Coffin Dodger

Yes just 2 weeks to the big day and its been an interesting jouney which got off to a great start Jan/Feb (good times, PB etc), turned into a disaster in march (got really run down and my mum broke her leg) and slowly recovered in April (got back into training and put in some reasonable training sessions), but how that will all translate on race day is anyone's guess.

The last 2 weeks has been good training wise.  I've not managed to get back to my club for the Monday night fartlek session which is really good due to caring for my mum, but I have tried to emulate it myself at other times of the week.  I've put in a weekly track session throughout April - 400's, 800's, 1200's and finally 1600s which also really help with speed and I've got my long run up to 10 miles again (probably my least favourite run of the week).  I've also got in 2 hill sessions and some decent treadmill running but if I'm being honest I'm not near where i need to be for a PB of under 41:38 which is my previous best time.  Anyway, you never know what can happen on the day but if I can get near last year's time of 43:05 I'll be pleased considering all that has happened.  That should hopefully keep me in the first 100 home, although with more club runners taking part this year, I might go down the rankings a bit.

As I might have said before, I've been running now for about 25 years (I'm 45 now) and in that time I've had a few strange things happen to me.  Once I ran through a remembrance day service.  Was running roung a route I do in Renfrew and turned a corner only to be in the middle of a 2 minute silence.  That wasn't a good experience, and last week I had another not so good encounter while running on a wet day in Paisley.  On running along a busy road and nearing the end of my run, I wasn' paying too much attention when I was suddenly aware of a man walking backwards with a long black coat on.  In the heat of the moment and realising I had to pull up real fast it was on the tip of my tongue to tell him to watch where he was going only to realise a split second later that he was guiding a coffin out of a church.  I stopped 2 steps off the coffin and the poor people carrying it.  What a fright - for them and me!   What do you do in such circumstances except bow your head and start walking backwards very slowly. 

On a slightly lighter note and staying on the subject of running incidents, once I was running along Glasgow Road in Paisley when a man stepped out a fish and chip shop eating a fish supper. We collided at great speed and his chips went up in the air and came down on top of us both.  He wasn't happy. 

One good thing to come of the last 2 weeks is a great performance by my friend Gemma Rankin at the London Marathon.  Gemma finished the gruelling 26 mile course in an amazing 2-43, taking 6 mins off her previous time and coming 3rd in the masses race.  Amazing!!  Hopefully Gemma will run in the Glasgow 10K in a few weeks and she will be up there at the front so look out for her!!  A rising star I would say!

So, last hard week of training before I start a gradual taper next week.  Have a slight sore throat tonight and my son has a cold so I think I might be getting it - damn!  Will try to get in a good week however and take it easier next week.  Have an appointment with Lynn, the other lady that writes a blog on this site.  Lynn is a brilliant sports therapist and works wonders on my legs to keep my going when training hard.  I'm looking forward to that! 

So good luck to everyone with final training, get out there and have a good week.  It will be worth it on the day!!  Have fun girls!