“Thanks, but I don’t need luck, I just need not to die”
The goodbye conversation I had with an ex-flatmate upon leaving his Cocktail party at 8.30pm last night!!!
A runner through and through, leaving the party early after only having 1.5 drinks, with enough time to have a decent carb dinner for a long run in the the morning.
All went according to plan!
My plan didn’t include a PR, but I got one!
Week 6
Day One – 30 min Accelerations
Day Two – 40 min Hills (Threw up a little during this one. I ate too close to run time. Not advised! ha!)
Day Three – 30 min Easy
Day Four – 70 min Hills
This week was a ‘Build’ week. I can remember back a couple of months ago when I first started penning my plan to Calendar that I dreaded that 70 min Hill run. I looked at what Week 6 had in store for me and I was wondering back then if I would make it.
I am glad to report that I did and with energy to spare. I actually ran the entire distance, non-stop!
I am also happy to say that I enjoy the uphills more than the downhills!
How is that possible you may ask?
In the moment when you are willing your way up a stupidly big/steep/gravelly hill you are using your mind power to keep yourself going. You know full well that your heart and legs can take it, it is just your mind telling you to take it easy, and that walking is allowed.
Funny thing is, that if you fight that thought or feeling enough times, that same hill becomes nothing. It becomes conquered, it is crushed!
What you first thought was insurmountable is now a tribute to experience – I crushed you before ‘hill’, I will crush you again!
Once you get the hang of hills, not too many of them will frighten you again.
Hills always remind me of this picture…
And just to add a little more umph to it all, I did my hill run in the pouring down big ole fat rain at 6 am this morning. I love running in a ghost town, it is my absolute favourite!
To top it off I PR’ed my 10k time.
My 10k event – Mount Joggers 2013 10k run, I achieved an Official time of 1:11:43. Today I knocked off almost a full minute and a half!
I ran my Nike app alongside, I like to get a fair idea on the difference in accuracy, it didn’t do too badly in the area I ran in.
I experienced a wee niggle of PTT (Posterior Tibialis Tendonitis) at the 7th k, but only lasted about 500 metres which was when I sorted out my form. I also ran with my right knee strapped with KT tape, I have a a very minor case of runners knee. All the jarring of down-hills and hard road/pavement have contributed to what I thought would be inevitable. I will need to get in a few more trails to even it all out. Other than that, I am still unscathed, this plan must be working a treat!
Week 7 is a ‘Recover’ week. Backing into just the 3 days of running rather than 4. It does include an 80 min Course Terrain run, which will give me a chance to try out a new nutrition item I have purchased.
My stats this time last year – 3.07 km completed 27.57 mins at 9’04″pace at dirty 6:10 am!
Since that day I have started c25k 3 separate times, I have finished it a total of 1 time,
I have competed in 4 events (Race Reports),
I have run my longest distance of 15 km over trail terrain,
I have run 761 recorded kilometres over 146 runs,
I have run in Stupidly hot conditions/Freezing cold mornings/Stormy Thundery weather,
I have run with a group of random people that I have met for the very first time,
I have run with a regular running buddy (Amy),
I have run as a zombie, I have run in a dress, I have run as a Turtle,
I have started a running group and have helped 3 lovely ladies to each run a full 5km distance,
I have met some very influential and inspiring people,
I have lost over 10kg from being more active,
I have never before said the acronym YOLO so many times in relation to running,
I have never before in my life believed in myself so surely and so assertively than right now in this very moment!
I am awesome and I want everyone to know it!
The thing is, you too can be as awesome if not more awesome than I am right now!
It doesn’t take too much, it just takes the right attitude and a mind that wont talk you out of doing something crazy.
Make some crazy decisions, form some silly plans, do some epic shit, fill your life with memorable moments, meet some total strangers, enter an event you think you may just die trying, find some mutual crazies, go forth and be a force of the awesome!
So according to my Nike app, I have run 14km today.
To be fair, I probably walked about 3-4k of it, I walked a fair bit at the end, and I walked along the way because a) taking photo’s for my dad or b) trying to find my way, choosing which direction to take…
It was AH-MAZE-ING!
