Memorial Mile Challenge, a mile for those never coming home. by Spotdog

So this post is not really going to be about running, it's juts general musings so giving you warning now.

After yesterdays run I did not feel too bad this morning, in fact felt good, a little sore on one knee but much better than after the last half marathon. After running the Bath Half I hurt. As I crossed the finish line I had to try work out which would be less painful, stopping or walking. My groin hurt so badly that I thought my legs would never work properly again. However I felt really good after yesterdays run, very little pain and this morning I felt good. Just goes to show what training can do for you. I probably should've done an easy 3 mile loop but went on the cross trainer and then core work and stretching. Rather naughtily I did no stretching yesterday and so today I spent time doing the stretches.

And tonight was the long swim session. Sundays are an hour and half session and because of this I try and take it a little bit easier on a sunday morning in the gym. I try and have a well rounded training week, a couple of weights sessions with core work, swimming and running, including long runs, intervals and easy recovery runs. I've got to admit, I love it. 

I've swum for a long time, I'm not any good at it. I learnt to swim as a child but never did anything more than lessons and then in sixth for at school I decided to join the swim team at school. Don't know why, I wasn't into sport. I did music and drama and I was chunky. Hockey did not appeal, the idea of hanging around on a pitch, often in the cold with aggressive popular girls smacking a ball in your direction did not float my boat, or netball, a game that required hand-eye co-ordination filled me with dread. I was not in the popular clique, I did not share a lunch table with those girls who flicked their hair and had team photos every term. I did not do team games and those moments of dread when teams were being picked have stayed with me. The look of frustration on the faces of those good at hockey when you ended up on their team. (I know I'm not alone with these feelings, afterall I was friends with all the other rejects: the asthmatics, tubbies (myself included), the smokers and the uncoordinated).

So some how I ended up on the swim team, it was a good laugh, there were competitions and the feeling of inclusion. Suddenly I was on team lists and went places with people. Don;t get me wrong there was a similar feeling to doing a play or a concert but once the play was done it was done but swimming training was year long and occasionally we got called in over school holidays from pre-term training. When I left school I went to the local masters, the coach was not interested in me because I was not 25 and I soon lost interest. I rediscovered swimming a few years ago and when I moved to Birmingham I joined the masters club. I'm lucky, I have two great coaches. One with work and one at masters.

Gary is the coach at work, he's great. I like to e.mail him with random things and he takes the mickey but when you need help or just some reassurance, Gary is your guy. As I said before I;m not great at swimming but I enjoy training but Gary accepts that. You're included because you want to be there, not because you are a great swimmer. Don't get me wrong being a great swimmer helps but the main thing is being part of the team. I used to think that Gary felt sorry for me, I was the girl that tried hard and in a way he was throwing me a bone by letting me swim but over the last couple of years I've realised that Gary just wants people to reach their potential and the way to do it is to encourage people to join in. He'll help you improve to the best that you can be. Don;t get me wrong, when it comes to certain galas and relays he'll put in a team that will win and rightly so but you're not excluded because you don't fit in his relay or winning team. This is why I love swimming. They are team sports, I've had some great experinces with other members of the clubs but when it comes to indivual events, the effort is yours and yours alone, you never step onto that block and see someone rolling their eyes because they've been lumbered with you on their team. There is no weak link, no one avoiding throwing you the ball. The same goes for running, you have fun running in clubs and meeting people at events but it is your run, your race. There is expectations and disappointments still and these you can share with team members but still it is a indivual sport. So yes, I'm pretty certain I'm a team player, a club member but I do NOT do not play team games.