Rosedawn Ramblings

On Sunday 15th October, I'll be taking part in the first Birmingham International Marathon. With my two previous big city road marathons ( Manchester and London ), I followed a detailed training plan, incorporated speeds sessions, gradually built up my long run distances and went to the race start as prepared as I could be. In Manchester, everything on race day (except the course measurement) went according to plan. In London, the pre-race pressure I put on myself for a specific finish time got the better of me and the wheels came off at half distance; the rest of the day after the high point of Tower Bridge is just a painful blur. I'd had the same idea in mind for preparing for this race too. I signed up last year with a discount code earned by running in the Birmingham Half, probably the furthest in advance I've ever entered a race. I'd planned 12 weeks of structured training following my Race to the King adventure. I wanted to see if I could get close to my mara...

I'm feeling a little bit lost. After all those weeks of travelling and running in different, interesting and sometimes exotic locations, we're home again now. The last place we ran before coming home was Victor Harbour... It looked like this: Whilst away, I ran regularly but never more than 3 or 4 miles at a time, so home again, I set myself the goal of gradually increasing my longest runs each week. I was even quietly contemplating an autumn marathon. I built up over 3 or 4 weeks to a long run of 10 miles and was feeling positive. And then came  back down to earth with a bump after an unexpected visit to my GP resulted in surgery under general anaesthetic less than 24 hours later. Wounds are healing and pain is receding but I'm not allowed to run. It's been 3 weeks and counting... Grumpy to say the least.  So what to do? How to keep myself occupied and not just sit and eat chocolate all day?  I've been doing as much walking as pain levels and gener...

The London Marathon... An iconic sporting event broadcast all over the world. Something I've watched but now would take part in for the first time, my second marathon. My first one in Manchester couldn't have gone much better... perfect conditions, a negative split, amazing support. That's a lot to live up to. Setting out for the start... thanks to Potters Trotters Liz for my send off If this were any other race, I would probably write about my disappointing result, my goal of 4 hours disintegrating in a few moments just after half way, the first race where I've had to walk for long periods because I just couldn't run anymore. I might write about what went wrong in great detail - probably a combination of the sunburn, heat, residual tiredness and problems with hydration and refuelling - and ponder on why running 9 minute miles felt so tough almost from mile 1. I could show you graphs of my km split times getting slower and slower. But this wasn't any...

"One day we will beat cancer. The more research we do, the sooner that day will come." My Dad died in 2012, just the day before Bradley Wiggins rode to victory in the Tour de France and a week before London 2012 began. He would definitely have enjoyed Bradley Wiggins' victory ride up the Champs-Élysées - in my head I still hear Wiggins' name pronounced in a French accent as it was in the news reports my mum, my sister and I would hear in the taxi taking us up to the hospital each day. There were loads of things about London 2012 that my Dad would have hated... drug cheats being allowed to compete, politicians jumping on the bandwagon of success, empty seats being saved for the corporate sponsors. But loads of things he would have loved too, especially the "leftie overtones" of Danny Boyle's opening ceremony. I'm not sure what he'd of thought of archery taking over the home of cricket, especially people dancing along to YMCA in the Long Room. ...

I'm in the final phase of marathon training now, tapering (or reducing) my mileage and resting a little bit more than usual. I've completed all my long training runs, done most of my speed sessions and there's not much more to be done. For the next two weeks, I need to stay fit and healthy, eat and sleep well, all with the aim of getting to the startline in London in as good shape as possible... easy, right?  So to keep me occupied and hopefully out of trouble, I'm going back to my roots... not quite home to Lancashire, but back to the roots of my blogging and fundraising for Cancer Research . I've started making cards again. This is proving to be an excellent diversion. To stave off the taper madness, I've gone card crazy.  I've used a series of designs and images from the Far East to create some cards to offer words of encouragement and inspiration: I've found some funky floral paper, old buttons and some little card flowers to put ...

So it's almost the end of 2013 and a time for reflection of what I've achieved in the last year and also for looking forward, setting new goals for 2014. It's certainly been an up-and-down year - I've turned 40 (hopefully without falling apart), we've lost some very special family members and friends and work has been challenging, busy and uncertain for me (and Mr T). Running has certainly been a big part of my life in 2013 - the word cloud below shows what I've been talking about on Facebook and the biggest word is definitely running: My year in words on Facebook: "club time mile running lots faster" But running has been much more than going outside and putting one foot in front of the other. It has been a distraction from the bigger issues, an outlet for stress at work, a fantastic way of spending time with friends and more recently my husband too, a great excuse for a weekend away, a way of challenging myself to face some fears, a route ...

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...

Have you ever had a day when everything works out just as you'd hoped and planned? When everything has gone pretty much perfectly and it just makes you smile. That happened to me on Sunday 28th April, as I took the roads of Greater Manchester to take part in my first marathon, fundraising for Cancer Research in the process in memory of my Dad. I made a plan and I stuck to it... it's not something I've ever done very well before in previous running challenges. At the Blackpool Half , I set off too fast and faded. At the Ashby 20 , I found the final hill a real challenge and struggled to the finish over a muddy field. For my first marathon, I knew I had to keep my pace in check at the start so I could keep going to the finish. I didn't want to hit "the wall". Alongside that, the weather was on my side - cool temperatures and light winds, plus the rain stayed away until I'd finished. And the support... wow! At the Cancer Research Tent I'd been sup...