4 days to go...

Thank fully not till the big day, but there Is only 4 days left to enter the Parish Walk 2019, so if you haven’t got your entry in you should do it now!

I am starting to get things ready, may seem a little early but we are away on holiday for TT so I want to make sure I have most things sorted before I go. I think I have finalised my outfit for the day, and I have my food sorted so I am half way there.

Training has gone fairly well over the last couple of weeks, it has been good to get back a regular walking night with Kathryn who will be aiming for her 5th Parish walk lap this year. The miles fly by when walking with Kathryn I think having someone to walk with helps keep the pace consistent, and to be honest makes the walk much more enjoyable.

I had a slight injury the Wednesday after the firefighters walk, about 3 miles into a walk I felt a sharp pain in my hamstring, I eased off the pace and still finished the 5 mile loop a little slower than planned. I was unsure what to do as I had planned a 20 mile walk on the Friday, in my head I thought I should give it a miss but I was torn as my eldest daughter Caitlin had planned to drive me out to Ballaugh and follow me round for the 20 miles in practice for support, she had even agreed to get up at 7am so we could get an early start as much as I was looking forward to the walk I was also looking forward to spending some time with Caitlin, she was looking forward to her first go at driving support so I taped my hamstring and decided to give it a go.

We were up an out early, Caitlin is keen to drive anywhere having only passed her driving test earlier in the week, we took a quick pit stop to buy her breakfast at Mcdonalds before heading up North, it was a beautiful morning and the sun was shining. I set off from Ballaugh and soon realised that I hadn’t put the tape in the right place, but there was nothing I could do about it. I took the first mile slow at around 13 minute mile pace with the idea of picking it up once my legs warmed up. Caitlin would wait 25 minutes and then drive on to find me and repeat the wait and drive. It was easier to do it this way then expecting Caitlin to know where 2 miles was and it stopped me from worrying she may take a wrong turn. It worked perfectly the only time I stopped to wait for her was at Bride church to check she took the right turn into Andreas. I took a moment to check my phone and saw Lee had text to ask how I was getting on.

I replied to Lee to say so far so good, but I wasn’t pushing the pace. As I turned the corner on the road to Andreas everything started to feel better, I felt I got into a nice rhythm and in turn the pace picked up quite considerably. Caitlin was still seeing me every 2 miles or so, I had to laugh as when we started Caitlin was in her PJ’s yet every time I saw her it was like spot the difference one time she had eyebrows, the next she had jeans on the next she had changed her top in the hope that by the time I got to the end of my walk she would be fully dressed with all of her make up on. Just before the 15 miles I felt a really sharp pain in my hamstring and it caused me to scream, I knew then I had pushed it as far as I could and stopped. Caitlin drove me to Ramsey where lee and the little ones met me. We had chips, and the girls had a little bike ride and play in the park before we drove home.

As soon as I was home I called John Barton, who agreed he could see me on Monday morning to look at my hamstring. I am not going to lie, it was agony, John said it was ok, I hadn’t done any damage as I had stopped at the right time, and it was just that my hamstring was so tight that the pulling had caused a huge knot in it. He worked it out, and reminded me the importance of stretching, something we all know is important yet I always say I don’t have time to stretch which is ridiculous as I can find time to run every day but I can’t find time to stretch. I hadn’t walked since Friday and don’t like to have too many days off so I asked the question I hate to ask, do I have to stop running and walking? He said running was fine as my hamstring was only put under stress when I was extending my leg in walking so I could run, and I could walk as long as I took it slow for a few days. I was glad to hear this as I had planned to do 5 miles on Monday night with Liz and the Gang.

Monday nights walk was not like I had thought, firstly Liz wasn’t able to make it, I can’t remember the excuse she gave me, but in reality we had been out on Sunday night for food and drinks Liz had stayed out till I believe 4 am with Kerry! There was 4 of us who walked the 5 mile loop of Glen Roy, for the first time in any of our group walks the pace was slowed because my hamstring was just too sore, thankfully no one minded as it was a lovely night and we all had a good chat enjoying the nice weather.

I booked another appointment with John for the Saturday, he wasn’t sure I would need one but I wanted to be 100% sure it was sorted. I decided to try another longish walk before I saw him to access it, so lee and I drove out to Jurby on the Friday night we walked to Bride, Andreas and then back to Jurby covering 13.5 miles walking before we then ran our daily mile. I was happy to report no pain in my hamstring and we had managed to keep all the miles well under 12mm pace. John confirmed that my hamstring had improved and said that as long as I keep up with my stretches I shouldn’t have any more problems.

On Sunday we went to a London Marathon Party at the Patridges, it was great to catch up with everyone and track our friends who were running London, I do admit I had a little bit of run envy on the day, the conditions looked much better than I had the year before on the hottest London Marathon ever! I must say a massive well done to all of my friends who ran the Marathon, Tony Patridge, Brian Butler, Ann-Marie Clucas, Helen Taylor, Jackie Moore, Dawn Yates, Kirsty Arnold, Nikki Brannan and Steven Quayle you were all awesome! My friend Dee is training for Edinburgh marathon, and was set to do her longest run so I planned to meet her for the last 8 miles of her 21 mile route, she was going to slow down and I would walk with her. Dee did Amazing, she completed her longest every run, and pushed me to walk the fastest 8 miles I have in a long time.

Lee is away at the weekend so I will have to try and get a long walk in before he goes and when he is back, so the girls and I can enjoy a nice relaxing weekend! I hope everyone’s training is going well.. only 52 days to go !