Filed under: Reading Half Marathon, half marathon training, running | Tags: Reading Half Marathon, running
Yesterday, I ran the Reading Half Marathon in two hours and seven minutes. Some way off the 2:01 achieved at Reading two years ago, but not nearly as bad as some of my worst half marathon performances. I said prior to the race that I’d be happy with 2:10, so I was pretty chuffed with 2:07.
I’ve been running half marathons on and off for around eight years, and still take pleasure in learning something about every race. Yesterday I learned that the cross-training I’ve been doing over the past few weeks (in order to run the half marathon, cycle across the middle of the UK and complete a week’s skiing) wasn’t the disaster that I anticipated it would be. I was staggered to feel pretty comfortable as Phil and I ticked off the first seven miles together, well inside the 10-minute mile pace that we had set ourselves, and worried that I would hit some kind of a wall later on in the race. But miles eight, nine, ten and eleven passed by and – although my legs started to feel heavier – we were still averaging 9:45-minute miles. Mile 12 was a bit painful – having slogged up the A33 towards the finish at the Madjeski Stadium, we then started running away and dropped a minute to complete that one in 10:42. We sped up for the final mile, by which time I was breathing like a 70-year-old that had smoked 20-a-day for her entire life, and crossed the line with half of the population of Reading cheering us on.
The high points were:
- The general level of support around most of the course, especially in town.
- The bands – especially the one outside the Town Hall playing “Is This The Way To Amarillo” and the chaps playing the drums underneath the IDR at The Oracle.
- Friends cheering us on – thanks Kasia, Emma, Hannah and James!
- The lovely firemen standing to attention on Kendrick Road.
- Phil staying half a step behind me for the run, so I could control the pace. Right up until the last mile, which he got me through with a few words of encouragement.
- The stadium finish – third best in the UK, just behind the London Marathon and the Great North Run.
- Finding out my little brother ran the race in 1:36. How good is that?
- Meeting up with JogBlog, Iliketocount, Moretolifethanweight and Tracey afterwards for pizza and pasta, and a jolly nice pint.
I can’t think of any low points, actually. It’s flat, fast course; weather was near-perfect; water and Lucozade was plentiful; and there was a real sense of occasion among the other runners. Reading’s a big event now (at 17,000 or so runners, one of the largest in the country), and the organisation is a far cry from the old race that started at the Rivermead, usually half an hour late. I’ll be putting my application in for next year.
Update: Forgot to mention the goody bag. Which was very good. Contents included: Walkers crisps, Nature Valley granola bar, Mars bar, Dorset Cereals fruit and nut slice, Lucozade bar, Ricola sweets, Adidas deodorant. Oooh, and a lovely weighty medal.
Filed under: 10k, Reading Half Marathon, gym, half marathon training, running | Tags: 2TENfm, Amy Macdonald, Beats International, Death Cab For Cutie, Duran Duran, Elbow, Fall Out Boy, Gabriella Cilmi, Girls Aloud, gym, iPod Shuffle, Jackson 5, James, Kings of Leon, Madonna, Mark Ronson, Meatloaf, Michael Jackson, Rose Royce, running, Spotify, The Killers, The Trammps, Toto, treadmill, Weezer
Today was a good day. Everyone at work was in a fab mood, the birds were twittering outside my office window, Brenda (my plant) was very happy basking in the sunshine and a client said “thank you”.
I also discovered Spotify today. That is to say that I’d heard the name quite a bit but hadn’t had a play with this new(ish), free music streaming application that enables you to share playlists with other Spotify users. And it’s pretty cool. We opened up the decks (spare PC) up to anyone in the office, and invited people on Twitter to add tracks to our playlist. The results were fairly eclectic, and included Duran Duran, The Killers, Madonna, Kings of Leon, Meatloaf, James, Michael Jackson, Elbow, The Trammps, Death Cab For Cutie, Amy Macdonald, Weezer, Mark Ronson and some strange tracks selected by my (slightly younger) colleagues that I’d never heard of and am never likely to hear of again.
Having failed (unintentionally) to set my alarm this morning in time to get up for the gym this morning to do a 10k run, I decided to go after work to do my 10k run, but nearly reversed back out of the reception area when I realised my iPod Shuffle needed charging. “But no,” I said to myself, “I’m open-minded about new music today – I’ll use the in-gym equipment.”
