Long time no blog (again!) – but this time less due to lack of inspiration to write about running (or lack of running as was previously the case!), but more due to life and work just being busier, which has been nice to embrace after we all know what some of the challenges of the last year have been like. Indeed, quite a lot has progressed since I last wrote in the Summer, including my age. I am now a new member of the SW 30-34 age group at parkrun and a year closer to maybe a slightly more realistic Boston Marathon qualifying time…! My running progress has been the most positive change though, and I feel like I am making large strides in my comeback from my Achilles injury.

Running wise, I am now at the point where I am back running three times a week, with a shorter faster effort run, a 4-5 mile easy run, and a Sunday ‘long’ run starting at a base point of 5 miles. Its nothing like what I was running preinjury, but it’s a huge step forward from the Summer when I was only able to run/walk for a few minutes. I have built back cautiously and gradually, and I listen carefully to my body even more so that I did before. I still am Spinning a couple of times a week to maintain my fitness and keep intensity in my training, as well as doing strength and rehab work. So whilst my running is not back to what it was pre injury, and I would say my dedication to training is still the same; training just looks slightly different at the moment.

I look back to when my Achilles injury first hit and I was not even able to walk without pain, barely able to stand up on tiptoe, and my Achilles was visibly enlarged with a huge bump on it – a lot has changed! I must thank my Sport Therapist for her guidance in getting me through the past months, her reassurance and knowledge has been invaluable. I am also proud of how I have coped – if someone had told me I would spend what has now been over 16 weeks injured and not able to run to my full ability, I think I would have feared for my sanity. But I have made it through – and I am also still aware I am most definitely not fully recovered yet, which is just as important.

So, what have I been doing with my new found ability to run? I have returned to my running club, which has been great to reconnect with friends again, and I have been able to both lead and participate in a few sessions. I have managed my first solo (without my little running buddy) parkrun since March 2020 at my home event in Lincoln. This felt hard but wonderful at the same time, and was the first time I had been able to run with speed and whilst pushing myself for many months. I managed 22:34, which when I set myself a goal of sub 24 minutes, I was extremely pleased with. It’s a long way from my old parkrun times, which tended to hover in the 20:50 – 21:20 bracket, but its not a bad start!

​Outside of my solo parkrun effort, I have continued to enjoy weekly Lincoln parkruns with my mini running buddy, who himself has progressed considerably. He has reached his 10 milestone, marking this achievement with an equally impressive PB of 36:14 – considering on one run we logged a time of 1hr 10mins, I am incredibly proud of him.

I was even more proud when his mother told me my buddy has been talking about his running technique at home – “Alice says I need to use my arms when I am running”– so he must be taking some of my mentoring in! parkrun has taken a new meaning for me having my buddy to accompany around the course, but I am really enjoying it, and I hope that the collective parkrun community is helping to instil both a love for parkrun and running into him.

Perhaps most significantly since I last wrote, I have run an actual race - the Lincoln 10k. I wrote last time that I hoped I would be able to take part my hometown 10k event, and I am so pleased I did, despite the truly horrendous weather on race day. I will write more on this, but I completely surpassed my expectations on the day. I hoped to be under 50 minutes as a start point, and I hoped my legs would make six miles having not ran that far since July. I was therefore delighted to finish in 45:11, without pain, and loving every single stride that I took. I have Doncaster 10k booked at the end of November, and my performance at the Lincoln 10k has given me confidence I can try aim for a sub 45 minute time here, as long as things continue to go well.

My focus for the rest of 2020 is still very much a gradual rebuild, that has not changed, but my progress over the past couple of months has given me extra belief I can do this, and that my hard work to build back from my Achilles set back is working – the comeback is on. ​

Long time no blog… when injured, unsurprisingly it is hard to get inspired about writing about running – and there is not even much running to write home about!

Since last writing in July, I am still battling with my left Achilles, which although improving, is being stubbornly slow to get back to normal. I am now a spinning expert and feel quite strong on a static bike, which is perhaps not too shocking considering I have been cycling six times a week for most of Summer (anyone know of any cycling races?!) I also incorporate daily rehab to try and build back strength into my Achilles and supporting calf structure – boring, but essential.

