Change is in the air

Dulwich Park. My new office

02.01.2015
Day 263
Rest after yesterday's exertions and alarms. Mat core strength, planks. Bit of cycling and walking for meetings and messages. Feeling festively plump; the belly is unpleasantly jelly.

It's back to work for many, including me, after a fashion. No proper office work until Monday, but I need to sort out some future gainful employment. There's much in the Twittersphere about exercise-related New Year's resolutions. My resolution is already made, of course, 262 days ago, but now the year has turned, the weekly mileage has to go up, and the core and stretch work become more serious. The first priority, this week, must be catching up on sleep. The meeting I had today was about more coaching work, more Buggy Runner classes in Greenwich and Dulwich parks.This will help with this particular marathon campaign, as well as my writing for Women's Running magazine and others, as I will have to be more picky about sub-editing bookings. As the training schedule proceeds, I'll be spending more time outside with yummy mummies. All grist to the mill.

Fragile thread

First there was Peckham Parkrun

Then there was Hillyfields Parkrun

1 January 2015
Day 262

Running a double Parkrun, with cycling either end and in between. The first, a fast and flat job in Peckham, took 23.27 (slow for that course). The second, my regular Hillyfields run, also slower than usual, at 24mins. Still, I'm underslept, have been drinking and eating too much. Anyway, it didn't really matter in the real world, as I soon learned.

It was at the second finishers' funnel that the holiday atmosphere came to an abrupt end. One of the runners, a man in his late 30s or early 40s, collapsed with a cardiac arrest. Two medics in the group started CPR, we called an ambulance, but the man was not breathing, his face went purple and his eyes glazed. Crouching beside him, we all willed him to breathe, to stop dying. That's what he looked to be doing. An ambulance came, but it was a long time before they could stabilised him sufficiently to get him on a stretcher. The most recent news is that he was breathing unassisted, but it took so long, what damage could have been done? It was so shocking to see a man in his prime so cut down, so close to death. We runners think we are invincible. we blog about our fitness, we take pride in our vitality. Then something like this happens, and we see we'll never outpace the inevitable. He is alive though, focus on that, he is alive, and we hope he'll run another day.

The old year shuffles out

 the Great Outdoor Gym, Peckham Rye

31.12.2014
Day 261

A gentle six miler, partly to time how long it takes me to run to Peckham Rye in the morning for Parkrun in the event of icy weather (which precludes biking). Forward planning. Bit of core work pre-run, stretching post. Lavish refuelling to get me through a late night and a spot of potentially hungover racing.

It's the last day of the year, and just about 100 days until VLM. I'll see 2015 in with the last of the mincers and a glass or two of Scotch, then I will continue training seriously.  This is a most absurd day, during which we all pack in as many unhealthy habits as we can, because as midnight chimes in 2015 it'll be all about New Year New Me. I do not think the old me was so bad, though. I vow to spend more time in my local Great Outdoor Gym

Reel fitness - how ceilidh helps

You spin me right round...

...dancing till the early morn

30.12.2014
Day 260

A bleary wakening, aching from the night before. Last night's energetic burly has left me somewhat achey, although that might be a result of 4 short hours' slumber on the sofa in rural Kent. A little walk to a prep-schoolbreakfast, and a short run on a locked-out daughter rescue mission once home in London.

Dancing all night is a fine way to sweat out the beer and many mincers. A huge family gathering, involving several South African rugby players, a bunch of Brazilians and a couple of Japanese (my husband's family is becoming increasingly exotic) and a strong Celtic love of the Dashing White Sergeant and Gay Gordons. What larks: brilliant fun galloping up and down with various nephews, brothers in law and unknown Hooray Henrys from the public school system, to which my in-laws are firmly welded. My generous brother in law and his wife, who run an idyllic prepschool on Wye, opened up the facilities to feed us handsomely. It was a splendid way to see out the dog days of the year, and a reminder of the many forms not-so-serious training can take. Staying active, is what it's all about.

Rural idyll to urban chaos

Perfect winter morning in Sussex

The dog I love the most

29.12.2014
Day 259

Monday rest day. With a week of limitless eating and drinking under my (straining) belt, I've managed to keep to a rough running schedule. Today I've stretched a little and walked a little, and so far eaten healthily. However, there's a big party tonight. My stomach is distended and starting to complain.

All night long owls hooted into the still frosty air. Sleeping in my brother's beautiful barn conversion, with Peppa the gorgeous pointer my companion for walks, and clear ringing air and pale, rosy winter sunrise, this is a perfect time to focus on what's important in life. We're slaloming gently toward the new year, with special parkruns and a big cross country meet coming up in the next few days. So it's careful fuelling, decent sleep and proper training I should be focusing on, while hosting large numbers of revellers in this chaotic house, and trying not to catch ailing husband's rather laryngeal cold. Lemon, honey and a tot of whiskey to wash down some ibroprufen, let's hope I can escape the lurgy. 

Down by the sea

Glorious sunrise over water

28.12.2014
Day 258
Poole is a delightful place to run, so even waking a little blearily and half wanting to turn over and sleep late, it was more tempting to get out into the frosty blue in search of the sea. So I did a seven miler, trying to stay under 9 m/m, which will be my long slow run pace, with a faster finish. My right hamstring and calf is giving gyp, in fact it's stiff all the way down to the achilles. Tendonitis?

Parkrun tourist

Poole Parkrun is a busy one

 

 

 

...in a beautiful place

27.12.2014
Day 257

Poole Parkrun. It's flat and fast, so rather depressing not to manage a sub-22. I ran the first mile in 7.03 so would have liked the subsequent two to be of similar speed (they should really be quicker), but evidently not, as I only managed 22:43. So back to the drawing board. I was second in age group and 14th woman out of a field of 415.

A beautiful cold crisp day like this is what Parkrun is all about. After a lumpen couple of days of overeating and drinking, (mindlessly unwrapping Roses and shoving them down, eating second helpings of suet-filled Christmas pud when I didn't even want the first one...etc and more), getting up and out and running a brisk 5km race has left me rosy and optimistic (once I'd recovered from the disappointing time). My Twitter running buddies are all talking about Jantastic, so this is a prompt for me to regroup and reassess my efforts, as the downhill stretch to 26.04.2015 will begin on January 1.