Rotterdam Marathon and things

Not really sure how to word this blog, basically it is about the Rotterdam Marathon. Yes that was over a month ago but I've been busy with Easter, my Birthday and visiting and catching up with people that I neglected seeing by being away with work in the week and in Marathon training at the weekends.

In short, my training build up went well. I'm never sure how it will go, but my easy runs were feeling easy, and my HR monitor readings backed this up. Since the pre-xmas low iron fiasco I made a concerted effort to eat more greens and a regular bit of steak. It seems to be working.

By the time the Stamford 30K came it was apparent I was on track, and I had a good run with some marathon paced effort at the Wymondham 20. I had an absolutely lovely weekend doing the Rhayader 20 on a Saturday - the Dudley Ladies girlies had a road trip - we got to Rhayader early, had a look around and set off in the sunshine; it was a lovely run and much different to the blizzards of 2013. I was pleased to be an inadvertent pacemaker for a friends sub 3.30, and after everyone was in ate lovely cake. Stopping off in Ludlow on the way back, I inhaled some sausage and mash and upon getting home went to bed.

The next day I had the SRC road trip to Ashby 20 with Super-Dave and Errol. Another very warm one, I started conservatively and wound up the pace in the 2nd 10 miles, it felt good. I don't chase 20 mile PBs, in my eyes 20 miles isn't really a racing distance but I did sneak one having run the first half of the race very slow so I was pleased. Still loving the hoodies and the packed lunch parcels at this race, not to mention the support and marshaling.

My XC pace from January onward seemed to get better and better, and in the last few races of the season I was 2 mins or so ahead of the rivals that I am usually around. I had a stormer at Cheltenham, the last ladies Birmingham League fixture, up with people who I never really thought I'd be running among. I was well up for the National XC at Nottingham as my grand finale to the season. However disaster struck, coming up to a busy roundabout 5 miles from Woolaton park, a lady in a large jeep stopped dead in front of me and I had no time to brake.... I wasn't going very fast, but I smacked in to the back of her. I instantly felt sick to the stomach. Firstly we were all ok which is the main thing; thankfully she was a nice person, very much the "well these things happen" type and it turned out she was also going to the national XC. We took photos, swapped numbers and she actually offered to give me a lift to the venue(!) I declined on the basis I ought to get my car sorted. It was a somewhat comical scene; her car with a scratch on the bumper, my car fairly mangled pissing out water from the radiator. Amazingly my car still drove, and I limped it a few hundred yards up the road to a petrol station where I was guaranteed food, drinks and a loo whilst waiting - I had no idea how long I'd be stuck there.

I am with Sheilas Wheels for my insurance, and I have to say I am impressed with their handling of the accident. It happened at midday, I was home by 3, had a car on the Tuesday and a week after I had a call to say they were writing off my car as the cost to repair was too great. But I got a good deal for a 9 year old Tigra with getting on for 130,000 miles on the clock.

Still gutted though. The previous year I'd not been able to travel to Sunderland having had some Norovirus type symptoms so am I ever destined to get to a National XC without incident again?!

Around the same time in mid Feb I gave up Diet Coke. I don't like the full sugar version (thank god, or I'd be the size of a house with rotten teeth) but I was drinking a stupid amount of Diet; I'm not going to say how much but it was TOO much. I am and have always been quite good at drinking water, but after a particularly bad day at work I realized I had really had a lot and that it couldn't be healthy, in terms of caffeine, artificial sweetener and whatever else is in there. So I stopped. Cold turkey. Monday I felt fine, the Tuesday I had such a bad headache it woke me up, and almost threw up in my work colleague Timmy's car on the way to Lytham. I declined an evening meal that night and went to bed. Come Wednesday I felt a lot better and haven't touched the stuff since, I drink purely water, with the odd can of Lemonade  or Lime / Soda thrown in. Yes it's not scientific, I've no proof I'm in better health but I feel much better for it, and I've won against my conscience in a "giving things up competition".

Addicted? Me?