Unfortunately, it’s a bit shit. I remembered almost immediately why I bought my trusty little Shuffle last year. On the gym system, there is one MTV channel, two audio channels that play completely random tracks and a radio station (the horrendous 2TENfm-in-Berkshire-and-North-Hampshire). The other entertainment possibilities included Sky News on a loop or cricket, neither of which were likely to give me much motivation.
Not to worry, I started out on the treadmill toggling between the various musical options. Once I’d ruled out MTV, which was broadcasting some kind of McFly-fest; and the radio for just being crap, I went on to the audio channels and got this random selection as I jogged on:
- “Africa” – Toto (which I’d never noticed includes the line As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengetti which I thought was impressive in its non-rhymingness)
- “Blame It On The Boogie” – Jackson 5
- “Sweet About Me” – Gabriella Cilmi
- “Dub Be Good To Me” – Beats International (Wikipedia says it was written by Fatboy Slim, and I didn’t know that)
- “Promise” – Girls Aloud (which made me laugh, because Phil loves this but likes to think his music preferences are somehow cool)
- Erm, can’t remember what else came on.
So then I went back to MTV and listened to/watched “I Don’t Care” by Fall Out Boy. The video is jolly funny – boys doing all sorts of rude and inappropriate things, like flashing their bits in the street, stealing money from buskers and dressing up as kleptomaniac nuns.
One more toggle through the channels, and I returned to 2TENfm-in-Berkshire-and-North-Hampshire, which was by now playing “Club Classics”. I could just about cope with “Carwash” by Rose Royce and cranked up the speed for the last kilometre.
And then I realised I’d run 10k, yippee. That took me 59:23 – nice and steady, and I’d actually be pretty happy to run the half marathon at that pace which would put me on track for a 2:10 race. It’s nowhere near the 2-hour milestone, but I just haven’t put enough training in to do that sort of time.
As I cooled down, I thought how brilliant it would be for each treadmill to have an in-built Spotify application and an internet connection so you could listen to playlists you’d made in advance or just play around with new music to make the time go faster without having to resort to 2TENfm-in-Berkshire-and-North-Hampshire. Does anyone want to make me a prototype?
Filed under: British Military Fitness, Reading Half Marathon, X-bike, circuits, cycling, half marathon training, running | Tags: Barmouth, BarYar, cycling, running, spinning, X-bike, xdream, Yarmouth
Rather foolishly, I have agreed to a two-wheeled challenge over Easter weekend.
Along with a group of friends, I will be cycling from Barmouth to Yarmouth, the so-called BarYar Challenge. When I agreed to this, I didn’t actually realise they meant Barmouth on the west coast of Wales to Great Yarmouth in Norfolk. For those of you who weren’t listening in geography lessons, this is quite a long way: around 250 miles in three days. Yikes. Some of the BarYar group are using this as a training ride for the Land’s End to John O’Groats, and you can read about their exploits over at Girls on Cogs.
I haven’t been out on my bike yet this year- I still harbour some residual fear of cycling after last year’s little topple, and – well, call me a wimp – but it’s been a bit on the chilly/icy/wet side lately. Instead, I’ve been working on my legs in the gym and continuing with Reading Half Marathon training/British Military Fitness.
Mind you, after the Hardwick X-Stream 10k last weekend, I wasn’t fit for anything on Monday.
By Tuesday, the experience was fading to a more distant memory so I went to the gym. There, I hopped onto the Xdream (like the X-Bike spinning machines, but with an interactive screen to simulate a race on various different terrains). I did four races against my imaginary friends and won all of them. But I think this was to do with being forced to race on the “beginner” setting rather than my amazing cycling. I even fell off the imaginary bike a few times. Afterwards some lower body weights for calves, hamstrings, quads, glutes adductors and whatever the opposite of those are.
On Wednesday, I found the British Military Fitness significantly more enjoyable in the slightly warmer evening air – and even got to the end of the class thinking, “oooh, is it over already?”
Finally, I went to a spinning class this morning. The instructor Matt – who normally entertains with an eclectic selection of pop, rock and indie – put one of the manufacturer’s CDs, which guided you through the class at different tempos. It was good and I worked hard, but it was a bit soulless and not as enjoyable as Matt’s normal classes. Still, good to try something new once in a while.
So, this weekend – need to do a good run, and maybe some circuits to work the legs again.Or should I be dusting off the bike?
