Happy 1st Runniversary

This past Sunday was my 1st Runniversary, so this weekend was full of activities just to emphasis the difference a year makes. Saturday morning was Parkrun then it was off to my mums to finish off the decking I had made her. Then Sunday morning consisted of a bike ride with Dexter and a visit to the playground, then an afternoon of gardening. Followed by my Runniversary run following the route of my first run a year ago.

My run at the bottom of this photo was my first this time last year
 

Saturday morning we all set off for Parkrun Huddersfield and Dexter was determined to run further and faster, or at least that was what he had been saying all week. We arrived at Greenhead park a little later this week so there was already a bunch of people lined up at the start. Dexter and I quickly did our stretches and Mummy and Clark went off to the playground and their first vantage point to cheers us on. Parkrun were using a new penning system at the start so the faster runners were at the front and the slower ones were at the back. It worked well and we all got started without too much jostling about avoiding slower runners. We managed to get to 1km before Dexter started to whinge about needing to slow down. As I know him and what he did last week I know he was just winging because he's 5 and nothing else. I kept him going until 3km then I said he could have a little walk and a rest before we would start running again. He was really good and started running again and then at 4km we had another walking rest for about 100 metres. I knew he had lots of energy still but I didn't want to push him to far that he wouldn't get out off doing it again. The main reason I knew he had lots of energy still was whenever we went past some Marshals who are brilliant and are always cheering you on, he would grin from ear to ear and speed up a bit. As we got close to the cafe and the area all the finishers gather in the buzz seemed to help Dexter and a few people started to shout his name to encourage him. It helped and we rounded the final corner with the finish line in sight, and a lady we passed also cheered Dexter on and I told him to sprint across the line which he did and got a great cheer too. He has finished his 2nd Parkrun in 35.33 which is  4.30mins quicker than last week, he did brilliantly.

 

On Sunday Sarah-Jane took Clark into town to do a little shopping so Dexter asked if we could go for a bike ride. Now when he said this he meant I would be on my bike and he would be towed around in the bike carriage we have. So we did and we rode up to the playground near his school and whenever I ride my bike I always forget that you use a different set of muscles compared with running because when we got there I was surprisingly tired for such a short distance. Dexter had a great time and 1 of his friends from school also came up to play in the playground, and it was funny listening to them and the way they play together. When there at school you don't get to see/hear them play with their friends so it was interesting seeing them interact.

 

As it was my Runniversary Sarah-Jane and I unintentionally recreated my first run from this time last year. The plan was to run around the block exactly the same as I did last year to see the difference a year of running has made. The unplanned debacle that followed was exactly what happen last year too. I kept saying I was going for a run but things kept distracting me, like gardening, some housework and playing with the boys.

It wasn't until Sarah-Jane said 'right stop it and just go for a run' that I actually did. That's how it was last year too and if it wasn't for that push from her last year I don't know if I would be blogging about my running and all the stuff that has happened in the last year. Now last year I did the 1km run around the block in 6.07mins which as a time isn't too bad I've done 6 min km's since then. It was the end of the run and the aftermath that was key, I didn't even manage to run the full 1km just I stopped at 0.98km and the run completely took it out of me and I was still recovering a couple of hours later. This year I decided to see how fast I could do it now and how long it would take me to recover. Well I completed the 1km in 4.05min which was 2 mins quicker and after about 5mins at home I was fine again. It was a great feeling but I still have a way to go before I could keep that pace up for 5km or 10km which I would love to be able to do. I can keep a 5min to 4.30min pace going comfortably now, so lets see how I'm getting on this time next year.

 

As you do on anniversaries you tend to look back at the last year and reflect, and that's exactly what I did this weekend. If you had told me last year that I would be running at least 10k a week I would have said 'yeah whatever'! The thing is its gone way past just that, and that's what more surprising. I've taken part in 5 organised 5k runs, 2 10k runs, and a 10 mile muddy run. If that wasn't enough I've even organised a 10k run which raised £1400 for my sons school and I'm in the process of organising another 10k run to raise money for the local Church. I find myself looking at places differently now too, I catch myself planning runs in my head when I see places that would be good 5k or 10k routes.

 

Lets just hope that this next year will be just as good

Keep running everyone.

