sorry been a long time!

sorry i am not so good at this blogging lark. i get on a roll then i get distracted and forget!  anyway the maragirls did the marathon in edinburgh on may 22nd.  i was happy with my time for the amount of training i put in for myself. i concentrated on coaching the maragirls and it was great to run an easy marathon. it was so easy i was able to walk fine right after and started back running 2 days later!

PositionName (Number)TimesCategory 6092Anita Neilson (6189)
Photos for 6189 >04:27:29
10k: 00:59:55
Half: 02:10:00
30k: 03:08:39
Marathon: 04:27:29Female


Official photos

more importantly we raised over £1300 for breast cancer care. this meant even more to me this year when i lost a friend to breast cancer.

the link is still open if anyone would still like to contribute to the cause.
http://www.justgiving.com/maragirls

after the marathon i thot i'd tackle breaking in my orthoses. i didn't have time to do this before the marathon and put up with the pain in my right leg till it was over.  i took brufen twice on the marathon and it helped get me thru pain free. i caught it at that first niggle and the brufen kicked in fast to remove it. however 2 months of breaking in my orthoses the pain has started again!! and back worse.  i have looked up symptoms and it can be anything from plantar fasciitis, a result of my severe over pronation, fallen arches or a combination of any of these factors.  rest helps but you know me - patience is not in my dictionary! i predict it came back because i started doing speedwork.  and i was just getting into the game of it when it halted me in my tracks. so i haven't run since saturday and this is wednesday. i will try a run tomorrow and see how it goes.  i need to go see my podiatrist too.

on another note i am so overweight for my running fitness. my idela for my 5 foot nowt height is 46-47kg and 19% body fat [tanita scales].  i am now a massive [for me] 51kg and 23% body fat. I AM NOT HAPPY! i do feel it running and i am so unhappy with the orange peel - so unsightly! so i have started to watch what i am eating monday to thursday! hopefully this will help. i do love cakes and lurpack! in fact i consider the latter and essential fat!! but need to be sensible now and try shift this! gets harder at my age but  i am determined!! this is day 2 and i am trying to overcome the urge to hunt out something sweet for lunch!! i have a nice melon and plums - so that will suffice. and if i am peckish later i have those lovely beetroot crisps! and won't be worried later like after the scare i had last week after my first bag - i thot i was bleeding to death when i went to toilet in am but after search on internet was relieved that it was just the beetroot turning excreted everything red!! seriously - the packet should carry a warning!

i will try keep you posted on progress.

the peak - well for julie!

well it has been a while again sorry.  been doing the usual routine till last saturday!! there we were all prepared for 20 miles meeting at farmfoods - me, donna, jo-ann and kira!  just about to set off when a dog came running towards us alone.  at first i didn't recognise it as it's front was greyer than i remembered and it didn't seem hostile at first just sniffing kira's muzzle and then it just opened its mouth to bite.  at this point i guessed it was sally, kira's arch enemy, and i managed to lift kira high with her harness so it only nipped her on her mouth one puncture inside and one out.  struggling to separate them and keep kira away i twisted my back.  we were all shaken by it and donna had words with the owner.  apologies were made but damage was done and we were all so sapped after the adrenalin high none of us felt like running. and my good buddies refused to go off without me! i was too upset to go on and i wanted to get kira to vet to get checked over.  so we decided to run to vet to at least get us over shock and kira meeting other dogs so she remembers they are not like sally.  vet irrigated wounds and was happy that they looked clean enough not to merit treatment! thank god because last run in with sally cost us £75!!
kira has come a long way from being aggressive with other dogs to being totally submissive now.  i can take her anywhere and know she is non confrontational now and ignores all dogs - even if they try to hump her! and now kira would be able to socialise with sally - sally isn't able to socialise with kira.
anyway we managed about 4 or 5 miles with vet trip and then just as we were about to head home for sweet tea a stray dog came right up to us. tried to shag kira - twice! and was happy to be leaded up alongside kira!  it had a collar with a petscan telephone number so best plan was to go back to vet!  however i was exhausted trying to stop it trying to mount kira as we walked along i decided we'd take kira home and take dog to vet  in car.

dog belonged to folk near me and i offered to drop dog off but they decided to go collect dog as they were out searching so no one was home.  happy that dog would be reunited [or i was having it!] corrie was left at vet.