Filed under: 10k, Reading Half Marathon, food, half marathon training, running | Tags: 10k, Aylesbury, cross-country, food, hardwick x-stream, mud
It hasn’t been too good a week for exercise, blogging or sleep – mainly because I over-committed myself seeing various friends on consecutive nights then attended the bizarre Reading Twestival another evening. As a consequence I haven’t been the nicest person to spend time with this weekend. In fact, I’ve been Little Miss Grumpy.
My mood was not lifted by Carter’s ski shop in Reading yesterday. Having dropped off my skis to be serviced there nearly four weeks ago, I finally had a call to say they were ready for collection and duly went to get them. As I went to hand over the £25 that had been quoted when I dropped them off, then saw a note taped to the top of one ski saying, “couldn’t service – too much wax – would of [sic] ruined machine – £8″. The elderly man behind the counter looked thoroughly confused, as did I, and called someone else for assistance. It transpired that whatever dimwit had been brought in to service the bloody things hadn’t: 1) bothered to do the job that was asked (AKA full service, due to skis being unused for two years, having rusty edges and various scrapes on the base; or 2) had the bright idea to call me to tell me this. Why the f’ing hell they couldn’t manually remove the wax and do their job properly is beyond me. With less than three weeks to go before I depart for my trip, there’s very little I can do about it. Some wax has been dribbled across them, but the edges are still rusty. Luckily I can’t ski very well, so it probably won’t make much difference. I won’t be going back to Carter’s.
Nonetheless, after a very nice Valentine’s dinner yesterday evening and a good night’s sleep – I was actually looking forward to the Hardwick X-Stream this morning. It promised to be a cross-country 10k that would just about keep us on track in terms of training for the Reading Half at the end of March. An August race organised by the same team last year had a stonking 95% approval rating on Runner’s World, so expectations were high.
We arrived in the little village of Hardwick, north of Aylesbury, in good time, to find runners parking cars along roads, in front of driveways and on verges. The locals looked less than amused with this influx of scantily clad freaks. We were directed by marshalls towards a car park at the bottom of the village – which turned out to be in a farmyard, complete with horses, cows and quite a lot of shit.
Undeterred, and vaguely amused, we ambled along to the “Race HQ” at the village hall to go to the loos – all three of them – which involved a 15-minute wait. There were lots of very fit-looking club runners decked out in trail shoes, club vests, shorts and very little else. I had a feeling we weren’t going to put in a terrific performance compared to this lot.
The start line was in a field, with an open gazebo for baggage and a St John’s Ambulance Land Rover, which served us well as a windbreak. I was rapidly losing enthusiasm for the run and that was before a marshall announced there would be a ten-minute delay. Presumably to wait for all the people still queueing for the loo.
Finally, we were off – out of the field and straight into a muddy ditch…where several people lost their shoes. The course skirted around numerous fields, filled with a sticky mud that just stuck to the bottom of your shoes in massive clumps, and made the water crossings almost a relief to jump into because you could get shot of some of the mud. My legs felt like lead pretty much from start to finish and I fell several times along the way as my tired limbs failed to keep me from slipping and sliding to the ground. Although the marshalls were numerous and friendly, there were no mile/km markers and no water stops – so it felt like a very long race. We crossed the line, with only six people behind us – something like 243rd and 244th in a field of 250.
But that wasn’t the end of the story, of course: we had to go back to the car and somehow get changed into clean clothes while standing on a carpet of cowpats and horse manure. That’s when it occurred to me that the people parked on the grassy verges with the icy remnants of last weekend’s snowfall had the right idea all along.
I’ve calmed down now, after two massive sandwiches, much tea, a long hot bath and some homemade (I owed P an apology for my bad mood) banana and pecan muffins. And I do feel as though I’ve done a good run today – but my knees especially estimate the distance at about 10 miles, not 10k. I do wonder what the summer race is like – but I’m not sure I’m going to be brave enough to find out.
Filed under: GRIM Challenge, half marathon training, running | Tags: GRIM Challenge, running
“Expect to get very wet,” the race pack said. “-2.0 degrees”, my car said when I got into it on Sunday morning to drive to Aldershot for the GRIM Challenge. Oh good.
Arrived in plenty of time, met my brother and his two mates – one of whom was about seven when I last saw him. He is now about 6′7″. (I didn’t think he looked that amused when I said “oooh, you’ve grown since I last saw you”. Realised that statement made me sound about 45). We ambled unenthusiastically over to the start area, witnessing a passing motorist stop, lean out and chunder all over the path.
