I did it! The weather was hot, hot, hot. The sun relentless and the hills bigger and harder than I remembered them being. But I managed it. 5km round Verulamium Park, only breaking into a walk for a few seconds when the people in front of me slowed down at a narrowing in the path. I crossed the finishing line though and had a medal placed round my neck. Challenge complete. The route looped round this large park and zig-zagged up the hills towards the highest point in the park. The terrain varied from short grass, to hard paths, to long grass and even mud through the wooded areas. A large ... read more
The Color Run London 2014
The start may have been slow - 75 minutes after the published start time we finally crossed the start line! - but we did it and we had a ball. The Color Run London 2014 can most definitely be classed as well and truly done on life's list. Five km round the streets of Wembley in north London on a very hot Sunday afternoon, and every kilometre marker we passed resulted in another colour of paint being thrown at us. In the colour zones it all went a bit mad. Not only were there official paint throwers, but runners were scooping up handfuls of paint from the road and throwing it around. ... read more
Couch to 5k – so nearly there!
Yesterday's post brought two exciting packages. First my race number, and t-shirt for The Color Run which is happening THIS SUNDAY and then also my race number for the main 5km race that I'm doing in St Albans just one week later. Suddenly this is all feeling very, very real! The good news is that all my training seems to be on track. On Saturday I finished the Couch to 5k training programme with a 30 minute run (sandwiched between two 5 minute walks) at the National Trust's Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire. It was my first time running there and in away it felt strange not going ... read more
Couch to 5k – week 8 in review
The only problem I'm having with progressing in the Couch to 5k running programme is that each week the training runs are getting longer and so you have less time to squeeze other things into your week - like blogging about it! But, on the flip side I'm finding myself really looking forward to my runs more and more and even going as far as wondering if I can squeeze in extra ones. I never thought I would have been saying that nine weeks ago! So, week 8 of the couch to 5k programme is quite simple. Each of the three runs is a 5 minute warm up walk, 28 minute job and then a 5 minute cool ... read more
Doubling my Save the Children Challenge
There are just three weeks to go until my 5km run for Save the Children. The training (so far) is going well. Sponsors have been supportive and I'm thrilled by how much I've raised so far. All is on plan. But I didn't count on one thing. That pesky running bug has caught me good and proper! I'm enjoying running. I'm enjoying my training runs. On the days I do evening runs I find myself looking forward to getting out and having some time on my own to mentally refresh whilst pounding the streets. I'm actually looking forward to my race and loving this challenge that I've taken on. Loving it ... read more
Week 7 of the Couch to 5k for Save the Children
When I sat down last week and wrote about my Couch to 5k experiences so far and first asked people to sponsor me I wasn't quite expecting the response I've received from friends and family. Not only have you all helped me to smash my initial sponsorship target for Save the Children (thank you, thank you, thank you!), but there have also been loads of supportive message. Not only from people I see daily on the school run, but old friends that I've not properly caught up with in years, but also online friends that I've not yet had the pleasure of meeting in person. You've all been amazing - ... read more
Getting my running shoes on for Save the Children
It's over a month now since I revealed my plans to get fit and hopefully raise some money for Save the Children at the same time. I had been planning to blog through every week of the Couch to 5k training programme, but with all the blog woes that I've had alongside all the time for the training itself I've struggled to find the time. This morning I completed week 6 of the training so now is definitely the time for a catch up. I started this whole plan as unfit as possible! I walk loads, but that's pretty much the only regular exercise I was doing. Before children I had run a couple ... read more
Juicy recovery on the Couch to 5k programme
Now that I've revealed what I'm up to I can turn my attentions to one of the things which kickstarted this whole process - the Currys Juiced Up challenge to make a perfect post workout juice drink. Now in my case my "workout" was actually the first week's part of the Couch to 5K training programme and boy was it tough! Week one is a relatively easy start (compared to what I'll be doing at the end of week 9) but for someone who hasn't run in months and months it was hard work and by the end I was exhausted. I'm someone who always feels incredibly ... read more
Challenging myself – to hopefully help others
It's funny how sometimes lots of things happen which appear to be completely independent, but then you stand back and look at them and realise that actually they fit together perfectly. So, where to start with this tale? Let's start with Team Honk. If you've been online at all for the last few months then you can't have missed this amazing achievement by bloggers from all over the country. On Sunday the epic relay from Lands End to John O Groats ended and yesterday there was the amazing news that the combined Team Honk efforts have raised over £30,000 for Sport Relief. In early ... read more