Encouraging others to run

Not long after I ran Brighton marathon (in April), a friend of mine told me she was thinking of getting fit and taking up running. Her ultimate goal was to run a Half marathon and raise money for a charity close to her heart, but for now she just wanted to get started. So a few weeks ago we started running together.

As I'm not a personal trainer or running expert in any way, I googled some beginner training plans, and cast my mind back not that long ago to when I could only run 2 minutes, walk 5 minutes and repeat. We started one Sunday morning with a stroll to the start of the local trail, then alternated 3 minutes of running with 2 minutes of walking, over about 2.5 miles.

As she works and I work, and she has 3 kids and I have 2, we only managed to squeeze in one run per week together, but she did also do the occasional run on her own in the week. About 3 weeks in to our training, another school Mum said she'd like to join us.

So we've been running together as a group of 3 for the last 4 weekends, and it's been good. Although I have sometimes felt that I'd rather just go at my own pace, overall it's been fun to pass on my enthusiasm for running! One time when I wanted to increase my mileage, I just ran a few miles on my own before we met up and another week I ran 5x in total instead of my usual 4x, to make up my mileage, so it's been ok.

I must admit, it's quite nice to think that my running has inspired others to think they can do it too. I certainly think that almost anyone is capable of becoming a runner - if you want it enough, you can always find time, and it's something than can be learnt and trained for from nothing.

Meanwhile I hope I can encourage my kids to run and do other sports. So far they are both keen and confident swimmers and both love being active in general. They're not really interested in running yet though, and I don't want to push it on them and put them off.

I hope that by seeing me exercising, they will assume that it's just a normal part of life, and that by attending running events and races, they might be inspired to take part. They have participated in a few children's races - some they enjoyed, others not so much - and they have marshalled at parkrun 3 or 4 times. Last week, I volunteered and they accompanied me as I handed out position tokens at the finish. It was good fun, and I hope that these experiences will help promote the idea that exercise can be fun and normal!

Little angels...

The Headlines This Week

Here is the news this week...

On Monday I went to netball. I'd missed a few weeks due to it being cancelled for rain and a holiday, and then I missed one. This week it was good fun, but there were 18 of us there, and we ended up playing with 4 on each team. Not enough! It was extremely funny to intercept the ball, turn round and not see anyone to throw it to as there simply weren't enough players. At times we couldn't continue for laughing.

Unfortunately though, about half way through, I hurt my finger when the ball hit the end of it. It was quite painful, and although I carried on playing, I could only really try to catch the ball with one hand, which proved unsuccessful overall. Luckily everyone there is very relaxed about skill levels. As I was Centre, I asked if anyone wanted to swap with me and I said 'I can't catch', and about 3 people replied 'don't worry, neither can I'.

 Normal size ring finger

Swollen ring finger (wedding ring stuck!)

My finger was very swollen when I left, and I put an ice-pack on it later to calm down the throbbing, and it's a lot better now.

On Tuesday I wasn't working, and I finally managed a decent long run - my first since the marathon many weeks ago. I ran 8 miles which was quite enjoyable, despite the drizzle that soaked me on the way home.

I've been really tired this week, and my students have been preparing for an exam, which has provided me with lots of extra work, while I've also been covering for another teacher. So yesterday and this morning I got up early (dragging myself away from the pillow) to fit in a couple of runs. Both times I felt much better for it, if knackered by the evening. And at some point this morning, I tipped my year's mileage over the 500 miles mark.

One of my goals this year is to run 1,000 miles, and as I have no plans to train for another marathon, I'm not sure I'll make it in the second half of the year. For now though, I'm still on track!

And that concludes this week's news.

May Rundown and Sunny Running!

Summer has arrived at long last and I've had a great week of enjoying the sunshine, despite working for some of it. I managed to fit in a run before work on Tuesday, then went for a super-quick spin on my bike after work on Wednesday.

But on Thursday I had the pleasure of a day off, a sunny day and nothing to do except enjoy it. So I drove to the town of Seaford, about 9 miles away, and parked by the beach. From there, I headed up to the cliffs to attempt some trail running and see a different view of a place I love.

It was a pretty steep climb up though, and I found myself walking very soon after starting the ascent onto the cliffs. It was all very green as I got to a clifftop golf course and plodded slowly past it. There was a sheer drop to my right as I got to a high point and then started going downhill.

After going through this gate, the path went downhill to the most fantastic view of the chalk clifffs. It was amazing, flying down that slope towards that view with no-one else in sight.

Great fun to run down!

Love this view

I went on over the cliffs, stopping to snap photos and to work out where I was going. I came to a point where I was overlooking a beach that we went to last weekend, but I hadn't approached from this side before.

Then I headed back the way I'd come, but on a different path. The views were just lovely and the sunshine was glorious.

 

When I got back to the car, I'd only done 4 miles, although after all the hills it felt like more! So I jogged along the beach for a mile, and back again to make it up to 6 miles in total. It was nice and flat there!

I loved the bright colours of these beach huts:

Long may the good weather continue so I can get more runs like this...

As for May, my running mileage was still quite low following the marathon. I've been running very regularly, but my longest run in May was only 6 miles. I did a fair bit of cycling though, especially as the sun came out.

Ran - 16x = 65.6 miles
Cycled - 4x = 63.3 miles  
3 Parkruns

I could really do with a race to motivate me, so I hope I'll find one that fits in with our busy weekends in June. I need a goal!