The start was delayed by half an hour, so we spent an hour in total hanging around asking ourselves why we weren’t tucked up in bed with a cup of tea. Then decided to get some tea from the fast-food vans to warm up a bit. I seriously considered a hot dog too, but was distracted by some hippies playing drums on tin bins, like something out of Stomp. That was very entertaining.
All of a sudden, we were off. Dan, Olly and Lawrence jogged off looking all fit, while me and P bobbed along at the back, trying to work out why three blokes were dressed as a bride and bridesmaids, and another team were wearing bermuda shorts and armbands and carrying inflatables.
It was a jolly affair, and we had a lot of laughs around the muddy, wet course. We decided against ploughing through the first few puddles, on the basis that there was nothing to be gained from getting too wet too early on and concentrated on trying to find a rhythm – a bit tricky when the pack kept bunching up around the puddles. After four miles, some camouflage netting and a pee stop among some Christmas trees, we were rewarded with a bottle of water ice at the half-way point. After that, there was no tip-toeing around the water: it was time to wade in. And f*ck, was it cold – even if it only came up to your knees. A very odd sensation to be quite hot underneath all the layers of clothing, but have feet so cold you couldn’t feel them. The mud bog was a relief, with its comparative warmth. Miles five to seven were fairly uneventful – felt a bit weak for part of that – then recovered enough to attack a few gentle hills, before jogging round the start area to wade through another generously proportioned puddle to the finish line.
Billed as an eight-mile race, a running acquaintance registered 8.7 miles on his GPS watch. The distance and time didn’t really matter that much to be honest – but, for the record, I came in at 1:36:30.
All in all, a surprisingly enjoyable race – great atmosphere, reasonably well organised with a hot dog at the end. Glad I got out of bed after all.
Filed under: 10k, Bupa Great Capital Run, Nike Human Race, gym, half marathon training, running | Tags: 10k, gym, Nike Human Race, Nottingham Half Marathon, running
A belated race report, as I went on holiday about four hours after completing the race last Sunday.
The good bits:
- Well organised, well publicised event by Nike. They might not make great running shoes, but they sure as hell know how to run and market an event.
- Great start inside Wembley Stadium after set by Moby, swift baggage drop-off and pick-up and plenty of loos.
- Not one, but two, lovely freebie dri-fit tops – a short-sleeved red one that we all ran in, and a long-sleeved white one to keep warm in after the event. Well worth the £30 entry fee. And they’re actually fitted for girls – wooo-hooo. Watch and learn all you other race organisers. Us ladies do not want another massive, square-fit cotton number that would work better as a (deeply unsexy) nightshirt.
The not-so-good bits
- Running with a dodgy tummy after tapas the night before. I blame that for the lame time – 1.00.14 (according to my text from Nike just minutes after I crossed the line).
- Moby’s warm-up act, Pendulum. Atrocious.
- The late start. I’m not a fan of evening running, though that’s just my personal choice. But there was also a very long wait – in the region of two and a half hours – between arriving at the stadium and starting the race.
- The rather uninspiring route around Wembley on a slightly chilly, very wet and dark evening.
That all sounds a bit negative, but I would definitely do the race again. I’d hope for less waiting around next time, nicer weather and – erm – a rather more solid feeling in my tummy.
Been on hols for a week, and put in a couple of runs – around the four and six-mile mark. It was a bit warm, and I don’t feel even vaguely ready for the Nottingham half marathon in six days’ time. That’s crept up on me, I can tell you. Despite my resolve as I travelled home earlier today to eat properly and run every day this week, I’m going to struggle with three events in London over the next three evenings. It’s going to take self-discipline that I’m not sure I have to resist the lure of naughty food and wine so I can still make my dates with the gym…
Filed under: St Albans half marathon, half marathon training, running | Tags: half marathon training, running, St Albans half marathon
“I’d like to thank my sponsor, Imodium, for getting me to this point today,” said my uncle at my cousin’s wedding on Saturday as he opened his father-of-the-bride speech. I found out exactly how he felt when I crossed the line at the St Albans Half Marathon on Sunday morning.
