Rosedawn Ramblings

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...

It has been a while since my last blog. There's been a lot going on. Sometimes life gets in the way of running and writing about running. I'd like to say I'm sorry but this post is all about being not sorry, hopefully not in a selfish "I don't care if I upset you" kind of way but instead with a spirit of "I've got my motivation and priorities back on track and that's a good thing". I'm not sorry that I've decided to taken a step back from local road racing. Last year, I raced so often between May and September, that races were almost the only running I was doing. I forgot to rest properly and my body took a hit. There was a reason for racing so often: I was chasing points and placings in the NSRRA. Winning my group was a real possibility and points in every race mattered. It would be wrong to say I didn't enjoy it... I loved the competition and the challenge and of course I enjoyed winning... but I realised I wanted this summ...

The London Marathon... An iconic sporting event broadcast all over the world. Something I've watched but now would take part in for the first time, my second marathon. My first one in Manchester couldn't have gone much better... perfect conditions, a negative split, amazing support. That's a lot to live up to. Setting out for the start... thanks to Potters Trotters Liz for my send off If this were any other race, I would probably write about my disappointing result, my goal of 4 hours disintegrating in a few moments just after half way, the first race where I've had to walk for long periods because I just couldn't run anymore. I might write about what went wrong in great detail - probably a combination of the sunburn, heat, residual tiredness and problems with hydration and refuelling - and ponder on why running 9 minute miles felt so tough almost from mile 1. I could show you graphs of my km split times getting slower and slower. But this wasn't any...

Growing up, Saturday morning's were for Children's TV. It started out with Swapshop (or Tiswas if you were allowed to watch ITV), then morphed into Saturday Superstore, followed by Going Live! As a teenager, TV watching was replaced by work with a Saturday job at a bookshop. By the time I got to University, Saturday mornings were most definitely for lie-ins and continued that way for the next twenty years! However, since 2011, Saturday has been replaced by #parkrunday. If we're at home, it's Hanley parkrun and I'm usually in the park not much after 8. If we're away for the weekend, there's a mad scramble to discover if it's possible to get to the nearest parkrun for some parkrun tourism and what time we'll have to get up to get there. Getting my 50 club shirt Most of my parkrunning though is done in Hanley Park. Even though it is the same course at the same place at the same time every week, every parkrun is most definitely not the same, and...

For Grandad: Bushy parkrun pilgrimage It's been a while since my last races in the North Staffs Road Runners - Cheadle 4 and Berryhill 10k back at the start of July. Since then, I've run in the Olympic Stadium ; made a pilgrimage to the home of parkrun at Bushy parkrun, where we met up with the Holmes family and had a lovely run with over 800 other parkrunners, and also made a return visit to the Olympic Park for the anniversary games (and what an experience that was)! Over the last few weeks my running mojo has been returning slowly - kickstarted by the Olympic Park Run. I've gradually been building up my weekly mileage, adopted a new training geared towards a half marathon at the end of October and decided to run two NSRRA races 4 days apart - the Staffs Knot 5 on Wednesday evening and the Leek Half Marathon on Sunday morning... I'm not sure this was a wise plan but the comeback trail has to start somewhere. I set myself two very different targets for ...

Why do you run? That's a question I've been asked a lot over recent weeks and I've had plenty of time to come up with some answers, as I've actually not been running very much at all. Since my last race, the Clayton 10k , the tiredness, aches and twinges that I'd been feeling for a while caught up with me fully and I knew it was time for a rest. So instead of doing lots of running, I've been pondering about why I started running and why I continue to run, even when it hurts. I have managed a few memorable runs in the last couple of weeks though and they get a mention too. Running = Change I started running in February 2011 with the Coach to 5k podcasts. I'd been consciously working hard to lose weight and gain fitness after my weight reached an uncomfortable peak in 2010 - a combination of sedentary work-from-home life in my new home, very little exercise and lots of large but tasty dinners prepared with Mr T. Dramatic lifestyle changes were needed a...

Are we nearly there yet? How many sleeps until next parkrun day? I love parkrun - I think that's pretty obvious if you take a look at my twitter feed, Facebook profile or previous blog posts . Since I started running at the start of 2011, when 5km seemed like a marathon, I've gradually gained confidence in my running and taken on new running challenges - including my biggest challenge yet at the Greater Manchester Marathon on April 28th. But most of my running week revolves around parkrun; whether I'm planning to run or volunteer, I don't like missing out. And I think parkrunning is good for me - it ticks all the boxes in the New Economic Foundation's Five Ways to Wellbeing anyway. But for the last few months, ever since I reflected on my parkrun birthday , I've been slowly and steadily parkrunning my way towards the highly vaunted milestone of 50 parkruns and membership of the parkrun 50 club . I completed my 40th parkrun at the New Year's Day parkrun...