#Addicted!

Well I suppose that's 'a wrap' on Christmas! I hope that you have all had as wonderful a Christmas as I have and have been able to spend lots of time with families and friends! 

Boxing Day was spent with Stu, who loved his presents and was happy to see us. Although, the parrot that repeats everything it hears in a high pitched tone, made for an interesting afternoon! Stu definitely liked it though! 

So in the true spirit of making the most of the Christmas holidays, I have so far taken the time to finish my book, do lots of running, spend lots of time with family and do a big sort out of the house (which has definitely been a long time coming!) 

Now I'm confident i saying, that in almost every house, there is a 'junk drawer'... The drawer where all miscellaneous items are shoved when we're not quite sure where they should live... Batteries that may or may not be flat, rubber bands, some of which have already snapped or are so old that they have actually fused together along with the mystery keys that nobody is quite sure what they unlock. Well, in our house the 'junk drawer' had graduated into a cupboard. A big cupboard.. A Harry Potter sized cupboard. Well it is this cupboard that I have tackled today, and no big surprise... it was primarily filled with shoes! Here they are, all lined up for an identity parade in the kitchen! 

And what does this show us? That the Fiance has more than I do, contrary to popular myths about women and shoes!

I think it is definitely safe to say that we have some sort of addiction to running shoes in this house! 

I can also say that I have a specific brand of shoe that I get time after time!  

Having suffered for a long time with blister problems, finding a shoe that doesn't cause issues is important! 

The Fiance on the other hand has a pair of pretty much every brand of shoe going, but seeing as he works for a running company, what should I expect?! 

So having had some much needed family time and the chance to get the house in order, I can continue to focus on the running! This weekend I have a 13 miler on the training plan, which is making me slightly nervous, especially after the knee issues I had towards the end of the last long run I did! Hopefully this one won't cause me any problems, but I think taking it steady and investing in a knee support might be wise. 

Thinking slightly further ahead to the next challenge of the full marathon,  I really hope that my knees don't let me down and I can get through it! 

I've almost made up my mind that after the Brass Monkey Half Marathon, I am going to forget about speed and times and just focus on making it to the end! Almost.. if I can get my competitive streak in check that is!  

Please remember to visit my Just Giving page and give me and my knees some support! All donations welcome!

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/fiona-kitchingman

Smashing it!

After what felt like a completely terrible long run last week, this week has been much more positive. I've avoided the rain (and all the puddles!), run in the daylight and put in some good miles! The best of which, was my 11 miles yesterday afternoon! 

I planned my route before I left to make sure that I wasn't going to have to run past home or do extra loops to make it up to the correct distance.. There is nothing more soul destroying than having to run past your house on tired and achy legs until the Garmin says you're allowed to stop! 

Now, I normally do my long runs on a Sunday, having done the Parkrun the day before, (this might explain why last week's felt so awful!). This week however, I did my long run after having had a rest day the day before... And boy, did it make a difference!! After warming up in the first mile, I really hit my stride and had a great run! The planets obviously aligned, the music didn't skip, the energy blocks didn't make me feel sick and I ran like the wind! (Kind of..) 



Whether I ran like the wind or a light breeze, I am over the moon with the time that I put in! After a disappointing 10 miles last week, I knocked SIX MINUTES off my time! SIX! And then did another mile on the end to boot! 

Now I just have to do an extra 2 on top of this and that's the half marathon done! And then only another.. 13.1 to add on to that.... Sounds so simple right!? 

In the meantime though, I get to be smug about the long list of achievements I achieved on the 11 mile run! New Strava Personal Records for loads of milestones and a new PB for 10K on my Garmin! 







However, as the saying goes "pride comes before a fall", and apparently moderate disaster comes after a great run! Luckily, this time that fall is only a metaphorical one, as I've done the actual fall and I can confirm that it is definitely not fun! 

'The fall' in this case was a particularly awful Parkrun this morning. My knee decided it was a good time to produce a stabbing pain every stride, which was both very painful and incredibly frustrating! 

After an internal battle between wanting to persevere and knowing that I need to take care of my body, I did the sensible thing and walked. I still completed the 5K, albeit very slowly and it was possibly one of the most difficult things I've done! My competitive nature does tend to get the better of me and remembering that I am playing the long game was hard, but was definitely the best thing I could have done. 

A few hours on and a chiropractor appointment later, I am straightened out and currently pain free, so fingers crossed tomorrows 5K won't cause me as many problems as today's! 

So overall, it's been an alright week! The highs and the lows have balanced each other out and I am ready for a good helping of Christmas cheer (as well as some Christmas running!) 

Please keep supporting me this Christmas, visiting my Just Giving page and leaving a donation. Every donation, little or large, keeps me running and makes a massive difference to the lives of those with learning disabilities and their families! 

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/fiona-kitchingman 

Keep an eye out for further Christmas posts! I am looking forward to spending some time with Stu and the family and will hopefully have some photos to post too!

Merry Christmas everyone! 

A Bad Day At the Office

Today was 'long run' day... 10 miles.. And boy, were they long! 

