And all of nature mocked!

Saturday 25^rd Feb

Distance: 5.01mile
Time: 1:11:17

Avg Speed: 4.21mph                         

Avg Pace: approx. 14.14min/mile
Calories Burned:678

Good morning world.
I realised last night that if I want to go further each Saturday morning then I have to get up earlier! This may seem like logic to most of you out there but I have to confess this had not yet occurred to me. Coming as I do, from the standpoint that Saturday mornings are somewhat sacred and my only chance in the week for a lie in. Ergo the realisation that a leisurely awakening at 8.30-9.00am, followed by a bacon breakfast and finally a bath or shower was now, for the next few months at least, a thing of the past. In my desire to make sure that I woke (as last week I did not) I set the alarm for 6.30. However my concern not to wake my Raison d’etre overrode the alarm and I woke at 5am and continued to dose until I eventually arose from my very warm and extremely comfy bed at 6.29am I tiptoed around making sure I did not wake the sleeping one, which is not easy in our house as doors squeak, floors creak and the bedroom steps positively shout. Nevertheless I managed to escape home without disturbing my beloved.

As it is Saturday I naturally went up the street and left. After an initial hiccup with the GPS on my tracker app I set off. As I was on the run earlier than I have done before I was struck by what a beautiful (if chilly) morning it was. This awareness of nature was to be the theme for my whole run as it seemed to me that all of nature was out to mock! I have often wondered what drove people to get up in the early hours and put on their runners, today however on a beautiful, bright, sunny, brisk morning like today I can see why. There were not so many runners out, most seem to come out at about 7.30am, so for a long while I had the roads to myself.. well almost to myself. The lack of traffic and pedestrian bustle provided an opportunity for the local wildlife to come out and it seemed to me that nature had got up early to mock my efforts. I do not run with music as many do, mainly because I have not yet worked out how to download it to my phone, I generally run with the sounds around and a song in my head. So today I was accompanied by the mocking caws of crows, chirruping distain of blackbirds and coo-coo of collard doves and wood pigeons which sounded to me, very much like “you’re slow, you’re slow”

The song (hymn in fact) which came into my head today was an old Sunday school favourite based on Robert Browning’s poem
from Pippa Passes

The year's at the spring
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hillside's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn:
God's in His heaven—
All's right with the world!                   Robert Browning (1812-1889)

It was resonating around my head as I reached my destination for the run, today that was, Lawnswood cemetery a large municipal cemetery serving the local area, which is set on the A660 a quite busy road. However once inside it is a haven of peace and tranquillity where I took a breather and popped along to say hello to my much missed Mum and Dad. Here, as always, nature was in abundance and what had seemed like mocking tones on my way there now seemed more soothing and encouraging. The “coo- coos” of the pigeons now sounded more like “you can, you can” and the blackbirds chirruping seemed more like a time keeper spurring me on. Added to this the blue tits, great tits and dunocks were now joining in the chorus of inspiration. I think I spotted a wren too.

Buoyed up by natures new reassuring tones I set off on my way home singing my Sunday school song repeatedly to myself.  So encouraged was I that I clocked my fastest mile yet of 11.19min. For the first time today I also felt that the target of a half marathon is achievable. I am also encouraged by the amount of sponsorship that is coming in. A huge thank you to all who have pledged to support my efforts I,-we- are very grateful. I can do it. I will do it. Today -God's in His heaven— All's right with the world!

Photo taken at lawnswood Cemetry... there is a blackbird on the grass.. not very good with my phone photo ability, but I promise I will get better

Reminder to self

Thursday 23^rd Feb

Distance: approx 1mile (give or take)
Time: 19:08
Avg Speed: approx 3.46mph 
Avg Pace: approx. 14:25min/mile
Calories Burned approx. 150

One of my 4 out of 5s today! You know the type …body didn’t want to work and brain not very responsive.  I knew before I set off that I was not in a good frame of mind, nevertheless I set off with a new route in mind. I didn’t want to do my Saturday morning route as I feel that if I was to venture that particular way on a day when I feel less than committed it would negate all the good work I have managed to do on that route. So I decided to cross the Headingley lane and cut up North Grange Road and head towards the Ridge but then come back along Wood Lane and back round a circular track along the Headingley Lane to home. Unfortunately I did not record half of the distance as my ‘Endomondo’ app recorded the time in full but the GPS didn’t kick in till about half way through so my stats for today are estimated.

