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

5 years ago my life changed for the better!

Today is a very special day in my life, it was the day that changed my life for the good, because 5 years ago today I quit smoking. I quit for lots of reasons like the smell, the cost, the health issues and the standing outside in the cold on your own. But the main reason I quit was for my family, Dexter was about 18 months and running around all over the place and I was constantly out of breath or outside having a cig. So as a promise and a birthday present to my lovely wife I agreed to quit on her birthday, now her birthday is tomorrow...so what happened? Well what happen the day before her birthday is probably the most contributing factor to why I managed to quit for good. I had planned my cigarettes so that I had enough to take me through to SJ's birthday but about halfway through the day Dexter, being the inquisitive little boy that he was, got hold of my cigs. He then did what later turned out be the best thing for me but at the time was devastating, to me anyway. He ripped up every last cig I had and not just a little, he totally obliterated them, on seeing the mess and panicking how I was going to manage the rest of the day, I cried a little. It was one of those life changing moments as after a minute or two I thought to myself, why am I crying about cigarettes? How pathetic was I? 

So I just STOPPED. Stopped worrying about them, stopped feeling silly and stopped smoking, just like that. Well almost the next day I booked an appointment with the nurse at the doctors and got some patches. I wore them for a week then from then on just went cold turkey and haven't had one regret since. For the first week or two it was lots of first, like first solo trip to the shops without thinking about them, first night without wanting to pop outside and other little firsts. It wasn't until about a month in that I managed to go out for a drink to the pub without worrying about temptation. All these, let's call them events were massive at the time but as soon as you manage to do one you instantly question why it was so difficult and why I had worried in the first place. Soon the months were turning into 6 months and years, and the events were less and less, and the times I even thought of a cig were down to about once a year, around this time of year. The final event came about a month ago when I realised the anniversary was coming but couldn't remember how many years it had been, I think it's safe to say I've QUIT.

For those of you that are wondering but this is a running blog what's this all about? Well this past fortnight has been my best couple of weekends runningwise since I started running 2 and a bit years ago. I've been feeling great about my running lately and 10 days ago at parkrun I smashed my PB by nearly 30 seconds then this past weekend at the Barnsley 10k I again smashed my PB by nearly 30 seconds, more on that in a bit. I can't believe how well I'm feeling at the moment and I wouldn't like to think where I would be now if I hadn't quit smoking when I did. It's been the best thing I've done healthwise and if it wasn't for my fantastic family and friends supporting me I probably would have slipped and started smoking again, so thank you everyone. I am now fitter, healthier and happier than ever and the running is just the icing on the cake. 

So this Sunday I headed over to Roysten to do the Barnsley 10k for the first time, I had heard good things about it and was in great spirits when I arrived at 9am to collect my number. Then on my way to the start line I saw a few familiar faces, some I expected to see and some I didn't, which was nice. I went for a warm up jog round the park and ended up marshalling/cheering on the junior race, which was ace as I was missing huddersfield juniors parkrun to be at Barnsley. Watching the junior race there was a familiar feel to it as there was a wide range of abilities very similar to junior parkrun, complete with parents not being able to keep up with their awesome juniors. Once that was over the seniors started to gather and the Stadium runners started to arrive running the Barnsley 10k in memory of Olive, who died a couple of months ago. This was her favourite race and even signed up this year before her illness became terminal, I have recently signed up with them but was torn whether or not to run with them for Olive, I hadn't done it before and after getting my 5k PB the week before was feeling up for it this week. So I decide that even though paying tribute to Olive was high on my mind I thought that even though I didn't know her very well I know she would want be to go out there and give it my best. So that is what I was going to do, and I lined up at the start all ready to smash it. Whilst waiting I saw another 4/5 people that I knew but didn't expect to see them running, so I said hello and then set up my Strava ready to go. It was fairly busy at the start and we were all expecting a run brief but all of a sudden there was an air horn and we were off.

It was a slow start because of the congestion but once we got out onto the open road it soon spread out. As I hadn't done this run before I didn't know what to expect so when we completed the first Km and were then confronted by a monster of a first climb I thought we were in for a tough run. Still feeling good I pushed up the hill overtaking a few people and reaching the top in no time. Then after a steady climb we started to flatten out a bit and at the next turning the course seemed to take a slight downward tilt and it meant I could catch my breath whilst picking up the pace again. About 2 and a half miles in I passed Simon E our event director at Hudds juniors, after a quick chat he told me to push on and go smash it, so I did. I pushed hard for the next 3 miles and even after about 4 small hills I was still in good spirits and was feeling great. 

