Category Archives: Friends

Wymondham Half with Jayne

5th December, a date I am never likely to forget, The day I got married in 1986, then, funnily enough, the day Geoff dropped his bombshell about leaving in 2019.

So to take my mind off the date my friend Jayne had invited me over to Wymondham for a long run/walk, after 2 days of torrential never-ending rain, with a bit of snow thrown in too I did wonder if we were a little mad.

Luckily when I woke the weather looked bright and clear, perfect running weather in fact.

The roads are a bit more undulating over in Wymondham, I remember running a new years day 10km there in 2018 and vowed never again, although that could have been more to do with seeing the new year in !!

We agreed we would run/walk, no ratio just walk when we wanted to, but amazingly we ran the whole 13 miles, when you are chatting the miles just seem to melt away.

Lovely open countryside, bright blue skies, and good company made it just perfect, after all the rain we only came across one flooded road too.

Nice to be home with no bike to clean, new memories made and thanks to all my amazing friends for their support, I think it’s finally time to stop mourning and start living ……

George Munday Virtual 10K

A message today from a complete stranger made me realize that I had not posted here for a while, and while I am no longer the person I used to be surely I can still manage a blog post or two!

Today should have been The George Munday 10k an event I love, but like everything else this year, it was Cancelled. Instead, they decided to do the run as a Virtual one, meaning you run the distance send them the details and in return, they will send you the medal.

This year I have been running with Maria helping her to recover slowly from injury and this seemed like a good challenge without there being too much pressure.

I remember when Maria could barely walk the parkrun route, more chatting was done than running but with determination, we have worked together and built it up slowly over the months.

The plan today was to run the 10k then go for Sunday lunch but of course, COVID lockdown 2 put paid to our lunch plans. Instead, we did our run in perfect weather conditions then went for a takeaway coffee and enjoyed some of Maria’s homemade chocolate cake to celebrate, all done socially distanced of course.

I think Maria has done an amazing job and our next challenge will be the Ely NYE 10k which is also going to be a Virtual run.

Now we wait for our Medals to arrive.

 

 

Ely 100 miles

A 100-mile ride, nothing to get very excited about especially if you have done the Audax RRty but for me, this was a huge milestone, because at the beginning of the year I had seriously thought about never riding my bike again !!

In fact, if COVID and lockdown had not happened I think I would have stopped riding my bike, but because I was forced into having a break I soon realized just how much I missed it

I started back with a few short Solo rides, which did seem strange as I was used to big miles with company, luckily it wasn’t long before I could start getting back out with my Girlfriends.

We slowly started building up our miles, with that our confidence grew too, it was also amazing to see how different people treated us out on the road when it was just us 3 females and not a huge cycling group, we certainly seem to get a lot more respect.

Our rides became more about having fun, taking photos, and talking to the locals in many of the villages we pass through, rather than speed.

Anyway, we decided our aim, for now, would be a 100-mile ride, so we found a route we really liked, thanks to one of our fellow TTT riders, watched the weather and picked our day and what a fabulous day it was.

The highlights had to be stopping in Welney and talking to a local couple as we watched all the fish in the river, riding through Pymoor and seeing all the Scarecrows, riding up the hill at little Downham, the hill I run up on the Ely New years eve 10km, no Scottish piper at the top this time though! sadly seeing the burnt down Corker’s crisp warehouse. Lunch was by the river in Ely then an excellent Tea stop at Denver windmill.

Ely 100 miler.…. A fantastic fun happy memory for 2020.

George Munday 10k and St Neots Half Marathon

With my Audax challenge over and eager to pick up my running again and knowing it wouldn’t be long before Geoff went off on his travels, I started to fill my diary with running events.

As predicted and with little notice, Geoff left for Bangkok on 29th October just as I started a week’s holiday! Luckily for me, I had a weekend booked at Sheringham Youth hostel with Gina and Jayne, the plan was to run/walk the 26-mile LDWA Poppy line route, our first attempt at this distance and although the weather was not great and there was lots of mud we did it and had lots of fun along the way. The plan is to progress until we can comfortable do 30 miles of run/walking.