Shepley First School Fun Run

Finally the day of the Fun Run arrived and after quick breakfast I was itching to get up there and set it up. Dexter was also very excited to help set up, so Dexter and I went up with signs piled up on Dexters lap. We were up at the Windmill nursery and Coffee shop at 8.30 and to no surprise the gates were shut. It wasn't necessary that the gates were open so we headed off on the route with my running app going. This was to let us know what distance we were at, so we could place the distance markers in the right place. In certain places I had signs to warn drivers and other traffic that there was a fun run taking place. When we arrived at the 4km mark I had some arrows to show runners the way as this was the first big turning on the route. This was also the place where Dean our first Marshal will be for added safety and help. Then a bit further along the route was a smaller and easier turning to miss, so this is where Katherine was our second Marshal. From this point on it was just signs to show the route as it was fairly obvious which way we would have to go. At 7km we had a water station which being managed by my mum, this was also the turning point for the 5k runners who were running the opposite way round to the 10k runners. Dexter and I arrived back at the coffee shop just after 9am so I decide to take him home and get changed before coming back up to finish off setting things up. As we pulled in at home my Dad and Janice had arrived to help and not long later my sister Jodie and her son Liam turned up. So I left them all catching up and set off back up to the start to carry on with setting up. I reached the start at 9.50 and people were already turning up so I had to quickly park up and get sign up sheets out followed by their numbers. As my Marshals and family turned up things got sorted a lot quicker, so I could start getting ready for the run myself. I sent Dean and Katherine off to there spots and my mum to her water station and as everyone turned up it was clear that it was going to be a good morning.

There were a few runners that couldn't be there for various reasons like injuries/illness and other commitments, but the silliest reason had to be my failure to ring Luke at 9.00am to wake him up. He had been out on the lash with other friends the night before (his fault) but I had known about this and agreed to ring him to make sure he got up in time. I had only remembered this promise at 10.20am ten minutes before the start of the run. The atmosphere was building at this point and with everyone doing their warm ups and getting good luck hugs from family it was clearly time to get everyone to the start.

 The time came to start the run so we all went out onto the road where the start line was and we gathered facing the correct direction for the distances we were running. We had also a couple of late changes which meant we had 3 people doing the 10k on bikes. After a last bit of route info from me, Sarah-Jane gave the 5 second countdown 5.4.3.2.1 and we were off.

We set off down the hill towards the first corner and the first killer of a hill up to the viewing point. At the top we turned left onto the 2.5km steady downhill, this meant my split times were great in the mid 4mins. From 3km to 5km is a steady uphill which drained the stamina of most of the runners and possibly even a couple of the bikers. 5-7km is a nice stretch of little ups and downs to keep you on your toes, but it was here when my knee started to feel a little sore. My times were still not too bad in the mid 5mins but I ruined that by stopping at the water station to talk to my mum. I told her off a little which was a bit of a role reversal, as she was in the wrong place. She was, as well as a water station the turn around point for the 5km runners, and as she was in the wrong place the 5km run turned into a 6km run. There was only 2, 5km runners in the end and as I found out later they didn't mind too much. I got going again and the little rest actually helped my sore knee and I felt good and was ready to tackle the final hill. It's not a very big hill but its about 1km long and then when you finally reach the top and turn a slight corner you can see how long you've got left to go. There is about 1.5km till the finish and its lined by 100ft tall windmills and its mainly downhill until the finish. It's a great finish straight or at least I think so, even if after 9km I landed funny on my left and my knee gave in. I managed to run another 100m before I had to walk, then as I got closer to the finish I could hear people cheering runners across the line. This gave me a boost and I pushed through the initial pain and was running again. As I got to the finish everyone cheered me across the line which was a great feeling and a very nice finish to a great run bad knee and all. As you crossed the line there was Dexter Liam, Clark and Phoebe handing out the bottles of water wrapped in a T-Shirt and medal for taking part.

 

 The Kids loved being involved and some of the other kids were running the last 10m-20m in with the runners. I was about 15th of the 31 people doing the 10k or at least I think I was, we should have taken note of who came where just for personal reference, as its a fun run not a race. A few of us kept our own times because we like to know what we've done but it would be another thing we could do for next time for everyone.

A few people had other things to do and got off soon after finishing the run which is understandable the rest of us stayed to welcome everyone across the finish line. The last of which was Rachael Briody but she new she would be as her training hadn't gone to plan and was almost considering doing the 5km. She got a big cheer as she crossed the line and was clearly pleased with herself and so she should be. Now all the runners had finished we had a photo to commemorate the day as some people had left they missed out on the photo.

 I gave Dean and Katherine a T-Shirt and medal for helping out before they left and I also thanked the Windmill Nursery and coffee shop for letting us use their car park and facilities. Everyone was happy with the Fun Run and I got lots of thanks for a well organising event, which was nice and finished off a great day. We were all done and on our way home by 11.50am, but 1 thing occurred to me as I was packing up. Where were the St John Ambulance first aiders we had organised, I asked Sarah-Jane if she had seen anyone but nothing. It was a good job no one was in need of first aid and I hope I don't have to pay for them still. The day went well no one was hurt and everyone had a great time so it was a success and will hopefully be the first of many. The attention now goes to the sponsor money and how much we've raised for the school. Early indication is that this is going to raise a lot of money and it will surprise some people how much.

