Wednesday 5 December 2007

AT LAST

Well after 6 months of not racing I am finally back on track. It seems like the road to recover is nearly complete and Challenge 40 is back on track.
Completed my 3rd race in the challenge on Sunday and though slower than PB was a good solid race and I really enjoyed it despite the appalling weather conditions.
Challenge 40 here I come,
Lois

Sunday 4 November 2007

Fantastic Run

Hi All,

Just had to share with you all, I had a fantastic run today. Ran for 7 miles (58:08) and felt really good. Feel like I am finally on the road to recovery.

Am seriously working out what races I need to do and when to get back on track, but I feel much more confident than I have for a long time.

Lois

Friday 26 October 2007

Racing Again

Hi All,

Well progress is really slow, but I am running again. I have just signed up for a couple of races in November and December so all is looking good.

Fingers crossed all will go well and this will be the last of injury for a while,

thanks
Lois

Sunday 30 September 2007

On th Road Again

Hi,

Well after nearly 3 months of little or no running I am back on the road again. It is a very slow start and progress is slow but I am getting there, I did 8 miles today 5 miles running 3 miles walking but at least I am starting to get some miles on my legs again. It feels like forever but hopefully it will not take too much longer to get my self back into the swing of things again,
thanks
Lois

Friday 7 September 2007

Back Running, HOORAY

Well, I am back running again, today. I did a respectable 2 miles in 17:10 minutes so not too bad for the first time in 10 weeks.
Hoping this is the end of my troubles and I can get back to the serious business of running and getting on with challenge 40.
I am going to be running the Hyde Park 5K so if anyone is going to be there say hello.

Friday 17 August 2007

Off the crutches

Hi All, I am now off the crutches and hopefully on the road to getting back to running again. I am hoping all has gone well and in 2 weeks I can start running again (if only a short distance).
I am going to be cross-training etc in the next couple of weeks and so will hopefully start getting fit before I hit the roads. If all goes well I am hoping to start racing again in the next couple of months.

Sunday 8 July 2007

It's a Stress Fracture

Well it is bad news all the way. After the pain in my lower left leg (inside) still had not completely gone after a week of doing nothing (including walking as I was in a car) I went to see a specialst.

The X-Ray showed nothing so not put off he sent me for an MRI on both my leg and my lower back. Well what a surprise the MRI showed I had a severe-critical stress facture in my lower leg. He immediatley put my leg in an aircast and gave me crutches. NO weight bearing for 6 weeks. The only savng grace is that I can swim so I am trying to keep my fitness.

This is definitely no the end of Challenge 40 its just a temporary hitch. I realise not the best of starts but I am determined to carry on and achieve this goal,

I will keep you posted on progress and my boredom levels ;-)

thanks

Friday 15 June 2007

Going to get some rest

Well I did my first yoga class yesterday and it went really well. I enjoyed the relaxation part of the exercise and also the stretching was fantastic. My back is feeling better already, I am hoping that it will help with my leg.

I am also off on holiday next week so apart from some light swimming I am going to get a complete rest. If this does not work I give up.

Tuesday 12 June 2007

AHHHH

OK, did my first run in a couple of weeks and it did not go that well. It seems I take 1 step forward and 2 steps back. How long is this going to take? I am not sure my sanity can take much more.

Saturday 9 June 2007

Slowly Improving

Well, the Shin Splints are improving, but it is very slow progress. I have been able to keep myself fit on the cross-trainer, cycle and swimming so at least I am not going to loose too much of my fitness.

My phsyo has said I can do a very slow gentle couple of miles running, but I am not sure its worth it. Well still got 3 weeks till my next race so hopefully it will be fine,

Saturday 2 June 2007

It gets worst

Well I should have realised it was coming. As I really did not rest sufficiently (my own fault) my shin splints have caused my calf muscle in my left leg to give me pain, specifically when I go up on my toes.

