QUICK STATS: run 1,565miles, bike 477miles, swim 59,230 yards. Races 7
parkruns 30, parkrun volunteering 25, different parkruns 8 and fastest parkrun 23:57
January-
Ran the New Year's day parkrun double at Hanley and the Wammy; joined Derwent
Running Club as a Social member, to help with my Marathon Training when it
starts. We had the annual Family New Year's day meal and realising how much my nephews
are growing up and a lovely birthday surprise weekend in Manchester for a cheeky parkrun
and a visit to the Manchester Beer Festival….oh and how could I forget a haircolour change!!
February - My marathon training began, my long
runs were getting long!! WE had a girls night out to Bingo again, unfortunately, our luck had run out but we had a great evening catching up and it was the
month of my best clean joke for a long time!
"I had a hen who could count her own eggs…..she was a
mathemachicken"
March - The long
runs keep coming and the aim is to run 18 miles before our week long holiday in
Mexico, which I manage not once but twice so I could go away safe in the knowledge that 1 week of lower mileage would not hurt the training too much.
Had a lovely week away in Mexico, we were testing out a few theories this holiday..was Mexico too far for a
week's holiday, how was Cancun compared to Playa de Carmen and could I pack for
a weeks holiday with just hand luggage! The holiday was both informative and
successful in terms of our theories, the responses were; yes, no Playa is nicer
and yes!! So no more waiting at the carousel of doom!
April - Early in the month means that I was
getting into the tough weeks and my longest runs were coming up with a 20 one
week and 21 mile a week later running to my parents' house on a very hot bank
holiday Sunday! It didn’t get any
easier but knowing they were behind me was a comfort and that my miles would
start to decrease helped to lift my spirits in the final mile. We decorated and
swapped rooms around in the house, the carpet that had been down since we moved
in finally went and both rooms got spruced up! Our collective weight loss is becoming more
and more noticeable and we had to take 8 bags of clothes to the charity shop!!
May -Can only mean one thing Marathon Month,
but before the Marathon, we had the Market Drayton 10k and I managed a very
respectable time of 50:29, I had secretly hoped for sub 50 but that wasn’t my A
race so I let it go and carried on with the taper which should have been easy
at a lower miles however it certainly didn’t feel like that. Then before we know it were heading up to
bonny Scotland and finally the marathon is here! 4hours and 3 minutes later and
26.2 odd miles and I crossed that finish line and yet again vowed to never run
another marathon again…but I still wanted to run
June - After all the build-up, miles and hours
put into training I was able to diversify my training again and with a Pool
based sprint triathlon scheduled for September I needed to get back in the pool again que the 5:30am starts and being in the pool for 6am!
July - we are in the holiday season and we were
heading back up to Scotland first to go to Rewind 80festiveal in Scone with
another cheeky parkrun tourism and the commencement of our Scotland road trip
in the campervan, we visited some lovely places and I got to swim in a Lido
which was another first for me!
August -
The Hanley park renovations have finished and we could finally run the
course 2B and start to use the bandstand again, shame they never did put the
sides on it so we could use it as a shelter during the occasion wet Saturday
parkruns….final bank holiday of the year before Christmas was an excellent
opportunity catch up with friends and walk/wander and stagger the Hartshill beer mile
September- after much discussion about house
renovations we decided to that wanted to update the garden and make it a haven
to come home too and spend time in during the summer months (should we actually
get some nice weather) so our GRAND DESIGNS garden work started and finished! I
ran the Great North Run again and had a blast this is one of the best half
marathons and one everyone should run and I closed out the month with the North
West Sprint Triathlon.
October- We had a quick running weekend away to
run the Bilbao half marathon and if it hadn't have been long I'm sure that I
would have got a sub 1:50 but that is Brexit for you…also the realisation of
the over the last couple of months starts to dawn on me that my running has really
improved recently, my times are coming down which is great !
November- There was a brilliant weekend away
with the girls to Wales and we saw our first snow of Winter 2019, we
participated (very hungover) in Pont y Bala parkrun and I finished in a very respectable 5th, to
be fair there were only 24 people and we made up a third of them! I managed to
actually get a 10 mile PB at the Derby 10k which I was really pleased with, but
then got injured right after it!! Oh and I finish my contract in Nottingham and
start to look for my next contact as well as updating my project management
skills
December is all about going out with friends,
catching up with friends and spending time with the ones you love! Oh and I ran
my fastest parkrun in 6 years!!
Heres to 2020 and whatever not only the new year but also the new decade holds :) 
No comments:
Post a Comment