First Saturday 5k

Initially I thought this post might only be relevant to local people, but I actually think it might be useful to people who have only ever been running on their own and are perhaps thinking about joining a running club or just want to do an organised event without having to raise money.

I started going to the First Saturday 5k, run by North Herts Road Runners in March 2012 after I'd been running by myself for about 5 months. I wanted to do an organised run that wasn't a scary distance, didn't involve raising any money, no big entry fee and was within a reasonable distance. I didn't think such a thing existed until Google proved me wrong and I stumbled across the NHRR website advertising this race.

I only intended to go once really, just to see how fast I could go (I nearly always run faster with other people) and to feel more like a 'real runner'. I thought it would be teeming with my (totally unjustified) idea of 'running club' type people, e.g tall skinny athletic types with PBs of 15 minutes and looking down their noses at people who didn't fit this description. How wrong my short, size 14 (forward slash 16 at the time if I'm being honest) amateur runner self was.

As an obvious new face people were coming over to introduce themselves, ask me about my running story and chatting about the course. I also got chatting to my running rival (in a totally friendly way) Matt that day who is always a nice friendly face to see. It was the first time we'd both been to a First Saturday 5k and we worked out that we both run about the same pace so we've always had a little happy rivalry going since then. I'm not a competitive person at all but I've found it's been good for me to have someone who's at the same level as me to set my pace but also push myself a bit.

So I worked out that I hadn't been down for 7 months and decided to show my face a couple of weekends a go. It takes me about 10/15 minutes to get there, registration shuts at 8:45 and the run starts at 9, so it's pretty early to be up and about and contemplating a 5k at that time of morning on a Saturday. Needless to say I wasn't keen but I dragged myself out of bed. I was really glad I did as I felt great afterwards. I've lost a bit of weight since I last went so it was much easier to get round the course and I beat my previous time by nearly 2 minutes. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to go the following weekend (the Saturday just gone) as they were running an extra race weekend for the Letchworth Festival. 

I was even less eager to go this time as I was a little worse for the wine from the previous evening. I was definitely not expecting much from myself due to said wine, however not only did I sweat out my hangover but I also managed to beat Matt by a couple of minutes (sorry Matt) and also my PB. 28 minutes, 20 seconds...very happy Holly!

So...what has this got to do with marathon training? 

1) Unfortunately the first reason is not music to my ears...I've been reading that its just as important to do speed training and run on different terrain as it is running the actual distance itself. Unfortunately I don't really get on with terrain running or running quickly, I find it much easier doing my 10k runs on the road than I do running 5k at the First Saturday. Norton Common is grassy, muddy, uneven and very up and down...but I know it's good for me and will benefit my training in the long run. Running with other people occasionally also makes me pick up the pace.

2) I'm toying with the idea of joining a running club...this is something I'm still not sure about doing. However I think having experienced people to chat to and understand what it's like to train for a marathon might be helpful. Plus you normally get a few quid off events if you're affiliated with a club...something for me to think about.

Whatever stage of running you're at, if you've never done an organised run before I would thoroughly recommend it. You never know who you'll get chatting to and you can pick up some great tips. Running Diary is a good place to find runs local to you and even though I've not tried it yet I've heard great things about Parkrun (one being that its completely free). Just incase you're local, the First Saturday 5k is every first Saturday of the month and is £2 to enter as a non member.

Just to finish, here's a couple of photos from my first ever First Saturday 5k and a particularly muddy one.

I hope you found this post helpful and might think about giving an organised run a go.

Thanks for reading!

Holly

xx

My First 12k

I guess if you want an express summing up of what I'm going to be talking about in this post then you need look no further than the title. However if you're interested in how I came about my little achievement then please read on! 

I decided after the Great Manchester Run that I need to step up my distance as to be honest, 10k is pretty comfortable for me now. If I'm going to stretch my distance I normally need a few days to build up to it and I usually tackle it on a Sunday. I asked my running buddy Emma if she was free for one of our Sunday jaunts, she's heaps better than me at the whole running thing (she does scary things like the London to Brighton etc) but she's also very encouraging whilst making sure I'm on track and we always have a giggle so it's nice to run with her. However she was about to climb Mount Snowdon so that was off the cards (she did say that she'd be up for a run in the evening once she was back...after completing the Three Peaks...eek), but I imagine she was probably pretty pleased that I wasn't free in the end.

