And back to running....

Well, my little rant about strike action seems to have kicked up quite a storm! Nearly 700 people have read that post. Anyone wanting to know more about the NASUWT's continuing action would be well advised to look at the union's website.

I haven't mentioned running for a long time. One reason I haven't blogged much recently was because I was trying to avoid ranting about the strike. In the end I couldn't help it, and it just spilled out of me and onto the screen. Better out than in, as they say!

I have been running, honest! No major races since the disaster that was the Great South Run, but plenty of runs around the village and into the town. I have had to learn to live with running after dark. This means I don't get to see my lovely country lanes and have to run along the pavements into town. I dread to think what I look like, plodding along in a high viz vest, with a flashing LED light on one arm and a head torch! At least I give the cars something to aim at. I don't like running in the dark, but I hate not being able to run!

I've been using my gym membership too. Once or twice a week I pop down there to make the yummy mummies look good! They are manicured and mascaraed (is that a word?) while I am a sweaty mess! I've started to do some high intensity interval training. It took me a while to work out how to set the treadmill, and I'm still not sure I've got the pacing right, but at least I am making the effort, and that has to count for something.

Last Sunday number one son and I took part in the British Heart Foundation Santa Jog. Complete with Santa Suits! A couple of parkrun regulars were there too. At the start a fellow parkrunner and I were muttering about how we'd 'just jog this one' and not really make an effort. That didn't last. As he later said, it must have been the fastest about face from 'Let's take it easy!' to 'Let's go for it!' in the history of running. To be fair, I don't think either of us really believed the other's relaxed approach. No.1 son did well! He went off really fast, and was at the front of the pack for a while .... until his horrible mother saw him ahead of her and decided that he'd have to wait a while longer to beat her in a race!

I keep pondering the idea of joining a running club. There is one that meets at the sports centre next to my school. I haven't yet summoned up the courage as I hate meeting groups of strangers, and my memories of being very unsporty in PE lessons at school are still very vivid. Maybe I'll join up. I'll ask around and see if there is anyone else at the school who is a member and see if I can pop along with them.

Industrial action.

Going on strike is something I never thought I would do. If you had asked me 10 years ago I would have put my hand on my heart and told you that it just wouldn't happen. Of course, 10 years ago I was probably knee deep in nappies and not being paid anyway - but that's beside the point.

I will be striking on Wednesday 30th November. I have endured some unpleasant comments from non teacher acquaintances who have made, in my experience, no effort to listen to my reasons as to why I, along with many of my colleagues in the NUT, are going on strike. Apparently I should be thankful for my 'short working day' and my 'excessively long holiday' which more than make up for the fact that the government wanting to increase (by 50%) my pension contributions while delaying the date at which I will be allowed to start receiving a much reduced pension.

I am not a mathematician, but I can use a calculator. I am paid £13.49 an hour if one assumes I work for 40 hours a week (clocking in at 8am and out at 4pm every day) for 40 weeks a year (because I get those excessively long holidays). How lazy I am! That is only 1600 hours a year and the OECD calculates that the average worker in the UK actually worked 1647 hours in 2010.

But there is a bit more to this than meets the eye. I could easily add another 30/35 hours to my total if I add up all the parents' evenings, pupil awards evenings I am expected to attend. Since the beginning of September I have left school at 4pm twice! On both occasions I had a train to catch and had to rearrange various after school activities to make sure I got to the station on time. On a daily basis there are house team meetings, department meetings, staff development meetings, after school detentions and revision sessions that eat into my evening. I consider myself lucky if I leave school before 5.30pm (having arrived at school at 7.30am).

I teach 9 different sets of children. The average class size is 30, so that is 270 books that need marking on a regular basis, to a standard that promotes the child's learning and enables them to meet their targets. Lessons do not miraculously fall into place without a certain amount of planning. I know I will get quicker at this, and that I will be able to reuse certain aspects of previous lessons, but planning will always be a huge part of a teacher's work load, especially if that teacher has children with special needs (be they struggling with English as an additional language or at the other end of the spectrum needing to be stretched beyond the other pupils due to their exceptional ability). I estimate, conservatively, that I do about 20 hours a week over and above the 'normal' school day. That's another 835 hours a year added to my total - taking my hourly rate of pay down to £8.67 before you even consider the days I have given up in the holiday to go into school to get my room sorted out, or given up at the weekend to help with trips, school fetes etc. That may be why I bristle somewhat when people mention my 'short working day' and 'lovely long holidays!'