home to digest the day, donna and jo-ann went to police to report the dog.  the police asked me to make a formal complaint but i asked them on this occasion to let me handle it.  as i know the owner and can empathise with how she is feeing i emailed her to ask her to keep dog on lead.  she never responded but i do hope she will not fall out with me over this.

later that evening donna sent me a photo of corrie!!! how the fek did you get a pic of corrie i asked.  they people who own him were at the same house party donna was at!! how freaky was that??

anyway sunday came and i couldn't straighten up!  my back had seized!  i had to hold onto andrew while he dragged me and dog a walk. it wasn't till thursday that i could start laying off the brufen but still using tiger balm!! was ok if i kept mobile but the moment i sat down i seized up again.  friday i'd say i could probably have attempted a run but i decided to save it for the big one on saturday!!  so here we are planning our saturday peak run for julie! 22 miler and trying for as flat as we can get which is impossible round here,

no dog tomorrow - i'll take kira a shorter 10 on sunday!

so keep fingers crossed back is ok.....

weekend long ones

at last back to normal weather -  or, after that ice age, more like tropical!

Since i last blogged i have been out every sat and sunday long 15 or 16 milers on saturdays and 10 to 12 milers on sundays.  with the mara girls [expedition donna, gel jo-ann and G I julie] a couple of runs in during week of 4 or 5 milers now getting a speed session in too!! that is till this weekend!  saturday we [just donna and i] set out to do 16 miles. however thinking i was smart i suggested a wee detour via a path that i had taken before many years ago and expected it to lead us exactly where we wanted to go - not to be! lost! in fact so lost we ended up wandering around inside the carbeth huts grounds trying to find our way out! at one point we saw 2 small domestic turbines and we thought right lets head in the direction of what we thought would be the road that leads to the west highland way path. after running about for a few minutes we could have cried when we ended up  right back at the turbines - just this time we were at the other side of them!!  after lots of circling, hill running, asking strangers where we were and trying to work it out on our maps on our blackberrys we eventually found our way to near where we wanted to be!!

KEY
PURPLE - WHERE WE WANTED TO GO
BLUE - WHERE WE GOT LOST
CERISE - WHERE WE MANAGED TO ESCAPE

we then decided to to into strathblane and check out the bit of the walk from strathblane to kilearn on the dismantled railway!! fek knows how but yet again we took the wrong path and ended up running along the main road!! after all that we decided to head home.

SAME KEY AS BEFORE THOUGH THIN PURPLE LINE NOT THICK ONE.

To get home we took the shot cut through the horse paddock [cerise line] as by that time we'd had enough!! By the time we got to the car we had completed 12 miles in 2 hours, as i switched garmin off when not moving! however we had been out for an extra half hour on top of that wandering!!

also i christened my fabby new drinking pouch that i got from vapur!! well recommended for those wanting to travel light!

Vapur pouch

when i got home i had a bit of a sore ankle although i do not remember hurting it. i then compounded the injury by standing in 4 inch heels at the hue & cry concert!

my old school mate and neighbour -patrick kane

so sunday i missed out on a fab adventure with the girls.......... i will link to donna's blog when she has completed it for that episode!!

meantime enjoy our video blog of saturday..

kahtoola!! bless you!

They came today - looking like a device of torture from an s&m dungeon these beauties promise to grip on solid ice just when we rose to a tropical 9 degrees today! i was so hot on my run i could have worn a t-shirt and shorts!! yes they say the ice will be back - i wait with baited breath! until then i will adore my kahtoolas in anticipation of a cold front!!  Dog reps of 3 miles today! All i had time for! Looking forward to long runs at weekend!

good to be back on track...

after running every day in december i ended up with a sore throat on 1st, 2nd and 3rd! damn i should have stayed on the marcothon another month! however by tuesday i felt fine and did 5 miles with donna. by tuesday night i was covered in a rash all over!! went to gp on wed after a night of scratching, tossing and turning.  positive it was either a fungal infection or allergic reaction to 3 possible things [new body cream, new soap powder or new shower cream], doc thought the preceding sore throat and run the day before made it viral so sent me off instructed not to run till gone!! 2 to 6 days if viral and if not gone after that it is reaction so come back for referral! great! anyway the antihistamines made me sleepy all day for next few days i didn't bother about running. but with no change to the rash i stopped using them and felt fine!  wanted to run sat sunday but just in case i held off for the 6 days.  No change!  so bugger all that i went for a run - just easy 3!  feel fab anyway so back on track now i dug out my half mara training plan and made a few modifications and sent it to mara girls!  so stuff the rash i am back on track...