I ran the TBC and Buffalo Girl trails up at the TECT.
I say ‘scenic route’ because it is the biggest trail route mapped out at the TECT.
And I say ‘scenic route to the scenic route’ because I accidentally missed a turn off and added about 3.5k to my journey. I really wished I hadn’t, but meh – I didn’t die!
This is about mid way into the TBC trail. It is a very short one about 1.5-2k that meets up with the Buffalo Girl. It is the first part of actual trail that I would experience next Weekend (OMFG NEXT WEEKEND!!!). The first Kilometre or so would be mostly made up of Road, some of it gravel.
I wasn’t planning on doing such a big distance, but because I wasn’t in a rush to be somewhere or do something for once, I decided I’d take it easy and try get the whole Buffalo Girl done.
I had planned the previous night, to run it hard and to only do a 4.5k there and track back 4.5k. I had chugged about a quarter of an electrolyte drink after dinner, and another quarter on waking up. I had a bit of water and had more carbs than I usually would’ve this morning.
Of course because I was enjoying the trail well past 4.5k, I just kept going.
There had been quite a lot more work done to the Park since the last time I had run it, so there was plenty that looked different. I was at times making it up as I went along. Trees had been chopped down, roads and trails covered with gravel, new routes dug in, new baby trees planted. It was very confusing, but I didn’t worry too much about it. I knew eventually I would come out to the Mountain Bike hub no matter which path I took.
It seems I took the longest possible! GOH!
The baby trees, that I am pretty sure werent there last time I ran this trail…either that or I took the wrong turn off!
SO MUCH FREEKING CUTTY GRASS!! My legs felt it in the shower! ARCH!
At 45 mins, I decided I would try the Honey Stinger Waffle I had stashed in my running shorts. It had a slight chocolate flavour, but not enough to make you feel sick, it was semi-sweet and the waffle was plain. Exactly as I hoped it would be! I think they were a success. I actually felt after the 6th and 9th km that I had found a 2nd and 3rd wind, possibly because of the waffle? Not sure, but I hope to train my half with them.
I also took a mini pump bottle of water with me, it was enough I guess, but lets just say by the 11km I was thanking god that there would be water stations on Race Day.
The last few k’s I walked, it was all uphill on gravel road, my trail shoes were good, but not that good. Plus my glutes, hammys and calves were starting to tighten up, I’d say I probably needed a little bit more fuel for having run almost 2 hours in technical bush. Especially for someone as novice as I am.
I had kept in a cooler bag another bigger bottle of water and a small chocolate milk. God I am good! I needed both! In fact on the last 2k or so I was dreaming of Pie and Beer! (I have requested both from my family for actual Race Day) I was so hungry, it was past lunch time and I had expended all I had to give on that trail! Not to mention the 5k that I quick walked this morning for a secret reason – more about that later!
I will maybe run up at the TECT once more, but I will do the 5k loop. If not the TECT then definitely up the Mount.
Good day, Feeling energised! Maybe the fuel and extra hydration did it for me. I am scared to think about how I will feel tomorrow. Hopefully as close to Tip Top as I can possibly feel after a 14k ha!
And that my friends, is how I Pimped the Shit out of the Beast! BOOM!
How about you? Any long distances you have up your sleeve today? Any increases in your strength training?
Till tomorrow,
Jay 🙂
P.S. Totally hit up 26000 steps today, my most to date! WOOP!
I thought I would kill 2 birds with one stone today!
First, I want to invite you to run a Virtual 5k with me and my group Friday 29th November! On the 29th – Anytime, Anywhere, Anyhow! Or just do whatever distance you can manage.
My group Graduates the C25k programme in just 2 short weeks and I am on a mission to round up as much support as possible for their Graduation Run!
I must say, that even for me, someone who used to run longer distances than a 5k, it has been extremely beneficial!
I have found myself feeling very unaffected by the full 5k run’s I have done on my own away from the group, and I think the c25k has helped with that. By unaffected I mean able to run at my fastest pace non-stop for longer, and to not feel like crap immediately afterwards.
