Updating, sulking but on the way back

It been a while since my last proper blog and in that time a lot has happened, almost too much to catch up on, which has contributed to the lack of blog. How can I fit everything in a blog without it being a 10000 word essay that just goes on and on and not getting to a point. So I have decided that to quickly catch you up I'm just going to use bullet points and if you would like a bit more detail just ask and then I can get on to what brought me back to my blog.

So since my last blog I have

Held a very successful Windmill 6 and raised £550 for my son's School

Won the competition that my wife and I entered to win a trip to the Kangaroo marathon in Austrailia

Completed the world half marathon in Cardiff in 1hr30m23s which is a 3s PB

Finished the Wakefield 10k in 39.26m plus SJ ran it too as her first 10k and smashed it (very proud)

Had an amazing trip with the boys and SJ to Alton towers (the boys first visit)

Started and held the first School mob run at junior parkrun (It went well)

Been asked to help organise the Poppy Dash 5k which will be rememberence Sunday

Become an Event Adjudicator for UK athletics

I'm now also a Grade 2 registered course measurer (Measured my local parkrun for fun and practice)

Applied to be on Ninja Warrior UK 3

Witnessed a few of my running group runners complete races they wouldn't have even thought about and done amazingly well too (really proud)

I have taken the next step in becoming a running coach

Most recently I have also got a job albeit a temporary one, but who knows what will happen.

And now to why I have be away until now......

I have done all of the above while being injured, I have been struggling with a knee injury that I think started at the Huddersfield 10k. What brought it to the surface or tipped it over the edge was the 21 mile buggy run I did in prep for the Manchester marathon. I had to think of the long term effect and drop out of the marathon because of it but from the bad stories I heard about it this year and the incorrect distance of the past few years I may have made a good decision. If it sorts itself out I may give it a go in the future but not for now, I will have to find another flat marathon to attempt my good for age time.

So once I had decided to listen to my injury I dropped down from running 7 days a week to just 2, parkrun and my beginners group, which was ok for a while but it wasn't helping. I then did what I should have done a while back and listened to my body and my wife and went to see my GP, who suggested complete rest for a while. It was the best thing to do but as any runner will agree injuries suck, I sat and sulked, imagined, and wished I could be out there as friends and others ran all the races I was suppose to run or wished I could run (London marathon for example). I also ate like I was running and as a result I have put on a stone and lost some fitness. I did nothing for 3 weeks (GP said a month, sorry Neil) then I ran at Preston parkrun on my return. It was a lovely parkrun but it was really hard and even though I took it easy on my first run back I don't think I had much more to give. I was 4 minutes off my usual pace which was a little disheartening but it was a target, a challenge, a goal to aim for on my comeback. A couple of weeks later and it still wasn't right but I tried a longer run to see if I could attempt the School run (2nd race in the SHTAR (South Huudersfield Trail and Road) series) and after 5 miles, a few stops and some burning lungs I stopped and realised I needed a new approach. Luckily it come in an unexpected but very much appreciated form of Mr Simon Courtney (fellow Stadium runner and personal trainer) who gave me some body weight exercises and foam roller exercises to do. He said that my injury is mainly due to a tight IT band which is pulling at the ligaments and muscles around my knee.

So this past Saturday I ran parkrun and ran it at pace and to my surprise I managed it without too much pain and that was from just one session with Simon. I wasn't completely fixed but I could see a light at the end of the tunnel, I just needed to regain my fitness. So it was on to the School Run and it wasn't for me no it was for SJ, when I said I couldn't do it she said well maybe I should. I was ever so proud of her, she even ran parkrun with the boys before hand as well. She finished parkrun and an hour later was running up some silly hills around Digley reservoir, I couldn't have been more proud of her.

Yesterday (Thursday) I went for my first run other than parkrun for a while and a run with Steve which also was a first for a while. We went for a 5 mile run up hills and on trail and my knee felt really good, I went round about 95% pain free with only the odd twinge so I arrived back home with renewed optimism about the road back to fitness. The 5 mile run was still hard but on a hot and humid night and on the terrain we ran it was a huge step in the right direction. So a big thank you to Simon for taking it upon himself to set me on the road to recovery.

The time has now come for me to get back running properly and that also means I can start to think about entering races again. My main thoughts though are the Shepley 10k which as you regular readers know is my race I organise, which this year should be amazing for so many reasons. Firstly this year will be it's 4th and biggest to date with my fellow Stadium runners making an appearance as its on the clubs championship calendar. Plus it's the 4th race on the SHTAR series which is turning out to be a better series than we thought it would be. As I have become a course measurer I might be able to get the Shepley 10k a UK athletics licenced event which means it will count towards the power of 10 leaderboards and should attract a lot more athletes. But the main reason I'm looking forward to this years Shepley 10k is because this year there will be so many of my friends at the event that I have met over the last 4 years and that was the main reason for starting the event. I wanted to put on the race to start with to run a route I enjoyed a lot with all of my friends and share the beautiful views and surrounding areas with them. The friends and friendships you make on your journey is what keep most people coming back to races and runs and has been a major part of my running this past 4 years. In that 4 years I've also set up various races or runs and met lots of new friends because of it and I hope that I will continue to make friends and create new events and races for people to come and run with me. 

Oh it's good to be back

Keep running everyone

January 2016 and what a start to the year PB's, interviews and new stuff

In my last blog I talked about trying to make sure I topped a great 2015 with an excellent 2016, well so far its mission accomplished. Last year I started with the goal of cracking a sub 20 at parkrun by the end of the year but did it within weeks of the year starting. Well the same happened this year too, my goal was to get a sub 19 by the end of the year but just as last year I did it within a couple of weeks. I put a lot of it down to the run streaking I have done for the past couple of years around this time of year but also a bit of it is down to new shoes.