With only about a mile to go I was ready to push for the finish but was taken by surprise at the last hill that seemed to come out of nowhere and it took every little bit energy I had left. Luckily it was only a few hundred metres to the finish now and I mustered up a sprint finish to cross the line in 45.33 knocking nearly 30 seconds of my PB and on a tough route too. Once I had gone and got my finishers t-shirt I went to congratulate all my friends I had seen along the way. 

Then I took up a place on the finish funnel ready to cheer the Stadium Runners across the line after their tribute run for Olive. As they appeared in the distance everyone started clapping and Olives Daughter and Grandson who were running just in front of them looked very emotional, understandably of course. They crossed the lined then the Stadium runners came into the funnel and most of them couldn't look at anyone as they were very emotional and knew that if they caught your eye that would set the tears flowing. Olive would have been very proud of all of them and it was a lovely tribute to her and her favourite race. 

So in the words of Olive 'keep going love'

Huddersfield juniors parkrun event #3 in brilliant sunshine

Just 3 events in and we are starting to get some stand out performances from our juniors with new course records set from both the boys and the girls this week.

It was my (Matthew Pattison's) turn as RD at this weeks Huddersfield juniors parkrun and with a full volunteer roster and the weather fairies working their magic it was all set up to be a fantastic junior parkrun morning.

The pre-event setup is becoming a favourite of the juniors team's children as they like to draw the start and finish lines and add pictures, arrows and messages. This also makes them feel more a part of the event and even helps them make friends with the other juniors.

       

I am assured that this is a rocket a firework rocket drawn by my son Dexter (6) and his brother Clark (3) helped him with the finish line.

The run as a whole is becoming a very slick and well oiled machine but the behind the scenes action is still being fine tuned and altered slightly by each of the team as they take their turn as RD. Plus we are there backing each other up as we go and make sure that we make a junior parkrun that the juniors can enjoy and be proud of.

As the junior, parents and marshals started to stream through the park gates there was a buzz in the air and the smiles on the juniors faces was amazing and the sun just topped it off.

After the run brief we attempted a Marshal Mexican wave to make sure they can see each other, we know they can see each other but this week it failed. Maybe we will try it again next week as it's a great way to get the juniors involved at the start, with the juniors starting the Mexican wave down towards marshal 1.

The juniors were all set off safely and before we could blink we had some of them completing lap 1 which still catches us of guard at how quick they are. The funnel was set out and we clapped the remaining junior on to their 2nd laps and again we were almost caught off guard as our first finisher crossed the line in a course record time and our first sub 7 minute time. 3 events in and we've already broken the 7 minute barrier, where will our course record time settle at in a few weeks time, it keeps getting broken, but that wasn't it. The time he finished in was also an age grade record for the course. plus not settling for that, our first girl across the line also broke the girls course record and completing the trifecta of course records.

This weeks run finished with a lot of happy juniors, with 56 first timers and 35 new PB's out of the field of 155 runners. Following on from Leeds parkruns trip to the moon (see their Facebook page if confused) so far our juniors have run from Greenhead park to the outskirts of Berlin and by this time next week we will have visited Zary parkrun in Poland. (http://www.parkrun.pl/zary/)

I wonder how far our juniors will travel over then next year or is that thinking too far ahead too soon.

Keep running everyone

Huddersfield juniors parkrun event #1

After 2 years of behind the scenes hard work the first Huddersfield juniors parkrun was here and what an impressive turnout we had.

With excitement in the air all our team arrived early to make sure that everything was set up nicely and early so we could concentrate on assigning marshals to their positions, timekeepers their stop watches, scanners to the correct people and explaining to the funnel managers the plan of action. 

We were lucky to have Tom Williams from parkrun visiting to oversee the event and check that our event ran smoothly, and share some constructive criticism if necessary. It was great to finally meet him after running at a few events at the same time but never managing to talk to him. With the number of people at parkrun events sometimes it is difficult to talk to and catch up with everyone you want to in time you are there. So after I had been introduced to him and a quick chat I went back to the community room to help with the last few volunteers and to make sure Simon didn't want me to do anything else before things got under way. It was nearly time for the warm up with Louise and as I left the community room I was amazed at the number of juniors and parents that had gathered at the start and like the senior parkrun they were still streaming in at the gates with 5 mins to go. 

The excitement of the juniors was evident as they were encroaching on the start line and beyond as 9am got closer and closer, we had to move them back about 10ft by the time Simon came down to give the run brief. 

