Hottest day of the year?

Today is meant to be the hottest day of the year but it certainly isn't where I'm standing.  Up in the not so sunny depths of South Yorkshire the sun seems to have taken a holiday which wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact then everyone who emails me today is based in London and asking if I'm enjoying the sun.

Totally unfair !!

Of course the weather was bound to take a turn for the worse this week, why would it stay sunny when the Tour De France is set to head through town?  Instead of seeing Yorkshire as it's beautiful best, the rest of the world is going to see a drizzly grey countryside that isn't very appealing to anyone.  To be fair though these days that is what Yorkshire is like the majority of the time so maybe if it was sunny we'd be in trouble for false advertising to any future visitors.

One good thing about it being not hot though is that its easier to run when it's cooler.  I've decided to just work on sustaining the 10 minutes I can now run easily and then slowly build on that - today I pushed it to 11minutes and 16seconds.   And believe me those extra 16 seconds count, they were the hardest seconds of the whole run :)

Five reasons to run outdoors

1.  The Colours

It's great to see the fields change colour as the seasons pass.
Where I've started walk running now, the fields are full of corn and poppies have started growing - the little glimpses of red are really heartwarming (I love poppies!)

2.  Finding Secret paths

Okay to it's probably not really secret as there is a big public footpath sign right at the very top but as I worked my way down this tree tunnel, it was so quiet and I really felt like I was the first one to wander down in ages.   And the little girl in me really thought if there was ever a time to find a fairy then this place would be it!





3.  The views

I found a field full of blue flowers today which really surprised me as I'm used to seeing the yellow and green of corn and rapeseed - the view was wonderful and so unexpected.





4.  Time alone to work out any issues

I was in a really bad mood when I set off on my route this afternoon but an hour away from my desk (and my husband who put me in the bad mood) and I was great again.  I stomped out my warm up walk and then by the time I found my secret path and my lovely field of poppies I felt like I could breathe again.  You can't feel mad at anything when you feel like you're the only person enjoying such wonderful views.

5. The health benefits

I guess that's the main reason for running for most people - myself included - but it's fab when this comes bottom of your list as you know you've really enjoyed your time outdoors that day and you're more likely to keep running in the future.

Running for eight minutes - TWICE!

I made sure I had a good nights sleep last night so I'd feel good and ready to run this morning, I was actually looking forward it which is an amazement in itself.

Like yesterday I went for a long walk again away from home so that when I actually started running I'd be heading back towards the house and this really does work.  I wasn't worried about anything, wasn't thinking about anything other than enjoying my run and enjoy it I did.

That was 2 x 8 minute bursts of run with a 5 minute walk in the middle and it was great.

The feeling of coming home and kicking my trainers off was even greater though :)

Starting again for the Nth time!

To be strictly accurate I have never actually stopped running altogether but instead of the 3 runs a week I promised myself and was sticking to initially, I dropped to only 1 run a week which even I admit is just rubbish.

Checking my run history on runtastic just now shows I did 12 runs in January, 11 runs in February, 15 runs in March, only 9 runs in April and a shameful 4 runs in May :(

Today was good though and I feel positive again.

I have realised that one of my biggest stumbling blocks (other than being unable to run uphill while living in a very hilly area) is that I HATE running away from my house.  So for example if I'm running in a circular route and there is a short cut back to my house, then all I'm thinking about as soon as I set off is whether or not I should take that short cut. Then on the off chance I don't take the short cut, instead of feeling proud of myself I just feel terrible thinking of how far I'm running away from my house (daft I know but I can't help it)

So today rather than just the usual 5minute warm up walk expected on the couch to 5k plan I walked for 15minutes taking me much further away from home so then all my runs could be towards my house and then last run would be on a gentle slope so even less pressure.

And so I did week 5, run 1 which is 3 x  minute bursts with 2 x 3 minute walks in between.
That covered 2.3km in 24minutes which while slow is good for me so I'm happy again.

Now I just have to keep that up again and with a bit of luck, come August when I head off on holiday I'll be taking my trainers with me and running next to the sea which has been one of my dreams for a long time :)

My mile for Sport Relief

If I'd been organised I might have arranged to do this properly and actually register at a formal event and even get sponsors as that's the whole point unfortunately I'm not organised.

