Monday, October 26, 2009

Lanzar-hottie

Just back from a week in Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands. Great week, stayed in a lovely hotel by the sea, hired a car for the week and toured the entire island while managing a few days by the pool or on the beach. That's the good bit...

As to be expected there were a few hiccups along the way. The first was on day one, in fact hour one... After checking into our hotel we took a walk along the main street, I was sporting a fashionable pair of flip flops that I had worn with uber comfort earlier that year. Something must have change between then and now because after 20 minutes of strolling I felt a flip flop strap on my left foot agitate the skin near the toe next to my big toe... that's a lot of wordadge to say that they were no longer comfy!! Choosing to ignore it I got back to the hotel with a mother of a blister, not what I needed a week before the marathon.

The days that followed were fantastic,;half day at the pool/beach here, half a day pottering around the island there, a submarine trip, the odd museum and occasional gallery with a volcano just for laughs. What could possibly go wrong?

Two days before the end of the holiday was hot, very hot and we left the balcony door open for much of the evening. It never occurred to us the some tiny winged beasts might sneak in attracted by the light inside but that's what explained a high pitched buzz that I heard whizz past my ear as I turned out the light. I immediately turned on the light... it had to be a mosquito, I couldn't see it but I knew it was there. What do you do? Well I got up and tried to find it for a while to no avail. Perhaps it had gone? Maybe it had flown out under the door, they're tiny little things after all. Besides, what damage could it do? With only a few days to the marathon the worst it could do would be to bite my big toe!

Next morning I woke with a swollen big toe... the bugger had read my mind and gone for something that I really needed to run a marathon with. Now I had a healing blister and a massive mosquito bite on the same foot, if someone was trying to give me a message I can think of less painful ways...

The next morning I woke with an ear infection... another message? The flight home was on time and passed quickly. When I got home I had to decide if I was going to run. The marathon was in two days and I was feeling rotten, my head felt like it had been stuffed with an over inflated rugby ball. I decided to give it another day. Next morning I woke feeling just as rotten but I really wanted to run so I decided to give it a few more hours, the expo closed at 6pm that evening and that was the last chance to pick up my number.

As the clock ticked towards 6pm I knew I wouldn't be fit the next day and accepted that it wasn't to be. Never mind, there will be plenty more. In fact I have started planning for the Barcelona marathon in March. All the training I had done for Dublin should make my Barcelona training easy, just got to stick to the plan... and this time I'm moving from a novice to and intermediate plan which only allows one rest day per week, yikes!!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Is it that the time already??

I've been going for my pre-marathon long run for quite some time now but somehow circumstances have have prevented me from getting on with it. The fact that these circumstances are entirely within my control is... well, OK... I know, no excuse! With the marathon in less than 2 weeks... time is running out and I really should be tapering off not thinking about running 20 miles. The longest I have run for this marathon is 13.1 miles (GNR and Dublin 1/2 marathon) and while I have been running faster than ever this year I do feel that I need the time on my legs that a long run will give me. However, I have no more time as running such a long distance so close to the race would be counterproductive.

So, no more thoughts of long runs! I'm off to Lanzarote next week for a weeks vacation and will bring my trainers for 4 short runs. Hopefully the marathon will be yet another faster than expected race in 2009, joining my brand new personal bests in the 5K, 5 mile, 10K, and 1/2 marathon distances... not forgetting the oddly measured (but possibly my favourite) 9.2K forest run in Boitsfort, outside Brussels.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Donadea 10K

The second Donadea 10K was a struggle to get to let alone run having polished off an excellent bottle of Chateau de something or other that night before but run it I did and in record time too!! I crossed the line in 54 minutes 8 seconds (coming in 262th out of 523 runners), that's an 8:52 pace! Not only that but for the first time ever I won a spot prize when I crossed the line!! The prize was a cut and blow dry from a local hairdresser... I wonder if they're trying to tell me something??

Here's the run: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/15751011

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Demographic shift...

Today I moved into a whole new survey category... bye bye 25-39.... hello 40-55...

Sunday, October 04, 2009

Rathfarnham 5K

My best 5K to date is 25:03 (Malahide) and I really wanted to beat that today. The course was perfect for a fast run and the weather couldn't be better. I was running with Seamus who wanted to run it in less than 20 minutes and I thought that if I kept up with him for part of the race I'd have a good chance of beating my own PB. As it turned out the only time we spent together was at the start line because as soon as the starting gun fired he was gone. I ran the first mile very quickly, possibly too quickly as I felt tired for the remaining 2 miles but the previous evening in Harrigan's drinking Eridinger may have added to my wows.

I finished in a good time, 24:43 which is a new PB. I met Seamus later and he ran it in a blistering 19.10! I wonder if I'll ever be able to run that fast? The way things are going perhaps I will!!

Here's the race as I ran it: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/15622401