37 PM | Comments (0)

April 15, 2005

Feeling Fitter Yet?

Last nights running was relaxing and the air was hotter than the previous evening. The first repeat we suffered slightly - my breath thought it was going to disappear into the sunset, but by the second repeat I was feeling absolutely great.

There's a bite of sorts on my left inner thigh, and it really hurts when I run though. I think I'm going to need to see a doctor about it today just to make sure it isn't serious.

Posted by karinm at 6:05 AM | Comments (0)

April 14, 2005

Run Run Run

Last night the plan was to do 5 repeats of run 3 minutes, walk 3 minutes, but we felt pretty good and my boyfriend seemed to handle the 4 minute run better than the 3 minute run. He didn’t even use his inhaler once during the run! We ran on the rugby fields, but since it was wet, didn’t venture into the rough on the field right next to it.

The fields that we run on is quite flat and perfect for the beginner stage. Right next to the rugby field where we run, there is a rough piece of field with a slight slope though. One of those fields where you have to watch where you step or you might lose your ankle to injury. We went for a run there on Monday night and had a great time, although we were out of breath for most of the time.

I’m worried about the arm that I donated blood with – it seems to be getting worse and worse with more bruises showing up each day, but I’m not sure if a doctor will see anything wrong with that. I’ll give it till Sunday and if by then it doesn’t start looking better, go see a doctor.

Today is cloudy and it seems like it might rain tonight, but we’ll probably still go out for a run. :)

Posted by karinm at 9:04 AM | Comments (0)

April 12, 2005

Feeling Real Good

I’m feeling relatively good today, although my arm is still hurting quite a bit after donating blood on Sunday. Bruises now cover the entire length of my lower arm – I somehow suspect that this isn’t normal.

This morning I was watching the Paris marathon (a re-run) and something inside me moved. I wanted to go out for a run, but seeing as how I was already late for work, I figured I should probably rather get into the shower and make my way to work. Tonight we’re due for another 3 minute run, 3 minute walk, repeat 5 times session and I’m really looking forward to it. I feel like a schoolgirl with the excitement that I all of a sudden feel when I think about running.

Posted by karinm at 1:03 PM | Comments (0)

April 11, 2005

Another Night, Another Run

The whole day I was looking forward to tonights run... there were emotions bubbling through me that just wanted to get me out of the office and onto the fields. I know it might sound silly, but I'm really excited about the fact that I've started running again. And so is my boyfriend. He's almost more excited than I am!

During lunch I went through some of the sites that I've been reading through over the course of the last week and compared some of the training programs that I found to each other. They were more or less similar, recommending that I start running again through the run/walk method.

During our run, the first 3 repeats felt good, during the fourth, I suddenly started feeling really tired. We kept the pace up for the duration of the fourth repeat and then decided to take the 5th one a little easier as we were both struggling just a little.

It definitely showed us that we still had a way to go, but for a second session, that isn't too bad :)

Posted by karinm at 7:45 PM | Comments (0)

Frustration & Improvement

“Frustration is the first step towards improvement. I have no incentive to imrpove if I’m content with what I can do and if I’m completely satisfied with my pace, distance and form as a runner. It’s only when I face frustration and use it to fuel my dedication that I feel myself moving forwards.”- John Bingham (No Need for Speed)

That quote struck a cord of familiarity – I feel frustrated now while I’m running, because at some stage I know that I could run faster than I am at the moment. At some stage I could run 30 minutes without the need to walk every 3 minutes. Sometimes during the course of running/walking, I feel the need to go a little further, a little faster. Then I realise that if I overdo it now, I’ll regret it later. My body needs to get used to the effort it takes to run again. It has to learn anew how to run, no matter how much frustration flows through my veins. Improvement might be slow, but in due time there will be improvement and when I look back on the day that I started, years later, I’ll notice a huge amount of improvement.

Going out too fast too far too soon will only result in injury, delaying that much wanted improvement.

I remember years ago I sprained my ankle – it became so swollen it looked like a tennis ball and went purple all around my foot. For weeks I hid it from my coach and mom in an effort to be able to go to the National Cross-Country Championships. I ran through the pain (I know, I know, I shouldn’t have) and finally made it to the big day. During that race the intense pain I felt had me frustrated with myself and the fact that I just couldn’t go faster as I wobbled along. I lost focus on the race – something I would regret for seasons to come. I shouldn’t have run, I know that, but at that age (16 years of age), you might only have a single goal in mind and not think any further than that goal. Had I taken some time off I would still have been able to run during the National Championships, but I would have done much better than I did. And I wouldn’t have had to rest for the next 2 months and miss the next big championships that I was looking forward to so much.

