Month: December 2012

It’s over, fini, done. On 23 December 2012 and 23 weeks pregnant I ran my last run of the year, and the final run until I give birth (eek!).

It was an easy decision in the end. I have been saying I want to keep running until 6 months, but the actual running itself has been less and less fun, and on the final run it moved from simply being uncomfortable to painful.

I ran to the Emirates Stadium, but as soon as I got there, less than 15 minutes’ into the run, the top of my womb (I assume) started aching and kept hurting when I stopped to walk. This can’t be good, I thought, but of course I tried running again a few times on the way back, in between power-walking breaks.

By the time I got back home I knew the game was up. I’ve literally had a good run and really can’t complain. My pregnancy has been trouble-free and I’d like to keep it that way. If running isn’t fun anyway then it’s no great loss to give it up for a while. I am just going to have to learn to enjoy swimming and pretend that I love yoga. Ugh.

I’ve had a fantastic year’s running. In Spring I went sub-3.5 hours in the brilliant North Dorset Village Marathon, and in Summer I got the bus 3 miles down the road to watch the Olympic Men’s and Women’s marathons in the flesh, for free. More importantly, I got my trainers on, left the flat, plodded around the streets and covered the miles on mornings, evenings, weekends, in the rain, in the sun, over short distances and 20 mile shockers, up hills, through parks, with friends and on my own.

Next year will be full of new adventures. I’m signing up to run the Great Eastern Run in Autumn, which will mark my official return to competition. I will be taking it easy, though, and getting my sister round her first half-marathon in one piece.

Now, I think there’s something else to do before then…

There are only so many 3 mile routes one can run around one’s home. I currently feel like Ms Pac-man, constantly turning and re-turning the same corners again and again in search of the one elusive road I have not yet been down.

This makes it sound like I am out there pounding the pavements every day like Rocky in training. I am not. Last week I ran twice. This week I haven’t yet run at all. I will, though. I am trying to get to 6 months’ pregnant before reassessing the situation, so I still have a month of running to go.

Speaking of Rocky, I have just realised that I haven’t yet done the 1.4 miles from my flat to the steps of the Emirates Stadium to run up and down them and then come home. The reason I haven’t run that route is because it is ugly, and crosses lots of busy roads. The problem with most routes near my house is that they are too ugly, too hilly, too boring or have too many busy crossings. Or that they have slightly uneven pavements. Basically I am just really getting fed up of running 3 mile circuits of my house, and any excuse will do.

Lately the circuits haven’t even been 3 miles long. On Saturday I managed a whole 23 minutes (which at current speed is about 2 miles) of running, not including frequent walking breaks. My legs felt like sandbags and my overwhelming emotion, running on a beautiful sunny bright morning when I should have been full of Christmas cheer, was fear that I would lose control of my bladder.

I didn’t, though.