Gail Hates Running

It's been a funny old week. After the proper elation of finishing the 22 miler, things have really taken a turn for the worse this week. I'd been told that taper does funny things to your head. However, I really couldn't see how running less  miles could be a problem. Oh, how wrong I was. I think I can pinpoint exactly where things went wrong. Instead of going to my usual conditioning and yoga class on Monday, I went to a gig - well, I was on holiday, it was Easter and it's what Jesus would have wanted. I then started to relax.  Bad move all round, really.  A malaise set in far too quickly for my liking and the mid week runs that I did have planned, didn't happen.  However I kept telling myself that it wasn't a problem. I had the Kilomathon on Sunday, James and I were going to run it to get used to running in crowds. It was quite important, given that: (1) I've only run either by myself or with James; (2) I'm not great with crowds; and (3) I ha

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/gailhatesrunning I'm so so so so SO happy. My offline and online donations have reached my initial £2,000 fundraising target. Genuinely humbled by how generous and amazing everyone has been. I want to thank everyone personally, but there have been so many anonymous donations!!! I love you all very much. Thank you xxx

22 Miles  - North Berwick to Edinburgh. I'm not going to lie, I was hugely apprehensive about this run.  Not because of the distance, last weekend I ran 20 miles, an extra 2 on top of that shouldn't make a great deal of difference. I mean, running 20 miles is horrible, but once you resign yourself to that inexorable truth, adding another 2 miles of horribleness shouldn't really make much difference. My apprehension stems from the somewhat OCD nature of my training. It's not news to anyone who knows me well that I like "a plan" - I am definitely my father's daughter in that regard. I need structure and order in my life,  that has morphed into a completely different beast since I started marathon training. I need to plan my route. I need to know where I'm going. I need to know what the contingencies will be if something goes wrong. This is not a route I have chosen and it's not one I have run before. I also know that it's the Fox Trail J

Long Run:  18 Miles - 2hrs 58mins I had planned to run out to Musselburgh but the wind off the sea was horrendous. The voice in my head was telling me to jack it in from the get go. So I made an executive decision. Based on how rotten I’ve been feeling about my progress, I decided to go back to where I started running, switch my brain off and just keep doing loops of the Warriston Path till I hit 18 miles. I realise it’s not the most stimulating of courses but it gave me the opportunity to have a proper talk with myself.  Run was ok. Weather was shite.  18 Miles in the bag. 😬

The erroneously titled: 75 minute run I'm not going to go into this in a lot of detail, but it was the worst run I've ever had.  My head is all over the place and, truthfully, my confidence has taken a massive knock. Plus I have niggles in my calves so I'm going to rest up for the rest of the week till long run on Saturday. Going to stick my head well and truly in the sand till then.

Almost 16 miles with far too many hills Armed with a Mother's Day card and having ordered flowers in advance (I know, I'm as surprised as you), I made my way up home to Aberdeenshire for the weekend.  I had my long run route all planned out in my head: 17miles along the coast and back with a little detour at the end. I knew that the course was hilly, but I figured that it was about time I started really focusing on endurance. I also needed to start taking on water whilst running, so I ordered a water belt - not really a fan of having to hold stuff whilst running round. So far, so good.  Unfortunately, we had some pretty shitty, albeit not unexpected, news yesterday, which meant I didn’t sleep the previous night. The morning of the run, I hated everything.  To top it all off, my water belt hadn't arrived so I had to run with a water bottle.  None of these things are the best of set ups for a long run, especially one over a new route. Turns out that the course