Week 5

Monday

Since there is no club run tomorrow and we had decided to run the parkrun instead but that meant we were going to be 2 miles short of our 5 mile target.  Therefore I ran the two miles at the gym instead.  It was very tough, as usual.  Even though the treadmill has a 3-speed fan attached, it’s still way too hot.  That in turn drains my energy and makes the run even harder.  Still, it got done and then I did my usual Monday workout.  Because the gym was so empty, I was able to walk around and look at all the equipment and I found some that I haven’t been using.

 Christmas Day

Parkrun was short of volunteers so the equipment was kept to a minimum today.  No big flags just a couple of cones to mark the start and finish.  It was drizzling but quite surprisingly, the massive puddles from Saturday had almost dried out.  Due to the improved weather conditions we were able to speed up again and beat last week’s time. I was excited as I thought it won't be long now before we are back to normal parkrun pace.

 Thursday

I had to run today's 4 mile run on my own because I only had a window of one and half hours free between work and our pre-planned family meal.  I wasn’t able to plan a time for a run since I didn’t know what time I would be back from work so I decided to run to Joiners’ square and back.  It was drizzling again but not as bad as it had been earlier, so I guess I was lucky.  When I got to Joiners Square I found that I had only ran for just over 1 and a half miles, so I no choice but to continue up Lichfield street and around to Regent Rd.  Although it was tough running up the hill, it was also a lot nicer to run along there than Leek Road so I didn’t mind too much.  I continued along College Rd and back on to Glebe Street and into Stoke.  I was hoping that the 4 miles would be up before I got home so that I could have a cool-down walk but to my disappointment, Endomondo didn’t go off until 3 doors from my house.

 Saturday

I was horrified to see that not only was it was absolutely p*****g down; it was also quite windy.  I was not going to let the weather ruin my last parkrun for the year and decided that I would go regardless.  After all, we did survive the rain last Saturday, didn’t we? Well, by the time I got to the park, I didn’t need to worry about getting wet anymore.  I was as soaked as I could get and my shoes had at least a pint of water in each one.

It was amazing to see so many runners there and even a couple of first timers. We decided straight away that we would not be rushing today; the main thing was to get around the course safely without gaining a cold at the same time.  Yet again we loved running through those huge, deep puddles.  It took us back to childhood and of course that doesn’t happen too often these days 

Sunday

Well there was no rain this morning but instead we had a very bitterly cold wind which cut through our clothing and stung our faces as if we’d got burnt.  We met at Festival Park for this week’s long run which was for 8 miles.  We used the same route as last week but added a little detour to Stoke to give us the extra mile.  It was desperately cold for most of the run and we got a bit disheartened when it started to spit but luckily the rain stayed away until later.

Week 4

Tuesday

The club was supposed to have a 3 mile Santa Dash tonight and we should all be in fancy dress. We had a selection of various Santa outfits and elves but since Kath and I were saving ours for parkrun; we kept it a bit minimal with just a hat and I had a Santa tie as well.  Somehow the message didn’t get through to everyone so some of the girls turned up without an outfit but they were still welcome to join us for the run.  We ran to Baddeley Green crossroads and back again, which worked out at just under 3 miles.  Since our run was supposed to be 4 miles; we decided to make up the extra on Thursday.

 

 

Thursday

Today's run didn’t quite work out how we planned.  The extra mile made it so that the run was now for 4 miles and we were going to do the Baddeley Green to Millrise rd run which is 4 miles.  However, it was pouring down and neither of us felt like taking the risk of getting wet so down to the gym it was.  Good God, how tough it was to run 4 miles on the treadmill.  It wasn’t helped by the fact that, despite the treadmill fan being on 3, I was so unbearably hot which drained all energy out of me.  Still, I got it done J

 

 

Saturday

We’d been looking forward to this week’s parkrun for a long time and now that it was finally here: it was absolutely p*****g down.  I went outside briefly to assess the situation and decided that although we would get wet, it wasn’t cold.

Due to the weather, only 37 runners turned up but not all in costume.  It soon dawned on me and Kath that a velour Santa dress is not one of the best things to run in.  It got really heavy when it got wet and the pompom on the hat kept hitting us on the back of our heads.  First lap was ok but then I started to over-heat and it got uncomfortable.  Usually, I am able to remove my jacket but today I had a t-shirt on under my long sleeved top that was under my velour dress (I don’t know what I was thinking of when I chose what to wear) and I had no choice but suffer the heat.  Consequently, I resorted to have to walk for a bit to cool down in between.  My lap times went from 10.35, 11.50 to 14.55, oops!  What I loved the most was running through those deep puddles.  It was very liberating and once you have a pint of water in each shoe, you don’t care about getting your feet wet anymore. 

 

 

Sunday

We met at Festival Park for this week’s long run which was for 7 miles.  I didn’t get the time to plot a route out but we decided to use last weeks’ route and just add a bit to it on Festival Park itself.  It worked out fine and the weather was good for a change; even the sun came out for a bit.  The run worked out to be just a little short at 6.66 but we didn’t mind as it was close enough.

Week 3

Tuesday

It was -3 degrees and the payment outside my house was slippery so I cancelled my run at the club and went to the gym.  I knew that running 5 miles on a treadmill would not be funny but nothing prepared me to how tough it was going to be.  I set the computer on rolling hills and level 6 as that is what I’ve been using for walking and then I set the speed to 6 too.  It soon became clear that speed 6 was way too fast for a 9% elevation, so I was forced to knock it down to 4.5. After two miles I couldn’t cope with the hills anymore and switched to manual and an elevation of 3%.  By this time I was panting like a dog and embarrassed that the guy on the treadmill next to me would hear me but fortunately he had his earphones on too.  The remaining time I gradually brought the elevation down whilst increasing the speed as towards the end of the session I was getting a new worry.  It appeared that I couldn’t increase the running time of the session; it was set on a maximum of 60 minutes.  Due to the much slower pace at the beginning, I was running out of time to complete all my required 5 miles.  The only thing I could do was to increase the speed and I just managed to complete by including the cool down period as well.  However, the next day my surgery I had pain in my surgery area, which is a sign that I had been over-doing it.

