One more off the bucket list!

The 35th Vatenfall Berliner Halbmarathon, Sunday 29 March 2015.
In 2008 when John had progressed to half marathon distance, we went to Berlin for him to take part in the Half Marathon.  I remember the excitement of the event - it was about 20000 runners that year - a lot for a Half!  There were crowds out supporting along the route and the start and finish area was great with stalls selling bier, bratwurst, brezels etc.  He thoroughly enjoyed this race and I remember the excitement and emotion of watching him power down the finishing strait.  I said then that I'd like to come back and run this myself one day.  In 2011 we planned to go back and both entered, but I was ill with 3 chest infections at the start of this year so we didn't make it... Last Autumn, the race opened and we decided to try again, both getting places in what is now a Huge Half! 35000 places!
This was before I knew I'd got a place in the West Highland Way race.  As a result, my training has been focused on the WHW race, not on racing (?) Half Marathon or even Marathon distance.  My taper consisted of a 34.7 mile race on the WHW, a 4 miler midweek, and 3 hard circuit sessions, not the most conventional :)  We arrived Saturday evening to our first 'mishap' arrived at our hotel to be told that they'd had a problem with their booking system and had overbooked so we didn't have a room.  Before I had a chance to draw breathe to complain, the charming receptionist told us he had already booked us a room in a sister hotel and they would pay for a taxi to take us there.  True to his word, the taxi arrived and took us across the city to our new abode, ironically a lot closer to the race start than the one we'd chosen.  We spent the next three nights in the Park Plaza Wall Street and it was very nice.  Being closer to the start meant we'd time for breakfast before we left, bonus!  There were a few other runners and an Italian gentleman met John at the buffet and asked if he was ready :)
It was raining as we jogged the mile to the start, got heavier as we picked up our numbers, however there was plenty of shelter and the rain went off after about half an hour.  Like a big city marathon, there were baggage trucks, and an abundance of porta loos.  Half an hour to go, we dropped off the bags with our clothes for after, said our cheerios and went to our start corrals.  Second 'mishap' there was a problem with the chip timing system which meant the start was delayed.  John was 10mins late but I had to wait 40mins until I started and my left leg started seizing up and getting quite crampy and sore :-(  Eventually and after a quick exit from the corral to the porta loo, a fast jog up the pavement and hop back into the start corrals and it was time to go.
Off we went out to Charlottenburg and back, I enjoyed the route as I'm familiar with the city landmarks and having done the Marathon the second half of the route was well known.  We'd a bit of a headwind on the way out and a couple of large puddles to contend with if following the race line - yes there was a racing line in a Half!! On the way back it was cool to see the green lines for the race alongside the blue ones from last year's Marathon.  There were crowds most of the way and at least 7 bands to keep us going.  I am used to being in a fair bit of open space as I'm often near the back, I'd to run with elbows out a fair bit, this time there were 10,000 people who finished after me!
Ticking off the landmarks in my peripheral vision I was concentrating on trying to keep my pace consistent and to keep the work rate up, at the same time telling myself that I could keep going even though my left leg was killing me - nothing that can't be fixed when I go to physio on Tuesday, but really sore all the same.  300m from the finish I heard John shout my name and I waved as I kept on going and worked hard to overtake as many people as I could in the last 250m, I honestly think I managed to overtake about 20 people just by keeping going.  Job done, ticked off the list!  Medal, space blanket, water, banana, beer, met John, picked up bag from luggage truck, passed the showers and changing rooms (yep seriously!!) then walked back to the hotel (the long way...)
We spent the next two days being tourists, cocktails, cake & wine in KaDeWe, La Boheme at the Deutsche Oper, running in the snow to the East Side Gallery, pizza at 12 Apostel then the third 'mishap' our train to the airport was delayed!  (it didn't matter as we'd plenty of time) they say that things happen in threes :-)

We'd a great wee break, a decent run and more training miles in the bank.  I thought about including photos of some traditional landmarks, but decided to share these instead as they made me smile

Ooops!

Oooops! Covers lots of things since I last blogged, not least that i should have worn trail shoes for today's run, not road shoes... however they will clean and be pretty and purple again :-)

