My first paid job was as a Saturday girl in my local newsagent , where for the unbelievable wage of £ 1 for a 8 hour shift ( was a long time ago ), I did a variety of tasks – serving customers, sorting out orders, stacking shelves of confectionery etc.
One of the great perks of this job was getting to choose ANY SWEET YOU WANTED to have for your break.
Stacking the shelves of sweeties,I was always captivated by Fry’s 5 Boys chocolate , still around in the early 70s , not because they were a favourite but because I loved the packaging (maybe an early indicator of future career).
Desperation, pacification, expectation, acclamation, realisation its Frys!
in some ways this his sums up my current mental state.
All week I have had a sandpapery sore throat – not ill enough to warrant a day off work- but have just felt pretty rubbish, and this added to my ‘realisation’ of how little I have done for this half marathon has had me experiencing feelings of desperation.
But when desperation strikes we all have our coping strategies and mine include ‘pacification’ by reading as much running literature that reassures me that I am not alone in my half-hearted half marathon training.
In the same way that I have been following a pick and mix approach to training, I have added to this a pick and mix approach to reading. Not for me those pesky articles that reward those who successfully follow a plan to the letter.
No, I have, with all the analytical skills I can muster, poured through as many copies of Runners World , and Women’s Runner magazine,not to mention a quick recap of my favourite running books ( section: what to do when you fail to follow your training plan) and have found some helpful articles that tell me I can still make it through the course – although maybe I need to reset my expectations )
( NB my expectations – avoid DNF )
So this week against this background I did manage to do a 6 mile run after work on Wednesday, a short 3 mile run on Friday and today cracked the 10 mile barrier.
As I have been feeling a bit under par all week I am going to take heart that my legs survived 10 miles of running, and book my train ticket for Inverness .
The unfinished sentence... 
Well done on cracking the ten mile barrier, any good running books you could recommend?
Thanks – climbing stairs today is interesting ! Most of my running books are targeted at women,but for general advice any of the Runners World Rodale press books are good for covering the basics, and the magazine is also good. For a short but inspiring read try What I talk about when I talk about running, by Haruki Murakami.