On Progress

Last week after complaining on twitter about being slowed down by hoards of slow, unaware students during my last 10 mile tempo run before this weekend's marathon, I received a reply back from a fellow runner who I'd chatted to before but had never gone to the effort of clicking through to read what she was about.  Her twitter profile told me she also ran the Paris marathon this year.  It also told me she ran it pretty darn fast.  And her half time was impressive too.

But it wasn't until I got through to her blog, that I was really impressed.  She's listed all of her races, in date order, and you can see her progression in times.  It's awesome to see how she has progressed. From a 29.20 pb in 2010 Sarah has worked her way all the way to a speedy 20.39 parkrun.  And her longer distances are equally awesome to see get better as time goes past.  

So I thought I'd just show you some of my journey.  Because it really is about taking loads (and I mean thousands) of little tiny baby steps - to make progress.  And it happens! 

In 2004 I entered a 9 mile run to raise money to go travelling.  I can't find any record of the time I finished this event but it felt like the longest thing anyone has ever run, ever.  I trained on country lanes around my parents house before I even owned an ipod! wow, right? 

Back from my travels in 2006 I ran a ' Race for Life' with Mom and Sis. I peed my pants. We all got very sweaty and probably slept all afternoon afterwards.  It was fun though.  Can't find my finishing time but I seem to remember it was somewhere around 35 minutes.  I was just pleased I'd run(/peed) the whole damn way. 

Pretty sure there were several other Race for Life events between the years of 2006-2010 but I can't find any record of finishing times... I can tell you now though, my main concern at the time definitely wasn't getting a pb or even a good time- it was just to run the whole 5k without stopping.  

I ran my first Parkrun at Heaton Park Manchester, early 2011:  27.06

I ran my second Parkrun in Fallowfield Manchester April 2011: 27.47

Fourth Parkrun, Fallowfield Manchester 30th April 2011: 25.40

I ran my first 10k in Manchester May of 2011 and couldn't walk afterwards.  For about a whole day. Finished in 1 hr 4 seconds.

Eighth Parkrun, Fallowfield Manchester 30 July 2011 24.36

I ran my first half marathon in Glasgow in 2011 and cried when I finished and couldn't walk for about 2 days.  It took me 2hrs 6minutes and it was painful! Above left is a 10k trail run I did as part of my training, the Relish Running Dyrham Park 10k.  Very hard but amazing to run alongside herds of deer. Above right is me just after finishing my first half marathon. 

Bupa Manchester 10k May 2012 53 mins

15th Parkrun, 1 September 2012, 23.55

Prague 10k September 2012 52mins

I ran my second half marathon in Petersborough in 2012 and it was pain-free.  The sun shone and I finished in 1 hr 53.

I ran my third half marathon in Wilmslow as part of my training for the Paris marathon.  It was freezing but I finished in 1 hr 49.

18th Parkrun 23 March 2013, 23.30

Completed my first marathon in Paris on 7 April 2013 in 4hr 10 minutes

I ran another pb this year at the Manchester 10k, a super hot day, sun blazing.  28 May 2013 49.26

19th Parkrun 8 June 2013 23.05

Two weekends ago I ran 22.02 at my 20th Parkrun, in 53rd place overall and 1st lady out of a field of 263 runners.  I also came first in my age category.  

This wasn't just an excuse for me to talk about myself loads.  I just wanted to let you know where I started, and I'm always trying to get better, and if you're thinking about starting running but just feel super slow and that you'll never get anywhere well now you know where's good to start.  I started with peeing my pants.  

A handful of things

I did it! Got my sub-50 10k pb.  Finished in 49.26 yesterday... not fully a fan of the 10k if I'm honest but hey it's good practice to keep getting faster and it was a lovely blue day in Manchester yesterday, proud to be part of it all.

Anyways in other news I'm signing up for Juneathon next month, I participated in Janathon earlier this year and it was a good way of keeping up with the blog and I met a bunch of runners through it as well.  If you're thinking of committing a bit more to running why not sign up and join in? I can assure you it'll get you motivated and have you in good form for summer!

I forgot to introduce my Spring greetings cards range and just realised that they've been up in my etsy shop for a little while and I didn't put them on my blog.  So, here they are.

Wanna get some of these? If you use the code SPRINGTIME you can grab FREE SHIPPING in my etsy shop, valid until 1 June 2013.

And lastly I'm obsessed with this song at the moment (I don't care what you say.) (The video may or may not make me a little teary) (the wedding at the end! Love.) Ok see ya laterrrrr

Running to the hills

Tomorrow is the Bupa Great Manchester 10K!!  I'm  hoping to break the sub-50minute mark.  It's the dream! I think I can do it, it's just whether I have the balls to do it.  I'm such a plodder at heart but my coach has helped me pull my finger out and work on my speed- through hills and fartlek and generally laughing at me when I tell him my previous race times.

Did a test run on Thursday at race pace for 8k - and despite a few stops here and there for traffic lights and gates and things I really focused on keeping my speed where it should be.  Lots of food tonight and a good night's sleep and hopefully tomorrow we'll be in business.

Over the course of my winter marathon training and during the past few weeks of run club I've really started to LOVE hills.  I prefer them to speed work.  Especially when it's kind of grey and drizzly and you've really had to drag your ass out the door.  They make you feel alive and like a runner and like you're doing yo'self a favour.

Anyways, here are some tote bags I thought up on a cold drizzly night last week - cuz I don't know about you but I may or may not take a spare running kit most places, just in case there's an opportunity to get my legs out, and it's nice to have a bag to put it all in.  Don't worry, it's spacious enough to fit your sweaty sneakers, a pair of shorts, your shiny race medal with still plenty of room for your A-GAME ;)  Available now in my etsy shop, in two super jazzy colours!