The confidence and buzz a new pair of shoes gives you is great, going round corners is easier and in slightly damp condition you still push hard knowing that you're not going to slip in the slightest. This resulted in a parkrun PB of 18.47, which when I crossed the line and saw my time on my watch made me uncharacteristicly shout and yell really quite loudly and with such joy that it made my friend Steve get goose bumps, as he was really delighted for me.

The next day I then went to the first race of Team OA's 4 seasons 10k trail race to test out the new trail shoes. A few friends were doing the same race so I turned up and paid on the day (first time I've done that and it felt weird) and lined up on the front of the startline next to Tom Whitworth and his dad. Tom is a great runner and has just turned 15 so his dad was running with him so he could enter the race. Tom parkrun PB is a mid 18min so I knew if I kept with him I'd would know I was doing well. We stuck together all the way round and in the end we both left his dad behind on the final descent and Tom passed me with 200m to go and we crossed the line, get this, Tom 3rd and me 4th how amazing is that.... I was on cloud 9, finishing 4th was awesome and on such a muddy and hilly course I was even more amazed that I did it in 46 mins too.

During the following week I had a job interview, something that I haven't had for nearly 7 years and for a job I knew I could do but hadn't done anything like it before. The interview went well but there was a definite sense that they wanted someone with experience but at least I could come away with a bit of experience and happy that I put myself across to them properly and without saying something silly or getting too nervous to answer the questions properly. Now I know this blog is mainly about my running but I put this in because of all I have done over the past three and a half year has helped me in more than just in a race or run. For example being involved in parkrun and mainly Junior parkrun has helped me immensely in organisation speaking in front of people and believing in myself and what I can bring to others. Even if it's just how I appear to others that gives them the confidence to try something new or follow in my foot steps, it's how I've have gained a lot of my skills and knowledge. A week later and it was confirmed that I didn't get the job but I was ok with it as I had done something that I have done for a while and came out of it with a great self confidence and more experience.

They say when one door closes another one opens and a few day later that was proven true as I received an email about something I had expressed interest in back in December. I was chosen to be 1 of a 100 testers of a new running watch from Epson the new runsense SF-810. I have to review the watch through a regular Vlog that I will post on YouTube and on a Epson website too and if I do this up to March 20th I get to keep the watch and all free of charge. I'm so excited about this opportunity, I like new things and having the chance to test it out before many others is just so cool. It arrived a few days ago and I've been playing with it and checking out its feature everyday since, discovering which are cool and useful and which are just unnecessary. You can see my terrible attempt at my first Vlog by clicking here hopefully I will get better at them as this product test continues.

The watch boasts a 99% accurate heart rate monitor and a smart GPS feature which should reduce the loss of data from such things as tunnels and dense over hanging trees that play havoc with the signal on most running watches. So far I have had very few problems with the watch just setup issues, like understand and getting familiar with the buttons and what they do. The main setup issue has been adjusting the display setting, you can choose which type of measurement you want on your display i.e. heart rate, distance, lap time, and time. However when I added time to it, it wasn't time as in duration, no it was time as in clock time, this puzzled me as I looked up and down the list over and over again. If Time was a clock what on earth was duration time under, they can't possibly have forgotten to put a stop watch on a running watch, could they? Well as it turns out after SJ looking at the list, that it was classed as split time, which I thought would be something similar to lap time. SJ said it was a slightly old fashioned (apologies if that is a bit offensive or ageist)way of saying time/duration. Once you have your display set up the way you like it you have to save it and then, this is a silly bit but make sure you write the data to the watch otherwise it won't register it and revert back to the way it was before. 

On a normal day to day and run to run basis it has been brilliant, it's light which always helps, some watches can be quite heavy which you notice on a long run, so any extra weight you don't have to carry with you the better. The strap has lots of holes making sure you can get a great fit on you wrist and avoid any unwanted movement. On a run it's been really good and the GPS has so far been spot on give or take 5/10 metres at the Km splits. The smart GPS is supposed to learn your stride pattern so that if you go through a tunnel or lose signal briefly it can still work out your pace and location. I haven't needed it yet so can't comment whether or not it works but I'm sure I will need it at some point. However I have had some loss of heart rate data where it thinks I have a heart rate of 100 for a good couple of km's, now I don't know if it is because I'm wearing the watch too tight or too loose or if it was too cold for it but something wasn't quite right. I will keep an eye on that and see if it sorts itself out or not.

The battery life on the watch is really good, it boasts 30hrs of GPS tracking but I thought I would just see how long the watch lasts if I just use it like a watch. So I wore it all the time, like a normal watch and then on my runs too, to see how long it would last before it needed charging and I was pleasantly surprised. It lasted four full days and four 10k runs before I put it on charge overnight which means you could use like a watch and wear it all the time just charge it every few days whilst you sleep. It also has a power save mode which is cool, when I took it off to get in the shower/bath or to do the washing up and put it on the side, after a couple of minutes it turned itself off. Then when I pick it back up to put back on it recognises that and turns back on, saving on your battery life again. so far I'm very impressed with the watch, let's just hope it continues that way as the test progresses.

There has also been other great things happening in January like, my running group on a Wednesday has grown to around 12/13 people and nearly 30 since I started back in May and even Dexter has started to join me on a Wednesday which makes me ever so proud of him. It's great to see lots of new faces join me for my beginner runners group and so far they have all done amazingly well. January has also seen another interview for something I'm very familiar with but as yet I don't know the outcome so I won't go into too much detail other than to say if I get it I will be so proud and excited. Clark has achieved and received his 10 t-shirt and even smashed his junior parkrun and Saturday parkrun PB's, he is turning into a brilliant little runner.

SJ has set her sights on completing her first 10k by June and I've signed her up to take part in the Wakefield Hospice 10k in April. It's amazing that she has decided to do it and it makes me so proud of her, plus she is doing really well at Judo too, she's well on her way to get a green belt soon.

