No mad dog, more lambs and less hills

The weather was not as bad as the forecast, although it was a rainy start to the run it soon cleared up and without the cold wind in the more the exposed areas it would have been good running weather.

I tried a new local route and despite a couple of overly long roads which looked like they were going on for miles it was a very pretty route. 15.5 miles done today, a mile and a half longer than I intended but I felt good half way so thought I'd carry on, of course by mile 10 I was regretting this decision but my legs are getting used to running whilst tired and lead like which can only be a good thing! It's the big 18 next week, eekkkk!! Going to try and add in an extra easy run this week on Wednesday to up my mileage.

The really good news is that my sniffles that started on Friday appear to have gone away, fingers crossed.

May regret not running today!

Today was supposed to be rainy, tomorrow snowy.

Today turned out to be the perfect day for running and tomorrow the forecast is now for heavy rain all day. I woke this morning at 8:30 which again would have been ideal but I wasn't in the right mindset for a long run, in my head Sunday = long run. I guess I need to get used to running in all weathers but I really hope the forecast is wrong. I'll have to change my planned route if it's as bad as they say it will be. Should be 14 miles tomorrow, the choice is hilly or flat, I know which one I would prefer!

Will report back tomorrow!

Sponsorship boost!

This week I received confirmation of a lovely and exciting boost to my sponsorship. Bravissimo (them of the bra's for us overly blessed ladies) have agreed to sponsor me in exchange for me putting their logo across my boobs and bottom. It really does make a difference having people so enthusiastically supporting you and in Bravissimo's case in more ways than one! Over half way now for the sponsorship target, it's full steam ahead!

New born lambs, mad dogs and hills, hills, hills!

I had been given a lovely surprise from hubby of a meal out for valentines day, the only slight issue was that I needed to be back from my run by 12:15 at the latest. With that in mind I picked my route, another local one to avoid the added time of the drive home from Monmouth. Sunday morning was perfect running weather, cold but sunny and crisp and everywhere looked beautiful. I was enjoying a few tunes on the ipod and (sort of) happily running when all of a sudden bursting from a driveway was a mad dog, I let him take a smell of my hand and he sort of looked me up and down. As he had calmed down I started to run again and he seemed happy enough and he trotted back up the drive however he obviously decided I wasn't running fast enough and to be fair he was probably right and he came bounding after me again. It was a great incentive to run faster and he grew bored and ran back home thankfully. Not long after the mad dog I saw my first lambs of the season, they look so cute when there all bambi like still finding their feet. This was the first time I was adding the summit of Garway Hill into the run and what a day to pick, the view was absolutely stunning and so I used it as an excuse for a water and jelly bean break. The really good thing about being high up appreciating the view was that apart from the odd little uphill it was pretty much downhill from here. In the end I was out for a total of 2 hours and 52 minutes and had to crawl up the stairs when I arrived back. Sadly there was no time for a cold bath so I had to make do with a shot of cold from the shower to calm my leg muscles down. These hills don't seem to be getting any easier. Definitely in need of a flatter long run this Sunday.

Gulp!!!

I've entered the Rhayader Round the Lakes 20 mile race, I did the 10 miler in October in the pouring rain in the same area and so I thought this would be a beautiful pre marathon run. I have since looked at the route map which can be viewed at http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-kingdom/rhayader/317202262. Thank you very much Steve for bringing this to my attention as I am now going to have sleepless nights anticipating the monster of a hill. I guess if I can can get through this then the marathon will be a breeze!!!

Note to self - drink more!

You really can't do a hard training session without the right fuel. I barely had a drink all day and it showed. It's just such a predicament, I'm on the road all day and the last thing I want is to drink loads otherwise I'll be forever stopping for comfort breaks. Hmmm need to resolve this one :-)

Feeling better

I had a good run today, completed 14 miles on the flat which made a change from recent weeks of hill training. The first 7 miles was with company but then I had to repeat the exact same run again on my own which was more about mentally pushing myself than physically. That said the last mile felt more like 3, very hard going and dare I admit I had to run walk a little of it, but most importantly I was back closer to the 11 minute mile pace. What a difference a mid week Trevor session makes:-)

I also received some exciting news regarding sponsorship this week, I'm not going to tempt fate by announcing before everything is 100% sorted but it looks like I've secured a lovely amount from one of my favourite companies, yippee!! Watch this space for more information:-)))