Rosedawn Ramblings

The sun has been shining, there is blossom on the trees, the nights are getting lighter, the clocks changed this weekend... it really does feel like spring is finally here. Spring hits Hanley Park The change of season seems to have had a positive impact on my running this week... the aches and pains of a couple of weeks ago have eased ( rest really is best ) and I've been clocking up the miles this week; all the time remembering to take things steady and focusing on recovering well after each run. Yesterday, with the sun shining brightly and conditions practically perfect for running, I set out with another of my running buddies Jane for a long-ish run. We were playing it by ear... ready for a long run but not exactly sure how far or where we would go! The goal was to relax, spend time on our feet and enjoy the miles. We settled on a canal route and headed out of Hanley along the Canal towards Endon... I run this way regularly and it always brings back good memories - th

Saturday mornings are generally all about parkrun - more often than not, I'll be at Hanley parkrun, running or run directing and then enjoying a good catch-up in the parkrun café afterwards. But this week, we took the opportunity of a couple of days off work to spread our wings and headed off to Cheadle Hulme parkrun, which is definitely a hidden gem in a hidden park by the A34 It was a chance to catch up with fellow parkrun ambassador Sam, who was looking after the event on Saturday, and also gave us the opportunity to try something different - the route is entirely on grass, involing one small loop of the top field, three bigger loops of the bottom field then one final loop of the top field to finish.  The general consensus from the regulars was that the course was muddy - most of the volunteer team were in wellies - but nowhere near as muddy as it can be... but it was still going to be much more like a cross-country run than my normal Saturday experience on the

I've been struggling this week, feeling tired and a little bit under the weather, an ache in my right thigh and a slight twinge in my lower back. Really not surprising after the battle that was the Knighton 20 and two months of running about 25 miles per week. I've not done that for at least a couple of years, so it's probably been a shock to my system. With nothing to be gained from pushing myself when my body has been begging for a rest, I've basically taken a week off from my training schedule and put my new trainers back in the box for a few days.  Rest is best. Sometimes it's easier said than done, but I've learnt from bitter experience how quickly an ache or a twinge becomes a serious injury, so for once I'm listening to my own advice (and Ryan Hall). Not running for a week has given me a bit of extra time - I've been trying to avoid spending all that time eating by getting my card-making supplies out of the cupboard again; us

After the beautiful sunshine of Guernsey in February, everything seems to have returned to seasonal norms this last week; cold, wet and windblown best describe me at the end of most of my runs last week. Which makes me wonder what I was thinking when I decided on Tuesday evening to enter the Knighton 20 five days before race day, especially as the weather forecast for this weekend was not promising, with the possibility of snow, rain, sleet and hail. You really want every advantage possible when you've chosen to run 20 miles on "undulating" country lanes in March. Knighton 20 Elevation Chart For the Knighton 20, I was re-uniting with my long-run training buddy Julie - we've completed ultras and training runs in every type of weather but it's been a while since we've run together so I was looking forward to catching up and supporting each other to get round. Julie is running the London Marathon in April so this was an important training run for he

It might sound like a reference to a children's book by Enid Blyton but.... About three years ago, when our work and other commitments would permit, my running buddy Liz and I would meet up on a Friday during the day and go for a run.... we usually ran about five miles and so it became known as the Friday Five . There wasn't anything particularly special about these five miles from a training sense; we weren't doing speed work or setting ourselves a particular running goal. We had a couple of regular routes - along the canal to Birches Head, or along the canal towards Trentham. Sometimes we would throw in a bit of variety and the occasional hill. In winter, we stuck to main roads and tried to avoided ice. A couple of times we went a bit further afield or ran a bit further. Friday Five on Tour... Getting lost in Hope But it was never really about the run or the route... the Friday Five was an opportunity to meet, chat, catch-up on our weeks and the five m