In December last year I was approached by a friend at parkrun to see if I could come into the school he works at to do a talk about junior parkrun as the have a small running club and would like bring them to junior parkrun and maybe attract a few more to their running club. Well yesterday we finally found a time to suit us both and I went down to stand in front of 200 kids and talk to them about junior parkrun and parkrun in general. I gave them the run down on what happens on a Sunday and a few stats about parkrun then I asked them if they had any questions. Immediately there were loads of hands from enthusiastic kids which was great to see and I did my best to answer them all. There was questions like "do we get a trophy?" and "do we have to run with our parents?" so I think they all got what I had been saying and when they were asked who wanted to try it almost all of them put their hands up which was amazing. It wasn't until after the assembly that I had anytime time to breathe and reflect on what I had just done. I would not have been able to do that three years ago without feeling terrified and really nervous and probably done anything to get out of doing it. Another thing that I feel I have parkrun to thank for as it has given me a whole new level of confidence when it comes to talk to people and talking in front of large group of people all with their eyes firmly focused on me. 

So January has been an awesome month so far and lets hope that the rest of the year continues in the same way.

Keep running everyone

2015 review and plans for 2016

Over the last 12 months I have surpassed my goals that I set myself this time last year, and this has made 2015 a totally amazing year, one that will be tough to top. There is one thing for sure about 2016 and those who know me won't be surprised I will try my hardest to make this one even better..

  

At the beginning of the year I had set my sights on the half marathons I was doing and my first ever marathon as well as beating my parkrun PB, what I didn't expect is how well things would go. As 2015 started I was already a third of the way through my 100 days of running challenge. I was expecting a few injuries after running every day for 100 days but all I got from it was one sore ankle that needed a little bit of rest. That wasn't surprising as I finished off the challenge with an unofficial marathon route around Huddersfield. After resting a couple of days I was back on it getting ready for the Liverpool half where I would smash my half marathon PB with a time of 1h30m26s. It was then on to the Huddersfield, Yorkshire and Leeds half marathons which all went really well. 

 

I then created the June 10k challenge which 8 others and I completed  smashing PB's along the way. It was a tough but great challenge and it kept me motivated until my marathon training was due to start. We all did it for different reasons but we all finished it with a great sense of accomplishment. I think I will do it again in 2016 and see how many more people will join me this time. 

During the rest of the summer I tried to keep up with my training runs but I could have done better, the south of France is a bit of a distraction but a great one. Then there was another successful Shepley 10k and another great run for me and Jessie's debut at my event.

As Autumn hit so did the serious training and the long runs, when I could. There was a failure on my first long run when I failed to plan properly and fuel myself for the long run. This resulted in 2/3 miles of walking and my kidneys screaming for water and my body going into shock when I got home. I learnt from it and my next and final three long runs went well and I felt ready but slightly nervous for my marathon.

I was nervous for about 15 mins on the day until excitement took over, and in the end the day went amazingly. I finished my first official marathon in a time of 3h19m55s which considering I was hoping for 3h30m was awesome and got me all emotional at the finish. I finished it with a slight bit of cramp and that was it so I wondered if I could have pushed it that little bit harder. 

I finished my first full year at Stadium Runners which meant I had entered enough of the club calendar race to qualify for the championship and I finished 6th clinching it on the final race of the season at the Guy Fawkes 10 mile race at Ripley castle. Then we had a great awards night celebrating 10 years of Stadium Runners in one of the fantastic event suites at the John Smiths Stadium.

Which then leads me on to December where once again I took part in the Marcothon challenge, completing it with a run with some other Marcothon runners from Acre street runners on New Year's Eve with a 12km run. I have tried to up the training for this years Marcothon by doing buggy runs and even double runs just to see if I can push that little extra for next year. 

Last year I ran 2600km or 1615m which is nearly 1600km or 1000m more than last year, It has paid off as my PB's have dropped a lot as a result.

5k PB has gone from 20.47 to 19.04

10k PB has gone from 43.05 to 40.20

Half marathon PB 2h02m to 1h30m although there was a huge difference in the courses from very hilly to flat.

My plans for 2016 are fairly simple when put into words but to actually put them into miles on the roads etc will be a different matter. I have entered the Manchester Marathon and have plans for a couple of half marathons in the springtime but other than that I haven't set anything in stone yet. I do however want to take part in my first ultra this year and I'm probably going to target the White rose ultra as the one I take part in. 2016 also see the start of the new road and trail series I am part of and my 2 races (the Windmill 6 and Shepley 10k) will make up 2 of the 5 races in the series, it's a very exciting time. I will update you all on this as we get closer to the first race which is the Windmill 6 on March 6th.

My 2016 has already got off to a great start with Steve and I doing the New Year's Day parkrun double and running in between them as well. We started with Dewsbury parkrun with lots of our friends from Hudds parkrun. 

We started steady finishing it in 21 mins which then left us 1hr and 5m to run the 8.5 miles to Greenhead park, Huddersfield and then run Huddersfield parkrun. Steve managed a good run round Greenhead park to finish and I got to run with my family for their first run of 2016 it was a great day. That was then topped off by the following day being my birthday and another parkrun where I managed to run round just 2 seconds off my PB, which after running 15 miles the day before was absolutely brilliant, let's hope that the rest of 2016 continues like it has started. 

My beginners group has already had an awesome start to 2016 as well with 6 new faces yesterday one of which was Dexter and he did amazingly too. It was a great start to the year for the beginners group and I can see a lot of potential in them all too, I'm really looking forward to the next session and also the intermediate group this evening.

To finish I'll add afraid my favourite photos from the year.

Let's keep it up everyone and keep running

Quick update of the last 4 months and the completion of the June 10k challenge

The past four months as I try to remember now are a bit blurred but I know I have done loads and started lots of new adventures. So I will try to unravel my brain as I write this blog, so things may end up a bit higgledy piggledy.

May started with a hard slog of a race with the lovely sounding name 'the Bluebell 10 mile trail' which because of overnight bad weather turned into an 11.3 mile trail run and even though we were warned, it was mentally very hard. 

