Running cold

Well, having had an enforced break from running for over a week, and facing the longest run I will have ever done on Sunday, I needed to get out and just do it! It really wasn't completely free from snow/ice and was a little slippy in places, but I took it easy, particularly over the first part of the run and didn't take any risks. I have been gymming it over the week, trying to strengthen and build my leg muscles up to ease my knees and it seemed to work as I completed a 13 mile run without too much pain: given I'd hardly done any running recently, I was pleased that I felt I could have done more, albeit at a slow pace. And it was great to be outside again.

This is in preparation for the City to City race on Sunday (part of my 2013 Challenge Series): a route from Ely to Cambridge, which I'm hoping will be beautiful and a great run. I am looking forward to it, but am conscious that this will be a totally new experience for me, running a trail run and across 16.5 miles.  I am a little concerned that I'll find it difficult to run on trails, having been used to roads and pavements: I certainly didn't find the off road bits of the Boundary run easy. I'm hoping that it will be fine, but the organisers say it can be heavy going and windy.......... I'll see. I am hoping that that the weather will have least have improved by then and that any wind is coming from behind, not into me!

One thing after tonight, I am going to invest in some new socks and gloves tomorrow. In the 2 hours I was out running today, my hands were turning blue with the cold and by the time I had finished I could not feel my feet or fingers. I don't think I have ever been as cold. It took a good hour to thaw out and even now, my hands and feet don't feel right. So, yes, hoping for warmer weather on Sunday!

Snow joke

I'm fed up with this *&?@*#*@*$ weather. Having run in the freezing cold over the past couple of days, and looking forward to a 12+ mile run tomorrow in preparation for the City to City run next weekend, I'm faced with snow all weekend. I'm getting used to running in the cold: I've had to this winter, as it's been cold enough for months for welders to be in constant demand from brass monkeys. But I'm getting really fed up with the snow: it is spring and I really feel that I should be looking at green now. White is all well and good on Christmas Day, but not Easter. It's no joke.

And I really feel I need to do a longer run, as the City to City is 16+ miles, a distance I've not done before. I am really looking forward to it, as it should be a beautiful run in lovely countryside (Ely to Cambridge along the Cam and Ouse), but I'm also feeling nervous, as it is a step up from anything I've run before. So I do want to do a long run over the next few days in order to give me a bit of confidence and to prepare myself for running over this sort of distance. So, if the weather continues as it has been doing this weekend, I'm going to be stuck on the treadmill, something I really don't want to do. And I won't be able to do the sort of distance on the tread' that I want to do; I think I'd either die from boredom, or fall off the thing. So I'm hoping the snow will miraculously disappear in the morning. Fat chance.

So, not a great way to prepare for the latest run in my 2013 Challenge Series. I've also still got a slight niggling knee injury, something which seems to have responded well to some leg work in the gym, but it's still not 100%. So I do want to do a longer run and then rest up for the rest of the week. In other news I've also added a couple of runs to the Challenge, 10k's in Birmingham and Stoke, and I'm hoping that I'll have more staff and volunteers from NYAS join me for these. I've also been reminded that as a charity we have some entries for the New York Marathon in November remaining to be filled. I have said that I would never run a marathon, but I am tempted.......

Anyway, one step at a time! The City to City's 16+ miles is more than enough for me at the moment. This will be my biggest challenge so far, by far. If you want to support me in this, it is a huge encouragement to receive sponsorship... and not only would this encourage me, but help to support an organisation doing some excellent work across the country with children in care and other vulnerable children and adults. I'm just hoping that the weather will have improved by then.... 

Why We Run

I've just finished the book, "Why We Run, A Story of an Obsessive" by Robin Harvie, which was given to my by a friend and (much better) runner for my birthday... very appropriate this year. I had half expected to find it an autobiographical book describing how yet another runner managed to run a marathon in 5 weeks having previously lived the life of a couch potato. I was wrong.

Instead I got a fascinating book, part autobiography, part story, part history, and part philosophical debate about "why we run". What starts out as a story about how Harvie decides to run the Spartathon, a 152 mile ultra from Athens to Sparta in under 36 hours, turns into much more as he weaves into this the story of his childhood, teenage and adult years, histories of the Marathon, Olympics and Spartathon, and a look at some of the modern ages great runners and explorers, Bannister, Zatopek, Hilary and Scott.

As reviewers have said, it does go all over the place, and sometimes it is difficult to find the links in the narrative, but it is a literary book, demanding a  little effort: the link is running, going to the edges of our limits, and what drives people to take up challenges which demand obsessive commitment.

And he is obsessive: the training demanded to prepare for the Spartathon is impressive, running 120 miles during the week and then 2 marathons at weekends, running ultras and marathons in preparation: but it is telling that his wife at one point says to him she had a life to get on with, and she didn't "want to do that alone". I think it is the mark of the man that he ends the story on failure, or at least not finishing the Spartathon, a brutal run testing not only physical preparation but mental strength. He was humble enough to admit that his will and body was broken by the race. Although he clearly regretted not finishing, he did complete 85 miles in 17 hours. Perhaps he should have taken the advice of one of his mentors, Rory Coleman: don't just look forward to the challenge, but also look back at the achievement.

