I mentioned in my last post in March that I’d barely been scraping the barrel of my 10 mile a week goal due to my back problems.  I’ve now been told that my slipped disk won’t need surgery and should be fixable with specialist physiotherapy.  I’ve been advised to try Pilates as well and to keep on running.

Even before this terrific news I’d set myself free.  I made an internal intention to stop letting my health hold me back and to find more joy in the run.  It must have worked because I’ve started to see the return of the 9:30 minute mile in my short runs that haven’t really been seen since last spring.

The goal of ten miles a week hasn’t been restricting.  It’s set good running habits which I practically ignored before.  I increased the mileage by a mile a week until I hit ten miles a week.  I then focused on making one run a mile longer each week and making up the remaining miles spread between shorter runs with the shorter runs being speed work or hill work.

I managed to do a 10k the week before last for the first time since last August.  It was a wonderfully sunny Saturday and I felt quite comfortable afterwards.  I got a bit of delayed ache a couple of days later but not more than I could manage.  This felt like a huge victory, getting back to 10k again – in my view a proper Long Distance Run length – with fairly even pacing.

It’s a good excuse to be getting into the kitchen a bit more for some tasty treats.  Things I made recently have been a delicious Hot Cross Bacon Bun afterwards followed by a Coffee and Walnut Cake which was more of a Latte Cake as I didn’t put enough coffee in … whoops!

 

 

 

That Sunday I had my debut as a Run Director for Eastville junior pa
rkrun.  After all that training my turn was finally here!  The kids had a great time and because of the sunny conditions it was a perfect day for lots of PB’s all round.

Happy Running,

Eleanor.