Stats

I decided that it’d be a good idea to put all my times and distances on my blog, to show how far I’ve come from a complete novice to someone that can (hopefully) run 13.1 miles in September. There’s a link up above to ‘Running Stats’ with all my times, distances and averages so far. Hopefully they’ll keep improving…!

Sports Tracker

Furthest distance yet, with my 2nd best Average Pace!

Donation Update!

My fund raising for the Guide Dogs for the Blind is now up to £90.00, out of a target of £300.00.

Thanks to everyone that’s donated so far!

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Running Progress

I’ve never been sporty or really interested in sports of any kind. At school, I was normally the last to be picked and when I was picked, I’d be put in goals, so never really did any running. I never won a medal at sports day, and apart from doing a few years of martial arts, I was never on any sports teams. (Apart from Pool, I’m good at Pool.)

In saying all that, I didn’t expect my first ‘run’ to be anything special, but I did expect to get further than the end of the road.

I didn’t.

Using an app on my phone called Sports Tracker, it told me that I’d run a  total of 0.25 of a mile before I had to walk for a bit. In total on my first time out, I managed a whole mile. This was a mixture of running for a minute or so and then walking for a minute or so until I got back home, knackered.

A few days later I went out again and managed a little bit further before I had to walk. Slight progress, but progress none the less! Even better, on my third time out I ran a full 0.5 of a mile before walking! Doesn’t sound much, but for me it was a lot!

Back at home, Tony (Father in Law and Ironman 2012 Lanzarote finisher) told me that he would come out running with me to keep his fitness up. On the first time we went out, we ran the entire mile without walking. Now, I’m not sure if thats due to my fitness improving or because  I was motivated by having another person there running, but I did it.

At the minute I’m going out for a run on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and recovering on weekends. It seems to be working quite well, I’m getting a bit better and quicker each time I go out. Last week, I was in an outlet shopping centre and bought some proper running shoes for a bargain price of £23.00. The last run I did was 1.2miles. The first time I wore my new trainers, I ran 1.7miles! Thats almost a 50% improvement, just by wearing the proper shoes.

Proper bargain.

What It’s All About…

Hello! And thanks for visiting. (You look nice.)

On September 16th myself and a few others are doing the Great North Run in Newcastle for charity. 54’000 people will be there, all running for charities and/or personal reasons. I’ve entered because I wanted a bit of a challenge and I need to get fit. I’ll be honest with you (why would I lie? We’ve only just met!) I can’t really run. Which means that the 13.1miles of the Great North Run might be a *bit* of a challenge…

On May 19th 2012 we were in Lanzarote cheering on Father-in-Law and Uncle-in-Law competing in the Lanzarote Ironman competition. The course is 2.4mile swim, then 112mile bike ride AND THEN a 26.2mile marathon, all within a 17hour time limit. They both finished. Watching them, I realised just how unfit I actually am. The walk to work tires me out in a morning, not to mention actually being at work. (I work in a furniture shop, so a fair bit of lifting and shifting!)

Whilst we were out in Lanzarote, I mentioned to my friend Martyn that I wanted to enter a race of some kind to motivate me to getting fit. We agreed on the Great North Run (as he lives in Newcastle) and both decided to enter (13.1miles.)

Did I mention that I can’t run? Oh dear.