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Well what an exciting morning!  I'm going onto nights tonight so I usually try and sleep in for as long as possible, but I was wide awake by 9.30am so ended up getting up.  I made a coffee,  switched on the computer, and logged on to Twitter.  I've been following Eddie Izzard's updates on his marathons.  He'd posted yesterday that he was near Lancaster, but I thought he'd probably gone through yesterday.  Anyway, he'd posted that he was in Lancaster and had put up a picture of the Lancaster sign 30mins previously.  That sign is about 30mins away from my flat!  So I threw some clothes on, grabbed my camera and headed out on an Eddie hunt.  I walked up the hill next to my flat and saw a guy with a flag!  It was him!  I took some pics, squealed, got very exciting and shouted 'Come on Eddie!  You're doing amazingly!'  Not very cool I know but I was so excited!

I was very very excited!  I've been a huge Eddie Izzard fan for probably 10 years so to meet him, particularly when he's doing this INSANE run was just amazing!

Anyway, I have to admit this morning I was tempted to not bother with todays run and go on the exercise bike instead, but seeing Eddie really inspired me to get my ass in gear!  I wanted to throw me running kit on right away but we had no food in, so a quick trip to Sainsburys was in order.  Wolfed some breakfast down, had some water, waited an hour and went out.  My main aim was to not go sprinting off because I was still very exicted!  Anyway, I did my run 15 mins, walk 2 mins, run 15 mins then a 5min cool down walk.  Felt great, really enjoyable.  Was thinking about my 10k in October and my half marathon in March and how much I'm looking forward to them!  Fab run!    I'm going onto nights tonight until Monday morning, so I'll prob do 30mins on the exercise bike tomorrow then have Sunday as a rest day.  Monday (depending on how I feel when I come off nights) I'm hoping to run for 20 mins, walk 2, run 15.  If I'm too tired I'll maybe do a session on the bike and go for a run of Tuesday but we shall see!

Hope everyone's well and having as ace a day as me!  Shame I have to go to work tonight!

Tags: running, eddie izzard

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So despite getting up yesterday monring at 5.15, working a 12.5hr shift and getting home at 8.30pm, I am pleased to say that I DID manage to go for a run!  Usually when I'm working I plan to go for a run but by the time I get home I'm too tired.  But I had a couple of digestive biscuits, got my kit on and forced myself out of the door.  And what a lovely run it was!  I'm taking Markseven's advice about trying to consolidate my running before upping my times/distances, so planned to do run 15mins, walk 2 mins, run 15 mins.  I have to say I wasn't convinced I'd manage it, but I did!  I was pleased as punch!  I tried running in the opposite direction up the River Lune, which I have done a couple of times before.  It starts off with a row of pubs but very quickly turns into disused warehouses which are falling apart (sounds horrible but it's actually a really interesting run!)  Eventually you come to a county path which takes you away from the river, but on a nice 6mile circular route.  My plan was to run to the county path, which I thought would probably take about 15mins.  I got there in less than 14, but thought better of running up a country path alone at 9pm, so turned around and started running back again.  Of course this then meant I was going to get home too soon, so I did a little loop back on myself to add on a bit of time.  I then had a 5min cool down walk, and got home feeling amazing (if not famished!)  Really enjoyable, although there were a distinct lack of runners about (normally on that route you see quite a few, but last night I only saw 2.  And neither said hello to me!)  I actually got a bit worried about how quiet it was - there was literally no one around, so I think next time I'll just do that route during the day.

This morning I got up and jumped on my lovely new exercise bike for 30mins.  I did 5 mins resistance 2, 2 mins resistance 3 for a total of 30mins, and then did a 5min slower cool down on resistance 1.  I worked pretty hard today, got a sweat on and got my heart rate up.  I apparently did about 14km, and burnt 230 calories (although as I said the other day I'm sceptical about the calories!)  Enjoyed it though - a good start to the day!

Not sure what I'm going to do with myself today, but it's a beautiful day and I'm feeling good!  Back onto nights tomorrow so will go for a run during the day (plan the same as yesterday)  I won't run whilst I'm on nights but might try and fit in another 30min bike session.

Hope everyone is well!

Tags: running, exercise bike

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But I'll get to that in a minute!

Yesterday my legs were still quite sore after my 5k on Saturday (and also I had a slight hangover after a very unexpected night out!)  But I was panicing that if I didn't go for a run on Monday then I wouldn't be able to fit in my three runs this week.  So I forced my legs to go out and decided to just see how I got on.  Well, they felt like lead the entire time but I managed run 10 mins, walk 2 mins x2.  Not great I know but better than I expected with such sore legs!

