Brit Chick Runs

Hello folks.

I guess it’s that time of week again – that time when my camera is clogged full of random photos of things and moments which I thought were worth capturing, and now need to offload onto someone before I forget what the heck they were in the first place — more affectionately known as:

What I’ve Been Lovin’ This Week!

Oh so catchy, non?

The photos can basically be divided up into the two main categories in my cray-cray life right now: animals and food. I would’ve added a third category – primary school children, as they’re featuring pretty heavily too – but I fear that posting pictures of unknown small children maaay not go down too well [the locals may come at me with pitchforks]! Sooo without further adieu, I give to you (HA, rhyme) -

Food:

Tofu, fried and then topped with a noochy-smoky-wholegrainmustardy sauce. It sounded good in theory, but oh BOY that sauce was tart and strong! I ate it – cos Joey Freya doesn’t share waste food – but it wasn’t my favourite. Last night though, I made a new nooch sauce – which had (nooch) banana, liquid smoke, maple sizzle and something else. It was…er…different. Verdict: undecided.

Oh, hello there OATS! Ay, I’m still an oat-kick (when will it end??). The first bowl was some terribly rushed affair, scarfed down before I went to work. The second bowl was had today, and holymotherofsmokeandallthingsyummy it was AMAZING! In the mix:

oats, millet flakes, 1/2 banana, hemp milk, vanilla stevia, mixed spice, topped with the remains of a chocolate pudding pot (the rest went into some muffins I made), vanilla-y peanut flour sauce, and a sprinkle of flax. I svaoured every. last. moment. WHAT a faboosh bowl.

Look! A FIG!

Fresh and fat, just how I like ‘em (TWSS?)

What what? That’s a Thai Sweetcorn flavoured Veatable bar! I’m yet to see them in shops (that came in a review parcel) but if I – or you – do, BUY THEM. They are incredibly delicious.

A mystery smoothie – sadly, the picture looks like a pile of junk, but the actual smoothie was made from: 1/2 can chickpeas, a medium frozen banana, cinnamon, vanilla, a tiny weeno size bit of salt (pink crystal, no less) and a hefty teaspoon of nooch. It SOUNDS weird, but was actually like, ‘woah’ worthy. Hooray.

Coffee – not just any coffee, but [cold] coffee with the addition of mixed spice <— very good idea indeedee.

Mk, now: the animal category! Starting wiiiiiiiith….

A certain Mr Kovac Cat!

(it looks like I’m choking him – I promise you, I wasn’t!)

Ever tried to take a picture with a hefty old camera, of a cat who is sitting on your lap? Don’t bother, it’s really difficult. Trust me.

OH< and talking of cats, you’re going to meet Rabbit next week. I shall say no more.

Now, how about some horse photos? Yes, that sounds nice. After all, I hardly ever post pictures of Chika and Tig do I..? Ahem.

Ok, that was a field.

And so was that.

THAT’S a horse!

(That’s a Chika-shaped horse )

(That’s a Chika-horse galloping away from the camera…)

(That’s a Tig-shaped horse)

(And that’s another Chika)

(Tig in front, Chika peeking from the back)

(Chika)

(OH, and Tig again.)

Those were all taken this morning before my run Doesn’t everything look so innocent and peaceful? It’s a shame that I appeared to run straight through CrapsVille and into Exhaustion Road, with a detour down Dead Legs Valley….and an equal shame that Chika decided to be 100% DIV today on our hack – I thought it’d be a nice break from schooling, but we ended up spending the entire hack in shoulder in. Every time we went in a straight line, there just HAPPENED to be an invisible (and therefore, terrifying) bird. Oh, and let’s not forget the TRACTOR in the distance (I know, holycrap right?), or…wait for it…the evil clump of G R A S S on the side of the path. Seriously, I don’t know how we managed to finish that hack alive….

Gah. Horses.

Goodnight!

Herro!

