Those regular Juneathon readers with a keen memory will perhaps recall that last year on June 28th, I celebrated my thirty third birthday at the Clumber Park 10k TrailBlazer. Having had a somewhat busy June 2015 planned out in the diary, I had been reluctant to commit to anything this weekend as I really expected to feel substantially more broken than I appear to be only 7 days after my first ultra marathon (and yes, I know I still need to do a proper blog about that experience!). As a result, everyone was busy, it was too late to register for any races and I was staring at a potentially solitary birthday with far too much in the way of baked goods all to myself. I'd have jumped at the chance to return to Burnley for the Pennine 10k but I had no way to get there. Home made scones and jam was to be the highlight of my day. Fortuitously however, I found out yesterday while chatting after Oldham ParkRun that there was a 10k in Platt Fields; the Manchester Harriers Platt Fields 10k no less(!), and that there was the possibility to register on the day. So Cinderella did  go to a race. It was no PB, but it was lovely to be able to continue my rediscovery of running a bit quicker (as discussed yesterday) and gave me the time to ensure I came in at an appropriately placed position of... thirty fourth. What else? 
And then I went to eat jam and scones...

Having seen on the Twitter-vine that today was a day for celebrating ParkRun volunteers, I realised that there was only one person I know who leapt to mind when prompted to consider the most selfless and supportive amongst the running community. as I knew he would be Race Director at Oldham ParkRun, I decided to hop on the bike and indulge in a little ParkRun Tourism to say hello. Having Excelled myself but failing to become lost in Failsworth, I arrived at the beautiful, sunny (always helps) Alexandra park with a spring in my step; or a spin in the tyre!?

Simon, today's race director, (yes, that's him there in the hi-vis!) is a long standing 'run buddy' who I first met at the Southport Sandgrounder in May last year. he runs for Royton Road Runners and it's difficult for me to get through a conversation with him without hearing about one runner or another who he is helping to get up to speed (literally) or coaching to achieve their goals. He's a very regular volunteer at ParkRun, often directing in Oldham and has been very supportive of me personally, especially at the start of this year when I was struggling to maintain my mojo while struggling with ill health. All this, whilst managing his own injuries which have prevented him from running as he'd like to and knows he can. Most runners who have been sidelined for any reason (myself included) know only too well that when injury strikes and you cannot run, the last thing you want to see is other people merrily plodding, trotting or speeding past. It certainly wasn't me who coined the term 'runvy' but I know exactly what it means and to even maintain contact with other runners is tough. That Simon can continue to support and encourage others with a genuine grin is admirable quality, not to be overlooked.

I didn't really have any expectations today for my own run, after all, it was only yesterday that I chanced my first post TrailBlaster12 run and while it went well and I felt good for it, I didn't want to push my luck. Having cycled mostly up hill to get to the park as well, I wasn't too sure what my leggies would have in 'em! Nevertheless, once you get the wind under your tail it's hard to hold it in the tank (it's only 5k after all!) and as i said yesterday, it feels very good indeed to be able to crank the speed up a little having been deliberately going slow for a few months. I don't think an average of about 7:20 minute miles is too shoddy. A reasonably respectable 30th place at 22.42? Yep, I'll take that, thanks!

An unexpected pleasure was bumping in (not literally) to another running friend Mike, who was handing out the tokens at the funnel. I wasn't expecting to see him at all so it was good to catch up there. Mike's got a few impressive accolades of his own, not least of which is that he's the European Indoor 400m Champion for 2015. I don't do sprinting. I don't feel warmed up until I've done 10k. How someone can drive themselves round a track in 50 seconds is quite frankly a bafflement to me. Thankfully, he seemed equally impressed that I'd managed to plod along for nearly 12 hours last week, so I guess we're semi quits but I'm not a champion of anything so kudos still owing! Of course, hanging out with the crew meant I got to go 'back stage' and went for coffee at the parks little caff with everyone while the results were uploaded, actually really interesting to witness that process in action as it's not something I've seen before. Ahha! so that's how the token scannery gizmo-me-widget magically telecommutes the magic numbers to me as a text message? Interesting!

