Test Run

It has been 19 days since my last run, and I have felt every second of it. Ask anyone, I've been grumpy, moody, sad, tearful; you name it I've done it. Today I have had the day from hell, I expected to be busy and went in early to prepare for it. Only it seemed I wasn't the only one with that idea. When I arrived my manager was already there and so was another visiting manager who really gets on my nerves. So my day started with me not being able to get into my parking space because this other manager, we'll call her Marge for the sake of this blog, had parked her car and left her door wide open preventing me from driving in without taking it off. Yes I thought about it... When I did let everyone into the office (it's still before 09:00) Marge decided to let a visitor in and guide them to my office for me to deal with! Now we have a certain level of security at the office and no one should be let in without an appointment and ID and certainly not before we open our doors! I sent him back to reception and continued to set up... She then brought the post in and put on my desk and told e she need me to unlock certain doors so she could do whatever. I quite firmly told her that she would have to wait until I sorted myself out. The plan had been to get in early check my emails and have breakfast before having to deal with all these people, but no, my rare moments of solitude were interrupted. Needless to say my day continued in that vein with engineers not running up when expected, then suddenly appearing and not being able to do the job that I expected them to do and taking the network down for 3, yes 3, hours in the middle of the day and not at the end of the day as planned, which meant my part timer couldn't get anything done in the 4 hours she works! I then had my appraisal today, which actually went quite well, none of the things on my to do list got done, but i was glad to get my year end finalised and all the paperwork for 3 offices in the post at 16:00. Phew! I could chill for 30mins then go home! Oh no, boss lady wanted us to have a 'quick' impromptu meeting about managing contractors. Oh great joy! The quick meeting lasted an hour and it was 17:15 before I was out the door. Not Impressed At All! To add insult to injury I left the office with a monstrous headache and was seriously doubting my run tonight...

When I got home the first thing I did was pull my clothes off and slide into bed. Luckily my bff called me and kept me awake. I told her about my day and she decided I needed a night out on the tiles to cheer me up! Yes Please!! I chilled for a bit after getting off the phone and though about running tonight. Is was simple, it was either gonna go one of two ways; a) I'd have a great run and everything would be fine, b) my day would continue as it started and my run would be a great big flop, I'd be in serious pain, I'd do more harm than good and my life as I know it would be over (I'm known for my amateur dramatics, roll with it). I nearly cried there and then just thinking about it and considered waiting till tomorrow to give it a try, but luckily for me a) I'm impatient and b) I knew the only thing that was gonna make me feel better was to get out there and run. So I did...

I didn't think too much about my outfit; 3/4 pants, team shirt and light jacket as it wasn't that warm out and I wasn't sure I would be exerting myself enough to work up a sweat. I had been wearing my ankle support all day so I didn't even bother to change my socks, just put on my sports bra, HRM, outfit, Garmin and my new Adidas AdiZero Bostons. I started wearing them in a while ago, using them at the gym and I've been wearing them to work all week, so this would be a good time to start running in them too. 

Once outside I stretched, while my Garmin did it's thing and found the sats. The plan was to run 40 mins max as directed by Zoe, my physio. I wasn't planning to break any records, I didn't expect it would be easy, but I wanted to get it done! I was so worried starting out that I forgot to to start my iPod for the for the first 0.5km! I once read somewhere that however long it took you to get fit in the first place is how long it will take you to loose that fitness. They lied, and it was a big fat mother of a lie! Less than 1km in I wondered if I was gonna make it the whole way. I suddenly realise how dehydrated I was I had been so busy at work I had barely had anything to drink and well I never take water out with me on short runs, but boy did I need it then! Never mind I kept going and counted the miles down. I kept thinking if I can get 4 miles in I'll be good. Go for 6-7 tomorrow and see how I feel... There's a tiny little hill on the route and I knew I had to go up and down it a few times to see how my ankle handled it. I kept focussed by thinking, this is easy for you; 13.1 is your standard run, just to the km, just to the next mile... I felt like a fat blob, but I kept running. I got to the hill and ran it four times and I kept going I hit the park where I normally loop to finish my 5km and I went round 3 times. I hit 4 miles before I got back home at just over 40 mins I kept going; I'll do 45 mins then! At 44:30 I did a quick sprint home and hit the stop button; Done! WOOP WOOOP!!! The best bit after 3miles there was no pain, the little niggle that I had felt had gone, I guess my ankle warmed up and the ligaments eased up, but my last mile was pain free. Looking forward to tomorrow when I can run on it again and see what I can really do! My fitness has gone, but at least I can run; I can build my fitness up again. So I won't be running London at my best, but at least I will be there and I will be able to run it!

So how do I feel? Brilliant, Amazing, Fantastic,  In Love! Great! The drought is over I'm back!