Gentle sunday evening in Bath

30 mins ER (with hills)

After spending a beautiful sunny sunday in a recording studio, jogging around Victoria Gardens in Bath as the cooler evening descended was glorious, despite the gradients! Jogged up to the Royal Crescent, and got lost in a housing estate on the way down. Found my way back 

to the gardens just as a host of hot air balloons were taking flight! Beaautiful!

1 week to go, oh my god. The BBC advert brings on waves of emotion and tears to my eyes.

smiling in the rain

CB-HB, 'TR' for 40 mins, 20 mins warm down

Really enjoyed this! hmmmm, felt good all the way. Met matt by HB to do a bit of filming, so slowed down from there. Very damp, he was miserable, I was very happy! Someone is going to be disappointed on race day!

Left sock still a pain.

9 days to go...

'ER' to HB and back

Long day. Cycled to Carnaby st and back. But I am busy busy busy all the way until 26th so have to squeeze in taper program run whenever poss.

socks and sick

15mins ER, 20mins MP(?), 6 x 60s sprint w/ 60s walk recovery, 20mins ER home to collapse...

Set off at 9.45, the time I will start my long journey to cross the starting line of the London Marathon a week on sunday.

I greased up my feet to see if it helped my socks stay in place, but it didn't really. 

I have a sock quandry. The flattering short ones only stay in place when wearing my older trainers, or just the right sock behaves in my new trainers. I don't want to have to resort to the practical bunch-on-the-ankle ones because I am being vain. I do not have wedding photos, because I am not married, but if I did the photos from the marathon would take precedence over them. I will treasure this experience forever. Some people get fake tans and roots done and even wear make-up! I just don't want my legs looking any stumpier than is absolutely necessary.

I had a messy and nervous run to the river and had to drop something off to Matt too, I shunned the lift for a jog up 4 flights of stairs and hurt my left quad (is that the big leg muscle on the front of my thigh?) I carried on regardless, but it is killing now.

The sprints were really hard. I did them on a straight quiet bit beyond HB. I felt sick and faint after the 4th so took the 5th easy and delayed the 6th. They really injected energy into my jog home though.

Success at speed at last!

Ravenscourt Park again, camera crew in tow.

I woke up dreaming of sprinting. Definitely a call to my trainers.

This time I took Matt to document my struggles, because I want to make a wee film to say thank you to all my sponsors. So the pressure was on. There would be proof that I had merely jogged, or that I had stopped my watch a good 50 metres short of my starting point (it's true, I have been guilty of deluding myself in this way, to what end I do not know. What other fibs do I happily concoct and believe about myself?)

So, I bust a gut and properly RAN all the way around the route the full 3 times...and felt GREAT! Momentum was my friend and I embraced her. I didn't manage to speed up on each round (as Haruki Muriaki- an avid long distance runner and my current author of choice- always claims to), but I honestly pushed myself for the whole circuit.

Also, my legs felt no ache from yesterday, a good sign of their fitness. I cling on to all good signs now!

Warm up: 11m 09s

Lap 1: 5m 12s (+2m 33s)

Lap 2: 5m 14s (+2m 12s)

Lap 3: 5m 19s

Warm down: 12m 30s

Ok, one more long run

PB-KB and beyond a bit, just under 15 miles, 2h 20m

I have read a gazillion different 'taper' schedules and running plans for the my last month of training, and I suppose I am panicking a bit. Is just one 20 mile race enough to get me through 26.2? 

I made this run was really easy, I slowed myself right down to 'conversation pace' and listened to political debate on radio 4. No stress whatsoever, a nice antidote to the Paddock Wood race. 

It was raining a bit, 10 degrees, I got a little cold but these are the conditions I am willing for the 26th. 

And I managed to haul my ass out of bed before 8 am so I could get accustomed to morning running finally. After spending 8 hours of Good Friday in the pub (all strength not reserved for running went on restricting my alcohol intake to a glass of dry white and half a hoegarden) the early morning was quite a feat, but I did feel like I could have nodded off on the side of the road for the first few miles . It's amazing how once you warm-up and get over those niggles, my body just seems to know what to do!

All very practical now- tried out the Tropical flavour Go Gel, which was very weak in flavour but still made me feel a bit sick, so much better than lucozade ones though. Must make sure I take them with water. Have decided I will carry in my belt 4 x gels (start taking after one hr), half a packet of wine gums to top up my carb intake, and a raspberry nutrigrain for if my tummy gets to the rumbling stage, but I need a hot weather alternative, like gazpacho and a beer.....Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelly hope it isn't hot. It's too early to check weather predictions and take them seriously though I am tempted..

Facebook plea

Hello facebook friends!

Some of you will have noticed the running theme (running, that is) to my facebook status, and some of you will have ignored my barrage of begging emails, some of you will have been bored to tears with tales of training, and some of you will have completely missed the fact that I am running the London Marathon on 26th april this year.

I have not been the most active of facebookers, and am the first to delete any request to return a snowball, buy a cocktail or join a campaigning group to bring back hanging or whatever.

I am sure I have also ignored similar requests to this one. All I can say is sorry, and that I promise to donate to the neglected cause as soon as you remind me how...

My cause is the amazing Richard House Children's Hospice. I have raised a whopping £1200 so far, but with 3 weeks to go, I have £600 yet to beg/borrow/steal.

I wondered if you, lovely facebook friends, many of whom I have not seen since we were all chanting hail marys in kilts, could find the time to sponsor me £2. That is the minimum donation, and one I don't feel too cheeky about requesting....I hope you agree! If 100 friends gave me £2, I would be so much closer to my target!

I know we are all busy and stressed and skint, and there are a million reasons not to visit www.justgiving.com/katerawson right now. You may not even like me and just became my friend to boost your numbers or laugh at how I never grew into my ears, but at the risk of sounding like those daytime TV ads, your £2 will make all the difference to the kids at Richard House.

PLEASE please pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease sponsor me now!

(if you have any problems with justgiving-a few have been reported- let me know and I can sort out an alternative)

THANK YOU! And if you are in London on the 26th, let me know!
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