Juneathon

On day 9, I was supposed to run the Crisis Square Mile Run with Jog Blog. Alas, I got a migraine and I did not. Then when I started to feel better and considered joining the group for pizza, I fell asleep for 12 hours.

On day 10, my migraine had mostly gone, but I still had some tension. I didn’t feel like running, so my friend said ‘come for a walk.’ So I did. It rained. We sheltered in a pub and ended up drinking until 1.00am.

On day 11, I ran 8 miles with a bit of a hangover and not much sleep. This was my day of redemption. I met my friend Helen and we decided to run our ‘boat race’ route – a lovely, scenic 8 mile route starting at Putney Bridge, weaving down to the Barnes Bridge before crossing over and running back up the other side of the river. Helen set the pace and we set off comfortably, before she started insisting that I was speeding up. I tried to hold myself back and she stayed with me looking comfortable, but insisted that she felt pretty bad. She stuck with me for nearly 4.5 miles before demanding her bus pass. I left her to it and ran off; she carried on to 5 miles and then got the bus to the other end. I run a bit quicker on my own, because I’m not talking, so I thought I’d be able to manage quite a quick pelt back towards Putney. Unfortunately, due to the rain, the trail next to the river was very muddy and slippery. I don’t like mud and I really don’t like watching my step. I also really don’t like running through puddles and there were a few bits where the trail had flooded completely and like a typical girl, I gingerly picked my way through around the outside, whilst hardcore male runners just ploughed straight through and splashed me. I also helped a runner coming the opposite direction doing the same thing as me – but she got caught in a tree, the branches in her hair and one poked her in the eye. I would be more sympathetic, but I helped her get free and she didn’t even say thank you, which is just rude. Muddy patches over, I checked my Runtastic application and realised I had about 4 km left to go. I felt fine, so I decided just to give it some for the last 4k and finished the 8 miles in 77 minutes, 21 seconds, a pace of 9 minutes and 40 seconds per mile. The last 4k was done in 21.27, which wasn’t a bad effort having already run over 8k.

Then I waited for Helen because I beat the bus. Yay me.

Still lots of work to do to turn myself into a 9 minute miler, but it feels as if things are going in the right direction. I didn’t feel stiff afterwards and my legs are fine today so I think that implies I’ve got more to give. We shall see.

I am well aware I have been slacking, but today it was remedied after I arranged to go for a run with Will after work. Now, Will is new to this running lark but is already a super-speedy person and so he has been tasked with turning me into a 8.50-9 minute miler which he seems quite happy about, despite my whinging today.

He took me off on quite a nice route along the canal, into Victoria Park and then back again, where we then walked to Tesco and bought doughnuts. Although I have done some speedier runs, it was a lot harder doing it after a days work and my back decided it was going to flare up on me, so I had to stretch it out. Luckily, it was more or less ok after that, bar a little soreness. Will was true to his word and got me round the circuit of 3.16 miles in 27.23, at a pace of 8.40 minutes per mile and even treated me to a very short rendition of ‘Proud’ by Heather Small as we passed the Olympic Stadium. Yay. His next task is to get me to maintain it up to 4 miles and then 5.

Hope you’re all enjoying Juneathon – will catch up with the blogs soon!