Thursday 26 January 2012
My first race!
I just completed my first race, the Dubai 10km road race, in 1.06 hours. I feel like a proper runner!
Sunday 22 January 2012
Dubizzle
I'm in Dubai at the moment with work and will be here for the next two weeks. The weather is actually surprisingly bad here - temperatures are still around 15 degrees, but it's very cloudy and windy. Frankly I think most Londoners would still bite your hand off for a day like this at the moment, but the Dubai government has apparently issued severe weather warnings and everyone's walking around with a slightly scandalised expression.
Anyway I had to do a long run yesterday and decided against going outside. I didn't want to face the heat and I wasn't really sure where would be a good place to run - Dubai isn't exactly set up for pedestrians and every road is a 6-lane highway. So I stuck to the treadmill, which was dull and tedious for 2 hours 20 minutes, but comfortable and a good way to educate myself about pace-setting. I have a tendency to go faster than I should at the start when I'm outside; on the treadmill I was running slightly slower than normal, which felt weird but meant that I did my 18k with very few walking breaks and felt comfortable throughout.
Nonetheless, I would like to do a bit of running around Dubai, and by happy coincidence it's the Dubai Marathon next weekend, with a 10k race alongside it. I'm going to sign up. It starts at 7am so should still be relatively cool. It'll be my first ever race! Exciting.
Anyway I had to do a long run yesterday and decided against going outside. I didn't want to face the heat and I wasn't really sure where would be a good place to run - Dubai isn't exactly set up for pedestrians and every road is a 6-lane highway. So I stuck to the treadmill, which was dull and tedious for 2 hours 20 minutes, but comfortable and a good way to educate myself about pace-setting. I have a tendency to go faster than I should at the start when I'm outside; on the treadmill I was running slightly slower than normal, which felt weird but meant that I did my 18k with very few walking breaks and felt comfortable throughout.
Nonetheless, I would like to do a bit of running around Dubai, and by happy coincidence it's the Dubai Marathon next weekend, with a 10k race alongside it. I'm going to sign up. It starts at 7am so should still be relatively cool. It'll be my first ever race! Exciting.
Monday 9 January 2012
It's here! 2012. The year of the marathon.
I've let things slide on this blog a bit! Luckily my running is going a bit better than my blogging. But I thought I'd give a quick post-Christmas update. I am sure there are people out there HANKERING for news. Well, fear not, this post will take you on a whistlestop tour of my training programme, covering tourists, fences, squirrels and finally facing the truth about my Christmas weight gain and its implications for my bosomly comfort.
Right then. Since the last time I posted I've done:
It wasn't all running - I did walk from time to time - but I covered the distance, which is my main aim throughout this training programme.
Just to be clear, I am not aiming to do the marathon in any particular time. I just want what any novice runner wants - to get round the course without needing to be stretchered off at mile 8, weeping, in a foil blanket in front of television cameras before they cut back to a sympathetic Clare Balding in the BBC studio.
ANYWAY. The route I took was from Oval down to Clapham Common, across to Wandsworth Common, through Battersea to the river and then back up to Vauxhall. I had only intended to do 8 miles, but ended up getting lost and taking a bit of a detour.
It was the most beautiful day. Crisp, cold and sunny. I had a bit of an epiphany moment on Clapham Common, looking at the sun glinting off the water and all the cheerful people out exercising their dogs (and the haggard people exercising their small children), where I just thought - WOW, I am enjoying this so much. I won't claim that feeling lasted for the entire run, but it was a high point. It was very invigorating. I seldom feel invigorated in life. It was probably on a par with, say, having a completely empty laundry basket or finding a tenner in your pocket.
The 9-mile run I did a couple of days ago was very slightly less enjoyable.
The reasons for this were threefold:
1. I ran on a Saturday lunchtime. I chose a route which began well, across to Vauxhall, up the river towards Westminster, la la, lovely lovely, then BAM YOU'RE AT WESTMINSTER BRIDGE AND ALL THE TOURISTS IN THE ENTIRE WORLD ARE IN YOUR WAY. I ended up doing that impatient kind of hopping motion as I jostled through the crowds, and I definitely ruined a few people's holiday snaps by running in front of the camera. From Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge was a bloody nightmare. The whole place was teeming with European couples wearing matching padded jackets and designer sunglasses and suede loafers, strolling arm in arm and looking smug. I kept barrelling into people and it was a blessed relief to get past the Tower of London on the other side, when the crowds thinned out again for a bit.
