Marathon girl - Week #8

Day #7 - half-marathon race

Venue: Silverstone GP circuit
Distance: 13.1 miles
Time: 01:45:12 hours
Average time (per mile): 08:02 minutes

I am beyond chuffed with my time for this race. I knew I'd been getting faster but 01:45:12 was much better than I'd been aiming for. And I'm even more pleased with my place. I noticed by the time I got to the last 3 miles that I wasn't seeing many other girls and I'm sure that it's partly because there were more male than female entrants but it's certainly a boost to the ego to be running alongside and ahead of a bunch of fit(tish) young(ish) blokes. Anyway I was thrilled to be placed 952nd (out of 5750) overall and 102nd among the women.

Next week it's the first of the really long runs - 18 miles!

Marathon girl - week #7

Day #7 - cross-country race

Venue: Horspath
Distance: 4 miles
Time: 30:41 mins
Average time (per mile): 07:40 minutes
Position: 52nd (out of 111)



[That's the BMW Mini plant that you can see in the background. Scenic!]

Go me! That's only about 6 and a half minutes after the winner and I felt pretty competitive all the way round, i.e. actually trying to overtake people rather than just slogging on and hoping it would all be over soon. I think I may finally be a real cross-country runner, I even went straight through the muddy bits (and they really were very muddy) rather than picking my way round the edges in order to gain places. As you can see from the photo it was an absolutely gorgeous day though bitterly cold but running up Shotover hill will soon get you warmed up. I did also have a lovely cup of Clipper Organic decaf tea courtesy of the vacuum flask that Felix gave me for my birthday.

Marathon girl - week #7

Day #5 - short run

I don't have a distance or a time for you* but I do have pictures! I've been saying for ages that I wished I could take my camera out with me when I go running in order to show you all the lovely things I see en route. Well finally I have a mobile phone with a decent enough camera and (more importantly) something to carry it in (my lovely new Camel-bak Charm**).

I do like the new phone - it's shiny and has a (slightly tricky to use) touch screen.



Anyway, today was a lovely day so I went for a run by the river. I ran the same route on Monday and it was amazing how much the ground had hardened up in just three days.



[by the boatyard]

It really feels like a holiday from work when you're out in the meadow with the sun shining.



[geese by the beach]

It's tricky to see from this photo but the brownish grey blobs are a flock of Greylag geese flying low across the field, straight at me. I know that geese aren't (that) stupid and that they can fly around obstacles but believe me, I took this photo and then hit the ground. I figure being hit by one of those things at speed wouldn't be much better than being hit by a car!



[Greylag geese]

After the meadow it's across the bridge next to the very picturesque but somewhat overpriced Trout Inn, the boyfriend and I haven't been back since we were charged the best part of £10 for a half of cider, a pint of beer, and a packet of crisps.



[The Trout Inn]

Finally you run back via the canal and it's back to work in time for a shower and a bit of lunch.



[Canal barges]

* the distance is tricky to measure when you're off road without a GPS and the time was severely impacted by keeping stopping to take pictures for your benefit.

** I love this so much. It's absolutely perfect for running and the fact that it sits on my shoulders without bouncing or rubbing means that I can finally carry my phone whilst out running.

Marathon girl - Week #4

Day #6 (long run)

Either:

Distance: 13 miles
Time (total): 01:49:48 hours
Average time (per mile): 08:26 minutes

Or:

Distance: 13 miles
Time (total): 01:55:00 hours
Average time (per mile): 08:50 minutes

I'm not completely sure which of the above times is correct. Kate, who planned the route, thought that we'd reached 13 miles at the turning for Squitchey Lane but when I mapped it out later the route only went up to 12.5 miles at that point. The problem is that we took such a convoluted path around Oxford that I can't completely remember where we went! It's not a bad time either way and the second time certainly looks more plausible but I'd love the first one to be correct so I've emailed Kate for a clarification on the route. We'd have made an even better time I think on a flatter route (I can't believe she made me run up Headington hill twice) although I'm sure that the slower pace on the ups is at least partly balanced out by the assistance from gravity on the way back down again.

