Reflections on a Morning Run

I woke up a bit grumpy this morning. Here's my whinge: I get up at 4:15am every weekday for work.  On Saturdays, we're out of the house at 6am for parkrun. Which leaves Sunday as my only "sleep-in" day. And by sleep-in, I mean 5:30 I'd be happy with, 6:00 would be a dream. We usually leave at 7:30 for church anyway, but to be in bed until 6 is the aim.

Yesterday, Mr 2 was up at 4 and this morning it was 4:30. Not my plan for my only sleep-in day! So I was a bit annoyed, but decided at 5am to head out for a run, since I was up anyway.

I was also feeling grumpy because we went to 2 parties yesterday and I ate WAY too much food. I just didn't have an off switch! So this morning I was feeling heavy and jiggly and unhealthy.

But out I went and was greeted by the most perfect morning on the bay. It was cool and clear and fresh and absolutely stunning. It didn't take long for my mood to lift and as I approached the Shorncliffe Pier, the sun was just rising on the horizon. It was breathtaking. I stopped to take a photo (above) and I felt God was saying to me "just stop and count your blessings".

That was at 4km and so for the next 6km, I did. I realized I was grateful for so many things this morning:

- that I had kids to wake me up

- that I have the ability to run, pain-free

- that we live in the most beautiful spot in the world

- that I have enough food to eat (too much, even!)

- that I am blessed in so many areas

...and the list goes on.

I did an easy 10km in 55 minutes and came home happy, refreshed and ready to start the day.

Running really is the best therapy!

On The Run!

26:20 at Sandgate parkrun

Oops, I've been meaning to post all week, but time is precious when you're a mum on the run & it seemed to get away from me this week!

I had to share my excitement from last Saturday's parkrun.  It had been 3 weeks since my "return from injury" Sandgate parkrun - at that one, which was 31st August, I'd run with the pram in a time of 27:06.  Funnily enough, 2 weeks later when we visited Wynnum, I recorded exactly the same time (but wasn't going for a fast one that week).

So, I was back at Sandgate last week and positioned myself for a good start so I could set a good pace.  I pushed myself pretty hard, and felt like a couple of good weeks of solid training had me well-placed.  I was pretty happy to come away with a time of 26:20 - an improvement of 45 seconds.

BUT that's still about 2:30 off my pram PB of 23:52.  Next week we are having pace runners at Sandgate, and it's my turn to run, so I'm going to try and stick with the 25 minute runner for as long as I can.  I'm not expecting to crack the 25, but if I can get under 26 minutes I'll be happy.

I also had my longest run since the marathon this week, with our Wednesday night running group, the Bayside Breeze.  We had 45 people turn up and I ran with a group of 4 other ladies.  We chatted the whole way and the 11km flew by!  Although it was my longest in ages, it was also one of my easiest - the power of distraction!  We finished in a time of 1 hour 5 minutes, and it was soooo nice to run in the cool night air, have great company and to unwind with a drink at the local wine bar afterwards!  I just love the running community we have!

I'm really enjoying my running at the moment - although it's starting to heat up in the afternoons.  Will keep you posted on next week's parkrun time :-)

Enjoying a well-earned beverage at the Cardigan Bar!

Run for Fun

Tearing it up at Wynnum!

I've had a great couple of weeks of simply running for fun.  It's so nice to have the marathon pressure off and no other events on the horizon, so I can just run for enjoyment.

I'm loving mixing up my exercise with bootcamp twice a week - it's such a great workout.  And I've been able to increase my distances while running a bit too.  I'm having no issues with my shins, which is a huge relief!

Dean had a brainwave to start up a Wednesday night running group in our local area, which is a 7km or 11km route along the waterfront.  The first one was last week & we had about 23 people turn up - amazing!  I decided to head down with the pram and just do a short run, since it was pretty much the kids' bedtime, but I didn't want to miss out.  It was BLISS!  I loved just running slowly, chatting to the other ladies, enjoying the cool, still, night air (lately my arvo runs have been hot and windy).  I did 7.5km, which is my longest distance since the marathon - but it felt like about 2!  I absolutely loved it.

