parkrun to 10k - Week Two

parkrun to 10k - Week Two

So…brief recap for those of you too lazy to read previous blogs.  In five weeks time I will be running my first 10k and this collection of blogs is going to share the fun of a reluctant runner maybe (huge maybe) becoming a little (tiny incy wincy) bit of a runner!

So far week one was pretty good….oh really, just read the previous one….saves time!

So Week Two

I did manage to get off the floor after Sunday’s run you will be glad to know, the cat was a little annoyed as it had just got comfortable, but really, on floor is not a good way to spend the rest of your life…..although I did spend a good twenty minutes on the floor thinking this could be a good way to spend my life!

I also spent the rest of the weekend all excited after running the ridiculous 9 miles,  so week two was looking good…...

Tuesday

Up at 5.20 am again….why don’t the children or animals in this house sleep?  I know I am a morning person, but anything before 5.45 is just silly.  So by 8.20, when the children get picked up for school, I was more than ready to get out of the house for a run.  Weather was good, I was already having a bad hair day, the red top I had put on made me look like a radish…so no excuse really not to run.  So I headed out of the door.

Today’s plan was walking one minute and running for five minutes, ten times.  Didn’t sound too bad.   So I set off for the warmup, this time walking around the field after the big black dog and running incident a few weeks ago…..do you want to know about the Curious Incident of the Black Dog in the Field?…it has nothing to do with this blog, but it is quite short….okay, here goes.

Why running is not fun….Tale 1
A few weeks ago I set off running through the field when a huge black labradour called Penny attacked me.  I have two ‘bottom biting dogs’ of my own, so when a large dog runs towards me I am really not that bothered.  But once Penny had got hold of me, she just wasn’t going to let go…the poor owner is shouting at the other side of the field “Penny darling, Penny, come here good (!!!) dog” and I am still trying to run with a big black dog attached to my bottom.  In the end, I gave up, walked to the top of the field with ‘Good Dog Penny’ still attached to my bottom and returned her to her owner….who rather than aplogise said “well what did you think would happen if you ran through a field, she must have thought you were a rabbit”


So……I walked round the field!  And had a lovely run walk combination all the way up to Slaithwaite along the uphill canal, round the canal basin and all the way back again about five miles.  Nothing really exciting happened, the run was okay!  Excellent!

So to sum up

• 50 minutes of running
• 14 minutes of walking
• listened to Lotte Mullan, Al Lewis and Elvis
• carrying house key and iphone, battled with the earphones
• how do I feel at the end - fine, lovely run

Thursday

Darkrun - for those of you that are not reading this from the Huddersfield parkrun loony bin - firstly welcome…... and this next bit will explain a lot!

Darkrun is an extension of parkrun.  It started when we were looking at changing the route at Huddersfield parkrun and wanted input from the parkrunners.  It seemed logical to test the new route in the evening to fit in with everyone.  So one evening we all turn up with headlights and glow sticks and start running around the park….nothing more terrifying to the local park ferrels than 20 odd (and they are odd), sightly glowing parkrunners, on mass, running around the park, in the dark.  Everyone enjoyed it so much it was suggested that we do it again…..and even when the new route was agreed…."let’s do it again".  Then the local pub next to the park re-opened and now it is really an excuse to have a quick (slow in my case) run around the park and then drink and pub quiz!  We even have our own table reserved at the pub now!

So this week, I decided rather than handing out jaffa cakes at Darkrun, I would actually run at Darkrun and the lovely Nicki Dawson kindly agreed to run with me.  So off we set with the idea that I would be running for five, walking for one just eight times.  I couldn’t figure out how to get the iPhone app to work properly with the other app to check distance so Nicki and her Garmin agreed to coach.  

All I can say is that Nicki and her Garmin would not make the best of personal trainers at Darkrun.  

• After the warm up five mins we start running
• about nine minutes later  I ask “when are we walking, Nicki?”
• ”Oh” says Nicki “about now”!!!!  
• We then walk and talk and talk for two minutes (ends up four and a half)
• Me “when are we running Nicki”…..Nicki “Oh, about now”  
• We then run for the five minutes ( ends up six and a quarter)
• Me “when are we walking, Nicki”…….Nicki ‘Oh, about now”   
• Do you see a pattern amerging???

