Running for Cupcakes

Oh, wow! This week has flown by. I realize I last left everyone hanging with my injury. But then I got a life outside of running (I know, shocker!) and my week has been run, work, go out, sleep. I have barely had a chance to keep up with emails, let alone write on my blog. Apologies!
So, what has happened since that fateful Thursday? I took Friday and Saturday off. I was half talked into going for a walk/run on Saturday with the team, but I worried because I was still limping Friday night…and Saturday, even without the running! On Sunday my limp went away but my ankle was still tender and I stayed off it as much as possible. Monday it was finally on the mend and so I went to Tuesday sprints.

Tuesday: the warm up was a bit tough, as my ankle was a bit tight as it readjusted to running. Chris (our coach) placed me in the “watchlist” group. This is the group of people tapering for or recovering from a marathon or half marathon, and those recently returned from injury/illness. So, instead of doing 2k reps with a 2min recovery, I did 1k reps with a 1k recovery. I have so much to catch up on I won’t get into lap times, but I’m happy to say that once the reps started my ankle had loosened off and I felt cautiously great the rest of the session. I probably could have done the 2k reps, but no need to tell Chris that, right?

Thursday: hills! After my performance on Tuesday I was off the watchlist. We did one of my favourite hill sessions. It is two hills you randomly alter running between. One is long and steep, the other shorter and steeper. I think I like the reps because it’s not as obvious if I fall behind the group – it’s not like anyone has to wait for me! It was exhausting, but I can honestly say I worked as hard as I could, which was awesome.

Friday: today marked the re-launch of the Friday women’s beginner group. It was the same as any other session, but cupcakes were on hand. Yum! We have a professional baker in our running group who doesn’t so much as sell her creations as give them to fellow runners. Thanks, Charmaine*!!! Even when you couldn’t come, you still sent cupcakes for the group! We did an 8k circuit around the river running reps of about 1k long. From the start, everyone was salivating over the thought of cupcakes and I think it was the motivation that kept us all going. Never get between a woman and her cupcake. I think we should rename Friday’s group to cupcake Friday and have a delicious treat waiting at the end of every run.

The picture of the cupcake you see was not taken by me - I devoured my cupcakes (yes, more than one) with only a flickering thought of snapping a photo of their yumminess. One of my teammates had more self control and kindly sought to make the rest of the facebook world a jealous place.

*Note - I tried to set up a cool hyperlink with Charmaine's blog, but the cool hyperlink button isn't working. For those curious, http://char-mylifesamarathon.blogspot.com.au/