After visiting my local sports injury guy, John Harris, my worst fears have been voiced. No running for at least 1-2 weeks and lots of icing.

In the meantime I have to attempt to keep my fitness level, so lots of swimming, cycling and cross-training. I am hoping it will not be too bad, but will be looking forward to running again.

This I hope is not going to affect Challenge 40, but its not a great start ;-)

Tuesday 29 May 2007

The Wrong Socks

I do think this race was destined to be doomed. With my shins splints being only slightly annoying and my training runs going well I was feeling OK with a little trepidation. However the weather forecast for the weekend was wet, with wet, with a lashing of wet. I did feel that my long standing record of running over 20 races in the past 2 years without getting wet was about to be smashed.

On awaking that morning I realised I had forgotten my running socks, and so I had to borrow my husbands socks. Unfortunately these were very think and not really designed for long distance running. What was I to do?

I tipped up at the Brandon Forest Half-Marathon, realising that there was nothing there and the toilets where a 10 minute drive up the road (should have looked at the race info). As I was very early I headed to the toilets and stayed there for sometime before heading back to the race.

As to be expected on arrival at the start of the race I needed the toilet, so off in to the woods I roam. However the woods in this area are very sparse with tall trees surrounded by fern, so the cover was not that good. Despite this I did find a spot and had to do that very embarrising act of trying to squat down whilst simultaneously going to the toilet and trying to ensure I was not spotted.

I returned to the start of the race and at 10:30 we were off. It went well considering I put in a respectable 1:42:22 which considering that at one point the rain was horizontal and the wind was appalling and I had the wrong socks on, I was quite happy with this.

Tuesday 22 May 2007

Shin Splints continue to aggrevate

After resting and icing and massaging, my shin splints continue to aggrevate. The only time they don;t really hurt is when I am running, but due to the forced rest and easying off the training I feel like I have losted a level of fitness (though think this is probably imaginary).

Oh well I have no choice but to continue treatment, I think however it is time to go and consult a professional and make sure there is nothing else I should be worried about.

With all this happening I still had my second race to look forward to on the 29/5 will I be able to run ....

Monday 14 May 2007

Disaster Strikes

After a great 10K race I feel like disaster has hit with a thunder bolt.

I have been having this pain in my leg which is not amazingly painful but is annoying, it does not hurt when I run but is uncomfortable day to day. After consulting one of the guys at the running track he confirmed my fears that I have shin splints. I have been resting and icing my leg regularly and I need to book in for a massage.

I am hoping that I can sort the problem out, I believe the reason for the problems is very tired running shoes that have gone past their usefulness. I have now gone out and replaced both my long distance shoe and my light weight short distance trainer. I am really hoping this will help.

I'll keep you posted on what happens, but I am hoping to be fitting fit again for the next half-marathon on the 27th May.

Anyone out there got any advice?

Monday 7 May 2007

Esher Church School 10K

After only 2 weeks recover from the London Marathon I was at the start of another race. This time just round the corner at the local schools 10K race with only 300 entrants.

I was actually quite nervous, my left calf had felt a little tender all week and after a run on Saturday my thighs were feeling sore. So it was with these feelings of dread that I walked to the race. I really wanted to prove to myself that I could do better than the times I had so far achieved over 10K, my PB in a race at this time was 48:17 and I did think that I could do better.

So when the Headmaster of the School rang the bell for the start of the race, I head off with the front pack, though quite quickly was left behind. The first kilometer was a respectable 4 minutes, but I knew I need to slow down or I would never finish. So I settled into a consistent 4:25 pace (except one kilometer which has a slight gradient which dropped to 4:50), and after passing the half way mark in 22:14 I started to think I can actually do this. It felt very comfortable and as I came up to the 9K mark with 40 minutes on the watch I really started to get excited.

As I went over the finish line in 44:35 I gave a great cheer even though I was only the 5th female, but I had done way more than get in the medals I had taken nearly 4 minutes off me PB and I was ecstatic.