My parkrun tourism total has been upped to include Northampton, Redditch and Cuerden Valley. I went to Northampton the week after my 50th as I'd got a massive course PB at Leamington and wanted to see what I could do on the flat. It was quite windy, but I was pleased to clock 24.34 bearing in mind circuits had hurt me on the Friday - on the Saturday morning when I got up I was contemplating calling through to be helped off the toilet, not a good look. Redditch was also a nice run, and on a less windy day with less sore quads I managed 24.24, pleased but felt I should be faster. The weekend of my Birthday recently we went to Cuerden Valley. Beautiful but a bit brutal; felt a little dejected with 28:xx but as the first lady only did 24:xx I took some comfort!

My trip to Rotterdam was pretty smooth, and it's a nice city. It has all the good bits of Amsterdam but not the tackiness and naff-ness that you get there. I got a good hotel deal, BA screwed me over on flights and I ended up getting a 7am take off from Heathrow which meant having to stay in a London hotel. I was exceedingly pleased when the boy announced he was coming to see me off; an unexpected surprise, very heartwarming.

Nothing crude or tacky in Rotterdam....

That whole weekend in Rotterdam was warm, and Sunday as I waited for the start I could feel the sun slightly burning my arms. I'd have preferred a 9am start really but 10.30 it was. In the lead up to the big off we were subjected to a very enthusiastic announcer speaking (in Dutch) followed by a rendition of "you'll never walk alone" by a ropey sounding strong accented Elvis impersonator. They fired a cannon and we were on the move. I was conservative with pace from the start and was on target, I was in the zone, not too fast, not too slow but by 5 miles it was hot and as I got to 8 and it was roasting. At 10 miles I made a decision - I pulled back. I could foresee the wheels coming off due to the heat at 21 miles and me doing 4:01 or something. I decided to minimize the damage and help my recovery by slowing down. By this I mean I ran about 10:00mm, and in the last 16 miles was still passing a fair amount of people. It's something I still feel quite annoyed / down / in two minds about, I have a niggling doubt and "what if" I'd have carried on at target pace? I was certainly in the form of my life to do a sub 4. But in my heart of hearts I knew it wasn't going to happen. I'm not a bottler just a realist.

I came in at 4.14 feeling OK. I walked back to the hotel - ironically it had got a lot cooler and I was actually freezing - the irony - and the next day my legs felt OK. It's taken the standard amount of time to get my HR back to normal, for the first 2 weeks after the marathon I felt permanently on the edge of a cold. I managed to run a mid 25:xx parkrun 2 weeks after, so hopefully with a bit more speed work I'll be back to form but at the moment psychologically I feel pretty rubbish and slow if I'm honest. I know it will come back, I'm just impatient.

Finally in more recent times I had an absolutely great Birthday week and weekend, the boy's knee is better so we've been out on some bike rides. I should give myself some credit having mostly gone out with him on days when I've already done circuits and a run, I feel like I am holding him back if I'm honest. However really if he's happy then I'm quite happy as long as I know where I'm supposed to go, I like the fact you can see more stuff in the same amount of time, and I'm glad to be getting more use of my bike again. We visited the area where I work to do some touristy stuff towards the end of the week and it was really fun. My Birthday treat included being taken to Go Ape! at Rivington which I was both terrified and excited about, but it was amazing wobbling and flying through the trees and I'm still alive so all good! I mostly like my job but I really did not want to go back to work, sometimes being on holiday can equal major angst, fed-upness and boredom but this was quite simply perfect and re-iterated everything I had previously thought about the good things in my life at the moment.

Don't look down!

Saturday morning fever

A very long time ago I saw a thread on a running website looking for guinea pigs to be involved in the development of the Cambridge Parkrun. It was something I hadn't really heard of, and wasn't actually too bothered about being a part of it generally, but I thought if I could do a little run and be of some use to other people (in this case the team testing the route markings and the timing equipment) then that would be a good thing. As I recall, on the 23rd Jan 2010 after a toddle around the country park I came back to find some of the runners had got lost and missed off a massive chunk of the loop, and some had ended up on a housing estate in Milton. I felt lucky to have been able to follow the tape markings and survive to the end.