That race was followed by the first session of the beginners running group I had started as part of the Jog Kirklees course I had previously been on. For the first session 3 amazing people turned up and allowed me to push them further than they had run in a long time. They did amazingly and have returned most weeks to push themselves even further and enjoyed doing it at the same time. I've really enjoyed it and I'm really proud of how well they've all done. They have now managed to complete a 5k run each week with me and sometimes even a bit further.

After that there was the Leeds half marathon and the final half marathon of my challenge to raise money for Dexters school. It went really well even though at the time I may have whinged and moaned about my time and performance, and Jennifer who was also running for the school had a great time and got an amazing result. 

After that the rest of May seemed a bit tepid, or bland, like it was missing something, and it was. The excitement and determination to get out and run had disappeared slightly and I found myself saying oh well I will run tomorrow and justifying it too. So I needed something to pick me up and get me out there ready for the marathon training which was going to start in July. So that is when I came up with the idea of the June 10k challenge, based on the Marcothon challenge in December. For which I gave great credit to for getting my parkrun times down to what they are now. So simply(and I use that in terms of the idea not doing it) all I had to do was run a minimum of 10k everyday in June, to help build my fitness and keep my mind active in preparation for marathon training. I was going to do it all by myself but decide to make a Facebook event and invite others to join me in this crazy challenge. I didn't expect many if anyone to join me but as June approached a few people started to talk about possibly trying it. 

As June started and the first few days went by the 10k's were nice and steady. I didn't want to burn myself out too early, and neither did the 9 or so other people that started the challenge with me. To be honest 9 people joining me on this silly challenge was incredible and 9 more than I expected. There was even a friend of a friend who was taking part in Spain with the Spanish temperatures too, truly amazing. One of the challengers Victoria did drop out after a few days but as she had only be running a couple of months. I thought she was awesome for even starting it with us. She had recently joined us at Huddersfield parkrun the month before and was chipping away at her PB each week. That in itself was incredible, she was pushing herself each week and was challenging herself to go further too.

The remaining challengers were continuing each day to be awesome and keep up with the 10k's and when we could meet up (mainly after parkrun or at junior parkrun) we would heap praise on each other. Or at least they did with each other, I got a lot of abuse mainly in jest for making them do this challenge and for coming up with the idea. As soon as I would see Frances or Chris at parkrun it would be "I hate you" or "I'm not talking to you today" which did make me chuckle a lot mainly because I am a little evil but mostly because I knew they only half meant it. Maybe some days about 75% meant it other days 100%. We chatted to each other on the event page on Facebook helping each other out and sharing our stories which was really nice too. As the month began to come to and end SJ had some mugs made up to give to the everyone that completed the June 10k challenge, they went down really well and I thought it was a great way to well done. As all 9 of us had done amazing it really was great to present them all with their mugs and see their smiles at the end of the month having done 300+ km's. There were 10k PB's during June from most of us and even some 5k PB's too. Awesome job everyone and please don't kill me if I come round next year suggesting it again.

There was one thing I hadn't taken into account when I planned the June 10k challenge and that was the Stadium runners club championship race "The Helen Windsor 10k" on July 1st that I had entered prior to the June challenge, Do'h. Plus it was on one of the hottest and muggiest days of the year, so to come home in 43m45s I was very happy, considering the conditions and the 300+ km's in the month leading up to it.

Early July was a nice and steady month with not a lot on the cards but I was keeping myself ticking over. I even managed to knock a few seconds off my parkrun PB down to 19.09, that put a smile on my face for quite a while that day. The second half of July and I was really trying to extend my runs and clock up the miles as a start of my marathon training and what better way to do that than 14 miles at the Northumberland coastal run, yeah? Wrong it was hard work, I completed it and even came in as 3rd stadium runner male but damn it was hard to keep it going at the end of that race. Gorgeous race and lovely atmosphere just completely unprepared for the sand, sand dunes, coastal paths and road on the route. The change in terrain was the hardest thing, I had no idea it would zap the energy in your legs and mind as much as it did. Glad I did it though. SJ and the boys came up with me and we camped (when I say camped we were in a camper van which was a bit easier) overnight the night before the race which was fun and the boys first camping trip with SJ and I.

July has also seen me take up the task of training to be a UKA grade 2 course measurer, which I had stumbled upon when investigating getting the Shepley 10k officially measured and licensed by UK Athletics. I've been completing some online theory lessons in my spare time and I'm pleased to say I've passed and I'm now waiting to complete my practical seminar which is in October. Once I have completed it I shall be an official course measurer and could be responsible for marking out a race near you soon. It's been really enjoyable and having to use some of my brain for a change has been brilliant and a real confidence booster. I had lost a lot of confidence in my brain actually working when I have spent the last 7 years at at home with small people, I wouldn't have changed the last 7 years for anything but I need to keep the old noggin ticking away now and again.

August has been chilled with school holidays and our family holiday it's been great to get out on the bikes with the boys and do things as a family whilst still getting my runs in. August has also seen the best non stag do stag do ever which ended up with the stag up on stage singing with THE Sugarhill gang, I mean it can't get better than that can it? That night I also decided to run home afterwards at about 2.30am I set off running home drunk, not the best of ideas but I seemed to get faster and faster as I went along and even managed a PR on a Strava segment too! This was created to memorialise the night.

Then a week later the awesome stag and his also awesome fiancée got married and a few days later we had an amazing time at their wedding party. It was a great night and great to see two of the nicest people we know so happy. There was lots of talk of Sugarhill Gang on the night as well as drunken runs home luckily there weren't any that night.

September is creeping up on us and that means one thing, Clark will start School! He's been ready for school for a while now but now it's a few weeks away it seems weird and I can't believe that he's that old already. Flynn could even start pre-school soon with his 2nd birthday on the 11th, that is far to soon but could mean I could go running in the morning whilst he's at pre-school.

Well I think that's everything caught up but if not I can add it to the next one which hopefully won't be in another 4 months. The Shepley 10k is soon so I'm sure that will get a blog all of its own or at least with some marathon training thrown in too. 