I couldn’t post yesterday as I was nowhere near my computer – I was actually still on Cloud Nine after my wonderful half marathon on Sunday! Aahahammama. Man, that was a lame joke…ahem. Moving on… Did you know I got placed 24th in the women’s section!? Flabbergasted does not even put into words how I feel about that – pure crazytown.

ANYWAY.

I want to talk about something in particular with the hope that I don’t ruffle too many feathers in the process. As the title implies…I want to talk about weight. Or more specifically, weight and body image and feelings.

Edamame pesto with kamut spaghetti - aMAZing meal on Saturday night!

As I’ve said before, I’m now at a healthy weight, after many years of being sick and underweight. My family and I see myself as officially recovered from anorexia, but I’m not going to lie – I still have issues about my body. In fact, I’d pay you big bucks if you could find me a single woman out there who doesn’t have an issue with her weight, her body (or a part of), food, exercise, or all of the above. You don’t need to have bulimia or anorexia or binge eating disorder to have body or self esteem issues!

*Please note: this is not a post fishing for compliments – I’m just being honest*

Me? I have pretty darn low self esteem. I think my self esteem has been improving a little recently (I’ll get onto why), but criticism of myself is often the first thing I do. A certain amount of criticism of the self is good, IMHO – it can help you improve – but there’s definitely a limit, and it’s a limit that I cross on a daily basis.

Unsurprisingly, I also have issues with my body, and that’s really what I want to focus on. After my half marathon on Sunday, I was friggin’ ELATED, on a total runner’s high. I felt strong, fit, and healthy. When I got home, I had a look at the photos on my laptop, and in all honesty, I felt a little sad when I saw them. [Here's some brutal honesty - don't shoot me!] My first thought when I saw the post-race pictures was ‘wow, you look pretty fat’ , ‘They be some dumpy legs right there’, and ‘oiihh, that stomach! Sheesh.’ I didn’t notice my big smile, or the fact that I had just exceeded all my running expectations…nope, all I could focus on was the size of my stomach.

Mama Pea's spicy chickpea peanut soup - uh, incredible.

Now, before I write any more, let me say: I KNOW I am not fat. Rationally, in my head, I KNOW it. The scales, my clothes, and my family tell me I’m not fat, and I am in no way saying I AM fat. I am saying that I FELT fat, looking at those pictures, and that’s a big difference. It doesn’t matter if you’re 50 pounds underweight, 50 pounds overweight, or totally healthy – every person can FEEL fat.

For me, I’m going through a ‘feeling fat phase’, because I feel like in the past 6 months or whatever, I have developed this weird, new and unusual body – a healthy one. I’d been used to feeling ribs, hips and seeing a space between my thighs for three years, and now I don’t have that – it’s strange! It takes getting used to. Being thin was basically my only identity for a long time, and now I’ve lost that, and it’s time to find a new identity.

Over the summer, with this new body, I really really struggled. I’d graduated, I had no job (and few prospects – cheers, British economy) and was feeling lost and alone. I was feeling very, very depressed, and absolutely loathing what I saw in the mirror.

However.

After I saw those race pictures, and had those nasty ‘feeling fat’ thoughts, they were suddenly replaced real quick. Yes, I FELT fat, BUT – I’d also just ran this amazing race, and I had my body to thank for that. I didn’t have dumpy legs, I had strong legs which took me round 13.1 miles. I may have FELT like I had a tubby stomach, but I know I don’t – that thought was replaced by one that said ‘RESPECT to that kickass, healthy body’; if I’d been under or over weight, I couldn’t have run so well, and that gave me a big lift. A lift in self esteem and body image. It started to hit me that I wouldn’t have felt so good if I’d been skinnier, I wouldn’t have run as well. As I realised that, the fat feelings started to leave, and were replaced with feelings of respect for my body.

Peanut-flour-y pear oats...they were perfect. 100% perfect.