The following weekend on 10th November Gina and I met up again to run the George Munday 10k, my first running event since March. I love this well organized friendly event, its very touching with the RAF officer laying the poppy wreath and 2 mins silence before the start of the race. It was also great to see so many of my running friends at this event, it made me realize how much I had missed my running while dedicating my time to  Audaxing.

At around 4 miles a man ran up to the girl next to me and I heard him say “keep this up and you will be under the hour” which did surprise me, so I then had a little chat with Haley and much to my amazement, I finished  in 58.28 my best 10k time for over 2 years, it also felt good to be pain-free, it has taken over 18 months to recover from my bike fall on black ice, something I hope not to repeat.

Next, it was St Neots Half marathon on 17th November, I have run this event twice before, the last time in 2017 when I tripped on a loose drain cover and broke my elbow, although now pain-free I am still unable to straighten my arm. When I arrived in St Neots to register and meet up with Jayne, Gina, and Linda it was raining and cold. I had trouble deciding what to wear and at the very last min took my base layer off deciding a t-shirt would be enough, I had new skins on too which although very comfortable didn’t have a waistband pocket for my Gel, which I decided to do without.

By the time 10 am came, the rain had stopped and with no wind, it was a perfect running day. I had forgotten how undulating this course was, mile 9 to 10 felt like running through treacle, that’s when I wished I had taken my Gel at mile 6! The marshalls and supporters out on the course were great, it’s always good to hear your name being called out, I even chatted to a guy from Northampton who was just about to move to Wellingborough, which is where I was born.

Much to my delight, I finished in 2.14.44 although I never really noticed the downhill finish !! After the run we went to Weatherspoons for Lunch, steak egg and chips finished the day off perfectly and maybe with a bit more training I will get a better time at Cambridge Half.

Daffodil Dawdle (31st March 2019 )

As we put the clocks forward and jumped into summer it was time for the first of my run/walk events with my friend Gina, the LDWA Daffodil Dawdle, a circular scenic route along the Waveney valley, starting from Stradbroke.

Gina and I used to walk these 18-mile challenges, but as we saw more and more people running or run-walking we got the urge to try that ourselves.

The day started well as I bumped into a friend on my way to registration, it’s always a delight to see the amazing Sandie, who will be doing her own challenge for the Air Ambulance in July. Race to the Stones, a 100km walk along the Ridgeway.

By 8.30 after a quick cup of tea, a loo visit and a chat with Jayne who was in the kitchen, as usual, we set off on our way.

The challenging part is usually following the route because it is not marked out, you have to follow a written route sheet so it can be easy to miss your place when chatting too much !!. In the old days, a GPX file was not available but luckily for us, they now include one which certainly helps.

We had no set plan just run when we wanted and walk when we wanted, depending on the terrain, it’s amazing how quickly time passes when you are having fun, we seemed to reach the first checkpoint in no time at all.

The checkpoints and food are amazing on these events, you can easily linger far too long, but after a quick drink and some lovely homemade snacks we set off for checkpoint 2 promising ourselves a longer stop then.

Sandie was sticking to a training plan on this event and we kept playing cat and mouse with her along the route, which was always encouraging.

Arriving at checkpoint 2 feeling slightly hungry we were not disappointed with the food, after a picnic lunch, loo visit and a chat with Paul from Cambridge Rambling club we set off feeling happy knowing we only had approx 5 miles to do.

We had a good strong finish and arrived back in Stradbroke with nice big smiles,4 hours and 46 mins after leaving (moving time was 4 hours 14 mins.)

As usual, the finish food did not disappoint, homemade soup followed by crumble and custard, I was delighted to see Cathryn from Cambridge too so we had a quick catch up before we all departed for home.

Maybe Gina and I will attempt the 26 miles next year !!!!

It’s been a while

It’s been a while since I last posted here, 4 months in fact which is far too long.