Don't get me wrong. I love my job! There is no way I could go in every day if I didn't! And I do get to blow things up in front of a class of children who sometimes have the decency to look suitably impressed. I like to think I am getting to be quite good at it too. Teachers do tend to put themselves down a lot. We concentrate on the three children who refused to do the work rather than the 27 who got on with the task and were eager to do more. Teaching is increasingly target driven. I have targets to achieve based on how many GCSEs my pupils get at certain grades. If I achieve these targets I won't get a bonus, and I don't expect one as I am merely doing my job, but I do find it a bit annoying that the bankers, who did their job so truly appallingly badly that my pension is now being cut to help the government sort the mess out, still receive eye watering bonuses!

But, and this is a huge but, the main reason I am going on strike is not because of the pension issue. Having started teaching later in life I was never going to qualify for anything like the average teacher pension of £10,000 a year. I, along with the other members of the NASUWT, am concerned about the proposed changes to pay and conditions that the government want to introduce.

I worked hard to qualify as a teacher. I have a good science degree (upper second) and a postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE). A PGCE is not an easy qualification to obtain. It is rigorous in terms of both the academic and practical content of the course. Many people fail to get a place on a PGCE course. A lot of people drop out as they discover it is not for them, and people often fail to meet all the standards needed to pass the course. It is a thorough preparation for teaching.

The unions fought hard to establish national pay scales that applied (note the past tense!) in all state schools. Meaning that schools could not refuse to pay teachers 'the going rate' due to budgetary concerns.

So I am worried when I read that Mr Gove wants school to be free to employ 'who they want' and pay them 'whatever they want.' Academies are leading the way, in that they no longer have subscribe to the national pay scales, 'Free schools' do not have to have people with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) teaching in their classrooms. Is this the thin end of the wedge?

The government want to remove the limit of observation of teachers, both in terms of hours and who can undertake the observation. At present the time is limited and observations can only be carried out by a qualified teacher. Being observed is part of the job, but it is a somewhat nerve wracking process requiring extra preparation and follow up for each lesson. The changes they are proposing change observations from being a tool for use in performance management to effectively putting all teachers in a situation where they are subject to competency proceedings all the time.

The government want to remove the hard won 'rarely cover' agreement that protected a teacher's planning and preparation time. Turning up to school thinking that you have one glorious free period to make a dent in the marking/planning/report writing/data inputing only to find that you have to cover a class because an colleague is off sick is soul destroying in the extreme!

We are constantly bombarded with new initiatives, new targets and curriculum changes, we are always trying to do more and more in the time available. Teachers, on the whole, are good at what they do (the ones who aren't don't enjoy it much and tend to leave!) and want to do their best for your child.

That's why I'll be striking on Wednesday. I want the best for the children I teach today, and the ones I will be teaching in 10, 15 or 20 years from now. And that is why I will, along with the NASUWT, be working to rule from 1st December. I am not lazy, workshy, or hugely left wing. I just believe that it is time we took a stand, in a way that has been legally and democratically mandated. I do not believe that my taking one day off will ruin the chances of my GCSE pupils any more than the trip to look at the Christmas market in Cologne last week would ruin their chances, or the numerous lessons that pupils miss due to other extra curricular activities.

It's grim down south!

I ran this race last year and had been looking forward to running it again this year. Despite being a 45 minute drive away, and me not having a clue what Portsmouth has to offer apart from outlet shopping at Gunwharf Quays I still consider that this is a 'local' race. It is also the biggest 10mile road race in the world.

