Thame 10k - Race Report

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!! I got to go for a run yesterday. The Thame 10k. I have a smile on my face again.

Lets put this in writing first of all... This is an absolutely superb event! The race was brilliantly and frequently marshalled throughout the course with some great little pockets of support who really gave myself and LG some encouragement. There was plenty of parking and it was pretty much on the start/finish line and again, well organised. The course itself is a beautiful and picturesque little route that takes on a few bigger roads, a little quaint High Street and an approx 3/4km section on a little path away from any roads called the Phoenix Trail. If you needed more positive reviews, it has a 9.30am start which is great. It's like the organisers have used their brains and actually thought 'maybe people still want to have some of the day left after the run' which I can't praise them enough for. The feel of the event was great too. A friendly, local feeling even though we out out-of-towners with the announcer calling mine an LG's names out as we were putting in our sprint finish.

This was Lovely Girlfriend's first ever 10k. In fact, the longest she had ever run was 6km last Dec so this was a big step up and was blighted by some training injuries that pretty much stopped any proper training until 2 weeks before the race. We ran the entire thing together and after some good parts and a few short walking stops, we crossed the line together in 1:06:54. It wasn't quick but it was certainly respectable considering the lack of training and the first event at that distance and when I asked her whether she enjoyed it, her words were 'more than I thought I would' which is a massive improvement on the words after my first ever event, which were something along the lines of 'that was effing awful and you're never going to see me near a pair of trainers again'. Last night she even agreed that for the one in November, she'll be aiming to go under an hour. I'm very proud of her effort. She did fantastically well!

The one bad thing I can say about the event is the lack of toilets as there were only a few in the leisure centre but to be fair, it only cost £11 to take part which I feel is a bargain and I've paid a lot more for a lot worse in the past. It just means a little bit of queueing!

I think I heard the tannoy say there were around 950 people taking part and the results list said 920 finishers which is probably about right in that heat. There were a couple of pavement eaters but they were quickly helped by the marshalls and St John's ambulance cyclists. We (nos. 56 and 57) came in 800th & 801st so LG can be very pleased. Will I be taking part next year? WITHOUT A DOUBT!! Sign me up! Event wise, this was my favourite 10k so far!

My injury seemed all good. No problems during the race and obviously aches a little now but I think that if I just keep stretching and exercising then it will be fine in the long run.

The day was complete by driving straight to a friends house near High Wycombe (where we had kind of invited ourselves) who let us use the shower and then cooked us the most amazingly gorgeous 3 course lunch. We didn't move from the table from about 1pm until around 5.30/6pm. Well and truly stuffed!!! It was a great day.

One final point, the weather man hasn't been more wrong about a day's weather since a certain October 1987 event. Overcast? Grey? Rain? WHERE??? Another race, another sun burnt head. Thank fudge for Banana Boat!

3 days and counting

I get to run on Sunday and I honestly can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to it! I haven't put on my trainers for a full 3 weeks in an effort to sort the ongoing saga of the left hand side of my body and now I think it's as good as it's going to get and I need to do some proper exercise. I'm always amazed with how much I miss it when I can't run for a little while.

Sunday at the Thame 10k will be LG's longest ever run which I've kind of pushed her into so I'm hoping she enjoys at least some of it although I assume it will only be the finish that makes her smile. Our training hasn't exactly been fantastic with niggling injuries for both but it's just about getting round. I'll be running with her all the way to encourage/abuse/bribe her to the finish and then we have a friend cooking us lunch as she lives near by and for me, that's a pretty good incentive to get to the end.

I'm hoping she enjoys it anyway as after checking my bank statement, I can see we've both been entered into the Willow 10k on the 22nd Nov. I'm looking forward to this as it's just 2 days after my 30th birthday and also the morning after the celebrations of my 30th. It's strange that the thing I wanted to do most was run a 10k with LG and eatingtrees but I reckon it'll help with the hangover and after begging them both to get up and run with me, they both (reluctantly in the case of LG) agreed.

Sunday's weather looks like a little bit of rain which is good and will make it easier but roll on Sunday. I've got some miles to make up and I can't wait!!!

PB for 11,500 feet!

Now I don't know the exact time as I was a little busy bricking it at the time but I do know I've never gone that fast before without the use of an engine of some sort and therefore must have smashed by PB. Mind you, it's not that surprising when you consider that I did have the distinct advantage of gravity helping me out as it was 2.18 miles straight down!!

