I love my running club!

I am a member of an online running club, Running4Women. It is a great source of information and support, my membership and the clubs affiliation to English Athletics Association gets me discounted race entry fees, which in the course of a year will probably pay my membership fee. I don't feel that I have to go out and run with people, but know that there is a chance I will spot a club vest at some of the bigger races. And today, thanks to the club, a pair of Nikes arrived in the post for me to review! Fabulous! I won't trial them until next week, just in case they give me vile blisters before my race on Monday.

Yesterday was a busy day. Up early to go to an auction in London, where Stephen was bidding on behalf of a client. I slept on the train on the way there and back and really thought I was too tired to run. With this in mind I set off on a run, thinking that there is no shame in turning back. As I ran I started to feel better, and ended up running 5.75 miles in 49 minutes. I ran partly on public footpaths across farmland. The last time I ran this route was in the winter, when it was muddy and I got caught in a hail storm. This time the crops had grown considerably and with my short legs I had to hurdle hummocks of grass. The farmer had also put course gravel on most of his farm tracks - this may be great for tractors, but it was really horrible to run on.

I'm getting excited about the race on Monday! It is a strange day for a race - meaning I will have to miss my long run on Sunday. I've checked train times, have my number pinned on my vest already, timing chip is safely waiting to be attached to shoes, and I've read the description of the route about a thousand times! There are thousands of entrants in this race, so I suspect that the start will be a bit of a bun fight, despite the fact that it starts in 9 waves. I have no idea how fast I will run it. My PB is 52 minutes, but I don't think I am running that fast at the moment.

Will have a short run with Stephen this evening - probably about 4 miles, and then I hope to get to a spinning class tomorrow morning. All I need to do now is get to the magical £500 sponsorship mark! Not quite sure what happens if I don't get the full amount but I don't really want to find out!