On days like today when the effort weighs heavily and the mind-set is less than 100% I really have to remind myself why I am doing this. As I said in my first blog ‘My Raison d’etre’ I have registered for the Great North Run; which I now learn is one of the harder half marathons, should have looked for a jog in Norfolk or on the Lincolnshire plains but oh no I have to go and sign up for the uphill saunter that is the GNR! Never the less registered I am and committed to 13.5 miles of dragging my sorry ass around the glorious NE of England one week before my 51^st birthday. One could think that I am having some kind of menopausal, mid-life, bucket list type epiphany and that my road to Damascus is to be found up the Headingley Lane but no, nothing so self-driven.  As I said in my first entry to the great blogsphere I am doing this to raise funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.

MD is a cruel disease that afflicts my beloved, for him it is a slow progressive degeneration of the muscles in his legs. He is slowly being robbed of the ability to walk and although to all intents and purposes he looks healthy and still manages to maintain a relatively normal lifestyle he does have great difficulty walking and can fall at any given moment without warning or reason. He has adapted to this very well and has developed a nifty way of rolling as although he cannot prevent the fall once it begins, he does tend to do it in slow motion thus allowing him to deploy his tried and tested fall/roll/catch system.

The MD campaign are a small charity but charged with a huge task as there are over 40 different types of the disease. Muscular dystrophy is a group of inherited disorders that involve muscle weakness and loss of muscle tissue, which get worse over time and as with all inherited conditions, they are passed down through families. They may occur in childhood or adulthood. There are many different types of muscular dystrophy. They include:

·         Becker muscular dystrophy

·         Duchenne muscular dystrophy

·         Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy

·         Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy

·         Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy

·         Myotonia congenita

·         Myotonic dystrophy

The type that we are dealing personally with is Becker muscular dystrophy and although it is an inherited condition in most cases, ours is not. The doctors say that my Raison d’etre has a mutated gene that has caused the condition. So I often refer to him as my middle-aged mutant ninja. I laugh at him a lot but I don’t ever make light of his condition as I know that because of it our future together may be limited. It will certainly be restricted, but you see folks, I adore the man so if I have to carry him on my back I will but for now I will just get up put on my trainers and go for runs - when I don’t want to, when it hurts, when the dammed GPS doesn’t work - because I can as my legs work and although they are old and short and reluctant they are still in working order.

So if you are finding my rambling compositions in any way entertaining please have a look at www.muscular-dystophy.org  and see why I am doing this. If you feel you want to support me then you can log onto my just giving account and make a donation www.justgiving.com/Team-LewisMDC.  Whether you do or don’t that is ok, I will keep the training up. I will keep recording my efforts here. I will turn out to the run and I will always keep the reason for my efforts at the fore forefront of my mind. Like I said before love makes you do stupid things. J

See you at the weekend blogsphere! xx

Up the street and left

Saturday 18th Feb

Distance: 4.01miles    
Time: 57:48 Avg        
Speed:4.16mph          
Avg Pace 14:25min/mile
Calories Burned 543

Up a little late for my run today, I overslept by an hour, so I started on the back foot but I resisted the temptation to roll over and go back to sleep. Sadly as I was later starting today I missed all my usual Saturday morning regulars, strangely enough the later runners were not as friendly as the earlier ones, perhaps like me they were out reluctantly and had their ‘I don’t want to be here’ head on as well. At least I was back on the better route of 'up the street and left' rather than the less salubrious 'up the street and right' route. I didn’t quite manage my first mile nonstop this week as my legs were achy and stiff but I almost got there I think I stopped for the first time at about 0.8mile.

