We Did It!!

So thrilled to announce that this morning myself and my friend and mentor Jon-Michael successfully crossed the finish line of the 8.5 mile Great Midland Fun Run 2014. (That's 13.5 kilometres to pretty much everyone in the world.) It was an unpleasantly hot day with nary a cloud in the sky, nor the vaguest hint of a breeze, and compared to the torrential downpour of last Saturday, it was not the best weather to be running in.

Mainly due to the heat, I found the distance more of a struggle today. Jon had come equipped with Lucozade and caffeine gels which provided a much-needed boost, but it was undeniably a hard slog. Given the heat I deliberately held back a little on the first couple or three miles, and by halfway I was incredibly glad I did. The absolute saving graces of the day were the cups of water and sodden sponges being handed out by volunteers, and the neighbours who had contributed to the day by rigging up their garden hoses and sprinklers to the shower the route with water, or send their kids out into the street with water pistols. Nothing cools you down or wakes you up better than a cupful of cold water down your back. I was drinking half and then literally emptying the rest over my head!

It goes without saying that the atmosphere of the crowd at an event like this is phenomenal, and the presence of familiar faces like my friend Fiona, and neighbours John, Bridget, Jill and Hannah made all the difference too. The sense of community is amazing. People were sat in their gardens cheering along the main roads, and the local vicar had set the church choir up on the lawn to sing to the crowds while he stood on the churchyard wall to cheer us on. The last mile and half wasn't quite the breeze it was last time, but I still somehow managed to sprint the last 100 yards or so once the finish line was in sight - and what a sight it is after covering that distance in the blazing sun!

Jon and I reckon we came in at about 1 hour 40, my initial target but a little slower than my practice time, but we are still awaiting the official results. We did, however, get our medals!

And the best part of it was, immediately after we had to rush back to the Hilton Metropole to continue the rest of our fundraising as part of the costumed-character entertainments at UK Games Expo. So it has been a busy busy day!

The Just Giving total for Alzheimers Research has come in at £125 for my run, plus £537.68 from our work over the weekend at the Expo.

Suffice to say I am feeling extremely proud of myself. Six months ago I couldn't run for much more than 30 seconds without getting out of breath. To achieve so much in such a short space of time feels amazing. Many many thanks to the people of SE Fitness who spurred me on drastically in the past four weeks and propelled me from 1.8 miles to 5.5 in a single session, and I have to give a shout-out to Jon, too, for all the encouragement and advice he's given. The guy is an inspiration and I can't thank him enough for everything he's done to help me get to this point.


EDIT: I've just found out the temperature was a sunny 20 C with a lazy wind of only 4mph. So we were, for the most part, literally running faster than the wind!

Team work

I haven't written as much about my running progress as I would have liked - mostly because I wasn't sure how to do so without it getting phenomenally dull: "Today I ran this amount. It was slightly more difficult than last time when I ran slightly less. Blah blah blah."

As a recap though, I have been maintaining my training since January, normally around 3 times a week, and seeking to extend the distance a little every time. I was managing this quite well, but my actual endurance for the run had plateaued at about 15-20 minutes, or about a mile and a half. After that I would have to walk for about a minute or two, then resume running again.

Fortunately, May 3rd was to mark the beginning of the GMFR training runs, organised by Sally Ellis of SE Fitness, a group which also hosts regular group runs for all ages and abilities. I hadn't run with them before - or anyone else for that matter! - so when I turned up on the day I was asked whether I was running or walking the route. Indecisive and self-depreciative as ever, I mumbled that I was hoping to run it but I was struggling to run further than a mile and a half without taking a little break. They made the call for me - I was to run the full 5.5 miles that morning with the intermediate group at a steady pace of 11-12 minute miles. My fate was decided!



There were quite a lot of people at the run, of many different speeds and abilities. Although we all set off together the group soon spread out and runners settled into smaller clusters with those of a similar pace. The main leader for the 11-12 minute mile group offered up various snippets of advice regarding pace, posture and breathing. I got the impression from the pace we were keeping that perhaps I had been pushing myself a little too hard in my solo runs which was contributing to my inability to maintain the pace. Most of all though, it has to be said that the process of running alongside others is extremely motivating and prevented me from falling into my usual pattern of slowing to a walk every now and then. I was able to keep running and maintain a steady pace, steady breathing and even carry on a conversation, and I returned to the meeting point alongside one of the 11 minute mile pacers - a proud accomplishment!

As such I made the decision to continue my training with the group from now on. Even though there was no group meet on the following Monday, my 4 mile solo run was completed at a consistent pace simply due to the knowledge that I COULD go the distance without a break.

Running with that extra boost of confidence and motivation felt like flying. It's amazing what you can accomplish with the right encouragement.