Robin Hood Half Marathon - Sunday 28th September 2014 - Training

The first and only half marathon I ran was in 2010 and it was the Robin Hood Half  MarathonNottingham. It took me 2 hours and 35 minutes and I considered it a fail, I didn’t put enough effort in on training, no hills or speed work nothing, I barely covered enough distance week by week. I was surprised to be feeling so tired at just 7 miles in. I almost gave up and walked home as I passed the nearest point to my house. The only thing keeping me going was I had driven to the start so fetching me car would have been a pain. 2010 still included Wollaton Hall and this was about the hilliest section.

Most of the spectators stood along the track here and so as I walked most of it made me feel like an extra special looser. I ended up running/walking with a lady who appeared to look like I felt and we got through the final sections together. I’m running this years (2014) half marathon as part of my 5k a day challenge for Nottinghamshire Hospice. This year I have 2 things to worry about; 1. Can I complete the race? Well since they ditched the wollaton section its flatter so that’s one in my favour, I have ran an awful lot more recently (obviously), I have run a lot more hills and speed runs too, so I’m in much better shape to finish. 2. Will I be able to carry on running the next day? This concerns me more than the actual race. I have managed a couple of longer runs during my challenge so far as much as 20km so not much short of the 13 miles I  need to cover on the day. The first time I tried it I picked up an injury,

 just a small niggle in  my right calf that bugged me for about a month. Never the less I managed the distance with not much trouble. I’m going to try and run one more longer run before the day and perhaps a few 10kms as well as quite a bit of hill work just to make sure I’m as ready as I can be. There are lots of training schedules out there for half marathons but if you can spare the time there is nothing better than a daily 5km run to get you round. I am hoping to finish in 2 hours this time, that is a huge difference to the last one, if I manage it I’ll be knocking 35 mins off the time! Don’t forget I’ll be running everyday as always before and after the race so there will be no room for ‘tapering’. Tapering, for those not in the know, is a clever way of saying running less as the race day looms. The way I will do it is just run slower and walk a little bit during the days leading up and then  the opposite after the day. As far as energy drinks are concerned, I’m not going to bother, just water for me and then plenty of protein after to help my muscles repair quicker. The last time I ran 20km I went after a busy day with a 500 ml bottle of water. It was no way near enough but I got round, the worst bit was getting in to trouble for being out so long and not helping with the bedtime routine! Oops Sorry!

Fingers crossed I’ve done enough to manage a good run and maybe even a good time too.

As always your donations will help me along as they have so far in the challenge www.justgiving.com/5kaday

Run 182 - Half way

2.54km, I stopped, cheered and jumped about. Half way exactly, Its all downhill from here, I hope not – that will make my quads ache.

This mini celebration took place during the Half way run event at Rushcliffe Countrypark on Sunday 27^th July. That means I have completed my 182^nd 5km run. I found myself running with Adam again, must be a matching pace thing and when I stopped at half way to revel he carried on running shouting “what you stopping for?” How to ruin a poignant moment!

With a couple of Facebook messages a few days before the day I was able to get around 8 runners to help me mark the 100^th run and we thought the next milestone should be half way but this time we should put a bit more effort in. The venue was the first thing to consider and what better than using a place already used to runners completing a 5km run. Rushcliffe Country Park holds a parkrun every week of the year and so would be perfect. The team at the Hospice had arranged the whole thing and did a tremendous job, from setting up a simple way of registration through EventBrite to organising first aid, marshals and even cakes and refreshments. The formal registration meant that all runners had a bib number so all the finish times were recorded too, my bib number was ‘001’ I felt no pressure to finish first. The run was started at 10.30am by Michelle from the hospice and Rebecca Drysdale who is the current Miss Nottingham, (I have still to get her in trainers for a run) and around 30 of us left the start line on this very hot Sunday morning. I'm not used to running at this time of day preferring the early morning or late evening, so I was feeling the heat. I set off from the front along with my son J

osh and and Peter McConnochie a fellow runner and photographer, the last time we ran together Josh out ran us and by the way Pete set off I guessed he was not going to let that reoccur, needless to say I saw neither of them until the finish line. Pete came in with a very respectable time of 22 minutes 13 seconds and Josh was 1 minute behind him. At 12 josh has age on his side so I doubt he will be able to hold him off for very long.

Adam and I crossed the line at 25 minutes 41 seconds, one of our fastest joint runs I reckon. Everyone who ran came in looking very warm so the heat really played a part. Simon Ross and Lisa Tandy arrived ‘home’  in first and last place respectively they are Brother and sister so this felt quite fitting that they should ‘bookend’ the pack. As everyone moved to the visitors centre for refreshment I was interviewed for The Beestonian (see the article here). By Matt the editor and Mel, who works with Matt was roped in to run. Thank you to them for taking the time to come over and speak to me. While people enjoyed a cuppa and a cake there was a raffle draw for the £50 decathlon voucher, this was won by Gary Robertson. All in all is was a fantastic way to mark the half way point of the challenge because not only has it given me a real boost to continue on it has also boosted the donations as the unofficial total stands at £335, £150 of that was from runners registration and the rest was from refreshments, proving that exercise is alright… but its not as good as cake.

Thank you very much to all who help organise the event and to all those who ran and /or donated on the day, It was a great to see such support for both the challenge and the charity.