If you read my last blog you may remember I had problems with a sore throat. The night I posted that blog I had a phone call with Steve and we were talking about my running over the next few months etc. and one thing he said to me was that I can't really afford to have any more time off. I had that big break and then I was being held back by the sore throat so we had to hope I'd be lucky enough not to come down with anything else because another setback won't help things. Ironically after that conversation I could feel a cold coming on, and there I was thinking "that's just my luck". Fortunately it didn't take hold overnight and I woke up Sunday morning still feeling a bit bad with the sore throat easing off but still there. I said to myself "sod it, I'm going for a run". Yes I knew there was a chance running would make things worse but as Delboy says, he who dares wins.

I ran and came out the other end fine. I woke up the next day and felt ok so ran again. The same thing happened the next day and the day after that. On that Sunday I did an easy 40, then 40 became 45, 45 became 50 and now I'm up to an hour a week later. Contrary to my original thoughts, the longer I ran the better I became and now I'm sitting here feeling healthy again.

I've been finding running again not too bad. The legs in general feel great the majority of the run, it's when I get into the 40-45 min territory they start to become a bit heavy. The same thing happens with my chest and the breathing starts getting heavier but that's to be expected when you're trying to get fit again. I've got a few mile markers on my routes here at home and if I'm remembering where they are correctly I've been finishing my runs at sub 6 minute miling. I haven't been purposely picking up the pace towards the end, I just naturally get faster without realising. But like I say this is if I'm getting my mile markers right.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this in one of recent blogs (and if I didn't I meant to) but on my break I did go for a couple of hours cycling around Richmond Park here in London a few times. I only went on Sunday mornings and every time it was full of cyclists and runners getting a morning workout done, and I think St Mary's uni use it for training sometimes. My mum recently got hold of a car so she's been eager to drive me around and take me to different places to run just for new scenery. Today she took me to Richmond Park and it's a great place to run. There's a nice trail which goes all the way round and it's quite challenging. You get some open parts where it's quite windy, undulating parts or some flat fast ground which is a welcome break from the other stuff. On a few occasions I ventured off the trail to pick up some extra time and in the end I managed to turn out a 50 minute loop which flew by. You get groups of people running around and sometimes it's like the second leg of the National relays if you start at the back and have a line of people in front of you. The competitor in me couldn't help itself and I couldn't resist using the joggers as targets and hunting them down. Horrible thing to do I know, but very fun. At the end of my run my mum and sister saw me coming and decided to try and race me back to the car. I'm happy to say I turned the burners on and put them away with ease. If I can take out a 42 year old woman and 8 year old girl I must be getting fit again!

I want to go back to Richmond to run again because I really enjoyed it. It's also not much of a drive from mine to Bushee Park which I've only heard good things about from other runners so I want to check that out sometime in the near future. I was also thinking of heading over to Rusilip Woods where I used to do Met Leagues and a few runs with Steve but knowing me I'd probably get lost and it would take me a week to find my way out.

So things are on the up in terms of running. There's still room for improvement though, I could eat a bit healthier, get a few earlier nights, wake up a bit earlier to run and I'm sure some core/prehab/S&C wouldn't do me any harm either. But let's take it one step at a time; just be thankful I'm running again.

Run happy,

Goolab xxx