I can’t say that I love my figure, because I don’t – but, after Sunday, I feel like that hatred for my body is being replaced with respect for it – and I know, somewhere along the line, that the respect will turn into love. I am starting to feel proud of what my body can do, instead of wanting to berate it for not being model-size or for not having big boobs or an ass.

I have a healthy, strong body, one that can do amazing things – and that makes me happy.

Running has – and is – helping lift my self esteem. The feeling I get after a good run does not compare to anything else in the world, and it spurs me on to keep treating myself right. When I’ve been feeling lousy mentally, I don’t run as well, as I tend to be filled with negative feelings which impacts my run. When I’m happier in myself, my running improves, my mood improves, my self esteem lifts and I just want to do everything I can to keep getting better and better. Running is like magic to me! It’s teaching me how to respect my body, and I love that – and it’s helping me develop an identity. I don’t want to be ‘the skinny girl’ anymore. I want to be the girl that looks fit and strong, and can run really well!

The other thing which has helped hugely with my self esteem? Working at the primary school. It’s amazing – working with the children is incredibly rewarding, and it’s so lovely to see them trying so hard to please, or when a class of 30 4 year olds all wave and look happy to see me when they’re walking to assembly, or when they all give me hugs. It’s ace when I can connect with a disruptive kid, or help a group of 9 year olds with their French. Simple tasks, but they mean so much. I feel like I’m getting a purpose again, a place where I ‘fit’ and it’s fabulous – It’s another part of my identity which is being built up. I always, always finish the day feeling good (despite the 5.50am start!) and I enjoy every minute.

—

I really just wanted to get that all off of my chest! My running, my work in the school…i’m just feeling so much happier and more peaceful, and it’s wonderful. I still have issues – but with each day, they’re getting smaller, because I’m finally working out who I am – and it’s got nothing to do with the size of my thighs or the thickness of my arms. When I lacked a purpose, my body was obviously a big focus on each day – but not anymore!

I am becoming a strong healthy woman, who is not feeling fat anymore – who gives a flying sh!t what size I am? Cos I am [finally] learning not to!

How do you deal with low self esteem, or body issues?

Oh, I had the BEST day today!!

I ran my fourth half marathon – I actually ran the same race last year (in either 1.55 or 1.58, I forget) and struggled to get round the course. The course is basically 15million continuous giant hills; there isn’t a single stretch where you can relax, it’s just ‘up, up, down, up, up, up, down, UP, down, UP, UP….etc’. Pleasant. As the hills were so sh!t last year, I originally wasn’t going to do it again..until I ran a fab 12 miler last weekend, so thought ‘what the heck!?’ And thank goodness I did!

Let me tell you AAALLLLLLL about it, starting from the beginning.

6am – alarm! I ate an apple and a sandwich thin spread with PB and the last of this stuff:

That’s be peach butter, the single best thing I bought when I was in the States in August [if anyone wants to send me any more fruit butters, just cos I’m awesome and all, feel free :-p]. That all kept me going til about 8.30am, when I ate my pumpkin spice Clif bar:

(I ate one of the Gu things, and had to throw the Green Monster…I am NOT a fan of the tropical Vega smoothie infusion. The smoothie was unedible!)

Oh boy – best. flavour. ever.

There was a lot of hanging around and picture taking before that though:

There may or may not have also been a sighting of my beautiful physio (told you he was running :-p). I didn’t get a chance to say hello, but my mum saw him finish and she thinks he was at least top 15 – he’s speedy! Anyway.

Photos taken, Clif bar eaten, and my mum and I headed to the start:

The gun went at 9am, and we were OFF!!

For once, I had a game plan: run fast on the flat, so you have wiggle room to slow down and die on the hills, and finish in sub-2hours. Pretty good game plan, if I do say so myself. Although I was hoping for sub-2hrs, I wasn’t going to crap kittens if I didn’t make it – after all, I’ve been injured for about 6months this year, my last 14miler was waaay back in July (?) and since then, the 12 last weekend was my longest run..not forgetting the ghastly 10.5 the weekend before. Oh, and let’s not forget the hills, which I simply cannot train for where I live. See, I told you I was crazy doing this half mary!

