It's August .. so that must mean.....

Yes, next month is September... and oh dear me, we know what that means.

Maybe I need that sense of panic though as I've done a couple of things in the last few weeks which I have never done before. One involved getting up and going for a run at 6am yep, I know ...really!

I did it because of the recent far too hot temperatures (for me anyway) and this was the only time when I could entertain the possibility of 'training'. So, off to Gunnersbury I went.

It was actually surprisingly pleasant, quiet, peaceful almost, a lovely light and real sense of camaraderie with the handful of other early risers, dog walkers and runners alike.

I took it slow and didn't really do too much  (nowhere near the, gulp, 13.1 miles I need to do for EHM) but I did it and  every little helps/something is got to be better than nothing - so I'm told.

The other odd behaviour happened last Saturday.
Now I originally agreed to give parkrun a try a while back but always vowed never to run if it was raining and reckoned I'd just turn over and go back to sleep as many people would.
This last Saturday, however,I didn't stay with the horizontal but decided to join the vertical masses instead. I actually ran the course after a heavy downpour and in a bit of rain.

Bizarrely - (or maybe it wasn't so odd) I ended up running faster than I have before, a 'PB' as they say in the trade! How? Well possibly because there were fewer people there than normal, my music wasn't working and frankly I just wanted to finish before I got totally drenched! I also returned the favour from last week of encouraging a runner who was walking the last stretch to run to the finish with me...blimey, never thought that would happen!

The marshall's were particularly encouraging and I realise I need a lot of that so big thanks to them all. The temperature was much cooler too so overall I felt more comfortable running, all in all, it was a rather pleasing result.

September 29th is often (as I recall from previous EHM efforts) a warm day so I can't rely on cool weather to help me get to the FINISH line, so it's time to ' dig deep' and work on those three S's; Strength, Stamina and Self-Belief - all still very much a Work in Progress.

Hope you're all getting on well with your training.

Annemarie Flanagan

31 July 2019