Yorkshire Warrior and Great North Run

Yesterday was a really good day for my fitness regime and targets for the year. I arrived home from picking Dexter up from school and checked my phone as I had received email on the way home. I opened it up and was pleasantly surprised, I wasn't expecting any news on this until today. I got a email from Bupa congratulating me on entry into the great north run on 15th Sept 2013. I was really happy and instantly put a photo on Facebook to share with friends and family. It was only then that it occurred to me I was gonna have to get there and early so might have to sort out a hotel for the night before travel to the race in the morning and probably a whole lot if stuff I don't even realise yet. I'm still excited thou and that carried on through to my run last night.

I was due to run with Rob but he was stuck at work, so I was in my own. I was running with an extra spring in my step because of the news of the great north run and probably because I had remembered to eat something too. When I normally run I find that around 8km I hit a wall and have to dig in for a bit. This time however my App told me I had completed 9km and it was only then that I realised I hadn't hit my usual wall. This also gave me a boost and I started running with an added vigour, and before I new it I was at 12km still feeling great. With my Endomondo App friends of mine can send me messages or pep talks as I'm running which is a really cool feature. As I completed lap 5 and 14km I got a message from Sarah-Jane asking if I was coming home. As I had past my previous best of 14km I was feeling ace and still wasn't feeling the run too much, so I took her message as a joke. I soon realised that I had been running a while and that she was probably being serious. So I decided that even if I was on a brilliant run I was gonna complete 1 more lap and 16km then go home. I wanted to complete 16km or 10 miles as this was the distance of the Yorkshire Warrior run that were signed up for in April. I managed it in a respectable 1hr30 and was in slight pain but nothing unusual after a long run. I kept thinking to myself that I could quite easily do another 5km to make it a half marathon. Not this time but I think I could do it if I had the time another day. I was glad I had done a Yorkshire Warrior distance now with plenty of time to the run as I now have time to prepare for the obstacles that I will have to do as well as the distance. All I have to do now is help Rob to that distance and we'll probably have to drag Luke to that distance. Luke is gonna have to pull his finger out and start running again soon or he won't make the 10k Shepley First School fun run.






































I gained another confirmed runner yesterday too and I'm getting close to the magical 30 mark. I say that but I would have been happy if only 10 ran, its going to be brilliant whatever happens.

Keep Running everyone

5 mile run and an addition to the Group and a new Challenge

Monday again so Facebook was full of people moaning its Monday, but I was excited because it was Run day. Rob was running and we had the addition of Luke too finally, he had been saying for a couple of weeks now that he would join us. He finally did but almost didn't because he forgot and organised to go to the Gym with a friend. Rob was running a little late so we decide to meet up a 7 that meant we all could run.

It is nice to run on your own and listen to your own music, but running with friends is so much better. You can have a catch up chat, or pace yourself again each other and it just makes the run go a lot smoother and more enjoyable.

We met at my house and headed off up the road into Shepley and then up to the farmers boy to do our usual route when it's dark. Rob and I chose this route because its a good distance and has so good ups and downs as well as being lit by streetlights all the way round.

After my last run and the rubbish GPS problems with my Endomondo app I decided to give the Nike app a try. I attached the sensor to my shoe before we met up, and set up the App on my iPhone. The only difference on set up between the Apps is you can't change the distances from Miles to Km on the Nike App like you can on the Endomondo App. So today for the first time in a while we were running in miles and not Km.

Lap 1 went fairly smoothly we didn't have any issues and Luke Knee was hold out. This was the First Road run for Luke in 15 months since snapping ligaments in his knee. So even thou its healed and the Doctors said its as good as new we all were a bit cautions to start with, by lap 2 we were just focused on the distance we were running. Half way round the 2nd lap we had done 2.5 miles and it was then that we all kind said that if we finished the 3rd lap we should have done 5 miles. Last week Rob and I only did 2 laps so this was gonna be new territory for use. I had already done 5 miles a month or so back but this was gonna be Robs personal best and Luke was happy that his first run in 15 months would be 5 miles long. When we were halfway round lap 3 Rob and Luke were starting to discuss tight muscles and where they were starting to feel it a bit, so I knew that this would be the last lap. As we reached my house at the end of lap 3 we were .2 of a mile short of 5 so we went round the Knowle until we hit 5 and then walk back to my house. We did 5 miles in 46 mins which is not a bad pace for us, I do think we could do it fast but that isn't the aim, the goal is to increase our distances first. When we arrived back to my house we stopped in the drive to have a little breather and reflect on our run. We all felt good after the run for different reasons, Rob for his PB, Luke because he survived and I felt like I could have gone another lap or 2. The little rest also gave me a chance to evaluate the Nike App, I had paused the workout when we reached 5 miles so I could now stop it. When I did it asked me to rate my run on how I felt and then gave me a chance to name the shoes I ran in. The run went well so I put that I felt great and the naming of the shoes was the easier bit. They are my NEW SHOES of course and they always will be, even if I end up getting a new pair they will always be NEW SHOES. Read my early blogs to see why, if you don't get it. The GPS on the Nike App worked well but so did the Endomondo App on the same run last week. It's a bit early to say which I prefer but I'll keep testing. The Endomondo App does have an advantage of having lots of sports to track rather than the Nike App which is specifically for running.

During the run we were talking about the 10km run that Rob and I are doing to cannon hall, we ask Luke if he wanted to join us too. Luke was up for it and that meant there would now be 4 of us running it, Luke, Rob, Matty and Me. Luke has also ask me if I wanted to do the great north run next year for a charity his mum is involved in, and as I was planning on doing it anyway it was an easy decision. So the Running calendar now looks like this, a 10km tester run this November 4th, then if that goes well another 10km around March 28th. It's then full on training for the Yorkshire warrior on April 20th, then it's the Great North Run in September. I said that in 2014 I'll do a Marathon either London or New York and my little sis Jessie said New York. We will have to wait and see.