Legs were still tired today but gradually started feeling better.  Then me and my other half went out and bought a new toy - an exercise bike!  We've been talking about it for ages but the one we wanted was always out of stock at Argos.  Anyway, it was finally back in stock so we went and picked it up today, then walked home with it (17.5kg very large box.  Not easy.)  I was planning on building it but in the end Tom did because I didn't understand the instructions!  It took us about 45mins to put together and it's ace!  I decided to have a go and ended up on there for nearly 30mins (I was reading and watching TV so didn't notice the time going!)  Burnt 200 calories (according to the monitor on it, although I'm always sceptical about how accurate they are) and although legs were tired afterwards it was nothing horrendous.

Early night for me tonight as I'm back at work tomorrow which means getting up at 5.15!  Eek!  Then a 12.5hr shift, get home about 8.30pm and hopefully go for a run afterwards!  I'm a bit panicy about my 10k which is in 9 weeks time but if the worse comes to the worse I'll just walk the whole damn thing!

Hope everyone is OK!

Tags: running, gym, exercise bike

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So, after a long wait Satruday finally saw my first proper race - The Big Fun Run in Derby.  It didn't start brilliantly when we got lost on the way to the park, and I was so desperate for the loo we had to stop on the way.  Still, we arrived with nearly an hour to spare so there wasn't any huge rush or anything.

There was probably less than 200 people competing, and it was a very chilled out atmosphere, not at all competitive.  I didn't see many people who looked like really serious runners and there were no clubs there.  Probably about a quarter of the people running were raising money for charity (although my Dad and I were the only ones with our names on our tops!)  Pre race pic -

I said in my last blog that the weather was expected to be scorching and it really was!  It was probably about 20degrees by 11 o'clock, when the race started.  Now I don't run in the heat - I always run either first thing in the morning, or in the evening when it's a bit cooler.  I also run mostly in the shade along the River Lune.  So imagine my delight when not only was I running in the SERIOUS heat, but there was very little shade (despite the fact that it was in a blimmin park!)  I was aiming for a time of 35mins, so 7 mins per km, and my plan was to do what I've been doing in training, so run for 10 mins, walk for 2 mins, run for 10mins and so on.  It started fairly well, and I ran for 10 mins, and got to the 1km marker at 6.45mins (in retrospect, I wonder if perhaps I went off too quickly.  Having never raced before and never run with other people before I knew this was a mistake I was likely to make but I found it really hard not to try and keep up with other people.)  Once I'd been running for 10 mins I took a walking break for 1.5mins, then started running again.  Whether I was running too fast, or if it was the heat I don't know but after 5mins I had to take another walking break.  I was absolutely knackered, boiling hot and feeling awful to be honest.  I started wondering why I thought I could run in the first place, and paniced about all the races I'd entered!  The rest of the race was pretty much like this, running and walking off and on, but I walked a lot more than I expected to, and more than I normally do in training.  But the heat really was killing me!  Just before the 3km marker the route went past the finish line so I saw my Mum and we all got cheered on which was nice.  I reached 3km at 21mins, just as the winner was coming in!  It was a really young lad - probably only about 12 who apparently also won last year!  So I'm hoping that he might be at the 2012 olympics!   This is me at this point (I was running honestly!)

 Anyway, I got to 4km at about 28mins so I was still on for my time of 35mins.  By this time though I just had nothing left, and even though I could hear I was getting close to the finish I honestly couldn't find anything left inside me to give my that last push!  But I started jogging again and as I came round the corner to the finish line and saw all the people and my Mum I had this huge rush of adrenaline and pride, that I'd competed my first race, that I raised money for a charity which is so important to me, and I crossed the finish line with a huge smile on my face and feeling absolutely amazing!  There was a guy with a microphone shouting everyones numbers out when they crossed the finish line, but because I had my name on my top he shouted 'And here's Abby running for Bowel Cancer UK - what a great cause!'  I can't describe how amazing that felt (although I know that most people reading this will now EXACTLY how it felt!) and I've got tears in my eyes just writing this!  Here's me nearly at the finish line!

 My Mum told me how proud she was of me which was lovely, and I just felt so chuffed!  Of course in all the excitement I completly forgot to stop my watch!  When I did remember it was on 36.45mins, so I think I completed it in about 36mins, which I was really pleased with considering all the walking I did!  My Dad came in about 5 mins after me, and even though he was supposed to be walking the whole thing he came round the corner running and crossed the finish line like that!  I nearly didn't recognise him!  He was pretty knackered after his 100m sprint finish but he was as pleased as me to have finished and raised money for charity.  Post race pics -

As a first race I think this was perfect - not competitive, fairly small, friendly people etc.  I did get a little confused by some of the signs saying 'Edinburgh Marathon - Runners Keep Left'.  I though, well I'm in Derby now so if I'm going up to Edinburgh I've got a hell of a long way to go!  I also learnt quite a few things, about me and races in general -

