Week Five - is running taking over? .......

A lot of people I know would say I am really lucky and don’t get me wrong I am, but sometimes having two small children, a partner who works shifts, and being self-employed doesn’t leave a lot of time especially when you embark on training for a marathon. The aforementioned setup can be marvellous, I am lucky I get to drop off and collect my children from school and nursery, I can be there for all those important sports days and assembly’s without having to take annual leave or pull a sickie and most importantly I hardly ever have to do a Tesco shop at the weekend! However this week has not all been fun and games. Work has been demanding, time has been scarce and Toby’s shifts have fallen all at the wrong time. With very little time to spare it has become very noticeable that family life is starting to revolve around my runs.

As I signed off last week I was about to embark on my first 10k race. I had a brilliant day making it to the finish with a chip time of 53:40. I wanted to come in under an hour so was over the moon and the banoffee ice cream freebie at the end made it all worthwhile.

Thankfully I didn’t ache too much Monday and managed the club run route despite being an hour late and running it alone, Pleased to report I didn’t get lost this week and am looking forward to having some company next week. I popped into the gym afterward for some upper body strength work.

Tuesday was rest day before meeting Tony and Constance for our weekly session on Wednesday and boy were we in for a treat this week. Tony kindly shared his favourite hill with us and by the time we had reached the top we truly understood the nickname ‘puke hill’.

Due to the lack of time and childcare issues this week I attempted some core training at home after the girls were in bed and the office locked up for the night but even despite the personal training background and having worked with numerous clients in the home I seriously struggle to get the trainers on and jump around in the sitting room especially not helped by the horse sized German Shepherd that wants to lay in the way!

I am getting a sneaky night away from the girls this weekend and doubt very much I will be running anywhere on Sunday so decided to squeeze in what should be my Sunday long run on Friday morning. It was hot and a bit lonely, having never run as a group before joining Redway Runners I am now finding it increasingly more difficult to get out on my own. I did my 5 miles though before dipping my toe in the outdoor pool at the gym. It was like being on holiday out there and I could have easily stayed all day but work was calling so I went on my way (perhaps past the golden arches in the sky for a quarterpounder with cheese on the way home shhhhh don’t tell anyone!).

So before heading away for the weekend I popped along to the parkrun and bumped into Paul my parkrun angel who managed to drag me round in 23:27 a new PB and a great way to finish the week.

I guess I owe an apology to my friends and family, particularly Toby and a big thank you to my father in law who recently has made a lot of my training possible by helping with the girls. I couldn’t do this without your support and for a while it’s only going to get harder us we up the mileage. I hope you stick with me and that seeing me cross the finish line in May will make all the sacrifices worthwhile.

Until next week ......

Amanda