Good week, bad week, good week... life on a Yo Yo

Firstly apologies for my last blog entry. It wasn't meant to be such a sombre read and reading it back I can see that I was caught in the intensity of a hard core four days. Like most things, once I was out of the other end and with some amazing advice and comments from you I could see the bigger picture. So before I waffle on let me answer the two burning questions that I left hanging in the balance of the last blog...

... Yes, I did my 18 miler the next day. I ran with my lovely friend Nicky and some Harrogate Harriers, my legs fell off at 14 miles and were broken by 16 miles but I plodded on to finish it and was happy I did it. Running with people made a HUGE difference.

... No, I haven't made my mind up about Comrades, although if you were to ask me my gut feeling right now I would say I'm probably going to do it... but it's not going to be pretty. In fact I'm more concerned that the other 'Fat Comrade' in the house isn't doing enough training to be able to run it with me!!!

Since #PoxPukegate I gathered mine (and your) thoughts and had lots of conversations about it. I didn't stop running and not running for four days had no real impact on anything other than my mental fitness. I ran because I could, not because I had to and I suppose that's how I'm going to approach Comrades. If at any point it all becomes too stressful on either myself or Tom (who barely sees his trainers these days) we've said we won't do it. Normally I need a definite goal but I think this one is easier to manage if I know I can jump out, mainly because I think it will have the opposite effect, I'm stubborn to the very core. Last week I managed a 53 mile week, all but 21 of those miles pushing Aston and thankfully the 21 miler was a lot more comfortable than the previous weeks 18 miler. Today I was meant to be running 22 miles but #PoxPukegate2 has hit the house. Aston is covered from head to toe in the pox and I was hit by the most hideous 24hr bug yesterday which floored me completely. Weirdly I don't have the same negative feelings towards Comrades even though I'm in a fairly similar situation (Tom's in Wales). At the end of the day it's a run, no one (let alone me) is going to lose an eye if I don't do it.

So, who knows what the weeks ahead will bring. Hopefully no more spots, we've had more than our fair share thank you. I'm going to stick to my little running routine (where kids and time allows) and keep adding a couple of miles on to my weekly long run and before you know it we'll be on the start line in Durban ready for the task ahead ;)

Thanks again for the support. I'm going with the yo yo of life.

H x