Happy New Year all!
I hope you achieve all your goals for this year, and if you haven’t set any, well Instead I hope you have happiness and if I may be so bold, love. If you don’t want either of those feel free to return them unopened 😉
But back to me (yes yes, same old story). So for 2014 I’ve set myself two goals.
- Run weekly and get my average fun run distance up to 10k
- Run a half marathon iby the end of 2014
The final days of 2013 saw my resolution to start running again strengthen and I finally made it out the door. I then ran twice more (three times in a matter of weeks!) with the awesome Steve Morgan and Charlottle Mchugh who pulled me round a high altitude, very hilly, 10k course.
A very tired (and red) me and a spritly Steve and Charlotte
Today, 6th Jan, I got out and ran a solo 10k. This was at a lower altitude (2500m vs the previous 3800m) and the terrain was flat. Foolishly I fell into the trap of thinking these things would make 10k a breeze.
They did not.
My time was better, my distance before stopping was much better, and I had a half decent 5k time (33 mins) but it was still not easy, and the back 5k was a killer. On top of that I was fighting the Blurch (thanks to Rezwan Rezani for introducing to the Blurch concept) all the way out and all the way back. It helped that I had such beautiful scenery to take my mind of things;
Fantastic valley scenery along the river out of Tilcara, Argentina
But I did it. 10k in 1hr 08mins. Only 8 mins off my target pace time (I’m a plodder that likes to do 6min kilometers/10min miles) and considering this is still at altitude and I’ve only run a few times recently I am very happy with it.
However, here are a few lessons to be learnt, as always.
- Don’t just get up and run. DRINK something. And possibly EAT something.
- When it’s hot and sunny, wear a hat. Remember you’ve just had a ridiculously short hair cut and you burn easily.
- You are going to get blisters. Fact. You always do when you run.
And it’s on the subject I’d like some input. BLISTERS.
Always on my big toes!
Do you pop them or not?
Do expensive socks really help? I’ve tried a few types but they don’t do anything for me.
Or is it the shoes? I run in Saucony trainers which were the recommendation after an assement in a running shop. These cured the blisters I got in my arch, but for sown reason I continue to get blisters on my big toes. What is with that?? Any suggestions to help solve this would be greatly received.
On the whole 2014 has had an awesome start and I look forward to that Half Marathon at the end of the year.
Cheers.
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steveslaw 