Eilish McColgan: It's Amazing The Difference One Day Makes...

So it has been a week since my race in the Olympic Stadium. I decided to stay on a few days extra down in London with Howell and his family. The whole week I was down, I stayed at his godparents house in Middle Temple – it was amazing. Their apartment is lovely and within a little gated community, bit of a strange concept but it is really, really nice and quiet. Bit of a blonde moment from me – went out for a run to try find a park, Howell's sister asked me if I saw Buckingham Palace on my way, to which I said no but that there was crowds and crowds outside a building I passed. After google mapping where I ran, I had ran directly past Buckingham Palace three times. Such an idiot. We had planned to head to London Zoo one day however the heavens decided to open and god was having a great time ruining our plans. However it did work in my favour, as it meant we then spent an hour and a half in Topshop – heaven. After deciding to treat myself to a few purchases we then went to Selfridges and ate a disgusting amount of food. I was slightly disappointed with my race at the weekend but several krispy kremes later I was just looking forward to the rest of my summer season.

No longer a Krispy Kreme virgin... Delicious!

Myself and Howell on Millennium Bridge

If someone would have said to me when I was coming out of surgery back in August – that I would be back racing in time for the summer season – I would of told them to.. hush.. So the fact that i've been able to run 3 races within 3 days wearing spikes on all 3 occasions – is a huuuuge step forward and given me loads of confidence for the rest of the season. Hindsight would of saved me a lot of tears over the winter months! After the heat and semi, I was feeling surprisingly good – legs felt fine and I couldn’t feel the foot at all. I also wasn’t particularly nervous about the whole event but I think that was because I was just really happy to be back racing again with no problems. The day of the final was FREEZING. There was a bit of a hold up on the start line and by the time we started our race, every single one of us were frozen! I was really hoping the race would go off hard from the start but it was the exact opposite – we went through the first lap in 72. I was stuck in the inside lanes, my own fault really for not getting out quick enough when the gun went. After panicking for the first two laps I eventually got a free break with 400m to go. I tried to push on but it just wasn’t enough and I was caught by Jen Walsh over the last 30m. Still, my lap times weren’t too bad to be honest, 72-70-63.. so I did manage to pick it up quite a bit over the last lap – but just not enough. Hopefully that last little bit of speed/strength will come though. After missing the whole of the winter and indoor season, I feel I need a few more races in order to get that sharpness back. Obviously I was disappointed to come second as everyone wants to win – but at the end of the day – I have to remember how fortunate I am to be healthy and fit. A lot of athletes are injured and currently fighting against time to get back fit for the Olympic trials on the 22^nd June.

BUCS

My next few races have been decided now. I am keeping to a very similar race schedule as last year as that seemed to work for me (bar breaking my foot!), so this weekend I am going to do the 5k at the Manchester BMC again. This will probably be my only 5k this year as I have missed a lot of my base training over the winter – still I am hoping for a PB as training has been going really well. From this, I am then off to do my first steeplechase. It will be mainly a run over the barriers just to see how the foot reacts and how well I recover from the race, i'm not particularly aiming for a certain time but rather to finish in one piece! My main opportunity to get the Olympic Qualifying time of 9.43.0 will be later on, the start of June.

BUCS

Coming back from London we decided to get the train home from Kings Cross, as there is a (sort-of) direct train into Dundee. At first I thought this was a great idea but 5 and a half hours later, I was starting to regret my initial decision. We got off the train and had to go straight to training that night. It was also my first session after racing and a few easy days. Dundee track was extraordinarily windy and to makes matters worse a torrential downpour started! Its safe to say, I was close to retirement. After stopping myself from crying my eyes out like a little princess I did complete the 5x600m but very, very slowly. For some reason, I felt like an absolute elephant trying to run around the track – my legs were like lead. Thankfully after that horror of a session, the next day I was back to normal again. It's amazing the difference one day makes.

You're a wizard Howell..

Kings Cross Station

This weekend, myself and Howell went along to my Aunties 50^th Birthday. It was the first time in about 3 weeks where I hadn’t been wearing running clothes – so it was nice to get dressed up, do my hair and make up and actually feel like a girl instead of a little boy in trainers all day! We didn't stay too long though as Howell was racing at the Scottish East Districts the following day. I decided to go through and watch the race, however after arriving to the hurricaine at Meadowbank Stadium – I started to wish I had stayed in bed. I was extremely thankful that I wasnt racing – it was horrible and I feel sorry for all the athletes that competed in it! Fair play to them. One of the young guys in my training group got a 2 second PB in gale force winds! I miss being that age, where you just run and don’t get tired regardless of weather or distance!

Heading out for tea... mugshot!

This morning I am off to Scotstoun Stadium for the announcement of my new sponsor Macb water. I am extremely fortunate that Macb have come on board to help me out for the next three years, up to the commonwealth games. To have my picture on all their water bottles, stocked in all major supermarkets in Scotland – is pretty cool! It is really nice to have their support and to have them believe in me. I will be helping them to encourage more people to put on their running shoes and reap the benefits of the sport. Running is something anyone can take up and improve, it doesn't cost (much) money to get a pair of trainers and get out running. It is something you can do with friends, it makes you feel better about yourself, keeps you in shape and clears your head. No matter what level of the sport your in – everyone gets the same benefits and go through the same feelings and motions. Macb believe that running can be a great leveller between people, especially women and so I am really looking forward to working with them over the next few years and supporting their 'team macb: better together' campaign.