So even thou I have spent a fair amount of the last 6 weeks stuffing my face with Chocolate there has also been a fair amount of running & walking taking place
Since the marathon I have taken part in Run Hackney Half Marathon, the London 10,000 & the Kelly Holmes 5k at the Olympic Park & my friend & I have signed up to take part in the Shine Marathon for Cancer Research in September so have been meeting once a week for a walk & I have quite a few other races lined up, a virtual 5k with Astronaut Tim Peake this Friday tonight, its not to late, click on the link HERE, the Amba Hotels City of London Mile this Sunday, the Great Newham Run in July (I have done this one twice before & I am so excited the race is finishing inside the Olympic Stadium again this year) the Colour Vibe 5k in August & finally the Royal Parks Half Marathon in October
I am really looking forward to all the races I have booked and at the advice of my physio I have gone back to basics with my running and have restarted the c25k program, which I have really enjoyed & I am hoping this will help me achieve a few PBs in the above races later this year
Race Recap – Vitality Run Hackney Half Marathon
Whose stupid idea was it run a half marathon, 2 weeks after running my first marathon, oh yes that would be mine
If ever you are looking to book a trip to London in May, check out the Run Hackney dates, because honestly the organisers have a direct line to the big man upstairs because honestly each year they have a scorcher, the weather is glorious, lovely sightseeing or a picnic but running a Half Marathon not so much
I hadn’t really tried to run in the two weeks after the marathon and I went into Run Hackney with the attitude that I would run if I could but that I was happy to walk the whole thing if necessary, but as it happened the first 4 miles felt really good, unfortunately approaching the 5 mile marker I felt a very slight pop in my leg similar to the one I had felt at last years London Winter Run when I tore my calf last year, which meant I had to walk for the next two miles
The support on the Run Hackney route was great, steel bands, live music, the Run Dem Crew cheer squad & the local residents deserve a special mention they were amazing, lots of people outside of their houses music blaring cheering us on & hosing us down & handing out Jelly Babies, unfortunately there were one or two less pleased to see their local roads closed and I saw a few drivers ignoring road closures and literally driving inches behind the runners trying to intimidate them off the road and being very abusive to the marshall’s when asked to find an alternate route
Run Hackney was a really well organised event, with an interesting route, good support, I want to say a fab bling but if I’m honest it wasn’t up to the Vitality Run Series usual high standards & nice Brooks technical finishers t shirt, but would I run it again.. No, well at least not anytime soon, it was to hot for me & as I have previously mentioned this race seems to guarantee a heat wave every year but I will definitely volunteer next year because I want to be part of that happy, party, Hackney atmosphere
Race Recap – Vitality London 10,000
Why or why do I do it to myself, I very rarely drink but the week of this race I had 3 big nights out, drinking more in those 3 nights than I probably have in the whole of the last year, I do not regret the nights out or the drinking but I do regret them so close to the race, especially the Saturday night drinking & the Sunday shots with a race Monday morning.
The London 10,000 was one of my first races a few years ago, at time it was sponsored by Bupa and was extremely well organised, the event is now part of the Vitality Run Series, I am a fan of Vitality events, they are reasonably priced (well the London races maybe a little bit on the high side but I guess that has something to do with road closures) they are usually very well organised and have the best medals.
Unfortunately my first impressions of this years race were not as impressive, considering the amount of runners they seemed to have dramatically reduced the amount of toilets available at the start (actually now I come to think of it, this was also an issue at Run Hackney so is maybe something Vitality need to look into for future events) & the queues were ridiculous, over 30 minutes & as the queues wound around you wasn’t actually 100% certain where you were queueing for
Thankfully once we were out of the loo queue the rest of the race was up to Vitality’s high standards
I have a real love/hate relationship with running around the Olympic Park, its always advertised as a flat course and it isn’t there are a few short but very sharp hill, but the history, fair enough the London Olympics wasn’t even quite 4 years ago but the amazing things that have taken place within that park, the records broken, the pride felt, always tempts me into entering races within the Olympic Park – that and the fact it takes me less than 30 minutes to get there
Over the last few weeks I have taken my running back to basics and have started the c25k running program again, there have been a couple of reasons for me doing this
- my physio wanted to me to take a step back and rest my leg after the marathon as it still hasn’t healed fully from last years tear
- for so long now I have been focusing on half marathons and marathons and have been following Jeff Galloway Run/Walk approach, that I struggle now to go out and run a 5k straight out
- I want to improve my speed and earn myself some PBs again, it has been years since I have ran a sub 30 5k and I have never managed a sub 1hr 5 10k (well I apparently did once on a Santa run but my Garmin only recorded 9.6km so I am not sure I can really claim that one)
So last Saturday at the Kelly Holmes 5k I was due to run 2x 10 minutes with a 3 minute walk in between, now I knew that wouldn’t get me around the course so I had decided that I would follow the plan but add an in extra 10 minute run
I had gone along to the race with a friend & had said I would love to finish in the 33 minute bracket, my friend didn’t have a time in mind, while she was training for the London Marathon this year she never really timed her runs but it was obvious her running had improved dramatically & I had said I thought she could run a sub 30, I think her last recorded 5k was around 35 minutes, anyway I am very pleased to report a 33.33 finish for me & a 29.41 finish for my friend, whoop whoop!!!
Shine Marathon for Cancer Research
I am so excited to be taking part in the Shine Marathon
Shine is a night time walking marathon or half marathon organised by Cancer Research UK, this is my 4th time taking part, I have done the full marathon twice before and the half once (you can read about last years half marathon here)
I really love these events, they are well organised, the marshalls who are all volunteers can be standing around for hours but will always have a friendly smile on their face, some supportive words & if you are lucky a few jelly babies. Not to mention they raise awareness and money for a fantastic charity
I will be honest thou the reason I first took part was because I wanted the challenge of completing a marathon but wasn’t sure I was up to running one & that is kind of the same reason I have signed up again this year, I am walking with my friend Mandy who hadn’t even completed a Race for Life before completing the Shine Half Marathon last year, she really enjoyed last years walk & as we are both trying to lose a little weight she asked if I fancied walking with her again this year and also help her step up to the full marathon
Over the last few weeks we have been meeting up and walking distances ranging from 3-6 miles, next week the training gets serious and we have 8 miles planned & will be sure to keep you posted with how my training goes
Do you have any races planned? Are we booked into any of the same races, please let me know if we are, its always nice to see a friendly face
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