Barnsley parkrun, Huddersfield Carnival and Insanity

This past weekend Huddersfield parkrun was cancelled because the Huddersfield Caribbean carnival was on. So I had to get my parkrun fix elsewhere, and that's how it feels, a fix in a good way. I'm only 6 runs in but the whole routine of getting up and going for a run within the fun and friendly atmosphere of parkrun plus having the rest if the day still is just great. So after debating between Bradford parkrun or Dewsbury parkrun I went with Barnsley at Locke park. Mainly because its our 2nd closest, I had no idea what it was like or what it's average numbers were. So I looked online to find its average attendance and directions to the park so I was all clued up ready for Saturday morning.

On the day the plan was for me to run the 3 laps of the park whilst Sarah-Jane walked round with Dexter and Clark in his buggy for the first time in about a year. Then when I had finished I would catch them up and run with Dexter until he finished his 3 laps. On arriving at the start finish line that plan was scrapped as there is, in Dexters eyes and a little in mine, a great playground. So Dexter decide I could go on my own and he would play in the playground and cheer me on. 

There was a small but close group of runners at Barnsley parkrun, I say small but there was just under 100 and after a few 50 & 100 club presentations we gathered at the start. As I was unfamiliar to the group I had no judgement on where to start from for my average time, unlike at Huddersfield where I knew roughly to start with and exactly with the new penning system. So I placed myself about 2/3 back and when a guy next to me started talking about getting a DNF result today I knew I was in the wrong place but never mind. We were off and after a little shuffling and a slow start I was off at my fast pace. I wanted to keep track of people on the first lap as I had no idea where I had to go, but soon realised that the route had small arrows stencilled on the floor for you to follow. I still kept in touch with the people in front of me but I had no idea what pace I was on as I couldn't hear my Endomondo app. I really tried to keep my pace up and for the first 2 laps I did I even over took a few people. On the second lap I came upon a lady who was encouraging a chap trying to keep him going and for a while it was working but he eventually drop back but she kept going. She start helping the next person she came up to telling them to dig deep and keep it up, and this time it fell on deaf ears. Just at the start of the uphill on the 3 lap I came up behind her and she heard me and saw me coming so start cheering me on and then said something that at the time didn't register. But every time I think about it now or when telling people about my latest parkrun makes me giggle like a school boy. She heard me coming up behind her so to encourage me she said come on you can do me on the hills. Which I did but I did have to dig deep to get to the top of the hills. The uphills at Barnsley are deceptively tough but the long downhill to the finish is a welcomed sight once you've reached the summit. I reached the finish in a pleasing 25.24 and because of the heat and the unfamiliar route I was happy. Locke park was a lovely little park and would definitely do Barnsley parkrun again.

From parkrun it was home for a shower then some lunch and then my mums, for the Huddersfield Carribean carnival. This is an annual event held in the park where Huddersfield parkrun is held and attracts thousands of people to see the parade and enjoy the festivities in the park. There is dancing, fairground rides and stalls selling whistles, food and drink. 

With the weather being as nice as it is the carnival was busier than usual and the park was crammed, there must have been about 15000 people if not more. We left Sarah-Jane and Clark at my mums with Nana (Janice) whilst the rest of us went across to the park and the boys (Dexter and Liam) went on some of the rides.

 They had a great time and by the time we got back to my mums we had to quickly grab some food then we had to get home so Sarah-Jane could get ready to go out to a work friends retirement party. After she had gone I got the boys settled down watching DVD's in their room, after a busy day I knew it wouldn't be long before they were asleep. They managed to keep going until 7.30pm then I found them like this.

On Tuesday I started a new (to me at least) fitness workout called Insanity. I never thought I would follow a fitness workout DVD but I also never thought I would run regularly either. So far I think I've lost about 4 pounds in sweat in just 2 sessions and gained sore legs but I feel great so far just another 58 days to go. I'll keep you up to date on my new fitness scheme as I go.

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.

The Snow is gone and the running is back

Because of the recent snow and ice it has been 2 weeks since any type of run and nearly 3 weeks since a substantial run. That has now finally changed as the snow has gone and roads are safe to run. Luckily with the snow comes sledging and all the running up hills certainly keeps you active.

So yesterday Rob came up and we went for our usual run round the village, Rob was already feeling it after the run up the hill to my house. It's not surprising as he's only managed 2 runs in the last 2 months, and because of that he only managed 5.5km. I carried on to do 10km as I felt really good but oh did that change. Around my usual wall of 7-8km I was still ok and I even managed a good pace but just past 8km my legs decided to give in almost. I pushed on and when I hit 9km I managed to get a stitch down my left side, which gladly came just as I was on a downhill so could ease off a touch to work through it. I pushed on to 10km but there was no chance of anything more but that was ok, as this run was mainly about getting out again and de-stressing a bit, it wasn't about distance.

