...you enjoy passive running!

So there were two big events this week. The major one being my really good running friend completing her first ever marathon, the Virgin London Marathon! A fantastic blog about this can be found at..... http://hongeontherun.wordpress.com/ She did a fantastic job of 1) not stopping at all and 2) not even going to the loo for the full 4hours 44mins!

My Sunday was a little different to Hollys but similar in a couple of ways...

• I got up early
• I was nervous
• I had 2 packs of sweets and 2 bananas stuffed in my bag 
• I was really really tired and hungry by the end of the race

The only difference with this list is that I didn't get a medal as I didn't run the 26.2miles. I did however run around like a crazy person though with the help of tfl. Our Sunday started at mile 7 just past the Cutty Sark where about 10minutes after James, Paola, Reis and I arriving we spotted Holly. Well James did and me and Paola scanned the crowds until we finally saw our blonde haired friend with her short shorts running in the middle of the pack. We screamed her name so loud making sure she saw us. That she did and for a split second I thought she was going to turn around but off she went. Paola and I were very emotional at that point and were eager to get to our next stop, mile 14.
 Mile 14 meant walking past mile 21 so we got to see some really fast runners pound the ground getting amazing times! We set up post just along a really narrow street around mile 14 and I broke into the first packet of jelly babies. I didn't really know what to do but two really friendly men just told me to stick them in my hand and wait. That I did and it worked! I felt so happy to help people out while yelling encouragement. We got to mile 14 really early for Holly so it seemed ages until she came along and again James was the first one she saw. At this point she was over taking people so again we screamed encouragement at our favourite VLM runner and turned around to get to mile 21.
 We were going to try for mile 19 at this point but thought that we seeing Holly at 21 was more important and we shouldn't risk missing her. We tried to get a drink while we waited but the pubs in that area were a little dodge to say the least so we parked up at mile 21 and started clapping and yelling again.
  People I saw at this point were; a barefoot runner, a fetcheveryone.com runner, 2 Irish flag runners, an Aine, a Cookie, a star, a horse, a man in a leopard print outfit, Pierre, and many many more! This was also a point were people started to walk and I wasn't sure whether encouraging these runners would just annoy them. We got to see Holly again at this point where she muttered "It's so hard" but we wouldn't hear any of it and just kept screaming!

Holly at mile 21

At this point we got ourselves to the finish area where we waited until we could either call Holly or see her. We managed to find her and she was so happy! A little tired and achey but she looked great! She did such a great job and I have never had as much fun not running a race! Passive running is the best fun ever!! I would recommend it to anyone :)

Now my second event of the week is minuscule compared to Holly's feat but this morning I reached 200miles logged for this year! I think I may try to get 600miles for the year....we'll see. Last year my grand total was 292miles so I'm hoping to boom past this number and make it a bumper running year!

Roll on my long run Saturday!

...you can't function without a race in sight!

First half marathon medal of 2012 is hanging on the wall! Best race of the year ;) but the medal is lonely and I need motivation! So for the last week I have been searching hard for races in the London area. Little 5kms or 10km races. Something to keep the medals coming but there seem to be less this year! I blame the Olympics! The Olympics will be great but they are messing up my medal addiction majorly. But I can now breath again as I have signed up for 2 great races this summer and I plan on having a look at some abroad or further afield to keep me entertained.

So the first race to be had will be on July 8th in London town. The British 10k which will bring me around many of the famous sites of London! Yay! A nice 10km race to kick start the training again. Just a side note for anyone thinking of going for this one. It's expensive but you get to run through London and get a nice t-shirt. I think this should make up for it.
http://www.thebritish10klondon.co.uk/

Second race that I signed up for today.....The Royal Parks Half! I finally got my butt moving and emailed MNDA ( http://www.mndassociation.org/ ) again to ask about running for them and they were delighted to offer me a place. I love this charity as it is really close to me heart but love that they can help me out by letting me run. I will be fundraising like a mad woman for these two races now! So excited as I've wanted to do this half marathon for a while!
http://royalparkshalf.com/

Now to get back into training and maybe find a nice 5km somewhere along the way so I can pick up another medal for that length ;)

..you love medals!

Hervis Half Marathon Prague 31st March 2012


First half marathon of the year and I love Prague! I picked this half marathon last year as I wanted to go abroad for a half marathon, I loved Prague and the route was not hilly. One of the girls from my lab decided to join in on the action too and she managed to persuade a novice to join also! So off we went to Prague on Thursday the 29th. I had had horrible dreams of forgetting shoes, not turning up in time and dying so to say I was nervous is an understatement.

