Fun training in the sun

Straight after the Cranleigh 21 I headed out to Dubai and Abu Dhabi for a 10 day holiday and I knew that whilst there I wanted to do a bit of training. This was the first time I've ever done any exercise on holiday.

Luckily the Dubai hotel we were staying in had a great gym equipped with 5 treadmills, so I made use of that every morning. I was always the only one in the gym as well which was a bonus!

When we headed to Abu Dhabi though, it was time to run outdoors.

My sister (who we were staying with) lives opposite a mosque, and the first prayer call was at 04:50am each day! It was so loud that I decided it was probably worth just getting up and running then, as the sun hadn't yet come up and it would be cooler...

Well, it was still hot at that time, believe me! Around 15 degrees I think. As my training has been taking place in freezing Blighty, this heat on my shoulders was a shock to the system! I was surprised at how much more difficult the running was in those conditions - 4 miles seemed the equivalent to 8 or 9 at home.

An early morning run on the beach

Still, I'm pleased I managed to keep the training up and am sure the heat training will help me on marathon day. Let's hope it's a bit cooler than it is today (10 degrees would be perfect Mr Weatherman!)

Lovely having the gym to myself overlooking the pool

Cranleigh 21

Apologies for the delay in blogging but my recent holiday to Dubai got in the way somewhat :)

On Sunday 24th March I ran my longest race, the Cranleigh 21.

It was a bitterly cold day (zero degrees when we left home at 7am) so I made sure I had plenty of layers on, including gloves, which I'd learnt the lesson from after the Worthing 20. When we arrived in Cranleigh I headed for the band room to meet some of the other runners, and mostly keep warm before the 9am start!

It was a strange race in that there was no obvious start (it was literally on a side road, with no apparent signs), but that didn't matter - once the race started we headed out towards the countryside anyway.

The course included a few surprise hills, and was a 9 mile circuit with 2 additional 6 mile loops. Basically you could choose to run 15 or 21 miles on the day. I went through 9 miles fine, and as I was wearing my St Catherines marathon vest with my name printed on, lots of people were shouting support through the high street, which was much appreciated.

I then completed my first 6 mile loop, going past the 15 mile finish. I must admit, a teeny part of me said that I should just finish at 15 miles! It wasn't that I was exhausted...I was so cold! I literally thought my face was going to fall off, it was horrible. But I dug deep and saw it through. The last 2 miles were a killer though - my legs were a bit sore and then there was that awful hill climb to the finish.

At one point another runner told me that I shouldn't have my headphones in as I wouldn't be able to hear the traffic, and I snapped back at her that I couldn't run without music. I honestly don't know how people can do that - music is the only thing that keeps me going!

I was very glad to finish in 3hrs 22mins, and I knew then that I was definitely ready for Dubai and to start my taper!