Now that's a bit of a rush isn't it. I now know why iliketocount chooses to fling himself out of planes for 'fun'. It's a strange feeling when you do it for the first time. Free falling through a cloud with a bloke strapped to your back just feels like it's going against everything your body should be doing but I can understand why it would become addictive. If only I didn't live in an area seemingly devoid of any sort of skydiving school then I might of even considered doing the training and doing it on a regular basis but the 1-2hr drive each way puts me off if I'm honest.

Minor, minor twinge on my left ankle as I put my heel down about half a second before I finished sliding along the floor which stretched it a little but it's fine. It's my own fault as I was trying to take the pressure off my hip so I didn't do any more damage to that.

NORTH LONDON?!?!?! IT'S NORTH OF CAMBRIDGE!

Speaking of the hip, it is feeling better but still aches occasionally but not as much as it did. I think this was helped more by the beating I once again took from my Osteopath on Saturday morning. If I'm going to avoid any more issues, I think I'm going to have to start Yoga in a bid to make me more flexible and avoid more of these types of injuries so that will probably start this week before mine and LG's 10k on Sunday. Oh and I have the wear these strange little pads under the balls of my feet to spread my toes and relieve the pressure there from as well. My new theory about curing injuries is now... try everything!

Right, I'm off to get quietly annoyed at the people who clog up Wimbledon Village for 2 weeks every year in the name of Tennis!

Ever increasing circles

Well I went to visit my Osteopath yesterday evening and to be honest, the first words when you stand up in front of him and take your top off should not be. 'Bloody Hell, you're all over the place'.

OK then, I am. Those little circles I've been running in were getting smaller and smaller. I have no idea which bit has caused what but my left hip/pelvis and my left shoulder are around a couple of inches higher than my right side and all the muscles down the left hand side are solid with not a lot of movement in them at all. That has either caused or is the result of all the problems down my left leg. Therefore, he beat me up good. Cracked every part of my body and gave me an extremely hard massage on my back. It hurt like hell during some bits but I'm already feeling a little better this morning.

Still not great though so another session of torture and pain is booked in for Saturday. Hopefully this will sort it and allow the circle size to increase. It better do anyway, I NEED TO RUN!!!!! It's the summer (kind of) and I can't get out to do anything. Still trying to do a bit of walking to stretch it all out a little but I just want to stick my trainers on and feel the wind on my scalp?!?!?

Popping pills, cracking backs and a sore arse!

Hello there. Long time no blog. Well a week anyway and I apologise for it. To be honest, the injury got the better of me and started to get disillusioned with the whole exercise thing. An update for you anyway.

On the injury front, it still hurts but I went to the doctor on Friday night and he did the now pretty standard thing of covering most bases. It could be the hip and it could also be the lower back. That wasn't really news to me as I told him when I walked in that it could be the hip of the back but never mind. He's given me a leaflet on back stretches, plus a 2 week prescription of anti-inflammatories for the hip joint. I have to take them 3 times a day, only with food or they will do some weird stuff to my insides and absolutely no alcohol. Huh!! No fair! I've just taken my first one and no change yet. How long to you reckon it takes??? Anyway along with the pills I reckon I'm going to pay a visit to my osteopath this week. £40 to get beaten and man handled all in the name of reducing pain. Let me have my wine back and I'll kill the pain myself but I'm hoping that
'The hip pain's connected to the hamstring pain
The hamstring pain's connected to the knee pain
The knee pain's connected to the foot pain
And if all of the above doesn't work I'm screwed!'

So onto more pleasant things. Well it was to start with anyway. I went to visit eatingtrees yesterday to do a planned joint Juneathon but was obviously unable to take part in any running. Therefore we were left with 2 choices. Sit and smoke shisha and talk about exercise or get on the bikes and go for a little ride. We chose the wrong option and got on the bikes. Something to note at this point, I haven't been on a bike for somewhere between 4-5 years. It was a wobbly start but I was still alive and eatingtrees sensibly kept me away from any main roads for any length of time. He did however put me near a river which could have proved equally as disastrous. We cycled just over 8 miles, found a pub (for lunch and OJ and lemonade) and then cycled back. Not too bad. I felt I'd got away without any major problems then. HELL NO I DIDN'T!!!!!! I can hardly sit down, LG is having fun laughing at my expense and I have no idea how I'm gong to spend all day sitting at a desk tomorrow. Cyclists. Strange a sadistic people I'm sure of it!!

Final note, with the Thame 10k only 2 weeks away and me thinking I'll be OK for it (fingers crossed), LG went out this morning on her first training run for a while. 3.42 miles (5.51km) which is over half the distance which is bloody good going so well done to her. I can hear her talking at me at the moment though and I have a feeling she wants to do some Bikram yoga or something. I better listen now before I end up agreeing to something like I did yesterday with the bikes and end up in even more pain.