Well until then,

Keep running everyone

From Strava Art to the Chocathlon, muddy hills and Chocolate of course.

A month or so back the guys at Team OA posted a photo on Facebook of someone's Strava Art (using the gps line of a run or bike ride to create a picture) of a Giraffe. Along with the picture they posted a challenge, if anyone could create a Strava Art bunny they would win entry to this years Chocathlon. They also challenged anyone to create the Team OA logo and if they could do that they would win lifetime entry to the Chocathlon. So what do you think I did a couple of days later......yep that's right...

And yes I won lifetime entry, LIFETIME, I can't help but keep saying it, LIFETIME, how cool is that? A big thank you to the guys at Team OA for such a cool prize, I hope that I'll be running/walking the Chocathlon for many years as it is such a cool idea and run. For those of you that are wondering what the hell is a Chocathlon it is a 9km run around the hills of Marsden with 2 chocolate stations along the way. Like your normal water stations but these have chocolate treats for you to eat, chocolate biscuits and water as well so that you can manage the hills and trails of Marsden. Well that was a month or so ago and this past Easter weekend I actually got to use my prize.

This Easter Saturday it was Huddersfield parkrun's 4th birthday and their carrot relay after the run, plus after that it was the Chocathlon. So right from the off I knew this day was going to be exhausting, even if I took it easy at parkrun. I was running with Dexter and Flynn this week, Flynn even got dressed up for the celebrations. 

With the beautiful weather conditions we cruised to a 2015 PB for Dexter of 30.14mins then we hung around to take part in the carrot relay. The carrot relay is a race around the small loop (cafe part) of the parkrun course for teams of 3 people, which for #TeamPattison was SJ, Dexter and I. This year the was about 17 teams about double the number of teams from last year, which added a bit more competitiveness to the fun atmosphere. Everyone was eyeing up the competition but with great fun and friendliness that comes with any parkrun family. Dexter was running the first leg for #TeamPattison and on his own this year, followed by SJ and then myself on the final leg. Last year Dexter started crying because he was passed by too many people and thought he wouldn't win, but this year he understood that he would be passed and was determined to complete the lap without crying. This year unfortunately he cried again but this time it was because I distracted him cheering him on and he slipped in the mud and face planted on the floor, hurting his hand slightly in the process. I picked him up and carried him for a bit then he walked the final 100 metres until we handed the carrot off to SJ. She ran round with the possibility of a wardrobe malfunction, managing 3/4 of the way round before her trousers threatend to fall down, so she cut a corner and handed me the carrot before things got a bit x-rated! We were in second to last place and had no chance of gaining anything from this blantant bit of cheating and as I set off we had a huge gap to make up any way. I busted a gut to catch up but with no success as I finished just behind Team Brook still in second to last place. This wasn't a problem at all as like any parkrun event everyone was very supportive wherever you finished and we all clapped and cheered John Cottam as he crossed the line to finish the relay. Dexter was still a little upset at this point but a chocolate teacake from Simon Edwards at least silenced the cries and stopped the tears. Plus one of the guys from the winning team gave Dexter his Easter egg he got as part of his prize, which was really nice of him. So from here it was off to Grandmas for some breakfast and a rest before the Chocathlon and the Marsden hills.

As we arrived at the race HQ we were greeted by Simon Brass in his full bunny onesie and a big smile on his face, the boys really love Simon he makes them laugh so much, it's brilliant to see. Simon wasn't the only familiar face there, there was lots from parkrun or Stadium runners and other races too.

Parking up we unloaded the boys and as I was get the buggy out I managed to scrape my leg on a large bramble and this was before I had even started the race, what was going to happen then?

Once we were unloaded we gathered at the start and chatted with all our running friends and a few others too. We had selfies taken by the Pulse radio crew that was there and then we lined up at the start ready for the off.

We were set off by Ally Young and a starting pistol, it always adds a little extra race feel when your set off by a proper starters pistol, maybe it's the hidden athlete in us or does it just scare the crap out of us. Either way we were heading down the canal and at a fairly quick pace, but it wasn't long before the earlier runs were taking their toll and my legs were already feeling a little heavy. By the time we arrived at chocolate station 1 I couldn't face any chocolate so I just took a drink of water especially as all I could see from there onwards was a huge hill. There was two stages to this hill which weaved it's way upwards like an S and as we were going at a full on pace I ended up walking about half way up. Not for long though as I dug deep and yelled at myself to get my arse moving, and I ran the rest of the hill that just got steeper as you went. Luckily there were some friends (Mr and Mrs Edwards) at the top cheering us on, taking photos and just keeping our spirits up even if it was early in the race.

I was still blowing a bit as the roads levelled out and was heading towards the trail route part of the course. So much so I scared a pony that was being led up the road with a little girl on. A quick apology to her Dad and I descended down a trail path to a little wooden bridge and on with the race. It didn't take long on the trail part to realise that my choice of trail shoes over road shoes was a good decision as some bits were very muddy and slippy. The views were stunning but as the terrain was constantly changing I couldn't enjoy them as much as I wanted to, I needed to keep my focus on the route as I didn't want to misjudge something and go over on an ankle or worse. The course kept changing from trail to road as it traversed the hills above Marsden but eventually it headed back down and I was back on the streets of Marsden once more. Running parallel to the start line I could pick up the pace again until I came to the end of the street and station number 2 and more chocolate before heading back onto trail paths again. I came to a very thin and slippy set of steps down to a road and everyone had to slow down unless you wanted to fall on your backside. At the bottom of these steps I was overtaken by a lady dressed as a bee but I was determined not to lose her and I stuck with as we turned on to the canal and the final 2km of the run. At last I was on the flat and I headed back to the finish, but I forgot that at the locks there are small uphills that zap your stamina. I picked up the pace anyway and took back my place from the bee and as I did she congratulated me. It is always nice to hear encouragement from people but someone you're passing is awesome. You won't find that sort of sportsmanship in other sports like you do in running, and it's one of the reason why I love running so much at the moment. At this point I was also catching my friend Steve and if I pushed hard now I could of passed him, although the competitiveness in him wouldn't have liked that and I knew he would come back at me and push us both to the finish which probably would have killed us both.  (I may be being slightly melodramatic here!!) That desire to push it and catch him was wiped out by the final muddy hill off the canal and back on to the roads of Marsden.  I turned one final corner and I was on the finish straight and the final 100 metres, crossing the line just behind Steve was a great feeling and seeing him drop straight to the floor with exhaustion was evidence of how hard we pushed on the final section.

