Rosedawn Ramblings

On Sunday, I ran in the Olympic Park and finished the 5 mile route with a lap of the Olympic Stadium.... like it says on the back on my medal: "I followed in the footsteps of legends". And it was an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experience, a perfect reminder that running for me is so much more about where and who with than how far and how fast. Before the Start with Mavis and Janet The day started early... along with my mum, I arrived in Olympic Park at around 8am, which gave us plenty of time to find a good viewing place in the stadium for my mum before I went off to the start to meet up with my friend Mavis. I used to work with Mavis and if anyone had suggested that I'd running with her, never mind in Olympic Park, I would never have laughed long and hard. But times change and we're both regular runnners now (and also share a parkrun addiction too). Moving up to the Start! We took part in the energetic warm up and then slowly shuffled fo...

The temperature was top of the list of topics of conversation as I arrived in Cheadle for the latest in my series of NSRRA races - this was to be race number 9 of the 12 I need to complete to be included in the annual competition. The sun was out and even at 10am, it was already hot and getting hotter. It was a relief to know that at least this race was one of the shortest on the calender - just 4 miles, although with a challenging climb after the first mile (or so I'd been told). Milling around before the start, I spotted many of familiar faces from previous NSRRA races, including plenty of other runners from Potters Trotters, Hanley parkrun and also the other members of Group W. In general, runners from the same club tend to hang around together before the start, but there's always a bit of conversation with runners from other clubs too. The race itself was pretty much as expected (thanks to the advice from those who had run previously) - a fast slightly downhill st...

Another week, another NSRRA race. The races have been coming thick and fast since the beginning of June and I've been feeling the pressure of my 7-race winning streak in Group W and the impact on my legs! My last few races have been tough and I've had to rely on my inner Pollyanna to find some bright spots. View from the Kitchen! As race day dawned for the Berryhill 10k, my enthusiasm for another race was distinctly lacking. The rain was back and conditions did not look favourable. But I'd arranged a lift with Liz and Mr T was coming to support me too. In the end, we were pretty lucky with the conditions - the rain disappeared, the wind eased quite considerably and over 160 runners lined up for the start of the main race, which involved one small lap and two larger laps around Berryhill Fields - which I see from my kitchen window every day. Despite my best efforts at organisation - I remembered safety pins to attach my race number - I forget my Garmin and so woul...