An early night last night, and an extra hour gained due to the clock going back should have meant that I woke up feeling bright and full of enthusiasm. I love races! And the morning of a race normally sees me buzzing about the house making a 101 last minute checks on my race day bag. But not today. Today I could barely drag myself out of bed. I moped around the kitchen, making porridge and eating painkillers - anything to try to stop the throbbing headache and general acheyness! I thought about pulling out, but I'd been looking forward to my last big race of the year for ages, and surely I'd feel better when I started, wouldn't I?

I left about half an hour earlier than last year, which meant that I got to Southsea Common about an hour earlier than I did last time! I sat in the car, reading my book, listening to the radio and generally trying to avoid the grey, miserable weather outside. About an hour before the race I met up with a fellow parkrunner at the start. Having a friendly face to talk to really did help, and the time passed fairly quickly. I'm glad we were in the first wave to start as it was jolly chilly standing around in shorts and a vest top!

The minute I crossed the start line I decided I was ravenously hungry! No idea why as I'd eaten a good breakfast, and a couple of bananas. Maybe it was my body thinking it was really 12 o'clock not 11 o'clock. As last year the race was crowded through out, but especially at the start. The road narrowed several times and I had to slow to almost walking pace a few times. I wasn't worried, I wasn't out to get a good time, for the first 8 miles I spent most of the time wondering when would be a good time to drop out, and after 8 miles I only carried on because it seemed silly to stop so close to the end.

My headache never let up, no amount of endorphins were going to shift that one (still got the headache now) and I can honestly say that this is the least enjoyable race I have run. I can't think of a single part that was fun! My throat ached, my neck was stiff and my legs were refusing to function properly and to make things even better it was drizzling! I lost it in a major way between mile 6 and 8. My speed dropped right down and I couldn't seem to find any motivation to pick it up. Coming round onto the seafront, and being hit by a blast of sea air seemed to bring me back to my senses. Either that or I realised that if I ran too slowly I'd spend far longer getting soaked and windswept!

At about 8.5 miles I spotted Richard at the Chineham Park Running Club supporters stand. Richard normally hurls 'friendly' abuse at parkrun on a Saturday, so the fact that he was saying encouraging things today convinced me that I must look at least as bad as I felt!

I crossed the line, eventually, in 1hr 27mins 37 seconds, which is over 2 minutes faster than last year, but I felt awful! I staggered back to my car, then realised I was going to have to eat something if I was going to drive home, so staggered back to find a hot dog seller! The drive home was slow due to all the road closures, but I did end up driving along one of the roads we'd run down - I have to say that I ran it faster than I was able to drive it!

Will I run this race again? Well, I have just entered for 2012, so I guess that's a yes, but I don't think I'll be running any race again when I feel 'flu-y!' I run because I enjoy it, and it is very hard to enjoy anything when feeling under the weather.

Bupa hypocrisy

I can't remember exactly how much I paid for my place in this year's Great South Run, but seem to think it was around the £30 mark. Whilst not being a huge sum of money, it is a sum that I am not prepared to waste. This being the case I will do everything I can to make sure I am there on the start line on Sunday morning.

According to the race information and, let's face it common sense, one should not run if one 'has or has recently had a cold or flu, have been vomiting, or had chest pain or otherwise feel weakened or unwell' in the lead up to the BIG DAY. This is all well and good, and the guidance goes on to remind one that the Great South Run will be back again next year.

It is possible to defer a place until next year. I looked into this thinking that at least I wouldn't waste my entry fee if I didn't feel up to it. But, but, but.... it isn't as simple as that. If you want to defer you need a doctor's note and it has to be done at least 7 days before the race - so no good for the last minute onset of a nasty bug. The doctor will probably want to charge £20 and anyway 'deferring' a place doesn't mean you just transfer your entry to next year. All deferring means in 'Bupa speak' is that one is guaranteed a place in next year's race if one chooses to pay for it all over again!

So the initial £30 entry (or thereabouts) will cost £80 if one chooses to defer! No wonder people run when they are ill/injured. No wonder those who are too ill/injured (or too sensible) give their race numbers to friends - despite the fact that this practice is 'prohibited' by the guys at Bupa Great Run.