last day of the marcothon done and dusted!

were we first to finish??? time will tell!

yes joanne and i met for our day 30 and day 31 runs starting at 11.30pm on the 30th with a wee 2minute break at midnight to commence day 31 run and finish 3 miles later!!  it was weird running that late but somehow didn't feel any different once we were out.  6 hilly miles in the very quiet suburbia watching the fog roll in over us. joanne admitted needing a coffee at about tennish to tay awake but i think i was so psyched up about it i had no problem with tiredness.  i dressed entirely in black so i didn't attract any undesirable attention from any potential drunken louts but looked more like a cat burglar. at the other extreme joanne was dressed to be seen in dayglo pink so luckily we only passed 2 people out walking their dog.  i wonder if they thought it was strange seeing runners at this time of night!!  i did get a fright when i heard heavy breathing and snorting running up behind me but soon discovered it was one of my neighbour's dogs trying its normal escape bid. so i quickly grabbed it and took it back to a pyjama clad frantic owner then caught back up with joanne!

we stopped at midnight to upload our pic to facebook as  evidence that we did break the runs into 2 separate 3 milers over 2 different days therefore still in the rules of the marcothon. i also checked with the boss debbie to ensure that was ok first!!

midnight break

then at the end we uploaded our pic as we finished our run.  last run of this month, last run of the year!

day 31 done!! 00h32m

the marcothon was certainly an icy challenge this year but i thoroughly enjoyed it and was amazed at what we achieved despite the weather and still managing to fit in long runs in treacherous conditions. i am proud of myself, donna and joanne for digging in on the long runs and keeping me going as i would never have bothered to do these biggies on my own! as a result this month i managed to complete 150 marcothon miles!!  much more than last year's marcothon when i did the minimum 3 miles most of the days!  nothing like a good marcothon to get you started into marathon training!!

so to bed now with a nice rest day the rest of today and all of tomorrow and back to running again on sunday!!

well done all you marcothonians!!


till then happy new year!!

on target.....

nearly there now.  after trotting all week on slowly thawing ice today was the day for the breakthrough to real ice free road surfaces.  having planned a long run since saturday and only managing 5 then only doing bare minimum 3 on sunday, monday and tuesday joanne and i at last put in a long run of 13 miles. a route planned by joanne [i must admit i was filled with trepidation as joanne's previous choices have never gone to plan] who had scouted by car and saw no ice seemed to be a good plan.  through a few badlands though at that time in morning we were possibly going to be safe enough not to be chased by neds [as had happened to me on that route before!] but just in case i told joanne to put her angry face one which proved to be impossible as we both burst into laughing at each others' grimace.  there luckily wasn't a soul around to see!

joanne confessed to me the routes she used to run alone that i would never consider on my own and this route today was one of them - obviously not a glaswegian or she'd know this was one to avoid! i must confess there are some places i would never run alone and some areas i love running alone in. it also reminded me of a run with my friend mo up the west highland way on route to the beech tree inn. just past carbeth early on a sunday morning as we crossed the road we passed 4 or 5 really drunk yobs who offered alternative ways to spend sunday with them!! as if, however mo was very vocal in her rejections which had me running for my life. don't worry she said they are pissed as farts they'll never catch us up this hill c'mon she says and takes off with me on her tail... yes she was right but i wasn't as confident as her about their ability to be too pissed to catch us. but then she confided in me it has happened to her before and she has always been able to outrun someone that's been drinking all night...

back to today, joanne and i managed to make it to civil-isation and relaxed enjoying the uphill journey we had homeward bound. in all it turned out to be different and enjoyable.  we planned some future routes for our coming months of training in the build to a half in march and the marathon in may! donna was still missing as she was still barking like a dog!! Hopefully on the mend to start training after joanne and i have had a rest after the end of the marcothon.

on that note with only 2 runs to go we are considering running both together with a 2 minute break at midnight in between to ensure we are doing 2 separate runs on 2 separate days!  is it cheating?? well just in case it is i will run 3 in morning of 30th so my night run is extra and is really 31st! then i will have no guilt over it and if by any silly chance i miss my midnight run i will only have 31st to do the final 3miles!

and my goal this marcothon was to do 150 miles in the month and with today's 13 plus at least 6 over next 2 days i will have achieved that too!! it's not over yet so i'll hold the excitement till then....