It wasn't long before we realised we had finish in 3rd and 4th which was amazing but at the same time we started to wonder what had happend to Jonny Cartwright( last years reigning champion) who was leading the last time we saw him. He wasn't at the finish and no one knew where he was, it turned out that someone had turned round a sign on the course sending us in different directions. Jonny knew the route and  went the right way, where as the rest of us went the the way the signs suggested which turned out to be a few hundred metres shorter. Still though Jonny didn't turn up until 8th place and about 10 mins behind us, so somewhere he had gone wrong too because of the signs. He ended up doing an extra mile and a bit on us some how, he seemed to be the only one that took that route. It was a shame as he would have won it again this year if everyone had all gone the right way, and someone hadn't messed with the signs on the course. We all had a great time anyway and there was lots of chocolate biscuits to eat at the finish too. 

Here's a link to a short video of the start of the Chocathlon....

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=NqNH2UNExoQ

We hung around and cheered on a lot of the runners before we had to go and get ready for cousin Liam's 7th birthday party and probably more chocolate. All the chocolate did end up being a bit too much for Dexter and he threw up at Liam's party due to chocolate overload!!

It was a fantastic day and great fun and I can't wait to use my lifetime entry to the Chocathlon again next year. Thank you to Team OA for putting on another great event as always, the next one is the Huddersfield half/full marathon which is a beast and probably one of the toughest road marathons in the UK. You have to do it just to say you've done it, plus it is one of the most scenic runs around too.

Keep running everyone

100 days of running what started as a challenge ended more like aroutine

The 100 days of running challenge is now complete and even now after all those runs I'm unsurprisingly missing going out for a run today. Unsurprisingly? Yep!

The 100 day challenge started out just as it says a challenge but within 2/3 weeks it already becomes more of a routine. Doing it through the winter months probably helps to keep it more of a challenge, plus when the snow and hail come at you with force you have to be mentally ready for it. 

So don't try to stick to a set goal when it does, be flexible and have a reasonable minimum distance for a run. If I can pass on a bit of advice to anyone thinking of doing the 100 day challenge or any run streak, it would be variaty mixed with a few regular runs or distances. I did this by having a regular Monday and Saturday but then the rest of the week I mixed my distances, routes, times and pace. Well I say pace but most of the time I just went for it, I really enjoy running and if the conditions were right I would just go for it. Having said that I really would suggest varying your pace even if it's just slightly. 

My regular runs or days consisted of a Monday run down at Stadium runners, a running club I joined a couple of months before my challenge started. Then on the Saturday, I would as I have done for nearly 2 years now, taken part at my local parkrun, Huddersfield parkrun. 

Stadium runners has been such an important part of the challenge, the runs would always be about the same distance each week but the routes would change. Mixing up the routes keeps your runs a bit more interesting, there nothing more monotonous than doing the same route day after day. Plus the people I have met and run with at the club have been so friendly, helpful, encouraging and inspiring. It has been a pleasure getting to know them over the past 5 months and they've helped push me and improve my running tremendously. I've beaten PB's and increased the distances I can run all whilst running with friendly runners either training for runs or just striving to stay fit and healthy.

My other regular run is parkrun, which I can't advocate enough, it truly is the one thing that has had the biggest impact on my running. There are 2 sides to parkrun the running side where you can test yourself week in week out trying to improve your time. Then there is the social side where you can meet other runners, swap stories and talk about other runs/races they've entered. It's always good to have races as targets to train for as it gives you motivation and something to look forward to. 

Throughout the challenge I had a goal race that I had planned to enter, which was the Huddersfield half marathon. I had done it last year and my plan was to go back this year to try and beat my 2hr PB. I had also entered a few races that were during my challenge, these were good for tracking or testing my progress through the 100 days. parkrun is also a good event to track your fitness, I have beaten my parkrun PB about 4 times since day 1 and I feel like I have more in me too. Other PBs came and went as Stadium runners held a couple of 10k time trials and I even got a PB at the Brass Monkey half marathon over in York.

Here are my PB stats from my runs over the last 100 days.

parkrun before 21m02s, December 20m47s, January 19m56s, Febuary 19m28s

10k PB before, 45m03s December 43m05s, Febuary 41m05s, plus a hilly Huddersfield 10k PB of 43m40s

Brass Monkey Half marathon PB 1h37m14s

And those are just the official ones, I have manage to improve my times and increase my fitness over lots of distances, I was really surprised at how my legs kept responding as I kept pushing.

The past 3 weeks down at Stadium runners I have done the No Pain No Gain (NPNG) track session. With it being flat and on an athletics track I was able to push myself even further and have even managed an unofficial 5k PB 3 weeks running. A 19m24s, then a 18m43s and just this week on day 99 an amazing 17m56s which even though its unofficial it give you an amazing confidence boost.

So all that led me to day 100 and I was determined to finish it off with a bang, so I prepared a route and just went for it. So this is where my first ever marathon began, yep I wanted to go all out and push myself that little bit further. The furthest I'd run prior to this was 16 miles, so this was a huge jump in distance. The main worry I had was managing my pace, I knew I had to slow down to maintain my legs but would I be able to do it?

