Race for Life 5K for Cancer Research

6th February 2012

Temperature: 0C      Weather Conditions: Light rain, cold and icy   

Well, I have entered the 'Race for Life 5K' for Cancer Research. For some reason, I thought that the event was taking place in March but it's actually July. This gives me plenty of time to finish the programme and then work on speed, so I entered. Eeeek! I have set a fundraising target of only £100 as I didn't want to put myself under a lot of pressure but hopefully I will raise more than that.

I have to admit that I set my alarm last night to wake me at 6:30am and after waking up at 6:22am, I thought 'sod it, I'll go tomorrow' and turned off the alarm. Then I heard 'The Voice':

'Oi!'

Alarm went back on.

We've had some snow this weekend, which melted overnight. I was fully prepared to work on cross-training instead but fortunately, it was just wet this morning and so I headed out. It was bloody cold mind and I slipped on ice when I was only about 10-feet from the car. I did consider leaving it until the weather had warmed up but then I thought 'well what if it's raining on race day? Are you going to go home then?'. Fortunately the rest of the path was fine; a bit muddy along the river but I knew that I'd be ok as long as I watched where I was putting my feet. Once over the bridge however, I was walking down the slight slope and slipped on black ice and slid down on my knee. I decided not to look at the damage however (after first looking around to see if anyone saw!), in case I psyched myself out and I again considered not continuing but carried on anyway. The rest of the path was actually ok as the ice was visible and therefore avoidable. Also my pace has increased slightly, which is great! It's a natural thing, not a conscious one so it shows that I am getting stronger and building muscle. I have also learnt to relax my shoulders whilst running although I did have to remind myself to not look at my feet but instead to look about 6-paces ahead. I'm sure that keeping my head up will soon become habit as well. The runs went really well, I didn't stop for any of them. Once I reached the housing estate however, the tarmacked path was covered in black ice and was incredibly slippy so I just turned around and continued my workout. I was aware that this would shorten my cool-down but thought that I could always walk a few laps around the playing fields if I felt the need. The run back was uneventful with the exception of a few slips but I kept up the pace, felt really good and COMPLETED ALL OF THE RUNS! Hazzah!

My next run is on Wednesday and this will be the last run of Week 1. Friday will be the first day of week 2 and will afford me the opportunity of two days rest over the weekend. I think that the repeat of Week 1 has done a lot for me re building up my confidence, endurance, fitness and working on my technique so hopefully, Week 2 will be a challenge but not impossible.

I quite look forward to running in the mornings and I am hoping that running will become a natural part of a healthy lifestyle that is second nature. I must remember though to not let my arms just cross my body but to consciously power them backwards and forwards, as arm swing directly affects your leg pace.

I have also decided on an end-of-year goal. My sister and I both had a virtual Xmas tree on Facebook as she lives in Quebec at the moment and had asked for no presents (so that if she had to come home, she wouldn't have a lot to pack). Anyway, we were able to send each other virtual gifts and one of the things that she sent me was a pair of True Religion jeans with a note saying that hopefully, I'll be thin enough at Xmas to wear them when I'm visiting her. I think that it would be really cool if I actually could wear a pair of True Religion jeans! They are kind of expensive but giving how much weight I have to lose, I have also decided that for every lb that I lose, £1 will be added to a jar. This will also be a good visual motivator for when I plateau and/or hit a rough patch.