Um, anyway (again) – I keep going off track…mile one done and easy, and I was flying! I was on a 7.40 pace, and the hills weren’t actually having much of an effect on me at all – until the little large beast of a climb at mile 4. DAAAAAYYYYUUUUMMMMMM!!! I’d forgotten how tough it was.

It was around that mile that the guy I’d been running next to asked me for the time. You know that race strategy where you pick off fellow runners one by one to overtake, or you focus on one person to keep pace? Well, he was my pacer. We seemed to be going at the same speed, so I just ran with it (poor pun intended). Me and Mr Man then got chatting though, and it turned out that a) it was his first half marathon, b) he was aiming for sub-2hrs too (despite us running at 1hr45 pace), c) he had no Garmin to keep track, and d) he’d been using me as a pacer too!

We ended up staying together for the whole 13.1 miles – and staying steady at an 8min mile pace..even up the massive hills! We kept spurring each other on – I wanted (oh so badly) to walk up one of the hills, he kept me going. He wanted to slow down at mile 10, I kept us going til 11 (which was our ‘recovery’ mile at 8.50 pace so we had energy for the final run-in). It was awesome!! The only non-awesome bit was about mile 10 onwards – mile 7 to 11 was one giant steep hill, so by the time I got to mile 10, I was ready to throw up everywhere, my chest was feeling a bit tight and I SO wanted to walk. But of course, Mr Man and I kept on going, determined to finish fast(er).

On the last mile, Mr Man was slowing down and had dropped a little behind me, so I slowed too and MADE him run faster. I knew if we kept going at speed, we’d make SUB 1hr50!!

AND WE DID!!!!

I’m not sure of my official chip time yet, but my Garmin read 13.14 miles, in 1hr47! (8.11 pace) *EDIT* – I was 24th fastest female!! OHEMGEEEEE!!!!

I. was. elated!

I did not expect even close to that time, and I am so thrilled. I have worked my BUTT off to speed up, and I really gave this half mary every single part of me. I felt so terribly sick on the last 2miles, and my chest was tight – it seriously took a lot of willpower to keep going, and I am so proud of myself. I’m actually grateful I even got to the start, because my ankle has been playing up all week (it feels 100% fine right now), and I’ve had a nasty cold since Monday.

However, it took a while to sink in – as soon as Mr Man and I crossed the finish line, Mr Man all but collapsed..he was wobbly as we walked into the open area bit, and then started to sway, so I made him sit and gave him my water.

He then got a first aider or two out, and ended up laying flat out for a good 10mins, cos he felt so dizzy. I kept checking he was ok, and then went to find my mamma. Do you know my first words to her were ‘I think I just killed my running friend!!’!? I actually wanted to cry, cos we’d really pushed each other and I felt so guilty :s I went back to where he was lying once or twice more to check he was ok, then my mum and I bought me a soya cappuccino and went for a wonder around the sports field:

(Could NOT have done today without my wonderful Mutti!)

We were just about to head out, when a bloke came running up behind me – turned out he was Mr Man’s friend, and Mr Man wanted to say goodbye but couldn’t run to catch up :-p

He seemed much better!!

On the way home, I iced my ankle with an instant ice bandage thing, and ate some soy jerky (random, yes) and an apple. At home, I dove into my ultimate favourite food:

Cocoa roasted veggies and a pear with…

Peanut flour – banana – millet flakes – oats – mollasses – with a peanut flour sauce.

Food never tasted so good!

That was ‘wave one’ of eating..there’s been many more.

After we’d had lunch, my mum, Ian and I went to go and see two CATS!