To be honest I still wasn't massively bothered. I saw 5K as being a bit too short a distance for me, and these things started far too early in the morning. XC was a bit longer and usually at 2pm in the afternoon, and not being built for speed I figured I'd fare better sticking to that. The next time I did a Parkrun was in Aug 2011, Cambridge again but as part of a long run from my parents, jog round the course, have a diet coke break and back home, a nice 11 miler in total. It was in late 2011 that I really started to get in to Parkrunning, not sure why I think I just saw the benefits of the XC season to my running and wanted that Saturday speed session to continue. Very quickly I had explored Birmingham Cannon Hill, Barrow In Furness, Kings Lynn, Newbury, Walsall and Brueton. I'm not really a deliberate tourist, but with friends up north, family in East Anglia and most of the Midlands quite easy to get to from where I live, the total started creeping up. I started to like a faster run on a Saturday morning, and I liked the social aspect. It wasn't long before I'd visited Carlisle whilst visiting my friend (nicer run than overlooking the submarine "factory" 3 times at Barrow - sorry!), and soon I was overjoyed when Wolverhampton started, a Parkrun I could jog to from home! My northern friend moved to Commerrans in Cornwall, so this lead to me visiting Barnstaple (yes at the time Cornwall as a county had no run), Bedford for some flat tarmac and fancy cake and again another great run started at Wimpole, a place close to my heart as I spent so much time in Orwell as a child.

A jog around the back garden

My first appearance at Leamington was on 22nd June last year, a course I'd always wanted to run because A) I'd heard good things and B) I was familiar with the place a bit because I've run cross country there, so going to celebrate a 50th and catch up with some friends going was the perfect excuse and I fell in love. I was back there in July for the Pink Parkrun which involved starting at 7.30 and doing the course 4 times (finishing with the official one at 9am) it was boiling, and when I turned up at the subsequent Uni friends reunion I was pleased to push the kids out of the paddling pool and stand there in the cold water with my feet gently steaming.

Pink clothing and Pink faces by 9.30am!

More Cornwall trips lead me to Plymvalley (a really cracking course) and Killerton which are ranked as two of the most stunning courses I've done. In my insane quest to get to 50 Parkruns before "that Dave Rose" from the running club (stalking him every Saturday morning to cries of "FFS!! he's gone to Cannon Hill AGAIN!") I did Bury St Edmunds on Xmas day morning (this was the turning point having been anaemic towards the later end of 2013 after the 100K) and the New Years day double of Basingstoke and Newbury; it rained so much that I was seriously concerned that I would get trench foot and that my boyfriend would dump me from his death bed for being responsible for his pneumonia. We were saved from a medical emergency by Gobi's hospitality and the best cheese toastie and cookies I've ever tasted.

The final bit of tourism to date was Lanhydrock, at last a Cornwall Parkrun - another National Trust course (I am worried at my relatively young age I am contemplating becoming a NT member, and now I have a parcel shelf in my car I can fit a travel rug and sunhat on the back of it so I'm good to go). I've been running well in 2014, and on this course I struggled to do a sub 30. The downhills were rocky and unstable, too unstable to bomb down, and the ups were tough. But I still had that good feeling at the end.

So I make it in total 18 different runs so far, each with its unique scenery and qualities. I'll be a bit controversial here and say I've heard people in the running community get a bit sneery about Parkruns, in some cases because they appear to not have to go through the race licensing hoops that other "normal" races have to go through (which is a reasonable point I suppose although setting a Parkrun up and maintaining it week in week out isn't easy by any means) and some runners seem to think that Parkrun is some sort of overly happy "you've all done brilliantly" kind of cult. What can be bad about a friendly atmosphere, encouraging people to get out and do something that makes them feel good, be it a jog round in 45+ mins or a jog round in sub-20. I do these runs for me, its a time trial against myself and a bit of weekend speed work; for me personally it greatly helps to have other people there to use as targets to stay with or pick off as if I were racing and it simply makes me feel BRILLIANT. I believe my race confidence over all distances has improved as a result, and judging by the amount of times I've had my arse kicked by a 10 year old, it's definitely helping get a lot of juniors in to running. A particular highlight the other week at Leamington was being able to touch and briefly say hello to the Olympic Champion and World record holder Richard Whitehead. An opportunity I'd never have had otherwise.

