My sports bra gives me bruise like things

A bit of a random post but… I ran 13km (just over 8 miles) this morning and noticed afterwards that I had a couple of centimetres long red line in the middle just underneath my breasts, right there where a normal bra joins in the front. Have gotten smaller red lines before, but today’s one isn’t that pretty. It doesn’t hurt or anything but it makes me wonder what I’m going to look like after 42km.

Getting closer

The countdown on the Flora London Marathon site says 1 month 26 days left. Can’t believe it’s so close!!! I’m starting to feel really nervous, super excited, a little bit scared but also a bit sad. Sad that it’s all going to be over soon. Sure, I feel a bit tired and it’s not always fun to put on the running shoes, but I’m really enjoying it all.
Met up with HEART UK at the Holiday Inn – Blomsbury on Monday. Some of the girls that I met at the training seminar was there and no matter how nerdy it sounds it’s great to be with them, talk about how the training is going, share your concerns and not the least get really excited about the day. I’m really going to miss it all when it’s over. Thinking about joining a running club to keep up my motivation and have other people to share it with.

Other than loving being part of the big buzz my training is going really well too and I love it!!! Can definitely feel that my shape has improved immensely since I started my marathon training in November. This morning I cycled into work, did pretty hard interval training for 30 min plus ran another 30min and I didn’t even feel tired afterwards.
This Saturday I’m having my last drink until after the marathon and it’s time to really get-serious and be good to my poor body that puts up with all the hard work. I’m doing 5 days of training this week and are going to keep it up until tapering time a couple of weeks before the big day. That combined with cycling 40 min back and forth to work 4 days a week, should hopefully improve my stamina even more and get me well prepared on the big day.

A little bit sad

It’s great, but it’s also a bit sad. As soon as I see someone being out running I really envy them and wish it was me. Today is an absolutely gorgeous day. The sun is shining, the air is really clear… Cycling to work this morning through Hyde Park all I could think of was that I wanted to go out for a long run. I kept looking over to the trail where I ran yesterday, thinking of how good it felt to be in that complete running mode where you don’t really have to do anything but your legs just keep moving by themselves. You hear your steady breathing, your feet touching the ground, the music in your ears, Nike+ giving me constant updates on my progress… I want to go out again, right now!!! Can’t wait for the mornings/evenings to become a little bit lighter so that I can start running into/back from work.
I think it's fair to say that I've gotten properly bitten by running and am starting to get addicted to it. Oh dear...

Just ran half a marathon and got my first blister

Today I went out for my second long run since after I've been ill. The weather wasn't as nice as last Sunday and a lot windier too but too my surprise I've realised that I actually like a bit of head wind. Probably pushed it a little bit running just over 2 hrs and 21 km (half a marathon - yaaaaay!!!) compared to last week when I ran 1hr 33 min and 16.3 km. I know it's the worse thing you can do but the excitement from yesterday really filled me up and my knees where fine for most of the way so I kept on going.
I took in what Sam Murphy said yesterday about not doing your long runs at a really slow pace but somewhat closer to the pace you expect to run the actual marathon. I didn't want to push it too much so ran at a really comfortable speed and only started getting a little bit tired during the last couple of kilometers. It was no way near the feeling I had after the half marathon I did in 2004, which must mean I'm a lot fitter today :) The thought of running the double distance in 10 weeks time is scary, but I'm running half a marathon at a easy, steady pace in two hours, without having to walk, so I'm sure I'll be able to do the double distance :)

Flora London Marathon Golden Bond training seminar

Today I went to the FLM training seminar for all of us guaranteed place runners. It was a really good event and I met my charity, HEART UK, and some of my teammates. Being there and hearing all the advices from amongst others David Bedford, Sam Murphy and Liz Yelling about nutrition, training, how to prepare for it etc, has completely sent my motivation level raising to the sky. They showed a video of what we can expect on the day and I nearly started crying. The feeling and the day itself will be amazing and since HEART UK are one of the two official sponsors of the marathon, we'll be a really big group so look out for the red vest and the red shoelaces :)

In a world that's so full of constant wars and battles it's great to see that the event has such a great support. Obviously we as runners are putting in a lot of effort but everyone who is sponsoring us... wow! The average amount that was raised per runner last year was around £3000 meaning that the average single donation from each person sponsoring is about £40! It's really amazing how generous people are and I'm so thankful for the people that have sponsored me already. I really didn't expect some of you to dig so deep.

I'm so excited at the moment I can hardly sit still. I'm really looking forward to my long run tomorrow and after having met the people from my charity, I've really realised what an amazing job they are doing and what a difference it makes. All that is needed to save lives is creating awareness and I'm so proud of running for them. I'm really going to do all I can to support the charity of the next few months and tomorrow my redlaces, which are a symbol of HEART UK, are going on my shoes.

Finally a fantastic run

Today I had my first really good run since mid December when I got the stupid colds that lasted til the new year, when I got a nasty chest infection. I started training again two weeks ago and even though I took it really easy to begin with, I've really been struggling to enjoy it and to find the motivation. I've lost a lot of the form I built up in November and December and it's just been so demotivating to do shorter and easier runs but feel more tired than on the longer or harder runs I did before. But, today the sun was shining and I went out for my first long run since before Xmas. It was really lovely and I absolutely enjoyed it. I feel like I'm getting my fighting spirit and motivation back and I'm really going to give it all I have now. Ran about 1h 35min so I'm not up to where I need to be yet, but I'll get there. I'm playing it safe for the moment, building it up. The last thing I need now is injury.

It went really well... then

I'm spending my third day in bed and I'm soooo bored. Started coming down with a cold a week before Xmas and it only left my poor body the day before NYE. Had 4 days of feeling ok, during which I went for a short run and then.... Then came the cough. Have now, excuse me for the expression, been coughing my lungs up for 3 days and my back and lungs are so sore from constant cough attacks. Keep taking cough medicine which makes me really drowsy so all I'm capable of is basically lying down and sleeping. Went to the doctor today and surprise, surprise, surprise it is a virus and nothing to be done. Should pass in a few days he says. Yay!

Starting to get really itchy feet from not having been for a long and proper run for over 3 weeks. Not the least cause I'm feeling time ticking away and I was really well on the way with my training, hitting about 20km on my long run. Hopefully some of the form I built up is still there when I start training again and hopefully I'm not going to be hit by yet another cold. Enough already!