Getting into Prague the forcasted rain began. I had bought a had the Tuesday before for this reason and so that I could be easily spotted along the route. Night before the race we carb loaded, drank lots of water and got an early enough nights sleep. The race began at 12pm which was nice so there was no early morning rush at all! We had already collected our race kit which was fantastic! We were given a race bag with a choice from 5 colours and in the pack was sports bars, our race number with your country's flag on it (Go Team Ireland!) and lots of other small treats. Race numbers on and ready to go we got to our start area! The weather in Prague was cold and windy. Make that extremely blustery! I went on with my t-shirt deciding that I do get hot while I run and I don't want overheating to make me tired along with the gale force winds.

Race started with a prep call from the organisers calling out a lot of the countries that were racing and announcing that the president of the Czech republic would be firing the starting gun. And with that we were off to the sounds of Smetana's Vltava ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwd51vB7Uow ). Well unlike the Run to the Beat they walked us to the start line so there was no one running before the start line which was nice!

Onto the cobbles we went....

The crowds were amazing at the start line you couldn't not smile and be proud of yourself as you began the race! We ran down along the river passing through new town and the dancing house. Here I passed the elite runners for the first time which is always fun to see! We carried on into residential areas were there wasn't really any crowds but that was okay. There were teenage bands sprinkled around the place to give us some Czech music to listen to. We crossed the river at about mile 4 to do a little u-turn to make up miles. Along this part I did spot a huge beer sign which lightened my spirits! At this stage I was running 8.50min/miles and I was on top form! Even with the cobbles nothing was hurting and I was doing great time wise! Crossing back along the river before mile 6 brought us back to the start of the race (and more cobbles). Here I got to see the female runner finishing. That was both great and funny as I was only half way through and she was at the end! We crossed the river again and began the second half of the race. I was on time for my sub 2 hours and everything was going well. I had managed so far to not fall on any cobbles and keep up my pace. In this race there were relay racers as well as full half marathon runners. This meant that they only ran 3 miles with someone taking over their spot at a specified relay location. There were a lot of relay racers and they did not prepare that well it seemed. When you saw someone walking or slowing down it was more then likely a relay racer. Anyway this part of the run became very boring as there was nothing to see but river and bridges. Bridges we weren't crossing and slowly I was getting tired. I decided I wasn't going to refuel with my gel until mile 10 as this was where I normally took it. Coming up to mile 10 I was exhausted though and needed extra energy fast! I only ate/drank half of it as it seemed extra sugary today. My stomach did not seem happy with me and at mile 11 my pace slowed awfully. I was down to about 9.30/10 min/miles here. I decided I wanted to finish happy so sacrificing my pace and potential sub 2 was worth it. My stomach was in bits! I wasn't sure if I was dehydrated again or if I had drank too much water. The weather was warmer now it felt but the winds hadn't died down. There was a part at mile 11-12 where there was a huge gust of wind where the whole crowd groaned due to the force we had to exert to push against it!

This is when things were to change, I decided at mile12 to pick up my pace slightly and to not loose sight of 2 of my 3 goals.

1)Finish happy! (last race wasn't that happy a finish)
2) PB!
3) Sub 2hours (this was fading)

I got happy and began to try and encourage other runners again. I forgot to mention that I had decided to do this along the route and had been met with lots of stares of "why-are-you-trying-to-encourage-and-talk-to-me". Oh well. It made my feel encouraged. My lab friend nearly killed me by surprising me at mile 12.5 or so before she bounded off again. My feet were tired, my stomach wasn't happy but I got myself up to the last bridge were I couldn't not smile with all the people screaming encouragement from the side line! Random English people yelling made it all the better! My boyfriend was supposed to be waving an Irish flag somewhere at the end so I kept smiling, even if I couldn't see him I was not going to let him see me unhappy! Turning the corner for the last 200metres I picked up pace and "sprinted" (as best I could) across the finish line racing past some other runner to pip him at the post!

2hours 1min and 3seconds  

I couldn't wipe the smile off my face! I had completed the race with a smile and PB's by over 6 minutes! I walked over to get my medal with a handshake, congratulations and her putting it over my head. All the volunteers at the end were fantastic! They seemed so proud of everyone who had finished. There were oranges, bananas, warm tea, water, orange juice and sugar cubes at the end. The post race atmosphere was great! We even met a running friend from our plane from London that we had started chatting to en route. This man ~40years old had finished it in 1hour and 40minutes (from what I remember), fantastic!

This race was fantastic! I may have lost a toe nail to the cobbles and not got my sub 2 hours but I would recommend this race to anyone! The atmosphere was great, the route lovely (bar a couple miles) and the city itself a great place to grab a post race beer!

So what's next?! Think I'll grab a 10km to see me through the end of April :)