There has been some running since July, and following a careful rehab plan set by my Sports Therapist, I have gradually started to incorporate some walk/runs into my week. At first, I did these runs on the treadmill – I will admit I felt too embarrassed to be seen walking around my local streets which I used to stride almost effortlessly along. As the running intervals have increased slightly, I am now venturing around small circuits close to my house. Those brief moments of running feel joyous and frustrating at the same time – I love the feeling when I am running, but its hard to feel true euphoria as there is a niggling worry in my head about a sudden Achilles pain. The stop start nature of these runs also means it is hard to get into a flow or even begin to assess how much fitness I have lost.

In brighter running news I have actually managed five parkruns since the long awaited return of the weekly 5k events following the Covid enforced break. One was whilst visiting my parents back in Suffolk, where I took on the relatively new Chilton Fields parkrun in Stowmarket. This is my childhood hometown and the event is set on a playing field which I ran around a lot during my youth; so I felt I had to take the opportunity to run it. I ran it very steadily and slowly, simply enjoying my first parkrun since March 2020. I volunteered at the first two Lincoln parkruns back – my now home event – and since then have been running this event each week with a new little running buddy I have acquired. Way back when I could run (which does feel an eternity now even if it is ‘only’ eight weeks) my friend’s son was inspired when I ran Peterborough Marathon and told me quite confidently, he wanted to run a marathon with me. At six years old, I obviously admired his determination, but instead (perhaps more realistically!) reasoned we try some parkruns together first. We now have four runs under our belt, with a debut time of 57:44 now shaved down to a PB of 45:41. I am really proud of his enthusiastic, determined running and the way he is adapting each week. It is even more wonderful how the Lincoln parkrun community have embraced my little buddy, cheering him round and encouraging him to keep going. Running together has certainly made me smile in recent weeks and helped me find some joy from running.

I do still feel a bit disconnected from my running identity though, and indeed my running community, what with being unable to run with friends or attend Run Club, however I have tried to find some positives from a summer of little running. Usually during summer I am in training for an Autumn marathon, and battling summer warmth with a training plan is often quite grueling and life consuming. However, this summer I have had more freedom – freedom from training and freedom from Covid restrictions. It has meant I have been able to enjoy some ‘life’ again without trying to combine being a marathon runner. I have missed a couple of 10k events now, but with no Autumn marathon looming over me it takes off any pressure, and perhaps in the grand scheme of things, if there was any time to pick up an injury, this was the best time.

So the future… I am hoping to be able to at least run Lincoln 10k at the end of October. I then have a couple of other 10k events in November and December. I would love to build my fitness up to be able to run these with a bit more confidence and to challenges times again. The goal will then be to build up mileage again in the New Year. That may sound like an awful long way away, but I really do not want to take any steps backwards and see no need to push excessively in the remainder of 2021 when there is no real need to. I have goals to chase in 2022, and I need to be fit to attempt these, build back, and find peak fitness again.
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Injuries are rubbish – and at times in recent weeks when work has been stressful or I have needed to switch my head off, I have missed my miles dearly. But I will be back. ​

The month of March can now be ticked off the 2021 countdown (although what I am counting down to, I am not entirely sure…!) Looking back, it seems hard to distinguish the past 31 days for many notable reasons, with life seeming to adopt that continuous cycle of working from home, running, walking, and finding things to paint in my house… as has been the case for much of the last year!

March did in fact see us past the year milestone of entering the first lockdown in March 2020, and I will admit, it felt a strange day, with the realisation of how much life has changed. The lockdowns have given positives to my life, a space to reflect on past ways of living and an appreciation for the small things that truly matter; so, it’s not all been horrendous! However, there is still a lot of time spent with people and memories which have not been possible during the last year, and I personally can now feel the change a year of almost isolation has on my sense of wellbeing and how I am now almost naturally choosing to spend my time.
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The 29th March did however bring the most significant change to my living in recent months, with the Government roadmap allowing the return of organised outdoor sport, as well as being able to meet outdoors socially following the ‘rule of six.’ I very much welcomed this change, and I felt ready to get out of my four walls and my own company a little more. The rule of six opens up a few more options for some of my work to resume, so the relief in knowing I won’t be chained to my kitchen chair all day whilst starting at a Teams video screen feels positive. Outdoor organised sport also allows my Run Club to return, and the first session back was just an amazing feeling, to be amongst everyone again I just felt so happy (as my beaming smile in the photo taken probably shows!)

