Event 1/40 of #fortyb4forty

Wnat a beautiful day it was today. The sun was out, the temperature was really pleasant and what a fabulous atmosphere generally.

So today was Perform 5, which was a 5 mile road race organised by the Ageas Bowl, and marshalled by Hedge End Running Club.

If you saw my blog post yesterday I mentioned that I decided to enter at the last minute. Yes, I was nervous, but I found a group of club members to run with, and that made it so much easier to keep moving round the course. Roberta stay with me the whole way, and for that I am eternally grateful. I think overall I probably ran accumulativly 4-4.5 miles of the route. I ran the first nearly 3.5 miles.

So, what have I learnt from today:

• Running with a head of mental mess is not recommended. It really interfered with my focus and having Roberta to be that physical voice telling me to keep going really did so much to change some of that
• I Definitely need to ignore the negative voices when I need to go and do some training.
• I am capable of anything.
• I am amazing
• I belong to an amazing running club
• I have amazing friends and family who believe in me
• My dad and my grandparents would be so proud of me watching from heaven.

I had my first episode of being sick once finishing a race. Not pleasant but I did feel better after!!!

It's a 4 weeks until GSR. I'm not going to panic or worry about it. I will just enjoy, get around and do the best I can, knowing I am raising money for a fantastic charity.

#fortyb4forty número uno!!!

there's nothing like leaving things to the last minute and that is entering a race that is happening tomorrow. Yep, that's what I've done and it's my first event for my #fortyb4forty challenge.

#fortyb4forty

I recently saw a video on Twitter recently, on which a triathlete mentioned that he was going to try and do 30 events before he was 30.

This got me thinking. What an awesome challenge. Except I'm the wrong end of the 30's to consider it. Therefore, why don't I do 40 events before I am 40? This gives me about 73 weeks/17 months to do this.

The practicalities - namely cost and time. I'm not sure I could find 40 fairly local organised events, let alone afford to pay for them all. But, there are events coming up that, whilst some are not timed and are free, contribute to HERC's place on league tables. So I intend to take part in the Southern Cross Country League races this autumn/winter. Then there are parkruns which are timed events. Again they are free. Considering I have done only 16 since I started them in May last year, I could also work towards getting my 50th parkrun milestone in the bargain. I do have the great south run and Southampton half marathon booked, so this is looking doable. I might do a triathlon or  aquathlon too.

So, I have a challenge now. Let's go!!!

Here is my fundraising page raising money and awareness for Progressive Supranuclear Palsy:

https://www.justgiving.com/Helen-Hobbs2

This is the charity website for the Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Association:

http://www.pspassociation.org.uk/

Building up the miles

It's been a little while since I last blogged. So what has been happening? Well, I've been back to running club and been involved with a group who graduated from the beginners course they did in May. For selfish reasons, this has helped me get back into running, and feeling too overwhelmed by the fabulousness of the other members of the running club.

Last Tuesday, everyone joined in the main intervals session. It was hard but really good, and I really did put effort into it. Thursday I helped lead the walk/run group and managed a reasonable just over 4 miles.

This morning, I joined a group doing 10k. Okay, clearly my fitness has a long way to go, and the girls really were fabulous. And as time was ticking along I had to cut it short and did 4.5 miles. Again, walk/run, but definitely more running than walking.

Great South Run is 6 weeks today. Little too close for comfort now, but my mantra shall be that I will get around - as it was last year. I haven't chosen a charity to raise money for this time specifically, but I might set up a last minute page.

Next planned run is intervals on Tuesday.

I need to push past the pre- run feelings of too tired, not enough time, can't be bothered. Once I am out, I am fine. Having started the summer with virtually no running has really impacted. Having depression, and not knowing what triggered it this year, has really complicated how I deal with it.

My diet is also shocking. I need to get that back on track. All the weight I lost at slimming world I have put back on, through self-indulgent comfort eating. There, I am claiming responsibility. Gluten free processed foods are higher in calories and this has clearly had a bad effect. Why can't I like fruit and vegetables like normal people???? Clearly, eating well will also be good for my mental wellbeing as well as my physical wellbeing.

Top gear

I had an interesting conversation this morning. When asked whether I had fallen back in love with running again, the conversation moved on to how much of a hassle it can be to get changed into running gear to even do a mile, and then get changed again when finished. Not an issue for the lads generally, but even  the hassle of finding and changing into a running bra for that time period made going out for a run feel even more hard to do. Even finding a matching pair of trusty running socks is painful at times. Seriously I have three socks all intended for the left foot. The sock monster has been let loose clearly!

But, this morning I was at parkrun again, and slightly bettered last week's time, I was very grateful for the lovely friend who kept me going this morning, and even when I walked a couple of times she didn't run off, even though I had said to her not to wait for me.

So has the love returned? It's getting there.

And.........

I doubt you're dying to know whether or not I did parkrun or not, but I did, I hauled myself out of bed, having the previous night, been persuaded to do it by a friend who was also not going to go. She also turned up.

What can I say? It was lovely to see some faces I hadn't seen for a long time, having missed out a lot on running club nights and generally not been to a parkrun for a while. I worked out the last time I went to my regular parkrun was in December last year. The last parkrun I did was two days later at a different location.

Today the course was no different than before - 5km. But it was the longest distance I had run since the beginning of May with very little training in between. Hence my time of 37:47 was the slowest time I've ever done at parkrun.

I ran naked. Now before you start wondering whether I was then arrested for indecent exposure, what I mean is that I ran not wearing a sports watch. So I couldn't keep track of my time/distance and therefore I wouldn't put pressure on myself, or start berating myself for how rubbish I was doing whilst running around.

I found the course hard. I ran/walked. Although I'm not entirely sure I have ever ran that particular course all the way before, so perhaps I can give myself a break.

I do need to give myself a break. I have this idea that I have to run all the way for it to be a good run. The fact I went and got around is more than I have done for a long time. I am harsh on myself and as a result, probably like a lot of runners, I don't always appreciate the fact that when I run, I am going faster than those sat in the sofa. But, my training regime is poor. I don't actually have a regime, but I haven't done a lot recently of running so I can't elicit sympathy when things don't go well.

So, next week my plan is to go back to parkrun again.

Bricking it

Over  a year ago I ran my first park run. I was nervous and had no idea what to expect. I had nothing to worry about. I last did a parkrun at the end of December. Having not run properly since the May Day tri, the thought of doing a parkrun again makes me nervous all over again. I need to MTFU (in the words of a very good friend who' doesn't stand for self-pitying. And if you don't know what it means - Google it).

I have nothing to be worried about. Its not a competition. But inside me I have a feeling of letting myself down. But I have have myself to blame for not getting out and going for a run. Depression stinks, and it can make life hard. But my attitude is what is going to get me going and I need to focus.

So hopefully, tomorrow, I might have another parkrun result.