The return of the Peatpixie

I haven't posted since before Christmas. This is the first time I've posted in 2017. The last couple of months have been full of change. For me, the feeling that I'm getting somewhere near the runner I used to be. For my son, many new things - crawling, eating proper food three times a day, sleeping better.

December was hard, very hard. I wasn't sleeping enough at all and coupled with the Christmas merry-go-round, a growing boy who needs lots of attention and activity, and my impending return to work, I faded into a bit of a wobbly blur. Some mums will say the first few months of the baby's life were the hardest but I would probably say December was the worst. I've got a handle on myself again now , and I'm actually even looking forward to going back to work a bit.

I started the Christmas season as I meant to go on,  a parkrun on Christmas Eve.  Getting a decent time (heading towards my pre pregnancy arena) spurred me into committing to run at least twice a week once we'd returned home from family visits.

The big break came once we got home and got drastic with the baby's sleep - we sleep trained him and were overjoyed to get him sleeping through the night most nights. It took me a couple of weeks to start to feel normal in myself again, but I plodded out on evenings safe in the knowledge that Fox wouldn't wake up. Towards the end of the month I decided to try a long ish run, and that went well, I felt myself go "into gear" after an hour, and didn't feel absolutely pasted the next day. My scar area still ached a bit, but not so as to worry me.

Colds have done their best to stop me continuing on my path to racing, but they always will at this time of year. The difference that good sleep makes has really hit home. We all know how important sleep and rest are, and take it from me, the last couple of months have really demonstrated that fact . In December,  I'd run 5k and feel exhausted and emotional the following day. In late January,  I'd run 15k and feel ordinary the following day. The only real difference was the sleep, as I hadn't increased the amount I was running in January until near its end.

I've entered a half marathon at the end of this month. I've run up to 11 miles on the flat,  and done a couple of nice hilly runs of more than 90 minutes, so I feel confident I can complete the distance.  It's worth mentioning that at least once a week I go for a couple of hours walk with Fox in the backpack,  I'm hoping that this is contributing to general strength too.

It feels great to be running again, without pain, able to get up to distances which count to me. Having a good run at Glossop parkrun launch week, finishing first female, showed me that the speed is coming back too. The next few months will be about extending my reach to tougher fell runs, more time on my feet, and seeing how going back to work in April affects my ability.