For the first time since upping the distance of my runs, I actually had good weather! It wasn't raining, the temperature wasn't below freezing and I wasn't running in the dark. Surely it was going to be a good run? No. No it wasn't. Everything was lined up for it to be a good run, everything except my energy levels it seemed. 

Right from the outset, things felt hard. Maybe I was a nervy as it was my first long run after my week off due to feeling so poorly? I suppose I have to understand that not every run is going to be 'a good run' but it felt rather demotivating today, like I was wasting the perfect conditions! But as far as bad runs go, it was pretty bad; I racked up a fair few issues, including (but not limited to): going over on my ankle, the mp3 player running out of battery and the energy gel making me feel sick! So yeah, overall really not great! But on the positive side, I did it and I have lived to tell the tale! 

After a run like today's, the reality of the 26.2 miles challenge is really starting to sink in now. That's actually really far! Like, really really far! 

However, now that it is officially the Christmas holidays, I am hopeful that my training is going to be a little bit easier, as I will be able to run in the daylight instead of either before or after work which is always inevitably in the dark. I'm actually quite looking forward to it! It's got to be better than today's running right?! 

I also have something extra that's going to make my training even better;  some really thoughtful Christmas gifts from my lovely class and children who I teach, including some Up & Running vouchers, a thermal ear warmer and some bath soak! I'm really looking forward to going and treating myself to some new gear in the next couple of weeks to get me through these cold training runs. 

So here's to better running than today! Fingers crossed! 

Please keep me going by visiting my Just Giving page and leaving me a donation and a message, it really does make all the difference! 

Community

So as I mentioned in my previous post, there wasn't an awful lot of running happening this week. It has been incredibly frustrating, watching the days on my training plan pass by without me lacing up my trainers, but I am out the other side of it now I hope! 

After feeling horrible all week, being full of cold and just generally exhausted,  I am definitely feeling much better and was able to put in an alright time at Parkrun on Saturday morning. It was at Parkrun that I had one of those overwhelming moments of feeling the amazing community that you're automatically inducted into when you become a runner. Whilst I was just finishing my first lap around the stray, a fellow runner came alongside me and he started to speak to me. To my pleasure, he said "Gosh, you don't even look like you're working hard!" Which after a whole week off and feeling like it was very hard work, I was pleased to hear! From here, we continued to chat and we began to run together, encouraging each other as we went. 

I really love it when things like this happen at Parkrun. So often, we are so focused on running our own race that we forget to look out for our fellow runners (unless something dramatic happens and we have to put on our hero hair and come to the rescue!). There were many times when I first started going to Parkrun that I found it difficult to get round the whole 5K without stopping, and I was always grateful to the runners who picked me up along the way and got me to the end, so it's nice to feel like I'm paying that forward! 

It was actually touch and go on Saturday morning whether I or not I was even going to Parkrun but I'm so glad that I did (and not just for the reason I already mentioned). The weather was miserable but that means fewer runners, fewer runners means a smaller field and a smaller field means a better finishing position! Even though I wasn't running a PB like a few weeks ago, I put in a 25.39 and was the 4th female finisher and 72nd overall, which are my highest rankings to date! Well worth braving the wind for! 

Despite being poorly, it has been a really positive week in terms of fundraising too. We raised £50 at the Christmas fair last weekend and even more collecting donations after the Infant Christmas Production (which was incredible by the way!). Seeing the total going up is really helping me stay motivated in these winter months, so please give generously on my Just Giving page! It really makes all the difference to the lives of people with learning disabilities, helping them to lead independent lives. 

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/fiona-kitchingman

 

Struck Down!

Feeling unimpressed, cold and wet post run!

Following on from last week's post, I have continued the winter training, come rain or shine (usually rain). 

Overall, the training has been going really well! I have been hitting my targets and seem to be set to get a massive PB at the half marathon in January. However, this week I seem to have hit a sight bump in the road: the inevitable winter cold. It's hit me and it's hit me hard. I've been doing pretty well this year in terms of illnesses, remaining on the whole rather healthy, so feeling so unwell has come as a bit of a shock to the system! 

Normally I am the kind of person who doesn't like to let a little bit of illness stop her, but by Friday lunchtime I was unwell to the point of being sent home from work, which I hated! Whilst it felt a little bit like defeat, I can definitely concede that it was the right thing to do, even if it did mean missing the Christmas party! 

The extra rest however did come in handy for running a stall at the Christmas Fair at school, raising some extra money for The Home Farm Trust. Stu even came along to help! He had a great time looking at all of the stalls and meeting lots of my friends and the children I work with and even won a prize on the tombola! 

Now that the weekend obligations are over, I am finding that I am once again totally exhausted and could do with another weekend to recover! And that's without doing the 9 mile run I was supposed to do! 

Today I've made the difficult decision to press pause on the training plan for a couple of days in the hope I start to feel a little more human before continuing to embark on my running mission!  

So fingers crossed I feel back to my healthy self soon and can get back to pounding the pavements of Harrogate, raising money for The Trust! 

In the meantime, please head over to my Just Giving page and leave a donation and message of support to get me through these winter months and horrible colds! 

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/fiona-kitchingman