Ally in Amsterdam! by Ally_R

for a wee while any way, but first to let you know how Amsterdam went.

On the Thursday before I left I got out of my bed and couldn't put either of my feet flat on the floor without feeling a horrible pain in both my calves - which I found very odd as I had no recollection of doing anything different which might have caused a problem. Wondered if it had anything to do with all the driving I'd done that week, but it's not unusual for me to do a fair bit of motoring and then I thought that it had something to do with the taper and my muscles were seizing up - (daft I know). I hit big dozes of ibuprofen and icing the area in a bid to make it go away, but I had the same problem on the Friday morning when I got out of bed - I couldn't believe that this was happening at this late stage of my training. Not to be put off me and the family headed off to Amsterdam - wearing my running shoes (me that is)! and carrying the rest of my running gear in my hand luggage - can't take any risk that my gear may end up in some other country - not unheard of, but so far has not happened to me. Arrived in Amsterdam and was on one of those moving floors in a downward manner when I felt a wee jolt which reminded me that on Wednesday I had been in Asda in Hamilton, coming down the moving floor when I got a jolt and felt it, yes you guessed it, I felt a pull on my calves - now I had an explanation for my problem - but what damage had I done, I wasn't sure, although the muscle was a bit achy I was able to put weight on it which was a good thing. So until Sunday I iced the area and took ibuprofen.

We went to the expo - what a disappointment - there wasn't a great deal to see, there were very few freebies and everything was very expensive.

We then went into town and ended up in what seemed a seedier part of the City - not a place one wants to be with a 10yr old who was wanting to know why the cigarettes smelt as they did and checking out if I saw what he saw in one of the windows - needless to say I picked up the pace and wheeked him out of the area as quick as my calves would allow me and OH got a telling off for suggesting we get off at the station we did - was this coincidental I ask myself!!!!!! I was a bit worried as to what small child would tell his teacher when he returned to school!!!!

Visited the Anne Frank house on the Saturday - very authentic, just glad it wasn't a miserable day as we had to queue for a good half hour before getting in.

The big day arrived - I took my own porridge with me and the chef kindly cooked it for me with skimmed milk, unfortunately it arrived at the table looking like a bowl of soup and tasted very creamy - I ate it any way. It was a lovely morning, sunny, blue sky and quite warmand we headed over to the olympic stadium, it looked quite tired, the gun went off and 4minutes later I was off as well. The legs felt good this morning, I had food in my belly and felt quite positive, I had a feeling that today was gonna be a good, good day!!! The crowds were small compared to FLM as was the running field - seemed like a serious race, I never say any chickens, super heroes, men dressed as women, I had on my kilt and one guy found that strange as he thought it was only men who wore such an outfit! It was a great idea wearing the kilt as the crowds recognized my place of origin so I got a great deal of support from the spectators and then at one point I saw my family - what a boost, at this stage I was running well, I took water and the isotonic drink AA on at all of the recovery stations as well as bananas, one downfall being that the drinks were in paper cups - hopeless, I had to walk in order to drink - pain in the neck, but needs must! I came to the half way mark and still feeling fab, checked my time 1:52 - woo hoo me thinks I'm on for a sub 4 time - but need to pee - only one toilet and a queue - had to keep going - pain in the calf at 23k - bugger - quick stop for a stretch and off again, calf feeling a bit tight, but at 25k pain was a good bit more intense -s o out came the sachet with icing lotion stuff and a quick rub with that - seemed to work and off we went again - spotted a hidey place to pee - good thing wearing a kilt - I'll spare you the details!!! Tough getting going again, so had to do the rest of the race in a walk, hobble, jog style it took almost an hour to complete 5k - bad news and recognised that sub 4 was a no hoper, never mind, had to get the medal though and carried on and finally finished in 4:47 in the olympic stadium - fantastic feeling to get there in the end. The sky by now had turned quite grey and soon after the rain came down.

A lovely race and one I recommend, although I'm not such a great fan of Amsterdam itself.

I've seen a physio this week who confirmed I have a wee tear in my right calf and I need to take it easy - no running for a few weeks - I have no problem with that. Yesterday I decided to get back into the gym and do some upper body weights - not a laughing matter today - I ache!

I also met Tina today - I went down to the local park where a 10k run in aid of Cancer research took place - great to meet you - you looked good and strong when you came across the finish line - you were up against it with the wind and rain - well done - Now you need to find a training plan for the kilomathon next year - let me know if you find one please.

