Rosedawn Ramblings

Today's blogpost is brought to you by letters M, P and W and the number 4. The Letter W At the start of 2013, I started racing for the first time in the North Staffs Road Runners and was allocated to Group W. At the time, I really didn’t really understand the implications of wearing that W on my back in every NSRRA event. It essentially just meant I needed to take extra safety pins to each race. However, after the Alsager 5, the importance of the W became clear… it was about competition, about winning and about rivalry.  From then on, W-spotting became as much a part of my race strategy as pace, refuelling and clothing choices. Friends and family who came along to support me started W-spotting too, providing me with instant updates on my race position. It definitely brought out my inner competitive streak; after my race win in Alsager (first W), I realised I enjoyed winning and wanted to keep on winning, so I kept on racing.  There were ups and downs, highs and...

Race start! The Ipstones 5 was another new race for me this year and not just a new race but a new place too... I'm still getting to know the area around Stoke-on-Trent and the little village of Isptones on the edge of the Peak District National Park was an unfamiliar destination. I knew two things about the race... one, it is part of a fundraising day at the village fire station and two, it goes up! I've had a good few weeks of training since launching myself on the comeback trail , so I was hoping for good things. Race sign-up was efficient and I then completed a short warm up to prepare my legs for the hilly miles to come, especially the promised 1 mile up with which the race starts. The field seemed smaller than many of the NSRRA races I've completed, but there were still plenty of familiar faces as we lined up at 3.30pm outside the fire station to get underway. Downhill: #636 thanked me for waiting until after the photo before overtaking! It w...

For Grandad: Bushy parkrun pilgrimage It's been a while since my last races in the North Staffs Road Runners - Cheadle 4 and Berryhill 10k back at the start of July. Since then, I've run in the Olympic Stadium ; made a pilgrimage to the home of parkrun at Bushy parkrun, where we met up with the Holmes family and had a lovely run with over 800 other parkrunners, and also made a return visit to the Olympic Park for the anniversary games (and what an experience that was)! Over the last few weeks my running mojo has been returning slowly - kickstarted by the Olympic Park Run. I've gradually been building up my weekly mileage, adopted a new training geared towards a half marathon at the end of October and decided to run two NSRRA races 4 days apart - the Staffs Knot 5 on Wednesday evening and the Leek Half Marathon on Sunday morning... I'm not sure this was a wise plan but the comeback trail has to start somewhere. I set myself two very different targets for ...

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...

Why do you run? That's a question I've been asked a lot over recent weeks and I've had plenty of time to come up with some answers, as I've actually not been running very much at all. Since my last race, the Clayton 10k , the tiredness, aches and twinges that I'd been feeling for a while caught up with me fully and I knew it was time for a rest. So instead of doing lots of running, I've been pondering about why I started running and why I continue to run, even when it hurts. I have managed a few memorable runs in the last couple of weeks though and they get a mention too. Running = Change I started running in February 2011 with the Coach to 5k podcasts. I'd been consciously working hard to lose weight and gain fitness after my weight reached an uncomfortable peak in 2010 - a combination of sedentary work-from-home life in my new home, very little exercise and lots of large but tasty dinners prepared with Mr T. Dramatic lifestyle changes were needed a...

Sunday 3rd February was my first race of 2013, the Alsager 5, and it was a grey and rainy start to the morning. The main dilemma pre-race was how many layers of clothes were required... should I keep my rain jacket or just get a bit damp but not get too warm. In the end I think I got it right - no jacket, short sleeve t-shirt and Potters Trotters vest, my new nike running skapris with hat and gloves! I even wearing Brooks trainers... matching the main sponsors of the race. It's all about the look! Pink Vest, Pink Hat! It was the expected scrum at the start with almost 800 runners in a relatively narrow street but after a couple of hundred metres, everything settled down and it was easy enough to get up to my planned running pace. My aims for the race were to run as hard as I could and try to get close to 42 minutes. I was hoping to run at an even pace, not too fast at the start, and then have enough strength of mind and body to sustain my speed over the fu...