So my something new for today – Today rather than following the programme, I did a 5k in just under 35mins, almost creating a PR for myself. Because we had an odd number of ladies at the Run group today I was able to run alone – so I mapped out our 5k Route for Graduation. I ran non-stop, I did have to stop once about a K shy of getting home to help a lady up the stairs, she fell (paused my app, took her up the stairs, went back down the stairs, unpaused app, continued running up the stairs hahaha)
The run was great, I feel like I could have done better, I didn’t quite hit that exhaustion mark, so I had more to give…YUSS!
Smells like my fitness is improving even on the downtime I was having not so long ago.
So anywho – please run along with us, I even have a Bib for you to print out and wear 🙂
Right,
Weigh-in day today!
A loss of 1 whole kg!! Bringing me down to 75.2kg!
That is a total loss of 17.3kg since I started using MFP a year and a bit ago!
I have noticed my Tech wear getting a little baggy, stuff that is supposed to be tight and create compression, is kinda not doing its job for me right now!
Anywho, roughly 2 more kilo’s to go and I will be happy with this years progress. After getting stuck in a funk since the end of January, I have not done too badly to redeem myself!
Another date with Jillian for Ab day, feeling stronger already!
You know that feeling you get when you are in the beginning days of a relationship. The butterflies you feel in your tummy and the nervousness you get from just being around that other person…?
Yeah I had that, again! and Gosh did I Pimp out the Beast today! It had bling and everything!
It has been months since I have been out to the TECT Park for a decent trail run, and today I finally got out there 3 weeks shy of my 15k event. Here is my run…
A bit missing, but you get the jist.
I gotta tell ya, all I could think of last night and this morning was getting out there and running it again. I was trying to re-call the bends and dips and the differing terrains all in one course of which is named Buffalo Girl.
I took my friend Amy out there, she was a Buffalo Girl Virgin before today. We had run the Te Rerenga trail plenty of times before, almost once a week at one stage, but never had we struggled together through the Buffalo Girl.
The Cutty grass that cut Amy’s leg which made her holla a weird noise, that scared me and had me actual jumping very high in the air!
The Buffalo Girl trail is about as complex as Te Rerenga, but on a bigger scale. Steeper hills, streams, long gradual ups and downs, elephant graveyards…
Today we completed about 4k (4 there and 4 back, didn’t allow enough time to thrash the whole lot) of the 15k distance that my Trail run in November will call for. I gotta tell ya, because I don’t get a heap of child-free time between and now to train for the event, I know that the last 5k is going to be somewhat like a semi-suicide mission and I will be running on pure mental grit!
If you have followed me for long enough, you will know that the longest distance I have completed in an event is 10k – and that was road running. I am just going to give it all I got, and hope the land goes easy on me!
I have my dad for moral support on event day, he will be running alongside me. I said that he can just go on ahead and run his race, but he said he’d like to hang around. I am probably going to need it ha!
I also Wogged (Walk/Jog) this morning with my run group and surprisingly my feet are feeling good, no pain what so ever, both pairs of shoes are winners so far!
I really love that moment where you feel like you have come so far in your run, realising that months before you could not complete such feats yet here you are brushing it off like it is just another day at the office. The first time I ran out at the TECT I was sore for days after… today – nothing. YUSS!!
So what did you get up to today? and how did you Pimp the Beast?
See ya tomorrow, same bat time, same bat channel 😉
There is a lot of pressure writing up this Race Report as there are 12 people involved and a lot of them had their own perspectives on their own legs of the race, I will try my best to capture the spirit of what the entire race meant to me, and how it was one that I will definitely remember for the rest of my life!
The scene is set about 45 mins from where I live, so not too far away – Rotorua Lake is where we ran/walked the distance of a full marathon as part of two 6-person team’s in relay.
My friend Amy and I traveled down on Friday night early enough to have dinner with a bunch of semi-strangers who will form 2 teams of Ekiden Zombies! Dead Sexxy Zombies.