Thursday

After the problems I had on Tuesday; I had decided that I had to go to the club tonight even if it was slippery. Luckily, although it was still -1.5, it was white ice, which is not slippery at all.  We decided to use the Bucknall Hospital route for our 4 mile run and we really enjoyed it.  It seemed excruciatingly cold to start with but we soon warmed up and then it was perfect for running.  It was a calm, cool night which made us feel really fresh; the pace was right and I barely even noticed the little hill that worried me.

Saturday

It was raining first thing in the morning and I was disappointed that it would spoil my favourite run of the week but by the time I went to the park; it had stopped and left us with perfect running conditions.  Kath is still concerned about letting me run at full speed but she has agreed to gradually increase it whilst the ground is allowing and today we run around 2 minutes faster than a fortnight ago at 31.36. 

Sunday

I plotted out a reasonably flat, 6 mile run but with one category 5 hill after the 1^st mile.  It went from Festival Park along Etruria Rd to Marsh St and up Union St.  We then ran along Town Rd and Keelings Rd to Leek Road and the railway station. The last couple of miles came from running along Shelton New Road and Etruria Vale Rd back to Festival Park. The weather was really good to us.  It was 7 degrees and the sun came out which made it a very pleasant run indeed.

Week 2

Tuesday

The run planned for today was for 4 miles so we decided to run with Sue, Sharon, Sam, Hazel and Anne, who were doing a 4.5 mile run to Joiners’ Square and back again.  It was a really enjoyable run even though it was completely flat.  Sam, Kath and I were at the front and it felt like we were almost running at our ‘normal’ pace but it turned out that our average speed was just under 12.42 minutes per mile.  The actual distance was 4.68 miles so we were pleased to have got a little extra in.

Thursday

I was debating whether to go today as it was windy and was sleeting earlier.  It hardly seemed worthwhile to risk getting wet and cold for the sake of 3 miles when I could easily do it on the treadmill.  However, I felt that I had to go, mainly to clarify where we were going for our Christmas night out tomorrow.  I had been thinking the place was in Newcastle but Al had never heard of the place and she knows Newcastle quite well, so I had a look at the menu and was horrified to find it was in Stone.  How did I miss that? I couldn’t possibly go to Stone and I certainly couldn’t afford the taxi back.  Anyway, it turned out good in the end as Pinocchio’s had been taken over by this place fairly recently, so it was definitely in Newcastle.  We went for a run with Sue, Liz, Sam and Anne, following the route I thought they were taking; Leek Road to Leonard Avenue, then along there to Leek New Road and back to the crossroads at Baddeley Green and back to base along Leek Road.  Something must have gone wrong with that route as we completely lost sight of the other three and ended up running on our own with Sam. Up until then the weather had been quite reasonable but then the heavens opened.  It wasn’t long before both of my running jackets were soaked through and the chilly wind blowing straight on to my wet skin.  It was awful! None of us enjoyed it one bit and I was cursing myself for not going the gym instead. NEVER AGAIN!

Saturday

After the disaster on Thursday night, it was fantastic to see the sun out for this morning’s parkrun.  At first I didn’t, however, realise how cold and frosty it was as the back garden looked ok.  It wasn’t until I opened the front door and saw all the cars frozen up and nearly went flying on the pavement outside my house that it dawned on me that maybe the run had been cancelled.  After quickly checking Bibi for any emails or messages, I decided that it probably wasn’t as bad in the park.  Half of the runners were missing but it was a big credit to the other half who bothered to turn up.  If any of you are reading this: Well done to all of you!  The course was quite icy and slippery but still quite passable with care but of course, Kath and I didn’t have shoes with spikes, so we had to take it very easy.  First lap went without any problems but at the beginning of the second lap I skidded a bit but managed to stay upright without pulling or twisting anything.  We laughed because we broke our pw time (personal worst) but couldn’t care less as we really loved it.

Sunday

Originally w were going to meet at 11 o'clock at Festival Park for this week’s long run which was for 5 miles but since it was pouring down we decided to leave it for a couple of hours.  We didn't want a repeat of Thursday's disaster and especially not with 5 miles.  Later the sun  came out and we set off from Morrisons car wash; running along Pavillion Drive to Cobridge Road and then left on to Etruria Road.  From there we ran to Marsh St; Broad St and Potteries Way to Clough Street.  We then turned left along Etruria Vale Rd, Pretoria Rd, Belmont Rd and cut through to Etruria Rd for a short stretch before going on to Etruria Old Rd.  We ran a loop around the estate but got briefly lost amongst the new buildings and then returned to Lanehead Rd and Forge Lane.  If we hadn't got lost; we would have had to run to the end of Festival way and back to Morrisons but now we just needed to out so far and still managed to walk at the end as the 5 miles was up.  It was a nice, almost flat run and the weather was reasonable for a change 7 degrees and dry :-)

Week 1

Tuesday

First day of training started off with a 4 mile run.  Me , Kath and Sam ran to Baddeley Green; along Leek New Road to Newford Crescent; Millrise Road and Back to base.  We cut off the garage part by running along Clive Avenue so that the run wouldn't be too long since I was still recovering from my op.  To my disappointment, I did find the run quite tough and only just about managed to get up the slight incline to Milton  but the main things were that I remained running and I didn't get any pain from it.

