Should Listen To My Own Advice!

Sooooooo .......

Yesterday you saw that I had a lovely day meeting the Big Marathon Challenge teams, and whilst I was there I believe at some point I was telling people about my local park run and how I probably wouldn't be doing it much over the winter due to the fact it was mainly trail, much gravel, grass and mud and I was scared I would injure myself....

But of course I never listen to myself and decided I wanted to get up and go run it this morning.  Here is my report...


So I left late as I was trying to sort out a tweet about me going, wearing my lovely new ASICS kit and the fact I would be using High5 products for the first time (review below).  Managed to get there just to see the tail marshal closing the first gate in the distance.

I sprung into action turning on my new GPS watch and catching her up, to realise that my watch was set to 5k race rather than GPS running! GRRR, I then had to walk some whilst I tried to work out how to change the settings and off I went again.  Then I realised my show lace was undone so had to stop and do that up, it wasn't a good start!

What finally killed it, as I went round the first corner to the gravely uphill my left foot came down on a large stone, it felt like it happened in slow motion, I felt it twist underneath me and crack, I actually thought I was going to fall over and shouted a few words Id best not repeat on here (Thankfully I was still far behind the back of the runners so only the marshal heard me!)  I stopped and considered my options, it hurt, but I could immediately tell it was only a slight twist and could be walked off.  I had been so excited going out to do my first run as a Big Marathon Challenge team member  nothing was stopping me.

I probably walked the first 2k of the park run before feeling I could set off  and caught up with a lovely lady who was also doing a couple of challenges herself; These Girls Can, we chatted for a while about our stories and agreed to swap twitter at the end of the run so that we could possibly do some buddy running.

Once I got to my favorite down hill part I started to speed up a little until I reached the mud bath home straight, where I took it easy and walked some more, I really didn't want to risk sliding and hurting my ankle any more.

Rob, who had also run, had walked back to meet me and supported me along the last uphill struggle to the end, as always the support of the volunteers was outstanding, shouting out at me as I took my final strides.

It was very slow for me, but then I did start a fair bit after the start whistle and had a very eventful start but Park Run recorded me at 45:50, my TomTom recorded 42:23 for 4.7KM (forgot to turn it off also!).

High5 Review 

(Firstly I would like to state I have never used any types of nutrition/energy/recovery products before, only water, however I have tasted different gels/bars/jellies at expos. I have always thought I would not get on with anything as I prefer water only, food generally gives me heartburn and fruit flavored things generally make me feel sick.)

During Run - Zero Tropical Flavor Sports Drink:
I placed half a tablet in my High5 Marathon Pack bottle with water and sipped it at intervals around the run, I was amazed at actually how nice and fresh it tasted, almost a bit like Malibu which is great for me as I love it! After I finished the race I tried to explain it to Rob, and the only way I could was it almost felt lighter to drink than water alone, (and I know that really doesn't make sense) and that I felt fresh on my insides.

I will definitely use this product/flavor again.

After Run - Chocolate Flavor Recovery drink
I was very apprehensive about trying this a I don't particularly like milkshakes, especially ones that are made with powder, and have always found, when ever I have tried friends nutrition type shakes that they taste nothing like the description!  I was pleasantly surprised, I used the full sachet with semi skimmed milk and it tasted lush!  I enjoyed relaxing in the bath whilst drinking it all.  I even got Rob to try it who also felt similar to myself on milkshake type drinks, but he also said that he would try it again.

I will definitely use this product/flavor again.

FBB xx