I set off from my mums house in Marsh as she was looking after Flynn and Clark whilst I tackled this final hurdle. The plan was to do a circuit of Huddersfield round to our house in Shepley then continuing round to be back at my mums ready to pick up the boys and then head back to pick up Dexter from School. So unlike a normal marathon I had a 4hr time limit otherwise there would be no one to pick up Dexter, motivation if ever I needed it. So off I went up through Marsh and Birchencliffe to Ainley top where I would run over the top and drop down through Fixby and Bradley completing the first 10k. It was now when the hills started with a big climb up to Kirkheaton and then down again to Waterloo. I was still feeling good and my pace was great, a little faster than I wanted to but I felt comfortable. From Waterloo I would then take the long drag of a hill up past Lepton towards Grange moor which seemed to go on forever, but on the plus side I gained a KOM Strava segment for my efforts. At the top of the final hill I turned off and headed for the Emley moor mast, but not before stopping to take a photo or 2 of the views. 

This was the worst thing I could have done, as my phone which I was using Strava on decide to crash. So after a couple of failed attempts to turn my phone back on I carried on hoping it might work in a bit. About a mile later down the road it decided to wake up which was a relief as  I wouldn't like to carry on blind so to speak. Once I was at the mast the downhills returned and with that the sight of home and a long awaited drink. Silly I know not to have had a drink upto now but I kept telling myself it was that far to my house. I was just past the 3 acres pub when I had a loss of motivation and questioned myself, whether I was actually going to be able to do this. I started to walk for a bit just to catch my breath and find my mojo again, which soon returned and I powered through until I reach Shelley and my mates house. I stopped to knock on his door for a drink of water a little chat as you do, then I was on my way to my house feeling refreshed and on it again. As I reached home I popped in to get another drink, a few haribos and my Garmin. I had to stop my phone and switch to my Garmin as I had about 20% battery left and it wouldn't last the last 10 miles.

Setting off again I felt good climbing Marsh lane out of Shepley heading for New Mill, I was slower but it was to be expected and I was still within my time limit. Passing through New Mill and Brockholes was a breeze but as I hit Honley I stopped for a drink from the garage and this I where my struggles started. With only 5 miles to go it was a mixture of mentally pushing myself and ignoring the small pains in my leg muscles and hips. I got to Lockwood before I needed another little walk but I was soon going again and with the finish just a few corners away I motivated myself for the last couple of miles. I reached the bottom of Paddock and Gledholt bank and the cramp in my calves was starting to win and I walked up the final hill until I reach the bottom of my mums road. I gave it one last push but then cramp in my quad cut me short by a couple of hundred metres. Walking the rest of the way I could regain my breath and my senses. So when I reached my mums house again I could revel in what I had just accomplished, what I had just push myself to do. There was no doubt I was knackered but I was pleasantly surprised at how unscathed I was. I couldn't quite musta it but I was smiling ear to ear on the inside, I had completed my first ever marathon in a time of 3h42m. I didn't have long to recover as I had to then go pick up Dexter from School still dressed in my sweaty running clothes, but like I said I was smiling ear to ear on the inside so I didn't care one bit.

That was it I had completed 100 days  of running and finished it with a marathon, how cool is that? I'm now taking a well earned rest or at least for a couple of days whilst the stiff legs recover but I'll be out there again soon. It has been such a cool past few months and I can't thank everyone that's helped me enough, be it running with me, helping with looking after the boys whilst I run or just giving me encouragement along the way.

Let's just hope I can keep this level of fitness up and smash some more PB's especially my Huddersfield half marathon PB in April.

Keep running everyone.

100 days of running updated and PBs galore!!!!

Since completing the #marcothon challenge in December I've carried on running every day and have now completed the second 3rd of #100daysofrunning currently I am on day 73. Since the start of the year I've tried to take it easy on my legs and set a minimum run distance of 2km. This is for a few reasons, it's an easy distance for those days after long runs or if I'm struggling for time. Or if I really want an easy run I could run with Clark and Dexter at junior parkrun. Clark has been running at juniors now he's turned 4 and he loves it and he runs with Dexter, high 5-ing all the marshals as he goes round. 

This challenge has completely taken me by surprise and continues to everyday. Before starting the challenge I was worried how it was going to effect my legs and weather I could find time to run. So far my legs have felt great and my family have been brilliant and helped me make time to run by watching the boys a few times. Plus SJ has been very supportive letting me go for runs almost whenever I have wanted to, she's amazing like that.

As the days have gone on, the times of my runs have slowly come down and I've felt incredible at times. I've consistently managed to break my PB's and not just my times, I've pushed myself to run further too. Just this past Sunday I completed 16 miles which is the furthest I've ever run and whilst doing the distance I had my first proper run at a set pace for marathon training etc. I completed 13 miles at a pace of 9 minute miles and then for the last 3 miles/5 Km I just went for it at my own pace. I finished off the 16 miles with a 22 min 5k which shocked me considering that the last 5km of the brass monkey half marathon was a real struggle only 3 weeks ago. My parkrun times so far this year have just got better and better too with a couple of amazing runs where I managed to knock off a serious amount of time off my PB. My first fast run of the new year saw me smash my PB by 53s and taking me below 20mins for the first time ever, I thought this was going to be an impossible target 2 months ago. But here I was and the smile I had from that didn't shift for a while. Then this past Saturday I only went and knocked another 28s off that time, setting my 5km PB at 19.28. It's now 4 days later and I still can't believe it, I still smile when I think about it.

