Realistic Targets?
Thu Oct 23, 2008 9:07 am LynneE


For reasons best known to my husband I didn’t go running with Sue last Wednesday. And for reasons best known to my husband didn’t go running on Thursday either. So there I was sat at my desk in work feeling totally miserable when I started to do some calculations. 8 weeks to the Borders which is 5 miles and totally achievable then 19 weeks to Chirk which is quite a long time. How was I going to stay focussed and motivated? I know I’ll do a half! Yup why not? I mean the furthest I’ve ever run is 5 miles and that was 25 years ago. Another 8 and a bit shouldn’t be too difficult? I mean I’ve read the most fantastic inspirational stories on here where anything is possible if you put your mind to it. Now to find an event. The Helsby/Four Villages is in January. A bit close. As if by magic what pops up? A link to the Wrexham, Village Bakery Half on 12 February. Perfect. 8 weeks to the Borders. Another 8 weeks to the half no problem!? The men in white coats are coming to get me. Well it’s no good just writing about it is it? Friday morning full of vim and vigour I ran my normal 5k then I ran for 10 minutes more. No great shakes I hear you cry but it is. At the end I felt absolutely fine and could have carried on but needed to get back to get the kids to school. It was easy. I’ve been kidding myself all this time I couldn’t go longer and why? Because once you’ve done it you have to keep doing it. Friday afternoon I erm.. ached somewhat. Perfect recovery me thinks a 90 minute bike on Sunday. Valuable lesson learned. When you start to push and go hard, don’t do it on consecutive days. What I’ve also realised that I desperately needed bib tights. Cold back. Trawled ebay and bought bib tights and running tights. Why ebay you might ask? When you’ve tried on the biggest size you can find in shops and they’re still too small and you ask do they have them any bigger? At best you’re greeted with a discreet whisper ”Madame, we have no larger sizes in stack.” At worst with a snigger ”They’re the biggest we do!” Weight loss has been rubbish. My husband forced me to have an Indian on Sunday. What you may or may not have noticed is I’m very quick to blame everyone or everything. At the end of the day I have realised the responsibility lies firmly on my shoulders. When I complete the half on 12 February it will be down to my dedicated training and hard work and heaven forbid if I fail that will be down to me too. So tonight, third week lucky I did manage a run with Sue. We did 50 minutes. I struggled for the first 10 minutes or so as per usual but once I got my second wind was fine and we managed to chat most of the way around which makes the time pass so much quicker. What I found quite amazing was how many other runners we met. I usually run early morning in daylight and hardly ever see anyone else running. It was dark tonight when we finished and the majority we saw were women. So the plans for the week? Train specifically a wise man (Transition Ted) once told me so taking the advice of my other two heroes Sue and AndyS I will run/walk the borders to give myself a benchmark. All that’s left to say is thanks a million Sue and I hope you have a very Happy Birthday.