Days 7 and 8

Day 7 was a rest day (yay!!!!) and day 8 I woke up to this...

The pavements are slippery and my boss has the car so I can't venture to the forest :( I figure better a day of not running than a day of running on icy pavements and more than likely hurting myself!

Day 6

Ok, so still feeling sensitive, so didn't go for a run. I know, I'm a bad person. But does running round after small people count?

Day 4 and 5

On day 4 tonsillitis struck, so didn't manage to do the 30mins cross training I was meant to. Luckily day 5's a rest day! Hopefully will be back on track for Monday!

Day 3

One of the lovely ladies that I am dedicating this marathon to sadly passed away this morning. My thoughts are very much with her family and I hope to see her son when I go back to the UK in a week or two's time.

This focused my running today. Every hill I ran I ran with a sense of purpose, I also imagined her son laughing at how bad a runner I am, he's much better than me.

Today was a short run, 30 mins. which I found ok, I'm nursing a bit of a sinus infection so this hindered the run! I did some hill work, which I hate while it's happening but feel so proud of myself when I get to the top. Lake District readers please don't mock my tiny little hills, I know they're not quite the hills of the Lakes but they'll do for now.

I followed the run up with some yoga and now for a quick shower before picking the kids up from school.

Top Tip of the Day: Don't have lunch with a pudding before running you WILL feel like you're going to throw up!!!

Day 2

So the training plan says to cross-train for 30 mins today. This hasn't happened at all!! Instead I've eaten birthday cake and watched a film with the birthday boy (at bed time he said 'I feel different now I'm 6.' Need to tell his parents this!

So to stem any guilt that I'm feeling about falling off the wagon so soon I'm going to do a little bit of yoga. I'm currently having a girl-crush on Tara Stiles, she's inspiring my yoga practise right now, and it's her 'Yoga for a Long Day' workout that I'm going to do now. Here's the link :)

One day I'll be able to do this!

Run #1

Since I knew I wouldn't run for very far if I ran round town I decided to head to the Bambesch, the local forest. There's a 5.5km circuit that is the right length for my so called 'easy runs'. So with the lovely forest trail stretching out in front of me I began in high hopes!

The high spirits continued as I ran down these steps, smugly thinking to myself 'Oh I'm glad I'm going down this and not up it'

Then felt like a fool when I rounded the corner and found this hill waiting for me. I bet myself that I couldn't run all the way up it, so promptly ran my legs off! Since this worked on the first hill I carried the technique on all the other hills I came across (not many since it's Luxembourg). At the end of the 5km I realised that I'd run all the hills but walked the majority of the flat bit, this made no sense to me. But at least I ran some of the 5.5km!!

This was the 4km mark and I made yet another deal with myself. I'd run the rest of the way and then treat myself to cheese when I got home. I'm not sure if this defeats the point of running, but it worked!!! I ran all the way back to the car and felt very sprightly and proud of myself, especially as there were groups of runners about to set off and I could just think 'I've already done my run! Off home for a brew!'

So despite only running about 3km out of the 5.5km goal, I feel quite pleased with myself! It's only day one of a 15 week training plan, which I adapted from here, so things can only get better!!

Half-Marathon Maddness

Why did I decide to sign up for a half marathon? I'm not exactly sure of the answer! I think I was needing a challenge, so I picked the most ridiculous challenge (ok a full marathon would have been an insane challenge). I'm not particularly fond of running. I try to like it because it's good for me, but really I dislike most things that bring me out in a sweat, or cause me to move from my bed. I try to be fit and healthy but I loose motivation after about a week. So I decided to set myself a challenge and decide to sign up for something that I really need to work at (it has nothing to do with the fact that running and cross-training will help me get the body that I desire ... honestly!!)

I've also decided to run the half-marathon for Cancer Research UK. A couple of friends mums have cancer at the moment, and I know, from loosing my Granddad to cancer, what a horrible disease it is. So I'm not running this half-marathon for myself, I'm running it to raise money for finding a cure.