I can think of no other explanation for the sudden increase in my pace for the same 9.2 mile run after a week of doing nothing.
I missed my Saturday morning long run because I woke up with a proper headache and really didn't fancy it. I also felt totally justified in having a break and a rest after months of training.
However, by Saturday night, when I realised I had absolutely none of the happy feelings that usually accompany thinking about running, I began to worry about whether my switch had just flipped to off at the worst possible time.
Even when I was buying a new running bra and some proper fitting running pants, I didn't feel the now customary pride and happiness of being a runner. This should have been a moment worthy of acknowledgement, because I've finally decided to buy proper kit, and not just make do with my old stuff. This means I am committed to running. My old running bra has been threatening to fall apart for the last few weeks, having survived 5 years, including several runs with the high pressure of 15 stone of bouncing boobs inside it. The tracky bottoms I've been in are also 5 years old - bought before my first ever 5k race, and largely un-fit-in-able until July this year, when I could only just squeeze into them... and on my first run in them the drawstring at the waist carved cuts into my stomach which have scarred. They needed hitching up on my last long run. But this was just .... stuff. I was not excited. Meanwhile, Jem was in raptures of happiness at buying her kit - tights and tops - because she's finally had the all clear to get back to training after her knee injury.
The last few days, while I've been waiting until my shift pattern allowed me to get out for a long one, have been a little anxious. What if I got to this morning and just felt... nothing? What if the urge had left me? I've only got to make it through the last 10k at the Abbey Dash on Sunday, and I'll have done what I set out to do. But what if I can't be bothered?
I allowed myself to wake up without an alarm this morning, and took my time getting ready. I was still fairly unsure as I pulled on my tight new shorts, and figured out there are no baggy side pockets for my keys and phone in these. Through my warm up, I still didn't feel like I was really going to go out. I did some last stretches out in the backyard, laced my back door key to my trainer, and ended up putting my phone in the little tiny pocket sewn above my right buttock. And I still didn't really know what I was going to do as I set off, but I knew as soon as I cleared the end of the street and saw a bright yellow Sun low on the horizon, rising into a clear cold white and blue sky that this was a good day to run.
I had the Runkeeper app on my phone and it was giving me readings every 5 mins, and it confirmed my suspicion that I'd set off a a fair old lick, much faster than I normally start out at - but I realised that although my breathing was fast, I wasn't uncomfortable, so I decided to keep it up as long as I could. I'd read a blog on myfitnesspal about running form - the correct positions to look for and how to get more out of your muscles - so I set my thumbs into the Fonz position, and swung my hands "from nip to hip", leaning slightly forward and throwing my feet out underneath my hands. And that took me all the way down the canal path. At the 30minute mark, the voice readout came up from my back pocket, and I was at the 5k mark. I was amazed, and grinning (I'm usually a 33-34 min 5k). The workmen who are rebuilding lock number 5 and have greeted me politely all week on my morning walks, shouted Hello to me as I passed, and I Morninged them back, and then when I heard the 45 mins call, I was almost at the canal basin, my half-way mark on this route - 4.56miles. The readouts kept telling me I was averaging 9mins and between 7 and 50 seconds per mile. That's far faster than usual. At the bridge, I turned on my heel and decided to see just how fast my 10k would be. With the Sun still low and rising behind me now, my long shadow was lurching slightly lopsidedly, infront of me and to my right as I turned the bend of the canal, and I noticed that the curve of my bum was totally ruined by the square phone shape - the first time I've ever noticed or been bothered about what I might look like on a run, and this thought kept me going for a while as I followed the shadow up the path. The 1hour readout came just as I got above the goit on the river, and it told me I had done 6.1 miles, so I pegged it (Yorkshire for ran as fast as I could) to the Kirkstall marina bridge, knowing my 10k would be about 61 minutes. It was - 4 minutes faster than at Scarborough. With a massive chuffed grin, I let myself relax to a comfortable jog, and at the 65 mins readout, the app voice told me I was still averaging 9mins 55secs per mile overall.
THAT last hill was hard, as it always is, but by that stage I was running on pure pride. When I turned the last corner into the back street I found 2 of my neighbours having a morning natter, and they yelled "Morning Caroline!'" to me as I wrestled the phone out of my back pocket to press stop on the app outside my back gate. I had a good catch up with them both (Yes, thank you! I have lost weight, and I feel great!) as I did a few stretches and warm down exercises. The screen said 1hour, 32mins, 50secs, 9.18 miles, 1145cals, average pace 10.07mph (but this changes when you upload it to the site, and when I checked the route, it thinks I've done something impossible and taken a weird detour along the canal basin, so I'll stick with what was on the phone when I got back).
I am not only very relieved that the switch hasn't flicked, and proud of myself for knocking so much time off, and now determined to do my 10 mile run before the end of November, with certain knowledge that I can not only do it, but do it well, but I am really really REALLY looking forward to Sunday morning and the Abbey Dash 10k. I ran on the route, but inside out, last week, starting from home, all the way to the Art Gallery and back, which is exactly 8 miles. I had been worried about the hill up from Kirkstall Road/ Wellington Street, to Burley Road/Headrow, but in practice, it's dead easy! I can't wait to be lined up at the Town Hall ready to go. And it's only 10k!
But the best thing will be passing the finish line, having finished the race, hopefully inside 64mins, and having completed my 5 race challenge. If all goes well, my parents, my brother, sister-in-law and nephews, and Jem will all be there to see me come in, and I have every expectation of bursting into happy, proud tears.
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