Spell check corrects 'woo' to 'woo'.
See!
'Woo'
ARGH
'100'
Spell check corrects '100' to 'woo'. Good. That's what I meant.
So WOO! Only 2 weeks left until The Woo Run. Thank you SO much to everyone who has sponsored me so far! People who I know, and people who I haven't met, and anonymous donations....thank you all so much for your generosity. And for your messages. I will try to do a good job, and be worthy of your words, and will think of them on the way round (for as long as I am able to think logical thoughts - and no, no, NO - that was not an invitation for comments).
So, an update on training. Finally things are coming together into some semblance of order! At the beginning of this year, or really up until the end of March, I was having a spectacularly shocking year with running. I felt tired. My body felt like a sack of spuds that I was dragging weekly through muddy fields, and resisting all my efforts to try to go faster. My mind was finding it harder still, and I got into a downwards spiral, quickly gathering momentum, and heading towards the pits of despair. A few weeks ago, I had a break from organised events for a while and, in technical terms, 'get my shizzle back together'.
I didn't think it was working to be honest. I still felt the same, only by myself. I wondered why? Andrew told me that of course I would be tired, because I was running much more than I used to. But was I though? I didn't think so. Despair. Eventually, I pulled myself out of my despair pit, sat myself down at the table with a piece of paper and my diary (how old school, I still use a paper diary!) and wrote a list of all the runs I have done this year that were at least marathon long in length. And in the first 18 weeks of the year, I had done 21 runs that were at least marathons. Which is a lot more than I have ever done before. So Andrew might have a point. I guess.
Well, that cheered me up no end. Maybe I'm not that bad. I felt on top of things enough again to start doing some more events, so two weekends ago, we did the Oxon 40, then the Cake-a-thon, and then the Ridgeway 40. Three good runs in a row! Woo!
The Oxon 40
The Oxon 40 I was quite nervous about, bearing in mind the above. At the start we ran (pardon the pun) into our friends Tara and Garry, and ran most of the way with them. Hills, hills, hills. And some more steep hills. Lot's of bluebells. Good fun. Sadly, Andrew damaged his knee and had to retire at the 32 mile check point. I carried on, and after the initial few minutes where I got in to a bit of a to-do about navigating by myself, when I realised it was actually OK and I can read a route description by myself, I got back into my rhythm, and felt great for the last 8 miles. I recognised some of it, from two horrendous training marathons we did there in the winter, but none of my demons were around today, today was good. I will therefore remember this run as the hilly-bluebell-demon-conquering run.
The Oxon 40 I was quite nervous about, bearing in mind the above. At the start we ran (pardon the pun) into our friends Tara and Garry, and ran most of the way with them. Hills, hills, hills. And some more steep hills. Lot's of bluebells. Good fun. Sadly, Andrew damaged his knee and had to retire at the 32 mile check point. I carried on, and after the initial few minutes where I got in to a bit of a to-do about navigating by myself, when I realised it was actually OK and I can read a route description by myself, I got back into my rhythm, and felt great for the last 8 miles. I recognised some of it, from two horrendous training marathons we did there in the winter, but none of my demons were around today, today was good. I will therefore remember this run as the hilly-bluebell-demon-conquering run.
The Cake-a-thon
Next up was The Cake-a-thon, two days later. This was a 6 hour timed event, where you can run as many laps as you like, most importantly each involving a cake stop, around Samphire Hoe. Fact: Samphire Hoe is a 30 hectare piece of land, at the bottom of the Shakespeare Cliff, between Dover and Folkstone, It was created during the construction of the Channel Tunnel. At the last moment before the start, the route was changed. The weather was so bad (it was a Bank Holiday after all) that the sea wall had to be closed, and the route instead was diverted inland, around a 2.4 mile loop which, funnily enough, turned out to be quite hilly. Hurrah! Sadly, I was feeling a bit unwell, and so missed out on rather a lot of cake opportunities. Still, I tottered around, and started to feel better after about 20 miles, and made it to 31.2 miles (13 laps) despite my tally card blowing off in the wind. Even better, I recovered enough for fish and chips afterwards. I will remember this run as the windy run, where the sea crashed over the sea wall, and I ran past a lot of cake.
The Ridgeway 40
Last up was the Ridgeway 40, five days later. This was an adventure! We had to be at Streatley YHA for 6.45 am (AM!) ready to catch the coach to the start of the walk/run at Overton Hill. Alarm set for 04:00 am. Again, AM! And on a Saturday. It was completely worth it though. Andrew's knee had mended itself, and got him through the whole 40 miles, WOO! Totally fantastic event, such genuinely warm natured people on the checkpoints, and a nice route. I'd heard some not very complimentary things about the Ridgeway path, along the lines of it being a bit boring, but I disagree. Sure, the navigation is pretty straightforward - it's basically a line, following signs, but I'm never going to complain about manageable navigation, let's be honest. And it's a lovely path, and so joyous to be up on the ridge with big views (well, it would have been if it wasn't so hazy), and the rapeseed fields were all in yellow flower, so the world seemed a bright place toady. Met some great people along the way, and my cousin Sammy (who has just completed the South West Coast Path by himself!) and my Auntie and Uncle at the end. I will remember this run as the yellow friendly run.
Next up was The Cake-a-thon, two days later. This was a 6 hour timed event, where you can run as many laps as you like, most importantly each involving a cake stop, around Samphire Hoe. Fact: Samphire Hoe is a 30 hectare piece of land, at the bottom of the Shakespeare Cliff, between Dover and Folkstone, It was created during the construction of the Channel Tunnel. At the last moment before the start, the route was changed. The weather was so bad (it was a Bank Holiday after all) that the sea wall had to be closed, and the route instead was diverted inland, around a 2.4 mile loop which, funnily enough, turned out to be quite hilly. Hurrah! Sadly, I was feeling a bit unwell, and so missed out on rather a lot of cake opportunities. Still, I tottered around, and started to feel better after about 20 miles, and made it to 31.2 miles (13 laps) despite my tally card blowing off in the wind. Even better, I recovered enough for fish and chips afterwards. I will remember this run as the windy run, where the sea crashed over the sea wall, and I ran past a lot of cake.
The Ridgeway 40
Last up was the Ridgeway 40, five days later. This was an adventure! We had to be at Streatley YHA for 6.45 am (AM!) ready to catch the coach to the start of the walk/run at Overton Hill. Alarm set for 04:00 am. Again, AM! And on a Saturday. It was completely worth it though. Andrew's knee had mended itself, and got him through the whole 40 miles, WOO! Totally fantastic event, such genuinely warm natured people on the checkpoints, and a nice route. I'd heard some not very complimentary things about the Ridgeway path, along the lines of it being a bit boring, but I disagree. Sure, the navigation is pretty straightforward - it's basically a line, following signs, but I'm never going to complain about manageable navigation, let's be honest. And it's a lovely path, and so joyous to be up on the ridge with big views (well, it would have been if it wasn't so hazy), and the rapeseed fields were all in yellow flower, so the world seemed a bright place toady. Met some great people along the way, and my cousin Sammy (who has just completed the South West Coast Path by himself!) and my Auntie and Uncle at the end. I will remember this run as the yellow friendly run.
So, all good. WOO WOO WOO! 100!!!
Thank you again for all of the sponsorship and support!
Thank you again for all of the sponsorship and support!
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