Come on Bupa, you are supposed to be promoting running as part of a healthy lifestyle! As it is, I'll be running on Sunday, even if I still do feel under the weather. I don't want to waste £30!

Another week over, another race done!

It has been a funny week. The last week of half term saw me suffering from a nagging sore throat and general lethargy. I decided, for once, to take the sensible course of (in)action and hold back on the running. After my long run (10 miles) on Sunday, I went out for a quick three miler on Monday but after that nothing! Of course, this lack of activity meant that I convinced myself that I would be totally unable ever to run again. I was sure my feet would refuse to work and that I was doomed to walk around the Fleet 10k route rather than running it!

Saturday morning saw me at parkrun anyway! I may not have been running, but two of my boys were! One of them for the very first time and aged only 7! He managed the entire course, didn't finish last and is keen to run again next week! My biggest boy ran a PB, taking 58 seconds off his previous best! I was glad I pitched up as volunteers were thin on the ground and husbando and I were both roped in to help (husbando en route to hospital for a scan on his dodgy Achilles!)

Sunday morning dawned warm and sunny. The only clue that we are in autumn was the colour of the leaves on the trees! I headed off to Fleet, husbando, enjoying his first Sunday off since I started work, decided to take the children to the cinema. I had arranged to meet up with a friend before the race, and she was one of the first people I bumped in to. The second person I met was one of my pupils who was a volunteer marshall for the day! They do say it is good for pupils to see that their teachers are real people with outside interests, I'm not so sure I want my pupils to see me dressed in lycra though! Amongst the throng at the start was the ever so speedy John M with whom we chatted for a while, and I spotted the exceedingly tall Andrew W as we massed for the start - he didn't spot me as I am only average height so get lost in crowds! John and Andrew are regulars at Basingstoke parkrun and I did spot other regulars in Fleet too - but I can't namecheck them as I don't know their names! It is always nice to see a friendly face at a race.

The race was chip timed but, strangely, only had a timing mat at the end of the race. So time taken to cross the start was not taken into account in the final times. The race comprised 2 circuits of the famous Fleet Blue Triangle. The route is described as 'undulating' but felt fairly flat, the downhills were long and gradual, the ascents short but fairly steep. The finish was deceptively nasty though. Uphill for the longest '400m to go' ever experienced and a winding route through a carpark. I over took loads of people in the last 400m, partly due to the hill but partly due to the lack of clarity as to where the finish was. Lots of people seemed to have stopped in the last 50 - 100 m!

I saw three more pupils on the way around. Great to get support from them. One was shouting out "Come on 134, come on 258" etc., as I ran past he called out "Come on 13... oh Miss it's you!" And at the very efficient timing chip removal and medal distribution another of my pupils was helping out. Great to see young people volunteering at these events!

After the finish I bumped into John M, who had run a fantastic race! I was not hugely happy with my time. My Garmin had started beeping at me at around 4 K to tell me that it was 'Full' and that I needed to delete data. Not easy while on the move, so to stop it beeping at my I turned it off. I realised that I have become quite dependent on my Garmin to tell me how fast I am going. Without the information I just carried on at a comfortable pace, I knew I was under the weather, so wasn't too worried about times. My actual time was 50min 57 secs, which is 58 seconds over my PB. I do think that if I'd known my pace, and how close I was to my PB, I'd have pushed a bit harder and maybe cracked it!

The most demoralising part of the race was being overtaken by a man on crutches (or rather one crutch and one walking stick). He went off at a heck of a pace! At one point I was overtaken by a young man in plimsoles. I was on his heels for ages, watching his Achilles turn bright red as he ran! I decided that there was no way he was beating me - he was one of the people I overtook in the last kilometre!

A coffee and a catch up with my friend afterwards made for a perfect running morning (well, almost perfect, a PB would have been the icing on the cake!) We went to Cafe Giardino in Fleet. I have a discount card from the Basingstoke branch as we meet there after parkrun on Saturdays. I was stunned when the young man behind the counter had my coffee order (large, black Americano) waiting as I approached and was apologising that he didn't have any lemon muffins! That's what I call good service (well, apart from the lack of muffins!)

