After a miserable January departed, a miserable February arrived. More rain and more dark days. I still wasn’t feeling well. I had missed a 7 hour running event at the end of January and was then absent from work with what I believe to have been Covid. I was sweating and shivering through the nights with hot and cold temperatures. Headaches, fatigue etc..
I did manage to catch up with my friends Jimbo and Scott. We went to Parthian to climb. It had probably been a year since I last went there. I really enjoyed it, but still wasn’t 100% as I was wheezing and out of breath after each climb. The following day, the fatigue hit me again.
Valentine’s day fell on a Saturday, so what better way to spend it, than with my lovely girlfriend CC. We volunteered to marshall at Itchen Valley parkrun. I said I’d get at least 10 volunteering credits at adult parkrun this year, so I am a bit behind already. I really do enjoy cheering on the runners and walkers. I love seeing their smiles and determination and am very grateful for their “Thank yous” too. We have a lovely get together and a chat afterwards in the cafe while I enjoy lots of coffees :)
I wasn’t 100% still, so decided to walk it with CC. It was a lovely dry morning as we walked and listening to the squawking parakeets and saw the red deer grazing in the distance. Then a double take… is that Nick Cotton? Aka Nasty Nick from Eastenders? It was! John Altman (his real name) was marshalling on course with some rock music playing and he was cheering us on. He was the most liveliest of the marshals. CC and myself are quite vocal when we marshal so we find it a bit disheartening when a marshal just stands there, says nothing and doesn’t even force a smile. Anyways, it was a fantastic day. We sure did a lot of walking and were both knackered by 2pm.
Here is a link to Stacey’s fundraising page:
https://2025tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/stacey-dickinson
He reached his fundraising target for London marathon in 2025 but has decided to keep the page open and run it again. At the time of writing he has raised £3.349. Great work Stacey, well done mate.
The race is organised by the same people who organised the Romsey 5. Despite it being a great race and getting a 5 mile PB, it’s not a UKA race, which means it won’t appear on my Runbritian or Power of 10 page.
I have entered the Romsey Beer race though for June which is 5 mile race. Hopefully I will be in PB shape then.
The days of running were unpredictable as some days I would be fine and did some great speedwork on the track, and other days I would feel flat and everything would ache. I was trying to eat healthier, cut back on my caffeine intake and sleep more for recovery.
February sure had been a long month, despite only being 28 days. On that last day, I thought I would test myself at Southampton parkrun. It is a very fast course. I am still carrying a bit of weight but the speedwork was feeling good and progressive. Could I go sub 18 at last?
I started off at the front for fear of being tripped. I don’t do Southampton parkrun very often because of this reason. Not so long again my friend Lin got tripped and broke her elbow and had to have an operation. Another friend got tripped on the grass a while back and still broke some ribs. It sure makes me feel uncomfortable for the first 200 metres. So off I raced..
Within half a mile, I knew things were off. The form was going already and my breathing was laboured. I was off pace. First mile 5.58 which should have been at least 5.50. A terrible 6.17 on the second mile, although this mile does have the hill in there, I should be running at 6.05 pace for this mile. I was dead on my feet by now and just holding on. The last mile is lovely and flat though with quite a bit of downhill. I would usually aim to run it at 5.40 pace. I didn’t even run a sub 6 with 6.02.
My time was 18.41 with P25. First in my age category (V50) but who cares about age cat at parkrun right? I ain’t picking up a trophy. Haha. These things happen. I noticed straight away that my lungs were burning, they were so painful for a few hours afterwards too. Post covid effects I was thinking.
I am nowhere near the fitness levels I wanted to be at, but I keep telling myself that things will improve with spring around the corner. More daylight and less rain (hopefully). Warmer weather on the way will inspire me to run more and lose weight. Hopefully I will hit peak fitness and running weight in the summer smashing out some good 5k and 10k times.
CC and myself are still waiting on news regarding moving to our new house. So we are currently both decluttering. CC is stupidly busy at the moment with everything. Poor CC. Xx
I have been reading lots of books still though. Just finished a great one by 400 metre runner David Gillick called “the race”, all about his career as a top athlete. Also a couple of Matt Haig books “Reasons to stay alive” which took me right back to my days of depression and anxiety. I sure have come a long way! And “Notes on a nervous planet”. A good look how technology is taking over our lives and not necessarily in a good way. Let’s all slow down in life :)
Saying that though… Steve from work has introduced me to AI and it’s become a bit of fun at work when we get a spare couple of minutes. Here are some of our creations…
I only have three Wednesdays left until I go back to full-time employment. It’s been a lovely year of 4 day weeks but they must come to an end with a big mortgage to pay off in the future. I had a nice time catching up with various friends and a lot of climbing and solo track sessions. I will miss these but will also get more holiday entitlement being full time again :) See you soon hopefully. Thanks for reading. xx
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