So with about a weeks worth of mental preparation I started out solo on my 12k mission. I was feeling confident, but also dreading getting to that stage where you just feel horrendous and fully believe that there is no possible way that you will ever feel normal again. I normally hit this point around the 7k mark, however as I was hitting each marker after this I was still feeling comfortable. I started to get that kind of  'Eye of the Tiger' feeling you get when you're over confident about the task in front you. Whether you think that the hill in front of you 'isn't that far to the top' or that you can definitely demolish five plates at an all you can eat Chinese buffet, with room for pudding...in my case I was starting to believe that I could go from a 10k to a half marathon in the space of a day. No such luck...

As soon as I hit 10k my body was starting to ask me why I hadn't stopped! My muscles were starting to winge and the two glasses of water I had before I left had long since been zapped up. When Sanya Richards Ross piped up with "you're almost at your target" on Nike+ I felt at my limit and that last half a kilometers felt like another 3, if you've run any sort of distance I'm sure you'll know the 'where the hell is the finish' feeling. 

Looking back now without being tomato faced, sweaty and free of lactic acid build up, it actually wasn't as bad as I thought.

I may not have polished off 5 plates and a dessert at a Chinese, climbed an extremely steep hill or go from 10k to half marathon in one day, but I did get to 12k which is further than I've ever done before. I think it helped that I had a good route with a mix of scenary and terrain. In fact it was such a gorgeous day and so pretty running past the rape seed fields just before Ickleford, that I wanted to stop and take a couple of pictures. However I decided to abandon my usual photo fiendish ways and concentrate on the task at hand.

I now feel like the road to The Great North Run has started...

Bring on 14k!

Thanks for reading!

Holly

xx

316 days to go

Hi everyone,

As most of you will know by now, I will be running the London Marathon in 2014. It has taken me two years of umming and ahhing (which judging by the last few years, now seems to be the standard time it takes for me to mull over and do things) but I finally decided that I was going to take the plunge this year.

So...

Why the London Marathon? 

I started running just after I got back from traveling as I wanted to do some form of exercise but couldn't afford the gym...running is free and you can chose when you do it. I've dipped in and out of it since then and decided to challenge myself by entering the Standalone 10k in 2012. I absolutely loved the buzz I got out of it and decided that this year my next challenge would be the Bupa Great North Run with a look to doing the London Marathon next year. After managing to miss the ballot as it was closed after just eleven hours, I applied for a place through Leonard Cheshire Disability and have thankfully been accepted. Its difficult to put into words what running does for me, but hopefully it will become clearer as I write this blog.

Why blog about it?

The last time I wrote a blog was back in 2011 to document and update people on my happenings whilst traveling in Asia. I found Hollys.Lost.Again not only a great way to update everyone with the edited highlights of my goings on (without having to bore people about what I ate for breakfast), but also a really good outlet to vent how I was feeling right at that moment (without waking someone up at ridiculous o'clock back home). I really enjoyed writing it and always got good feedback from friends and family so I hope everyone will enjoy this one. It may not be quite as exciting as teaching a nursery class in India, being woken up by Hindu prayer rituals in Nepal or sailing down Halong Bay in Vietnam, but I hope it provides the same sort of thing. I'm also doing to it raise awareness of the charity I will be running for and to hopefully help me out with getting you lovely people to sponsor me!

Why Leonard Cheshire?

I started volunteering for Symonds House in September 2012 as I'd enjoyed volunteering so much in India and didn't want to lose what I gained from it. I go once a week in the evening and do various activities such as crafts and games with a few of the residents. I was accepted into the fold pretty much as soon as I turned up to my first evening and now feel very much part of the furniture. All the staff and volunteers are passionate about what they do and are dedicated to giving the residents the best care and quality of life. Leonard Cheshire have also kindly agreed to direct all my monies raised to Symonds House so I will get to see the benefit that all those lovely pennies will provide to this amazing local service.

I've waffled on for long enough now, if you're still reading then thank you and I hope you'll join me on my journey to the London Marathon and raising £1800 for Leonard Cheshire Disability...6 miles down, 20 and 365 yards to go.

The most important bit...

http://www.justgiving.com/hollysrunningthelondonmarathon2014

Thanks for reading, I hope you'll stay with me :)

Holly

xx

P.S The name is a naff play on 3 Non Blondes and the fact that I am by no means an experienced runner. I tried to come up with something witty (sadly this actually kept me awake for a bit the other night) and this was the result...apologies! Another thing thats a bit sad...the background of this blog matches my running shoes *loser*.