It was always going to be a bit tough to run 13.1 miles the morning after a family wedding; the booze started flowing at 1pm at our house and promised to continue until the small hours. Being Captain Sensible for once, I stopped drinking after the meal, and probably saved myself the bother of applying for a second mortgage in the process. At over four quid a pint, and six for a gin and tonic, the drinks were extortionately priced. We were in Hatfield, for goodness sake. This didn’t stop my brother getting anihilated, though this was in part due to some surreptitious importing of alcohol into the hotel. All credit to Gemma, for matching him drink for drink, and not dropping her beer on the dancefloor/losing her keys several times.
I drank an awful lot of water between 7pm and 2am – and I’m sure the bearded group of psychologists at a convention in the neighbouring function room thought I had a urinary infection, as I had to walk past them on the way to the loos every time. I must have walked the equivalent of a half marathon back and forth to the facilities, which partly explains why my feet were absolutely killing me by the end of the night. I was also wearing stupidly high heels.
So I woke up on Sunday morning after just over five hours’ sleep – nicely rehydrated but with sore toes. I also had to make a dash for the bathroom – several times – shortly after waking up. Obviously something in the buffet had not agreed with me. Fortunately, M&D had quite a large stock of Imodium, and I popped one of those before walking down to Verulamium Park to start the race.
I’ve never done a half marathon in the summer. It’s rather lovely walking to the venue in your running kit, and not having to carry seven fleeces, a pair of tracksuit bottoms, hat, scarf and gloves around with you for when you finish. However, it turns out that running on the hottest day of the year so far was not so nice despite the lovely rural course which took us all around the east and south of St Albans, where I grew up.
We kept up a steady ten-minute mile pace for about eight miles – then it really started heating up in the lanes around Bedmond. It was also very very hilly – much more so than the Great North Run and Reading. Thankfully, the organisers had laid on loads of water stations which were well staffed. The marshalls were fabulously supportive – the St Albans Striders are heavily involved in organising the event and many of the marshalls are also runners, which makes a big difference. There was very little in the way of public support away from the town, so the marshalls did a fab job of spurring us all on.
Nonetheless, we seriously slowed down from the nine-mile mark. My running partner was having a bit of a shocker and I thought he might actually hit me when I tried to “motivate” him with some uplifting thoughts about what a lovely day it was, and what a lovely view of the Abbey we had, and how lovely the marshalls were. Luckily, he was too knackered to throw a punch.
We crossed the line in 2:17. Absolutely rubbish time, but a really nice run on the whole. So, I’d like to thank Imodium, my sponsor, for that…
Filed under: Commando Challenge, London-Brighton bike ride, St Albans half marathon, half marathon training, running | Tags: Commando Challenge, half marathon training, London-Brighton bike ride, St Albans half marathon
I’m feeling more confident about the London-Brighton bike ride in ten days’ time, having been out again last weekend for a reasonable 15-ish mile ride. OK, it’s nowhere near the distance but at least I don’t feel like I’m going to hit the deck again every time I turn the handlebars. I felt noticeably more relaxed and considerably happier about tackling the roads down to the coast.
I’ve done another six-mile run this week. I would have preferred to do a nine or ten-miler before the St Albans Half Marathon this weekend, but just haven’t been able to find the time. If I run it in two hours and ten minutes, I’ll be happy with that.
I was hoping to go for another half marathon in the autumn to try to break the elusive two-hour mark, but failed to get places in either the Great North Run or Run To The Beat. Instead, I’ve convinced a crowd from work to join me in Devon for the Commando Challenge. This isn’t just about running with no pants on. No, it involves seven miles of cross country running with various team-based challenges around a Royal Marines training course.
The website gves competitors the following handy hints, as if providing advice on the best way of doing one’s laundry:
“Remember to tie your laces tightly or you ARE going to lose your footwear.”
“It really is worth a visit to your local Army Surplus as old combats will not only protect you from cuts & scratches, but also protect your knees in the tunnels.”
“Remember – this is a military fitness test and you should train like the Marines do. During your training runs, drop and do press-ups, squats and crunches. This will prepare you for the frequent mid-race changes from running to crawling and back again.”
Gosh.
Filed under: St Albans half marathon, half marathon training, running, spinning | Tags: finch coasters woodland 5, half marathon training, running, spinning, St Albans half marathon
One of my colleagues from work put me onto the Finch Coasters Woodland 5 Series the other day, which takes place over three Wednesday evenings in May, June and July. I’m always slightly nervous about events with small fields, for fear of coming last, but I need to rack up a few miles so I agreed to the challenge.
