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...

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...

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...