Rosedawn Ramblings

This Saturday (or parkrunday as it has become known over the last three years), I reached a significant parkrun milestone - my 100th run. I spent the week before hoping that freak storms or an unexpected roller coaster ride didn't put Hanley parkrun in jeopardy, and of course, that I remembered my barcode (thanks to Kirsten for the reminders). 100 parkruns. 500km.  For those of you who know me from Hanley parkrun, it might not seem strange or unexpected. You might think I've always been a runner. For those of you who have known me longest, the idea of me completing even one parkrun may seem ridiculous. You knew me when I wouldn't (or couldn't) even run for a bus. At my first parkrun in November 2011 , there were 39 runners and I finished in 26th place in 28:40. I managed a 9-week PB streak at Hanley from December 2011 to March 2012, improving my time to 24:53. For my 50th run, in April 2013 , I ran a very chatty 27:26 alongside Kirsten Owen and we finished in...

Previously on 24... earlier in the year, I was given the opportunity to join Team Write this Run at the London Enduro - a 12 hour team challenge on Wimbledon Common. It was a great experience, a different kind of running and lots of inspiration from my team mates. We decided that one event and 12 hours just weren't enough, so we secured ourselves a place at the 24hr Spitfire Scramble at Hornchurch Country Park  and started preparing to run again. There was one change to the team with Christina joining Lenka , Josie , Hannah and I for team Write This Run part 2. Much of the last few months has been spent preparing for this 24 hour challenge. My goal was to run at least 4 laps of the 5.8 mile course, possibly more. Training went well until the final two weeks where I barely ran a step... my hope as I travelled down to Hornchurch on Friday afternoon via taxi, train, bus and tube was that the enforced rest would help! I was the first of my team mates to arrive and found us a go...