Miles this week: 36
Still
to go: £742.00
The
donation wheel is still going around this week and I have two more thank you’s
to make. Thanks to my work colleagues Farah and, all the way from the States,
Cheryl! So thank you guys, it’s much appreciated!
This
week also saw me start selling the Aloe Vera plants that I potted up all those
weeks ago. Not thinking they would sell that quickly I took one tray into work
(15 plants worth) and by the end of the day I was left with only two plants. I
thought I would have to drip sell them throughout the year, my plan being to
send a mail out before each event I’m doing, but currently it’s looking like I
won’t have to do this. I have already made £36.00 from just three days at work.
This
week has also seen the beginning of the end of my long weekend runs. Well,
until judgement day itself! I also set more personal records for myself:
longest run (18 miles) and most miles in a week (36 miles). GO ME!!
I’ve
only got next week to get through before my training starts to taper down. This
week’s training looked like this:
Day 1 = 5 miles
Day 2 = 8 miles
Day 3 = 5 miles
Day 4 = 18 miles
Total = 36
miles
The
short runs are meant to be easy runs. Sadly I can’t seem to get that into my
head though, as every time I do a short run I always push myself to get a
quicker per mile time, or try to maintain a good average pace. I guess the
playlist I’m listening to doesn’t help this… Could you do an easy run when you
have the likes of the Rocky IV sound track blaring out?! This brings me on to
my song of the week. It has to be one from that soundtrack and it’s a toughie
to pick just one, but I would have to go with John Cafferty’s Hearts on fire
this week. It was the last song to come on my 18 mile run and it gave me the
much needed lift as I had just started to go off my pace.
The
book talks about hitting the so called ‘runner’s wall’. This makes me nervous
and questions run through my head, like what if I hit this wall hard and can’t
push through it? All the training I have done will be for nothing. I don’t
think I’ve hit the wall yet, well, maybe on the first 16 mile run I did… I
could have hit the wall, but I think that was down to not drinking anything.
All I know is that it was tough. When I speak to people that have done any
marathon they talk about hitting the wall hard. I get nervous when I hear this
as my training programme only has me doing 18 miles max; there’s still another
8.2 miles to run, which is a good hour at least on top of my training. From
what I have read most ‘average Joes’ hit the wall from anywhere around mile 16
through to mile 20. Scary, huh?
I
went out on Sunday in the clothes I will be running the Marathon in, to make
sure they’re comfy and to see if any issues arose, like chaffing etc. So I
became what some might call a ‘full kit w@nker’ (excuse the language). I donned
my charity vest, top to go under the vest, shorts and the trainers. It’s tough
to know if I will need some kind of top if the weather is cold/raining, so
fingers crossed it’s an average day with some sunny spells. I am praying that
it won’t be like the weather I experienced last year when I competed in the
Wokingham and Reading halves (torrential rain).
I’m
pretty sure I have kept my word and not mentioned my running shoes, well, until
now. I’ve been doing my recent training in a pair of Nike Pegasus 30. They were
so comfy but sadly I’ve been getting loads of blisters over the last few weeks.
In a bid to keep them I tried new socks, but it didn't work. I went back over
the review I wrote a few weeks back regarding the Wave Riders 17 to see what
the problem was, thinking ‘what if it had been a combination of my injury and
just starting running again?’ So I went back to Reading (again) and I have gone
back to test the Wave Riders 17 that I first tired all those weeks ago, but in
a new colour way (Lime/Black).
The
first run I got the chance to test them out on was my long weekend 18 miler, I’d
advised never to take a new pair of shoes out for this long, so I thought I would
change at the half way stage but when I got there I thought they didn’t feel too
bad so I decided to carry on in them. At the end of the run the only main issue
I had was that I had tired one of the shoes to tight or my foot had swelled
more in the heat than I had anticipated. All in all I would say they felt a bit
hard on the heel when striking and there didn’t feel to be too much flex,
however I did read a review earlier in the week that had similar views to me,
but went on to say after they had put on between 50-70 miles they felt good. So
fingers crossed and I should be able to add those miles on before London.
We had a good week
for money coming in again, but I still need more help to reach the pre-race
target of £1,000. We’re so, so close; all I need is one last push for the
remaining £242. Anything you donate is a step toward achieving this massive
target, even if it’s £1. Come on guys don’t let me down.
Leigh
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