Wednesday, 20 April 2011
Saturday, 16 April 2011
TARGET!!
This morning at 09.30am I not only reached my target but surpassed it! As things currently stand I've raised £5,070 for Help the Hospices with more money still to come in. Thank you to everyone who has supported me. xxx
Thursday, 14 April 2011
Marathon Expo
I have just returned from registering at the London Marathon Expo at the Excel Centre. It was an amazingly efficent process to get my timing chip and race number but unfortunately that left a lot of time for mum and I to go wondering around the endless stalls! I managed to walk out less than 2 hours later with a special icing device that featured on Dragon's Den (!), a London Marathon jacket and, most importantly, a Garmin! For those of you less geeky bloggers out there, a Garmin is a running watch which monitors your pace and distance. It also has in-built GPS so you can connect to the Garmin website afterwards and upload all the data from your run. I went for the basic range and they vary greatly (up to £600!!) but I got a great 'marathon special' deal so am chuffed with it. I will be wearing it on Sunday so keep a look out for my blog on Monday where I'll be embedding all my Garmin data from my 26.2 miles for the world to see.
I haven't done quite as much running this week as I would have liked - last complete run on Tuesday. This was due to Excel visits today and a sports massage last night. Combined with starting my new role in a very busy department at work I've been working more on my eating and sleeping, although from what people tell this is better than overdoing it in your final week.
I am now tantalisingly close to my £5000 target but I'm not asking for any more sponsorship here. Instead I would like to thank everyone for their wonderfully kind words that I have been getting over the last few days. A couple of emails have even brought a tear to my eye and are all the motivation I now need to get through on Sunday.
I will be blogging again on Saturday. xxxxx
I haven't done quite as much running this week as I would have liked - last complete run on Tuesday. This was due to Excel visits today and a sports massage last night. Combined with starting my new role in a very busy department at work I've been working more on my eating and sleeping, although from what people tell this is better than overdoing it in your final week.
I am now tantalisingly close to my £5000 target but I'm not asking for any more sponsorship here. Instead I would like to thank everyone for their wonderfully kind words that I have been getting over the last few days. A couple of emails have even brought a tear to my eye and are all the motivation I now need to get through on Sunday.
I will be blogging again on Saturday. xxxxx
Sunday, 10 April 2011
Race Day Details
Dear all,
With one week to go, I've now sent the last dreaded begging email. This week I'll continue to blog, letting you know how I'm getting on with the build up to the big race next Sunday. A few of you have been asking about coming along to support so I just thought I'd include some info here. From what I've been told, knowing you have supporters there makes a world of difference do let me know if you're planning to be there and roughly where you'll be.
I will be setting off at 9.45am from Blackheath and am hoping to run 10 minute miles which should give you a rough indication of where I'll be and when but congestion at the beginning and potential for a heatwave (!) could shift these timings somewhat. I've attached the London Marathon spectator guide below which includes quite a good map.
Mum, Dad, Jacko and Becky will be covering the 4 Help the Hospices cheer points:
- Greenwich at 6.5 miles (approx 10.50am)
- Tower Bridge at 12.5 miles (approx 11.50am)
- Canary Wharf at 19 miles (approx 1pm)
- Embankment at 25 miles (approx 2pm)
Help the Hospices have a post race meet point at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre on Broad Sanctuary, just off Parliament Square, which friends and family can come to any time from midday. I reckon, all being well, I should be there by 3pm.
If it continues to stay mild I will be running in black and white shorts and a black and white t-shirt with a bright yellow Help the Hospices vest over the top. Keep your eyes peeled!
For contact on the day:
Dad's mobile: 07768 338 428
Jacko's mobile: 07941 727 661
My mobile: 07525 359 130
Once again thank you for your continued support and for any more last minute donations:
Bye for now... x
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Monday, 28 March 2011
Race weekend
Hi everyone,
This weekend I took part in the Human Race Breakfast Run in Kingston. It was a 16-mile, 2-loop circuit starting in Kingston Market Square before heading along the river to Hampton Court, down to Esher and back along the other side of the Thames. The early start was a bit of a struggle (we had to be in Kingston at 7.30. I guess the clue was in the word 'breakfast'!) but the weather was kind to us and I really enjoyed myself. I was able to run fairly significant negative splits (running a second half race that's quicker than the first), completing the first 8 miles in 1hr20, my marathon pace, and the second 8 miles in 1hr5. Jacko met me at the half way point armed with Lucozade gels and words of encouragement and I treated us both to brunch afterwards in the Bentalls Centre. I came eighth in my category (female 18-24), which sounds impressive unless there were 8 people in my group - I choose not to find out! My confidence has been really boosted by the successful race and I'm now very excited about the marathon.
