Who let the (mad) dogs out?

I have a cold... my nose is a mucus stream

I'm tired - Long week at work...

I'm tired - Meeting about a pet project or two at the CHF offices on Friday, Friday night the requisite relaxation and discussion time (yes, that does mean a bottle or so of wine... Each) Trustees meeting in London on Saturday..

I have a cold - the rule books says take it easy...

I have a congenital heart defect - sometimes it has a moment...

The Mad Dog has been voted the best 10k in the country - and its bloody good, its one of my favourites (the Bug Runs midweek madness is v v close to perfection as well).

So, by the km...

1st - 6:06 - Too fast, swept along in the moment... Heart rate up, but not too far

2nd - 7:18 - first 700m far to fast, legs won't reset down... Heart rate higher than I like... Do the right thing, walk 300m reset the system

3rd - 6.59 - solid, PB territory, feels good, HR back to normal for running

4th - 6.58 - solid, wave at mate whose comment was I was looking faster than last year...

5th - 6:47 - take gel, blow nose, do the twisty bit.. Other runners start looking tired, pick target for next KM

6th - 6:55 - target taken early, slowed down afterwards - pick new targets for the run in...

7th - 6:57 - solid, woman running on my shoulder, sweeping my targets with me

8th - 7:00 - solid, woman on shoulder now in front of me, not letting her go... systems check, nose still dripping, heart rate ok, PB on if I hold steady

9th - 6:37 - take woman early, new targets set, legs stretch out, only 2000m to go, systems looking good, see where I am and then do the last one...

10th - 6:02 - watch not important, targets falling, spotted someone who'd got a good distance in front when I walking back at km 2... Can I do it... yup.. last 30m...

67:40 by the watch, 67:47 by the chip... Previous PB was 69:32 - so almost 2 minutes off...

Should I have run, possibly not, but the t-shirt is Grrrrr-eat!






The cold is still there, the dicky ticker is behaving itself, the gym kit and climbing gear is in the bag... Gentle tomorrow...

Oh, as I said I'd raise awareness - I was in Children's Heart Federation colours, my scar prompted comment in the changing rooms and I had a good natter with a few people... Job done, and done well:-D


TTFN

Paul




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Something a little bit political...

Well the legs still don't want to run, walk and climb is fine, run makes them feel a bit leary ... Probably the two most contentious words in the congenital heart world (UK branch) are "safe and sustainable", a quick trawl of the support websites or facebook will show many a group being set up to save a hospital or a ward. I won't be joining any of them. Not because I don't care, but because I care too much. The origins of Safe and Sustainable go back to the Bristol Hospital Enquiry, and quite simply this is designed to ensure that the surgery that heart kids get is the the most appropriate, done by well trained and supported surgeons who are used to doing the operations and are in a surgical setting which are designed around the needs of the child going through the surgery and their family. Is that too much to ask? I don't think so. I want every heart kid to get the best surgery available to them, I want their parents to be given the best advice, support...
Read more

12% of a plan…

  It’s been a month.     A month since the new heart valve was inserted… the chaffing has died down, I’ve been sensible and built my walking up, restarted my apple fitness plus bits and bobs (boy has it been a long time since I bent like that, or cycled/spun like that) and I’ve been for two runs – a gentle 3k which worked as a prelude to my return to my local parkrun… I finished, my tally went up 1, and I remembered just how tough it is to run the first mile on so soft, dry sand… In hindsight I would’ve been better to walk the first third and conserve my energy (and pool of fitness) to the prom and the grass thirds…   Relive 'Return to Parkrun!' Yes, it does look the first bit is out to sea…  Monday was a random day off work to get out and do something, so with a bit of head scratch and some nifty plotting on the OS Mapping app I wandered along the canal, and then down the Transpennine Trail & “loop line”… Almost pancake flat, I know...
Read more

It’s a kind of magic (the science kind)…

  Well, operation done – I have a funky new valve and a bit of a sore groin.     I was in hospital for 28, sleepless, hot, hours and unconscious for about 4 of them.     While the insertion points for the three catheters I had in me in at the same time heal it’s a case of taking it easy, let my body get over the various manipulations (sore throat, the impact of the still there frozen shoulder) and the simple lack of sleep from stress and some noisy neighbours on the day ward I was on.  There’s really not a lot else to say… I went in, did the usual pre-op checks, had a chat with the interventionist, had a chat with the anaesthetist, signed the all-important consent forms (kids – that’s when you know you’re an adult; parents, that’s when you know your kid is in charge), was wheeled across to a hybrid cath lab… laid down, bit of banter with the team and the next thing I knew I was waking up, sore and not actually knowing whether the funky valve had fitted me…...
Read more