I then got to my first reference point and stopped. What I really wanted to do was turn round and head for home and my ‘Raison d’etre curled up in bed but I resisted and went on. I resisted and went on at my next stop off too. I even continued on further than my last week’s final destination of Lawnswood Roundabout. I managed to keep going on for about another 0.30 of a mile. I then, after a short rest and a stretch and a sip of my water from my very pink water container - memo to self-put fresh water in on a Saturday instead of just grabbing the jug with Wednesday’s water still sitting in it… unpleasant! but my need to drink was stronger than my need for clear tap drawn Yorkshire best water – I then set off on my best mile yet. I ran all the way from Weetwood police station across the Ring Road and back down the Otley Road. My tracker app tells me that the lap split (in my case mile markers) was 11.54 which is my first under 13min mile. Yay! Go me

Last night the Leeds Rhinos beat Manly to win the Rugby World Cup Challenge as a consequence Headingley this morning was showing the tell-tale signs of last night’s celebrations and the cautious runner had to negotiate a couple of  pavement pizzas but the ever reliable Leeds City Council bin men were out doing the street bins and litter pick, those boys do a fab job and mostly unseen except for by the early risers and random runners. You have my respect boys and that is why I much prefer to go up the street and left rather than up the street and right.

By the way to anyone out there who may be following my exploits I have opened a just giving account which you can, if you wish make a donation to support my efforts.

http://www.justgiving.com/Team-LewisMDC

Wednesday woes

Wednesday 15^th Feb

Distance: 1.77mile    
Time: 25:36              
Avg Speed:4.15            
Avg Pace 14:28mile/min
Calories Burned 240


So off I go again, today I decided that I’d re-run the route that did not record properly the other day.
Reasons to not like this route

1)      was not best chuffed to discover it was not as far as I thought
2)      no friendly runners en route to pass a friendly wave to
3)      filthy, dirty  wheelie bins overflowing with crap
4)      lots of broken glass on pavements
5)      a lot of uphill running especially on way home
6)      chuffing dog crap!!! I have found a route where people do not poop n scoop

So long story short don’t think I will do this route again

On the plus side I remembered my water bottle and I ran further in one go today than I did on Monday  it was just very, very painful I did not enjoy this run. Seems to me that one out of every 4 or 5 runs is unpleasant! Hey ho have to take the rough with the smooth.

Came home and had a soak in a hot bath I realise that a cold one would have been more conducive to sooth the aching muscles however there is no way on earth  that my  sweet butt is going to allow me to sit down in anything but a hot piping tub. Soak done settled down for a day of do nothing!!! See you Saturday.

Photos of my runnyesque stuff

Have managed to upload a couple of photos but not sure if I have done it most effectively? Any way here are the photos of my arm strap and water bottle.

Will the excitement ever cease?

Bugger, bugger, bugger

Monday 13 Feb


Distance: don’t bloody know (approx. 2miles)    
Time: 23:45             
Avg Speed:???             
Avg Pace ????
Calories Burned 117 +?

Bugger, bugger, bugger set off down the Headingley lane at about 7.40am trying out a different route, ran quite happily all way to Hyde Park Corner turned left at Wrangthorn Church  continued on down by side of moor  and thought to self
“mmm am sure I’ve done about a mile by now” so I checked my tracker app only to discover there was no sodding GPS tracking so biggest part of my run was only recorded in time with no mph etc recorded. I love technology when it works! The GPS kicked in at about the ¾ stage of my jaunt so I was not best pleased.

However rant over the first part of today’s sojourn was good my ‘Raison d’etre’ drove past on his way to gameful employment and gave me a cheery toot- toot. Other than that it was quite uneventful today suppose I was a little distracted by the dammed app not working properly. Also it is Monday and according to the radio today is the most moody Monday of the year with the Welsh being the most moody region- does that mean my little Welsh Raison d’etre  will still be moody even though he lives in Gods Own County?

