starting to feel nervous

the 5km is only a week on Sunday and to my surprise i am starting to feel nervous. I think completing this 5km is more important to me than i thought it would be.

I managed a 5km again on the treadmill during the week but i went on the treadmill the next day i nearly faceplanted the treadmill as my left leg just went dead on me. i just hope my legs rise to the challenge on the day.

after the 5km i need to start my training for the half marathon i have signed up for July. It is on the Island of Barra which is just across the water from the Isle of South Uist where all my family are from. i am looking forward to the weekend and it will be a beautiful route to run but it is 13 miles with hills and constant wind in your race so i will need to nip the drinkies in the bud and step up the weekly mileage.

My St Valentines day treat on the WHW

For St Valentine’s day DQ took me out onto the West Highland Way. Although I am privileged to be on the WHWR committee and I have being involved with the race since 2002 I have never ventured onto the route. DQ showed me the meeting point at Drymen and we stopped at the pottery for a pot of tea and a scone. We then drove to Rowardennan and walked towards Balmaha from there. We walked about 3km which is not a long distance but it took quite a while as I kept being distracted by the pretty scenery and wondering off to explore. I even found a ball to play with. Mark has said that if I was an animal it would be a big daft friendly dog that would get its head stuck in fences trying to make friends with the birds. I am starting to accept that he might be right.

I suspect that DQ was starting to despair of my diversions off the route as he told me that there was rope hanging from a tree to stop the bears getting the food. Bears. Of course I doubted the validity of this claim so immediately contacted Dario, WHW guru, to confirm that DQ was winding me up. Dario advised that I hit him but DQ likes it when I get feisty so that was no use. Anyway, we eventually made it back to the car with no bear sightings.

At night I got taken for a lovely romantic meal so overall a great day.

Last week was a good week as I got to catch up with WHWR family members on Tuesday night. Thanks to everyone for words of support in my attempt to become a runner. The night was very informative for WHWR runners and non-runners. The talk from Dr Ellis was quite chilling as in my role as race control it is my responsibility to account for all runners from when the race starts at Milngavie so to hear what can go wrong was quite frightening. At the end of the day the race is a challenge and each runner is aware of the risks but it is hard not to worry and have a dread that something bad could happen.

The talk has also generated a lot of debate about pre race training and advice given. There are numerous approaches to training, running and recovering from the race and everyone just has to find what is best for them. The race attracts a variety of people who undertake the challenge for a range of reasons and I for one think that is one of the joys of being involved. As long as all runners report on time to checkpoints and give the girl at Kinlochleven Health Centre on the phone a smile and wave when they pass I am happy.

This week I have planned a few trips to the gym as it is not long until the 5km. I hope I can chop a few minutes time off on the treadmill to compensate for the delay when my poor uninitiated body hits the wild outdoors to go running.

At last a positive blog from moi

I managed a full 5km on the treadmill yesterday. It took me 47 minutes but I am just chuffed that I now know that my body can survive that distance!!

I am starting to think I might be becoming a runner. Yesterday, a colleague asked me to do some work for them and I replied “sorry that will have to wait until tomorrow as I have to get my run in.” Yes, I Geraldine, put my run before my work and lo and behold the world did not stop spinning!!

My run did not start well as my legs were really aching and so much so that at 1.5km I dropped down to a walk. Now the Harvey Nic’s Geraldine would have thought stuff this and stopped but Runner Geraldine found herself annoyed at her body and thought come on you can do better than this. So I started to run again and soon I found the distance mounting up. Now I don’t know if all runners find this but I find that the slower I go the more it hurts so by actually put the treadmill speed up my legs started to feel better.

Anyway I was running along when I noticed I was coming up to 4.2 km which is the furthest I have been so far and I was still feeling okay so I continued on until 4.4km when I slowed to a walk as was pleased with getting as far as that. Then from somewhere I felt I still had a bit of a run I me so at 4.5km I pressed the increase speed button on the treadmill ended up running at a fair pace and just went for it until I got to 5km.

I am pleased that I have at least managed the distance. I am aware that I will need to factor in that when I hit outside that my time will increase but at least now I am convinced that I can make the finish line.

Last night that as soon as I got out the gym I called Coach DQ who was so relieved to finally hear me saying something positive about my running.

I am going back to the gym later on today as I can’t fit in a run tomorrow so I am going to attempt two days in a row. Even that last sentence demonstrates that I am turning into a runner as I am making sure I fit in the mileage for the week - I can feel the cocktails and designer shopping slipping further away in a haze of anti-blister socks and base layers…..

Not good

5km is 3 weeks on Sunday.

I am still running slower than a snail with a limp