Rosedawn Ramblings

I've been having an argument with myself for the last few weeks... deciding whether to run or not? Time is a bit short. I've had meetings and appointments and social events booked in. A new job to occupy my brain. The friend I was supposed to meet can't make it anymore and I don't really want to run on my own. The weather has been grim and evenings getting darker. I'm a bit tired and know I will feel like I am running really slowly.  Is there really time for a run? Can I really fit it in? Is it really worth it? The downside of having trained for and run ultramarathons is that my brain sometimes tells me that if you are not planning to run for 3 hours, is it really a run at all? To run or not? Well I don't have 3 hours and couldn't run for 3 hours anyway... so .... not? ----- Last Sunday, I went along to a performance at Etruria called ' Grit ' - a canal side performance about "women who stride, walk, jog and run" hosted by Urban Wilderness....

How are you?  It's now almost two months since I've been living this strange #stayathome life. Races have been postponed, holidays cancelled, concerts rearranged for later in the year. parkrun is still paused. Like most people I'm sure, there have been some tough moments especially from a well-being point of view. There have been a few tears of frustration and some moments of grumpiness. Work has been challenging and some days life has just felt tough. I've needed lots of words of encouragement and I'm extremely grateful for friends who have been in touch. But amidst all that, there have been some special moments too.  I've been able to get on with living, catch up with friends and family (virtually at least), make plans for the future and work towards my abridged summer challenge - cycling 100k on my exercise bike in June instead of Racing to the Castle. I'm loving my weekly quiz night with my sister and nieces in particular - last week,...

I've spent a good couple of weeks trying to get my head around my new normal . I know that I am incredibly fortunate to have a secure job and am able to work safely at home. I've enjoyed being able to break up the work day with music or creating a meal in the slow cooker.  I know that having outside space and my little balcony is a real privilege. I've really enjoyed eating breakfast outside, especially in the recent sunshine.  I know that I have good friends and family members at the end of a video call for support. I have actually enjoyed navigating new technologies and I've even been on a podcast ! But some days have still been better than others.  I'm not sleeping as well as I usually do (and this helpful article probably explains why) but it's given me time to clean out bathroom cabinets and kitchen cupboards. I'm probably having too many mid-morning / mid-afternoon biscuit breaks (stay away from the fridge) but we are tryin...

On March 1st, I completed a 20 mile race around Oulton Park motor racing circuit - it's possibly my worst ever race experience for a whole host of reasons which now seen inconsequential, but I did it and that was what mattered at the time. Straight after the race, I took the train up to Manchester to join up with Mr T and meet our friend Sarah. We had cocktails and Caribbean food and then went to celebrate Christmas in March at Tailenders Live. Tailenders is a loosely based cricketing podcast with a Radio 1 DJ (Greg White), a Maccabee (Felix White), England's greatest ever bowler (Jimmy Anderson) and a shoe salesman from Bristol (Matchin Tendulkar). It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever but I love it. I wore my Christmas dress. I did not look out of place. It was ridiculous and made us all laugh out loud. Jimmy Anderson shredded a mango and a mince pie. Standard fare on Tailenders! After that slightly weird start to the month, everything seemed relatively nor...

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...

At the start of 2019, I set myself the challenge of publishing a blog post every week during the year - 52 weeks, 52 posts. My motivation was to get back to something I loved doing, something I'd missed, something I'd started several years ago but then lost my way. I thought I'd run out of things to write about. On Sunday, I achieved my goal. I wrote about eating profiteroles for breakfast. It wasn't always easy. Some posts were longer than others. Some were only written right at the last moment. I did it! I crossed the finish line with a smile on my face (mainly thanks to those profiteroles ). But what did I learn? About myself, about running and about life in general? 1. Inspiration can come from anyone and anything ... it can be easy to think that you need something 'big' to get you started. At the start of 2019, I certainly had lots of inspiration to run and blog as I completed an ultramarathon along the River Thames. I've also been inspi...

Christmas Week. Like most people, I've been confused about what day it is, eaten too much, slept too little and not moved too much from my sofa. I did manage a Christmas Day parkrun at Hanley for the first time in several years, but running and training for Race to the Castle has hit a bit of roadblock - perhaps starting a training plan the week before Christmas wasn't the best idea. On Thursday (Boxing Day), I had profiteroles for breakfast... my justification being they were Christmas leftovers that really needed to be eaten up. They were lovely; I had two helpings. I even added extra cream. On Friday, I spent three hours in the M&S café... coffee, toasted teacake, another coffee, a slice of cake. I did blitz lots of emails and other admin... but only moved about 500 steps in the process. I should have been running but my knee was aching slightly - I opted for rest instead but didn't really take much persuading. On Saturday, I was back in Hanley Park...

It's been a wonderful few weeks; after all the waiting , we got to spend two weeks living the life I love , exploring, relaxing and breathing fresh air in New Zealand. But all too soon, we were homeward bound and dark nights, cold weather and work were looming. It's definitely been a week to be relying on my inner Pollyanna and trying to find a few things to be glad about... it's not been as hard as I thought it might be! Despite sub-zero temperatures when we landed in Manchester, there was a beautiful sunrise as we journeyed home... and our fabulous view (and frozen canal) was waiting for us when we got here and the sun shone most of the day too. On my first day back at work, the sun was still shining, so I took my time on my walk to the office, looking for pretty reflections, watching the sunrise and going with the flow. If you don't look too closely, it could be a castle with a moat rather than a factory being demolished (or that could just be the jetla...

I have a vague memory of sitting in the hallway in m childhood home, secretly trying to take a plug socket off the wall using a fork for a screwdriver. Fortunately, I managed to avoid doing any damage to myself but I'm sure I was just trying to work out 'electricity' (my mum be able to confirm). But why? I like things to be logical. I need to understand how things work. I can't cope with an inefficient queuing system or a decision or action that doesn't make sense. I like everything to have an evidence base. I don't like 'just because' as an answer. But why? Sometimes running is really logical - improving my diet, focusing on speed in training runs, getting stronger through cross-training have all directed impacted on my ability to run faster in recent weeks . Consistent training produces results. But why? And then sometimes, running is really illogical and nothing about it makes sense.  This has definitely been my experienc...

It's been hard this weekend to escape the concept of running faster... in case you missed it, yesterday Eliud Kipchoge ran a marathon in 1:59:40.2. It's the fastest marathon ever, the first time the magical barrier of two hours had been broken.  It seemed impossible; most people thought it was. But Kipchoge and the team working with him devoted everything they had toto the goal. Drawing on the input of experts in technology, sports science, psychology. nutrition and biomechanics, nothing was left to chance. And he did it.  1:59:40.2. It was definitely an inspirational performance - which I watched in part on Kirsten's phone before and during parkrun yesterday .  As we set off for parkrun, Kipchoge was entering the last couple of miles. As I passed the volunteers by the start/finish of my first little lap, I got a thumbs up from the gathered group, cheering on the parkrunners but also huddled around the phone. Kipchoge was still on target...