 

Thursday

Scheduled run for today was for 3 miles. Encouraged by the lack of pain following Tuesday's run; we decided to run a little faster today.  On tuesday we were averaging around 14 minute miles but today we "sped" up to almost 12 minute miles.  Hazel joined us today and we ran to Limekiln lights and back, just fractionally less than the 3 miles but we didn't mind so early in the training plan.

 

Saturday

The run that I have really been looking forward to - Hanley Parkrun.  I was good and managed to stick to WALKING to the park.  I must admit though that it was mainly thanks to the fact that Kath was going to be there and I knew what the first thing that she would ask me and I was correct.  It seemed absolutely ages since I'd taken part in running the parkrun and I worked it out that the last time was sometime in September. The weather was perfect and we both thoroughly enjoyed the run.  To me it felt very slow but afterwards I realised that we had averaged 11 minute miles.  I worried that I was going to be in pain again.

 

Sunday

I was very pleased to find that I had no ill-effects from yesterday's run so I am going to conclude that I am finally on the mend. Today's long-run was actually a quite short 4 mile run but in the end we didn't even manage that.  Kath and I decided to meet at Festival Park after she finished work at around 6 pm.  However, by then, the pavements were badly iced over and continuing to get worse.  We decided to try a mile on the flat to see how we'd go on.  After a loop to Tesco and back, which came to 1.61 miles we decided to give up.  It wasn't worth risking an injury when it was so slippery.  We have plenty of time to catch up what we'd lost before Barcelona.

Week Zero

Last week I promised myself that I will try a little 5 minute run today.  As the time got nearer, I started to get increasingly nervous about it.  Even though I was very excited, I did still keep getting thoughts in my head like "what if it really is too early as it hasn't quite gone 3 weeks since my surgery?" or "what if I do some damage and it will delay my recovery even further?" I wasn't sure if the reason of not running for 4 weeks after surgery was because things hadn't healed or if it was purely for the doctors to safeguard themselves?

 

Anyway, I did my warm-up stretches and went for a quick walk around the block and then I ran.  Only slow but OMG, how much I loved it! Short of holding my phone in my hand, I had no way of working out when the 5 minutes was up, so I tried to estimate that if I ran around a particular block of houses, it would be about right.  However, I got back home and I had only done 3 minutes so I had to immediately go out and do some more.  In the end it worked out at nearly 7 minutes but I don't mind.

 

I can't say that I have noticed any problems yet and I hope it stays that way.  If I'm still okay tomorrow, I will extend the run to 10 minutes, then 15, 20, etc for the rest of the week.  At least I know one thing now; I'm pleased to note that the surgery was a complete success. Happy me :-)

Week Minus One

Two weeks post-op and I'm feeling a lot better.  In fact, the other day, I was just about cross the road at a pedestrian crossing when the lights changed.  Automatically, without thinking, I jogged accross and only realised afterwards what I'd done.  I was lucky and didn't get any repercussions from it but it made me realise how easily it could have gone wrong.

 

My walking exercises didn't quite go to plan as I had planned to walk up Penkhull New Road every day.  I did indeed walk every day but some days it was just on the flat.  The pain got worse just before it started to get better and I was worried I was putting strain on my surgical areas.  Just have to hope that flat walking is better than doing nothing.

 

Next Monday it is nearly three weeks since my surgery and I am going to add a little (maybe 5 minute) jog to my walking regime and increase it gradually each day.  That will prepare me for my 4 mile run the week after when training for Barcelona starts.

Week Minus 2

Not quite time for the training for Barcelona Half-Marathon but i have slowly started the recovery from my operation, on Wednesday.  Since I'm not allowed any running, I came to the conclusion that some uphill walking might help with keeping my legs, heart and lungs in some kind of fitness and hopefully will stop me piling on too many pounds.

Since Saturday, I have been walking every day for two miles including Penkhull New Road.  I can't really walk completely upright nor very fast but it's better than doing nothing.  It takes roughly around 40 minutes to complete so over a week that will mount up to 3 hours and 40 minutes and almost half of that is uphill.

 

Barcelona training will start on Tuesday 27th of November.  That first session is a 3 mile run/walk but I'm hoping to a little bit of running as part of my daily walk before that date.

Congleton Half-Marathon

Race Day!

 

I got everything ready on Saturday so that I could have an early night and hopefully a good sleep.  As you can probably guess, this didn't happen at all.  I got to bed at 10 past ten but by half 1 I was still awake and hadn't slept a second.  When the alarm went off at 5 it felt like I'd only slept 10 minutes but somehow I managed to drag myself up and get ready.

 

It wasn't a great start of the day because I went to pick Anne up but left her full address, which is on my phone, in the bag on the back seat.  I only wrote down the postcode for Tomtom so I couldn't remember the number and drove straight past Anne's house.  She panicked and thought I had left.

 

Eventually we all got together and had a very quick and quiet journey to Congleton.  It was quite misty at times but luckily the motorway was completely clear.  On arrival we picked up our numbers and even had time for a cup of coffee before the race took off.

 

Just like Burton 10k, the race started off at barely walking pace so it took a while before we got to the starting point but this time it didn't matter because we had the chip so the time should be accurate anyway.  The first 3 miles were tough because it was extremely cold and I was very stiff.  Then as we got out in the countryside, it started to warm up as the sun tried to come out and I suddenly realised that I was actually enjoying the run.  The pace was comfortable, the roads were smooth and quiet and the air was fresh from the early morning dew.

