Oh hey there!

Thanks for stopping by!

You might have recently received an email from me asking you to sponsor me. And you might be checking out my blog to see what this is all about and maybe (hopefully) to pay some of your hard earned cash onto my sponsorship page to help find a cure for blood cancer. Thank you if you are on your way over to do that, I appreciate it so very much.

As of today it is 109 days until marathon day! Training is going well and I have already clocked up 11 miles this week. I'm noticing improvements in my speed, endurance and energy levels. It has been great running with Team in Training (I do my long run with them every Sunday), having a group of people with the same goal as me is really motivating and having others to gossip with during our long runs makes them that much easier!

Now training is in full swing and I am constantly thinking about all things running I will begin updating here more often so come on back and see how I'm doing ... in the mean time please head over to my fundraising page and sponsor me, it will be your good deed for the day :)

The Dreadmill

The treadmill is not my friend

I feel that we have a hate hate relationship. I hate the dreadmill and it hates me right back . 

Today, after failing to get up at 6am and go out running (it was so dark! and raining! it was impossible.) I decided to hit up the gym after work and get my run in on the treadmill. I had 3.75 miles on the agenda. 

Mile 1 was pretty good, I had a decent pace and ran it in about 9mins30. I get so hot in the gym though, I get hot when I workout anyway and always enjoy a beetroot face for a while after working out. 

Mile 2 kicks in and I'm sweating, I'm thinking about how hot I am, thinking am I running too fast, thinking I'd like to just get this over with. Remembering why I hate the treadmill.

Then I got a stitch, I hate stitches!  I tried to run through it, doing the breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth thing which seems to just make me more out of breath, so I slowed down and walked to try and stretch it out. 

Then I got running again, and then ANOTHER stitch! This time on the other side, again I walk and stretch it out. I'm feeling really frustrated now and ridiculously hot. 

After getting running again I got yet another stitch, this time underneath my ribs, what is this! Then my arm starts aching, the dreadmill is out to get me, it's evil. This takes me up to around 3 miles, but the goal is to finish at 3.75miles. At this point I actually stopped the treadmill and was about to give up and go and shower. BUT (and this is a turning point for me I think!) I told myself NO, I have to finish this distance! 

So away I went again on, 0.75mile to go! Arghhh just let this be over, I walked some and then my Nike+ told me there was just 400 metres to go so I hit the speed button, and ran my little heart out. In my head chanting 'You are stronger than you know' Ahhh love the mantras. 

I did it, I'm pleased I did it, but anytime I think its a good idea to run on the treadmill I need to remember todays torture and re-read this. Regardless of the weather it is always better to run outside. 

Running lesson #17 learnt. The dreadmill is evil. 

Go big or go home - Training has begun!

The time has come, in 21 weeks I will be in San Francisco (flight booked yesterday!) and will probably be feeling some excited and nervous butterflies about running my first marathon!

This will be me! 

I begun official marathon training this week, I'm trying to post my plan to my 'training' page but as yet am not clever enough to figure out how to do that! It will come ...

 This week I had a word with myself, I plan to be getting up around 6am before work to complete weekday training runs. I often tell myself 'I will TRY to get up and run tomorrow', by thinking about it this way I am giving myself a way out ... "I tried, but I couldn't wake up".
This kind of thinking does not run a marathon.
So now my thoughts go along the lines of "I WILL" - I am committed to this, committed to raising the money for the Leukaemia and Lymphoma society and committed to succeeding in running a good race time! GO BIG OR GO HOME!

Based on this new train of thought, I got up at 6am on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and ran 3 miles each morning. It felt good and get my day off to an awesome start and meant that by the time I got to work I was fully awake! I also appreciated the lie in till 7am on Friday morning!

Thursday was the kick off party for Team in Training who I will be training and running the marathon with! It was great to meet all the other people who had signed up for this challenge and hear about why they chose to support the charity. The excitement and motivation from TNT is going to be invaluable! It is so good to be around people who are as passionate about something as you are! I love talking about running (not sure I ever thought I would say that!)

Sunday is our first group training run and I can't wait to get stuck in....