1.  Don't get caught up trying to keep up with other people and PACE YOURSELF!

2.  A lot of the race was really quiet with no supporters, which really suprised me, but it was quite nice to think about what I was doing

3.  Having marshalls talk to you gives you a huge boost!  There were quite a lot of marshalls but only two of them spoke to me.  One said 'Keep going, you're doing really well!' which gave me a huge boost just when I needed it.  The rest of them just ignored me or talked to their mates.  From about half way through to the end I had a huge gap in front of me and behind me, so it was really quite lonely, and I was getting really worried I'd gone the wrong way!  It would've been nice for them to say something then but no-one did :(

4.  I need to train in the sun and get better at running in the heat!

Overall, it was a fantastic experience, even though at one point I thought I'd made a huge mistake and felt rubbish!  The elation I felt when I crossed the finish line is something I honestly don't think I've felt for about 10years since I performed in dancing shows.  And as people on this site warned me - it's addictive!  I wanted to go for another run that evening but I managed to stop myself, and had a rest day yesterday.  Back to it today though (and thank god it's raining!)

One other quick thing - people talk about the goody bags you get after a run, and I was honestly expecting this one to be crap, but I was really impressed!  There was a medal (OK, maybe it's a bit of a rubbish one but I'm so proud of it!), water, fruit juice, banana, 2x cans of deodrant (1 male, 1 female), a small bottle of body lotion, a 100ml bottle of body wash, a sachet of muscle gel, 2xfruit bars, 2 bags of seeds and various vouchers for discounts at gyms and hotels.  I thought that was ace for an £8 entry fee!

Anyway, that was a seriously long blog and I apologise but it was just ACE! And I managed to add pics! 

Tags: running, big fun run, charity, hot

Post Views: 168

I can't believe I have my first 5k on Saturday!  I'm incredibly excited, and have decided to put myself under no pressure with it!  I'm a bit disappointed that the last 2 weeks have been a bit rubbish running wise so I don't think I'll manage what I was hoping for, but I'm just going to enjoy it and soak up the atmosphere!

I had decided to go for a really chilled out, short run today but have to admit that I really couldn't be bothered.  I kept making excuses for not going, but then I checked my justigiving donation page.  I'm absolutely overwhelmed by how generous people have been in donating to Bowel Cancer UK, the charity my Dad and I are running for (well, Dad's walking!), and as my Dad suffered from and beat bowel cancer, it's a cause which is really important to us.  Just seeing the amount raised so far (I won't reveal until I get the final amount!) was enough to spur me on to go for a run, so I did a very slow, very easy 15 min run with a couple of walking breaks, and a 10min walk afterwards.  I also tried out my lovely Bowel Cancer UK running vest, which I felt really proud to wear (if not a bit of a fraud, when on the back it says 'I'm running for Bowel Cancer UK' when I was clearly walking most of the time!)  I have to admit I do feel a bit tired now, but I think that's due to the fact I've had about 9hrs sleep in 48 hours (got to love working night shifts!) rather than the running!

So I'll blog on Saturday and let you know how I got on, and hopefully have some pics (if I can figure out how to upload them!)  According to BBC Weather website it's going to be 21 degrees on Sat, and since I hate running in the heat it could be interesting!

I hope everyone's well.  Wish me luck!

Tags:

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Good morning!  So, I haven't blogged in two weeks, and if I'm honest I've only run once in that time as well! Not a good start...

Last time I blogged was 2 weeks ago today.  I'd done my run 10 mins, walk 2 mins x2 and was feeling very pleased with myself.  My plan then was to run that Thursday and Saturday, before I went away on hols on the Sat for a week.  Now, I have to hold up my hands and admit that I was very very naughty!  On the Thursday, after I'd finished my night shifts, I was just absolutely exhausted - more tired (and grumpy!) than I normally am after I finish nights.  There was no way I was going to manage to go running.  I then meant to go on Friday but was organising going away, then when the Saturday came it was boiling hot!  Too hot to run!  So that was that week over.  We then went away for a week to Kirkby Lonsdale, a lovely village near the Lake District.  I took all my running stuff with me...and didn't go once!  In my defence, I'd been planning to run along the river, where the cottage was, but when we got there I discovered how rough the path was - difficult to walk on let alone run on!  We were also at the bottom of a huge hill and there was no way I was going to try and attempt that!  So no running, although I did do a fair bit of walking, including a flat 8miler which involved having to climb over a dry stone wall to escape from a bull, and a 4 1/2 miler of supposedly 'moderate inclines' which was seriously tough!  I certainly wouldn't have called then moderate!

