Half a year in one blog post

So January started well. I managed the Red January Challenge and kept up with writing a couple of blogs… 

But since then I am facing a really big change which I’m still trying to work out how this will impact my life. This has meant I have not had much free time and I have been struggling to focus. I know that there is a lot of upheaval and hard work to come but I’m currently in a bit of a limbo which right now is bringing me peace.  This change is finally letting me relax - yes life is hard, working and looking after two kids - but I feel lighter, I can breathe.  So here’s a little update of the rest of my year so far…

In February I signed up for another challenge; 47miles for Surfers against Sewage.  I knew this would be tough but I thought 12 miles a week was doable.  As I’m going through a huge personal upheaval and I was hoping this would be a good way to process everything (or a really good way to avoid everything - I love the ostrich approach!).  It was also a busy month, going to the print show for some inspiration and the conch being blown. However the weeks ticked by but the mileage was not adding up but rather than motivating me to get out and squeeze another run in I just wanted to hide.  I had failed…I’m gutted, who likes to fail especially as someone who is as overcompetitive as I am.  But what I thought I needed and what I actually needed were two different things entirely.   I didn’t need another challenge.  I needed peace, relaxation and a jar of chocolate spread and a spoon. I still ran but it wasn't another thing on the huge to do list I’m facing.

March, April, May and June was meant to be training for an Ultra I signed up for in July (with my Bestie Beth).  I have also signed up for more events in Sept (The Lap) and Oct (Eyri Marathon)… I’m not sure I will do all of the races I signed up for.  I am learning a new relationship with running; I am no longer using it to hide from my life, but I am doing it because I love the freedom running gives me.  As life is so busy and running helps with my mental health I usually sign up for races to ensure that I will prioritise running because otherwise I always fall to the bottom of the list.  Maybe some shorter distances might be the better idea for a while.

But no training has happened, not even a spreadsheet which I usually love setting up to get my running geek on!  Running has happened, swimming, cycling and gymnastics has happened but no structured plan.  Although I’m bricking it for July I have really enjoyed just being more free…

The last time I did an ultra (Fortitude July 2024 - an amazing event) I trained! The full on Excel training spreadsheet and I also trained for nutrition (something I have always struggled with).  But, the Ultra in July is a 24hr lapped ultra, so the worst that can happen is I do one lap and have fun in the event village!  I have made a table working out the combination of laps to get the most points for the smallest distance to get Gold, so running geekery has not been completely lost!

Luckily we had some of you from our badass community contribute to our blogs, we would love to hear from more of you.  I really enjoyed Helen Hornby’s blog; I’m always planning running/cycling adventures in my head.  She’s going to be the inspiration to actually do one.  What an inspiration Chrissie is, I have been lucky enough to meet her at my local parkrun where she smashed it and got a PB.

Can’t wait to share the stories of the Luna ultra with you all

Here's a glimpse of my running geekery.

Solo Gold; 60+, Silver 30 - 60m Bronze 0-30 - so I need 61 points

*  61 points / points per lap, #  Number of laps x Lap distance

They will be lots of rests in between laps at the event village, which I’ve not calculated for

What I really want to do is one lap of each which would be 32 points so I would need to do that twice to get 64 points and a total distance of 46.5 miles - this could be the winner!  Taking either (hrs 18 mins or 10 Hrs 5mins.  I have been very kind with estimated pace, I think there will be a lot more walking involved

Actual goals do one lap of each, do at least one lap at night time and have fun!

See you on the other side!