No new runnyesque acquisitions today to report although I am having lunch with BGF in Leeds today and providing not too much alcohol is imbibed I may take in some shopping I am still hankering after a pink hi-vis jacket!!! Watch this space blog fans xxx

The walk of shame

Saturday 11th Feb


Distance:3.59miles
Time: 49:45
Avg Speed:4.33mph
Avg Pace 13.50min/mile
Calories Burned 487

I was up and at em by 7.15am and went out on my regular Saturday route ..up the Headingley Lane. I managed to run as far as St Chads Church without stopping ...which was a first for me. I then continued in a walky-runny pace as far as the Lawnswood roundabout that was until my sense of reason and self preservation kicked in. I did the return journey in 2 long bursts and a series of walky-runny shorts. All in all was quite pleased with my little self!

New runnyesque acquisition today was my pink water bottle which my 'Son and Heir, actually got me for Christmas but today was its first outing... Once I figure out how to upload photos to this site I will allow you the great blogsphere a window into my exhilarating life! BTW 'Son and heir + long suffering GF are also in training for GNR Yay! 'Team We 3' whoop, whoop, whoop!!!!

I am always amused by the people I see when out on the early morning run, today was no different. I had a brief cheery exchange with two extremely cold looking boys doing the 'walk of shame' the students add so much colour to the Headingley life; though it has to be said, not normally at 7.30am on a Saturday morning, God bless em, what their mothers don't know.....

I had an interesting game of tig with the council bin collection service who were out tidying the post Friday night 'Otley Run' carnage. They managed to beat me to Lawnswood but I was tempted to thumb a lift home!!

Got home to find better half (the Raison d'etre) still snoring softly so I let him sleep on for another hour.

Bring on the day, I have two performances of the Pantomime today to get through then the wrap party .. a long day looms.

Busted

Thurs 9th Feb
Distance:1.81 miles.
Time:0:25:44min
avg. speed 4.23mph
avg. pace14.11 min mile
246 calorie burned


Up at 7am today and went for a trot ofWas spotted by Lucy Millie and Michelle at the school bus stop waved valiantly as I went by and was encouraged by their 'whoops', once round the corner I walked a few yards till taking up the jaunt again but school bus went by so I was spotted at a walk pace.... busted!!

On the whole today's trot was not too painful but I am very glad I made the purchase of a good sports bra though, it has accompanied me on my last 4 outings and already worth what I paid for it to keep my 'boys' from bouncing.
Today I was also looking more like a pro runner with my phone switched to my Endomondo tracker app, tucked neatly into its brand spanking new arm strap.
Next purchase will be some compression leggings am also lusting after a hi-vis jacket as the Sainsburrys warehouse workers hi-vis vest that I found at the church hall is just not cutting the mustard

Each time it does seem to get a little easier and each time I add a new 'runneresque' attachment

My raison d'etre

Ok so what is it that makes a moderately unfit, averagely overweight, reluctant 50 year old decide to surrender her comfort and drag her sorry ass around the rigours of the Great North Run?
Answer - in a nutshell ... LOVE.
There is a man you see and throughout history women have done all kinds of stupid unbelievable things in the name of love.
I now hereby add my name to that list of women who let love of another bypass their sense and reason.
Some time ago (alcoholically imbibed) in an attempt to chivvy an 18year old into action I boldly stated
"Johnny why don't you do the GNR? If you do it I will too we could run for the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign"  Johnny just laughed but those words came back to haunt me.
So very short version why I now find myself up at 7am each Saturday am to jog up the routes I'd normally catch a bus along.
All for my Cefin the love of my life the kindest, most gentle and giving person I have ever met but who was diagnosed 6 years ago with Becker Muscular Dystrophy, a cruel debilitating disease that as yet has neither cure nor treatment.

So I will get up at 7am, run out on the cold dark nights, get wet in the rain, pound the streets on legs that are aching all the while breathing through lungs that are fit to burst to raise funds for the MDC, not so much to prove anything to anyone but to to simply say Cefin I love you.