Typically I was late leaving the office, and didn’t really know where I was going. After several phone calls to E, I eventually found the carpark (why didn’t the organisers say it was practically on top of the hospital?), had to sprint across the carpark to pick up my number, then jog to the start – didn’t even have time to grab a watch, Sportband or iPod. And I needed the loo. Not a great start.
All of the other people looked very fit. And, as the horn sounded, they all shot off at quite a pace. Including my colleague. So much for finding a regular weekday running partner. I plodded along at the back, thinking I could have been pouring myself a nice glass of wine at home by now. Then I looked around me and thought, come to think of it, this is really nice. The Crowthorne Woods are beautiful and the terrain was made up of nice, soft pine needles. The weather was just about perfect: warm but damp.
We jogged down a long straight stretch that went gently downhill and up again, then veered off into the woodland. It got a bit sticky there, with dense mud and big puddles. After trying to dodge the wettest bits (and nearly breaking my ankle in the process) I gave up and just splashed through them. Over another track, round a big log and down a ditch into some more forest, we then came up to a whopping big hill, laced with tree roots. Not so long ago, I probably would have walked some of it- but I have made a recent discovery: hills are easier if you run them with your glutes instead of your quads. It’s taken me years of running – and quite a lot of spinning – to find that out. I overtook several stragglers on the hill and continued down into the next patch of woodland.
I must have lost my bearings then, but found myself on the long, straight stretch again. I could still see E a few runners ahead of me, which was encouraging. Into the sticky stuff again, I had to stop briefly to tie my laces, but carried on. As I rounded the corner into the wood, a blonde marshall told me there wasn’t much farther to go. Oooh, I thought – I really am getting fitter…well done me, I don’t feel like I’ve run anything like five miles…
I hadn’t. She was lying. As I found when I got to the bottom of the big shitting hill. Oh well, head down and up I went, overtaking a couple more runners. Round the loop we went again. A girl in front seemed a bit peeved about the distance. Her Garmin said we’d already done 4.8 miles and another marshall (who seemed to know what she was on about) said we had another mile to go. It took us through the muddy bit again – at which point I started to think I was going to need go to the jetwash to get all the mud off my legs. Each one of my feet felt as heavy as my head and there was no indication that my trainers and socks had ever been white.
I passed the blonde marshall and remarked that it felt like Groundhog Day. She laughed like a drain for some reason…maybe everyone else had been a bit abusive about her words of “encouragement” on the last loop. One more sweeping turn, and I reached the home straight, crossing the line a minute or two after E. I reckon the distance was more like six miles than five, and estimate that I ran it in a shade under an hour. Not bad considering I don’t really like exercising in the evening. I wasn’t quite the last to cross the line, so I’ll be back again for the other runs in the series. Next time I will remember to take another pair of shoes so I don’t have to drive home in bare feet; I wouldn’t recommend it.
So, having done that and a really lovely 8.5 mile run in Derbyshire featuring some squeaky baby goats, many sheep and a pheasant at the weekend with RedRocket, I reckon I can manage the St Albans Half Marathon in ten days’ time. That’s assuming I don’t get trollied at my cousin’s wedding the day before…
Filed under: St Albans half marathon, half marathon training, nike+ sportband | Tags: half marathon training, nike+ sportband, running
Thought I’d try calibrating the Nike+ Sportband. I went out on my bike round the block, and measured a distance of 1.57 miles. Back home, I dumped my bike, switched on the Sportband and jogged round the same circuit. The Sportband measured 1.78 miles in 14:07 mins. So it was a bit out, but not off the scale. One and a half miles in 14 minutes is about my normal jogging pace, I would say.
Having calibrated the Sportband on my PC, I set off to do the river run that I did on Monday. I didn’t feel too good last time – it was a bit of a slog from start to finish – but today I felt loads better, and discovered a surprising new “top running tune” on my Shuffle: Eminem’s Lose Yourself to which I bounced along quite happily. I’d taken the precaution of wearing sunnies, which I was glad about when several flies made a beeline for my eyeballs. I finished the run in 42:44 mins – knocking three minutes off Monday’s time. Hoorah.
My newly calibrated Sportband didn’t seem so happy, clocking my run at 2.84 miles. Now, I might be a bit of a plodder, but I could have bloody walked that distance in 42 minutes. So now I’m not so pleased with my new Nike purchase. Does anyone know the best way of calibrating these things with any degree of accuracy?