Not long now until the Great South Run! I am not officially running this for charity, but I have been amazed by the support UNICEF gave their runners for the Royal Parks Half Marathon, so I will wear my UNICEF vest to raise awareness if nothing else! If anyone does feel like sponsoring me, please feel free to click HERE!

I learned something today....

It has been a strange week for me with respect to running. Sunday was great, but I woke up on Monday morning feeling as though I'd been one of Hugh Jackman's ill fated robots in Real Steel! I am blaming an afternoon spent walking around the shops after the half marathon for this rather than the race itself. I survived Monday at school, but just barely. At that stage of the term everyone was tired and a wee bit tetchy, and there were still two whole weeks until half term! By Monday evening I was cranky as anything, and although my body was aching I decided to go out for a short run. I managed 2 miles in just under 18 minutes, I felt better mentally, but knew that if I pushed it any more I'd suffer physically.

I rested on Tuesday (well as far as you can rest with 5 children and a full time job!) and couldn't get out for a run on Wednesday because I had a parents' evening at school. What I didn't know was that there is a staff shower at school. In future I will take my running kit with me to school when we have after school events of this type and go for a run around the local ponds. On Thursday I escaped in time for a lovely, early evening run in the setting sun. I am so lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world. I did catch a fair few flies! At least the cold weather of winter will mean fewer bugs over the next few months.

So, what did I learn today?

Well, I always have porridge for breakfast, but today I fancied a change. I had cereal and milk instead, and jolly nice it was too! I set off for parkrun (having had to scrape ice off the car before I set off) with the children in the car, feeling pretty good, if a little tired - my left ankle still thinks I made it do too much work last Sunday. I think that this is the first 'chilly' parkrun of the autumn - but at least it was beautifully sunny. I was absolutely fine for the first mile, and then I began to feel as though the contents of my stomach were curdling! I considered stopping, but it seemed a daft thing to do having driven all the way over to do the run in the first place. I plodded on, slowly, and was lucky to finish in just under 25 mins (24:50). A fellow runner tried to talk to me (as did my children) after the finish, but I couldn't concentrate on anything other than finding somewhere to sit down and regain control of my stomach contents! The humiliation of parting company with my breakfast in front of people is not something I want to tick of my BTDTGTTS list! Still, it is not a new PW (personal worst), I have merely equalled my previous PW!

As ever, thanks to the organisers and volunteers who make parkrun possible and successful. A friend asked me today (she was there for the second time) if I do parkrun every week. I think she thinks I am mad when I say that trying to ensure I get to parkrun is a priority for me. I almost cancelled a course as it has a 9.30am start in Birmingham on a Saturday, which means that I can't even do a local parkrun!

I'll be out for a long run tomorrow, so am hoping that the sunny weather lasts. I have Fleet 10k on the 23rd and the Great South Run on the 30th, so tomorrow will be my last long run before the Great South.

A walk in the park?

4.30am is not my favourite time of the day, but needs must etc.! The Sunday train service is somewhat lacking in frequency and speed, and there was no train available that would get me to London in time to get organised for the start of the Royal Parks Half Marathon. Luckily, husbando was driving up to London for a bookfair, sadly he wanted to be there before 6.30am.

I set off, armed with a thermos of hot porridge and several bananas! By the time we got to London I was almost too nervous to eat, but managed to force some food down. I headed down to Hyde Park early, getting there at about 8am. It was raining. The thought of running just over 13 miles in quite heavy rain was not a joyous one! I made my way to the baggage drop and exchanged my bag for a wrist tag and a plastic poncho. The it was on to the UNICEF tent. As I walked in one of the wonderful coordinators recognised me from the UNICEF Facebook page - which was lovely. UNICEF had a huge marquee - just as well as there were around 450 people running for them.

I took myself off to the start line just after 8.30 - I'd much rather not do an organised mass warm up thank you very much! There were very few people at the start, I spent some time chatting to the guys from British Military Fitness who were running as pacemakers. When I entered this race I thought I might run it in about 2.10mins, and was placed in a starting pen accordingly. I had revised my expectations over the last few weeks, and decided to try to wheedle my was into the next starting pen. No one seemed to mind, and I had a lovely chat about parkrun with a gentleman from Wandsworth (local council there are unwilling to allow their ratepayers to use the Common unless money changes hands). It had stopped raining by now, but was still overcast and cool. Ideal running conditions!