So for now I’ll be content with the frustration of not being able to run without walking, knowing that soon I’ll be fit enough to run for 30 minutes … and then I’ll let the next frustration take over.

Posted by karinm at 1:14 PM

Running Friends

Some people enjoy running by themselves because it gives them that moment in the day that they can be totally alone with their thoughts, their emotions, themselves. The quiet within attracts them and they manage to process happenings and problems.

I on the other hand have always preferred running with a friend or in a group to solitary running. It just gives me that extra little shove that I need on those days that I feel a lack of motivation flowing through me. Since a very young age, I looked forward to the comeradery that you find in running with a group or a friend. A group of people that share a common interest and enjoyment in an activity that makes you physically tired and yet leaves you with a sense of accomplishment and fills you with exhiliration every time you trod around the course.

I miss the old Turtle Club that I used to run with ages ago – the teasing and the fooling around, but most of all the fact that you always felt like you belonged – this isn’t something you always find in the outside world – when running in a group, you find that everyone is equal and no-one will dare make fun of a fellow runner, because they know that at some stage they might have a bad day and it’ll hit back at them.

I’m glad I’ve found my running partner- have you?

Posted by karinm at 9:04 AM

April 10, 2005

Our Run Today

This morning my boyfriends first words to me were not "Good morning honey", but "Are we going for a run today?" Yes, the bug bit him too. I nodded and proceeded to make myself some green tea. Less than half an hour the question came again:

"Honey, what time are we going?"

I wasn't properly awake yet, but I just chuckled and grabbed my gear. We drove to the nearby football fields and started jogging around it - 2 minutes run, 4 minutes walk, repeat 5 times, just as the program stated I had to do. The loads of walking frustrated me, but the fact that I had company helped spur me on to finish the session without overdoing it.

Afterwards I felt pretty good, although I felt I could do more. I just had to repeat the old "Don't do too much, too soon" phrase over and over. Next week this time, I'll be a whole lot fitter! :)

Posted by karinm at 7:35 PM

April 8, 2005

Rediscover Love of Running

I started running at the age of nine and for the next 13 years didn’t stop. By the age of 10, I was training 6 days a week and by the age of 22, I was ready to take a break. I stopped running, because the essence of what was really enjoyable about running had disappeared. The stress of working eight hours a day and training one or two times a day became too much and the fact that I couldn’t make it to train with my old training partners on time anymore contributed to this big step in my life.

I still got some exercise in, but going to gym and doing 60 minutes of spinning with people you don’t know doesn’t give you the same high that you get from running for 10km with a friend and then, out of breath and energy, catch a shower and head over to a pub to have a quick drink together. The social side that exist during club runs and group training disappeared from my sight. On the occassional run that I still managed, I was relaxed and enjoyed it. These happended few and far between though, seeing as how I managed to leave home before sunrise and get home after sunrise – workaholic that I am, I neglected what my body so badly craved. Fresh air and burning lungs.

My running shoes that I still bought suddenly lasted a year instead of 6 months. I had no need for racing shoes. I had no need for my heartrate monitor. I had no need for massages after heavy training sessions. I lost touch with what used to be my reality.

The lonely training sessions at the gym became less and less, and my exercise regime died a slow and painful death.

Earlier this year, after almost a year of doing absolutely nothing, I put on my running shoes and stepped out of the door for a slow twenty minute run. It was heaven. It was exactly what I needed. Suddenly I wanted that again, I wanted to make the time to do it, I wanted to become fit and feel the fresh air in my lungs again.

I’ve contacted a running group nearby, and from next week Friday, I’ll be joining them on their Friday evening runs. I’ve also found a program to take me from the beginning again and build up my fitness so that by next year, I might, just might be able to compete in half marathons and full marathons again – who knows, I might even try to go and do the Comrades in South Africa. I’ve rediscovered my passion for running and hopefully there are people out in the world, that feel exactly like me.

Posted by karinm at 11:53 AM

A New Start

I want to share my thoughts on running, my training experiences, my race experiences, my daily pains and joys of running with anyone who want to listen. At the same time, I really want to get fit and into better shape than I am in at the moment, because I am utterly and completely disgusted with the way that I have let myself go. I almost feel like I’ve let myself down because I’ve fallen into such a state of unfitness that a short trip up a flight of stairs leave me out of breath and shaky in the legs.

So, having found a program that assumes that you’re not running at all yet (as I am), I am to set off on a trip and try to get fit once again and rediscover the joys that running can bring – whether a runners high exists or not!

Posted by karinm at 11:31 AM