The 12 of us were all from different parts of New Zealand’s North Island, we had made a huge effort to be apart of this unique gathering of strangers!
We arrived just before 7 pm and were greeted at the Holiday Home by 6 of the coolest people I will have ever met. Namely – Glenn, Becks, Shannon, Virginia, Claudia and Karina. A few others who would join our party would rock up to the house a few hours later – My cousin Pamela, Elaine, Janey and Becca.
Some dinner, a good chat and debrief, and I was pretty certain that these people were exactly how they had represented themselves on the Facebook NZ MFP Buddies group site. They are all very Genuine people, and totally a Hoot. Each with their crazy unique and distinct personalities.
The next day would start at 5 am.
The 6 Walking participants would need to get ready for their date with a make-up artist to apply some zombie-licious faces, arriving at 5.45 am and then us 6 runners at 6.45 am, and all done in time for the Walkers start at 8 am and Runners at 9 am.
Our Dead Sexxy Walkers
Dead Sexxy Runners
I ate my usual Oats and Chia Seed with Yogurt and a banana, today’s distance didn’t call for anything extra, just a bit more water than usual.
Legs that make up the race were the same for both Running and Walking teams, all checkpoints were the same for both as well.
We all headed down to see the Walkers head of, the weather wasn’t great but the atmosphere was, no bit of rain or hail was going to stop the participants today!
As the 3, 2, 1 was said there was that huge rush of adrenaline go through my body and went out in sympathy for our first Walker Becca – she had 8.8 km ahead of her and she went out steady and consistent. There were plenty of elite walkers among the crowd and you could tell who were in it for fun and who were there for competition. Either way we were there to finish!
The Walkers journey had started and so off they went in their support vehicles to toot on their first walker.
We had an hour to kill before start time. Much to the Walking groups disgust, we headed for coffee and a relax at a local popular Cafe – The Fat Dog Cafe and Bar.
We then headed to the Start point, which would double as the Finish as well – Rotorua’s Village Green which can be found right on the edge of the town centerbordering the same lake that we will have circumnavigated around that day. Because it was pouring down with almost torrential rain we didn’t see our first Runner Glenn off, we headed for our support car to collect all remaining team members and head to the first checkpoint.
Our Idyllic Race location – Start and Finish
We had no idea of where it would be, none of us had actually done the event before. I thumbed into Glenns TomTom the rough address of where the First Checkpoint would be and off we went.
Unfortunately for the first Runners/Walkers the weather worsened to hail before it actually got any better. Again, they were finishing it anyway!
We parked up and piled out of the car. The rain had died a little and we met the other Walkers at the checkpoint. There were Porta-Potty’s… I needed to go. I gotta be honest – I went number two’s… I secretly fist pumped just like Shannon had earlier in the morning ha! It is sweet relief for distance runners to get it out of the way, it was all down hill from here!
Leg one of the race was mostly making its way out through the city. It ran along the main road into Rotorua – Fairy Springs and along into Ngongotaha.
There was some confusion on how the timing mats worked, instructions were not clear on the handbook given out the week before, but from observation we figured it out. I would have to say the Marshall on this Checkpoint did not do the best job at instructing the runners.
Glenn wore a full non-tech shirt for his costume, he is lucky the leg was no longer than the 9k he completed, I was thinking a lot during his leg that there could be chaffing issues… we would find out that on his long run the next morning, there was some definite chaffed action!
Karina would take hold of the sash next for the running team. Elaine for the Walkers. We were in full swing!
Karina Starting Strong
Leg 2 – 7.18 km
Runners (Karina) 0.54:53 @ 7:38 pace Walkers – (Elaine) 1.37:32
This leg of the race headed us out of the city and into the surrounding rural areas. We stopped a couple of times to toot Karina on, she was amazing! She did not stop!
Karina is not long out of completing her first Half Marathon in Taupo. She has been an inspiration to me just as much as Glenn has. She is very hard on herself and the timing she made for her Half, but in my eyes she has mucho balls! More than me anyway… I have some catching up to do!