 

We all were armed with bagfuls of snacks and energy gel, etc but didn't really need any of them until the 11th mile when I had one of my free sample energy gels from Zipvit in preparation for the vertical hill at 12 miles.  I say vertical because that's what the hill looked like on the map and it wasn't far of from correct.  I did have to walk a bit at the steepest part but as soon as it became less severe, I continued running.

 

The last bit was the best bit.  Sue was there cheering us on which was very nice and I think Brian was there too taking photos, so it will good to see those later.  i thought I heard them announce my time on the tannoy as 2 hours 17 minutes but that wasn't quite correct because my chip time was 2:22:59.  I'm still pleased because it's still well below my 2 and a half hour target.

Days 79 & 81

Week 12, Tuesday 2nd and Thursday 4th of October

 

It has finally arrived; the final week.  The last runs this week were just a couple of gentle 3 mile runs.  On Tuesday we went along the canal to Cromer Road and then ran back on the road.  On Thursday we ran along to Baddeley Green and then along Leek New Road to Newford Crescent but just as we entered Millrice road, Endomondo told us that the 3 miles were up so we walked back from there.  No point in doing any more because it wouldn't improve anything for Congleton and the rest might do us good.

 

That's it, the 12 week Half Marathon Training is now finished and all we need to do to complete it is to run the the race. 

Resolution 10K Race

Week 11, Sunday 30th September

 

Resolution for Stroke Association - 10K race at Trentham Gardens

 

Kath, Anne and I entered this with 4 other Trotters.  Some did the 5k and the 15k but it was still nice to see so many Trotters in the same race. 

 

There was a 10 to 15 minute exercise session which we believed to be a warm-up session.  However, the lady that was leading it surprised us all by adding some very high impact moves into it and at the end of it all we were all knackered before we started the run.  I decided to keep out of organised sessions in future and do my own thing.

 

The course around Trentham lake is 5k long so we had to run it twice and those who did 15k had to do it 3 times.  Sadly there was no official results for the race but it was still enjoyable but we were glad we didn't need to run around another circuit, two was enough. 

 

The ground was not good.  We had to concentrate hard to avoid huge potholes, grooves, tree roots, fallen branches, large stones and mud and in some places it was only safe to walk.  We did decide that it was nice to not having to run amongst the noise and fumes from cars.

 

Taking all this into account it was not really that bad times that we got in the end.  Kath and I did the 10k in 1.07 minutes.

 

Day 76

Week 11 - Saturday 29th September 

 

Parkrun Day :-)

 

It was particularly nice to do the parkrun today because Alli was with me.  She had offered to do some volunteering and today was her first session.  She was helping out with registration.  That means she scans the runners' barcodes and then the chip code, which gives them their times and positions in the results.

 

I ran to the park as usual since that 'warm-up run' seems to work fine for me.  Alli cycled but we both got there about the same time.  It wasn't long before the park filled up with today's 61 runners and then the race begun.

 

To my amazement, I found that I had beaten my pb again but this time I didn't feel bad because of it.  What helped was having a man running behind me as if he was chasing me.  Nothing like getting your speed up when that happens, LOL.  Anyway, I did manage to keep him behind me to nearly the end of the run but then he got past me last time up the hill.  Pb went from 28.05 to 27.15, which makes my speed 9.05 minutes/mile, so I was pleased about that.

Day 72

Week 11, Tuesday 25^th September
 

Oh My God, Week eleven already!

 

The weather today has been awful; chucking it down all day and absolutely freezing.  I gritted my teeth and got well wrapped up for tonight’s 4 mile run.  Kath couldn’t make it as she’s on nights but I ran it with Sam.

 

I forgot to bring any routes and there still didn’t seem to be any available at the club but luckily I remembered Sue saying that the hospital run was still 4 miles even though we had moved since it was first routed.

 

We ran along to Lime Kiln lights and turned left up Werrington Road.  My legs mustn’t have recovered properly from Sunday because I was struggling with the banks and when we finally got up to the hospital, we both stopped to walk for a bit.  It really seemed tonight. 

 

Anne told me that we should not have tried to run Potters’ Arf as part of training and if she had known we were going to do that she would have advised us not to.  Well, it’s too late now so I hope that I haven’t fatigued my legs too much for Sunday’s race.

Day 70

Week 10, Sunday 23^rd September

 

A couple of months ago, Kath and I decided that we wanted to run the Potters’ Arf course before Congleton.  Today the scheduled run was for thirteen miles anyway, so it was perfect opportunity to go for it.

 

We met at Northwood and jogged to Hanley for the starting point; this was supposed to be our warm-up so we didn’t bother with any stretches or anything else.  The weather was cool but dry so conditions weren’t too bad and Kath remembered it was a vast difference to the last time she run it.  We won't be needing hose pipes today.

 

The run was fairly straight forward through Hanley, down Lichfield Street, Vicky Rd, City Rd, Longton and up Anchor Road to the church and then I had to stop for a walk.  We weren’t too bothered as we had done such a hilly run last week that we reckoned we didn’t need today.  This might have been a mistake because from there onwards it seemed like every hill was a problem. We just about managed Beverly Drive and Malthouse Road but Leek New Road proved to be too much again. 

 

I didn’t think that Milton Road was going to be a problem, as we had already planned from the start, not to bother run it since we did it on Thursday but OMG was I wrong.  I could barely, and I mean just about, walk it.  It seemed impossible to lift my feet up high enough to move forwards and I really don’t know how i got up there at all.   It must have been sheer desperation since I had no other alternative; I had no money for a bus or taxi and if I walked around the other way; I would still face other hills anyway.

 

Eventually we got back to the car in Northwood.  We stopped Endomondo at 12.77M but that didn’t include the jog down to Hanley, so we knew we had done enough.  Instead of a cool-down we decided to walk to Hanley anyway and have a baguette for lunch. 

