Telford 10k & Winter Training

Last Sunday I had a good run out at the Telford 10k, taking just over a minute off my Leeds Abbey Dash 10k the month before.  I'd not done Telford before but it seemed to attract a really good field of athletes and even boasted an elite 'sub 40 min start' and a mass start race 45 minutes later.  I tagged onto the very back of the first run, the rear was brought up by a marshall on a mountain bike so I think the fear of being the last runner made me try that little bit harder! It was a really nice run with slippy parts and fog thrown in for good measure.  It was nice to see some familiar faces there too; Cath who I've not seen since uni ran a great sub 40 time and looked really strong, Stu clocked a low 34 and kept up with all the speedy ones and the very talented Phil Wylie was close to a sub 30.  I was relatively happy with a 42:39 for this time of year but it's pretty pedestrian compared to them!

Check out the puddle of ice behind me!

So the winter weeks have been ticking by, as has winter training.  I've set a few fun goals for myself for the next couple of months:


To build strength
 



To be able to touch my toes

 





To master my inner chimp based
on a book by Steve Peters



To plan 2013, Turkey is my only definite race so far



To rekindle my love for off road running
(maybe not this extreme!)

The weekend of the Telford 10k I also put the tree up, actually rode my bike for a couple of hours on the Saturday for pretty much the first time since Nancy, pleasantly surprised myself with making some mince pies, (under Chris's supervision haha!) went Christmas shopping with Mum, finished hand making the last of my cards and wrapped the presents so now it's safe to say, I'm all set for Christmas!

 

As this is my last blog of 2012 it's worth mentionning I've really enjoyed racing, training and blogging this year and would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and happy New Year.  See you in 2013 x