The ginger was a bloke called Billie, and the black blob was a 12 week old girlie kitten called MiMi. MiMi was the most ADORABLE thing ever, but Billie was 100% depressed, and did not move an inch the whole time we were there..sadly, not the cats for us :’(

ANYWWWAAY! This is a mammoth post…and I need to make some dinner and look at the Blue Cross website, soooo later my loves!

xo

Pictures at the end, let me rant first :-p

Ok.

I need to get this off my chest, in a big big way.

What is with all the crazy bashing of healthy living blogs recently??

I have read so many posts over the past couple of weeks that have been dissing people who eat clean, regularly exercise, or eat salads. Just yesterday, I was reading a comment from someone on a blog, who was dissing bloggers who never just grab a banana for the road for breakfast, because they never allow themselves to run out of time, their breakfast is always that planned.

Um…so? I like planning time to have a decent breakfast / lunch / dinner because it’s enjoyable; I like to sit down and eat a meal. Does that mean I’m disordered? No. It means I like to plan time for stuff. I like to arrive at places with loads of time to spare, because I don’t enjoy the stress of being rushed. I like to do assignments well before their due in, to avoid a last minute rush. I’m the person who always, always arrives at the airport at least 3hrs before departure time, ‘just in case’. I’m just one of those people that likes to avoid stress! Big, effing deal. My mum does it too – she gets up 20mins earlier so she can sit down with her bowl of muesli, the sudoku and just relax before the work day starts.

Another comment which drove me slightly insane – it was saying people should ‘live life’ and not give a toot about how fast they ran or whatever, cos who’ll remember that when they’re dead n’ gone? ARGH. I wonder how Paula Radcliffe would feel about that? I care about increasing my running speed or distance, because it’s a hobby and I want to improve on my hobby. I could say to many, many people ‘oh seriously, you shouldn’t give a toot about buying the most in-fashion shoes right now, cos who’ll remember that when you’re dead n’ gone 50 years from now?’ – But to people who like fashion, their shoes DO matter! I personally don’t understand that – but I don’t go around dissing fashionistas do I? I think they’re pretty cool actually – I just don’t share that particular interest.

Next on my rant-hitlist: the folk having a go about those crazy, obviously-must-be-riddled-with-eating-disorder bloggers who eat vegan salads everyday. I mean OMG who outside of anorexia actually LIKES eating SALAD?? Oh wait – I do. I guess I’m one of those terribly ill bloggers then? Yes, I eat a big old salad every day – but I don’t have a pile of lettuce, far from it! I know how many calories are in things (2 years spent obsessing over it leaves the knowledge somewhat ingrained in one’s brain) so I know how to bulk them up. Besides – I eat my big salads because I. friggin’. love. them. I LOVE roasted squash and roasted parsnip. Love love love. Loving a vegetable does not make me anorexic or eating disordered. It just means I happen to prefer to eat nature’s candy as opposed to Cadbury’s candy. Shoot me.

Up next: why does regular exercise make someone disordered?? Yes, if you exercise obsessively to the point where it makes you depressed and has negative impact on your life, it’s a problem. But if you enjoy exercise..why not do it every day [as long as you’re not injured!]? I enjoy running and riding, so I run and ride most days, the same as how I enjoy watching Two and a Half Men, and Modern Family most days. I don’t enjoy kickboxing (I quit after one lesson), I don’t enjoy pilates, I don’t like tennis, rounders, football, going to the gym, doing weights or shotput – so I don’t do them. There’s no need to diss those that enjoy their hobby regularly!

Annnnd next – People who eat ‘clean’ – all I can say is, yay them! I try my best to eat clean – not because some ED voice tells me to, but because me, Freya, feels good when she eats clean – from the inside out. I have more energy, my mood is better and I just feel good. I have the upmost respect for people who eat cleanly, because they’re listening to what their bodies want and not going with the flow (ie media and adverts) who bombard their faces with ice cream and crisps all day. [side note: i’m talking ‘eating cleanly’ - not orthorexia, which is a different kettle of fish.]