So this weekend has been superb, a parkrun PB Saturday, a 16 mile distance PB on Sunday, I couldn't have had a better weekend really. I was really expecting a big crash at some point, were my legs going to finally start to protest, or wake up with really sore feet and blisters? So when I woke up on Monday morning and all they were was a little stiff I was surprised. So at that point my head was already think about my next run, would I be up for the Stadium Runners 10k time trial or not. I decided to go and just see how the legs responded to the warm up, then I would know whether or not to go for it or just have steady run. As soon as I arrived I was already queuing for my number, I think the excitement of topping my weekend off with another PB was overriding my sensibleness. We headed up to the start for the warm up and after a couple of laps of the car park my legs where ready to go. As soon as the horn went for the start of the race I knew this was going to be tough. Although once I hit that first km mark and my time was sub 4 mins I was pumped and it gave me a helping burst as I started my assent up to the Fixby round-about. The training was paying off completely and it wasn't long before I was at the top of Bradley road and on my decent again towards Leeds Rd. Once I was on Leeds Rd I knew my time was good as long as I could keep my pace up on the last 3.5km. I dug deep and kept going, soon I turned on to the finish straight and I kept an eye on my Garmin as I crossed the line. Now when I did this run last time it was on day 1 of this challenge and that time I got a PB of 43.05mins for the 10k, 70 days later and I had smashed my PB by 2 minutes and 1 second. 41.04 was my officially recorded time and I was buzzing, my hands where shaking slightly I was that happy at what I had just done, or the adrenaline was still pumping. I was even more shocked because of the weekend I had put myself through too, with a PB at parkrun then 16 miles on Sunday to then smash a 10k was incredible. 

I have now set myself a few targets for the rest of my challenge which I hope will help me when It comes to the 7 weeks of half marathons I have signed up for. Which start just under 3 weeks after the 100 day challenge finishes, hopefully I will have a few rest days in that period. Although I am becoming very used to going out for a run everyday it will feel strange when I don't have to worry whether I will be able to make time for a run or not.

At the moment a lot of my running friends are either way into their marathon training plans or just starting them. So I would just like to say that you are all very inspirational and you are keeping me going through this challenge and easing my fears of starting my own training plan for my first marathon in October. Thank you to everyone who has helped me so far and it will soon be over and the Facebook posts will stop or at least for a while.

Keep running everyone

My December and 2014 review plus 2015 challenges

I've racked my brain on ways to start this blog post but it all keeps coming out like dribble and babble, so let's break this month down a bit.

All month I have been taking part in the Marcothon challenge which involves running at least 5k every day in December. Which is fairly simple to start with but becomes more difficult as the month progresses, however by the end of the month you're not sure what you're going to do when the challenge ends. The challenge couldn't have got off to a better start as I smashed my 10k PB at the stadium runners 10k time trial. The first week of the challenge flew by and I found running everyday really exciting and slightly naughty like I was doing something wrong. My 5k target on the first Sunday was split across several runs as it was the Huddersfield Santa dash, which is set over 1 mile. I completed the Santa dash in 5m30s and crossing the line as first finisher, which makes me the fastest Santa in Huddersfield in 2014. The field of runners isn't the same as a parkrun or a 10k but I will take the small victories whenever I can. 

As the days rolled on I found extra pace creeping into my training runs and when I ran an unofficial parkrun PB during the week I was amazed. This Marcothon challenge was really helping me and at the Xmas themed parkrun I managed to smash my parkrun PB by 15s and could now officially say I had a sub 21min PB. Yet there was still room for improvement as I was running in a Santa suit and there was a nasty headwind on the uphills. As I got closer to the end of the challenge I found that I was mixing the runs up a lot more to make sure things didn't get boring. I was trying a spot of pacing on some runs and on others I was starting slow and building my speed. Now that I am at the end of my Marcothon challenge, me and all the other people taking the challenge are all left with the feeling of what now, do we rest or do we carry on. 

For me it's the later as I had, at the start of December, decided to do 100 days of running.  I just started it with the Marcothon. So this December has been filled with running, but also with statistics and I loved watching and tracking them as I ran. For instance I ran a total of 135 miles this month and for the whole year I clocked up 643 miles. So I ran a fifth of my annual mileage in the last month of the year, it didn't feel like it though in fact the main thing I will take from the Marcothon is that as long as you don't go all out on each run and look after your legs you can easily run everyday.

My running wasn't the only thing that has made December a month to remember, although it is running based. Huddersfield juniors parkrun which has been a huge part of our family life along with all the juniors, volunteers and the rest of our juniors team it has been an amazing year. Sadly Simon our event director has decided to step down as ED due to work commitments, marathon training and missing races which is the one thing all runners look forward to. He won't be disappearing, he will still be helping and volunteering whenever he can, he just can't give it the focus that it needs. We always knew he was going to do this but just not so soon.  So from today (1/1/15) I can say proudly that I am the Event Director for Huddersfield Junior parkrun.  Simon has left a great team and I am really excited to see what 2015 holds for the junior event.

In 2014 I have had the privilege of meeting and becoming friends with so many amazing people and I've also been witness to some brilliant moments. I've seen countless juniors smash their PBs, future parkrunning babies brought into the world and been witness to an awesome little girl complete a junior parkrun who couldn't walk 6 months previously. I've shed tears with fellow parkrunners over the loss of an amazing and spirited lady and I've made others weep just by highlighting how awesome they are and have others agree, 2014 has truly been one of those years that I won't forget in a hurry.

 

2015 is already looking like it will be an amazing year with a new PB yes another one, I knocked 5s off my PB at Pontefract parkrun. We were there as part of our New Year's Day parkrun double starting at Ponty then moving on to Nostell Priory. The whole of team Pattison was at Nostell Priory along with a lot of the friends we have made over the last year, the best thing about the day wasn't all the familiar faces and friends all running together.

No it was the enthusiasm for parkrun that I saw in Clark and the excitement about finally being able to take part in parkrun for the first time in 10 days time. He definitely has developed his own friendships within parkrun already, which will help when he's running around the park on a weekend.

2015 will also be a big year for me I terms of challenges with 4 half marathons and my first marathon already signed up to, and many more to come I'm sure. Then there is all the 10k's and other runs I will enter, not to mention that hopefully Dexter, SJ and I will all enter the 100 club at some point this year. Plus the Shepley 10k I will soon have to start planning and organising as well as the anniversary of our fabulous junior event.

So thank you to everyone who has been a part of my 2014 and let's make sure that 2015 is just as good if not better

Keep running everyone