Since my last run my wife and I haven't had the best of luck. Our tumble dryer broke, the van wouldn't start, the car exhaust broke a day after we fixed the flat battery on it, and yesterday the water pump on the car went. Worst of all last week my wife had to make the difficult decision to have her horse put down after she became ill and was in real pain with no obvious cure or solution. Lets hope this is the last of our bad luck at least for a while please.

On a positive side the Shepley First School Fun Run is progressing nicely and we have 25 confirmed runners so far with a few more hopefully still to come. I would have been happy if we only got 20 so anything now is a bonus, and as its the first School fun run of hopefully more I think it's going brilliantly. We were having lots of questions about "facilities" for the ladies and had enquired about hiring Birds edge village hall but the cost was too high. So 1 of the ladies in my sub committee which I've named "my Rachels" for the obvious reason they are all called Rachel or Rachael, had an idea. We have changed the start/finish line from where it was to now being at the Windmill Nursery cafe which is on the original route just a different point on the route. This means there will be some where to meet and eat afterwards too. Plus there is now somewhere for the spectators to keep warm, until we eventually turn up.

I've also discovered this week via a twitter friend Sam Ward that we have a Huddersfield 10k. After living here for 33 years (basically all my life) I've only just found out about it. So I immediately signed up for it and shared it on Facebook and Twitter etc. There is a £100 bonus for this race to anyone who beats the race record, this won't be coming my way that's for sure. The record is 20 mins faster than my average 10k time, 20 mins oh dear that's fast.

Well it's good to be back running and blogging and remember everyone, keep running.

Muscle memory good or bad?

It had been a week since my last run and it will probably be my last before Xmas.

Christmas is always busy and it throws you out of your routine but the look on the boys faces will be priceless. It will be worth the added weight and the missed runs to see their smiles as they tear open present after present. Clark met Santa for the first time the other day and after a split second of confusion his face lit up. I think this Christmas is going to be great.

 



So the run yesterday was essential, and it was tougher than expected too. After a week off I was expecting it to be harder but not as hard as it was. I planned to run for an hour and just see how far I went. About half way round lap 1 I changed the route slightly which added about 1.2k, I was only doing this so I could hopefully finish my hour at the end of 1 of the laps and doing 12km in the process. My previous best 12k is 1hr03mins so I was gonna have to work for it if I was to finish in an hour. After the extra 1.2k plus my normal lap I had done 4k and was feel ok. It was at this point that my muscle memory kicked in unexpectedly. At this stage of my normal run I would be on a nice flat if not slightly down hill stretch but because of the added 1.2k I was on an uphill. My legs suddenly got heavier and my calfs felt like bags of sand at the bottom of my legs. As I powered through to 5k I was very close to quitting but managed to keep going and complete lap 2. I was still contemplating on just finishing there but I kept telling myself to do 1 more lap, especially as I won't get another run for a while. My muscle memory was completely throwing me off my rhythm at times when I should be finding it steady I was struggling and vice-versa. I even managed after 8km to pick up the pace uphill too, I'm not saying I was able to do a quick sub 5min km but it was quicker than the km around it. My times were getting slower as my legs were getting heavier and heavier at the start of lap 4 and I reached my 1 Hour limit just before I reached 11km. As I had add the extra bit to lap 1, I was just coming up to the Farmers Boy at 11km so I had to run through my 1 hour limit and I pumped myself up for the final km back home. I finished off my 12km run with a 5.26km and managed to judge it so I finished a couple of 100 metres from home.

Muscle memory good or bad? Well I would have said it was a bad thing if you had asked me halfway through my run. I also would have said a good thing if you had asked me on my normal run. So I think it depends on how much you want to push yourself, or how varied you want your fitness to be. If all you do is 1 run week in week out then muscles memory is good but if you want to do different things and different runs then its a bad thing.
It also depends on the sport you take part in, for instance in Golf muscle memory is very important but Football not so much.

I have started to hand out a couple of the Flyers for the Fun Run to people I know I won't see for a bit and the rest are getting sent out after Christmas in the Children's book bags.

Well have a happy Christmas everyone and don't forget that after Christmas to Keep running everyone.

