Running Mummy: the sequel

I did my first 10k, since I had the girls, last year. It was for Cancer Research and I was very proud of myself for managing to run it and finish it.  It felt good to train for something and then do it. As I read back over that post and the various others that I wrote about the training and run itself I realised that I've come quite far in running terms (I have come nowhere in other terms, like calling my friends more often or being a more patient mother, but I can't do everything).


As it happens I am now training to run a half marathon. I suppose I thought that at some point in my life I'd try and run an actual marathon but I'm not sure I ever will.  I think I'd be happy to do 13 miles.  In fact in a book I was recently given there is a chapter about what type of runner you are. I am not a distance runner, I know this because of something to do with lactates. I don't really know what that means but I like the vaguely scientific excuse I now have for never putting myself through 26 miles.  My friend Jane (who you will know as Northern Mummy with Southern Children) has run lots of marathons. She's like a machine. She has 3 kids and she runs marathons. That's either very impressive or slightly insane.

Anyway the point is that I ran 10k on a running machine last night.  This is not usual for me.  I normally run outside, there's some beautiful countryside around here and there's something wonderful about going out in the bracing cold and running for 10 miles through the fields and lanes and woods.  It's also really bloody hilly which has the effect of making me sound like an old horse that's been put out to pasture nobly trying to run one last time.

But I think all the wheezing as I run uphill must be making my heart stronger.  I hope so anyway. I don't like running in the dark though, outside on my own.  I am, frankly, scared. So I don't do it.  I discovered that the gym in the town near me does a pay as you go thing.  You literally pay for the session rather than a gold plated, lock you in till you die, type of contract.  I like this because I will only ever use a gym to run on the treadmill when I can't go outside.

I have clocked up about 130 miles since I got my nikeplus watch (that looks a bit like one of those ankle bracelets that alcoholics on day release or Lindsey Lohan wears) in September last year.

Lindsey Lohan's ankle complete with breathalyzer bracelet

Nike plus GPS watch or is it a breathalyzer bracelet?

That might not sound like a lot but to me it's a bloody mountain of miles.  I do about two runs a week and I am now (thanks to the gym) able to do three.  I reckon I'll be fit for my half marathon in about four weeks time. I hope so anyway.

I guess the point of this post is to say that it's good to have something to train for. It's focusses the mind.  I never thought I'd run 10k let alone 10 miles. It's these achievements that make me feel like I am making progress.  Exercise is a good preventative medicine. It keeps me sane and keeps me in my skinny jeans, which is almost the same thing after all.