BOOM...just another Julie-ism!

On Sunday morning I was up bright and early for the Lambton 10k. My brother-in-law Craig and friend Claire were also running. My best friend Rachael and her boyfriend Karl came along to support us.

I drove us to Craig’s house then he drove to the Lambton Estate (partly as he has a bigger car, but mainly as he has a better sense of direction!)

We set off nice and early and I was nervous and excited rolled into one! As we approached the car park I saw a sign that said ‘BOOM’. As we got nearer we were talking about running down this stretch of road and I realised that the sign didn’t say BOOM at all…it actually said 800m (clearly an easy mistake to make… and certainly one which had us laughing all the way to the car park! And as Craig pointed out... it's just another ‘Julie-ism’)

We were pretty much the first people there (after the Marshalls) and got parked really easily. We wandered around looking at the grounds and the excitement built the busier it got.

We posed for some pre-race photos and we also spoke to some of the other girls from running J We queued for the toilet (which took a surprising length of time due to the large number of people and small number of portaloos). I saw Colin (South Shields Parkrun Director) and I waved and said hello :) it's always nice to see a friendly face.

 

Craig, me and Claire

 

I started off with Craig, not far into the race there was a little bit of a bottle neck due to the large number of runners but it didn’t take long to get past this (may well have cost some people a personal best though!)

My sole aim for the event was to get to the finish – I hadn’t ran many hills previously so decided to use it more as a training session than an actual race.

 

Me running
(Thanks to Hippie for the photo)

 

I set off at a steady pace and tried to maintain this throughout. I was doing ok, and the scenery was making it a much more pleasant experience. The hills were hard work but I’ve learned a lot from Steve in the training sessions. I kept asking myself ‘are you going to own the hill or is the hill going to own you?!’ I was doing well at owning the hills until the last mile and there was a killer hill. I was determined to keep running up it but my poor little legs just couldn’t keep going so I walked the remainder of the hill. I started running again when it was flat then my heart sank at the next bit of hill (which was really just an extension of the previous one!).

I knew I didn’t have far to go so just kept telling myself to keep going. Some of the marshalls were really friendly (others not so much) and the smiley ones really helped me to keep going.

BOOM just 800m to go! (Just twice round the track!) I knew if I kept going at the pace I was running at I would be able to finish in a good time so I kept focused and put one foot in front of the other. At 400m Craig and Hippie Lee were there to cheer me on, they started to run with me which really helped, but also made me go faster. At 200m to go I had very little left but just kept going.

Everybody was cheering me on as I got near the finish, and seeing Rachael and Karl really helped! When I finally crossed the finish line I felt sick and my legs were like jelly - but I DID IT. I completed my 2^nd ever 10k race (in a time of 1hour 17 minutes which was two minutes faster than the Sunderland 10k). I was so pleased with myself even though I was aching all over and could hardly breathe!

Rach came running straight over to give me a hug and tell me how proud she is of me! I’m proud of Rachael too, she’s part of the reason I run – she’s an inspiration J

When I was eating my refresher and drinking my water I met a fellow Great North Run Beer Tenter and said well done (unfortunately I didn't catch his name but it was nice to meet another member of the group). I really enjoyed the whole experience and I am excited for the Great North 10K a week on Sunday!

 
Huge thanks to Rach and Karl for coming along to support us (after a night out too!) and also to Hippie Lee and Craig for getting me to the finish. Thanks to Hippie for the fab photos too!

 

My official 10 week training plan started on Monday (with a well earned rest day!) I went for 7 mile run last night (which accidentally turned into 7.5miles). I really struggled with the first couple of miles (heavy calves) and didn’t know how I’d get to 7. I settled into it after a little while and I actually enjoyed the middle few miles (who ever thought I'd say that?!). I really struggled with the last mile as my knees began to hurt. I walked a little bit during the first couple of miles as I was getting cramp in my calves but from about 2.5miles until 7.2 miles I ran all the time which is really good going for me when I run on my own! Looking forward to a track session in the morning!

 

View on my evening run yesterday

 

A huge thank you to everyone who is reading this and those who have supported me in any way on my journey to the Great North Run.

Running Rewards!

I’ve done quite a bit of running since the last time I wrote. It’s difficult to find time to run AND write but I am determined to record as much of my journey to the Great North Run as possible!