We would meet Karina in Hamurana where I would take over for her. The Walkers would not reach this checkpoint for a long while, where Claudia would take over for Elaine.
Leg two of the race had small gradual hills, and long stretches of straights along one of Rotorua’s main roads. As it crawls into Hamurana there is a more country bush feel. On the inside I wished there was a few trail like patches, but nope, it was all road for the day.
I tried to pee at this Checkpoint, I had a nervous bladder, but the potty line was so long I had to hold it for another two legs of the race.
I headed back to the Support car to get my iPhone and tee up my podcast listening for the next 7.9 km. I wasn’t planning on running my Nike App, but did so anyway. I was running in a place I had never run before, and kind of wanted a rough idea of the distance I was covering as I went.
I got the heads up that Karina was on her way. I got my gear together, threw my Jersey at Glenn and lined up to walk over the timing mat as I was passed the Sash by Karina. She was excited to see me, she had done so well!
At about the halfway mark for the Walkers Elaine would get some support from Pamela who would walk with her the remaining distance of this leg.
Leg 3 – 7.98km
Runners (Me/Janine) 0.56:02 @ 7.01 pace
Walkers (Claudia) 1.02:08
This leg of the race was by far the most beautiful. And I am not just saying it because I was running it. It was tree lined and so close to the lakes edge. If I were to race this relay again (which I am undeniably certain that I will) I would choose this leg again, purely for the location.
I would encounter one big’ish hill and two slightly smaller hills. I met a support car of guys at the top of the first hill and asked if it was the last of the hills, they said yes… they lied! They got my hopes up and as I encountered the second hill they drove past tooting out… I yelled out that they lied! I didn’t overly care though, I was enjoying the run!
The hills were semi-steep, but as I usually do, all I could hear in my head all alone out there was Glenn telling me to “Use those glutes” Which I did, small strides and all butt and calves, I quick-walked the 3 hills and boosted quickly down the down-hills. It felt amazing to be out running a longer distance again.
My last hill would cruise down and round 3 bends, after the last bend and straight would appear the changeover point, I saw my people cheering and holla’ing, it was exciting!
Shannon would take over for me, we were at over halfway. Shannon is in training for the Auckland Half Marathon, she is a great and inspirational runner, secretly I think we are soul sisters!
Claudia our Walker did us proud getting herself to this checkpoint in a great time that would help to catch the Walkers up a bit more.
Leg 4 – 8.3 km
Runners (Shannon) 0.54:21 @ 6.32 pace
Walkers (Becks) 1.19:51
Shannon and Becks encountered one long ass gradual hill and a few small windee’s. We had stopped a few times along this leg to cheer Shannon on… except we were either so intensely involved in conversation or checking our phones that we missed her twice before realising she had run past. She was kind of pissed we hadn’t tooted out, ha! We sucked at being support people at this point, poor Shannon. She was boosting it down very quickly, it was no wonder we kept missing her. The last few bends were followed by a frustratingly long straight with the weigh-station checkpoint in sight. Having to run this long straight with the end in view felt like they had such a long way to go before meeting up with it.
Becks is the Miranda (inside joke) that organised our rowdy bunch, she did an awesome 4th leg with that gruesome prosthetic on her face!
Here Shannon would meet up with our floaty Zombie Ballerina Janey.
Becks being Photo Bombed by Pam
Leg 5 – 4.74 km
Runners (Janey) 0.27:16 @ 5.45 pace
Walkers (Amy) 0.36:45
This leg of the race moved us closer to town. Janey ran us through some of the industrial area and had a boring view of the airport. But she was not boring to watch. I sat in the car perving at her buff quad muscles, I accidentally said it out loud that I was doing so ha! It looked as if Janey was floating along the pavement in her brightly made up outfit complete with matching pink tints in her hair and fluffy tutu. Our Zombie Ballerina!
Amy would cover this stretch of the race. If you have ever met Amy, you would know that she is full of energy! You have probably heard of her in earlier posts, she is my regular running buddy. She really used her glutes with this one, I could tell because she was going on about how sore her butt was for the remainder of the time we were there. Amy would walk the rest of the race till the end with our last Walker Pamela.