This goes on for a while…..then we have a ‘Genius Idea”  By now there are lots of other Darkrunners in the park, all doing there own thing, some in couples or groups, some on marathon training, some just waiting around for the pub!  Nicki and I decide enough running has been done for the day and it will be a really good idea to hide in a bush next to the POND and jump out and surprise runners!  So in the bush we go to hide, unfortunately spotted by a lovely couple walking a dog, tried to explain why we were in a bush….took quite a bit of explaining!!!! Although if anyone had seen them talking to a bush, they would have had some explaining to do too!   Nicki and I then spend a lovely amount of time (with the Garmin still doing whatever Garmins do) jumping out and surprising (scaring the life out of) Darkrunners!

After a while the jumping out of the same bush becomes a bit predictable and the next 20 minutes are spent running around the park, finding somewhere to hide to scare Darkrunners.  

Good hiding place Nicki on the Belvedere 

The following ten minutes are spent on the zipwire and the swings

Zip Wire Nicki

Bunny ears on the swings

Then off to the pub…. just for a couple, no quiz this time, we popped to the curry house instead

So to sum up….

• Walking   - more than I should have
• Running - who know
• Zip wire - 20 times
• parkrunners scared witless  - five
• Darkrun quiz winnings - £0.00
• Fun and laughter…..unquantifiable

Friday

After the disastrous run (but lots of fun)  at Darkrun I decided that I better have a ‘Serious” run the following day - this 10k is actually going to happen you know.  So after too much coffee I decide to run along the main road into town and then up the canal again back home.  It’s a 4 mile loop and I am not going to listen to the app (really can’t work it….top tip….don’t choose an app just because the graphics are pretty)….I am just going to run when I want and walk when I want.  And you know what?  It works….and I have a really good run.  This could be the way to go.

I don’t know what you all think about when you are running, but my mind never stops.  Sometimes it is about wether if I ever met Eric Clapton I could persuade him to let me sing with him on the stage at The Royal Albert Hall, sometimes about shopping, quite a lot of the time about how to get my children to behave for any period of time without calling in Super Nanny and sometimes about things I really can’t mention on here! :-)

Today it was all about wobbly bits….just to clarify, my wobbly bits, not anyone else's!  As mentioned in earlier blogs, I think running bras are designed by men with a sadistic streak.  They are ugly, they take contortionist skills to get into and after a long run are nearly impossible to get out of with out help.  But give them their due, they do manage to keep everything under control and not wobbling…..which is good.  But what about the bottom?  Why has no one designed a bottom bra for running.  There really was too much bottom wobbling (and not in a Enrique Iglesias bottom wobbling way) on today’s run.  So if anyone has a running bottom bra design they would like to share…please comment below……and Rich….this is not an excuse for you to mention the word knickers….I was wearing them!!!

So to sum up…

• Walking  - 8 minutes
• Running - 43 minuts
• Carrying - a wobbly bottom
• Listening to Eric Clapton whilst practicing for our upcoming performance
• How do I feel at the end….good!

So all in all this week hasn’t been too bad….well the running side of things!  Friday night was spent at parkrun social and it’s amazing how many parkrunners can get PBs the following morning while still drunk…..but no blogging about that…..or posting photos!!  Probably!!!

Tune in for week three update early next week, Kx

New Contributor - Martin Allen

Name: Martin Allen
Age: 39
Home parkrun: Eastbourne, East Sussex
Date of first parkrun: 11/02/2012
Total Number of parkruns (to date): 5
Fastest time (to date): 23:53

I started running in March 2010, just on a whim. I have never been overweight, but, equally, I have never been what you might describe as fit. I have a high metabolic rate, so I'm one of those annoying people who can eat what they like and not put on an ounce. I'm short and lean and light and, for as long as I can remember, I have been 5' 3" and 8 stone, and I think I will be forever more.

My first run was that one we've all experienced - about 100 yards of action and a near-death experience. Fires of hell rage in your lungs, your throat feels like it has been stripped by caustic soda, your thighs are about to explode from your legs, your stomach wants to expel the contents of this morning's breakfast and that disappointing thought as you walk home that you'll never be a runner.