Other Oooops moments - running a little too fast on my Saturday LSR (17.5miles) last week which ended up with my leg seizing up and causing me excruciating pain and meaning I had to walk the second half of Sunday's run from Milngavie to Carbeth with only a slow jog/walk for the first half of it - however, I did have lovely company on Sunday from Alan and Islay - John met us after he'd finished his second 20mile run of the weekend!  We also met some fellow marcothoners at the end of the route which was nice to meet some more of the people behind all the madness that is marcothon :-)
I woke on Monday feeling utterly crap, not sure if it was a virus type thing or if it was just accumulated tiredness - that coupled with snow and gale force winds meant I didn't go to fitcamp on Monday night, but fortunately by Wednesday both my leg and my general health was much improved and although I still hadn't run, I did get along to fitcamp and had a good workout.  I'd been to see 'Mr Magic Fingers' at luncthime (physio!) at LifeFit Physiotherapy and he'd managed to ungum my kneecap and do some digging in my muscles - what a difference - though it wasn't nearly as sore as I'd anticipated, and he did say he'd seen it much worse.  Thursday I managed a wee half hour run before fitcamp and then it was fitness test time.  We take a fitness test at the start of the 4 week block and repeat it again at the end, hoping for improved numbers, I'm happy with mine this time!
I was on holiday on Friday (and again tomorrow) but when I woke on Friday I still had a sore throat and felt a bit under the weather, so when I woke yesterday the thought of a long run didn't fill me with joy... we decided to leave it another 24hours and see how I felt but the trade off was that I had to go to they gym to do a wee session - glad I did, I ran a 4mile session just turning up the miles every half mile and had the intention of trying run the last mile at 09:20 pace all was going fine, working hard but not red-lining, when John who'd finished his workout came back on the treadmill next to me and said go on turn it up for the last 4minutes - I did and so the last half mile took me 08:45!  I couldn't believe I was running that fast and yes I could have gone another couple of yards more if there'd been a finish line ahead :-)  I was really pleased as I didn't have any further pain in my leg.  So this morning we got up and headed out for the LSR, we'd decided to drive through to Leith as I'd mentioned that I'd like to run on the Water of Leith Walkway, so the plan was to run from where the river joins the sea up to Balerno where the Walkway starts, and back again.  The aim of today's run was to try to teach me to run at the slow pace I will need to do to be able to finish the Fling in April, and to practice eating on the move.  We ran most of the day in snow, however it didn't lie on the ground just added to the wet and muddy underfoot conditions (see shoes!!) but it wasn't unpleasant to run in, neither was it too cold nor too windy so it wasn't a bad day out at all.  One of the biggest things for me though was that my leg is fine, it's a bit tired, they both are, but there's no great pain and it hasn't seized up so all is good again in my head - I had a wee mental wobble after last weekend and at the moment, those fears have been allayed.
Next week is what's known as a drop back week my LSR is 10miles, so to make it interesting and to get more Fling practice in the bag, I've to try to run up hills - this is something I really struggle with, whereas John just bounds up them!  There will still be midweek runs and fitcamp sessions but it will be a 'lighter' week...
Oh and on another note - we got our Condo and flights booked for Boston and I have entered the 5km race which is held on the Sunday before the marathon and finishes on the last km of the course so I will get a chance to cross the famous Boston finish line :-)

Back Again! :-)

It's a bit of a cliche but it is true... What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and having just finished my 4 week stint as a Guinea Pig, I am not dead, but I AM stronger!!  Mentally and physically stronger, more aware of the strength of my body and the limits I can push it to - this has paid off in my running and I am delighted, as this was the initial purpose of trying to lose weight and get fitter.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the last 4 weeks of training with John Allan and Pamela Halkett of PinPoint Fitness really nice people who can motivate and push you to just grind out "one more" :-)
I've made some new friends along the way and have enjoyed the banter and am grateful for their encouragement and support.  They have all done brilliantly, with lbs and inches coming off all over the place :-)

Since I last blogged about running here, we have done the Hoka Highland Fling - what a day!! The weather gods took pity on us and we had almost perfect racing weather, not too warm but not too cold, hardly any wind and enough sunshine to warm your bones.  I am totally in awe of my amazing husband who ran the full course, 53 miles from Milngavie to Tyndrum, in 12hours and 13 minutes!  He was incredible shape when he finished, lucid, smiling and injury free!
Our friends and colleagues Janette, Rab and Colin ran the relay with me and we all had fantastic runs, we finished in a combined time of 11hours and 50minutes which I am delighted with.  On a personal note, the climb up Conic hill which took me 1hr 30 in March, took me 1hr 10 on race day and I got to Rowardennan 18minutes faster than I had the last time.

On Friday  past I ran the Black Rock 5 race with a group of friends from Falkirk parkrun  it is a slightly crazy race out onto the beach and round a rock before the tide comes in!  It was freezing cold but great fun, and yes I'm looking forward to doing it again next year... It's quite a sight to see all the runners streaming across the sand.

I am really enjoying my running at the moment, this is probably due to the fact that I lost 8lbs on my Guinea Pig journey and this means there's less to move over the ground so makes it a much more pleasant experience.  I feel so much stronger too which means I don't tire so quickly and I am running faster than I have ever run before so I am hoping that this bodes well for my next race which is the Women's 10k in Glasgow this coming Sunday.  Fingers crossed that all goes well as I'd really like to get another new PB at this one, I'd like to keep the chain going.
My leg is behaving itself at the moment, it's the usual tired-sore after a run, but no new pain or swelling etc so hopefully all is calm for a while to come.
I had a wee moment of madness after the Highland Fling, and put in an entry for the Devil of the Highlands, this is the 43 mile ultra which John ran last August and is the second half of the West Highland Way from Tyndrum to Fort William... I am officially on the waiting list so here's hoping I get a place - the first 3 on the waiting list have already got places - eeek!  This will mean a bit more intense long distance training over the next few weeks, but it will set me in good stead for the Marathon in Toronto in October even if I don't get the place on the Fling.
So that's enough for now, will try to update reasonably regularly over the coming months and record what we get up to :-)