Adam in Runderland

Simple. Go for a run. I found myself with a day booked off work and, with my daughter in nursery, nothing else to do. There was a part of me that considered going back to bed for a couple of hours, but the bright sunshine was calling me outside. It has been some time since I last went running up in the hills around Folkestone and I missed the trails. It had been raining consistently for the last few weeks so I looked forward to some nice muddy sections. My route took me along the seafront towards the east of town. There was a strong, cold easterly wind in my face the whole way. I was wearing my jacket and gloves and for the first time for months was glad to have them.  The tide was out as far as it can go and revealed a huge beach at Sunny Sands. Adjacent to this were thousands of black rocks jutting out into the sea. At the end of the promenade I ran up the steps and then climbed the long hill past the pitch and put course and the Martello Tower. From this point it bec...

I was experiencing mixed emotions in the week before my October marathon. Part of me felt excited to be running the distance again, while another part was apprehensive as I hadn’t run more than half a dozen miles in one go since the end of September. It ended up I was right on both accounts. After a week of heavy rain I was expecting more of the same on the day. Being a trail marathon, I packed trail shoes along with my normal ones, and made sure I had quite a few layers. It was still dark when I left the house at 6am to get there for an early start. The journey took an hour and by the time I arrived it was starting to get light and revealed a beautiful, cold autumn morning. There was a mist hanging over the fields beneath the hills of the north downs and the trees were resplendent with gold and red leaves. I left the car in a field and walked to the check in area. This comprised a table with a register and stack of numbers, two portaloos, a burger van, and a long trellis tabl...

This week I have started introducing speed work into my routine. This is taking the form of fartleks; a fast burst followed by a recovery period repeated numerous times. As the weather has been so wet John, Kevin and I opted for running on the road as opposed to grass laps. There are a couple of Strava segments nearby, each around 0.2 miles in length. We decided to use one as the fast section and the other for the recovery. I was looking forward to pushing myself but had forgotten how hard this type of training is. Long runs hurt, but in a completely different way to speed sessions. On a long one it is fatigue rather than pain that gets to you. By the end of the marathon it is pain too, but for most of the time it is a mental battle to keep going when your body would like to stop. With these sessions the pain is pretty instant and takes the form of stinging lactic acid and lung burn. You can see the end but it seems to take forever to get there despite travelling much faster than ...

It has now been two weeks since my Run The Date Challenge ended. At first it was an enormous relief not to get up every morning and have hours of running ahead of me. The mental and physical rest was welcome. After five days rest I ran again for the first time at parkrun. It was a slow and easy three miles on sore, tired legs. My knees continued to feel weak and painful. The following week I went out a couple of times, just four miles at a time and at a very leisurely pace. On Saturday the 12th I turned up at parkrun again feeling lethargic and not particularly inspired. We set off and I felt comfortable. I had started about five or six rows back which placed around 50 people ahead of me. Soon I began overtaking other runners. After half a mile we reached the top of the hill, turned around a traffic cone and began to descend. By now I was about 20th and still felt relaxed. My breathing was calm and my legs felt surprisingly strong. After a mile I had moved into the top ten without pu...

Date: Monday 30th September Distance: 30 miles Motivational quote: "If it was easy everyone would do it." Sponsor: Anon Song: Nothing Really Matters by Metallica Running partner: John Lawrence, Kevin Whitby and Claire Hart Weather: Fine and dry. Slight wind. Fuel: Weetabix, coffee, banana, double chocolate brownie, veggie burger and chips, flapjack. Route: Crab and Winkle Way from Whitstable to Canterbury; Elham Valley Way from Canterbury to Folkestone. Comments: After Sunday’s horrific conditions I was very relived to see that the wind had calmed and there was no rain as I opened the curtains on Day 30, the final day of my challenge. Considering the weather and elevation we had competed with less than 24 hours before, I felt in good shape - considering. My knee was still sore and swollen, and the little toe on my right foot was black. This wasn’t due to running though. I had woken up in the night an...