Need to get back on track....

[sfb350]

I got back from holiday late on Saturday and need to get back into some sort of routine with my running. During the week or so before we went, things slid a little - I struggled to find the time because I was rushing around all over the place trying to get various things sorted before our holiday; there was no running club due to the long bank holiday; the Sunday run before that was cancelled etc etc. I did take my running stuff on holiday with me though.

We stayed in a seaside hotel in Granville on the west coast of Normandy, which was lovely, although we had a few days of rain. I quite fell in love with the area. For the first run I got up very early and jogged around the walls of the old town, following the coast. There was lots of rain and a strong wind from the sea, we'd had a pretty heavy night the evening before and the route I'd planned turned out to be shorter than the town plan had told me - all in all, I only covered 1.5 miles. I did thoroughly enjoy the last part of it - some of the locals seemed to think I was crazy (can't understand why) and we exchanged greetings of "Bonjour".

A couple of days later I'd planned a longer route but, after the inevitable heavy night in the bar watching the football with the locals, I wasn't too ambitious. I got up early again and started off up several flights of steps into the old town, started off on the same route as before but then headed to the harbour, took a bit of an off-road detour along the cliff-tops, then back down to the harbour again and back through the town to the hotel. This time I covered about 4.5 km so I felt a bit happier with that. That was the last chance I got for a run - I wish I could have stayed there longer and worked out some longer routes, although they would all have had to be hilly and include lots of flights of steps !

I'm hoping that running club tomorrow will get me properly back in the groove and managing longer distances again, I'd like to feel able to attempt a 10k this year.

[TJFlute]

How was running club?

[sfb350 Graduate]

Well...

I had a horrible day at work and had a splitting headache by the time I left. I decided to pop into the pharmacy 1) to get painkillers and 2) because I knew one of the ladies in the running club works there and I had it in mind she might encourage me to actually turn up at the club. My plan worked - as I walked in she said "I was just thinking about you! Will you be going later?" That was the push I needed - we had a bit of a chat which gave me a bit of a boost after my cr***y day. I grabbed something to eat and headed off to running club.

There was the usual split into different paced groups to start with and I went with my "usual" "5 mile comfortable group" - who then promptly decided to join in with the fast group. I set off close to the back and quickly realised I couldn't maintain the pace. Three other ladies agreed with me. My friend from the pharmacy had painful hips and another lady had a painful blister on one foot and a falling-off toenail on the other - poor thing must have been really struggled. The four of us decided to follow our own route.

I wasn't sure how far I'd managed but the new pace was a lot more comfortable, although it was very hot and we did have to slow to a walk sometimes. Eventually, the lady with sore feet and the lady with sore hips decided they'd had enough and were going to walk back. That left two of us wanting to try and do a bit more. I was unfamiliar with the route - which always makes it more interesting - but it was, as always in this area, rather hilly. We chatted as we ran - this is a bit of a new-found skill for me. We did walk from time to time but made a point of running all the uphill bits. My companion has run a few races of varying lengths, including the London Marathon, but she wasn't finding this evenings run that much easier than me (unless she was being very kind). She recommended a few races which has given me something to think about ! I think I'll be signing up for something soon........

When we finished, we'd covered about 8.5 km - it was probably more than that because my Garmin didn't want to play until a few minutes into the run. I was more than pleased with that ! It wasn't quick but I think I'm getting my enthusiasm back. I'll probably go to running club on Thursday, rather than go to my weight loss class (partly 'cos I don't want to know how much weight I've put on eating all that beautiful French food !)