Marathon girl - Week #3

Day #7 (long run)

Distance: 12 miles
Time (total): 01:47:36 hours
Average time (per mile): 08:57 minutes

You might be wondering what happened to week #2, well me too. On Tuesday I went running with one of the fast guys from the club. We ran around 5.8 miles in 45:19 minutes, I think that's the fastest I've run over any distance in my life. Wednesday the boyfriend and I went out for our anniversary dinner and had rather a lot to drink. I had a day off on Thursday (hangover + dentist) and then I went down with a cold which wiped out the rest of the week! Anyway I made up last week's missed 12 miler this weekend which puts me back on track. I had a great run - fantastic conditions, cool, damp, grey and still - and made a pretty good time. It would have been even better if I'd not had to run up a massive great hill, twice (there and back) - still there's really no way of running 12 miles in Bolton without going uphill! Best of all no morons in cars, just friendly cyclists and other runners.

A big thank you..

..to the tosser who yelled something at me from the passenger seat of the black Peugeot that passed me at 40mph or so during my run this morning. The resulting anger gave me a nice andrenalin boost up the rest of the hill and my imagined revenge fantasy, consisting of catching the car up at the lights, asking him to repeat what he said, and then pouring the contents of my feed bottle into his lap, kept me mentally occupied for the next half mile or so. Really, what kind of person sees a female runner up ahead and deliberately winds down their window just to hurl unintelligible remarks (I really didn't catch a word of what he said but it was no doubt offensive) at them? It's aggressive, bullying behaviour and I'm sick of it. If I want to go training in shorts or tights or a cropped vest I will. It's none of their business to comment on it (either verbally or by means of their car horn) and they'd better hope I never catch them at the lights.

By the river

I went for a wonderful run this lunchtime. I feel so lucky that I can get up from my desk and 15 minutes later I'm running along the River Thames with geese and ducks swimming on the river and cows and horses grazing alongside. It's a great way to relax in the middle of the working day - when I'm out running in the sunshine along the river or canal it feels like a holiday, it's so different from the regular lunchtime routine. It's also a great answer to the problem of early evenings in the winter - normally at this time of year I hardly get to run off road in the week - it's so nice to get away from the roads and the traffic and run in the daylight.

Small celebration

I went out for my first run of any distance in about a month (due to a combination of visiting with Laurie, preparations for holidays, holidays themselves, and good old laziness!) and managed to get all the way to Begbroke and back (just under 6 miles). This called for a small celebration of tea and homemade (by me) gooseberry jam on homemade (by the boyfriend) toast.



The boyfriend put the bread maker on before going to bed last night and fresh bread in the morning more than makes up for being awoken around 6am by the sound of it whirring into action. At first I couldn't work out what the grating noise was and wondered why the workmen had turned up to scrape the road on a Sunday morning when they hadn't turned up during the week. Must remember to shut kitchen door next time.

I noticed a big change in the landscape between this run and my last run along the same route. All the wayside flowers have now gone and in their place the hedgerows are full of blackberries, elderberries, and even a few damsons! If I can get back there with a punnet I'll try to get the ingredients for a hedgerow jam.

I really like running on a Sunday morning. The roads are pretty quiet so I can listen to the birds and the wind in the fields and there are just a few walkers and cyclists out like me on their regular Sunday routine. There's one lady in a stripy top who I see every Sunday when I run out that way and it's nice to say "hello" and "hello again" when I meet her going both ways.

It's harder to make a connection with the Sunday morning drivers. I hate, hate, hate it when drivers pip their horns at me whilst running. Even if it's meant as a friendly gesture (and in many cases I'm sure it's not) it makes me jump right out of my skin and feel pretty vulnerable out there on the road. However, today I had one Eddie Stobart driver give me a flash of his lights and then a really friendly smile and wave and it put a smile on my face too for the next half kilometre or so. When you're out there on your own, whether cycling, running, or driving, it always feels great to connect with another person.

Blenheim by night

I went out* tonight with the Woodstock Harriers. I don't know quite what I expected but they're a little bit hardcore by which I mean 5 miles, in the dark, around Blenheim park (which is an undulating** course to say the least). I've never actually been running in the dark before, i.e. at night without any lights close at hand. Although there are a few patches on our own club runs that are on quiet streets away from the main road it's completely different from running through woodland at night. I was surprised by how good my night vision was once I got used to it though there were still some pretty black bits. The freakiest thing was not having any warning that the running surface had changed (wet leaves, mud, puddles) until I started slipping on it. I really enjoyed the run though (with the possible exception of the bit where I was completely on my own for about 3 minutes on the darkest bit of the course) and I'll be back next week. It's really tough to motivate yourself to go out on your own in the evenings in winter and if I manage a weekly run with these guys I should be fit again in no time!

