Though my blog posts have been a little less frequent of late, I’ve shared enough with anyone who actually reads them to know that I’ve not been too well since the end of last year… but that things were on the up. That trend has (thankfully) continued (more or less!) over the last month and I’ve now managed two races, as well as being broadly on track with my pleasantly vague marathon training ‘plan’ for London 2015.
With the Salford Harriers Senior Women in Wythenshawe
Post race with mum and friends on Parliament Hill
Speaking of London, and with the event drawing ever closer (less than two months away now!) I should probably start getting a little more on the case about fund raising. For speed, you can sponsor me using the text details to the right, or visit my fund-raising page to find out more about why I am running for the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. After Trafford next week, the rest of March will see me looking forward to the Trimpell 20 and then a training weekend in Anglesey where I shall be leading my first running groups for UK Run Chat since qualifying for a Leadership in Running Fitness license. It doesn’t seem to matter though what my own pace will be in any of these events; it looks like the summer will be speeding past in no time! | Given that both races so far have been Cross Country, the term ‘on the up’ is applicable in more ways than one, especially so last week at the Nationals on Parliament Hill in London. Yep. It’s called Parliament Hill for obvious reasons. Mud, wind and a steep hill is pretty much synonymous with cross country and I was fairly pleased to finish upright and with both my shoes still firmly laced to the appropriate appendages, which is more than can be said for many unfortunate runners who I saw hitting the deck (read sludge) or stopping to fish spikes out of swamp-like conditions. That I finished about 7 minutes slower than a cross country race of the same 8k distance the week before in Wythenshawe might once have perturbed me but given the differences in courses and conditions, I was pretty relaxed about that. The race in Wythenshawe marked the end of the 2014/15 season of the Manchester Area X-C League and went pretty well, especially considering I’d not raced since Stockport 10 back at the beginning of December. I came 18th in the Senior Women’s race, 17th over the series (11th and 9th in the 20 to 34 age group) but our team came third in the race as well as winning the division 2 medal for the league. I’ve been told I get a medal for that, which I can collect next weekend at the Trafford 10k so it’s just as well I’ve already registered to run it! I’ll keep it short for once but in other exciting news, I confirmed this week that I shall be a pacer at the 2015 Liverpool Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon! I’d considered running the inaugural event last year but as I’d not yet completed a race at that distance I opted to stick a bit closer to home with the Asics Manchester Marathon instead. In 2015, I’ll be pacing Liverpool with the 4.45 target group. As it’s not until June it’ll have no bearing whatsoever on my efforts in London… But I’m hoping it’ll serve as no more than a gentle warm up for my first ultra; Trail Blaster, which is the weekend after! 
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