The "Bayside Breeze" Wednesday night group

I'd been doubting my ability to go any further than about 6km at the moment, but I could've easily done the 11km if I didn't have the pram, and didn't have to take the kids home to bed.  Running with other people really does make a big difference!

On Saturday morning, we visited Wynnum parkrun for their 1st Birthday celebrations.  It's a great course that's fairly similar to ours, as it's also along the foreshore.  It was a super hero theme and there were some amazing costumes, which was good fun.

Dean pushed the pram and we decided to stick together...but it meant a very slow start.  They had record numbers at Wynnum, and we started a fair way back in the pack, so we got pretty trapped and took a while to be able to get any pace up.

I sprinted to the finish and ended up with a time of 27:06 - and my best stat of the morning was finishing 2nd in my age category of women 25-29!  But as an indication of what a slow start it was, here's my pace splits for the 5kms:
1km - 6:21
2km: 5:36
3km: 5:07
4km: 5:17
5km: 4:45
Very interesting to break it down!

And as a true sign that I'm really getting back on track, I went for another 6km run that afternoon as well, as I knew I wouldn't get a run in on Sunday.

Things are looking up on the running front!  It's a welcome change to be able to run for fun!

Mixing It Up

See this photo?  Yep, that's me - actually RUNNING at Sandgate parkrun!

My wonderful parkrun, where I have spent every Saturday morning for the past 41 weeks (except 3, and in each case I was visiting a different parkrun).

My last run here was 11th May - that's craziness!  First it was marathon training, during which I did almost every long run on a Saturday afternoon, meaning I wanted to save my energy in the morning.  Then it was injury, which saw me out for practically 12 weeks.

But I'm back, baby!  The first thing I noticed was how much our event has grown in that time!  Of course, I've seen the numbers on paper, but it was not until I rounded the first bend that I realised just how many runners it is!  We had 233 last weekend, which was a great number considering the Bridge to Brisbane was the next day, and plenty of runners would be saving themselves for that.

I didn't expect a great time.  I'd run pram-free at Southbank the week before in 26:21.  This time I had both kids in the pram...and taking everything into consideration, I was pretty happy with 27:06.  My pram PB however, is 23:52, so I've still got a lot of fitness to regain.

Speaking of which, this week I joined a gym!  Well, kind of - they had a special deal to try out the bootcamps for a month, so I'm seeing how I go fitting it in with work hours & kids etc.  It's through Positive Existence Personal Training and so far I love it!  Okay, I've only been to one session, but boy am I feeling the muscle soreness now.  I really feel I need to tone up a bit, lose a couple of kilos that've crept back on and just give my overall fitness a bit of a kickstart, since I'm still not running more than 6km at a time.

I feel like 2 sessions of a bootcamp a week is just what I need.  I'm also backing it up with smart food choices and am doing my best to stick to real/whole foods for this month - nothing processed, no crap, nothing too sugary or fatty - just simple, fresh, healthy fuel.  I'm also doing a couple of coffee-free days a week.  I'm feeling so good for it already!

The running is going well - I'm just sticking to 3 a week at the moment, of about 5-6km each.  The killer this week has been a really strong headwind on my first 2.5kms.  It's sooo hard pushing the pram into such strong wind!  But I just dig in, knowing how easy the run home will be with the tail wind!

Yesterday, I'd decided I'd run this afternoon and do a couple of pram hills as well.  But I was feeling pretty sore from last night's bootcamp and a bit low on energy.  So here's what I did...put on my marathon finisher's t-shirt and went out and ran!  It's like that shirt says to me "you ran a marathon, you can do anything!"  And sure enough, I had a good, solid run - a bit of niggling pain in my shins, but I just focussed on technique and it went away.  The hills almost killed me - that was tough (and I only did 2!)

It was also nice to break up the run with a long play at the playground with the kids.  It's a great bribe to keep them behaving in the pram while I'm running!  Their new game is to shout and wave at people who walk past us, so we always get lots of smiles & laughs, which can make a tough run a lot more tolerable.

I'll be back to Event Directing at parkrun this week, but look forward to seeing my time next week, after a couple of weeks of solid running plus the addition of the bootcamp to my regime.  That PB better watch its back!