port sunlight 5k 2014

Port sunlight 5k.

Well to be honest, I wasn’t feeling this race from the minute I woke up, those who know me we know I had a bit of a rough week so at that moment in time all I wanted to do was turn over and sleep! However I eventually got out of bed and cross a thing of my bucket list… to drive through the tunnel.. Random I know… but Yay all the same…. I might post the full bucket list at some point…

Anyway, the weather was downright awful  with heavy rain and strong winds. The surface was slippery in places with puddles and fallen petals/leaves.  The rain stopped briefly as we set off but ended up soaked despite my lovely ‘waterproof’ running coat.  Which was a mistake to wear as I ended up very very hot… will have to rethink before my next rainy run!

I also didn’t carry any water with me on this one and half way through regretted this decision. According to my nike app I did the first 2k at 5.3min /km pace… which probably knackered me and the rest of the run was at 6.3 – 7.3 pace.. admittently walking in places.. I really need some help with my pacing.. Running club here I come! overall i did this in 34:16, 16 seconds slower than PB but sometime its not all about the time!

Port sunlight it self seems a lovely place, and if it wasn’t for the weather I would have loved to have stayed and explore a little bit, but unfortunately it was a dash home for some dry clothes…  pre event there was lots of publicity about how bad the parking was.. I got their earily by the fact the car park was empty! Although walking back I bumped into every 10k’s who were running to the start as they had had difficulty!

Also bumped into a very nice lady (sorry I didn’t get your name, blue hoodie with pink top) and her mum who were lovely and took pre and post piccys with me and who I ran with for the first 1k or so.. until I found out I was a lot slower than her pace!  Anyway I was nice to meet you guys!

As usual it was all for Childflight so please continue to donate if you can,  every penny goes a long way in supporting this charity and making children’s dreams come true J http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/myscrambledlegs

oh and on a side note, isnt this yarn bombing cool!?, its like my to worlds combined!!

Bradford10k 2014.

Bradford 10k.

Today way another 10k run! Felt very tired this morning and had little sleep last night,  so wasn’t in great condition for this run at all!  But you know, if you never try you will never succeed! So I will start with a little lesson learnt for today to stop my self-moaning about the effort to much! Lesson. Follow a training plan and train properly!  Which is the plan to do between now and the next 10k!  

as Always i'm fundraiser for child-flight! all donations very welcome so please follow the just giving link on the right, 

So today was Run by epilepsy action, and once again I did it in my Childflight yellow hat and Tshirt! Was billed as a flat course which in the majority it was but was still hilly in areas and also had a high wind which at points we ran into.  I had chosen this race because Bradford is where I grew up and thought it would be nice on home turf!  Enjoyed the race but I feel it now! Around 4k I bumped into a lady called becky and we had roughly the same pace so we ended up running/walking together the rest of the way.  was nice to have someone to talk to and someone to help keep pace with!

According to my nike plus app I ran my fasted 1k at 6.53mins and my fastest mile at 11.5mins, so all is good in that area, once again, got to around 5k ok and then pace began to slowly slip. I normally run to music but unfortunately my Ipod died this morning so was weird to run without it, also the road the majority was run down [out and back] doesn’t have much points of interest on it so felt as though I couldn’t distract myself with it much and gave in to pain to easily at times I think.  

I did this race in 1hour and 16mins and 10seconds [chip time]  which is a 40seconds improvement on my previous time two weeks ago! And continues to be something to work on [has downloaded the ActionAid training plan, will let you guys know how I get on!] this time means that I came in at 1429^th position… out of 1442… paula Radcliffe I aint but going out and trying is better than quitting right? Right?

Run facts:-

distance :- 10k

time:- 1hour, 16mins 10 seconds. 

surface:- road, windy. 

equipment:- compression-socks. No music

memento:- white XL t-shirt [they had run out of smaller sizes!]

rating. 5/10 

repeat/recommend? No, [think I need some more interest on the route and no medal!]

Race for life, 2013

just realized i missed out my second race of 2013! so here is the race review if any one is interested! 

please support me if you can, every penny will go a long way in raising vital funds for childflight either click the button to the right >>>> or follow this link 

My second ever run was the race for life twilight on Liverpool waterfront. Another 5 k race from the ferry terminal along the front towards Otterspool and then back along the same route.  I finished this run in 38mins [ish] it was very very wet and very very cold. For those who don’t know Liverpool well the route is lined with cobbles and then paving slabs which became very slippery!  To the extent that the stewards were advising people not to sprint due to the slipping hazard. I had also broken my toe a few weeks before this race so wasn’t able to run to the same pace as usual.

This Race is aimed at raising money for cancer research, however I chose not to obtain any sponsor ship for this as I think there is a limit as to how many times you can ask people for money for charity etc. [I did make a donation out of my own pocket as I normally do when the race is organised ror a specific cause.]  however felt like they were constantly pushing for more donations rather than saying thank-you for what they had raised so far [£55000 the warm up guy said] and over all I didn’t like the way it was organised and didn’t enjoy the race as much because of this.   Would I do a race for life again? Maybe just to see if it is the same as this one, after all the twilight run was a first time event so perhaps a few teething problems were had. I’ll see if one fits into my shift pattern during this year and if I can I’ll do it but properly not. 

Top facts:-

Date:- 18^th October 2013.

Time:- 38mins

Surface:-  pavement/road

Distance:- 5k