Sunday, 10 July 2016

One year on, the good, the bad and the ugly

The good

First things first, a very quick update following my previous post... I did it! The prohibition that is, more about the sub 60 later. I managed 27 whole days without alcohol and I think I'm more surprised about this than anyone.

Also under ‘the good’ is how hard I’ve trained, but again more about that below.

The bad
Now, onto that sub 60. I've trained really hard over the last few weeks. Followed an actual training plan, not skipped any sessions and even did a few short runs after staying out dancing until the early hours in Benidorm last week.

Cobble all this together and, this time yesterday, I was feeling confident and excited today’s Women’s Running 10k race. I could do it.

Well, turns out I couldn't.

I managed to stick tight to the pacer for around the first 5k. This isn't surprising because I've trained really hard for that bit. Endless 5k interval sessions, Parkrun, the lot. I thought I'd scrape together the rest based on the amount of long runs and the distance I'd been covering in them.

What actually happened was that after the 5k mark, my legs began to remind me that they don't naturally go that fast. Also, I've not mentioned yet, but it was flipping hot. I was very hot and very bothered and the second 5k was awful. A real struggle.

Things turned slightly for the last 800m or so when a lovely lady who's part of the same running club as me started chatting to me. I always love chatting and talking to her spurred me on until eventually the finish line was upon us. I didn't have it in me for my normal Usain Bolt sprint finish, but a quick glance at the clock told me I'd ran a PB. But I still wasn't happy, not one bit. There were even a couple of tears.

Since then, I've spent most of today in a strop. But I've just given myself a bloody good talking to while bobbing up and down the pool (decided to go for a swim so I didn't spend ALL day eating).

In the last year I've completed seven 10k races, loads of parkruns and countless miles pounding on the pavements and treadmills. So, I might not have done it today, but I'm sure that I will do. Even if it takes me another year, I'll be frustrated as hell but I'll get there.

It's now the 11 week countdown stage until the half marathon. I'll be doing regular updates again to motivate me through my training and attempting to generate sponsors for my chosen charity, the Royal British Legion who I'll be starting my fundraising for in the very near future. Again, this time last night I was feeling confident and excited for the half, however, this evening it's more nervous yet still excited. I think.

So that's where the name change of my blog comes from. I've been trying to think of something for months since I knew I'd be passing the 10k mark and today it hit me (with the help of a t-shirt I saw someone wearing.) I'm an okay runner, and I think I'm okay with that.

Apologies for the waffle, once again I didn't think I had much to say! Thanks for reading.

The ugly
If you've got this far down and you're wondering how I'm going to fit in talking about the final part of my title, you've clearly never seen any photos of me while running...

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