Star-struck!

More recently I've been going to Leamington a lot, and on the days where I have an XC race (between Oct-March that is most weekends) I've done some volunteering, which I've found to be great fun and very rewarding; it's nice to have a view of the runners at different points on the course, crossing the line or even still foaming at the mouth as they have their bar codes scanned. It was pointed out in the Leamington newsletter this week that from about Aug 2013 - present I've volunteered about 14 times. It doesn't seem that many! Yes there have been times when it has been extremely hard to get out of bed and I've only just about had time to warm up when running, or I've screeched up and slung a stop watch around my neck er... looking like I've just rolled out of bed but I've enjoyed every one. It does seem a shame (and I'm not particularly talking about Leamington here) that most of the time you see the same faces volunteering. I'd encourage anyone to give it a go, full training is provided and you can't really mess anything up. Don't be scared.

My 50th Parkrun was one of those great times you remember; my boy, friends from running clubs, god children (and mother!) and friends I've made at Leamington were there, I was touched at the turn out. I felt like I wanted to run it briskly, but made the schoolgirl error of starting too far back. Thankfully we were on the normal course, so this gives plenty of room to overtake on the grass, and I was feeling in good form as we approached the hill. I didn't kill myself on the incline, but as soon as it flattened out I pushed on; I always like to look left over Leamington, as the view is spectacular but gave it some big effort along the top of the golf course, and basically let rip on the downhill. The stretch from the golf course through the airplane field seemed to go on forever and I think I flagged a little, but at that point I could see the finish, so it boosted me. The last stretch of grass for once was actually solid, so I just tried to aim to overtake everyone in front of me. It worked. Looking at my watch I was amazed to see 25.07, I think with a start further ahead and a little more gas applied on the flat bits I could have a sub-25 here; not something I thought I'd ever say. I want to get to a flat tarmac course to see what I can do in different conditions whilst I'm on form. I think low 24:xx (a PB) or maybe 23:xx. Something I'd have thought impossible before Xmas.

Yes, I beat him to the finish. Raargh!

Looking forward to the next 100, question is when will that be, Realistically 2015 some time.... cakes are on me!

That was 2013

Another year, another summary. I'm a bit busy, so it's a bit late. And no pictures. BORING!

2013 was about trying to get another sub 4 marathon, and going long. Well, I managed one of them! I also became a godmother in the January :)

In 2012, I ran the Manchester marathon on the only day in April when it was -2 degrees, sleeting and blowing a howling gale - the same day as Stratford got cancelled and people got hypothermia in Milton Keynes. I decided that wading through a half mile puddle trying to get round the dawdlers at Dunham Massey cost me at least 3 mins off of my 4:02 so I entered again in 2013 in the hope of bettering my time. The year started off with cross countries, doing some particularly gruesome and snowy runs (the infamous Midlands XC at Stafford where it is rumoured a junior runner's socks got frozen to his feet!!), but overall I felt like I was running quite well. I did some of the old favourite races, the Stamford 30k where I had a decent run, buy my marathon paced section felt a bit hard on some of the hills. I guess that is the point of doing these things, to get used to your pace again and it's a hard race - so I carried on not to worried.

I was gutted to miss the National XC in Sunderland due to an episode of projectile vomiting on the Thursday night before the Saturday of the run, I'm not sure what caused it, but no way could I even travel to support. I love the National, I'm sure I've said this before, but the National XC is the London Marathon of XC running, anyone belonging to a UKA affiliated club can enter, and the range of speeds is vast. I would encourage anyone to pluck up the courage, stick two fingers up and just give it a go. Strangely after this episode (maybe it was a few days of enforced rest or losing half a stone in 3 days) my running seemed to pick up, and I ran a very speedy 5K at the Barnstaple Parkrun (just a few seconds off my PB) the day before the Duchy 20. I had a splendid holiday down in Cornwall in the isolation of my friends little house that looks across to Falmouth. A week of no TV, little internet, just the radio, lots of visiting cool places (including Kwik Fit in Truro when I got a puncture... booooo!) and some good running.