 

Winter running and added enthusiasm

I had my meeting this past Wednesday with The Friends of Shepley First School (FOSFS) about my fund raising 10k run idea. They wanted to hear what I had in mind and they had some concerns about the organisation and safety involved. I reassured them about the safety of the run and told them there wasn't too much to organise and that I would handle that side of it. After a bit more discussion we came to the conclusion that we needed to offer different distances to attract more interest and not to put people off if they think 10k is too far for them. We would also include the option to do a 10km bike ride as well, so the Shepley First School Fun Run to Cannon Hall Farm was born. We set a date for the Fun Run of Sunday 17th of March 2013 and lets just hope it's as warm as it was last year. Everyone at the end seemed happy with the idea and some were already planning their training. I left the meeting and as giddy as a school kid and had to stop myself from running home and actually caught myself skipping now and again. I got home and as soon as the boys were in bed started designing the sponsor forms and flyers.

I was still buzzing and excited about the meeting when I came to do my run yesterday. Which helped as I was on my own as Rob has a slight knee injury, I hope it gets better soon as I can tell that he's missing the running. It also helped me get through the first 5 mins as the winter temperatures are upon us. I went on the usual Monday route but with a slight twist which added a couple of hundred metres to each lap. I was running at a good low 5 min/km pace and the added twist on the route helped with my cardio, and even when I hit 8k when i normally start to struggle I was still full of energy. I was close to the end of lap 4 and was still feeling great so much so that I picked up the pace and finished off with a fast last km. I finished lap 4 in 59.35 and a distance of 11km and was delighted to have equaled my distance PB.

It was good to get that run in, with the winter temperatures and cold winds getting worse the enthusiasm to get out running will drop. You just have to get out and do it, but it helps to have something to run for and the Fun Run is one of those things. I have also just signed Dexter and I up for the Santa Dash around Huddersfield centre on December 9th. He is looking forward to it and the practice run we will have to do in the next 2 weeks. The Sponsor forms came in the post today, so the excitement just got notched up a bit.

I'll keep you informed about the Santa dash and the fun run, and thank you for reading. Don't forget to follow me on twitter by clicking here.

Keep running everyone

After a bad run I had to comeback stronger

On Friday I had a BAD run if there is such a thing when you don't get injured. I set off from stables and was running home and it was getting dark very quickly. I was feeling good and was on a steady pace around the 5 minute mark and I managed to get to roads lit by streetlights before it got too dark. I hit the 5k mark in just under 25 mins which is a good time but that doesn't explain what happen next. I ran past the farmers boy and I knew I had a km to go before i was home but I also thought I could go a bit further and do 8km instead of the 6.5km to home. I was planning which route to take to add on the extra distance, when my legs just gave out. I don't mean they buckled they just had nothing left in the tank and I struggled to get them home. I was only a couple of hundred metres from home and then I got pins and needles in my feet which was weird. I'm being a bit over dramatic as I still could dig deep and run the last 50m up hill to home, but when I stopped they felt like jelly and after only 6.5km it was slightly disheartening.

But that was Friday and yesterday I ran again and I came back stronger and more determined than ever. It was our usual Monday run but Rob was unavailable and Luke bailed at the last minute so I had to do it alone. Whenever I run on my own I always set off to quickly and that hinders me later on in the run, so I tried to keep it slow this time at the beginning.
FAIL or maybe that low 5mins or later 4mins is just my pace and I have to work with it to improve my cardio. So after a couple of laps around that pace I was in a rhythm and halfway round the third I was still ok, the second half was a different story. My legs started to feel heavy and my right knee was getting really warm, bizarrely because I was thinking about my legs my breathing settled down and I caught my breath. This set me up for another lap, with 3 down (7.5km) all I had to do was push through the wall and make my legs do the last lap. The ninth km was my slowest but it was all about getting my legs up the last climb to the farmers boy. From there they started to feel less tired but sore instead but my knee was feeling ok now which I was more happy about as a knee injury would be awful. I still pushed forward as I knew I was about 1.5km from home now and I knew I had to keep going I had to push that little bit more and that if I did I would feel so much better for it too. I passed 10km and had a little over 100 metres to go, passing 10km really cheered me up and do much that I went for it on the last 100 and sprinted and up hill as well. Hitting the top of the hill I stopped my Endomondo app and just smiled, I was so pleased I had pushed through the mild pain and even finished with a sprint.

Now that I've push my self back upto 10k I feel more positive and can take that into the meeting this Wednesday at Dexters school. This is the meeting that will decide weather or not we will be fund raising for his school on our next run to Cannon Hall Farm. They have concerns about how much organising it will take to do, but me and Rob don't think it will take much. So come Thursday we will either be running it and fund raising or just running it on our own. Either way we are running it so I hope tomorrow goes well.

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Thank you and keep running everyone