Verbal Diarleah (The Diary of Leah)

It’s Sunday, so that means long run. First long(ish) run of the programme today: 7 miles at 10:23 per mile. I started out at the slowest end of the pacing range of 10:38-10:18 per mile as I haven’t run this long for a while and was worried the pace might get to me after a few miles. But everything went swimmingly (or runningly?) and I even managed to finish at the quicker end of the range. I had to force myself to slow down in the last few miles as I was consistently running 10:00-10:15 per mile. It was a great run and I feel really motivated for the rest of the programme. I’m actually looking forward to the long runs to an extent. I’m now off to get ready to go see a drag show involving a very good Dame Edna impersonator with a work friend and his friends. It should be fun.

I just got back from a very easy three-mile run at 10:34 per mile. I decided to swap today’s rest day for tomorrow’s run. Since I had to swap things around earlier in the week I didn’t want to have two days between runs. It’s fantastic weather out there for once. Temperature is 8 or 9 (48F) and the sun is shining. I actually felt the warmth of the sun while I was waiting for my GPS to fire up. I haven’t felt that for a long time. Rest day tomorrow then seven miles on Sunday.

First quick pace run of the programme this morning: two miles at ‘brisk’ pace between 9:11 and 9:31 per mile. I ended up doing it at 9:24 per mile.

Steady, or Tempo, runs like these are actually my favourite. The first mile or so is often difficult but then by about two to two-and-a-half miles in (on the longer five and six mile runs) I hit my stride and really start to enjoy the quick pace. My legs and lungs start to work in sync and I barrel through at what is often slightly faster than the suggested pace; only by a few seconds, mind. I often feel as though I’m flying. There’s no effort involved unless there’s a slight incline. I’m just zooming by everything and even feel as though it is hard to stop!

These runs are the most fun because I feel like a real runner. I’m running quickly; I’m not ambling along mile after mile. It also replicates how I’ll feel on race day, keeping the tempo up for many miles. And, hey, they also mean I finish the run at least a few minutes early. It’s a sense of accomplishment to look down at your watch and be used to seeing a six mile run take 63 minutes and today it’s taken only 57.

They key to marathon training, though, is the long, slow run. This is certainly not my favourite. Unfortunately, if I want to run a marathon I have to do them. At least I have a tempo run and a speed work session each week where I can go fast. Look at me go!

Well, I ran home tonight: four miles slow. I did it at 10:32 per mile. It was quite difficult this evening primarily because it is quite hilly between work and home but also the lower fitness level is possibly catching up to me today. It’s a two mile brisk (9.20) run bright and early 7.00am tomorrow. Hope the legs hold out. A good night’s sleep is in order.

It begins today: the big one; the marathon. Over the next sixteen weeks I will run, for lack of better words, a lot. I’ll run farther than I ever have before.

Ten miles? (blows raspberry) I run you before breakfast.

Thirteen miles? (Rolls eyes) Before lunch.

Twenty-two miles? Now that is the mileage of a marathon runner.

And I will run these miles in the rain, wind and cold that is the British Winter and Spring. Though the days will get lighter, there will doubtless be a few dark runs on the wrong side of 5.00 or 6.00am thanks to work commitments.

Today will be an easy three mile run at between 10:18 and 10:38 per mile. Even this slow pace is slightly difficult for me at the moment because I’ve lost so much fitness since my half-marathon in October. Such is life. I know in a few weeks I’ll be feeling a lot better and it will actually seem slow. The training programme is made up of many slow runs at the 10:30ish pace in order to get use to running the mileage. Easy pace is even slower, around 10:45 per mile; and steady pace is Goal Marathon Pace of 9:21 per mile.

In order to put these paces into perspective, Paula Radcliffe’s personal best (PB) marathon time is 2:15:25 and that’s a pace of 5:10 per mile. Even your average male club runner can run a marathon in 3:00-3:15, which is around 7:00 per mile. My goal is to finish in 4:05 or 4:10. That will be pretty good for a first time.

The first real, long run is 21 March at 15 miles. Between now and then I have done the mileage before, even if only once. Fifteen is virgin territory.

Below is the schedule for this week. I may not blog every time I run; I may save up and write weekly. I will take it as it comes. Originally, Tuesday was a rest day but I shifted the runs up a day due to work commitments on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. The two miles steady will be a 6.00am run Wednesday morning. Oh joy.

So continue to watch this space for updates on my training. With your support I’ll finish the damn thing.

Guess I should mention that I have decided to stick with Edinburgh Marathon. Training starts 1 February.

I got the phone call yesterday afternoon around 4.00pm from the charity St Johns Ambulance indicating they’d had a dropout. If I was still interested, a place in the London marathon was mine. The minimum fundraising amount is £1,450. That was one of the lowest minimum amounts. Immediately I was placed between ‘rock’ and ‘hard place’. I informed the lady on the phone that I had entered the Edinburgh marathon instead. I asked for the weekend to think it over.