Just before Barnstaple and the Duchy I got a PB at the Cambridge half, 1:48. I had a great race, but was disappointed to find the one time a year I seem to race a half, the chip buggered up and gave me a time 2 mins slower than I clocked on a LONG course (before you say it, not sure it resembled any gun time either). Anyway, I know what I did, and the simple answer is to do it again and again, isn't it? I'm wondering if I should race a few more half marathons, I think it's a tricky distance. I feel like I'm getting better at 5Ks by attending lots of Parkruns so perhaps the same logic applies. It's a balance between getting sharper and wearing myself out I think. I definitely don't want to do that. 2013 was also the year that Wolverhampton Parkrun started, 2 miles from where I live so it is joggable as a WU. A great little course and if I was less busy doing this and that I'd go more often. I am grateful to the people who started it, it was something that crossed my mind a while ago but I didn't feel I had the time to commit to setting it up. I'm really glad someone did. A few of my running friends also started going, which is great - I am a lot more likely NOT to turn over in bed and hit the snooze button these days because I have people to meet there!

The most memorable race of the first part of the year for other reasons, has to be the Rhayader 20. I blogged about it at the time, but this is the only race so far in my running life where the possibility of dying has crossed my mind. Perhaps that sounds overly dramatic; I don't believe we were ever in real danger but the weather was shocking. We started off in Rhayader village knowing the weather was snowy elsewhere, but it was just a bit chilly and cloudy. The customary 5.5 miles up to the top of "the big one" and all looked ok. I saw the false summit, then I saw the actual summit where the ambulance sits (that's how you know it is really the top) and it started to hail. I didn't think that was a problem, it was bouncing off of me. Then came down snow like I've never ever seen. Total whiteness all around and so quickly. It was settling on my arms, it was settling on my head, and the top of my chest where my race number was pinned. I went to look at my garmin and had to brush off snow. We ran down the hairpins, thanking frozen looking marshals; and still a lot of snow was settling on the roads, cars were having to crawl and a cyclist was skidding along on his bike. I wondered what would happen if someone fell or had to stop. We were all dressed sensibly, but even so... It carried on like this until about 11 or 12 miles, where it then went back to simply "cold". The scenery was still beautiful. To think in previous years I've been sunburned at this race! As always the day after Rhayader is the Ashby 20, and again I did both. I love both races, and run at a sensible pace doing both is a reasonable long run exercise. Ashby was just as cold, and it was sleeting a bit, I'd had a bit of a cold and to be honest at the end my chest was sore from breathing the cold air in and out.

Easter came, and I managed to get a place in the Ely to Cambridge trail run along the river from one to the other, an interesting 16 mile run along the Cam taking in the flat views of black earth fields. It was a great little event, and a creme egg is one of the better race mementos I've had although it didn't last as long as a medal, especially as I had another 5 miles to go after that. I also traveled to Bournemouth with a club mate to do the half marathon, another excellent run after having run 7 miles before the start and tagging on to the back it made for a decent 20.

Manchester did not go as planned, I'm going to have to get a Marathon time starting with a 3 this year, I know I have it in me. I started to feel "off" at Manchester 2013 after about 8 miles. It was hard carrying on for another 18 but I hung on, 4:07 the 2nd fastest Marathon I've ever run but I was disappointed, especially having been overtaken by a woman dressed as a giant tit (breast cancer awareness) in the last few miles. Shortly after I had some mouth pain and had to go to the dentist - I may have actually had a dental infection at the time of the race. It's not an excuse, but something was brewing because I was in a bit of discomfort on the day but thought it was just a sore gum - it certainly can't have helped. I needed a bit of an extended rest after Manchester. With the previous years marathons, 4 marathons in 4 days as base I had decided to enter... 100K.... in Sweden.... at the beginning of August. Previous furthest distance was the Ultra at Connemara in 2011. 40 miles. 62. Wow - that's a reasonable distance in the car.