But this is not the point. Essentially, the book is about the title. Why do people run? For Harvie, running is, "seeking out the challenge of the distance and the terrain, throwing all my effort and daring into conquering it." Running is about challenging his own capabilities, testing his mental and physical ability against the terrain and time. In preparation for the Spartathon, this became his obsession: he lived to run. 

I don't think I'll ever get to that stage. I don't think I want to be that obsessive, to run that far. But if I think about why I run, there is no one reason. I could say, "for charity", or because I want to keep fit, lose weight: all of which are true. Do I enjoy it? Sometimes. Sometimes it is just hard graft. But yes, sometimes it is great to be running in sunshine, or in countryside, or just feeling the freedom of being out and about. And I miss it when I'm not running. But for me a big part is the challenge: whether trying to improve my times, or running further. I don't find running easy, never have, but I do feel a great feeling of satisfaction at completing a race or training run. I always feel better..... afterwards!

So, a good book, worth a read. And not just for those who run ultras, its for all runners. So, why do you run? 

2013 Challenge Series: Cambridge Boundary Run

After last week's highs, with personal bests for both 5k and 10k races, I had some difficulties this week in preparation for the Cambridge Boundary Run, a marathon round the outskirts of Cambridge (or in my case, a half marathon, finishing on the other side of the city). On Monday, I found that my left knee was very painful and would sort of semi-lock: my feet were also painful... not a new issue, as I've had problems with the nerves in them for a couple of years or so (they have been investigated, but no diagnosis). However, the knee issue was new. The result of this was that I was hobbling along for part of the week, and it was painful to do any running at all....... however, by the end of the week I managed a couple of gentle 3 milers, which were still painful, but manageable. The weekend itself was busy, traveling up to Manchester and returning late on Saturday night and having to get up relatively early on Sunday to get to Cambridge. So all in all, I didn't feel like it was great preparation for the run on Sunday, and I was not in the best mind set as I set off. 

Serious runners before the start

My misgivings about doing the run were compounded by the fact that the Boundary Run was organised by the university running club, the Hare and Hounds........... so not only was I feeling a wreck, but I was also going to be racing against young, fit things........ Now, when I got there I was relieved to find that there were quite a few crumblies like me: well, not like me, as they all looked like serious runners..... I realise now that not all races are like the Brum Half, where there were a significant number of people who seemed to be running it as a one off, or who were happy to run in huge teddy bear outfits for charity or for fun. Some races are chock full of lean, committed, athletic runners, who prepare properly and train hard........... maybe it was just how I was feeling, but that was what this field looked like to me.......

Anyway, on race morning, the good news was that my knee felt a lot better: someone must have been praying, as although I had a couple of twinges, it actually gave me no problems at all during the race, even when I jammed it in a hole about half way round. So that was positive, and my mood was also lifted as the race was really well organised and friendly, with a great atmosphere and decent weather to boot!

So, the race started on the East of Cambridge just by a trading estate. It was a slow start (which we'd been warned about) as the first half a mile or so was virtually single file, which meant that I completed the first mile in about 11 minutes as opposed to the 8 or so I'd been aiming for. The first part of the course wound round roads and suburban streets until we hit the countryside round the South of Cambridge, and I managed to get into a bit of a rhythm, completing 6 miles in about 55 minutes....... and then we went off road! I don't know why I was surprised, I just was, as I just hadn't expected this. Probably, if I'd actually prepared and looked at the course, I would have realised, but I hadn't. In fact I was surprised at how much of the course was off road: mostly this was ok, as it followed paths and was fairly flat, but near the end we ran more across fields, rutted through tractor use. Now I found this terrain much more difficult, particularly as the ground was surprisingly hard..... and my earphones also packed up with about 4 miles to go, so I was unable to listen to my running app telling me how slowly I was going. All of which meant it felt like the last 1 1/2 miles was more like three, and I found it very hard going!

Jenny (another serious runner) ...... and me

Like the previous week, I was also privileged to meet one of NYAS's fantastic volunteers, this time from Cambridgeshire. Jenny has been volunteering for NYAS for over 2 years, befriending a young teenage lad in her role as an Independent Visitor. She wasn't running for NYAS, but for another charity, Missing People, (see her link to find out more), but it was great to hear how her relationship with her young person had developed over the years, and how she said his eyes "light up" when she comes to see him. Jenny said that he does open up to her and talks to her about his life and problems and one of his favourite activities was fishing. But perhaps for me, the most important thing Jenny said was when she described a time when she told her young person that she cared for him as a friend, and his reaction to this: it just revealed how important that was for him. 

So, great to meet another NYAS volunteer and great to compete the second run in my 2013 Challenge Series. I'm running to raise money for NYAS, so please visit my BT Donate page to give generously. Thank you! By the way.... I ran the race in 2:01........ Jenny completed it in 1:47: that's good running!