Dissing vegetarians / vegans / gluten-free / allergic to X bloggers: well, I don’t think there’s much more I can say that hasn’t been said….if someone is intolerant to gluten, let them eat  the gluten free bread and Panda Puffs. If someone is passionate about animal rights and has read The China Study, let them be vegan! Don’t. Judge.

My overriding point in all this though is…..

WHO. CARES.

If someone is happy planning meals ahead, enjoys eating vegetables, or *shockhorror* ENJOYS going to the gym – so what?

Likewise, if someone has been overweight or struggled with an overeating disorder, maybe they NEED to eat low-fat food, or exercise regularly to ‘stay on the bandwagon’. We’ve all had different experiences in life, therefore different things work for different people.

Me – I like volume in my food. I LOVE eating, and I LOVE vegetables (*cue the ‘oh my gawwwd she can’t like vegetables it’s not possible she MUST have terrible vicious anorexia because who could ever actually enjoy eating something that’s grown from the earth argh panic panic let’s diss healthy living*). That does not mean I am sick. Did you know I eat chocolate, vegan ice cream (made with CASHEWS! FAT! Ohemgee.) and drink way too much coffee?

Everyone is entitled to live life how they want to, be it low-fat, low-carb, Paleo, vegan, gluten-free or dairy-free. To exercise never, every day, twice a day or once a week. Different things work for different people. Just because the majority do x, it does not mean x is automatically right (fellow psychologists! Anyone remember Asch in the 50s!?) – the majority of adults in the UK and USA are obese, but obesity is not correct. The majority of people eat factory farmed chickens, but factory farmed chickens are far from cruelty-free (and therefore, IMHO, ‘right’). I ENJOY eating as healthfully as I can, which is probably against the majority, but so what? I enjoy it!

So let’s stop the healthy living blogger bashing, accept that everyone has their own path, and let them darn well follow it!

—-

Ok, photo tiiime! They’re clogging up my camera, ergo I need to offload them onto someone :-p

FIG SEASON! My gawd they were delicious.

That squash – oh my days. Does anyone know what sort it was? It was incredible – sweet and creamy is the only way I can describe its’ taste!!

Despite being 6 months past the use-by date, that ball was awesome. Rock-hard, but awesome (TWSS).

Beluga lentils – you had beluga lentils before? DO! They have a totally different texture to green lentils, and hold their shape really well and are a nutrient powerhouse. I iz imprezzed.

Le sigh.

Mama Pea’s cowgirl cornbread – INCREDIBLE!!! I made it for dinner for my stepdad, mum and I, along with masala baked tofu. My step dad – who hates vegan food – had three chunks. I guess he liked it!

Three words: peanut. butter. puffins.

I ordered them off of iHerb a few months back after seeing everyone rant and rave about them. On first bite, I was very ‘merrrh’…by second point, I was ‘merrrh?’, and by 4th bite I was 100% sold. LOVE them.

I also love rice crispies. Sometimes, kiddie food is the only way to go

*Reader Request Post!*

Let me tell you a secret: I never used to be a runner.

In fact, the first time I ran 800m in one go, I all but collapsed at the end. I once ran the 200m in school, and came last…and I can still remember the feeling of exhaustion after I ran a mile once.

Then, I got a skanky old eating disorder. As I was on the path to recovery, I discovered running. I’m not gonna lie, at that time (2008), running meant one thing to me: calorie burn. But, despite running to burn, I did actually enjoy what I was doing; as I recovered, I found that running was helping me – it taught me to respect my body more, to fuel correctly so I could run in the first place, it gave me stress relief and time to think, and it increased my self esteem.

From about summer 2009, I can genuinely, from the bottom of my heart, say that I run because I love it. Yeah, running keeps me in shape – but above all, it makes me happy! There is nothing that compares to the feeling of being a superhero when you’re flying along at your fast pace, or when you’ve just finished an amazing long run – nothing!

