by Julie

Taper time

Just for the record, I did 12 miles on Saturday. My knee was fine thankfully but I did struggle a bit with energy and enthusiasm. I started up the canal in blazing autumn sunshine, and with no shade I was drained fairly quickly. I forgot how much direct sun wears me out. I eventually got into the shade of the Phoenix Park wall and I felt a bit better. Anyway I did it, which is the main thing. A few short runs this week will keep me ticking over during the taper.
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by Julie

The mental running game

I started off faithfully writing up all my runs but that went pear-shaped over the summer. After my father died I started to get a pain in my right knee, which eventually got worse. The weekend before last I was due to do 19 miles but could only manage 10, and I really could have stopped at 6. Cue massive wobble, the worst I ever had with running. I couldn’t do the marathon, everything was finished, it was all a waste of time. I actually felt terrible, I think everything caught up with me. I…
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by Julie

Trying to act like a marathoner while on holidays

Greetings from sunny Malta! It’s a beautiful island in the Mediterranean, below Sicily, so it’s hot. Really hot. 30 by day, 25 by night. Not conducive to running but very conducive to lolling about, eating pizza and drinking during the day. However, I am conscious that I am due to run a marathon in 5 weeks and so have got out running on Sunday and this morning. Sunday was overcast, but there was blazing sunshine this morning so I found the shade as much as possible, and ignored the looks of all the people strolling…
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by Julie

Always something

18 miles was on the plan for Saturday so I spent all day Friday drinking water. I had a nice pasta snack before I went to bed and was feeling good on Saturday morning. We had a nice gang of people running and it was a lovely morning, cool and sunny. We decided to follow as much of the marathon route as possible, which is always a good idea. Everything was going great till around Bushy Park, 9 or 10 miles in, when my knee started acting up. Sore and annoying. A quick stretch helped…
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