Rosedawn Ramblings

There have lots of moments in the last few weeks when life felt like it was back to normal, making it seem like starting again has become a real possibility. The sun has been shining, There has been time for catching up with friends in real life (no screens involved), Mr T got a haircut, coffee and cake at a cafe, watching the newly-hatched ducklings swimming along the canal, blossoms on the trees, answering parkrun emails about barcodes, buying a new front door, even booking a few days away for a holiday .  Back to normal. Almost. Probably the most normal thing of all has been the return of club runs with the Potters Trotters.  For an hour or so at a time each time we meet, we have returned to our old routines - lots of chatter as everyone arrives, tentative questions as we set off about how far we are running and how many hills are likely to be involved, conversations as we run about what races we might do, what's happening in Line of Duty, or what is for tea wh...

My big goal for 2020 is the 100km ultramarathon Race to the Castle in June. My training plan is geared around building up my miles over the next five months to be able to complete distance. It's not about time, it's about getting to the finish in however long it takes. But alongside that big, very scary goal, I've got a few more manageable bitesize challenges to help me get there. Some are about long runs or weekly mileage targets. Some relate to races or race strategy. Some relate to how I want to feel mid-run or at the end when it's only over. Today was one of those days, the Essar Four Villages Half Marathon. I wanted it to be more than just a training run. I wanted to test my speed, my endurance, my racing strategy and my mental strength. I've been working hard in training with interval sessions, hill reps and tempo runs. So I set mini goals (just for me) for the time I wanted to reach the half way point, my average mile pace, the consistency of my...

What are you afraid of? The last time I ran with my headtorch was at Thunder Run in July. Truth be told, although the weekend itself was great fun, I hated everything about the running experience. My first lap, in miserable muddy conditions, reduced me to tears. My second lap in the middle of the night wasn't much better and I was a quivering wreck by the end of it. I didn’t write much about the weekend; I was just glad when it was all over. But ever since my first attempts. I've always loved trail runs at nigh t; after my experience at Thunder Run, I wasn’t so sure.  But I wasn't ready to give up the idea of night running.  My experience at the Rodbaston 10k gave me back some of my lost confidence for coping with mud, water and woodland obstacles. But how did I feel about in the dark? Was I brave enough to get back out there? What if I couldn't do it?  A few weeks ago, I signed up for the Delamere Forest Night Runner 10k... I'd run it befor...

I don't often run listening to music but a couple of times this week, I've connected my fancy new Bluetooth headphones, turned up the volume and tuned out with my latest running playlist . It always seems like the shuffle option knows exactly what song to play at what moment, either to make me smile, give me a sense of perspective or just make me run that little bit quicker when needed. And today was no exception: Life of Riley (The Lightning Seeds) - I've been very busy lately with work and other commitments. It's been difficult to find the time (or energy) for running. But when I do make the time, I never regret it. When the alarm went off this morning, it was tempting to snooze for a few more minutes. But a run always clears my mind - even more so when it's raining - so I got up, got ready and set out on my run. I still believe that in this world, we've got to find the time...  Why Does It Always Rain On Me (Travis) -  after running up to Burslem for...

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...

Race day was finally here.  After a difficult couple of weeks, I woke up on Saturday morning with a certain amount of trepidation after a very restless night's sleep and a couple of weeks of niggles, aches and tiredness. I reminded myself of the three goals I'd set for the race - start with confidence, enjoy the adventure and finish with a smile - and was boosted by some encouraging messages from friends and family. After a quick breakfast and a short bus ride, I arrived in Marlow for the start of the race. I wasn't sure what to expect and actually had no idea how many runners were taking part. My start time was 9.15am and it seemed like there were a couple of hundred of us setting off in the "competitive" wave covering marathon and ultra marathon distances. The ultra marathon route was approximately 33 miles involved an extra loop around Hambledon but we all started off in the same direction. My first race goal was accomplished as I started with...

When I started my blogging challenge in January, I was looking for a new challenge ; something to motivate and inspire me, something outside my comfort zone, something that brings me joy, makes me smile and is worth all the effort. It sounded like a big ask, but over the last few days, I've been reminded that every run (or walk) can have a wow factor, something special and unexpected; I just need to be looking for it and appreciate it when it happens. I don't need to wait for the big race days or special events; I just ned to run with my eyes open. We are in Guernsey for a few days and the sun has been shining almost ever since we arrived on Thursday. The first 'wow' came when we arrived at our hotel. After climbing 105 steps to the front door and another 44 steps to our room... this was the view that greeted us: Looking out on St Peter Port from the Ziggurat Hotel Wow! On Friday morning, there was something magical and mysterious about watching t...

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...

The Dusk Til Dawn Half Marathon... a half marathon in the dark, on a course up hill and down dale around the Derbyshire villages of Hope and Castleton. I said 'yes' to taking part without knowing much more than that! The race started in Hope at about 5.45pm, the official time for sunset on Saturday night. We were layered up, wearing our headtorches. We were novices, totally out of comfort zone and really not sure what we were letting ourselves in for. Every change of direction seemed to bring different underfoot conditions... after a mile along the road from Hope, we followed a gravel track, then what seemed like a rocky river bed before turning up across the fields to Back Tor. We climbed up a rocky incline to the top of Back Tor, actually much less scary in darkness than in daylight for me, then crossed a ridge line to Losehill Summit in the fog, where visibility was just a few metres even with our headtorches. Boggy fields, muddy trails and then more road and on to my ...

The last couple of weeks have flown by in a wave of nostalgia for our return to Wellington, some long journeys as we've traveled from the North Island to South Island and a very hectic schedule of sporting events - 4 cricket matches, 2 parkruns, a super 15 rugby match and a highly contested round of crazy golf thrown in for good measure. Late last Wednesday we arrived in Porirua, just north of Wellington, and on Th ursday, we traveled by train into NZ's capital to go on a nostalgic tour of the places special to us from when we met seven years ago in the city... We went back to the Basin Reserve Cricket Ground and tried to find the seats we were sitting in when we met. We couldn't quite have a picture taken there, as the England team were training at the ground and some sections were closed off, but we got close enough. We went back to Burger King, walked along the waterfront, wandered through the Botanical Gardens, visited a museum and art gallery and reminisced. Sadly, the...