Running and dancing...

Last Monday I took myself to 'Run and Become' which sells everything you can think of for running, and quite a lot of things you've never thought of... After my 'circle' run to meet Guy and Blunkett my ankles and knees were quite sore so I thought it was worth getting my feet properly assessed which was what had been advised by Caroline the physio... First of all I was put in a pair of 'neutral' running shoes to see whether I ran straight or not... Then it was out on to the pavement (just outside Cardiff Bus Station) to run up and down, watched by the chap from the shop. And quite a lot of people waiting for buses. I ran up, and down. He reckoned I was 'pretty straight with a slight over-pronation, more pronounced on the right side'. Wow. All that from 10 seconds running! He suggested a slight 'inner support' on a shoe, and went and found about 6 different shoes for me to try.

Each pair I put on were poked, prodded and then 'test-run' on the pavement outside the shop... And with each pair my ankles hurt more and my knee throbbed. I asked for more support to stop me feeling the pavement, we tried another pair and everything hurt less, so I decided they were The Ones. Fairly hideous looking, but they don't hurt. They only come in blue, so I've got blue ones. Apparently next year that design may be pink. Then the year after it'll be blue again. I guess the designers put all their energies into shoe design rather than colours...

For the rest of the week I did absolutely nothing. Zip. Zilch. Zippo. No swimming, no running, no cycling.... partly pressure of work, partly cake making (and it's finished but it's recipient hasn't seen it yet so I can't post a photo), partly networking and partly sore throatness which eventually drove me to the doc on Thursday morning. Apparently I have a throat infection and now I have anti-something spray to help it get better.

On Friday and Saturday evenings I danced - all evening, both evenings! Guy's band were playing firstly at the University for the International Foreign Students Freshers Ceilidh so I went along as one of the Spare And Helpful Dancers to guide the students through the dances - Jo who comes along with Roger the Drummer was there too, so we danced most dances together. One of them involved dancing sideways at speed all the way down between the other dancers towards the bar and our caller, Veronica, said over her mike that she thought we should have tried harder and gone over the bar. So the next time we did, much to the amusement of the students. Apparently it was quite impressive and actually neither of us knew we could jump that high...

And last night the band were playing at the Heath, so I danced again. Remember last week I met people who did triathlons? Well, this time I met someone who organises cycling tours of France, and does serious road racing. Good grief - is there anyone out there who doesn't do one of the bits of a tri? We danced, talked bikes, danced, talked bikes and danced some more. Now my knees and ankles are REALLY sore!

I am finding it difficult to motivate myself to train with no real goal in store... so my mission for this week is to find a race to do sometime before Christmas. I do have an idea in mind...

Christmas Pudding, anyone?