So I trained over the summer and I really enjoyed it all. The summer was a bit chaotic, I had to move from my flat because my landlord had not been paying the mortgage, but I moved literally 8 doors down and my lovely friends assisted me moving so it was a lot less stressful than it could have been. We (as a work team) also got purchased by another company, and whilst change isn't always a bad thing, it can be scary. It all seemed very very unfair with the flat situation, and at times despite being surrounded by lovely people I felt quite alone, but such is life. Highlights of the summer training included starting circuits. My running friends had started these sessions in Jan 2013 and kept raving about it; I could see the change in them in terms of body shape and general fitness. I decided after the Marathon to sign up for 3 months to go alongside my 100K training. I thought I was fit from running, but this training has improved me - I think the additional core, leg and arm strength I have has only helped my running, and in the right light, if you squint a bit with a prevailing wind I actually have some abdominal muscles. Other summer highlights included spending a week or so in Cornwall and having some cracking runs around there, seeing my pals from Uni in Cornwall and some of them and their children at a reunion and doing the "pink parkrun" at Leamington which was 4 runs of it starting at 7.30 finishing with the "official" one at 9am  - this turned out to be quite a good move. I crewed for a friend at the Grand Union Canal Race which was a great experience and I learned an awful lot about longer distance events just from watching things going on. The Thunder Run at Catton park with the running club was one of the best team running experiences I've had - as a team of 8 we managed a respectable 25 laps in 24h, I had 3 different races - a hot dry run, a run where I was being chased by lightning bolts through the woods, and one at 7am in the morning through 6 miles of steaming slop. Brilliant fun :) Unfortunately as I was not prepared to stay up till midnight to register and the event was sold out in record time I have failed us this year with the entry, but something else equally good will come along. Some of the brilliantness of these things is the event, but it is mostly the people you are with.

Before  I knew it, the 100K had arrived; true I have covered this in a separate blog, but I'll say it again, the whole experience was one of the greatest of my life. Getting there was smooth, and Stockholm was awesome. The only slight downer was that it was one of the hottest weekends in that part of Sweden for centuries; but I had prepared as best I could by doing a lot of runs with the mad dogs and Englishmen at home and rocked up to the start at 7am on the day with a load of nervy looking runners including a man dressed as a dalmatian. I'd managed a marathon distance before it got too warm, but the full heat of the sun kicked in mid morning; the course and its 5 mile loops was amazing, pretty and scenic despite being in the middle of a major city with variety and excellent support both in terms of food / fuel and crowds, and it was a privilege to get lapped and acknowledged by Steve Way, who went on to have an amazing win. I sit sometimes and think about this day, and wonder how I managed to do it. At about 30 miles I had a "Oh bugger I've got to do all of this again" moment, but I just told myself to get to 40, get to 50, and then in was simply a question of counting down laps ("I did this at the 4 Leamington Parkruns") rather than miles. It was cool knowing it was being broadcast on the internet. I finished and I was in total shock, shame I should have soaked it up as after that I was in whole body pain for about 48h. Looking back at my time, just over 12h I felt I could have done better, but it was so so hot. My average moving pace was 11:00mm, which over that distance isn't too shabby but in the latter stages I was slowing down a lot to get as much water and electrolyte drink down me as I could. Would I do it again, yes probably but I don't think I want to go longer at the moment.

I was a bit wobbly in the head department before the 100K full of self doubts; during and shortly after I felt boosted and a few days after I felt a fairly significant low. It's a massive thing to build up to and pffft! It's gone, albeit a great memory. Some things meant a lot; my coach said he was proud, my parents also. I did the run because I wanted to and whilst I appreciate the sentiments of others I found it hard listening to how great I'd done because I didn't really feel great, and with 2 weeks rest (just as well with a totally bruised foot) I felt like I was missing getting out on more good times, e.g. the social aspect of jogging along chatting to my pals. I do still maintain that anyone with the will can pretty much do anything they want. You heard it here first.

