J versus the 10K

Photo by Dan Hems, gnarley waves by Mother Nature

     My dad went to hospital last week. He's okay, he just learned some valuable lessons about launching a kitesurfer in 30 kilometre-per-hour wind too close to a car. An ambulance ride and an x-ray later he possibly has a broken rib, definitely has a sprained ankle, and certainly won't be running the Fairford 10k tomorrow, only ten days after he got too friendly with someone's brake-light.

     

     So, tired from travelling and sitting in the hospital, and frankly overjoyed my father was still breathing, I suggested I take up dear old Nick's place at Fairford.

     Looking back, we both did something stupid that day.

     What followed was ten days of training, on and off, to get me up to speed with my mother, who has been doing this for the last 3 months. As an experience, it ranged from 'interesting' to 'whatthehellwasithinking', right through to 'ireallyhopeicankeepbreathing'

Thursday 23/05/2013

Day One of training

4k run with mother, and surprisingly I don't want to die. This is the first time I've been running in 2013 so frankly I expected to be a weeping heap of crushed dreams by kilometre 3.

Friday

9k walk with mother. She tries to be reassuring by telling me that markers along the coast are "not as far as you think !" and that, if you think about it, all we have to do on Race Day is this, but faster.

BUT FASTER.

Plus I bet the course doesn't go through a Coop.

Saturday

Up early for a 6.5k run. This was far from a giggle, but again I felt surprisingly sprightly by the end. Seems if I don't know a course I can just run the road in front of me, and we've struck a happy balance between mother's indomitable jogging spirit and my faster pace. My natural speed is too quick, and too short-lived, but with dear ma there as pace-setter (and pack horse) we can both keep going at a steady 8k an hour rather than me sprinting off and collapsing before we're even halfway there.

Also went to a thing called Body Balance, which involves lots of stretching and balancing on one foot and ten minutes at the end for 'relaxation and meditation' (read: cheeky naptime)

Sunday

Have started to think about finishing poses. Mo Farah has the Mobot ; Usain Bolt the Lightning Bolt ; I'm considering the Jennifersaurusrex.

It comes from the Latin for "Thunder Lizard with Enormous Forehead"

Watched the Great Manchester Run trying to get a glimpse of my good friend Becky, who finished in under 1:15. Elite Women winner Tirunesh Dibaba did it in less than 31 minutes. Even the slowest runner at Fairford last year did it in 1:16. Not feeling entirely confident now.

Monday

8.5k run with ma, followed by sticky buns. No immediate fatigue, but did curiously need a nap later on in the day.

Tuesday

More Body Balance. Feeling good, and bendier than ever.

Wednesday

Quite ambitiously suggested we do today's 5.5k run entirely without stopping. Unfortunately, a powerful need to breathe rendered this plan impossible, and I went for my tried-and-tested-and-not-very-effective walk-and-sprint technique. Not too happy by the end, but all bad moods can be cured by reading Iain Banks in the sun.

Thursday
Map My Run is a very interesting site. It seems to be over-estimating my calorie burn- at this rate I pretty much have to eat cake every day just to stay alive. Also the activities you can log are nicely varied; shopping, sex and drumming are all there for your calorie-burning pleasure.

Friday
An impromptu 4-ish k jog this morning was followed by half-remembered Tai Chi moves on the balcony and a long sunny walk. So sunny, in fact, that two of us decided to walk bare-foot. On hot tarmac. So now little miss genius over here has burns on the soles of her feet. Nice.

Saturday
Today. Made carrot cake because now we are Carbo-Loading. I enjoy Carbo-Loading, and may take it up as a separate sport. The burns have turned into nice juicy blisters and are fine as long as I can wear nice thick Christmas Socks.

     Meanwhile, padre is healing well, but still limping slightly and gazing at fellow kitesurfers whenever he has the chance. He's also assigned himself the role of Video Biographer and is helping with the Carbo-Loading, which is awfully good of him.
     So it's early to bed tonight and up early tomorrow, and hopefully I'll report back with our finishing time tomorrow evening. By this stage, I'd just like to hobble all the way round the course and keep up with my mum. If by the age of 22 I can have the fitness level of someone in their fifties, that is fine with me.