Advent Blog 7 December: Aleks Kashefi

I shivered a little before getting into bed, and then thought of Aleks. He's been sleeping outdoors in the European winter, for the majority of the time during the past few months, so I should count myself lucky.
Aleks is running the length of Europe. I shan't try to explain why, have a read of his blog if you are interested. If you are impressed, donate to his cause, or help in whatever way you can.

I spied a chap in a big woolly hat and no shoes at a fell race a while back, and stared a bit, and then stopped staring. I mean, why not? It wasn't that bad a hat. I followed his journey later that year , from Lands End to John o Groats ,via social media and his blog and realised I liked his style. I liked his honesty and his direct way of writing. Earlier this year, he mentioned he'd like to run hills near Glossop so I arranged to meet him. Along with a few club mates I enjoyed a few hours in his company running over familiar paths on Bleaklow. He's energetic, gregarious,  humble and all too human. I confirmed that I definitely like his style, and his amazing downhill running technique in sandals.

This blog post of his is one of my favourites, written as he finished his job as a teacher and prepared to set out on his greatest adventure yet. His will to inspire young minds is laudable.

Hope that you're reading this Aleks, may the wind be always at your back. 

Advent Blog 6th December: Dr Ben Goldacre

Another Guardian newspaper inspired post today. That publication has a lot to answer for.
Dr Ben Goldacre's Bad Science column was the last vestige of my scientific past to linger on into my cultural life as a twentysomething. I have a degree in Biochemistry, not that you'd believe it.
However, Dr Goldacre's writing has had an effect in me reaching much further than science. His book also titled 'Bad Science'  is a cracking, witty and thought-provoking read. His message and campaign for evidence based decision making stands as a lesson on how we should all think.
What I take from his approach is: Challenge what is put in front of you, don't be a sheep. Ask questions, find proof and you will end up better placed to argue, to believe, or to trust what you see, hear and read. In this day of fake news and social media, it's as important as ever to question and to be a critical thinker.

Footnote: His column once mentioned some research my Dad had commissioned for Boots, to investigate the No7 'Protect and Perfect' product which he was working on at the time. I was immeasurably proud. He didn't rip Dad and his team's work to shreds either.

Advent Blog 5th December: Gerda from the Snow Queen

I loved reading Hans Christian Andersen stories as a girl. I read from what I saw as an old-fashioned edition (it didn't have many pictures) of his tales. They appealed to me because they were different from other stories I read. They were,  well, dark. they weren't happy ever after and princesses with big eyes and twinkly dresses. They were visceral tales of mishap and misfortune, and people getting what they deserved.
Gerda in the Snow Queen struck me as a proper heroine. She endured any amount of peril and discomfort in a wintry world, so that she could rescue her friend Kay from the clutches of the evil Queen. I think my protective feelings for my baby brother drew me to the story.
She carried on, and she didn't give up. she did it for someone she cared about. she could be an example to us all.

Footnote : my baby brother grew up to be an actor and appeared as Kay in a lovely production of the Snow Queen in Leeds in 2008. I think I had something in my eye whilst watching, thankfully not enchanted glass.  

Advent Blog 4th December: Adharanand Finn

A few years back, I became a fan of a reasonably regular feature in the guardian weekend review. It described a man's experience in Kenya as he attempted to learn what made them such great distance runners by living amongst them and running with them. I was training for my second marathon, which was the London marathon, and had begun to think of myself as a serious runner. The articles fascinated me. His writing was unfussy and personal, without being too sentimental. His approach was novel and exciting and he clearly had an enthusiasm and journalistic passion to discover what he could about the great running culture in Kenya . I found Adharanand Finn on twitter and followed him.  @adharanand
I soon discovered a friend of mine knew him through her work at the Guardian. The book launch of Running with the Kenyans came around, and thanks to her, I received a signed copy wishing me luck in the London marathon.  The timing couldn't have been better.  I devoured the pages on the train from Manchester to London.  I found myself thinking more deeply about running,  and recognising things about myself in his writing. Reading it made me feel more of a runner, if that doesn't sound too odd.
Adharanand is another regular user of Twitter and every now and then we exchange comments, it's great to converse with such a well travelled and knowledgeable fellow runner. Because after all, that's what brings many people together, a shared interest.  

Advent Blog 3rd December: Judy Howells aka @fellrunninbrief

On becoming a fellrunner,  I stumbled upon a twitter feed describing race results and sharing witty tales of the personalities of the sport (and its sister sports, drinking and silliness). @fellrunninbrief became a regular read. It encouraged me to take part in races, it introduced me to some of the leading runners and clubs that I'd later befriend and become familiar with.
Imagine my glee when I discovered the author was a lady. like many sports, female participation in fellrunning is low, about 15 to 20 percent in most races by my reckoning so I was heartened to find its roving reporter and raconteur was Judy, and a bit excited to meet her at my club's race, Herod Farm. Like most fellrunners
she is a throughly decent and friendly person, and loves a bit of a muck about (a hilarious almost-fail vault over a gate if I recall rightly)

She's the one captured mid vault! :) 

She provides this real-time news service for fellrunning for no gain, she's not in it for freebies or to promote anything other than the sport she loves.  people like Judy keep the grassroots participation going and for that I'm very thankful.  

Advent Blog Takeover

For December, I'm going to write on each day until Christmas,  about someone who has inspired me.  I hope you find it interesting. Christmas for me is a time to reflect and be thankful for the great people I know, so this is where the idea for this came from.