Another month of 2021 ticked off – and yes, I do feel like I am ticking days/weeks/months off at the moment on the unknown countdown to some form of normality. February has however seen the Government’s ‘roadmap’ to a return to normal life outlined, with a strangely specific date of 21st June earmarked as the day we shall be able to do whatever we want without Covid restrictions in place. I am skeptical though, and judging by the behaviour I have witnessed since the roadmap was announced, I am not sure how far we shall get through the 'map' without set backs occurring. I wish I felt a little more hopeful, but as a colleague put recently, I think we are almost tired of hope now, clinging onto something only for it not to happen. I am still of the mindset of taking things very much a day at a time.

The ‘roadmap’ did offer some indication of when my running club sessions could return, which will be fantastic to connect with our club community more widely again, and possibly a notion of some races/events being able to happen, but again I shall wait and see how things pan out. My rather ‘realistic’ outlook was challenged however by the announcement that parkrun intends to resume on Saturday 5th June – that news actually excited me and instilled positivity about the thought of spending my Saturday morning’s back down at Boultham Park, the home of Lincoln parkrun.

February itself has seen me continue to run regularly, getting some good mileage in the legs across some longer runs, a few sessions, and some always appreciated miles with friends. I have logged mostly 40-mile weeks, and this week actually tipped over the 50-mile marker, with 52 miles logged over the seven days. My entry into the Ashby 20 virtual event is serving me well as a good motivator to add longer miles in, although I would not say I am ‘training’ for the event as I would train for a ‘normal’ race.

​As February has passed by the weather is also beginning to turn slightly warmer and the lighter, longer days are making it more appealing to get out and run earlier, which I do not always need to do anymore whilst I am working from home – long gone are the 5:30am alarms! It also means some of my favourite routes to run intervals can be accessed again in daylight hours. February did however have the week of snow and ice – which I hated with a passion! It made running tough as surfaces never really thawed and kept constantly freezing, but I muddled through with a few uninspiring runs running loops of the same ‘safely thawed’ streets, and wrapping up in three layers (unheard of for me!) to face a couple of bracing runs into bitter winds.

Looking ahead, March will be fairly similar in both running and life senses, although I will have my virtual Ashby 20 to log (I am earning that hoody!) and my run club is also taking part in an inter-club virtual 10k event, so I need to pick a good day to have a go at seeing where my speed is at the moment! March will also hit the one year anniversary of Covid entering all our lives - safe to say its been quite a year! I think we are all feeling the strain of 'covid life' now, but whilst I am uncertain of the 'roadmap' dates which Boris and co have put together, I am still positive that the future will eventually be better, and if we have navigated these last 12 months, we can navigate the weeks ahead. 

2021 – it already feels a lot like 2020 in many respects! The New Year has brought new restrictions, another lockdown and many of the same challenges. I am working from home – as I have been since March 2020 – only leaving the house once a day to run or walk, and seeing just a handful of people each week. However, perhaps unlike 2020, this way of life no longer seems a shock to the system; I know what it feels like and the things you must accept are part of living through a pandemic.

Thankfully, the Government’s recognition of the importance of being able to get out for daily exercise has remained into 2021. At present we can even buddy to exercise with one other person, which for someone like me who lives alone, is a huge bonus. I am not sure how long that will last, but it is something positive for now.

As this year has started, I have therefore enjoyed being able to get out and meet friends for some miles. As lockdown now means my Run Club cannot meet, we have also set a virtual challenge to our members with various points awarded for finding certain objects on runs, step counts, healthy food choices etc. It has given some focus and a distraction from the going’s on in the world – plus a bit of healthy competition!

In a wider running context, I have no real goals for this year – there are still longstanding running goals I want to achieve – but I see little point in pinning them down at this moment in time whilst Covid still remains rampant. Some races are on the calendar, mainly those which I transferred places from 2020 – but whether those due to take place in April/May will be possible, I will wait and see. I have entered the virtual Ashby 20 in April (mainly because I love the hoodies!) and hope this will give me some further focus and an extra reason to enjoy some longer weekend runs again.

​In the weeks ahead my plan is to therefore to continue just to enjoy running, keep a good base of fitness and mileage, and where possible relish running with friends. Simple goals, but realistic at the same time. I believe there is a brighter period ahead during 2021, but for now we just need to take each day at a time… and keep running!