Next weekend will be the final Long Run. Maybe 22 miles but I will wait and see how my knees feel before I decide.
The fundraising is going amazingly well. I can't believe how generous everyone has been. I'm just shy now of £3000 so if anyone reading this is yet to sponsor me and would like to make it a nice round figure then please do!
I would also like to draw everyone's attention to the amazing video made for St Richard's Hospice which is posted on this blog and on my Just Giving page. It has recently won a Gold Award for the 2011 International Communication Visuals Association and if you watch it I think you'll understand why
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exnXT7ZC5pM
More to follow soon. Lots of love xxx
This weekend I took part in the Human Race Breakfast Run in Kingston. It was a 16-mile, 2-loop circuit starting in Kingston Market Square before heading along the river to Hampton Court, down to Esher and back along the other side of the Thames. The early start was a bit of a struggle (we had to be in Kingston at 7.30. I guess the clue was in the word 'breakfast'!) but the weather was kind to us and I really enjoyed myself. I was able to run fairly significant negative splits (running a second half race that's quicker than the first), completing the first 8 miles in 1hr20, my marathon pace, and the second 8 miles in 1hr5. Jacko met me at the half way point armed with Lucozade gels and words of encouragement and I treated us both to brunch afterwards in the Bentalls Centre. I came eighth in my category (female 18-24), which sounds impressive unless there were 8 people in my group - I choose not to find out! My confidence has been really boosted by the successful race and I'm now very excited about the marathon.
Next weekend will be the final Long Run. Maybe 22 miles but I will wait and see how my knees feel before I decide.
The fundraising is going amazingly well. I can't believe how generous everyone has been. I'm just shy now of £3000 so if anyone reading this is yet to sponsor me and would like to make it a nice round figure then please do!
I would also like to draw everyone's attention to the amazing video made for St Richard's Hospice which is posted on this blog and on my Just Giving page. It has recently won a Gold Award for the 2011 International Communication Visuals Association and if you watch it I think you'll understand why
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exnXT7ZC5pM
More to follow soon. Lots of love xxx
Sunday, 20 March 2011
One month today....
Hi Everyone,
As I write this I'm trying to imagine how I'll be feeling this time in 1 month....Elated? Relieved? In agony?!
I made it round 20 miles of Dorset countryside this weekend and although it was quite a struggle from mile 15 onwards there was certainly less blood, sweat and tears than last weeks excruciating 18-miler. I've downloaded Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall onto my ipod, which is 8 solid hours of Cromwellian drama. It was good company for about 2 of the 3.5 hours but when things got tough Henry VIII was quickly replaced by uplifting, cheesy pop!
The rest of my weekend was much more relaxing. I had 7 friends down in Dorset and we spent a lot of time lounging outside in gloriously warm spring sunshine before drowning our sorrows after a dismal England performance against Ireland on Saturday evening. Nutrition consisted of a very sticky chocolate cake, After Eight cheesecake, beef brisket and all you can eat carvery today - the diet of heroes.
Next weekend I'm running the 16 mile Kingston Breakfast Run. I'm not going to compete seriously because now is not the time to be overdoing things but I will be using it as good practice for race day. What to eat and drink and when. How to run with large crowds etc. I'll send an update next Sunday evening to let you know how I get on.
Lots of love xxx
As I write this I'm trying to imagine how I'll be feeling this time in 1 month....Elated? Relieved? In agony?!
I made it round 20 miles of Dorset countryside this weekend and although it was quite a struggle from mile 15 onwards there was certainly less blood, sweat and tears than last weeks excruciating 18-miler. I've downloaded Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall onto my ipod, which is 8 solid hours of Cromwellian drama. It was good company for about 2 of the 3.5 hours but when things got tough Henry VIII was quickly replaced by uplifting, cheesy pop!
The rest of my weekend was much more relaxing. I had 7 friends down in Dorset and we spent a lot of time lounging outside in gloriously warm spring sunshine before drowning our sorrows after a dismal England performance against Ireland on Saturday evening. Nutrition consisted of a very sticky chocolate cake, After Eight cheesecake, beef brisket and all you can eat carvery today - the diet of heroes.
Next weekend I'm running the 16 mile Kingston Breakfast Run. I'm not going to compete seriously because now is not the time to be overdoing things but I will be using it as good practice for race day. What to eat and drink and when. How to run with large crowds etc. I'll send an update next Sunday evening to let you know how I get on.
Lots of love xxx
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