This was it, it was time to get the inaugural Huddersfield juniors under way, but we had to give everyone a quick brief on how the barcodes and tokens work, because as we found in our test last week there were a few that weren't sure. Once that was done we had to clear out of the way so that when we set the juniors off we didn't get trampled in the stampede. Then after avery anticipated countdown they were off and with a few screams of excitement all the juniors were safely off and running. There was a couple of falls at the start but all juniors got under way without any injuries or tears, a huge relief to all the team.

We moved down to the finish and set out the funnel where they would all be sent to collect their tokens and then be shown where to get them scanned to register their run and time. It wasn't long before we had our lead junior Sam Robinson finishing lap 1 and in a fantastic time too, there was a huge amount of marshals and other volunteers at the finish area. So the cheering and clapping for each of the juniors as they ran past must have been amazing from their perspective because there was not one unhappy face as they passed through to start lap 2. The steady stream of juniors was still In full flow as Sam came round to finish his run and he had to do a bit of zig zagging round some of the smaller juniors on his way to the finish line, and crossing the line in a superb time of 7m31s. 

He was closely followed by Matthew Burke (7m48s) who was fastest at last weeks test event. Having Sam in front of him might of helped as it gave him someone to chase as he crossed the line this time 8 seconds faster than last week. 

This also gave him the highest age grade percentage of all our juniors, an impressive 76.74%. Our fastest female was Lucy Margetson in an excellent time of 8m34s with an age grade of 70.33%, but all our juniors deserve a massive well done. It's not all about who's fastest or has the highest percentage, it's all about keeping fit and healthy and having fun in the process.

We had to be alert on timers as more and more juniors were crossing the line some sprinting and some strolling across with enormous smiles across their faces. Plus I could barely take my eye off the finish line and straight to see how the funnel system was doing, but when I did get a chance everyone seemed to be getting their tokens and making their way to the scanners. 

It almost seemed endless as more and more juniors kept crossing the finish line but after 23 mins Sanchia Edwards, our tail runner, crossed the line and brought to an end the first Huddersfield junior parkrun. It really took us all by surprise how many had turned up and had fun and run with smiles on their faces. 192 juniors completed the 2k making a warm and sunny day even more fantastic than we could have wished for. I had guessed at 100 during the week and the lead up to the day but to get nearly double that was purely outstanding.

The response we got from the juniors and the parents was amazing and we were surprised at how many children were already thinking towards next weeks event. With the weather being as good as it was there was already a large amount of non runners at the park with family members who were asking how they get involved for next week. Once all the runners had crossed the line we all congratulated each other on a great inaugural event that went off without a hitch. We managed to attract 192 juniors to our first event which was beyond all our expectations, we knew we would get about a hundred just from talk at the senior event. We didn't expect so many juniors that have had no contact with any parkrun event, not even their parents had been to an event before, a complete parkrun debut. Our attendance was the second biggest in the country and the largest weekly junior event and from our first event aswell! What will the next couple of weeks have in store for us and will we continue to grow or will our attendances dip? We are all excited to find out and the next few weeks will be awesome. I can already see that we will have a lot of wristbands to hand out soon to all our happy juniors, and we are looking forward to handing them out to them.

We hung about for a while talking parkrun with Tom, Helen and even Rosie before we started to tidy away all the cones, tape and signs ready for next week. Simon was doing the results from home so all we had to do was put things away in the community room and go home still on a parkrun high, which will easily last until next week when it starts again. #lovejnrparkrun

Below is a list of all the junior events in the UK with their record attendances and the attendance figures from their first event. Just like its not about who wins it's also not about who can attract the most juniors and have the biggest attendances. As most parkrunners know just because you have the big attendances does not mean you have the best parkrun, its all about the community spirit and the feel of a parkrun that stands out more. I have added this list as more of an example of how parkrun juniors is growing and how it began.    

Bushy - Highest 432 - First event 9

Huddersfield - Highest 192 - First event 192 (new this week)

Woodley - Highest 145 - First event 44

Savill gardens - Highest 134 - First event 43

Roundhay - Highest 131 - First event 66

Newport - Highest 126 - First event 110

Rushcliffe - Highest 124 - First event 118

Helix - Highest 123 - First event 87

Marple - Highest 118 - First event 118 

Southampton - Highest 112 - First event 68

Chelmsford - Highest 88 - First event 88

Brockwell - Highest 88 - First event 88 (new this week)

Winbledon park - Highest 85 - First event 68

Forest of Dean - Highest 77 -  First event 34

Harrow lodge - Highest 34 - First event 22

Mile end - Highest 21 - First event 21 (new this week)

Barking and dagenham - Highest 19 - First event 7

Keep running everyone