Winging it

One year anniversary! 12 months on from  that accident . Wow. That flew by, it really only feels like a few months. Although with my shaky short term memory, that's probably actually my elapsed time. First off admin. I have a race report to include that I've been meaning to write up for ages, but just couldn't think of how to cover it or what to say. It didn't go so well, but then there was no real drama or events to mention like normal ultra races. On the 13th April I attempted my first "track ultra", this was the Crawley 24 hour track ultra. 6, 12 and 24 hour run events all happening at the same time. The venue was the running track behind the K2 sports centre in Crawley. K2 with the camping I had two "big" races lined up for the year, this one and the GUCR retry. The plan was, see how the track ultra goes then decide if the GUCR was realistic. Recovery had been going well, although I (obviously) had some massive holes ...

so how's it going? Seven months on. Seven months on from the event . I've been trying to work out how to communicate this all week (and a bit), mulling over different ideas. going for a run, thinking it over, but never actually getting around to writing it down. Similarly, I'm supposed to be writing a short bio for an upcoming race, but I have absolutely no idea what to say about me. "Started late in life, runs a bit, doesn't take it too seriously"? Reckon I'm going to have to find someone else's to copy. 😀 After finally summoning up the courage to finish reading Anne's ' one year update ' - that spurred me on, I think it's good for me to get this down on paper and out of my head, hopefully someone will find it useful or helpful and I think it will be good to be able to look back on my thoughts in the future. I try to keep getting back to a normal (for me) routine, so it can be deceptive looking at what I've been up ...

Do your homework. Always do your homework. Homework Read race reports. Find out about marking. Find what aid stations provide. Understand the route details and where you might need to memorise parts. I didn't do any of those. This is not like me - but I had run the "non-canal" part of the course the week before, and I've run the Grand Union sections before, and it's only a short race so, just "winging it" seems like a good plan. Yeah? I'd heard a bit about this race and seen many comments about what a lovely race it was... so decided it was time to take a look. This seemed like a good opportunity to test "where I was at" now after a bit of a setback at the end of the year. It's a nice short manageable distance, so my plan was to hit it hard (ish) and see how I manage, see how the legs are, see how I'm feeling. I'd had a few ups and downs with my head injury over Christmas... but the Mince Pi run had been great (on...

Bloggin I've seen some negative discussions about "running blogging" recently which made me ponder what i write and why I write it. Criticism was along the lines of "you have to be a narcissist to blog" "it's just people showing off and making other people feel bad" "it's just self promotion/product placement" etc. Narcissus abhorred and despised those who loved him - if anything at worst this could just be seen as seeking validation and approval from peers - which are standard human desires   (* this is a dated and simplistic model, but you get the idea). To be absolutely 100% honest. Sometimes it has felt self indulgent writing about what I've been up to, but then I write for a variety of reasons. This is how my wife finds out what I'm thinking. 😀 It has been therapeutic and really helped to actually write down how I've been coping . I like to think that what I write (even the bleaker stuff) is or wa...

Some running blogging! For a change. Well a little bit. Last Sunday was the Mince Pi run - up to 10 laps of 3.14 miles, with piles of mince pies for everyone. We took part last year in torrential conditions so looking forward to a return visit given the forecast is for a lovely clear, and not too cold, day. This year again a full contingent of team Hewitt were out for this one. Not only that but Oliver would be allowed to run *two* laps this year rather than just one last year. No idea at all of Hugo's plan, he'd had a bad run the week before and suffered with a cold, any attempt to ask his plan just received a shrug, but I'm getting used to that sort of communication system now. Cara wasn't happy, still trying to shake off the tail end of Hugo's plague, and wasn't confident. Cara: So what's your plan? I: Er, no idea. Will see how it goes. (I: internal dialog) well obviously, it says 10 laps. I'm going to do 10 laps. okay? I: I'll do a f...

I'm a liar. But not in a bad way. 😉   Honest Anyway, this isn't a case of lying to someone else, it's lying to myself. I mentioned before about getting in the habit of being honest with other people so I've been making an effort and although I do still have a tendency to say "of course I'm fine, everything's fine", I am now occasionally opening up a bit more and telling people how I really am even though it's really not second nature for me. Obviously I don't want to just moan constantly, and I don't want lots of attention or fuss, but I'm making a concerted effort to be a bit more open and keep people informed when things aren't quite right. But I need to stop lying to myself. I realise that's what I've been doing, mind over matter, don't accept what's happening and it won't. Sometimes lying to yourself can be useful. It allows you to achieve things you wouldn't otherwise manage. It's go...

three months on Three  Four months on  from my accident . I've been trying to write this for two   three  four weeks - I started right after the Centurion Autumn 100. ish. I got as far as a random disconnected set of jottings, but I couldn't work out a way to thread it into a clear, er, thingy. See. I'm typing this as my dinner cooks. I've just got back from work and I've got a slight headache and I feel a bit out of it. I really just want to go to sleep. But kittens! So. In my minds eye before the A100 I'd got an idea of what I was going to write down for my next blog post. The week of the race we'd got hold of dash-cam footage from the day of the accident (details later). I'd managed a few runs to gauge my fitness and whether I was going to be able to run, I was annoyed (really annoyed) and frustrated that the years Grand Slam dream was scuppered. But. I knew the Reading course backwards, I was feeling good, and I felt reassured...