I’ve been feeling a bit lost with running over recent weeks, literally just taking it from one run to the next and not really sure what I should be doing and when. I’m starting a 10 week training plan with my coach on Monday and I think this will be a great help! I still don’t think it has sunk in that it’s only 10 weeks until I am running an actual half marathon! I know that with hard work I will do it, as this time last year I couldn’t even run at all! That said, it doesn’t make it any less scary or daunting!

I’ve been going to quite a few running sessions in Cramlington (Dynamics Personal Fitness) and I am really enjoying the social aspect of running too. I’ve made some new friends and everyone is so supportive that it makes even the difficult sessions that little bit easier.

I went to a track session at Whitley Bay a couple of Saturdays ago with Dynamics and although difficult, I really enjoyed it. I couldn’t make it last Saturday as I was working but I was excited to come home to my first ever copy of Woman’s Running (and it was free too!)

 

 

On Monday I went to training with Rachael. I picked her up from work and we got ready at my house. I didn’t have any Lucozade Sport for after the session, so we called into the shop on our way. The chocolate muffins at the till were calling out our names and we bought them as post-run treats! All the way through the session we were running for cake! (not the healthiest post-run snack, but a well-earned treat!)

 

I am particularly ‘enjoying’ the strengthening and conditioning sessions on a Thursday evening. (You may notice my use of inverted commas for enjoying – I use this term loosely as they are really hard sessions!) They always make me feel like I’ve done a good workout though and I can usually feel it for a couple of days after, therefore I know they are doing me good! This also highlights, how little used a large number of my muscles are!

On Thursday evening the session was challenging again and it was purposely more difficult than the previous weeks. When Steve told us he wanted us to do some press ups, my heart sank. I’ve never been able to do them but I was determined to give it a go as I never used to be able to run. Steve demonstrated, and although I found it difficult I was able to do ‘an almost press-up’. I did the next ones using my knees as a lever and although they were still difficult, I was proud that I was getting better at them. We ran for 200m between each set and by the third set of press-ups my arms were shaking. We did a variety of other exercises, all of which were equally challenging and I was proud of myself for doing it. They are all things I once would have said ‘I can’t do’ – which just goes to show that anything is possible if you try! The session ended with hill sprints which were really hard – but no pain no gain!

I was expecting to ache yesterday morning, and was really pleased that I was feeling fine. I shouldn’t have been so confident though, because as the day went on I started aching more and more! I’m aching a lot today – Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness has definitely kicked in! My sides, and the front of my shoulders are particularly achy, which shows that the press-ups obviously did something! :)

During the session on Thursday we were talking about generally being fit and healthy, running and weight loss. I mentioned that I started running as a way of controlling my weight and that I’ve dropped a dress size, without altering my diet very much. Five years ago I lost a stone and a half with slimming world but began to put some of this back on last year. I hadn’t been weighed for a while but at Steve’s suggestion on Thursday I just got weighed today and I was pleasantly surprised to see that I have lost half a stone since I took up running! And I haven’t had to stop eating chocolate and cake!

Most of the running I have been doing recently has been at Cramlington with the running group but I did go out on my own for a 5 mile run last week. I intended it to be longer but it was so warm that I cut the route shorter! I still had to walk some of it but I was proud that I did it (with a couple of hills thrown in too!)

 

A few months ago I signed up for the Lambton 10k and later found out that it’s a very hilly run (this serves me right for booking it without checking such a thing!) I wasn’t too concerned as ‘it’s still ages away’ and I got my brother in law to sign up too! Time passes by so quickly and I cannot believe that it’s actually tomorrow! I am also excited that the run is on the Lambton Estate, where The Paradise was filmed (not the most logical reason for booking a run though!) :)

I am using it as a training session rather than a race, as it’s terrain I’ve not ran previously and I can’t compare it to my previous 10k as they are so different. Two weeks tomorrow is the Great North 10k and I am hoping for a pb for that. My best friend, Rachael and her boyfriend Karl are coming to cheer us on and a number of the girls from running are doing it also so it should be a good day out! And hopefully I can still walk on Monday (just as well it’s scheduled as a day of rest!)

Thanks again for reading! :-)