Face the sunshine

I took on the Erewash half marathon during August. The first thing that sets this apart from other events I've taken part in is that it was on a Saturday. I was actually glad of this on the morning and for the rest of the weekend after the run. It meant an additional day of getting up early as I had done for five days in a row for work and this was easier than having a longer sleep on Saturday and getting up early on the Sunday! It also meant runners had the whole weekend to recover...I was struggling Saturday afternoon so glad not to have work the following day! I try and enter mostly off-road events and this half marathon was along a canal path so I thought it would be a good entry into the half marathon distance and would be semi-rural so not a totally built up environment. The course was completely flat due to being next to a canal and it was nice to see other people enjoying the tow path including lots of dog walkers and cyclists as well as admiring some of the canal...

View from the start line queue On Sunday 24 th  June 2018 I completed my first half marathon, the Round Sheffield Run. The event is billed as ‘a  trail running enduro that is a unique creative "multi-stage" running event following the beautiful Round Sheffield route, a superb running journey linking some of the best trails and parkland.’ There are 11 timed stages which make up 20km and interval stages in-between the timed stages for runners to get to the next stage in another park/location. In total the route was 24.5km/15 miles and runners get a time for each stage as well as an overall run result. I hadn’t run anywhere near this distance but felt that this event would be a good introduction to a half marathon due to the ‘recovery’ interval stages….I was wrong, just as I was about understanding there to be a ‘few hilly sections’. I heard one runner say he had lived in Sheffield all of his life and didn’t know where all the hills were coming from o...

I haven't run a Parkrun on a Saturday for a couple of months now and that's not entirely as bad as it sounds. I've found that Parkrun was a springboard to other running adventures and at the moment I'm not too concerned with getting a new PB on the 5k distance but looking at increasing the distance I can comfortably run.  Without a doubt I would not have discovered a love for running without hearing about and getting involved with Parkrun and it was a great introduction for someone who had never run before. I will return to it and hopefully go to some other locations as a 'tourist'.  I've now done part of both the White Peak trail (10.5k) setting off from Ashbourne and the Dark Peak trail (12k) setting off from Hayfield. Both were organised events by a company that runs events throughout the scenic Peak District. These were the first proper events I had entered and I was really pleased with my times for both, although it was more about completing the...

I recently took part in my first official trail event and was pleased to see that even at more official events there was still cake at the end of the run! There were two events taking place on the day, a short run of 6.6km and a longer run of a whopping 16.8km that I think I would have struggled to walk, sounds a great, long distance! As it was my first event I registered for the shorter run to see how I got on and judging by the entries for the longer distance am glad I did as they looked like professional athletes that could go on to bike and swim after their event. Everyone was emailed a required kit list in advance of the day and here's a photo of mine in an Inov8 'ultra race' pack...I don't think I'll ever be racing anywhere and certainly not in any 'ultra' mode! In my pack I had: windproof jacket, running cap, waterproof trousers, waterproof jacket, compass, spare change, tissues, protein bar, babybel, banana, water, my phone, a map of the route ...

I'm supporting the 'Colostomy UK' 50K challenge which aims to prove that having a stoma is not a barrier to being active by inviting people with stomas to do a variety of activities that count towards an overall 50,000KM over a 6 month period. People can walk, jog, run, climb, swim or cycle any number of metres and can also raise funds for the charity through sponsorship. I'm already trying to be fairly active and the reason I started this blog was to show people that you can live a healthy and active lifestyle when you have a stoma so this challenge was something I was keen to get involved with. After registering I was sent a pack which contained a 50K challenge t shirt that I could wear when exercising to help raise awareness and a pedometer to track my progress. I'll then log any activity on the Colostomy UK website which can be done daily, weekly or monthly. There's a live counter on the website that shows the total of KM travelled so far by every...

I've recently started volunteering with an organisation funded by Macmillan Cancer Support. This role is as well as my Girlguiding role and not instead of. I've registered as a befriender in my local community and regularly visit an individual that has been affected by cancer. I provide companionship and support and usually start my visits with a catch up about the week and having a hot drink together. It's great to be able to give back in my community even if it's just on a small basis, I know that I'm part of a support network for someone.

I'm seeing an improvement in my fitness and a great measurement of this is burpees! I started the year barely being able to do them properly, partly due to strength and partly mind of matter of my head telling me that I would collapse if I tried to hit the floor with my hands whilst kicking my legs back! I'm still very slow at them and will never break any records doing the 'one minute challenge' of how many you can do but my technique is a lot better and my stamina has improved so that I can fully get down, do a press up, jump up and do a tuck jump - far more of an advanced burpee than what I was previously doing. I'm really enjoying high intensity classes at the gym including circuits and a GRIT class where I'm even doing jumping lunges which I wasn't just a couple of months ago. The GRIT session is 30 minutes of high intensity exercises which you do for short periods of time with rest periods in-between. I feel a real sense of achievement when I...