Redbush Runner

So much for the long run I had planned this morning.  I just couldn't do it.  5K was my limit today, a combination of it being surprisingly warm for the time of year, the energy-zapping effects of a virus and no doubt a bit of mental exhaustion thrown in for good measure.  (Not that I'm one to make excuses, of course!)  But they say, "no run is a wasted run" and that's true.  As 5K goes, it was thoroughly respectable, but I'm frustrated because I set out intending to do more and I failed.  The question is, how am I going to tackle this half next month?  I just can't see it happening.  I'm neither physically or mentally ready. Perhaps I need to cut myself some slack.  Life's been a bit weird recently.  Sometimes in life you get these odd blips. And they are just that, 'blips', nothing more, but you don't necessarily realise this at the time.  Sometimes things happen which throw up stuff from the past, things that you have already d...

So much for the dire weather forecast earlier in the week.  The Sheffield 10K went ahead in perfect conditions and what a race it was! Now, I know I've done a half marathon this year and I've another one coming up, but in some ways the Sheffield 10K still feels like the big running event of the year for me.  I don't know whether that's because it was the 'biggy' last year, our first official 10K race, a sort of rite of passage and therefore it holds a special place in my heart, or whether it's a way of making up for my disappointment over the York 10K.  I loved York but I think, being honest with myself, I was perhaps a bit more frustrated by it than I've been prepared to admit.  Don't get me wrong, I think I did pretty well at York, given the atrocious heat on the day and we know that finishing times alone rarely tell the whole story, but there's nothing like getting a fast time to put you in a great mood for days.  So, I felt I had something ...

Every now and again you hear a shocking story about someone who has been attacked while out running.   Rare though those events are, the fear amongst runners is understandably high.   As someone who likes to run stretches of quiet trail on my own, I often wonder if I’m being foolish.   But I remind myself that this running lark is doing me the world of good and I love it too much to have the experience ruined by worries about encountering a random nutter. Some days, however, my already colourful imagination goes into overdrive and I become convinced that today is the day I will be murdered.   I can be trotting along quite happily and then suddenly I’ll spot someone in the distance and I'll decide quite spontaneously and no doubt erroneously that something isn't quite right about that person.  Before I know it, I’ll have persuaded myself that I'm in danger.   The other day, I became particularly nervous.   I kept turning my head, was certain I cou...

I've always been a fidget.  I find it hard to sit still at the best of times (one of the reasons I rarely go to the cinema) but when there's something on my mind, I pace like a depressed polar bear in a zoo. That's one of the reasons running is so good for me.  I feel instantly better when I'm moving.  Once I get into a rhythm, it soothes me and although I'm not exactly Paula Radcliffe, I can currently run at a speed that does, to me at least, feel a bit like flying.  And boy, did I need to fly away for a little today. We're in the midst of a cat crisis.  Putting it simply (though I suspect from a feline psychology point of view it's far from simple) one cat keeps biting the other cat, causing puncture wounds that mean we're back and forth from the vets at the moment.  The cats have a complex relationship.  Weeks can go by when they cohabit without incident, then randomly we'll have another ambushing.  It's over and done with in a matter of s...

I'm coming up to my 2nd 'runniversary.'  Bank Holiday weekend of 2016 was when I first laced up my trainers and went for what could loosely be described as a run.  (What trainers they were too - a cheap as chips, thin-soled, utterly inadequate pair from Primark.  It didn't take me long to realise that they weren't going to be up to the job.)  I've come a long way since then and have of course learned that you need a second mortgage to keep yourself in running shoes, not to mention all the other purchases that are required to partake in this 'free' hobby.  But I wouldn't change it for anything and today seems like a good day to reflect on the positive things running has given me. It's not an exaggeration to say running is one of the most important things in my life right now.  It's how I structure my days, my weeks, my months and my years.  Some people plan holidays months in advance; I plan parkrun tourism and races.  There's always som...

'Fake Toe Nails' - that's not something I ever thought I would be Googling.  Alas, I've discovered that bruised and battered toenails are very much a fact of life for runners, especially as you start to increase your distance.  I've had an unstable nail for weeks but the other day it came off.  It looked weird but didn't hurt.  I looked at it with a mixture of revulsion and pride.  I tried to see it as a battle scar, a badge of courage, although I can't pretend I wouldn't have preferred a glamorous, girly T-shirt with 'Half Marathon Queen' written across in glittery lettering. I had a summer wedding invite approaching, so, off to Google I went, hoping to find some miracle product designed to conceal missing nails for a special occasion.  I wasn't really expecting to find a solution, so I was quite surprised when so many options flashed up, offering me the perfect French pedicure in minutes and the promise of flip-flop happy feet.  This prob...

This weekend we managed to tick off two special items on our running wish list - Dalby Forest Parkrun and the Asda Foundation York 10K Race for All. The weekend looked in jeopardy at one point.  We set off bright and early on Friday morning with the intention of a leisurely drive over to North Yorkshire but the car had other ideas and, with spectacular timing, began to make worrying noises.  We decided it would be sensible to call at the Toyota garage en route to see if they would have a quick look at it.  Unfortunately this revealed a split exhaust so we ended up spending a long and boring morning at the pub across the road from the garage before going on perhaps the dullest walk ever around Barugh Green to kill time while waiting for the car to be repaired.  By 2 o clock the part still hadn't arrived so they sorted out a courtesy car for us and we eventually went on our way. Once on the road, our spirits picked up a bit, although the journey was not plain saili...