A running tribute

I lost my nan (that’s what we call grandmothers in the north west!) this week. That’s a strange expression isn’t it. All to avoid saying the dreaded ‘d’ word. We didn’t misplace her, or forget to pick her up. She died. There, said it. She’d had a decent innings, a good life and was very ill, so it wasn’t a surprise but we’ve a pretty close family so it hurts nonetheless. As much as I enjoy my life, work and social life (OK, who am I kidding...I mean tri training) here in Dubai, at times like these I feel an awfully long way away from everybody. I know there’s nothing I could do if I were there, but that doesn’t change how I feel. 

I spoke to her over the phone quite a bit in the last few weeks (as much as she was able to maintain a conversation, anyway) but wish I’d been able to see her a last time. On the other hand, when I did last see her a few months ago, she didn’t look too sick and was in good spirits, so, from a selfish point of view, I’m kind of glad that that’s the way I’ll get to remember her.

I’m heading home for the funeral which means I’ll miss the last triathlon of the year here, probably a good thing coz I’ve found motivation quite hard to come by this week. Death is like that, I guess. Sucks a little bit of life out of everyone around it too, for a while at least. I have the Dubai Creek Striders Half Marathon tomorrow and have been umming and aahing over it for the same reason, but I think now I’m going to give it a go. 

When my mam (that’s what we call mothers in the north west) texted me to let me know nan had gone, my first impulse was to go for a run. It was the middle of the day, I was in work, and I’ve watched enough films to know that on these occasions you’re supposed to hit the bottle or spark up a cigarette, but I wanted to run. I rode and ran very hard later that night and that made me feel better. I’m not sure what this says about me, and guess it probably says nothing any healthier or more balanced than tucking into a bottle of scotch or pack of Marlboro Reds, but there it is...

So, I’m going to run tomorrow. I’ve not done much training over distance for a while, instead concentrating on picking speed up over the sprint 5k distance, but I’m going to leave it all out there. My PB is 1:36 and I hope to beat that, destroy it. I’m going to try to at least, coz that’s the therapy that running brings – in challenging, pushing and hurting yourself, alongside hundreds of others doing likewise, you reaffirm that you’re alive and what a wonderful, surprising and amazing thing life can be.

This might mark me out as a loon who should be wheeled out to the asylum but, when I did Ironman Wales this summer, I spoke to my grandad (who died several years ago now) quite a few times throughout the race. Something like an Ironman, such an overwhelmingly huge undertaking, you need another reason to carry on going at times. You need to vocalise the pains and frustrations that you feel and, to badly paraphrase Lennon (after all, today is the anniversary of his death): 'I don't believe in magic, I don't believe in I-ching, I don't believe in Bible, I don't believe in Tarot, I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in my family, and that's my reality.'

So tomorrow, as trivial as a little, local half marathon may be, my nan will be running it with me. Hopefully, she's feelign strong coz I might need a push here and there!

“The real purpose of running isn't to win a race. It's to test the limits of the human heart.” – Bill Bowerman

Long time no post

And after I promised too..! Last time I left my meandering, ill-considered keyboard taps on this here blog, I apologised for not having posted more regularly of late and gave my word that, from that point on, readers would be able to tuck into my thought pies more often. And I failed. At the first attempt. But, with a New Year a-comin, it seems like maybe I can get a bit of a headstart and turn over a new digital leaf. From now on, dear blog readers, from now on...

There’s really only two explanations for my woeful and wilful dereliction of blogging duties, isn’t there: that I’ve been busier than an Essex girl on a Saturday night and haven’t had the chance to whack out a blog; or that life’s been so remarkably uneventful that writing about it would have been as pointless as a Tiger Woods marriage vow. So which has it been? Well, both actually.

On one hand, work has been off the charts mental, and I’m currently managing five guide books as well as an editorial team and overseeing all of their projects. Meanwhile, there’s been the small matter of moving house and all the sheer, unadulterated pain in the arse-ness that involves. Oh, plus 12-14 hours a week of training. But that’s the other hand...training has been going well but it’s really just been a case of keeping on keeping on. I’m still loving being part of the Tri2Aspire team and am still convinced of its benefits, in terms of motivation, enjoyment and improvement.

After a month of ‘longer miles’ in November, my attention has turned to quite a lot of shorter, higher intensity efforts for December which I’m hoping will build speed and strength ready for next year. Next May, I’m going to be racing the British Sprint Championship in Emberton in an attempt to make the UK age group team for the World Championships in New Zealand. Then it’s Ironman Austria in July. They may both be some distance away but I’m already feeling pretty focused and determined and am trying to keep these in mind during each training session. I definitely feel like I’m making progress at the moment, which is great. 

You’d naturally assume that training for a sprint and an Ironman – the two ends of the triathlon spectrum – would be completely different but I’m not finding that to be the case. Of course, I know that I’ll need to focus on building the endurance more and more as IM approaches but, for the moment, I just feel like I’m getting stronger and stronger in all three events which can only help, no matter what the distance. For short course racing, that power is explosive and used for hard, fast racing; over the longer distances, it’s used for endurance and keeping steady throughout – something I definitely struggled with on the bike in Wales.

However, I think these jam-packed busy/eerily quiet days are coming to an end, which is good news as far as the creative juices go as it means lots more material for writing about. For starters, I’ve the Dubai Creek Striders Half Marathon this weekend. The following week is the final Aerofit sprint tri of 2011. Then it’s my birthday (which I’m hoping to celebrate with a team session of 100 x 100m off 1:40 in the swimming pool...a 10k swim in around 3 hours!), Christmas and a whole New Year to look forward to. I’m also hoping to upgrade my bike in the next few months. So, busy-busy, but in the good way.

That’ll do for now then. Laters.