I got back on Saturday and was knackered!  I managed to drag myself out for a run on Sunday, not really knowing what to expect!  So I was pleased with myself when I managed to do the 3x10 min run and 2 min walk that I'd been doing 2 weeks before (I thought I would've gone back loads!)  It was really tough though and my legs by the end of it were killing me.  They're still a bit achy today so I'm not sure if I should go for a run today or not.  Will decide later.

I have my first proper 5k on Saturday so I'm really excited about that!  I'm just not sure what to do training wise this week!  If I decide against going for a run today then I think on Thursday I'll maybe just go out and do a really gentle 10 or 20 mins.  Any advice for a first time racer?  My only slight concern is that yesterday at work I managed to drop a full oxygen cylinder on my left big toe which hurt like HELL!  It feels OK today though so hopefully it'll not be a problem!

Also, entries for the Bath Half have finally opened...do I go for it?

Sorry for the very long blog but it's two weeks of blogs in one!

Tags: running, walking, lake district, holiday.

Post Views: 163

OK So I have to start with an admission!  If you read SUnday's blog you'll know I'd said I was going to try and get annual leave from work that night and if I did I'd go swimming on Monday.  Well, I did get annual leave (yay!).  But I didn't go swimming (boooo!)  I have no real excuse either - I accidently set my alarm 2 hours early, so when I went off I fell back asleep, but I still was up in time to go swimming if I wanted!  My legs were a bit on the tired side, but not so tired that I couldn't have swum.  I'll have to put this one down to CBA syndrome (as I read on someones blog the other day!)

I didn't hold out much hope of today's run being any good.  For a start, I ended up going out last night, and although I didn't drink a lot, I had enough to get my other half to buy me burger and chips from the takeaway and I devoured the whole thing!  Not good!  I'm also going onto nights at work tonight so I'm never that keen on running before a nightshift (although in my experience it actually does make me feel better once I've done it!)  So I put on some loud music, psyched myself up and got out there!  I was also pleased to wear my lovely smart long sleeve purple running jacket which has hardly been worn.  I bought it when I first started running, and discovered that I could spend a fortune on running clothes and pretend that I really needed them all!  In actual fact I soon discovered that certain things make me feel better and therefore run better than others, so certain tops and trousers never get worn!  Anyway, although it was cold and rainy, after about 2 mins running I was, of course, boiling hot in my lovely smart purple jacket, so it was soon taken off and tied around my waist.  The aim for today was run 10 mins, walk 2 mins x3, which somehow I managed!  It was NOT easy - the second 10mins in particular I found a real struggle.  I looked at my watch after thinking I'd been running for about 8 mins and found that actually I'd done just over 3!  I managed to keep going though.  The third lot I told myself to go for 8 mins, and if I could manage 10 then that would be a bonus.  Well after 6 mins I figured that 4 mins wasn't that much more anyway so I may as well do 10!  So in total I did 30 mins running, which is the most I've done to date!  So I'm pretty pleased with that!  I'll next run on Friday when I've finished my nightshifts.

I'm off to the Lake District on Sat for a week with my boyfriend and his family so I'm not sure how running is going to fit in with that!  I'l def take all my things and hopefully I'll be able to get out 3 times.  Then the following week will be my 5k in Derby!  I'm really excited about it, but wish I had an extra week or two to maybe improve a bit more.  I'm chuffed though that between my Dad and I we've already raised £150 for Bowel Cancer UK, and hopefully we'll raise more before the event!

I hope everyone is feeling positive and enjoying running!

Tags: running, raining, sponsorship, bowel cancer uk

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I had a lovely, 'fun' run today!  Initially I found it quite hard going - I don't think I'd fueled up enough and it was quite humid out.  I was aiming to run to the aquaduct which is (according to the Map Your Passion thing) 2.3km away.  I ran this in 14mins, but did find it fairly hard going.  Then I turned around, walked for 3 mins, and ran for 10 mins, before walking the rest of the way home for a cool down.  I can't say I enjoyed the initial 14mins all that much, but the 10mins running back was lovely - I felt like a proper runner!  I even said hello to the runners I went past (I never normally do this because I don't think I'm worthy!) and amused to see that both myself and the other runner both sped up after we said hello!  Hehehe.

I'm supposed to be on a night shift at work tonight but I'm hoping to get annual leave (fingers crossed!)  I've promised myself that if I do I'll get up early tomorrow and go for a swim since I didn't go swimming last week! 

I was also excited yesterday to receive my number for the 5k run I'm doing in a few weeks.  I'm number 70 :)  I also have entered the Great Winter Run, which is a 5k run in January in Edinburgh, run by Bupa.  I can't wait!!

Hope everyone is well and having a lovely Sunday.

Tags: running

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