Week One - Day 1

4 miles

Just got back from completing the first part of today’s schedule, my 4 mile run. The day didn’t get off to a good start though, with my alarm not going off and me sleeping in.! LOL – What a start to the training schedule! Consequently, it was too late to go this morning so I went when I got back from work.

It is very hot - would you believe it, England are having a HEATWAVE at the moment – expected to last for most of the week. It’s not ideal running conditions – the heat does strange things to my body - either burning it or dehydrating it at a rate of knots or both - leaving me feeling and looking like a lobster on a slow simmer. Anyway, equipped with a water bottle, sunglasses and determination I set off at an easy pace and kept at that pace all the way round.

The last time I did any sort of distance running in that heat was in September 1999 – I remember the day well…. I had been training all through the summer for a 10 mile road race in September – I did most of my training in the gym on a treadmill or up through the woods where we lived at the time.

The day dawned and my heart sank – it was blisteringly HOT. I stood at the start line, melting. I think there were about 1000 entrants, so it was a fairly big race and full of top class runners or those just happy to get round. After a mile to so I realised that it was going to be an extremely loooonnggg run and went on for another mile or so but felt absolutely drained of energy - the sun was sapping it out of me. Thankfully, some cold showers had been set up and I stopped at one and got a good drenching to cool me down. I was on the point of giving up there and then but feeling slightly revived I decided to carry on – BIG MISTAKE! I stopped at every water station and many kind people had got their hosepipes out to cool us down, but it was still a very hard run.

Thankfully I finished the race, I wish I could remember how long it took me, but it wasn’t as good as I had hoped for but not as bad as I thought it could be. Anyway, not long after finishing I started to feel really ill. Luckily, we only had a short drive home. My stomach was really sore, legs were heavy, head throbbing and I kept going hot and cold and I just felt terrible. On going to the toilet there was blood in my urine! I probably should have called the doctor, but I just went to bed instead. Mercifully, there was no long term injury – except for the fact that it’s taken me 7 years to even consider running another race!