There are good days, bad days and marvellous days, I seem to have had rather a lot of marvellous days recently!
A great friend of mine Sarah Russell asked me if I would go and talk to her group of runners “Sarahs Runners”, join them for a training session first followed by coffee, cakes and more cakes, shear bliss I could think of no better way to spend my Tuesday morning than running, talking to runners and talking about running.
Sarah is an amazing lady who over the past few years has been through a huge amount, yet through it all she has remained up beat and positive. She set up Sarahs runners about 9 years ago, it began as a small group of friends going out for a run and has since grown into the largest and most well known beginner/intermediate running group in Tunbridge Wells, there are over 350 members.
The aim of the group is to encourage beginners to take up running, enjoy it and to have some fun in the process. With expert advice and coaching the runners will become fitter and more confident in their new found hobby.
I turned up at the Neville Cricket ground where the group meet and over the next 20 minutes the runners began to appears – there were loads of them! The groups were divided up into Jog/Walk, 3 mile run or 4 mile run, I opted to Jog/walk as firstly I’m still not allowed to run and secondly 14 years ago my running began with Jog/walk – who knows what these lovely ladies will achieve.
We began with a warm up, this was a bit of a shock to the system as I usually warm up by walking for a couple of minutes,(trying to kick my backside was I felt a bit of a challenge!) Sarah made sure that every part of us was warmed up before we set off for a fast walk then onto our respective routes. After the run it was back to the Neville Cricket ground for coffee, cakes and my talk. I really enjoyed meeting all the ladies and chatting to them about their running.
My osteopath said I wasn’t allowed to do any running for 7 days to let the angry tendon calm down so I have been crossing training instead, including a session on my ElliptiGO. On Thursday I did a hard spinning class which was a tad stupid considering I was going out on a 22 mile trail run the following day.
Caroline & I ran met up on Friday and ran from Goudhurst, through Finchcocks towards Bewl, round Bewl then the return trip home. Boy was it tough, my legs felt very heavy and I really didn’t feel as though there was any agility in them, any sudden movements hurt. Thankfully Caroline found it tough as well, we were like a couple of old ladies out on a trail run, a sight to behold; I have never been so delighted to see my car.
I made the decision that there was to be no more running until Monday to give my legs a couple more days to feel marvellous again.
On Saturday evening I drove down to Eastbourne to help out at the finish line of the Petzl South Downs Way 100 which I love doing, its fantastic to help out in a very small way and support the runners who have worked hard to finish the race. My job was to help get the runners teas, coffees, food etc although my waitressing skills deteriorated as the event went on. A runner would ask for a white coffee with no sugar and a black tea with sugar, by the time I got to the kitchen I was unable to remember which way round it was so would return with a white tea with sugar and a black coffee without – they never complained.
Watching Robbie Britton come across the finish line in an outstanding time of 15:43:52 was fantastic and setting a new course record in the process. The ladies field was dominated from start to finish by Jean Beaumont finishing in 16:53:38 coming 3rd overall and setting a new course record. There were some great performances in the race, 5 runners came in under last years course record of 17:04 and the first 10 runners finished under 18 hours – impressive or what!
But it’s not just about the top runners, every single person who took part in the race deserves a mention for their gutsy performances and determination to get to the finish line. Watching them come onto the track was wonderful, some would do the last lap with their family and seeing the pride in their families faces as their mother/father crossed the finish line was a joy to behold. Many congratulations to everyone who took part whether you finished or not, feel proud of what you achieved.
As always James Elson and his crew put on a great event, they just seem to get better and better.
Yesterday I went to London to meet up with Samantha Gash who was over from Australia. The two of us are planning a big challenge for 2014 and although we have “known” each other for ages it was lovely to finally meet her. We had a great day, I took her on a guided running tour along the Thames Path – although we did get slightly lost trying to find Covent Garden at the end – oops but found somewhere to eat and proceeded to discuss the project and anything else we could think of! I couldn’t believe how quickly the time flew by, before we knew it it was 5pm time for me to return home to take HWMBO swimming.
Next week I am talking to my local primary school as part of their “Sports Week” which I’m looking forward to.
Happy Training