When I set off this afternoon I'd not even thought about Sport Relief to be honest with you, I just wanted to get this week 6 run 2, finally over and done with.  I got so far into my route and ended up on the street where my daughter's school is and I remembered that she and her school mates were all doing a Sport Relief Mile today though and that spurred me on and kept me going.  They're going to be having a great time as they can do their mile as a three legged walk, or a wheelbarrow walk with a friend, I was red faced and panting but if they could do it then so could I.

And I did !!

This is my actual route but not strictly accurate as the time includes my warm up walk but the GPS didn't pick up until I'd actually started running, and I stopped it at my cool down walk - which is why the loop isn't closed as it normally would be (I haven't magically learnt how to teleport to a starting point from my house)

So basically I ran 2.6k in 30minutes (that's a mile and a half but I did have the 3minute walk in the middle too) and look at all the lovely red (fast) bits on my map :)

So you can't sponsor me but you can still donate to Sport Relief or if you'd like to sponsor Emma for her mile, drop me an email!

Week 6, run 2 take 3

Unfortunately it wasn't a case of third time lucky :(

This was has me beat up to now and it doesn't make sense after being able to run 20 minutes non stop why 2 x 10 minutes with a 3min walk inbetween should be so hard..?  The first ten minute run is actually okay (surprisingly so actually) but that second ten minute seems impossible right now.

I blogged about the first attempt in my 'running in my view' post.  I tried again on Tuesday, managed 6 minutes of the last ten and then ran out of road - I know I could have (should have!) turned round and added a loop on for the sake of 4minutes but I just couldn't bring myself to think of that.  Tried again today and in my defence it was incredibly windy, I was okay for the first ten minutes, then turned a corner, the wind hit and it was just too tempting to take the short cut home again.  I just don't seem to have the determination I want / need to crack this this week.

To put a positive spin on this though, those 3 attempts have covered 10k in total, though not all running and according to runtastic have burnt 1,300 calories so that is a day of free food!

I'll try again at the weekend - fingers crossed for me please!

Running in my view

Odd title but it does say what I mean.  Rather than just enjoy the view from my window on Saturday morning I actually got up, got my husband to drop me off at Wentworth and ran home through the view that I usually just enjoy from my bedroom window.

So I set off at Wentworth Woodhouse.  On a clear day I can see this big house from my attic window and these lovely views are the main reason we actually bought our house back in 2011.

It was a lovely sunny day and there were quite a few people out enjoying the peace and quiet, later in the year this is a really busy path with lots of families heading up and down, enjoying picnics at Greasbrough dams and there are a number of geocaches hidden around the area too - though I've only managed to find one!

The problem with running along such a lovely route is that it is too tempting to stop and take photos, to try and capture the lovely stillness that you can feel as you wander along.  And so I ran my first ten minutes okay but my second ten minutes was kind of hit and miss.  I also don't like running past people with dogs who aren't on leads so that was another reason for stopping occasionally.  I'm sure there are very good dog owners out there but how can someone who can't even keep their dog to heel expect me to trust them when they say "He won't hurt you"?!


So I got photos of all the Wentworth Follies (that I can also see from my bedroom window) but from a different angle and then this lovely photo of the first glimpse of Greasbrough Dam (complete with finger in the top corner - I never said I was good at taking photos just that I like it!)

And here is where I tripped myself up a bit as in my foggy memory I kind of thought my route would hit the road here but actually there is obviously the length of a full dam to run / walk plus a bit more and that's not even including the walk home once I did hit road.

It wasn't a bad morning though - I did my first 2.5k in 24mins and then my second 2.5k in 41mins - in my defence the second half of my route was all uphill and along a busy road with no pavement so I had to keep stopping for cars as I was scared they wouldn't see me pressed into the hedgerow.  Then I rang my husband and he and my daughter met me on the ridge above our house (where I ran last week) for a slow meander home.   It was a lovely start to the weekend and one I definitely will repeat.