But, unlike some, I decided to look at what I had done wrong. Ah, yes, I had run too fast, my form was appalling and my muscles had no idea what they were supposed to be doing. I was going to have to learn this malarkey.

I had two days rest to enable myself to walk comfortably again and, this time, I tried to pitter-patter for 1km around my park, nice and slowly. I can do it!! I CAN DO IT!

Two years and several injuries later - you know the kind - small blister on little toe, toe-nail falling off, cramp in left buttock, strange red rash on inner thigh, cut lip where you trip on a kerb and fall flat on your face - and I am now completely hooked.

I am not a plan runner and I don't belong to a club. I enjoy the unstructured, free side of running - doing what you want, when you want. I don't follow a system, other than running two slow, easy runs per week (varying distances), one eyeballs out parkrun and one long-slow run with some home-made yoga in between. Occasionally, I throw in a hill session, but Hastings is so full of hills, it's enough of a challenge finding a bit of flat that doesn't involve wind-resistance training on the seafront promenade. I have undertaken a number of 5km, 10km and half marathons in the past two years and I am currently 'training' for the Hastings Half Marathon on Sunday 25 March. Sub 2hrs is possible.

I have been desperate to do a parkrun for months but the nearest one was Hove, some thirty miles away. Then, in January, one started a little nearer in Eastbourne. I missed the first couple as I had no idea it had started, but boy was I pleased when I found it existed.

My journey consists of leaving Hastings at 7:20am, catching a train and then a 20 minute walk to the venue. Then I have to do it all again on the way back. All in all it's a 3 and a half hour round trip each week, home to home. I'm dedicated.

My desire is to help Eastbourne parkrun develop and flourish, run fast, be kind to animals and wish for world peace. The parkrun, currently, has between 55 and 80 runners per week and it would be great to have a few more. I'm sure it will as the warmer, spring weather opens its doors to us. It's a very friendly place with a challenging, cross-country (ish) course - more on that in another post.

I find experiences on most of my runs and I look forward to sharing them with you. Next week will be a slightly different one though, as I am volunteering for the first time. I am going to be a cheerleader!! Now, where did I put my pom-poms??

Carrying the Olympic Flame at the London Olympics 2012

At last,  I can finally say that I will carry the Olympic Flame in Leeds on Sunday 24 June 12!

This morning came the official confirmation and more details about what will happen and I hear a nice pink and blue uniform? OH DEAR I dont suit pink!

I have to say that there are many more people that deserve this honour, but it is a once in a lifetime opportunity and one that I am highly honoured to accept, but it is also for all persons that suffer from post Traumatic Stress Disorder as this is what I promote.

Not once did I think many many months ago when I was kinldy nominated by a number of very kinfd people, would I get the phonecall of the email that said that I had been successful.  I have to give my thanks to Gill down in Sheffield as she was the one that nominated me and it was the nomination that they used, I thank you from the bottom of tmy heart and I am very humbled.

I was nominated partly for my efforts in setting up the Roundhay parkrun (also with a few other people) and also for my charity challenge of running 100 Marathons in 100 weeks to raise funds for Help for Heroes and awareness of PTSD.

I dont put my body on the line for these things and I expect nothing back, not even any praise but there are some that believe that this is deserved fo the effort that I have given, not just now, but for all of my life where I am told that I have inspired many people.  I always say that I am just a lad from Leeds trying to do his little bit and that this honour is for all my friends and family and all Servicepeople and those that suffer with physical and mental injuries through war.

I am very proud of what I have achieved and I will be very proud to carry the Olympic Flame.

I guess I will have to run a parkrun with my Olympic Flame?
 
Its not the Oscars but I would like to thank a few people, behind every inspirational person there are others who support you:

Rich, Kerry, Shelley, Ronnie, Nette, Phil, Andy, Gill, Chris, Les, Helen x 2, Adam, Tim, Michelle, Dan, Olu, Linda, Michelle, Atilla, and of course, all my sponsors and supporters.

And my biggest thanks go to the ladythat supported me from the very beginning .... Susanna, who is inspirational in her own way.

https://www.facebook.com/100marathons

https://twitter.com/#!/100mara100weeks