The start gantry was fairly narrow, but once through there we could spread out a bit. I ran the first 3 miles faster than the first three miles of Paris-Versailles: 23 mins 27 seconds. The atmosphere was amazing. Between 5 and 6 miles we came back into Hyde Park and the route was lined with thousands of people, all shouting and cheering us on. I hit 10k in 49 mins 46 seconds, faster than my 10k PB.

I thought I knew Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens pretty well, but the course looped round and about so much that I became totally disorientated! I am 99% certain that I saw one of the mums from the children's school watching the race, probably at abound 7 miles into the race. Soon after this I saw a runner in trouble being helped by his friend. There didn't seem to be any race marshals or St John's Ambulance people around, so the next time I saw an ambulance (about 200m further on) I ran up to it waving my arms, shouting and pointing in the direction I had just come from.

I lost track of timings around now - pressed the wrong buttons on my watch somehow and couldn't work out how to get the display I wanted back - but I know that mile 11 to 12 was really hard work. I wasn't tired so much as bored! I had been playing cat and mouse with another runner from my local parkrun, and towards the end of the 11th mile I lost sight of him and decided that I'd not kick on too fast just in case he had developed a huge turn of speed and I would be in danger of killing myself trying to catch up! (He finished 40 secs ahead of me). I'd seen several people collapsed at the side of the route and I didn't want to join them. As it the way with lots of these races, you see the same people again and again. Two girls had been talking about entering a marathon in the first few miles as they dashed past me. I passed them at about 11 miles and asked them if they were still up for it!! We kept pace for a while, then , just past the 800m to go marker one of them stopped completely! Her friend told her to dig deep, I told her she had to finish - she was to close and if an old fart like me (I was probably 20 years older than her ) could do it then so could she! I hope she finished. Last time I looked she was plodding slowly on. I saw one man being dragged across the finish line by two of his friends. By about halfway through the race, all hint of rain had gone, and it was starting to get really warm - I think this took a lot of people by surprise and this could account for the number of people suffering.

Crossing the finish line, I noticed that the gun time was 1hr 53 mins 28 secs. Well inside my target time of 2 hours! The chip timing came through later at 1hr 52 mins and 6 secs. Thrilled is an understatement - although I do worry that I have set the bar too high to improve upon it! Once past the finish medals were handed out (see photo!) and chips removed. Then it was on to the goodie bag section. Possibly the best goodie bags in the world. Loads of stuff - Oreo cookies (full size packs) Hob Nobs, Shreddies, tooth paste, sports bars, drinks, tea bags etc.

After collecting my bag, I made my way to the UNICEF tent again, and got myself a free massage! Utter bliss! Food was laid on - but I wasn't ready to eat yet. That would wait until I met up with husbando. Even then I didn't think I was hungry until I started eating! The guys from UNICEF were fantastic! Great support and yet another goodie bag!

Walking down the stairs to Hyde Park Corner tube station was somewhat trickier than I remember it being in the past. I'd made the wrong shoe choice (going with the old pair that turn my toes numb rather than the new pair that don't turn my toes numb but just feel weird), and my feet were still protesting even though I was now wearing FitFlops rather than trainers! I met up for lunch with husbando at Carluccios - devouring my food and wine with gusto, before setting off for a little retail therapy. It was lovely to share a knowing look and a smile with other runners toting medals and goodie bags.

Hopefully I'll get to run this again next year. I love the support a London crowd gives its runners. I haven't run anywhere else in England (well in places and races big enough to draw a crowd) but the support in London is so much more vocal and enthusiastic than in Paris. Chatting with an Italian, who has run marathons and half marathons all over the world, informs me that the English crowds are the best!

Back to Earth with a bump now! It is nearly 10pm and I still have 2 more lessons to plan for tomorrow! Oops!