Running Dry

I was challenged by my brother in January this year to run two half marathons by the end of the year. I like a challenge and as I'm looking to get fit, I hesitantly accepted!

The first of these two half marathons will be the Hackney Half on Sunday 20th May 2018. I didn't want this run to be just about me, so I will be running for the World Cancer Research Fund UK.

I've been training off and on since February, I've had good weeks and I've had bad weeks. During the bad weeks I was hampered by slight injuries and the weather....and too often gave into temptation by going to the pub instead...thinking I still had plenty of time until event day. Now with 19 days to go, I feel that I'm running out of time. I've been going to the gym regularly but I feel I'm not getting the mileage in. The mind is willing to push on but the body is screaming "Noooooooooo!". I have tried to push past the pain barrier but then I start limping so I slow down and then walk it off, before trying it again. It's very frustrating.

It's my left knee and hip that becomes painful after running for 25 minutes. I've looked in it and apparently I have a weak bottom (No giggling at the back!!Haha). So I have found a collection of exercises to remedy this, which work on the IT Band and are said to fix me in two weeks...the event is in less than 3 weeks.

In an effort to improve my fitness, I have decided to give up alcohol from 1st May until after the event. I will allow myself one cheat day within this time but only for my Dad's birthday (which was yesterday but I haven't met up with him yet).

I've never tried to give up alcohol before and with a sunny Bank Holiday weekend coming up, it's going to be a challenge in itself.

Update:

It ended up being the hottest Bank Holiday weekend since 1995....so of course I never kept 'dry'! It's important to keep hydrated in the hot weather, so I went for drinks Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I've now regrouped and will now stay dry until event day...no excuses this time!