 

I decided that I was never going to do this route again, which solved a problem for me since I had wanted to do the Mersey Tunnel run anyway but couldn’t make up which to do as it clashes with Potters’ Arf.  There is no comparison now anyway.

Day 69

Week 10, Saturday 22nd September

 

Parkrun Day but not just an ordinary parkrun.  This was the 1st Anniversary of Hanley Parkrun and we were running in fancy dress.  The theme was supposed to be "Best of British" but I couldn't single out any particular person so I decided to just represent the 3 nations.  My costume consisted of a hat with a cuddly toy of a Welsh dragon attached, pinned to my top I had a small St George's Cross with a rose attached (English Rose) and a picnic blanket as a makeshift Scottish kilt.  It probably looked a right mess but it worked for me.

 

This morning I was shocked to see the car all frozen and wasn't looking forward of the prospect of having this kind of weather for the next 8 months or so.  However, it soon thawed and the weather turned out really warm and sunny in the end. The run was good and it was great to see so many people in fancy dress or with flags, etc.  It was also the biggest turnout ever.  Last week we broke our record with 63 runners; today we had an incredible 96.

 

What a lot of food we had, everyone had been generous and brought a contribution to a communal picnic.  There were all sort of goodies to be had, even oatcakes.  I brought egg sandwiches, half on white bread and half on brown and was quite surprised and pleased to see all the brown ones go first.  Us runners, are we just healthier than average or was it the case of; "if you have a healthy sandwich you can have an extra cake"? LOL!  Debbie's daughter, Paris, had made the nicest cupcakes I'd ever eaten.  They were covered in blue and red butter cream and very creamy, soft and tasty.  I'm not really a fan of cakes but I'm very pleased that I had one.

 

I always love parkrun anyway but this one was the best ever and I couldn't believe it that Kath missed it.  She had to work over and ended up having to go to bed.  What a terrible shame. 

Day 67

Week 10, Thursday 20th September

 

Today's run was a faster 5 mile run.  Well we've been ignoring the speeds anyway as there is plenty of time to worry about that next year but after the success with the flat run on Tuesday, I fancied trying another hill.  I knew my 5 mile route had a couple of hills in it so that was perfect.

 

What I didn't plan for was the weather.  Kath and I set off with Sam and Sue B along Leek Road, around the garage at Baddeley Green and on to Leek New Road and all went well.  Sam and Sue turned off towards Millrise Road and we carried on towards Hanley.

 

Not long after, it got dark and a little later the heavens opened.  I guess I had jinxed it by taking my jacket off and within minutes we were wet.  I saw a path down to, what looked like the canal and we decided to go down that way and take shortcut back.  After all, we could always make the miles up on Saturday.

 

We started running along the path and I thought it was very funny how wide the canal was but assumed it must be a turning point for boats.  We continued along the path and got into a very creepy wood.  The water's edge came to an end and there was no canal leading from it.  For a brief moment we glanced at each other and wondered what to do and then we continued straight on the path, mainly because we saw a family walking in that direction.

 

Eventually we came out of the woods by Holden Lane school and I remembered vaguely that the school was somewhere near Milton, so we couldn't be too far away.  However, instead of continuing on the path that would have led to Redhills Road and back to the club, we turned right on the road and ended up at the bottom of Milton Road.  Neither of us could believe it. Some shortcut this was!! I asked Kath to remind me (and her) never to trust me picking a shortcut again.

 

From that point we were trapped, we had two choices; either run up Milton Road or go back to Leek New Road, only a few yards further than we were when we left it earlier.  I don't know about Kath but I wasn't keen on going back when I was soaking wet, hungry and by now it was completely dark, so we ended up trying to run up Milton Road.  Even though it was raining, it was still fairly warm and it didn't take long running up a bank like that before I got too hot.  I think we got about 2/3 of the way up and then we had to walk the rest.  We weren't too bothered as we have managed it before and weren't supposed to be running it today anyway.

 

Now we were back on the original track, no better off but luckily no worse either.   I was determined to run up Bartholomew Street all the way, and we did it but only just.  Hurrah, at least something goes right :-) The rest of the way was down bank and presented no problem at all.  We clocked the 5 miles just before we got back to the club.

Day 65

Week 10, Tuesday 18th September

 

It was nice to see an excellent turnout at the club tonight.  I was a little nervous about this run and wondered what it will be like to run again.  Luckily it was just a short, slow 4 miles we needed to do and we decided to keep it flat along the canal.  We ran for two miles towards Hanley and back again.  I was very happy to note that I had no more problems.

Day 63

Week  9,  Sunday 16th September

 

Today's long run was for 12 miles and, despite having had some health problems last week, I still foolishly mapped a tough one.

 

We started off at Morrisons on Festival Park. From there we ran to Bashford and up the bank to Newcastle and along Barracks Road.  We went down the subway to avoid the roundabout and continued up Clayton Road and then down Clayton Lane.  By this time it felt like we had run for loads of miles yet actually we'd only done about 6k.

 

We ran on the A34 to Keelings Drive and then to London Road. From there we did a little detour along All Saint's Road, Fletcher Road, Boothen Road, Fleming Road and back to London Road.   Apparently, unless you approach Penkhull New Road from this direction; it won't get recognised as a Category 5 hill.  Since the hill itself won't be any different whichever way you approach it, I wasn't going to be cheated of its significance.

 

Although we didn't actually manage it all the way up this week either; we did get quite a bit further than last week and almost made it to the top.  I found myself leaning forward too much going uphill and the pain that I've had since the last long run got somewhat worse.  Nevertheless, we still carried on down Honeywall, along Church Street, Kingsway and Glebe Street to reach Leek Road.

