Rosedawn Ramblings

I finished last week's post with a challenge to myself, setting my alarm for an early morning run along the sea front in Brighton. Did I get up and run? Yes!  It was a lovely but warm start to the day and I managed four miles out and back along the promenade... it was good to run in a totally new place, without a route in mind, although keeping the sea in view made it quite simple to avoid getting lost.  I didn't worry about how fast I was running, stopping to take photos then run along the stony beach for a while (meaning I could tick off another one of the challenges in our Potters Trotters Summer Challenge 2019 too). I also scoped out the location of the Jungle Rumble Adventure Golf course.... where I managed two holes in one later in the day. It felt good just to run.... And so it has continued this week.  My runs have been relatively short and certainly not fast. But I've just enjoyed running. On Tuesday, it was up to Apedal...

In four weeks time, I will be taking part in the Dulux London Revolution Trails event aiming for ultramarathon distance on a route that starts in Marlow, loops around the Chilterns and then follows the River Thames down to Windsor. The route is described by race organisers as "a diverse mix of hilly trails, historic woodland paths and flat riverside running past Thameside towns"... sounds idyllic apart from the distance! I entered a few weeks ago and have gradually been getting my mind and body prepared for the challenge; building up my weekly mileage and adding in hills, trails and solo runs to my weekly schedule of running... I knew that this week was a crucial one in my training to give me a bit more confidence for the challenge ahead. Having struggled through a 3-mile solo run after work on Wednesday, Thursday's run was designated as "fun hills" with the Potters Trotters - a good combination of hills and trails making use of the University'...

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...

I t's been a while and I'm not sure why. I've been running a lot until this last week, got a new job, visited lots of new and interesting places and had lots going on. I've just got out of the habit of writing and I feel a bit sad about it... it's like I lost my voice (which is a pretty desperate state of affairs for a chatterbox like me). Two things have shaken me from my silence... Last week, I went along to a reception hosted my Peter Hooper from Cox Bank Publishing, the man behind the Sporting Stories initiative. It was a gathering of authors - it was great fun and I particularly enjoyed chatting with paralympian swimmer Jenny Booth and finding out what motivates her to get up at 4.30am for training sessions at the pool. But I felt a bit of a fraud... my blog has been without an update for so long, did I still count as a writer? Photo Credit: Cox Bank Publishing And then at the weekend, I received this message via Twitter: And that got me thinkin...

I think I may have found a new passion... I know that running in the ice, cold and snow can be risky and you have to be careful for all sorts of reasons, but I've been really enjoying my running over the last week. I love being outside in the snow anyway, wrapped up against the cold, but the added dimension of running has been a new challenge that I'm relishing. Garmin Map of 1km of my snow run in Hanley Park! Last Monday was my first experience of snow-running... I rescued my trail shoes from where I'd discarded them after the final cross country event in Leek last December , wrapped myself up in lots of layers and ventured out. I ran along the canal to Hanley Park and just ran around in circles... making footprint patterns in the snow on the tennis courts, football pitches and cricket nets, plus one loop of the lake. It was fun... I wasn't worried about how far or how fast I was running, I was just running and enjoying it. I only ran a cou...

During February, I've been gradually stepping up the distances that I've been running each week and in my long run in particular. My longest distance has increased week by week from 9 miles to 12 miles. Over the whole month, I ran more than 100 miles. Now it’s March and race day is getting closer. Last Thursday, I set out to complete my longest run ever, in terms of both time and distance. This was crunch time for my half marathon training schedule and on a bit of a whim I decided that I would follow the Trent and Mersey Canal, just to see if I could run from Stoke to Stone. The sun was shining, there was only a gentle breeze and it actually felt like a lovely warm spring day. Almost perfect for running. The first couple of miles from my starting point close to Etruria were pretty tough - the stretch of the canal between Etruria and the Britannia Stadium is probably my least favourite running route. There are loads of bridges over the canal which make the route a bit da...

Today was one of those days where running felt difficult, the going definitely got tough. But I kept going and completed the longest run that I’ve managed… ever…9 and ¾ miles. I’m getting steadily closer to the half marathon distance and keeping up with my training schedule. I actually exceeded 75 miles in January… which seems like a pretty long way even to me!  So what went wrong today? Nothing disastrous, just lots of little things that meant I didn’t get into a good running rhythm. I decided to stick to the canal towpath today to avoid too many serious inclines. I headed out along the Cauldon Canal through Milton and on to Stockton Brook before turning round and coming back the same way. First off, it was cold, very cold, as I left home. There was an icy wind blowing along the canal towpath and even though the sun was shining, it didn’t seem to make much difference to the temperature. The canal was pretty much frozen along the whole route and I don’t think that helped. I...

I'm running a half marathon! I completed two races last year - the 5km Race for Life at Trentham Gardens and the 10km Christmas Pudding Run at Cheddleton in November - as well as running two or three times each week on my own or more usually with the girls from Potters Trotters. In the last couple of months, I've also got involved in the local parkrun in Hanley, which has been a great challenge each Saturday morning, as well as lots of fun. But I like new challenges so now, along with a few of my running buddies from Potters Trotters and the parkrun, I've signed up to take part in the Stafford Half Marathon on the last Sunday in March. I'm already in week 2 of a 12 week training programme and completed 7 runs so far! The training schedule includes 3-4 runs per week, including speedwork sessions, tempo runs, hill sessions and the weekly "long run". I'm slowly learning all the terminology from my training plan and I've even bought a book for my Kindl...