I have had lots to say but with things going on with my white blood cells, a sore shoulder and back mixed together with menopausal stuff well truthfully I often didn’t want to talk to anyone let alone write my blog

Things are looking up now, my white blood cells are behaving, my shoulder and back improving by the week and the hot flushes that I thought might kill me, seem to be under control with a magic pill from the Doctor!

During all this time I have done some wonderful things with Geoff and my friends ……

I managed to Run the Cambridge half with hardly any training and was very happy with my time

After the long cold winter months I finally got out to do my first Audax of the year with Geoff, it was, in fact, my longest ride to date 142 miles, a permanent route called the Pork Pie and very hilly might I add.

This year we did the Daffodil Dawdle as a run/walk which was amazing we covered the 18 miles in 6 hours about 2 hours quicker than when we just walk

Then I had an awesome week in Mallorca with Geoff and friends from SWNC, I had been worried I would not be able to do the planned rides which included Pug Major, due to my back, but with a few painkillers I achieved all I set out to do

Straight back from Mallorca to run the GEAR 10k an amazing event with all the ladybirds and my Norwich running friends, I was a little slower due to my back but I did it.

Then to celebrate Linda’s birthday we had Chase the Train 10km my back was quite sore for this and if I am honest I hated the first 3/4 miles on a narrow single track but when we switched over to the opposite side of the track the path widened and I enjoyed the final 5 miles but what really made this run special was the ride back to Aylsham on the tiny steam train

Another 200 km Audax enjoyed with Geoff from Long Melford, I really enjoy these longer rides.

And then just for fun, I met up with my lovely Norwich running friends at Debden winery for the wine run, 6 wine tasting stops around a 10 km mainly off road run. I would estimate we drank 30 shots of wine, after crossing the finish line you received a huge glass of wine with your medal, we then enjoyed a really fun happy afternoon with a BBQ and yes you guessed wine !!

I am still having problems with my back when I run but it is much improved, I can only hope it keeps improving so I can start training for Wissey half soon as I miss my running so much …….

Valentines 10K

Since having my bike fall on black ice I have been unable to do much running, so training for my half marathon has not gone as planned.

I have kept my legs turning with an occasional couple of miles and Parkrun but then I decided if I had any chance of running the valentines 10k and half marathon I needed to give my back a proper rest and hope my legs would just remember how to run.

I also booked in for some treatment with Jane at Free your Body Therapy.

The first test for my back came on the 18th of February when in perfect weather conditions, I met up with my Norwich running friends for the Valentines 10k, we decided to run together take it steady and have a chatty enjoyable run and that is just what we did.

I was happy with the results, my time was 1.05 and my back just ached slightly.

We then went and enjoyed a Delicious Sunday lunch at The Marlingford Bell where many other exciting adventures were discussed.

Apart from Parkrun, I have now had another 2 weeks rest and a few more treatments from Jane, tomorrow she is taping me up and I hope I will be able to get around the Cambridge Half Marathon…..  legs, back and weather allowing !!!

Hello 2018

For the past few years I have ended the year by doing the Ely 10k a run I really enjoy but this year I decided to have a change and start the year with a run, the Wymondham 10k

After a late night seeing the New Year in, I was up early with Geoff so we could get over to Wymondham to meet up with my running friends. It was great to see everyone but I was certainly not feeling my best after overindulging the night before. My legs didn’t seem to want to work either, 5 hours sleep obviously is not enough.

The 10k felt really hard especially with the few nice hills on the route but I did it, then enjoyed catching up with my friends over a lovely lunch where there was much fun and laughs.

So 2018 started well with a nice bit of bling but would I do it again, maybe not!

Unfortunately a few days later on a TTT ride, after hitting some black ice which was totally unexpected, I came off my bike along with 4 others. Luckily none of us was badly hurt and we all managed to cycle home.

Since then I have been suffering from a very stiff and achy lower back, so no running or biking but hopefully I shall soon be feeling 100% fit again as I have many exciting things planned including ……

Valentines 10k, Cambridge Half, LDWA Daffodil Dawdle, Biking in Mallorca, GEAR 10k and Nottingham 10k.

and I need to get training !!!