Ups and downs!

I'm a bit ashamed of the gap between my last blog post and this one.  I quite often think about what I want to write while I am running, but on arrival home I am met with a barrage of small children with homework/laundry/food issues that need dealing with, and the ideas just slip away, until I am out again.  It is a vicious circle, and until I learn to blog on the run it is unlikely to be resolved!

I have been running. Quite a bit in fact.  Parkrun's have been completed, some interval training has been done at my new gym, and shorts and running singlets have made a welcome return to my running attire!  I still maintain that running is a great, effortless way to get a tan - no worrying about turning over, you just keep running and tan beautifully.

I had been gradually building up the distance of my Sunday run after having to cut back due to grotty colds, last Sunday should have seen me covering 10 miles, running from home to a neighbouring town to meet Husbando for breakfast.  I do love eggs benedict!  All was going really well.  It was beautifully sunny, and I was regretting the decision to wear capri length running tights rather than shorts.  There is a section of the route that is along the side of a fairly busy A road with no pavement.  I don't like this bit as the cars travel so fast and don't seem to be aware that they can actually cross the central line so that they miss runners by more than a nanometer.  I'd been running along the white line at the edge of the road, keeping my eyes on the traffic so that I could take evasive action if necessary.  What I didn't notice was that there were cats' eyes up ahead at the entry to a lay-by.  The toes of my left foot got caught under the lip of the cats' eye and I went flying.  Even before I hit the ground I was thinking about the races I had coming up and whether this would put an end to them!  Just as well I was thinking that then, because after I hit the road I was in too much pain to think!  It took me a while to work out how to stand up.  No one stopped.  I eventually stood up, retrieved my water bottle from about 10 metres further up the road and made a hysterical call to Husbando.  I then threw up!   Help arrived about 10 minutes later, but it was a long 10 minutes!  I still can't believe that no one thought that it might be nice to stop to help me!

I'm still a bit achey a week later, so have taken it easy.  I didn't miss parkrun though!  All things considered, I had a good run on Saturday, only 2 seconds slower than last week.  The weather was lovely, such a change from the constant drizzle that marked our 200th Basingstoke parkrun.

Today I went out for a longish run.  Only 6.3 miles, but plenty far enough considering all the aches and pains I am still suffering.  It was beautiful. Sunny and warm, but with a fresh breeze that made running a pure joy,  I took it very slowly.  I don't want to risk not being able to do the Olympic Run next Saturday!  I don't really care how slowly I do those 5 miles - it will be enough to have been part of it.

In other news, I have started contributing at the parkrunfan blog.  Only one blog entry by me there so far, but there'll be more soon.  I'm going to try hard  not to duplicate things too much - but a little repetition is inevitable I suppose.