3...2...1.........3 days till Number 13!

Getting in the Halloween Mood!

Have got the final instructions for the 'Spooky Halloween Challenge Marathon'....very exciting! 31 laps!!! Of 0.85 miles...in the woods...in the dark....

MUST have a head torch, and preferably fancy dress!

Can't wait!

Now for an outfit.....

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=13in2013

7 days to go....

....until the last marathon! Can't believe it's only a week away now!

I need a Halloween outfit. Have looked at the weather forecast for the next week, and so am thinking of some kind of waterproof bin-bag witches cape sort of style. Glam.  

Kind of a weird feeling training at the minute, I know I still have one more marathon to train for for 13 in 2013, but it feels so near the end that it sort of feels like it's over already and I am just running like normal again. Plus, I always have a few weeks at this time of year when you know winter is about to get here, and it's cold a dark, and you know the next few months are going to be, well, cold and dark, oh and probably wet, or maybe icy, every time you head out the door....

What did one raindrop say to the other? Two's company, three's a cloud.

Ha!

So, highlights of training this week:
1. Have recently started going spinning with some of my coursemates. Loads of fun! Have wanted to try it for ages but always been too scared to go on my own! Really hard work and nice to do something new 
2. OK, more like a lowlight, but it was confirmed that even after almost 2 months in Leeds I am still clueless. Headed out for a run to clear my head of from coursework (argh), just for a few miles, but got lost.....sigh. Still, I managed 10.5 miles so I guess it was good for my training!
3. Great 10 miles this morning at home around all my favourite haunts. So pretty now it's autumn and not even cold or rainy! Feeling good again :-)


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:-( ........ :-)

Today I am not feeling at one with the world...

So I did some research to cheer my self up...

At least this didn't happen to me today. And he is still smiling. So if he is then I will too.

Taking chances

Sometimes I am scared of doing things, because I don't know what will happen.

But it must be better to try it and know what it's like, instead of always wondering what if.

Probably, it will be the best thing you ever did, and you will wonder why you were ever scared!

And even if not, you will almost certainly learn something that you didn't know before/ meet someone you would never have met/ see something you would never have seen!

If there's one thing I have learnt over the last year, it's to be less scared of things!

:-)

A gazelle or a lion???

I love this quote! Especially on days when I'm not feeling fast...because who cares really how fast you run, all that matters is that you get out there and do it!

Nice running week last week. Some of my new course mates like running too so we went for a run after lectures on Tuesday to explore the canal. Wow, it's really lovely, after less than a mile running from the city center it feels like you are out in the country. Wednesday was running with running club, tough 7 miles fast and hilly but good fun! Then Friday morning did a 10km around the park.

Had a rest over the weekend in Newbury with Caroline, Malcolm and little Penny who is THREE now! Well, not really resting, Playstation party games shooting aliens, and salsa are a pretty good workout :-D

Am trying to remember the gazelle quote as I get ready for a run...the rain is raining hard outside.....winter running is here....

Marathon #12: The Chester Marathon - a great one!

Well, this was the penultimate marathon for 13 in 2013! I still can't believe that I got to this point already.

Was really excited about this one as was going with my Mum and Dad and Andrew, and also I've heard so many good things about it, and they were all proved to be right :-)

Up at 5.30 am on Sunday = ouch! But so worth it to see the sun rise on the way there. Beautiful. Got stuck in a traffic jam on the  way into Chester, marathons seem to be popular - there are about 5000 people running this one! So we had a quick sprint warm up from jumping out of the car to the start....

We started off with the 4 hour pace group. My aim was to do under 4 hours, but in the back of my mind I wanted to maybe go for my fastest time this year, but thought I'd take it easier to begin with and see how it was going at half way.

We started off by running around the race course, obviously as fast as horses, and then up into the old city of Chester round winding streets and beautiful old buildings. Then across the bridge, and off out of the city, and saw my Mum and Dad and Andrew's Mum too who were all there! Yeah!

The rest of the course was through the countryside, all the way to Wales! Really pretty scenery and amazing views. I felt quite stiff and not very fast for the first few miles, but gradually warmed up and started to feel good at about 10 miles or so. 

The support was so amazing! Even in the middle of the countryside we would round a bend and there would be a little crowd of people cheering us on! And people came out of their farm houses to watch too and they were all so friendly and cheering, it was really a wonderful experience :-)

At 17 miles I felt really good so decided to kick for home. Felt really good and focused for the next 5 miles, then began to worry that I might have pushed to soon as a couple of sloping hills came up and I my legs started to feel a bit tired. But, less than 4 miles to go, keep on it!

Got to 24 miles and realized I was comfortably under 4 hours, and that if I kept the pace steady I would make it back in less than 3:48, which is my fastest time this year. So that simultaneously cheered me up and stressed me out at the same time! Nothing like a bit of time pressure.

The last mile was along the river, and saw our supporting crew again (who had apparently spent the morning EATING BACON BUTTIES!!! SO not fair!)

Oh wow, just so many people lining the route on that last mile, I couldn't stop smiling, even though I was feeling really shaky all over including my face, so I probably looked like a right idiot! 