 

As we were approaching Cromer road I was getting increasingly worried about my pain.  I didn't know if I could just ignore the pain or if I had done an injury which could jeopardise the rest of the training for Congleton half.  Half-way up Cromer the decision was taken out of my hand as I really couldn't face running anymore in fact just even walking was almost unbearable.  We had ran for just over 10 miles but we still walked the rest of the course back to Festival Park.

 

I felt very disappointed and guilty that I'd made Kath having to cut her run short too but she reminded me that, not only had we already done lots of hills today, we had run up Cromer and Keelings Road dozens and dozens of time before, so we didn't need that bit.

 

Next day, I was still ill and had to stay off work.  The pain was so bad that it made me nauseous and sick.  I had never experienced anything like it.  I managed to see the doctor and she told me that I haven't got an injury and I'm OK to continue training but I need to go on a course of pain killers and anti-inflammatories because I'm very bruised inside.  What a relief! We are still on track for Congleton.

Day 60

Thursday 13th September

 

Another 5 Mile run and Kath is on night shift and Sam is still on holiday but luckily Charlotte offered for me to run with her group and make up the distance to 5 miles.We all set of together and I learnt something new. I didn't know that the path opposite the Trent Club leads down to the canal path so there is no need to start off up bank to get to the canal, as I thought.

 

Soon the group split into two halves and I ran with Charlotte in the first group.  Helen was in charge of the route so it was very nice to just run on a mystery tour and not having to concentrate on where we were going or whether we were going to get lost. We continued on the canal path until we reached Cromer Road where we ran a loop and then back again whilst we were waiting for the other half of the group to catch us up.

 

Then we continued down to Leek Road and along there back to Birches Head Lane.  This is where the rest of the group decided to finish after 3 miles so Charlotte and I went back to the canal and ran to Millrise road and back.  This second part of the run seemed faster than the first and very enjoyable.  It was nice to finally see Charlotte running so well again after her injury in June.  We sprinted the last bit back to base and that felt exhilarating.  Looking forward to doing that again some time. :-)

Day 58

Week 9, Tuesday 11th of September

Normally on weekdays the longer run is on a Tuesday and the shorter one on a Thursday but luckily for us, for some reason, that order has been switched the other way around. That meant that our run on Tuesday was only for 4 miles but of course those 4 miles had to be tough.

This was one of the routes that I did myself. It seemed like a good route when you sit at home mapping it on a computer but when it comes to run, particularly just a few hours after we had completed our very wet 11 mile run; it was a bad idea.

We started off OK, running along Leek Road to Lime Kiln Bank but that's when it begun to get tough. Neither of us has ever ran all the way from the bottom of Lime Kiln to the top of Potters Way and I must admit, I'm not in a hurry to do it again. It was tough, very tough. When we eventually got up there, we turned right and had to climb up even further.

Just where Potters Way plateaus off, we accidentally went off course and ended up doing a slight short cut to Town Road. We decided that it didn't really matter as the route we were doing was more than 4 miles anyway. We ran past Birches Head Road and was looking for Kelvin Avenue. However, we never saw it so we ended up at the bottom of Barthomley Road where we carried on straight on. At the end of the road, we saw Kelvin Avenue. It did exist but it changed name to something else before it reached Hanley Road and that's why we didn't know where to go.

We joined on to Chorlton Road and turned left on to Birches Head Road. I put this detour in so that the run would be at least 4 miles rather than being a bit short. That's just annoying if you want a particular distance and then you have to make it up by running back on yourself.

It was lovely running down bank. We caught up with quite a few of the other Trotters as well, so it was nice all of us arriving round about the same time.

Day 57

Week 9, Monday 10th of September

I post-poned yesterday's 11 mile run until today. Kath is back of holiday and I was very pleased to run with her. I knew she will have a lot to talk about, so what better way to do it but a long run.

The route I had mapped was a challenging one and I hoped it wasn't too challenging. We started off in Burslem, as usual, but instead of running down hill as we normally do, we went up hill on Moorland Road to Smallthorne. We went virtually in a backward order to how we have done in the past and ended up running down Lime Kiln Bank to Leek Road and then to Stoke.

I had forgotten about the road works on Glebe Street but luckily the road was still passable to pedestrians. It was slightly unnerving coming across a big bunch of lads on bikes and some of them followed us for a while and shouted stuff that I couldn't hear, but probably wouldn't want to anyway. To avoid them, we ran in the middle of the road since the road was closed, that gave the impression we were in a race and I think subconciously I must have picked up speed because later I found out that from that point to the end of next mile, we did our fastest lap in just over 11 minutes.

We continued along Kingsway, Church Street, London Road to Penkhull New Road. I made two mistakes, first of all I did the cardinal sin of looking at the bank and secondly I continued at the fast pace up the bank. Unsurprisingly, it didn't take long before I ran out of breath and had to resourt to walking. I was immensly disappointed because having ran up Milton Road, I thought Penkhull New Road as well would be doable. I didn't realise at the time that we had attempted to run it far too fast because I still have no concept of speed and this is something that will worry me for half-marathon running.

We walked up to the top of the bank and continued with the plan by running down Honeywall to Shelton New Road and then on to North Street. Half-way along there, the daylight disappeared and then the heavens opened. It absolutely bucketed down on us and we were soaked through within a couple of minutes. Never has running been as tough as this before. Our shoes were so wet that it felt like each one of them weighed an extra pound on top of their normal weight. My 'showerproof' jacke was soaked and sticking to my skin. So much for it protecting us from rain - ha.

We ran upbank along Shelton old Road to Etruria Vale Road. By now it was as dark as it could be but at least it had stopped raining. I guess the powers at be thought it was pointless to rain now as we couldn't possibly get any wetter. It would be more fun to wait until we dried somewhat and soak us again later.

