Category: Juneathon 2015

Juneathon 14/30 – positive & negative

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Two ways of looking at the same run:

The negative

  1. I ran-walked. A lot. 
  2. Especially up hills. I chickened out of hills. 
  3. I can’t control my pace, I keep going a bit too fast then having to walk. 
  4. There’s no way I can do a marathon. 

The positive

  1. I covered 7 miles, which is the longest I’ve done since 2013. I’ve also not done a full 6 miles for a few weeks (due to illness and falling over halfway through last week’s)
  2. It’s a hilly route and I did manage the first couple of uphills that I didn’t think I could do. 
  3. My overall pace was pretty much what I would have been aiming at. 
  4. No one is making me do a marathon tomorrow, I’ve got until November. 
  5. Nothing hurt and I didn’t fall over. 

I think, overall, I managed to shout down the negatives.

Juneathon 11/30 – later

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I swear my son can mind read. I used love early runs (and relied heavily on them when I did hardcore Athons) but since Mini-Ginge came along, I think I have done one. At the most. He’s never been a brilliant sleeper, he’ll get off ok, but then decides that he wants something during the night. We’ve just had a good run of three nights sleeping through and I had planned to do an early interval session this morning. 

What happened is what always happens when I plan an early run (and by early I mean a 5.00 alarm call) – somehow he knows and wakes up around 1 or half past. Even if he settled quickly, I’m still on pins waiting for the delayed waaaah to come through the wall (he is also psychic for knowing just when I’ve decided that he’s settled and have settled down to sleep myself). 

So when 5.00 came, the alarm was switched off. At the time, I did think that I lay there contemplating getting up , but with hindsight I realise that I actually dreamed this… So no early run.

After work the sun was still doing its thing, which is lovely but I’m not built to run in the heat. By the time the boy was in bed, we’d had tea and I’d given it an hour to go down, I was getting much less inclined to go out. But I did. 3 mile loop, first half mile was tricky, then a mile of brilliance, then a pause to contemplate life and some sheep. The return was a bit wonky as my body kept reminding me that it wasn’t that long since I’d scoffed a big plate of fish and noodles. But I did it and finished with a warm glow of satisfaction and achievement, not to mention a fetching sheen of sweatiness. 

June_th_n 9/30 – _l__d, _iscuits _nd _utt_ck clenching

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Apart from making some extra trips from my desk to the printer (instead of doing big eyes at passing colleagues in the hope that they’ll bring me my stuff), my exercise was gentle but worthwhile today. I say gentle, I simply sat, squeezed my buttocks, crossed and uncrossed my feet, and clenched and unclenched my fists. Oh, and a nice young man stuck a needle in arm, took a pint of my blood and sent me on my way to eat some guilt-free biscuits.

By sheer coincidence, this week is National Blood Week and NHS Blood and Transplant wants people to fill the gaps in their donor numbers (you might have seen the #missingtype – it’s why I’m missing my As, Bs and Os). Every year, they need over 204, 000 new donors to replace those who can’t donate any more but numbers are dropping. If you can donate, it would be amazing if you could sign up as a donor. It’s incredibly simple and donating is absolutely nothing to worry about.

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It only takes about an hour (I was in and out in 45 minutes today, even though I turned up 20 minutes early for my appointment) and if nothing else is an education in brilliantly run logistics. Think about it, the team turns up in the morning, sets up a reception area, two waiting areas, a few private consultation booths (for the health questions and iron checks), the beds for donation, two clinical areas where things are labelled and generally dealt with, and a chill out zone with tea, crisps, biscuits and squash. And at the end of the day, it all gets packed up into the back of the lorry and off they trundle for the next day’s donating. Bloody amazing.

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Everything (in my experience) runs amazingly smoothly. Today it was a bit like crowd surfing, I had only just finished reading the essential information when I was passed onto the health check lady, the health check lady got me a nurse to check I could donate while using creams for my manky skin, someone appeared as if by magic to check my iron, I was directed to a waiting area where my bum had barely hit the seat when I was summonsed to donate. And did I mention the biscuits?

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I’m incredibly fascinated by the whole process and want to badger them with questions about what everything’s for and how it all works, but they’re all busy being really efficient so I don’t like to interrupt. As I have donated today, I am now banned from strenuous exercise, heavy lifting  and flying planes, so I plan to sit back and relax for the rest of the night.

To find out how to register as a blood donor visit www.blood.co.uk.

Juneathon 8/30 – back on the horse

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Thank you all for your kind wishes and concern, I’m very pleased to report that there doesn’t seem to be any proper injuries. My left hand is still a bit sore, my calf looks like someone has been at it with a cheese grater and my shoulder hurts if I poke at it (I know, don’t poke at it then).

Anyway, I was planning to run again today before the fall and it was important that I didn’t chicken out. Leaving Ginge and Mini-Ginge with In the Night Garden, I pottered off for a three mile out and back. Starting in a fine and not unpleasant drizzle, I was relieved to find that apart from a bit of general achiness, I didn’t feel too bad. I was also relieved to remember that I can run two days in a row without exploding and that I can run in the rain without melting.

Phew.