Howweever, my running progress has been rocky – in 2009, I signed up for the Royal Parks half marathon (the same one I’m running on the 9th) with my sister. I was running about 6 miles max as my long run, but I got injured about 6 weeks before the run. I know why (I wasn’t eating right and had sh!t 6 year old trainers), but it was still gutting. My poor old sister – who I’d forced to do it with me in the first place – had to run it alone. I can’t say she enjoyed the experience…..

I then recovered and managed to fit in a 10k that November, but still knew next to nothing about eating to run, stretching, cross training or even wearing the right shoes – in fact, the first pair of trainers I bought, I got because they were PINK! So, in very early 2010 (or very late 2009?), I got a foot injury. I think it was that plantar f-something, but all I know is that it hurt like woah. Again, I probably wasn’t eating enough, and was running a lot. I built up to 16mile long runs at the weekend just for laughs, and during the week, was doing either one 6-7 miler, or two 3-4 milers (at a fast pace) every day. Gah.

After I recovered from that, I became far more educated. I got properly fitted with the right shoes, and I started to train properly. I ran my first half marathon in February and finished in an awesome time of 1hr43!!! How the heck I did that, I have no idea.

I ran my second half in early March and finished in 1hr50-ish. I also entered the Marine Corps Marathon for that October. Running in 2010 was like a d r e a m. I didn’t get injured, I was eating amazingly well, following specific plans and enjoying it so incredibly much. I ran my 3rd half marathon in August (the same one I’m running on Sunday) and then did Marine Corps on October 31st in Washington, DC!!

The marathon was not good..I’d trained right, but ate wrong on the day, which totally screwed it up. I had been aiming for 4hr15 – 30, which was 100% in my ability, but I finished on 4hr53 and was gutted. Do you know I crossed the finish line crying my eyes out? Post-marathon, I got real sad. I was stressed, upset and so tremendously disappointed in myself and my performance.

By January, I was depressed, stressed, overtraining, undereating, and lo and behold, injury happened. I had shin splints from January – May, and then sloooowly began to recover. I was all set to run my next marathon in October in Dublin, until I got injured, AGAIN!!! This time, it was an ankle injury that happened on the day my mum and I got lost in the forest and ended up walking a heck of a long way. I healed with about 2 weeks, but a couple of months ago, the injury re-injured, and I had to take about 3 weeks off completely. So, my marathon is scuppered. Yeah, technically I could fit in a 15miler or something and hope for the best – but the next marathon I run is going to be the marathon where I run like I SHOULD have run at Marine Corps, where I show what I’m really able to do. So, it’ll have to wait!

Til April, when I’m running the Brighton marathon :-p

Now, I am sure not proclaiming myself a master running god – in fact, if you asked my advice on how to run faster, I’d just say ‘run to the next tree faster than you ran to the one before’: the extent of my speed work knowledge! BUT, I do feel I’ve picked up a few tips along the way…

Incredibly Wise Advice: One

I read a quote today, and it’s awesome:

‘Listen to everyone, follow no-one’ (Dean Karnazes)

Wise advice! I made the mistake during Marine Corps of listening to too many people’s opinion on fueling – and then following all that advice as well. Eat every hour! Eat PowerBars! Drink PowerAid! Eat Gu! Eat dates! Eat 300 calories! Eat 700 calories! You’re going to hit the wall! Eat eat eat eat! Soooo what did I do? I ate. And ate. And ate. In one marathon, I ate multiple Gu packets, a couple of Clif bars, a couple of PowerBars and drank copious amounts of sports drink. I had my first Gu at mile FOUR, despite the fact that in training, I never, ever had one before 7 miles. By mile 16 – through sheer fear of the wall – I’d eaten way more than I’d had during my 20 mile training run, which went perfectly. By mile 18 of the marathon, I looked pregnant, and felt like JUNK – every step, I wanted to be sick, and my stomach was having a big tantrum about the sheer amount of food it was meant to be dealing with. If only I had listened to my body, and what I had done in training which had worked…I would’ve hit my goal time if I hadn’t overeaten.

