Justgiving

It’s been a fair few weeks since my last blog, and a fair few miles have been covered in that time. My half marathon is now only days away! Time flies when you’re having fun…

About a week ago I went on my final “long” run before the race – 10.5miles in and around Leeds. I have started feeling much more confident about the race with that under my belt. It was windy and it was cold and it was ten miles long (!) but I made it!

If I can do that I can do 13 miles with the support of my friends and family cheering me on… But I hope I’m not leaving too much to “the crowd support will carry you the last few miles” fable!

I also went on a great run with Olivia, Richard and Brian who also work for Save the Children and are doing the Royal Parks Half Marathon. I never thought I would be the kind of person to do a 4.5mile run in their lunchtime – but look at me now!

To avoid the tube strikes tonight I am going to run from Wimbledon to Shepherd’s Bush - around 8 miles. I definitely need to be tapering now, with only 5 days to go – don’t want to get injured now!

I’ve started wondering whether I will keep up with running after the race and I really hope I do. I have really enjoyed getting some fresh air and getting to know London a bit better. And I definitely feel fitter.

Before my long run I got up at 7.30am to try and practice the same schedule as race day (top tip from the BMF trainers), so had a big bowl of porridge two hours before I started the run.

I did think it was a crazy thing to do on a Sunday morning – get up that early to go for an almost two hour run! Will never be the kind of girl that does that regularly, but I hope I’ll keep up with the 3,4 and even 5 mile runs. Watch this space…

My fundraising is starting to get going properly now – my JustGiving page is getting some activity which is great. I sent the link to my page when it had just been pay day which helped.

I also looked at the JustGiving blog which talks about utilising social media for fundraising. I’m up to £271 as I type which could pay for the basic equipment, such as weighing scales for a health facility in Afghanistan where malnourished children are treated.

This feels good, but I’m hoping that come race day and the weeks after I will make a few more bob than that and be able to save even more children’s lives.

If anyone is around in London on Sunday 10 October and wants to come on down to Hyde Park and cheer me on, along with the 4o other Save the Children runners then please do!

There is going to be a cheering point at around mile 10 which is at the top of Hyde Park. There is also going to be a Save the Children area in the charity marquee so come and find us there! It is such a great day out and I’ve genuinely really enjoyed the event each year (this year is it’s third year).

I love the Royal Parks in the Autumn and there is a great atmosphere as everyone enjoys being outside and having the buzz of the race combined with lots to do and lots of free food at the Food and Fitness Festival. I just hope that I’ll be able to enjoy the day this year!

I want to get to the end and feel like I couldn’t give anymore and that I ran as hard as I could. I know what I need to do, I know I can do it, I just need to make sure I relax.

If you want anymore information about where to find Save the Children on the day e-mail me – events@savethechildren.org.uk. If not, wish me luck!

If a mother who was nine months pregnant walked for an hour to take her child to a Save the Children feeding centre, I am sure going to try and make sure Save the Children can help her when she gets there. We need money for this. The time is now.

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I went to the British 10K on Sunday cheering on our Save the Children runners. Great work by everyone who took part. I was worried that it was going to be so hot people would start melting but luckily it was cooler than it had been.

Helen and Caroline storming through the British 10K for Save the Children

I think a few people did the 10K in preparation for a half marathon later in the year. People do say that you should have a go at a shorter race before doing the big race. Can anyone recommend good 10K runs near London around the August/September time?

Anyway, it’s been another week, and how many runs? Not enough!

I did go for one run that ended up being a bit longer than I had planned because I got a bit lost — I was trying to cross over a big A road and kept searching for an underpass which didn’t materialise so I had to turn around. I need to find some new routes! I also wasn’t breaking any land speed records — at one point a bug flew into my mouth… Does that mean that you’re going so slowly they think you’re a tree?

My sporting activites this week have been a bit random. I ended up playing in a cricket tournament all day on Saturday which was really fun, but I am still not sure that my cricketing skills are anything to write home about. I only batted in one game and the other team kept me in on purpose because they knew I wasn’t going to score enough runs!

I also played netball this week — two matches in one evening, as I played for my team and then another team were short on numbers. But I’m not sure that netball is going to get me round 13.1 miles… I did feel a little twinge in my ankle which wasn’t good. If I can’t last 80 mins playing netball, then I’m worried!

I’ve started receiving donations on my JustGiving page which is exciting! I need to decide when I should do the big push of asking all my friends and family. It is still three months to go until the day, so I’m thinking I should wait until it’s nearer the time. Does anyone have any experience on this?

Tonight I am DEFINITELY going for a run….

We still have places left in the Royal Parks Half Marathon if anyone is interested…

So another week, and still not very much running done.

I was planning on going on a run one night and ended up personalising my JustGiving page instead. This did take a long time, but it is definitely worth doing. If you have an online fundraising page open personalise it NOW.

I’ve decided I want the money I raise to go to our Children’s Emergency Fund. This is because I couldn’t decide between getting the money to go to our work in Niger and Afghanistan. Children in both of these countries are in serious need of our help. Now I just need to get my family and friends to donate…

So I really didn’t get much running done over the past couple of weeks. According to the 16 week beginner training programme for the Royal Parks, I was scheduled in for three runs of 20 mins this week plus one 40 min run on Sunday….I only managed to do the 40 minute one on Sunday — eeek! But the run I did was actually quite enjoyable.

It was a beautiful evening and I found myself relaxing into it. Having relaxed shoulders and breathing is going to be part of the challenge I think, but it feels so much easier when I am relaxed. I got some good songs on my Ipod and my route took me through a park and down to the River Thames, so it was quite a picturesque run — intermittently also running alongside busy A roads (part of the joy of running in London). I used a website called map my run, to work out that it was 3.78 miles. I was quite happy with that.

Finding the time to run is the issue for me. When you get home late from work and still haven’t had supper, it is difficult to find the motivation to go for a run then. But then again, if I spend half an hour watching a repeat of a Friends episode I have already seen 50 times, or I go for a run around the park, which is going to get me round 13.1 miles come October!?

97 days to go….

If you are interested in running the Royal Parks Half Marathon with me, get in touch as we still have places left!

Only 6 days to go until Griff tackles the Royal Parks Half Marathon

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Sick of the endless pop rubbish coming out of the gym speakers? then put some earphones in; you might even get a faster time!

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Have now been back home just over a week and still finding it hard to adjust back to ‘normal’. Miss being surrounded by 61 other people and believe it or not I miss the chicken and rice!

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Well – still no satellite connection I’m afraid so you’re stuck with me I’ve had very brief contact with someone lower down the mountain and the word is that the team are still enjoying themselves and spirits are high (there must be a variety of ways to understand the word enjoyment!).

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Connectivity continues to be an issue. I managed to speak to Kathryn from Save the Children for just a few minutes who told me a bit about day 1 of the RB Global Challenge 2009. They started with a big yoga class and climbed to 4000m where they celebrated before climbing higher. Morale was excellent and the views breathtaking.

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