Flapjack Friday

Some weeks it all comes together. There's fresh flapjacks in the tupperware, running happens like clockwork, energy is good and all is well.

Other weeks the flapjack box is empty.

I had a really good chiropractic session for my ouchy leg today. Leg feels much better for it, but there won't be any 19 milers happening for me this weekend. I've been advised to do one-minute-massage on it a few times a day and to rest it from running until Monday or Tuesday. Then I'll check in with the chiropractor again after that run and we'll see what's what.

So, I've missed two runs this week already and there's two more I'm going to miss for sure. Schedule isn't happy. And I don't care! I don't like pain. When Healing and Schedule go head to head, Healing wins every time for me.

Here's to a lazy lazy lazy weekend and a speedy recovery.

Take care, y'all. 

Training Update Tuesday (on a Thursday)

Boo-hoo! Training is on hold just at the moment. A cheeky leg injury is scuppering my running plans for a few days. Probably shouldn't have run on Tuesday, methinks, as it was hurting before I left the house after the 19 miler on the weekend. 

There's a band of muscle on the inside of my right shin that feels like it wants to explode when I put weight on my leg. And, surprisingly perhaps, that's not the most fun I've ever had ;o(

So, I'm practicing patience and my RICE technique. (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation). 

Now, where's that bag of frozen peas?

(Perfect time for some sympathy donations to the Kith & Kids cause...)

I'm not a name, I'm a number

Woo hoo! In the post over the weekend I received notification of my official marathon race number. Super exciting and all part of the process. The day before the run I'll take the form with me to register and they'll give me the actual number to pin on my t-shirt. My personal identifier.

And what is the number?.... It's (cue drum roll and huge crash of cymbals).... 39754.

Hmm, it ain't especially catchy and I doubt it'll help you spot me on the telly, but my biggest reaction to the number is a deep sense of something missing. I'm not sure if it's the caffeine in my energy gels, the physical act of running itself, or the extra amount of food I'm eating to compensate for all the calories spent in action, but I am finding it deeply ironic that it's not got a Number 2 in it ;o)

Training Update Tuesday: Week 11

Three days off and I'm almost looking forward to running again this evening.
OK, I am looking forward to it. But mostly cos I just saw my lovely lovely new watch out of the corner of my eye and it reminded me;

1. life is good
2. running makes me feel even gooder
3. lots of my amazing friends are supporting me with this crazy endeavour.

And with that, what's not to look forward to?

Am thinking I might total up the miles I've run so far since training started on 5 Jan. Let's do it, hang on a minute ... oh me oh my... it's just over 250!!! That must need some sort of celebration. Some sort of donation frenzy perhaps?

250 miles since Schedule first told me what to do. Makes me wanna say, "Bless you feet, you little size 6 superstars" ;o)

Flapjack Friday

This week has seen the birth of THE BEST FLAPJACKS EVER. Or at least they were when I ate some, straight from the tin, soon after they came out of the oven. By the time my housemate got to them later they were "a bit buttery". That's the danger in overselling something - stuff never lives up to the hype ;o(

But it could be that they tasted like THE BEST FLAPJACKS EVER to me because suddenly I am hungry all the time. I'd always thought I already was hungry all the time. But it's reached new levels. Maybe it's psychological since the arrival of calorie data from my new watch? Or maybe it's just a powerful physical reality? Or both.

Watch says the 13 mile run this morning burned up 1297 of those cute little calorie things. (oh, so now Watch has a voice. And an identity. Just like Schedule. I hope they don't hook up together and plan whole new levels of torture for me.) ...Just for reference, and by way of a little aside, I'm imagining each calorie being a lickle tiny colourful bean of energy. Slightly shiny and a little bit bouncy. But then I may be everso slightly insane. And so, moving back to the main thrust of this post... A commonly recommended daily calorie intake for women is 2000, but I'm guessing that's not sufficient when you're using 65% of that before lunch. Basically I'm almost eating for 2. Definitely eating for me and a slightly smaller me. 

Which leads me to the inevitable conclusion: Hoorah! What a result! I knew I was doing this running for a reason ;o)

Rest assured, this is still child's play compared to Olympian (PhatBoy) Phelps' diet. Check that out for a lardy surprise!

THANK YOU THANK YOU

To my lovely lovely sponsors, 

Thank you all so much for committing your delicious money to this super Kith & Kids London Marathon cause. Watching the total go up, ever closer to the magic £1500, is so heart warming. I love it.

You guys are amazing. 

Thanks again.

Sarah x

Training Update Tuesday: Week 10 Already!

So suddenly it's Week 10. And suddenly it's Tuesday again.

We're well over half way into this Marathon Mission now and time is passing increasingly quickly (except when I'm doing the speed runs and having to be 'on it' for 12 minutes at a time. Time passes very slowly then)

And what happened to the week in between Week 9 and Week 10, Sarah? I hear you ask. Well, I'll tell ya. It happened all right. It happened in a blur of running and birthday celebrations. 

Is it normal to celebrate one's 37th birthday by running 17 miles and enjoying it, apart from maybe the last two miles, which seemed to be run on robot legs? 

Birthdays are fabulous. Officially. My overwhelmingly magical friends clubbed together in secret cahoots and got me a Garmin 405 GPS birthday watch. 

Which means that when I'm out running now, I'll have data. Info. Facts. At my fingertips. Or on my wrist.

I'll know how fast, how far and how many calories it's cost me. And I can wirelessly transmit that info to my computer and have it do fancy things with it. 

Not sure it'll make me a cuppa or run me a bath when I get in, but it seems to do pretty much everything else.

And it also means, I have the best friends ever. Thanks guys ;o)

Week 9: Making Sense of Things

Random ramblings today - because I'm tired. And yes, the tiredness is all self-induced. And I could put an end to it by putting an end to the running. And thinking those kind of thoughts only seems to add to the tiredness!

Oh poor me! These are self-pitying ramblings. 

Or maybe I'm just making sense of things.  Taking stock. This is the half way point in the training. 8 weeks down, 8 to go...

On Sunday I ran 15 miles. I haven't run more than 13.1 miles for almost two years, so it's bound to have an impact. It's bound to take some adjusting to. This I need to remember. How I feel now is not how I will always feel. This too shall pass! Etc...

Telling myself, and you as you are here reading this (and thank you so much for that BTW!) my body and my brain will adjust to this new level of physical and mental effort. I just need to give them time. That's why this is called training, I guess.

If I didn't feel exhausted, headachy and a little irritable, what would be the point?! No, that's not right. Not, "what would be the point?" but more, "where's the challenge?" If I could train for a marathon and not feel any discomfort, I should probably be applying my efforts in a different direction. I'm not a fan of the "no pain, no gain" mentality. But I am aware that we can train to do more than we could previously do. And training carefully is the key. If this exhaustion doesn't pass, I'll run less until it does. And eat more.

Sleep and food and listening to (and interpreting accurately) my body are becoming more and more essential as each day passes. 

It was never going to be easy. And it isn't!