We got through to Festival park and ran in front of the shops towards Greyhound way. Neither of us had ever tried to run up there but we both said we fancied trying it to see if we could. Now was our perfect chance at 9 and a half miles to see what it was to run a relatively massive bank even though it didn't quite have a category 5 steepness.

I really can't say that we 'flew' up the bank, but I was pleased that we managed it with comparative ease after the disaster at Penkhull. Later it turned out that this lap was the slowest one we did, but who cares, at least we got up it and were still running. I wasn't even bothered that it started raining again, not as heavy as before but still plenty wet enough.

It was quite obvious that we were tired when we ran the last bit to Burslem. We were both very quiet. I was thinking about the Congleton half and wondered how I would cope with it if the weather turned out to be like it had been tonight. I guess, I would just have to get on with it and get it done as I would never forgive myself, if I didn't make it.

Finally, we heard Endomondo say the most beautiful thing she ever has before. Eleven miles in whatever time it was, neither of us cared. We walked up the last bit up Hamil Road and decided beforehand that we were doing the stretches at home, because all either of us could think of was that wonderful, hot shower and warm, fluffy towels. Stuff the stretches!

 

Day 53

Week 8, Thursday 6th of September

Today's run should be 4 Miles and I was hoping that it might be a little easier to find someone to run with and it was.  I was hoping that I would be OK running with Liz S, Jo and Bobby, although they are all faster than me, Liz had told me she hasn't been running much. OMG, was I wrong.

We set off on a slight incline at a pace of about 10.05 minutes to the mile, which I could just about keep up with.  Then we turned right at Milton crossroads and begun climbing a massive hill, it just went on and on, all up hill.  Bobby and Jo were well ahead of me and Liz and just as we thought we got to the top, we turned left and climbed yet another hill.  By now, I was seriously struggling and Liz caught up with me.  I wasn't even interested in enjoying the spectacular view from up here.  All I could think of is the wonderful downhill that must inevitably follow all these banks.

Eventually, we started going downhill but it didn't really get any easier as now the speed had gone up again.  We got on to the canal, which was flat of course but, challenging from the nettles, cyclists, dog poo and insects, so no easy run down there either. 

After a slight detour up Leek New Road and down Millrise road, we got back on the canal and I was disorientated.  I could not remember for the life of me what the bridge at Birches Head looked like and thought every bridge we got to was the last one.  I even got up to look at one, totally convinced that it was the right one, but still was not.  I knew I had gone past the 4 Mile mark and wondered if I should walk.  The thought of being left on the canal on my own soon got rid of that thought and I plodded on with the others.

When we eventually got back to the correct bridge, it turned out that we had done 5 miles.  Now that I was back, I was glad that I'd done it as I wasn't going to be able to do park run this week.

Day 51

Week 8 Tuesday 4th of September

 

Today's was the day that we, as in Potters Trotters, moved to new premises.  I had heard a lot of comments from members about the car park but I was still confident that it wouldn't be a problem.  Then I arrived at the club and just about managed to get in the last space available and wondered how the others were going to go on.  I was told that apparently there are more spaces available at the back, but I didn't find out how to get there.  It turned out that there was a function on which is why the car park was full and we wouldn't have any problems in future.

 

My run was supposed to be for 5 miles and although I had mapped a gentle route ready, I still didn't manage to persuade anyone to run with me and I took it very personally, thinking I will have to go home since nobody wanted to run with me.

 

Luckily, just as I was walking back to the car Liz came to my rescue and offered to run 4 miles with me on the canal.  It wasn't ideal but it was better than going home, so I jumped at the chance.  I always like talking to Liz anyway and it was an honour to run with her, especially since I don't get to see much of her.

 

We had agreed that we would run along the canal towards Milton and Baddeley Green until we get to the bridge for Leek New Road and then we would get on the road and run back.  When I was mapping the routes, I did a canal route to Leek New Road but because MMR doesn't recognise the canal path as a road, I had to do it manually, point for point.  Doing it this way made it to be 1.36 miles to Leek New Road. 

 

However, when Liz and I were running, we went under, what I thought was Millrise Road, and then the canal just seemed to go on and on and I was beginning to think something was wrong, that we had missed the bridge or something but Liz assured me that we hadn't as she had run along here many times before.

 

Eventually, we got off on to a gravelled track, after Endomondo had told us that we had done 3 miles.  Now, I know that of course Endomondo cannot be trusted but could she really double the distance? Well, it soon came to light that, the bridge that I thought was Millrise Road, was in fact, Leek New Road and we had done a massive loop on the other side of the road and now got back to it further up at Stockton Brook.  I hadn't expected that!

 

We ran back along the road, but instead of 4 miles it now turned out to be 5 miles anyway.  I felt dead guilty for making Liz run further than she wanted but she said she was OK with it, probably fitter than she thought.

Day 49

Week 7, Sunday 2nd September

 

Well, that's the end of week 7, those weeks are just flying by.  This week's long run was for 10 miles.  Sam and I ran it on our own as Kath is still on holiday.

 

We started from Sainsbury's in Stoke and ran from there along Kingsway to Glebe street and on to the canal.  It seemed a pleasant way to start the longest run that either of us had ever done before. We continued along the canal until we reached Sideway, got off there, over the bridge and up past Britannia on to Trentham Lakes.

 

From there we ran along to Longton Road and along New Inn Lane to Hanford.  We crossed the roundabout and ran along the A34 to Harpfield Road.  The run had gone smoothly until now as the weather was in our favour, neither too hot nor too cold.

