Friday 24.7.09: -I did run 2 miles after work on a Friday. That's commitment.
Sunday 26.7.09: - Biggest run yet at 3 miles! It was all going well while we ran through the riverbed areas of water of Leith, but when we reached a main road and we had to carry on that for another .5 in the opposite direction from home, which was mentally painstaking.
Monday 27.7.09: - Yoga 1.5hr. No running. But my Yoga is improving too: my focus, balance, strength, breathing; the whole lot. (and confirmed by my teacher too :)
Tuesday 28.07.09: - 2 miles up Queensferry road, which is seems to go on forever this straight road, turn around and back. I didn't dig it. I get the feeling that the physical result of my running heavily depends on my mental state. If I don't like where we are running or find the route boring, then it's a lot harder to run.
So my running and socialising doesn't work for me really, I run with Greg, my boyfriend, which is cool and he plots our routes and times etc, but he seems to have to slow down his pace for me to keep up and that annoys me. It also annoys me when he's looping around every 3rd bin to allow me to catch up to him. When he wants to talk, I don't and vice versa. It improved as we've gotten past the stage where he runs backwards and encourages me to run harder....there was a teensy domestic by me about that. So we'll see...
Wed 29.7.09: - Don't remember any, it's all blurring into the next run! I've got to write more often...
Thursday 30.7.09: - 2 miles around the West End. I got my first stitch. I've never been stabbed and I can't imagine what the pain is actually like, but in my head this stitch felt like I was being stabbed in my right lung over and over every time I breathed in. Now - I contemplated stopping, as it persisted at 1.0-1.5 mile I desperately thought it would be a perfectly good excuse to cut the run short at one mile and call it quits, off to the pub, you know? Magically this was when my running partner and partner in life, Greg, swooped in and helped me keep going. He empathised/sympathised/dramatised/theorised remedies, but also he just encouraged me to keep running. And aside from one stop just to bend over quickly to get some circulation change (which seemed to help) I managed to finish the run!!! And now I feel like I have a badge of honour! You know like, showing off certain scars and other ridiculously accumulated wounds at dinner parties. And now I’m not scared of getting a stitch either and maybe running with a partner is useful...
It's strange the ridiculous fears you develop while running regularly... Greg has developed distaste for red stoplights and I’ve developed a fear of a long open road. One's for safety and the other is meant to remind me nostalgically of a USA road trip. Why do we hate them?? One upsets the rhythm of the running pace and the other is just boring. Clearly we are just getting snobby and clearly developing a "preferred run" set of criteria.
Fri-Mon we are Mad for It in Manchester!
Friday 31.7.09: - REST and enjoyed what Manchester has to offer...
Saturday 01.8.09: - OMG we ran 4 miles and it was BRILLIANT! We wiggled our way along all the Salford quays, past the Lowry Museum, War museum, loads of trendy apartments some that look like sails. I think I got what's called a "runner's high." I was totally in my rhythm and was really able to let loose. I love Manchester!!!
Then we walked all over Manchester that's counting as a cross-train of 3 hours for me. Managed to get us lost on a canal at twilight. Adrenaline created by fear of really being stabbed must count as a bit of exercise, no?
Sunday 02.8.09: - Supposed to be spent stretching and strengthening... did a little in the hotel. What's weird about this weekend is that we didn't really party as much as we would usually in a new city. I'm quite excited to be "fit" for the next day's run and alcohol isn't really conducive to that - is it? Perhaps this is a paradigm shift for Caitlan..wow.
Grrrr train arrived too late and missed yoga as a result.
Tuesday 04.8.09: - 3.5 mile run... like nothing!
Wednesday 05.8.09: - 2mile run... attempt to home yoga interrupted by friend's visit. How annoying Jay! ;)
Jeez I wonder if anyone can be bothered to read all this!
Oh I looked up what to do when you get a stitch from running courtesy of
Runners World. One of the consistent recommendations was hilarious. Kitanda wrote, "I found out on here that if you breathe out hard as you put your foot down on the side where the stitch is, it goes after about 3 repeats of this. Works for me."
This was mentioned by like 5 people! Sounds like rubbing-your-belly-while-patting-your-head gibberish to me.
......I'll try it next time.
Back to Week two...
You can sponsor Caitlan by visiting her Justgiving page
Posted in Fundraising by Caitlan Dula on 06 August 2009
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