Leg 6 – 5.72 km
Runners (Virginia) 0.43:21 @ 7.34 pace
Walkers (Pamela) 0.48:00
The last and final leg was along another main road that filters into the city center and continues to the Start line which would double as the Finish.
We waited at the last Marshall’s point for our last runner Virginia. For someone who had done little to no outdoor running ‘V’ did an awesome job of staying positive and getting it done!
It was here that we met up with the Wallys (‘Where’s Wally’ costumed group). We had been following these Wally’s all the way round the Lake. We got to some small talk while waiting for V. The Wally’s had asked how our team had all met, Glenn casually said “through an online dating site” all 5 of us girls and 1 guy. The Wally’s were startled a bit, and it took them a while to register that Glenn was joking. This would now become the kicker for how we all met – The NZ MFP buddies Facebook (online dating) site. ha!
As V entered the home stretch, we cheered her on which seemed to fuel her last efforts on meeting the finish line! She rocked out the last hundred meters and we had joined her for this ride. We all finished triumphantly, and excited that we had achieved a collective Marathon!
We would cruise on back to the Fat Dog for more coffee and a communal plate of wedges. The Walkers were livid when they found out about our second visit. My excuse was that we had to keep warm and hydrated!
Amy and Pamela finished the last leg together.
Our group doesn’t know too much about my cousin Pamela, she has an inspirational story in her own right, she didn’t share it with us, but I have to make sure I mention some of it here. Once upon a time Pamela was in a similar situation as the rest our team once had been/still is. She was overweight and unhappy. She had overcome this and many other life/health battles and is determined to make a happy life for herself. I am glad to have asked her to come join us, we loved having her there!
The Walkers all joined up to walk their last meters to Finish as a Team, even though it was a long day they also finished on a high note.
The Walkers made it just in time for Prize-giving start at 3pm. Pamela even won a spot prize valued at over $400!!!
It was an exhausting, fun-filled roller-coaster ride of a day and we were on our way home to celebrate with a few Vino’s/Brews, the best way to wind down after going to War.
There was so much more to this Event than what I have mentioned. The people I have met, the time that we had, this is merely a snapshot of what I have experienced.
What have I learned from this weekend?
Distance Running doesn’t have to be a solo sport. While you spend so much time in your own head, an event like this makes you feel like you are apart of something bigger than yourself. All competitors competing and striving for the same goal, each pushing to do well in their own right, but more importantly wanting to do well for their team. It is about sharing the spotlight with people with similar personal goals and celebrating the pain and pressure of the run. Its a way of not taking yourself and the sport so seriously, its a break from being hard on yourself and the arduous line up’s of the strict training plans.
I went into this thing not knowing what to expect and came out of it more enriched and empowered to continue to do the best I can with my own Run.
Thanks for reading, I know it is a long one, and even now I don’t think I have done it justice!
Viva la Marathon!
Jay 🙂
P.S. Do you remember me being worried about fitting into my Size 12 Race shirt that I had ordered as motivation to lose a few more kilos, well guess what… Nailed it!!!
I told my people I would sum up our weeks via my blog. I have got to tell ya, running for yourself is fulfilling in its own right, but running for others really feeds my soul!
We are six mamas so far, all with wee ones roughly around the same age, go figure!
We are all at differing levels of fitness ranging from – Haven’t run ever, all the way to Ran before I got pregnant and then life happened!
The consensus from this past week is that the group is a great idea. I am glad to be in a position where I can give others this opportunity. The chance to run!
Week one started off slow and steady. A 5 min brisk walk for warm up, 60 sec Jog then 90 sec walk for a total of 20 mins, then a 5 min warm down walk.
These ladies have surprised me! I think back to when I first gave c25k a pop, I felt like I was dying and thought that running was just not for me. I see that these ladies don’t have these same feelings, their dying has been replaced with excitement and endorphin’s, I am slightly jealous at their enthusiasm haha unless of course they secretly die on the inside, sneaky!