Yes, my legs look like sticks in the above picture.

The above picture was taken the day before! My legs were not sticks, tyvm

Incredibly Wise Advice: Two

REST! Last year, whilst training for my marathon, rest days happened twice a week and I learnt to love them. Fast forward to January, and I was one stressed out kitten. I was depressed (I got given Crazy Pills and all!), not taking adequate rest and not eating enough. Annnnnnnd I got shin splints, my pace went down the drain, I was cranky, I was achey and I was miserable. Since I recovered from my splints, I’m back in the loving arms of twice-weekly rest days, back in the arms of more food, back in the arms of my inner speed demon, and am in general much happier for it. No splints!

PS: that’s Kovac above – Carter is still missing :’(

Incredibly Wise Advice: Three

Listen to your body! If it says it really does need a rest day (or a speed day, or a long and slow day, or a chocolate day), then don’t ignore the plea. I’ll admit, I’m not good at this, but I am getting better – I ran 12 awesome miles on Sunday, rested on Monday, and ran 6 awesome miles on Tuesday. Today, I ran three – this afternoon, my once-injured ankle feels tired. Not painful, just…I can feel it. I’ve now decided to veto my 6 miler tomorrow, and stick to nothing but 3 max. for the week, with Saturday off, and the half marathon on Sunday. I’m too scared to NOT run AT ALL (I’m yet to see a training plan that says ‘take the whole week off before your race!’), but I am going to cut my mileage in half, and stop at the slightest hint of ankle-protest. [Compare this to January, when I was in floods of tears on the last couple of runs before I stopped completely for 3 months - THAT is how much my shins hurt!]

Incredibly Wise Advice: Four

Follow the 10% rule religiously. Some rules are meant to be broken – that one is NOT. Remember when I had shin splints back in January? They were pretty much gone in late March, so I ran and ran and didn’t follow the rule, and - what? Oh, HELLO SHIN SPLINTS. How friggin’ WONDERFUL to see you back so soon. Not. I have since followed that 10 % rule (not increasing mileage by more than 10% a week) like it IS a religion…and so far, so good. Saying that, I’ll probably wake up with shin splints tomorrow, but whatev.

Incredibly Wise Advice: Five

If you get injured, go see a – preferably gorgeous – sports physio. Yes, they ain’t cheap. But what’s worse – being injured, frustrated and angry for 6 months, or getting Tesco value bran flakes, not buying Vogue magazine and forgoing your shoe obsession for a couple of months, whilst at the same time, getting a massage from a hunky man? I know which one I’d choose. And I’ll tell you this: If I hadn’t got physio, I’d be a bitter twisted limping old baggage right now. I’d also probably be homeless – I doubt my mother would’ve put up with me!

Incredibly Wise Advice: Six

This should probably be something about stretching, cross training or something else amazing. Truth be told: I’m not good about stretching, and I’m not good about cross training. So there.

The Million Pound Question: How did I get to where I am today, running-wise? Perseverance and hard work. I don’t naturally run 12 miles at an 8.10 pace – I have worked my ASS off to get there. It means doing the occasional run where I’m not in the mood, or am a little tired and would rather run at a 10min/mile pace – but I push through it because I want to be a faster runner. My pace on Sunday felt easy and natural, but at the back end of 2010, 9.30 miles felt too hard!

It’s also important to not quit when it’s raining, or you’re injured or you have a crap run. The nasty runs in the cold make the wonderful runs in the sun 10 x better, and being able to run post-injury is GLORIOUS!!! So, just stick with it, and you’ll get there – wherever ‘there’ is for you.

The. End. [sorry for the reeeee-donk-you-oos-lee long post]

PS: I just made the BEST meal for myself and the fam! Mama Pea’s cowgirl cornbread with Appetite for Reduction’s masala tofu. So…amazing….