Glossary

* to go out phr. (Running) = to go for a run. When a runner says he's been out four times this week it means that he, rather than his social life, is very active.

** undulating adj. (Geogr.) = hilly. When a race guide actually admits to a course being hilly you know you'll be going up a mountain!

A big thank you...

...to "the Ninja Knitter" from whom I received my Sockapalooza parcel last week. I've finally got the camera and computer both working at the same time and can show you some pictures of the lovely things she sent me.

Opening the parcel was very exciting, inside the grey mail pouch was first purple, then pink tissue paper, then something very shiny...



My sewing friends were very jealous when they realised that my pal obviously has a machine with an overlocker.

The bag is gorgeous - I'm not quite sure what it will get used for yet. Maybe it can hold some of the special stash (the stuff that's way too posh to mingle with the random oddments and half balls that fill up every spare nook in my stash box).

Inside the bag I found a pair of Hedera socks knit from Natural Dye Studio yarn in a greeny/grey colourway plus the rest of the skein and two lovely dangly beaded stitch markers (these are the first fancy stitch markers I've owned so it's quite thrilling).



The socks are lovely and warm and fit a treat - they're going to be worth their weight in cashmere if this winter if anything like as wet and cold as the summer has been I can tell you!

Big thanks also to Christine (my Sockapalooza sendee) who said such lovely things on her blog about my socks. I couldn't believe all the nice comments too! For those as have asked, here are the instructions for the turn-down cuff with the hidden ribbing*.

Cast on 70 stitches as directed in the pattern here.

Note: if you want to do the beaded cast on, thread 35 beads onto your yarn before you get started. Slip one bead up the yarn until it rests against the starting slip knot. Then, using the lace cast on (scroll down the page for Eunny's description of this) cast on the other 69 stitches moving a bead up the yarn to the needle every other stitch.** Don't worry if the beads don't stay exactly where you want them. Once you're well into the pattern you can go back and tweak them around.

Proceed with the pattern as written until you have completed the first repeat

Next two rounds: knit all stitches.

Next round: purl all stitches.

Next two rounds: knit all stitches (70 stitches).

Next round: turn work (you are knitting back the way you came), slip 1 stitch purlwise, P1, {K2, P2, K1, K2tog, P2, K2, P1, P2tog} 5 times. Your last P2tog should purl together the last stitch and the first stitch (which you slipped) of the round (60 stitches).

Knit 19 rounds (or until ribbing is just shorter than the lace when folded at the turning row).

Knit rest of sock as per pattern but over 60 stitches, rather than 70. The heel should be knit over 29 stitches and the instep over 31 stitches.

I jotted these directions down from the top of my head so if you do notice any glaring errors please please let me know via the comments. Also please note that if your feet are larger than a UK size 6 (in breadth at least) you will probably have to go up a needle size or two, or knit the pattern over more stitches (e.g. 80 for the cuff and 70 for the sock).

* This is how I knit it for the Kew socks and for Christine's measurements (she has dainty feet!), however, this is pretty easy to adapt to most patterns.

** Brenda Dayne describes it all much better here.

Mystery Stole update

Eek, this is turning into a monster post. I had plenty of time for knitting on the Mystery Stole over the weekend as I'd pretty much knit everything else I'd taken (Knitted Walking Stick Cosy and dishcloths) by Saturday evening. I'm now on the current clue and am well into knitting the "wing" which involves a lot of short rows.



Luckily I'm a short row heel specialist. I had a little mental groan when I realised that I would be knitting more or less the same pattern over three charts and two clues (where's the mystery in that, I ask you) especially as the lace repeat isn't the most challenging, but it turned out to be very good train knitting and hopefully good TV knitting as I'm just off to Ellen's for our weekly Heroes session.

Speaking of which, I'm not feeling too heroic myself at the moment*** after falling over during my run on Sunday. One moment I was jogging along congratulating myself on having such great running conditions (damp and cloudy with rain in the air, perfect), the next I was flat on the pavement, wondering what had happened (I tripped). I'm fine barring a few scrapes and bruises and what looks set to be a v. impressive scab on my knee, still I wish I had Claire's miraculous healing powers.

*** Actually I say that, but I did then pick myself up again and run 11.5 miles (despite being only half a mile from home. Can I have my cape now please?