In September, I got asked out by someone I'd met at a Parkrun over the summer. We have a reasonable number of mutual friends so got talking, being the wallflower that I am I did wonder about him "in that way" but sort of dismissed it - I don't tend to ask people myself (I've had not so much bad but very strange experiences when I have done the asking so gave up). So he asked me on a date and I thought it would be good; we went out in early Sept and got on really well. We went out again, and again, and I found his company to be just delightful. We can talk, we are the same in the right ways, but different enough in others to make life interesting. I feel like I've known him ages, but also I still find him as interesting as someone I've just met. Happy.

Running wise, between Sept and Dec I have been concentrating on two things really, parkruns and XC in the quest for greater speed. The season started well, and more or less I'd been equaling or bettering my best times on the courses I've run before. Things did feel a bit hard though. Work, rushing around, circuits and running I felt at times I lived out of a sports bag, was having so many showers per day my skin would fall off and I just never had 5 mins to sit down. Not that I'd have had it any other way. I just secretly craved a bit of downtime.

Reasons for everything feeling tough became apparent during "the week from hell" in December. I use this term in jest as worse things happen at sea and all that, but it was a hard week.

Monday - Went to give blood, got told I was anaemic. That might explain my everything feels so hard then! Out with friend, late night

Tuesday - Trip to Blackpool, early start and general knackeredness - Xmas meal

Wednesday - Tired after a late night (no booze just late to bed). Got told boss had resigned (we all like him, found him to be very good at his job and the circumstances were not good. To the observer it looked like he was stitched up. That is all.)

Thursday - Felt so awful went to the doctors - came out with antibiotics for an infection and some advice on Iron, drove a 200 mile round trip to have an Xmas meal in Bristol - it was nice but I was knackered

Friday - Running club Xmas do - got breathalyzed on the way back, and despite being virtually tee total and knowing I'd last had any booze WEEKS if not MONTHS ago it was still a slightly nerve wracking experience, I was stopped because one of my lights had gone which must have only just happened because I'd have noticed parking up at home. Got pulled over in to a lay-by about 2 miles from home as part of a Police Xmas crackdown. Policeman (smiling sarcastically) "Where have you been?" Me (In horrible Christmas jumper) "Running club party!" They were very nice and took care to explain to me what was going on, didn't believe my age (bats eyelids) and with a reading of 0.000mg I was on my way home after less than 5 minutes. I hope they caught some people and stopped a few accidents.

Saturday - parkrun with the girls, nice breakfast but rubbish time - wasn't full on racing but 9.00mm felt hard! Halfords light fitting dept on the way back!!

Sunday - Early run due to meeting my boy, his Dad and Step mum for lunch. Came back at 10 am-ish to find that the flat above me had been on fire, their dishwasher had been put on overnight, malfunctioned and destroyed their entire kitchen. Oh and the smoke alarm failed, so the chap had rolled over in bed, woken and sniffed burning plastic and raised the alarm. The place still has a slight whiff now over 4 weeks on. I got back and the couple were huddled outside looking completely and totally crushed. That picture of them in my head almost makes me cry when I think about it, or about what could have been for them. As I opened my door, I was greeted to the sound of dripping, because what do you know, when 2 fire engines come and pump a load of water in to an upstairs flat there is a lot of water that has to go somewhere. Thankfully it was a few drips by my kitchen window and water marks around the coving, nothing that didn't dry out in a few days but that was another shock.

At Christmas I had some time off of circuits, and some general rest and relaxation - lie ins and naps during the day. It's done me good. In the quest for speed I've just been getting stuck in to Parkruns (one on Xmas day and 2 on New Years day in addition to the normal Saturdays) and having started taken Iron in mid December I cannot believe what a difference it has made to me. Fast runs feel good again and I don't feel permanently tired. On the XC front I'm 2-3 mins ahead of some of the faces I was with at the beginning of the season which is massive. I put it down to a combination of proper training but boosted by having "normal" iron levels.

So I look forward to the Rotterdam Marathon in 2014 and everything else it has to offer. Targets? Yes, lots of PBs but most of all as always to enjoy everything and have fun