Well that's about it folks - I'm not sure what I plan to do next - I'd like to run New York marathon next year, I've signed up for the kilomathon in October next year, I will probably run a few half marathons and some 10k's. I'll log into realbuzz from time to time to read about what you're all up to - so what more can I say -

Merry Christmas!!!

so this blogging malarky had to take a back seat! Work since the schools went back after the summer break has been crazy and last week was particularly bad, I'm just glad that I was at the tapering stage or I think my training would have been seriously affected. Can't remember when I last blogged, but I've followed my training plan, the big miles are all banked and the tapering is all but over as I prepare to fly to Amsterdam on Friday. Details of my number came in last week - 16481 and I'm in the Orange pen, start group D. I'll pick up my number, chip and t-shirt when I go to Amsterdam - it's all becoming very real now. I'm still relatively calm about the whole thing. I went out and bought jellybabies today to stick into my wee bumbag to help me get round the course.

I had my last appointment with my chiropractor last week and all still seems to be going well, so fingers crossed I'll have no disasters on Sunday and run the race in a respectable time for me. I've made my list for packing, but I've just this second remembered that I need to pack porridge and I'll need to go and buy a wee pot of honey to take with me,  just in case the hotel doesn't have it!!

Tomorrow will be my last run with Harvey before Sunday, just a little easy jog around Strathclyde Park before I go and get my hair done - after all a girl has got to look her best when she's running!

Not sure what the weather will be like so I'm packing to running outfits - my kilt and Scotland top for a nice day with no breeze and leggings and waterproof jacket for if the weather is unkind to us - I'm hoping for a cool but sunny day - what are the chances of that happening in October?

Must go and add porridge to my list before I forget - wish me luck and I'll let you all know how it goes when I get back.

Did the last big one with Harvey on Friday - 23miles, before Amsterdam in 3:31. Very pleased with that, we ran from Kelvin Bridge in Glasgow all the way to the Falkirk Wheel, it's a lovely run along the canal, I left too early to meet up with a group of 'winos' that I regularly meet when I do this run - so no offer of cider or cheap beer, saw a few folk fishing who hadn't been lucky to catch anything when we went by, I did see a little Robin, the first this end of the year - does this mean winter's on it's way then? Harv slept very well afterwards,he has since recovered and been out for a nice easy walk yesterday and a wee 3mile tempo run today - he's a real star.  I went to a yoga for runners class on Saturday, I can't believe how hard it was, I was a bit stiff and achey on Sunday, hence the reason I went for a walk instead of a run, I think I probably needed the extra day to recover from the long run on Friday. Now I'm into the tapering part of my training with only 20 sleeps to go, where does the time go? I'm over the cold now as well, so if anyone comes near me who has any type of bug I'll very kindly tell them to 'bug off'!!!

It won't be long before you guys hear if you're in or not to the VLM - can't wait to read the blogs.

Well that's it for now, a short one this week. Hope you've all had a good weekend running.

for a while, I am still in training. I've had got a rotten head cold, not sleeping well because of the coughing and feeling sorry for myself. The odd thing is that when I run I don't cough - so the answer to my problem is keep on running!

It's only 4weeks tomorrow until my final marathon this year and I get my life back, I guess that means the family get me back too, I'm so lucky that they are so supportive.

Since I wrote my last blog, I ran a 20mile run on the 11th September, which I did in 3:12minutes, I found the run to be tougher than normal and a smidgen slower and my garmin indicated that my heart raised was a bit higher than usual - unknown to me at this time was that the cold was kicking in. I ought to have done a tempo 5 run on the Sunday, and considered not doing a run at all, but decided to take it easy instead and that's when I realised that when I run I don't cough - weird! On Tuesday should've been an interval session, but opted out as I felt it would be too much an I did an easy 4miles with Harvey. Another long run was done yesterday - 15miles in 2:19, still about 4minutes slower than I'd have liked, but given how I'm feeling it's okay - struggling to see how I'll finish the marathon with a sub 4hr time.

Once more long run next Friday and then it's taper time - amazing how quickly it comes around. Won't be long before the VLM Ballot will be drawn and the successful ones beginning their training - I've not entered - don't ever plan on doing a spring race again - hated training over winter months.

Because of this hacking cough I've got up this morning feeling murderous at the lack of sleep, my OH claims not to hear a thing - makes me even more growly!!

I'm going to try and catch up with all the blogs this weekend.

Good luck to all the GNR runners, think I might look to run that one next year, which reminds me, I've entered the Kilomathon which takes place in October in Edinburgh next year - how well organised am I?

Hope you're all well? Happy running guys