Tuesday 8 March 2016

Great run and runners high

Last night I went out with my Dynamo girls ... And thank goodness I did as it was a great run and really pumped me up again after the hideous experience on Sunday. 

Today (day after) I'm happy and sore and I like it!!! Hahaha isn't it silly? I like that post (hard) run leg soreness so you know you've really used your body. 

I almost didn't make it as the boy was in bed and I was waiting for husband to get home and he was late! I had to text the girls to ask them to wait then drive like a demon and break the law a little to get to them as fast as I could. 

So we ran a nice flat 9km route in one hour, and I enjoyed every bit of it, and really felt strong while running. I didn't let my little demon voices talk me out of it, I remained positive and pushed myself speed wise as much as I could.

I even had a good 100m or so sprint finish which always makes my happy endorphins flood through. All in all a cracker.

Loved it. Loved it. Reminds me why I love running when I have a good one like this!

Best of all - I slept like a log! A good run always makes me sleep well. I look forward to post Monday Dynamo run sleeps lol!

X

Sunday 6 March 2016

I hate dogs

I'm sooooooooooooo pissed off. I had a glorious run this morning for almost 4 miles and then a horrible incident with a really scary dog ruined it.

I have to preface all this by saying I've always had a dog-phobia. BUT I've been getting better with age. I'm usually ok these days unless they start barking a lot as the noise just goes through me and makes my heart leap into my mouth and my pulse race. I've always been terribly terrified - when I was at school I had a route I could walk to school that took double the time it should, because I avoided walking past gardens with dogs in. I usually cross the street or change direction if I see someone waking towards me with a dog. Sounds crazy doesn't it, but it's just me!

Anyway. It's always a bit of a worry going running with a dog phobia, but until today it's rarely been a problem - 99% of dog owners are responsible, keep their dogs on leads and under control. Most dogs are not interested in me and aren't barking crazy wild animals... 

I did an out and back route today - I had an hour of me time thanks to the husband and son going to mini-football practice. So I just ran for 30 minutes then turned around. Perfect conditions. Blue skies, bright sunshine, cool but not too cold. Perfect. I was listening to the Marathon talk podcast for the first time. I'll listen to it again! Here's the link if you want to check it out yourself <Marathon talk podcast and webpage>

So there I was, not long turned back for home and running down a narrow bit of pavement with garden walls and hedges to my right and cars to my left. I looked up and saw a man coming towards me with a massive and scary looking dog with a muzzle (a muzzle!!!!!) on. I freaked out but tried to stay calm, didn't want to look like an idiot. But this dog was seriously terrifying me. There was no way to cross the road safely and no pavement on the other side anyway. I noticed a break in the garden walls and a driveway and thought I would just hop in there and wait for them to pass giving plenty of room. I would be ok I thought. 

But then the man kept walking faster toward me and pulling the dog right over to the car side - it looked like he was trying to give me room to get through, but also it meant that he got to, and passed, the safe-haven driveway before I could nip in. Bugger. I had no choice but to pass them on a pavement just wide enough for 2 people. 

With rising panic I kept saying to myself to just look straight ahead and speed up and I would be past them really fast. I can do this, I can do this. 

But then, disaster.  The dog barked at me, and pulled away from the man. I froze to the spot as I always do. The dog tried to jump up me and pushed me into a hedge above a garden wall. I just totally freaked and panicked - frozen to the spot I threw myself further into the hedge to get away. I should have run faster!!!!

All I could think was THANK GOD it had a muzzle on. 

The man quickly kept waking and pulled the dog away with him - it all happened in seconds though it felt forever. I burst into sobs and started getting that rasping panicky, can't-get-your-breath breathing thing. I couldn't run. I just started walking fast forward to get away while trying to take big breaths and not sound like I was having an asthma attack. Which I did!

And the man never said anything, never apologised, never looked back. Bloody hell! I'm fuming!

I had to walk a good half mile after that to get my panic and breathing under control. Focusing on the podcast really helped. It helped a lot actually because I couldn't quite believe that I got to the point when I said to myself "right, it's a beautiful day, let's make the most this" and I got going again and ran home. 

I'm determined not to let this ruin my day, or ruin my running, but I needed to get this off my chest. Jesus. It was awful. Like the best and worst run altogether. 

And this morning my son was asking me if he could have a pet dog!!! Hahaha. Not going to happen.

Phew.





Wednesday 2 March 2016

Does running lift your mood?

Today was the first day I managed to get out for a run since last Thursday, and I was determined to run today because I've been a right moody cow since the weekend, and I'm convinced I feel down when I don't get a run in.

I was at parkrun on Saturday of course, but not running.  I had volunteered for marshalling with my son.  Crazy idea. It was 1degree celcius when we arrived.  We were wrapped up warm of course but I would rather have been running to warm the blood up.  Also I had been out drinking cocktails and wine til 12.30am the night before so I would have rather been curled up in bed.  I can't let down my parkrun marshalling duties however. Marshalling is fab, but it made me sad I wasn't able to run.

On Sunday I planned to go for a 10km run with my Chelmer Roadrunner girls, but my helpful husband had the hangover from hell - you know one of those that involves a lot of time in the bathroom and the rest of the day in bed.  Soooo annoying.  So that meant I had to stay home and entertain the boy, and even take him to his Little Kicks football group.  That was NOT fun - I was the only mum and when the dad's joined in I didn't have a chance to put my hand up and say I have never ever played football in my life!  hahaha. The four and five year olds were much more impressive than me.  I was not in a good mood by the end of the day.

Monday - lots of work, stressed and anxious about work, feeling like I couldn't be arsed. Got home really late - missed Monday night run group, the Dynamos.  That was annoying.

Tuesday - meetings, lots of work, feeling really anxious and grouchy and went to bed a bit teary.

And I know that tomorrow - Thursday, my usual Chelmer Roadrunners day, I am also busy and have a meeting that clashes with the run group time.  So I was determined to get out and run today before I bashed someone over the head. seriously.

So, I dropped the boy at school and decided to just run a couple of miles. The trick for my brain was that if i said - I'll only do 2 miles - it didn't seem like such a big thing to do.  The problem was i kept bumping into other mums around the school!  For some of them that made me change my direction to avoid them, and for others it made me run faster to impress!

Anyway, i did just do 2 miles out and back from the car park, but they were a good 2 miles.  It's lovely and flat around the school for starters!  The first mile I ran in 10 mins - very quick for me and the 2nd mile I decided to do a bit of fartlek/speed play, so sprinted from one lamp post to the next, then slow jogged or walked to the next lamppost, then sprinted again etc.  Another 10 minute mile.  Very happy.

I'm determined not to leave it so long now before I lace up again.

In fact I'm tempted to try and 'streak' (a run streak is where you set a target to run every day for a set amount of days, like lent, or advent) or if not streak, but as a minimum force myself to go out at least every other day just for 2 miles.  I think for so long my runs have been a big deal - doing 10 mile Sundays and 5 mile mid weeks that take up a fair bit of the day what with driving to meet people, having a chat after, cooking a recovery lunch and getting showered etc.   I am going to change tack therefore and try and do a little often for the next few weeks until we go on holiday, just to keep me going and to try to keep the grumps at bay!

Does running cheer you up?
L x