Half-Term Hijinks

Last week was half term here, which meant no school and no work - yay! We did a lot of stuff together...

A walk in the woods

A play in the woods

... including a trip to visit friends in Luxembourg...

Pretty City

 ... which was lovely in sunshine...

... and in rain...

...then back home to the English seaside and finally some good weather!

Running with the kids

Yesterday I found myself down one husband and one car, and in charge of the kids. Luckily it was a lovely sunny day, and I took Robbie and Emma out on their bikes.

I ran along with them, and as Emma went from a confidence-lacking wobble to a happy zoom, my running became a kind of fartlek session.

I stopped constantly but then would suddenly have to sprint to catch them up.

We went along the cycle path (the Cuckoo Trail), as far as a tea-room and craft centre, where we stopped to refuel and play.

In total I only ran 3.3 miles, but it was better than nothing, and it was great fun!

A commute

I'm really still getting used to working more again, having been a stay-at-home Mum last year, and then picking up increasing teaching hours since January. From the middle of April I started teaching 3 mornings a week every week, and that's been plenty, along with the kids and the housework. This week I have been teaching every day, and that has seriously messed up my usual timetable of running and cycling.

As well as having no free days this week, Pete is away on Friday and Saturday, so there's little chance for fitting much in then. So to get a bike ride in this week, I decided to cycle to work yesterday.

Looking grumpy, but actually very happy!

This required a bit of planning. I picked Wednesday because it's the day that the kids have school dinners so I don't have to spend time making packed lunches in the morning! Pete took them to school too, so I didn't have to worry about that, and I left about 20 minutes earlier than usual.

It's just under 5 miles there, and with a bit added on for fun, I cycled a comfortable 11 miles - not bad considering I didn't think I'd have time for any cycling this week.

I'd definitely do it again, perhaps once a week, but only really on a Wednesday - the other mornings are too hectic. It was great to spend the morning looking forward to the ride home, and the weather was pretty good so that was lucky.

There are drawbacks though; I had to leave home early; my pile of books were crammed into a heavy rucksack; I could only take work clothes that wouldn't crumple in my bag; I had to get changed in a small toilet; I wiped the sweat off as best I could with paper towels; I felt a bit stinky and tried not to get too close to any of my students while I was teaching; my hair was kind of a mess; before I left to go home I had to put on the damp sweaty clothes from the morning's ride...

But all of that was worth it to get a nice bike ride in unexpectedly!

A fun weekend

This weekend has been action packed and we are all pretty tired this Sunday evening.

Saturday morning started as it usually does for me these days with a parkrun. I've been going regularly since the marathon, and my time has gradually improved each week from 26m02s on 27th April to 25m10s this weekend. My 5K PB is only about 40 seconds faster, so I hope I'll keep getting closer to that every week.

The day turned out to be quite sunny, and even warm enough to sunbathe when the clouds weren't spoiling things. We got together with a group of the kids' school friends in the afternoon and went to a local park. Activities included football and frisby (everyone), playing at the playground (children), and sitting in the sun chatting (grown-ups).

After the walk home, we had jacket potatoes and watched the final episode of this series of Doctor Who - a perfect evening for all the family!

Then today I had read about a nearby fun run. It was in a village about 14 miles away, and there was a children's 1K, and a 5K and 10K. I was thinking about doing the 10K, and looking at the last year's results, it seemed a pretty small field so I thought I had a good chance of a top 3 place among the females. However, it turned out that the children's race was at the same time as the main races and after some pondering, I decided I'd rather see the kids run than race myself for a change.

I'm glad I made that decision. Robbie wanted to run by himself, but I ran with Emma, juist to make sure she knew where to go and didn't fall over or stop. They did really well.

Ready to run!

It started in a cricket field, and Robbie shot off like a rocket, although I'd warned him not to go too fast at the start! Most of the others did too though. We had to run around the edge of the field before going out along a lane, then turning round and coming back to finish in the field. However, the boys at the start ran inside the cones used to mark the route, and I'm not sure any of us ran a whole 1K!

...and they're off...

After a fast start, Robbie slowed down and we caught him up. At the halfway point there was a table with cups of water, and the children were all stopping for a good break and a drink - it made me laugh to see how uncompetitive they were compared to adults!

As we came back, we seemed to be in front of most of the runners. Emma kept running really fast and I was waiting for her to stop and walk, but she didn't, and she pulled ahead of Robbie for a while. Then she looked back and held her hand out for me and ran back to me - I don't know why, she was doing fine on her own!

Last 200 metres

We got into the field and I kept shouting at the kids to keep going with the promise of a cake at the end. They sped up, and we crossed the line close together, Robbie just a few steps in front of Emma.

Approaching the finish

They got a quite nice medal at the end, and I think Emma was one of the faster girls. Unfortunately later, they only announced the 3 winning boys without mention of the girls, and the results aren't on the website yet. The kids said they really enjoyed it though, so that was the main thing.

Medals!

Finally this afternoon, we went for a swim. Pete and Robbie cycled the 3 miles to the pool and 3 miles back, so Robbie really has done a triathlon today! He should sleep well tonight. We had a good swim and did some time trials up and down the pool to tire ourselves out even more.

Next week I'm working every day, so I'll find it hard to fit in much exercise - lucky I banked so much this weekend!