I was a little sorry to tear myself away but with other commitments back in town for the afternoon, having rehydrated and fuelled up on a drop of caffeine, it was sadly time to trundle back down (thankfully!) into Manchester... and today the Garmin Recovery Advisor told me I was back to 'good'; well I could've told you that!

Today you are going to be treated to another Garmin screen shot I'm afraid, but it's not one without some significance; I managed my first post-ultra run today, a nice steady 10k in which I thoroughly enjoyed a bit of (gentle) speed! Having spent the last few months training myself to go slow for reasons of injury recovery, pacing duties and a need to endure 12 hours of running, it felt really great to let all the 'should', 'could' and 'ought to' just disappear in my trail as I ran whatever the heck speed felt good. I took a steady 2/3 mile warm up as I 'cased the joints' and worked out how I was feeling before kicking out a couple of 7.40 minute miles (or there abouts) and then a slow down to bring it home. Interestingly, later this afternoon/evening as I cycled about town visiting a couple of mates, I noticed the Garmin Recovery Advisor had me clocked at only 'fair' recovery. I guess the old heart rate is still a tickle elevated so maybe there's some background recovery still ongoing... but other than that... I feel good! \o/

With barely perceptible niggles remaining from Sunday's exertions, I decided I could risk saving the train fare on Juneathon 25th by hopping on the bike to work. Interestingly, I noticed that my heart rate was higher than ususal, (a maximum of 137 bpm, instead of my usual 120 or similar. I guess that just goes to emphasise the difference between biomechanical and cardiovascular recovery!

The cycling went well, no aches, pains or niggles, but I've been continuing to play it safe on the running front, following previous experience with causing myself injuries and the like. Maybe if it's all good tomorrow I'll get out for a gentle one though, then I can stop drooling at runners in the street like a Lycra fetishist!

Mmmm... Lycra...

And no, I still haven't got round to writing a proper race report. There's just too much to say to rush the job and to be honest, I'm still not sure I can articulate it well enough to do the experience justice yet. But I will do, and in the mean time, I would like to share this blog post and video of the day made by fellow ultramarathoner and constant source of runspiration, Autumn Howard, who has clearly been more organised than me in recording her reflections!

Grab a cuppa and enjoy...

So here we go then... T minus 19.5 hours to TrailBlaster12! Following the last two days head-pickling in which I couldn;t decide what to do with myself for the best physically, I kicked out a slow 5k this morning to blow the dust of my leggies... And feel none the worse for it. A yoga class this afternoon, maybe a swim... Yeah. I'm good to go. Packed to the hilt with various vegan snacks, including, um, maybe about 17 flapjacks, avocado sandwiches, houmous, protein bars, soya milk, coconut yoghurts, apples, grapes, dried fruit and nut packets, fruity chews, gels, and I probably won't need to eat for the next week.

Four different pairs of trainers, space blanket, whistle (!?) running kit (and spares) for every possible kind of UK weather, tent, sleeping bag, first aid kit, laptop for mid run Garmin charge... What have I forgotten? 6 pairs of spare socks, a towel, toothbrush... erm...

Nope, that really is it. And tomorrow can bring what it brings. It's just gonna be what it is. I might walk. I might sit down. I might hop, skip and boogie. There will be bits where I laugh, bits where I feel like I wanna cry, mind games, giggles and blisters. goodness knows how many laps I'll do or at what speed but I do know I'm gonna have myself one helluva  twelve hour running party...

and it's The Final Countdown!

OK, I admit it. I have spent the last couple of days in a petulant funk. My mind and body have been totally out of synch with each other in terms of what I feel like doing and what I feel like I ought to be doing. I've got myself in such a cycle of conundrums with respect to if I should be running or resting in between marathon pacing and weekend ultra that I couldn't even muster the motivation to go to the 15 minute abs class I told myself would be a good idea and do no harm. What I have achieved is an obscene amount of carb (read cake) loading. I also made 20, I mean 19, little munch-sized flapjacks, all lovingly wrapped in individual tin foil packets as part of what passes for a nutrition plan to get me round TrailBlaster12 on Sunday. Did I say 19? I mean 18, of course... Ahem.