Each and every person that has given it a go has my up most respect. It is not easy to commit to this kind of change, especially when it seems that in the scheme of things just as I said before, life happens, things get in the way, there are plenty of excuses to adopt and convince yourself of, there are plenty of reasons for why you just couldn’t find the time, and there is always that nervousness in your gut that plagues you with thoughts of “I’ll do it tomorrow”. These ladies, these runners have chosen to “do it today!”
Here is our progress so far… (The September results only – 2 groups at 3 runs each)
You can see where there is a slight jump in the second to last run – I didn’t hear the ‘halfway’ being announced so we just kept running. We covered almost 6km in that run, I had stopped it just after the 5km mark sounded but My friend Melissa recorded it to be 5.9km. It was a taxing day for this group, but they had the weekend to recover, I promised it wouldn’t happen again haha
I estimate that we will build this up closer to the 4km mark in week 2 where we crank it up to 90 sec jogging, 2 mins walking.
I plan to also run week 1 of the programme again next week (My friend Melissa will take week 2, I will hang out with the Week 1’s) for those who are not comfortable with moving on to the second week and for any new comers. I have advertised in the paper my group until the end of September.
I want to make this experience enjoyable and not forceful. I go at the slowest persons pace, not my own, that’s how you convince them to make it a life long habit, not a short term stint. I have to constantly remind myself that this, in the short term is not for me, but for them. Once we are all comfortably running a non-stop 5k, it will be business time!
This is only Week One, I must do my best to keep the group committed to the full 8-10 weeks. I try to give tips along the way – all the stuff I wish somebody had told me way back then. I tell them I am not a professional, but I am a runner, and if it has worked for me then I think it is worth a try. Always suggestions, never forceful.
Week 2 starts tomorrow, and I am excited! I hope to see some new faces, and all of our current runners.
Will keep updating, I hope more people are inspired to give the gift of running, I had a lady email me today that she was interested in our group yet she lived to far away. She is now starting up her own group, I think this is so great! I am infectious! In a good way of course ha!
Anyway,
I could go on about some more other exciting news that I have, but I will leave that for another post.
I posted to myself on Facebook this afternoon, my exact words…
Get off your fat ass and go for a run Janine…
OK!
So I did.
I just wanted to stay home, put my onesy on, eat cake and have a lazy Sunday…on Saturday!
I have started logging again on MFP to get my A into G. I always feel like my first week is like coming down off a drug. The cravings are horrendous!
There is not much left in my refrigerator and pantry except good stuff. Veg bins are full, legumes of every sort, polished off the old digi-scales, all measuring cups accounted for and half a shelf designated for the children’s snacks. We have got it sussed! I even fed my husband red cabbage salad today…and he liked it! My children are also scoffing on my vege bowls I made up for snacks. Talk about family affair!
Cravings though! So bad I can’t ignore! I jumped on Facebook and started scrolling through my newsfeed. I have ‘liked’ so many Running Pages that it was full of motivational pics. I had no choice, I had to get off of my ass and go!
And go I did, without any specific plan, I knew I just had to complete my minimum distance of 8.7km to keep up with my 200km July Goal. 4km’s sounded on my App and I thought ‘sweet, i’ll just run a wee bit more and then turn back’. I got to that ‘wee bit more’ and decided meh, I’ll run till I can’t and then turn back. So I did. 9.3km in the bag for today. It was a really nice run too, well almost all of it… I semi-tripped climbing those muddy stoney stairs pictured in my last post and landed hard kind of jarring my right knee. Boo!! I actually let out a bit of an Eff word, out loud even – oops! Shook it off and moved on, I wasn’t far from home so just boosted back making sure not to stuff it anymore. As I sit here on the couch after a 600Cal dinner there is no pain, but who knows, we will see tomorrow…bring on the Kinesio Tape!
30.7km so far, just over 15% of my goal for the month. I am happy with this, body feeling good other than the knee. Feeling more energetic and awake, running is going well, would like to kick up the distances a bit, and maybe the speed. August will be the month for speed I think!