2. I was a bit hungover (please refer to first line of my previous post)
3. My sports bra is, I now realise, a size too small since Bingefest 2011, aka Christmas. Running in a sports bra that is one size too small is akin to someone just standing in front of you, holding one boob in each hand in slightly too firm a grip, then jiggling them up and down vigorously. For two hours. By the end I was in agony. I am buying a new sports bra this week.
Of the short runs there's not much to report except that I blindly ran front-on into a waist-height grey metal barrier on Clapham Common and went head over heels. There were lots of people there to witness my shame, and those who weren't looking were quickly alerted by the loud BONNNNGGG noise I made as I hit the bar.
Also, I played a game of chicken with a squirrel somewhere on a pavement in Wandsworth, and can report that I won. In your facy, tiny rodent.
Oh yes AND I had an amazing (-ly short) run in France, which is where I spent Christmas with my family. It was beautiful and very tranquil. I only wish I'd bothered going out for a run more than once. But I'll upload some pics of it tomorrow anyway.
I've got to start raising my sponsorship money soon - £1,600. Gulp. I'm going to be one of those annoying knobs who emails their Justgiving link round every five minutes. FML.
Right then. Since the last time I posted I've done:
- My first ever 10-mile run, on 10th December ....
- .... and my second on 7 January (well, ok, 9 miles)
- as well as four shorter training runs of about 2 or 3 miles each. This is probably not enough, but it has been Christmas and I have been slacking off with the merry promise of going hard in January (ha).
It wasn't all running - I did walk from time to time - but I covered the distance, which is my main aim throughout this training programme.
Just to be clear, I am not aiming to do the marathon in any particular time. I just want what any novice runner wants - to get round the course without needing to be stretchered off at mile 8, weeping, in a foil blanket in front of television cameras before they cut back to a sympathetic Clare Balding in the BBC studio.
ANYWAY. The route I took was from Oval down to Clapham Common, across to Wandsworth Common, through Battersea to the river and then back up to Vauxhall. I had only intended to do 8 miles, but ended up getting lost and taking a bit of a detour.
It was the most beautiful day. Crisp, cold and sunny. I had a bit of an epiphany moment on Clapham Common, looking at the sun glinting off the water and all the cheerful people out exercising their dogs (and the haggard people exercising their small children), where I just thought - WOW, I am enjoying this so much. I won't claim that feeling lasted for the entire run, but it was a high point. It was very invigorating. I seldom feel invigorated in life. It was probably on a par with, say, having a completely empty laundry basket or finding a tenner in your pocket.
The 9-mile run I did a couple of days ago was very slightly less enjoyable.
The reasons for this were threefold:
1. I ran on a Saturday lunchtime. I chose a route which began well, across to Vauxhall, up the river towards Westminster, la la, lovely lovely, then BAM YOU'RE AT WESTMINSTER BRIDGE AND ALL THE TOURISTS IN THE ENTIRE WORLD ARE IN YOUR WAY. I ended up doing that impatient kind of hopping motion as I jostled through the crowds, and I definitely ruined a few people's holiday snaps by running in front of the camera. From Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge was a bloody nightmare. The whole place was teeming with European couples wearing matching padded jackets and designer sunglasses and suede loafers, strolling arm in arm and looking smug. I kept barrelling into people and it was a blessed relief to get past the Tower of London on the other side, when the crowds thinned out again for a bit.
2. I was a bit hungover (please refer to first line of my previous post)
3. My sports bra is, I now realise, a size too small since Bingefest 2011, aka Christmas. Running in a sports bra that is one size too small is akin to someone just standing in front of you, holding one boob in each hand in slightly too firm a grip, then jiggling them up and down vigorously. For two hours. By the end I was in agony. I am buying a new sports bra this week.
Of the short runs there's not much to report except that I blindly ran front-on into a waist-height grey metal barrier on Clapham Common and went head over heels. There were lots of people there to witness my shame, and those who weren't looking were quickly alerted by the loud BONNNNGGG noise I made as I hit the bar.
Also, I played a game of chicken with a squirrel somewhere on a pavement in Wandsworth, and can report that I won. In your facy, tiny rodent.
Oh yes AND I had an amazing (-ly short) run in France, which is where I spent Christmas with my family. It was beautiful and very tranquil. I only wish I'd bothered going out for a run more than once. But I'll upload some pics of it tomorrow anyway.
I've got to start raising my sponsorship money soon - £1,600. Gulp. I'm going to be one of those annoying knobs who emails their Justgiving link round every five minutes. FML.
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