1st December : Kay Andrews

Kay was the headteacher of my infant school in Cardiff.  She arrived, replacing the Trunchbullesque previous head, when I was about 6 or 7. She blew in like a breath of fresh spring air. She was fashionable ,  warm and enthusiastic and gave great assemblies.  I was in awe of her talents. I realised that a young woman could have a successful job and still do cool girl stuff too. 

December 2nd : Zola Budd 

Sticking in the schoolgirl era, I watched the 1984 Olympics fanatically. Zola Budd drew me to her because her name began with 'Z' like mine, and she was a slight brunette who was a bit different to the rest. She seemed more natural compared to the painted gazelles from the USA and other teams . I wasn't into running as a kid but I dreamed of being an Olympian.  Even as a child I could see that she had such great ability but was somehow sad and frightened . On the day she fell in that race with Mary Decker, my heart was in my mouth. I was transfixed and devastated. 

Rollercoaster

It's been a month or so of ups and downs. The ups: being able to run for more than 30 minutes, running (gently) up a couple of local hills. I started on roads and more recently went onto trails and this weekend, proper "fell" (well, the Nab). I feel more like my old self, I can tell by how my gait is when I run. It's a good feeling. My son is six months old now. I didn't think it would be this long but the wait has been worth it, and I haven't injured myself getting to this point, I'm really glad of Lynne at Global Therapies help with this. 

On the track up to Turf Pits

The downs: Winter brings colds and bugs, and babies get them all. It's an important part of growing a strong immune system but it knocks onto me, not just that I catch a cold too, but when ill, he sleeps less and consequently so do I. The last two weeks have been particularly bad with him returning to three or more wakings at night, plus struggles to get him to sleep in his cot. Sleep deprivation is no new thing to me but now he's older and more needing of entertaining during the day, it's wiping me out. 

I've had to get over myself on a few assumptions I rashly held about returning to fellrunning. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you need to be firstly quite determined and secondly very flexible to fit in running, and strength training, around looking after a baby. 

The Baby Clock 

Club run on Thursday? Oh yes please. See you there. Oh. This Thursday the baby has decided to drop into a sound sleep at 6pm (which he never usually does) leaving a club runner with boobs like two unripe gala melons. This situation can at least be saved with that most useful of items, a breast pump.

Race on Sunday?  Oh yes please.  This Saturday night the baby has been waking at 00.24, 03.44 and then not sleeping til 06.20 and then awake again at 08.00 at which point this racers head is spinning and body feeling like rubber. No race. 
 
These two examples illustrate how it's  hard to plan and then execute training of any kind . I've been reading Jo Pavey's book and it's a lovely account of her career, of course I am particularity interested in her return to fitness after childbirth. She writes a little about having support from her husband, about fitting in breastfeeding, about running late in the evenings. I haven't made my mind up yet whether to take my metaphorical hat off to her or to be burning with envy that from what I can gather neither she nor her husband have jobs to worry about (someone please correct me if they know otherwise)

Maybe I should have a stern word with myself on those days and evenings where I just feel too drained to go and run, or swim, or even to follow the strengthening exercises which I know will benefit me but just can't. Unfortunately , I feel as if too many times in the choice between train or sleep, sleep has won..On the positive side I have begun to embrace the off-the-cuff run at times of day I wouldn't normally entertain the idea. I need to continue to evolve from the Planner to the Flexible type of runner! 

Physical stuff 

Whilst I have finally recovered from the c section (I can feel muscle!! yay!!), there's no denying that my body is still different from how it was before. Hormones are still kicking about and I am breastfeeding.

 I have to be super vigilant about staying hydrated.  I've got the habit of drinking plenty of water from training for long events, though I've really noticed that though I drink as much as I ever did, I am going to the loo a lot less. It's clearly going to the milk. So if I go for a run then I have to chuck even more water down me, and that's sometimes hard when the baby is wanting to be picked up a lot.

 I ache. With the best will in the world and all the strength training I've done, I still end up carrying him for long whiles in what are perhaps not the optimal positions, or sleeping all cramped because he needs a night in our bed when he is poorly. Other aches are a result of the hormone relaxin which makes your joints a bit more mobile.  I have definitely noticed my hip flexors hurting, and am doing my best to warm them up and stretch them gently. Having said that , sometimes I am so excited about going out to run I just dash out the door! 

Recovery days are so important . I wrote earlier about overdoing it a bit. There is no way I can run, or even go for a decent length walk, two days in a row. I feel as tired after a 40 minute run as I used to after a few hours out in the hills. I'm hoping this will improve as my fitness grows. 

Selfish mum vs sharing training

Being able to have the baby with me whilst I run is lovely for him and for me. It doesn't always work out but it's great to be able to do it, I've met with my running club mum mates and done 'baby hill reps' a few times, great way of sharing the baby-watching duties and getting some quality training in. At weekends Him Indoors can take Fox in the carrier and walk along the start of my route, so that I can meet them on my way back (only works with out and backs but who cares). 

My support team 

On the flipside, I need some time for Me! All runners know the feeling of leaving everything behind once you get out the door and your heart rate going. I always come back home very excited to see my son and tell him where I've been, and it makes me feel more like the person I was before he arrived. This is the person I want him to get to know, and learn good things from. I need to keep her going!

Parent outdoor gear hacks update

Sports bottle: jet wash for getting dog poo off buggy wheels
Towel from triathlon I did years back: changing mat liner
Buff: baby scarf on cold days
Nappy cream: Face cream to keep his face from getting chapped

In the next month or so , I'm hopeful I can do my first race since having Fox, and that I can take the buggy to a parkrun and see how that goes. I'd also like to beat my pregnancy parkrun (at Glossop) time of 23.30ish, I got close a few weeks back and keen to try again.