I must admit this result has really encouraged me with Challenge 40, anything is now possible. Did anyone else have a good run in Esher?

Thursday 3 May 2007

Talking to Childline

Once I had decided on a name and what I wanted to achieve I thought I better talk to Childline. At first I sent them an email, explaining what I had in mind and if they would be interested.

A couple of days passed and went and I started to think it was all a bad idea. However, a few days after sending my email I received one back from Debra at Childline. She was very enthusiastic and was not really sure how to handle it, she suggested I gave her a call.

Not wanting to look tooo keen I left it till later that day and called her. She was in awe over the whole thing, and not really sure how should handle it, was it a national event, a local event, was I willing to have some press interest, how much involvement did I want from Childline.

To be honest I was not really sure, my basic aim was to raise awareness for Childline and the NSPCC and also to raise as much money as possible. With this in mind I was willing to have as much help from Childline as possible.

At the moment Debra has gone of to speak to her boss and see how Childline can help me with my challenge and I am awaiting her call back next week, so don't forget to find out how I got on.

Tuesday 1 May 2007

The birth of Challenge 40

So the searching began for marathons and half marathons for me to run. I decided that I would alternate between running 1 marathon 1 month and 2 half marathons the following month and so on until I had completed my challenge. It was not actually that difficult to do this, the only problem was fitting them in with my already busy social life for this year.

Once I had convinced myself this was actually all possible, another idea popped into my head. Well it seemed a waste to do all this running for no real reason, apart to prove to myself that at my age anything is possible. So why not in the process of doing all this running, try not to raise some money as well. I had run the London Marathon for Childline and it seemed a logical step to approach them with my idea. However before doing so I need a name......

After long deliberation, I decided on Challenge 40, seems a logical choice, I am challenging myself to 40 races before I am 40 to raise £40,000, and so Challenge 40 was born.

I quite like it as a name and the concept is simple, so would anyone else do this, or am I just mad.....

Saturday 28 April 2007

An Idea

After completing the London Marathon and recovering sufficiently after 3 days (well my legs stopped hurting), an idea started to fomulate in my head. I am 37, going to be 38 in August, I wonder if I could run 40 marathons by the time I am 40.

Bearing in mind I only had 27 months to go and I had only completed 3 marathons, it seemed impossible. On searching the internet (www.runnersworld.co.uk) I discovered that my challenge was going to be difficult not because of me but because there just are not enough races for me to run, certainly not in the UK.

So, not to be detered I decided to change the criteria slightly and that I would attempt to run 40 long distance races (minimum distance half-marathon) before I am 40. This sounds better, I had already run 9 marathons/half-marathons so only 31 to go. It was at this point I decided I had better ask my running coach, Richard (www.momentumsports.co.uk), after all there is no point attempting the challenge if he did not think I was up to it. Well he actually liked the idea, with a little tweaking to make it harder for me (I'll tell you about that later) and so I opened my spreadsheet I started working out how I could schedule 31 races over the next 27 months....

Sunday 22 April 2007

Flora London Marathon 22/04/07

Well I have just completed the London Marathon, as ever it is a great experience and I managed a respectable 3:45:46 which considering the heat was not bad. However I did not suffer to badly from the heat (must have been my Aussie training) what I did suffer from was just the vast amount of people I had to try and run around.
I was actually quite close to the start (it only took 4 minutes) and everyone in front of me was suppose to be doing sub-3:45 marathons, however the first mile took 10:30 minutes. As I was suppose to be averaging 8 minute miles, I was devesated and it meant that I just could not get into my stride at all.
It did not stop there, I spent the whole 26.2 miles going around people walking, even worse walking along the magic blue line.
I do feel more can be done to stagger the start a little more so such bottle necks are avoided and also (as suggested by another runner at the end) anyone who peels off there pen sticker (it can;t come off it has to be peeled off) automatically goes to the back of the queue and is not allowed to jump in.

What do other people think about this or am I just being a boring runner, all comments welcome.