28 days to go

I am having to defer :( After losing nearly 4 weeks of training through injury I am not able to take part in the London Marathon 2015. I could have done it anyway and just walked most of it but I think I would have felt cheated out of the opportunity. I can defer and tackle it again in 2016 with a lot more training behind me hopefully.

This isn't to say I'm going to stop running (or writing!). I have already booked onto a half marathon for July (my first ever one!) and am planning on doing a few more over the next year. 

Hopefully this way I will be more prepared so I am not last minute with my training. So if I do get another injury I will hopefully still be able to continue as I will be a lot further on in my training. 

Also, this isn't to say you can't still sponsor me. I'm not going to be asking for any sponsorships next year so everything that is given to me and Andrew this time round (before this London Marathon) will count for my marathon next year too. 

Andrew's Dad (Bill) was diagnosed with chronic Sarcoidosis not long after I had met him and been accepted into the Windle clan. I have seen his struggle over the years, not only with the condition itself but with the lack of research, knowledge and understanding. This has caused many frustrations along the way, with many doctors being baffled and managing the condition becoming trial and error and complex. Sarcoidosis is related to abnormal behaviour of the immune system causing it to attacking healthy parts of the body. It causes granulomas to form in any part of the body, in Bills case, his lungs. With the condition having got so bad that stairs become a mountain, every day tasks become the impossible and his Northern Soul dancing passion has become a far distant memory, me and Andrew wanted to do something to help awareness of this condition and how devastating it can be. You can read more about the condition here www.blf.org.uk/page/sarcoidosis 

Thank you for all your donations so far, they are very much appreciated, and there's still time to donate here http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserPage.action?userUrl=AndrewWindle&faId=527939&isTeam=false

Any amount will go a long way to tackling some of the hurdles my father-in-law and the Windles have had to face so please just donate what you can.

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Weeks 4 & 5

I'm combining these weeks together just so I can cheat as Week 4 was a bit of a write off.

Day 1

Went out in the morning with Joe and tried to go for 5k but struggled so cut it short. Felt rubbish and legs were still very sore. Couldn't catch Joe again.

Day 2 & 3

Didn't happen! We were busy with selling our house and hosting a Halloween party, although I think because I was so disappointed with day 1 I didn't have any motivation to go out again anyway.

So, without further ado I will skip to Week 5!

Day 1
Horrible rainy dark Tuesday morning I managed to peel myself away from my nice warm bed and get out there. I dragged Joe out of his slumber and we set off onto the streets. 

A lot of training advice I have read says to keep your pace 'conversational'. Personally I didn't think the two were very compatible, when I run I breathe so heavily I can't hear anything else. Picture a red sweaty puffing and panting, headband wearing mass and you have me. Not exactly a conversation starter.

So I set off as slowly as I could to try and maintain a conversation with Joe, and it worked! I'm usually running as fast as I can to get the pain over with more quickly, no wonder I can't go very far! But this time I felt really good. We did 3 miles and I felt I could have gone further, my pace also increased with every mile so I was obviously feeling good (lets ignore the fact the second two miles are more downhill).

I think the rest did my legs good also as they felt a lot better than after previous runs. 

Day 2

Same again. Didn't feel as good but managed it a little quicker with a sprint finish which was fun!

Day 3 

Same again, although Joe pushed me to start quicker to try and get our time down to under 30 mins so I obliged but the inevitable happened and I ended up having to walk after the first mile. Really annoyed with myself so went a wee bit further (actually tried a shortcut but got lost so ended up having to run further!) and did a sprint finish again.

So you can see from this weeks activity my mood got worse throughout the week and run 3's pace ended up being the same as week 1 even though I went out faster because I had to walk, so the moral of the story is...

What I have learned
To start slow!!!!

My Goals
To build up to 4 miles next week

Feeling
Quite proud I've run 9.17 miles in a week and feel fine for it. My legs are obviously building up some resistance finally and dare I say it...it's getting easier...?

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