A big thanks has to go to Shepley Spring for supplying the water and the T-Shirts as they made the Fun Run a little more special

I will update this post with more photos if/when people send me some of theirs that they took on the day, but until then keep running everyone.

Huddersfield 10k tough route but a brilliant day

This was it, today was the day I took part in my first big race. Well I say race it was more like a try and keep up, if you can.

The race was due to start at 11 and we were still faffing about looking for things and eating breakfast at 10.20. We managed to leave the house at 10.30 and by 10.45 Sarah-Jane and the boys had dropped me off at the race. They were gonna go find a playground for the boys to play in then meet me back at the finish at 12pm. The start/Finish straight was the drive of the Rugby club and health club which had the river running parallel to it which made it a nice Start/Finish. As this was my first big race I had no idea what I was suppose to do at this point. Did I need to register or tell someone I was here. I worked out for myself that I didn't and then my next question was what sort of warm up to do? There was lots of people doing different warm ups from sprints to stretches and power walking to jogging around the Rugby pitch. I'm always a bit self conscious when it comes to stretches in front of others, as I'm worried I'm doing it wrong and they look at me like "what on earth is he doing?" I did a few stretches and a bit of walking around that was fine by me as a warm up. On my walk about I came across a list of all the people in the race and they had reached their 600 limit. There was also a merchandise area with all sorts of equipment and clothing available, luckily for me I didn't bring any money with me. As 11 drew close everyone started to make there way to the start, followed by lots of jokes about not starting at the front so they don't get overtaken by too many people.

There was a small speech by the starter, who introduce everyone to a blind lady who had guide runner with her. Then we were off and after a slight delay we crossed the start line, as we reached the bottom of the rear entrance driveway a bloke in front if a couple of us went over in his ankle. Tough guy he just carried on he was determined and after a bit of hopping was off and I never saw him again. The traffic was stopped whilst all 600 of us got a head start up the main road to Meltham. There was a good 2 mile steady hill in front of us up to Netherton, then a half mile downhill. This was needed just so you could catch your breath as the next hill was a beast and as steep as you can imagine a road could be. I knew it was coming and as I starting up it I slowed appropriately as not to burn myself out even if it was only halfway and I had plenty of energy still. As I mentioned it was a beast and about 5 metres from the top a Lady stopped and walked which somewhere I'm my brain said I was allowed to do the same. I started walking and as I reached the top I could feel my stomach go and I knew it was inevitable I was going to throw up I pulled over and as I reach the 3 mile marker I thru up. I couldn't believe it I've never thrown up from exercise before and was slightly disheartened, but after a little bit more walking I was running again. After a couple of corners there was a downhill and another chance to get my breath back. Then there was another steep hill not as steep as the last but longer and about halfway up I walked again. I was about 32 mins into the run and this was the course record time for completing it never mind begin 4 and a bit miles in. At the top of the hill was Netherton again and from here we crossed over to Armitage bridge which involved a very steep downhill and I'm sure there were a few fallers on this bit and a few runners coming down with windmill arms. At the bottom there was a small diversion through a car park to add a few hundred metres to the run and then there was a small and final climb up to woodhead rd. this was the final mile and final stretch of the run, I decided to try and pick up the pace to finish on a high. I managed to overtake a few on the way down to Lockwood and as I entered the drive way onto the finish straight I tried sprint finish but it was more like a jog with added grunts. As I crossed the line I turned my App off and was told to keep walking so I didn't block the road. I joined the cue to get my bottle of water and my T-Shirt whilst waiting I looked at my time and I had completed it in 57mins. At first I was really disappointed but taking into account the 2 walks and the throwing up incident I was a bit happier with the time.

I Rang Sarah-Jane to find out where she and the boys were and they were just coming up the drive way. Dexter ran up to me and gave me a big hug which was ace, then said they had been waiting halfway round the route looking for me and cheering others on whilst waiting for me. We missed each other somehow and as they said they were halfway round the route I had to confess my throwing up incident to them in case they were bluffing and waiting for me to come clean. They weren't and I had come clean oh well it was always gonna go in the blog. On the way back to the car at the end if the drive Dexter decided he needed a wee so I sent him up a little bank and behind a tree to wee but he choose to wee towards all the people leaving at the same time so they got 1 last treat before they left.

It was a great day and a great experience and I will almost definitely do it again next year. But training now goes on and it's 3 weeks till my run the Shepley First School Fun Run, it's getting close. But most of all its getting exciting and we're still getting people signing up.....

Keep running everyone.