28km facial sandblast

Well to call it a run would be a bit far fetched. My friends in India suffer the heat, my friends in UK suffer large lorries charging past showering them with whatever lorries throw out and here in Holland we get sandblasted during a run. Due to force 6 winds, running up by the beach today for 28km was not pleasant but I can report that my complexion is much improved as half the beach seems to have hit my face giving me a rather smooth look.

Anyway, quite a good time in the conditions of 2:28:00 so not too upset.

Knee still hurts after the run so as long as it does not hurt during, I cannot make it an excuse.

Time to move on

Well, today it was announced internally that, on March 30th, I would leaving my job after 23 years working with the same company. I have been extraordinarily fortunate to have worked for a great company and privileged to have worked with such great people both inside and out. I have had a fantastic career that will enable me now to work for myself. The company has changed beyond recognition, been bought and then been sold and as such it is time to move on. I always said on my blog that I would not write about work, so apologies for this slip. But I thought it warranted a mention.

As I say, more time now to focus on Rotterdam....and more time to blog!

Back from Asia

After a week away am now back and remarkably still just about keeping to my running schedule. I have only missed two short runs in the last two weeks and the long runs are still being knocked off religiously. The knee injury continues to hurt after I have run, and not during, so I am tempted to keep going. I may have to adjust my Rotterdam time aspirations but at least I am hoping to get to the starting line which is always in my book an achievement for a marathon.

Lots of other things non running related going on at present which will all be revealed in the coming days hence the lack of posts - rather busy at the moment.......

Oh yes - and it has become colder so hoping for a layer of snow to check on CB's snowman building skills.

Pic of our house in winter

Look, our house should look like this in winter. I am told that just because of global warming, this year, it doesn't . So in memories of winter's past, here is what it should look like around this time of year. I rest my case.


CB is loosing her snowman building expertise which is equally bad news..........

25km today with other Rotterdamer's

I feel as if I have run around half of south Holland. But the organisers of the Rotterdam marathon have a series of training runs set up once a month in different parts of Holland. Great idea as over 1,000 runners turned up today. Today was the 25km run and they have pacers running groups from 4:00/km and every 15 secs to 7:00 mins/km. I ran in the 5:30 group so no surprise that I finished in around 2:16. Next one is Feb 11th when the distance is 30km. It is really good idea and I was not surprised to see so many people. Someone is making some cash however as it cost Euro 6 per person (OK there were three drink stops and a piece of fruit at the end)

My injury was fine. Until I stopped when it hurt again. I suppose it is better to have an injury that hurts after the run that during.

Step down week this week which is a relief as I am in Asia from Tuesday for a week.

Too much running

Someone mentioned today that they haven't read my blog for sometime as it was "too much about running". So, the editorial policy has worked! It would be easy to write down the random ramblings of a 43 year old but that would be extremely boring and there are enough individuals doing this. I think I'll stick to running.......that is of course unless I am injured which is the situation at the moment. It's not a bad injury, just this tendinitis-whatsit.

So, after my 11km on Wednesday will rest up and go out Sunday for 23 km - the problem is that it doesn't hurt during the run, but does so after.

Another form of tendinitis

Well, it wouldn't be a proper Bedders marathon training program if along the way some form of tendinitis didn't creep in. If it's not my Achillies (see earlier posts) it's now my tendons-behind- the-knee or Biceps Femoris Tendinopathy . What would we do without the internet? Actually this is a very good web site and I am sure if you looked hard enough we could all find an injury that we have had here.

Anyway, not wanting this new problem to cause me to miss a training run I ventured into the wind last night and came back after a reasonable 6km to the freezer and the often-used ice pack for said problem. 11km tonight should test it.