So now, friends, I have a quandary: do the dream London marathon or stick with Edinburgh? In listing the pro’s and con’s of each race the only pro of London is the fact that it is London. With Edinburgh I don’t have to start the training programme until 1 February and I don’t have to raise any money. It sounds horribly selfish but we all know that raising money is not easy and certainly raising £1,450 would be difficult; especially in this (dreaded phrase) ‘economic climate’ and with my upcoming work commitments in the run-up to the May election.

Having gotten over the initial elation of knowing I could run London I have now started to think more logically; hence identifying the only real pro of running London being the fact that it is where it is. More pro’s for the Edinburgh marathon are creeping in as well: good breaking-in race as there may be less runners than London and the first five miles are downhill; and of course I can always try to do London next year. I’ve also been toying with the idea of doing the New York marathon in November. Basically, London is not the be-all end-all marathon.

I’m pretty much 80% sure that I’ll stick with Edinburgh, but I thought I would put this out there for any comments from my friends and family.

Whatever your opinion of Obama is, George Bush sure as hell never did this. He wouldn’t even allow coffins to be photographed by the media. Out of sight, out of mind is not the way to deal with dead soldiers.

I just want to run, damn it! A week ago I found out that I had not made it into the 2010 London Marathon by the ballot. I think I read that there were more than 100,000 people who entered the ballot and there are only around 30 or 40,000 places. Some are charity places so the actual number of places available by ballot may be even lower; therefore, the chances of getting in just by ballot were slim to none. I knew this when I entered but always hoped that maybe I’d get lucky.

When I got the news last week I immediately sprang into action and started applying and contacting a handful of charities that still have what are known as Gold Bond places available. I would be able to run in the marathon but I would have to raise money for the charity, anywhere from £1,450 to £2,000. A lot of people run the marathon this way. Many people do it because they want to raise money for the charity. I’m sure many others do it for the same reason as mine: didn’t get in through ballot but really want to run.

We think highly of charities but, at the end of the day, they are a business. To them, the most important thing is money. You become just a figure; how much can you raise? They will judge my applications based partly on why I want to run and on how much I can pledge to raise for them. I have been touched by breast cancer to an extent but it was not my best friend, it was my mother’s. I can say my father has asthma but it hasn’t caused him a lot of problems. My mother has arthritis but many people do. I don’t have enough of a sob story to stand out and I have put the minimum amount on each application as I believe I may struggle to find enough sponsors or ideas to raise money. I only raised £250.00 when I ran a 5k in the summer. I realise £250.00 is better than none but in this case if I don’t raise the minimum amount the charity might well give my place to another person, potentially after I have put in hours of training for the race and dashing my hopes of running the marathon.

Just yesterday I received an email from a charity I applied to after a colleague mentioned they were advertising for runners. I received a polite reply that since I could not pledge to raise £3,000 for them nor was I directly affected by Epidermolysis Bullosa I should try my luck elsewhere. Thanks for the application but no thanks. I was just slightly appalled and even more slightly worried that this was the first of many ‘rejections’. It’s like applying for a job all over again.

I’ll find out in a few weeks how I fare with the other charities. I can only hope that I am accepted by one and that this one is, perhaps (and as awful as it may sound), on the lower end of the fundraising scale. I think I can manage £1,500 if I really nag all of my friends and possibly even try to guilt-trip the Councillors with whom I work. It’s not something I will relish but if it allows me to run the marathon, by God, I’ll do it. Please keep your fingers and toes crossed for me and, if you’re of the persuasion, say a couple of prayers also that one of these charities will take me. Then, if I get lucky, please, please open up your pocketbook or wallet and donate to one of these worthy causes.

The BBC is reporting this morning that the person who leaked the receipts and information about the extravagant expenses of various MPs this past summer did so because he thought that in light of soldiers in Afghanistan having poor equipment it was unfair for MPs to be spending so frivolously. The BBC has also reported that “Gordon Brown said he did not understand the motivation for the leak.” To that I just want to say ‘Really, Gordon? Really?!’

How could one NOT understand the motivations behind this civil servant’s leak? I suppose he has to say that though, since leaking private documents is technically a no-no. But where would we be today if it weren’t for leaks such as this? Watergate, for a prime example, would never have come to light and Nixon would have remained in office.

Neither of these scandals is anything more than just that: scandalous; but regardless of their consequences in world politics the corruption, malfeasance and, to a certain extent, outright stealing that these two leaks exposed was very necessary. How can one put trust in a politician if he or she is stealing from you or others? Many would argue that you cannot put trust in any politician. There are certainly many MPs who use the expenses system rarely and only for absolutely necessary reimbursements. Unfortunately it seems that a very large number – more than one would have hoped – use it for almost diabolical thievery of the public taxpayer.

What this civil servant did, to leak this information to the press, I feel was – heroic may be too strong a word here – brave at the very least. He saw something he felt was not right and blew the whistle. He had a conscience. If this person had leaked this information out of spite against a specific person or MP then, no, he would not have my support. But because he saw an inequality of sorts in the system and chose to highlight this I wholeheartedly thank him for his actions.

It is just so unfortunate that the expenses scandal, despite several pleas that the system needed to be changed, ended up changing virtually nothing. Sure, a few MPs lost their jobs; but with next year’s election a whole new crop of them will turn up ready to abuse the very same system. Until that changes, nothing will change.