It can’t rain all the time

I try to remain positive in my posts (although I am aware that I can be quite critical of myself), but today’s post may be quite negative, for which I apologise.

Unfortunately, my beloved Grandma died this morning. She was the last of my grandparents and the one who meant the most to me, as she looked after me a lot when I was young. She always had a great sense of humour and never complained. She also had a lovely Cornish accent and used many Cornish dialect words and phrases. She was well-known for her traditional Cornish food, such as saffron buns, hevva cake and congress tarts. I love you, Grandma.

This morning, I did my first race of the year: Stubbington 10k. Two years ago, I achieved a PB there, but last year’s race didn’t go well, so I hoped to put that right today.

Usually, Stu drives us to our races, but today Ellie and Gary offered us a lift, which was a nice change. Before the race, I had to collect my number, which gave me a chance to catch up with some of my club mates and share some (hopefully) motivational strategies.

The race started at 10am, and as usual, I set off at a fairly swift pace – I’m terrible for not starting at a steady pace – I love the excitement of the first few minutes of a race, although I don’t think my heart appreciates them!

It wasn’t long before I was caught and passed by several of the ladies from my running club. Whilst the competitive athlete within me desperately wanted to surge ahead again, the supportive coach in me was really happy that the women (some of whom I have been coaching) have made such great progress – go girls!

Thank you to my favourite photographer Paul Hammond for coming out and taking some fantastic pics out on the course despite being unwell. The pictures in the series below were taken by Paul.

Despite the recent abysmal weather (seemingly non-stop rain and hail), today was dry and warm. It was allegedly 4°C (39°F), but it felt like at least 16°C (60°F). I struggle to run in the heat and by 8km, I was really starting to suffer. My breathing was fine and although my left knee was hurting, I had hoped to run well, but the heat was making me feel ill. I’m starting to worry that I may be suffering from anhidrosis, which is a condition where people do not sweat when they are over-heating. Unfortunately, the treatment seems to be confined to ‘lifestyle changes’ 🙁

As I headed back towards the community centre, I saw fellow club runner Steve, armed with his camera.

Steve’s encouragement made me believe that I could start moving at the pace I do interval sessions…

…but alas, it was not to be. I really was unable to keep pushing and slowed down in the last 400m. I had managed to pass two male clubrunners, but in the final 100m they passed me. Grrr! I’ll get them next time 😉

My official time was 55:17, which was three seconds slower than last year. The results from Stubbington 10k can be seen here: http://www.sportsystems.co.uk/ss/results/Stubbington%20Green%2010K/1368

My intention was to do a 12.5km run to make it up to 14 miles today as part of my marathon training, but I felt so unwell that it didn’t happen. (I’ve done that for the past two years). I’ve rescheduled and will now do 14 miles after work on Tuesday.

I felt disappointed with my performance, but think that maybe I need to be kinder to myself at the moment and not expect too much. I want 2014 to be a year with PBs and achievements, so I’ll put today behind me and get back to training again tomorrow.

Since coming home, I’ve spent a long of time reading and thinking. One article that I read was ‘Why people have to squat differently‘. It explains that people’s differing abilities can’t always be explained as being down to flexibility, but may actually be a consequence of anatomical differences in people’s bone structures. I also read this fab post on The Oatmeal about creating things online: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/making_things The part about negative comments is so true… although I’m happy to say that I’ve rarely had a negative comment and I’m happy to accept that not everyone in life will share my opinion – as long as it’s expressed in a polite and constructive way, that’s fine!

Here’s to a new and more positive week x