Right on track for the first week of the month, super Dry July, not a beer or inkling of takeaways in sight!
I now have 100 Followers!!! YAY! Well a few more than that seeing as it ticked over about a week and a half ago. Anywho, thanks Smillions to all of you who follow my reads, I do try my best to be even slightly entertaining and I also really do try my best to cruise on over to all of your pages to take a squizz at all wonderful reads too 🙂 Thanks Thanks Thanks!
I wasn’t going to run today, it was meant to be a rest day but I really didn’t want to miss out on getting my Uncle Sam Badge on the Nike + Running App. If you run on the 4th of July, you get that badge. Seeing as you only get to run for it once a year, I didn’t want to miss out haha!
Now excuse my ignorance, but I don’t know a lot anything about Independence Day, and I am not even sure why they call it the ‘Uncle Sam’ Badge. I was meaning to Google it today but ran out of time as laptops become eye candy to toddlers, so I don’t get the chance to get on it very often anymore.
All I know about it is its a time for celebration – fireworks, BBQ and picnic!! And all those things are alright in my books!!
I really must apologise to my American Followers for not looking into it to make this post a little more meaningful, but as a consolation I have a few bad iPhone pics to show you from my ‘4k for the 4th’ run today.
So as I approached the walkway that I use to reach the trail I run I found this…
It cracked me up so much hahaha
A ramp down the muddy stairs… and what were these children cruising down this contraption on you may (or may not) ask?
These LOL!!
Toddler ride on bikes!!
Seriously how old were these kids to be boosting down this hilly stair mess?!? It kinda made me laugh. Must have been keen as kids!
And now my badges won today *big cheesey smiley face*
If you have the time, someone must fill me in on the ‘Uncle Sam’ relevance 🙂
Anywho, Happy Independence Day, I enjoyed my run and was happy to not have rested on Rest Day 🙂
We aren’t talking about needing to run here. I get that sense of urgency on a daily basis – to want to go out and run, so I wouldn’t make a post dedicated to something pretty regular. No no no, unfortunately it was the other ‘need’… ‘the NEED To go…’ 😐
…during a run!!! and not just number 1, where you can just hold it till you get home after your run is done, but number 2. Oh god, I said it! Yup that’s right, I really needed to go number 2’s, about two thirds of the way through my run yesterday.
On my usual route there are 2 public toilet blocks. I run past one of those at about 2.7km into my run. I run a further 3km and then usually turn back homeward bound. About 2 km into this 3k, I only ‘kinda’ needed to go, I only then remembered that I hadn’t gone yet today. I carried on to do another 500 meters and at that time I definitely needed to go, like straight up needed to go! I turned back to head for the bathrooms I had past previously. Except it was locked, and I am pretty sure there wasn’t anyone in there because I was waiting a while for my turn. Some dick must have locked it and closed the door on exiting!!! Gah!
Finally I decided I would just run home, obviously as quickly as I could! No stops allowed!
Arrived home, ran for the bathroom, and as I ran, remembered to ‘End’ my run on the Nike App I use haha
It was definitely sweet relief! I am glad I run not too far from my own neighbourhood!
Now I wouldn’t usually tell you a ‘Number 2’ story, but yesterday was different. Because of that sense of urgency, I ran that entire 7.4km with only one stop! No walking at all, just that one stop at the toilet.
At the time I wasn’t so excited about it, I had other things on my mind, but after I had done the deed and realised what had just happened, I was quite chuffed! Awkwardly chuffed!
Has this ever happened to you?
I know with the big distance running it does become an issue, how do you managed this?
Well that was yesterdays story, I am not quite sure it is post worthy, but 7.4km without stops is alright in my books! ha!
9.4km run today, a few more stops though.
Looking forward to a short 4km tomorrow for the 4th of July, getting out for my American followers, supposed to be a rest day, so will actively rest and take it easy.
Notes from Dr Ben Balzer Snr, general practitioner. Draft only. Copyright. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced without permission, all rights are reserved.
On a Jam Hunt 