Well Monday was the end of my longest streak of consecutive days running ever and quite possibly my best period of training ever too. I really got into a great rhythm and routine and just makes me want to run everyday all the time. I lasted from the 31st October to 22nd November meaning 23 days on the trot. I was planning on doing everyday in November but I have been off with the flu since Tuesday so I am now gearing myself up for trying to run every day in December (Better known as Marcothon).
I did get out for a 7.4 mile run on Monday which was nice. I had a sore throat but thought nothing of it as I have run through it before. But Tuesday the bug went down to my stomach and knocked me for six. So no running, no nothing, Tuesday to Friday. Friday my legs started to get restless again.
Then Saturday morning I woke up and felt the same as I did Monday. So opened the curtains – Snow! I decided to take the bike to park run to save scraping the car. I was never going to go for it today anyway with my cold but the conditions meant no-one was able to go for it. But still a great turnout of 119 runners with loads of Bella Harriers vests as they were using this particular run as part of their club championships. So I went round at a steady pace and finished in 23.34. A good solid run considering and it was good just to get back out there especially with the snow making everything so pretty. Now time for the fun that snow brings, that every run feels like a cross country event. I got pretty good at running on ice at the start of this year, here’s hoping that continues!
Today I woke up and felt better than yesterday as my throat is nowhere near as sore now and I feel I’m gradually getting back to 100%. I still didn’t want to overdo it today. So just went for a 4.5 miler. More snow overnight meant it was harder work than usual but it’s so nice running in the snow. It was heavy when I was out and sometimes blowing right into my face, I was thinking I should have wore my ski goggles!
I can’t wait for next weekend for 4 reasons. First its Giffnock North awards night where I know loads of people who are getting awards. Secondly it’s Glasgow parkrun’s 2nd anniversary and 100th parkrun! What a landmark! They were thinking it would be a big turnout but if it’s anything like today it might be another low key event. Next its West Districts cross country down in Irvine in the afternoon – If I can get there?! Then finally and probably most confusing as to why I’m looking forward to it; It’s the North Face Endurance 50 miler in San Francisco! Now this may seem like another ultra in the states. But with $10000 prize money for first male and female, this has attracted the top ultra runners from around the world. Making it potentially the most competitive ultra ever, even more so than Western States earlier in the year.
I won’t go through all the contenders as there is too many but Jez Bragg and Lizzy Hawker are representing Britain! Both won at UTMB and will be really interesting to see how they do. Maybe this event is not as bigger stage than UTMB but they will certainly up against some bigger names than who ran the UTMB revised course this year and probably the people Jez and Lizzy want to test themselves against most. Here is an article that sums up the main contenders nicely!
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