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.

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 ....

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?

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?

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.

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.....