Round the last corner and there was the race course again! Had enough left for a bit of a sprint finish (relatively speaking, of course), and felt amazing to cross that line with the commentator shouting my name in front of all those people! 3:47:12 was my time, so the fastest time in 13 in 2013. Grand, really happy :-)

Andrew did 3:52 which is his second fastest time, and Kath and Bekki from my new running club were also there and did brilliant times too - well done to everyone :-)  !

Cup of tea and salt and vinegar crisps really help to make you feel better. Didn't want to leave at all, I wish we were still there now, it was such a brilliant day, thanks everyone :-D

One more sleep...till Marathon Number 12!

Today has been spent carb loading....

...and warming up with a walk up to Darwin Tower with my Mum and Andrew...

  

 

...very pleasant views.

Now off to have some tea and an early night before early start tomorrow...

...too excited to sleep!

3 days left....till Number 12

It's nearly here! I think running marathons is genuinely addictive, can't wait :-D

So, training finished off for the week now:

Wed 2nd Oct: 7.54 miles, 8.57 min/mile, 67:17 mins, 641 kcal
Thurs 3rd Oct: 2.01 miles, 8:59 min/mile, 18:05 mins, 170 kcal

Nice run in the rain this evening, thanks for that weather.

Now to rest for a couple of days 

This morning at uni we used a program to calculate the energy the we ate in a day from a food diary. Yesterday I ate 1685 kcal in the proportions: 

The alcohol, I would like to point out, was a small glass of red wine, which was taken for medicinal purposes and to aid relaxation after a long day at uni (well, OK, just a day) and a tough run at running club. 

But, what I was most surprised at, is how little I ate. Technically I shouldn't start carb loading until today which is 3 days before the race, but it's always important to eat poperly, especially on running days. I know the analysis isn't 100% accurate, so I could have under/overestimated how much I ate a bit. 

I also calculated that my BMR is 1200 kcal / day, so that's how much energy the body needs just to do all the stuff it does to keep you working (like all the heart beats, and the breathing, and all the chemical reactions that go on inside you), and that is calculated as if you were lying down and doing nothing all day. So, then you also have to add on top of that the energy you need for all the activities you do in the day..... 

So, 1200 plus the kcal I burnt at running club (which is 641) = 1841 kcal that I used (and that's without energy used for walking around all the general things you do in a day, which would make that figure higher) which is more than I ate (1685).

Blah blah blah, booooooring! Well, skip all that, and basically I ate less than I used, which is pretty useless a few days before a long run, when you are supposed to have filled up your energy stores to get you through. So today and tomorrow and Saturday I need to be more careful and eat properly, I think that is the message.

So, I'm off to eat my second dinner......

Mixed weather and mixed feelings

Have been feeling a bit under the weather for the last couple of days. Had the afternoon off from lectures so was going to go home and get a hot water bottle and a duvet and sit and do some work and feel sorry for myself for the afternoon. After finishing my first essay assignment (woop!) I got bored and decided to go out for a run to see if it helped. This morning it felt really cold, so I geared up in winter running stuff, but it turned out to be waaaay too hot, I am so confused by the weather right now! 

Is it still summer....

...or is it autumn now...

?!?!?!

Who knows.

Well, it hasn't really helped, but the cold/headache had better be gone by Sunday for MARATHON NUMBER 12 :-D

Been feeling pretty good since the last race, up till now, so have got a few more good runs in:

Sun 22nd September: 3.15 miles, 34:17 mins, 10:51 min/mile, 268 kcal
Mon 23rd September: rest 
Tues 24th September: 5.01 miles, 41:58 mins, 8:22 min/mile, 426 kcal
Wed 25th September: 6.8 miles , 62:00 mins, 9:09 min/mile, 578 kcal
Thurs 26th September: rest
Fri 27th September: 5 miles, 53:08 mins, 10:37 min/mile, 425 kcal
Sat 28th September: 3.32 miles, 26:37 min, 8:00 min/mile, 282 kcal
Sun 29th September: 4 miles, 35:42 mins, 9:14 min/mile, 328 kcal
Mon 30th September: rest
Tues 1st October: 5 miles, 44:04 mins, 8:40 min/mile, 432 kcal

I'm looking forward to Sunday, but it weird to think that it's the second to last one. When I think back to January and how apprehensive I was about starting the marathons, and I didn't think I would be able to do them all, I thought something like this was something other people could do and it was something that I could only read about and wish that I could do it too, and I never really thought about getting to the end of them all. And now I'm almost there and I've almost done something that I thought I couldn't, and it has been such an amazing journey, I don't want it to end. It feels like my Auntie is still here because she is the reason that I started this, and every run feels like she is here because really it's for her, and I'm scared that once it stops then it will feel like she is really gone, even though that sounds stupid now I've written it down. So, I really have mixed feelings about being at this point, I'm pleased, but I'm sad at the same time.

That's OK though. I think it's OK to feel sad as long as you recognize it and think about how you can use the emotion in a positive way. The idea of running further than I ever thought I could doesn't seem intimidating anymore, and now instead of being scared that I can't do something, I want to try it and see if I can. So, even though it's near the end of 13 in 2013, 2014 is coming up.....I'm thinking of the next thing...any ideas???? :-)