 

We had been worrying about going up Newcastle Lane as most of the roads leading up to Penkhull are notoriously steep. So, stocked up with marshmallows and glucose tablets we began climbing the hill.  We didn't look at it from the bottom as, from past experience, we were aware of the negative affect that you get from that.  Therefore it took me by surprise when we reached the tool shop which is almost at the top.  My legs must have been tired because, I didn't pick my feet up properly and stubbed my shoe on the ground and nearly went flying.  Oops, that could have been nasty!

 

The rest of the run didn't seem to bad then.  I'm guessing the sugar rush might have helped but it could be also the fact that the Category 5 bank was out of the way and now we were going downhill.  We turned left at Penkhull and then along Princess Road to Hartshill.  Sam asked if we were going back to Sainsbury's but alas no, that would not have worked out at 10 miles.

 

The last mile we had to make up by running along Liverpool Road and then back along Leonora Street but by the time we got to Sainsbury's we still hadn't quite completed and had to carry on to Fletcher Road.

 

It was a tough run but it felt very rewarding to complete it, especially as the hill was at about 7 miles when our legs were tired.  This was exactly the plan because "The Sting In The Tail", Congleton half has a big hill at the end (11th mile, I think).

Day 48

Week 7, Saturday 1st of September

 

Park Run day :-)

 

My favourite day of the week and I was worried that I had woken up to an IBS attack but luckily I was wrong and it turned out to be nothing to worry about.

 

I jogged to the park as usual but I didn't bother to track it as it seems more reliable to copy an old park run than risk getting a rubbish one due to the GPS problems I've been having.

 

My right Achilles had a odd little pull in it and I was wondering whether I should take it easy today in case I could be risking injury so I went to start a little further back than usual. The run took off, I went along with it at a better pace, not too fast but not too slow either.  It didn't really matter if I didn't get my pb today as being fit and able for Congleton is far more important.

 

I overtook a few runners and one girl overtook me but she then slowed down for the banks so I overtook her again.  I recognised her and knew that she is usually much faster than me so guessed she was also taking it easy for some reason.

 

The run was as enjoyable as it ever could be.  It felt like I was going fast but I wasn't straining anything.  Rachel kept coming up closer at time so I would automatically speed up to keep her at bay.  I don't know if she was trying to catch me up but I was determined that I wasn't letting her past again and that's how we ran all throughout the run.

 

I finished with an exhilarating sprint with Rachel just seconds behind me.  Wow, it felt more fantastic than ever.  I made a mental note to thank Liz Tideswell for introducing me to parkrun next time I see her. 

 

When my results text came through I was astonished to have beaten my pb by 42 seconds even though I hadn't particularly tried to.  How amazing is that?

Day 46

Week 7, Thursday 30th August

 

Today I lost both of my running buddies as Sam was working late.  Luckily it was just a 3 mile run so I decided to join Charlotte, Mandy and the two Annes as they also were doing just 3 miles.

 

Not much to say about the run.  We ran along the canal towards Birches Head for about a mile and then ran back again.  I ran up Cromer road and that made it up to the required 3 miles.

 

Day 44

Week 7 Tuesday 28th August

 

It's a 5 mile run today so we decided to do the varied 4 mile run and add a mile loop.  With varied I mean the run is part canal and part road.  We've done it quite a few times before but not in the last few weeks.

 

Since Kath has deserted us and gone on holiday to Turkey for two weeks; Sam and I ran on our own.  As usually, we had a problem finding a comfortable pace and set off far too fast tostart with. I was a little worried about the speed we took off but it seemed to sort itself out and we managed to complete run without running out of steam.

 

We ran down Limekiln; around to Cromer and then joined the canal from there.  We continued along the canal towards Etruria until we reached Shelton New Road.  From there were ran down to Stoke Station and around to Leek Road until we got back to Lime Kiln again.  We didn't fancy running up Lime Kiln so we ran just a few yards along the main road until we reached 5 miles and then walked back to Northwood.

 

I quite like that run on a nice day which it was today.  It wasn't hot or cold but it was spitting a little at one time and I thought that since I had foolisly left my "don't like the rain" coat in the car; we would get wet but it soon stopped again.

Day 42

Week 6 - Sunday 26th August

 

Todays run is a 9-mile longrun.  We decided to use the same run as the 8-mile one but add another mile to the end.  As the run already had plenty of hills, I thought the best thing was to try to avoid adding anymore, especially at the end of a long run.

 

The first part of the run was quite uneventful and very straight forward.  We had some amusement over Endomondo because the GPS tracker kept going in and out of signal and picking up different satellites from different angles.  Because Endomondo always announces distance out loudly we did have some laughs.  Particulalry when it announced that we had done a mile in 1.57 minutes.  Wow, that's some impressive running, LOL.  At the end it turned out that the tracker said we had done over 14 miles in 1hr 44 minutes.  Ha. ha. Could you guess we've only been running just over 6 months?

 

The first seven miles took us to Smallthorne so from there we went up Bank House Road and back on to High Lane and along there to Green Bank Road. The big down hill from there seemed like a good idea at the time of plotting but when we were actually running it, the bank was not as nice as I thought.  Although we were running as slow as we could and making sure our knees were well bent, the strain was still hurting them quite a lot and I don't have anything wrong with mine.  I was concerned for Sam as she has been experiencing problems with her knees anyway so probably the last thing she needed was a bank like that.  I won't be including that one to our future runs.

 

When we eventually turned left off Green Bank Road, there was a slight incline as we were approaching Dollys Lane.  Under normal circumstances we probably would not even notice it but after 8 and a half miles it seemed like a mountain. We were ever so slightly short of the full 9 miles so we continued down Hamil Road for a bit and then walked back.

 

Luckily Sam has tracked it too so we got some proper run information

 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/215086631