Tuesday 24 January 2012

A belated Happy New Year and update

All my posts seem to start out by saying "it's been so long since I posted last...blah blah" so I won't start this one like that...although the sentiment is there.

Well, a new year and a completely new life for me! I must say it has been very difficult to adjust to how different things are down in Cambridge. I would never have thought that moving a mere few hundred miles away would be so different, but it is. Firstly my running took a bit of a tumble...as I've said before, it'sincredibly flat down here, I have to drive to find hills...and our village is surrounded by 60-limit roads without pavements, so running is a bit of a problem. Nonetheless I have tried to keep at it. I now do 1 or 2 fast runs 4-6miles during the week and drive somewhere to do a longer, hilly run at the weekend. Over the last few weeks my runs have been increasing from 7/8miles by about 2 miles/week. In between I swim, go to the gym and do spin classes.

It doesn't feel like much, but it's the best it can be just now. I certainly feel fit - my arms especially! I've lost a bit of weight and my "easy" pace has significantly increased. The other day I did 5 miles easy-ish...turns out I was about 7min/mile! For some that's slow...for me it's pretty fast! Every cloud, and all that...

Over Christmas I did a lot of runs - notably a few 12-15milers out on WHW and one 18miler across rannoch moor. That was fun. Added to that, my new running partners. At home (Glasgow), my "running friend", G, (he knows who he is) is training for his first marathon so anytime I'm back we tootle off out together. He has done a 1h30 half marathon so I'm sure he will do just fine in his first marathon. More interestingly, though, Derek has started running with me down here! I never thought I'd see the day. I must say, it's great fun, even if the distances have been a bit shorter and paces a bit slower. I think he is realising that cycling isn't the bee-all-and-end-all ;)

So 2011 for me was all about the Fling, the Devil and Loch Ness. 12h5mins, 8hr45mins and 3h35mins...all PBs for me. I also ran the Cateran trail over 2 days, had some fantastic runs in the Lake district and a whole lot more. I'm hoping that 2012 will be just as exciting. I don't want to compare, as I think that being down here will severely hinder my training. I just want to do some races and enjoy them. I never run with a watch anyway (didn't even have one on the Fling...) I have entered the Devil so far, but plan to enter Loch Ness and, if the training seems like it will go ok, the Fling too.

Of course, personally I have issues going on in my life right now. I left a job to go back into academia, and that alone brings problems. We will need to see how that pans out. At the back of my mind I have "back up" plans...for example, I was thinking of entering the Strathearn marathon in June (I love Perthshire) and also (perhaps more daringly!) the Reykjavik marathon in August. We went there for our honeymoon and I've been looking for a reason to go back! But of course, this all depends on what happens, where we end up at that time, etc.

I must say, 2011 was a fantastic year for me...both in terms of running and other areas of my life. 2012 has started off quite difficult so far, with some uncertainty. But things are looking up and hopefully 2012 will be fab too...

Just in case, here's my "this is what it's all about" photo from 2011...

1 comment:

Silke said...

Hello Xtine,
Happy New Year to you too!
Sounds like a bit of difficult time for you just now. So hopefully some of your planned events can cheer you up.
Would be great to see you at the Fling, if not definitely at the Devils!
We just had a fantastic WHW training weekend in Balmaha with over 60 other runners.
Silke