As you should know by know my plan for the year was to run four marathons, one in each of Wales, Scotland, England and Ireland for MND Scotland.
The start of October saw the English leg with the Chester marathon.
Category: Running
My worst race ever.
Prior to the 2012 Edinburgh Marathon I have only ever not finished one race before – a Strathclyde parkrun when I pulled my hamstring.
Bearing in mind I did the Great Welsh Marathon last month – I was just doing some “easy” runs as I “know” I can “do” a marathon so I was just treating this period as an extended taper/recovery period.
On Sunday the day was very sunny and hot.
I had multiple applications of factor 50 sunscreen – been upping my hydration in the days before, the only thing I did differently was grabbing a tuna sandwich rather than my usual porridge.
The Plan
My plan was to run 12:00 miles in the hope of beating my PB of 05:42.
I knew I’d have to revert to a run walk strategy from about mile 19ish but I should have enough in the tank for about a 05:30 finish.
What Happened
I knew I would start way faster than my planned pace so for the first three miles it was a case of forcing myself to slow from 10:00 to 11:00 until I settled at a comfortable 11:30 pace.
I started feeling a bit “wobbly” at about 9 1/2 miles so I had a walking break, a gel and some water.
This was fine until mile 10 when I “lost” my breakfast – not exactly lost – I knew EXACTLY where it was !
More water and gel and I soldiered on with a walk/jog until mile 12 (15:00+ mins per mile) when I knew if at this point I was having to play mental games to force a jog – there was no way I could continue.
After 20 minutes sitting by the roadside – thanks to everyone who took the time to check I was OK – I started the long slow walk back to the start.
The Future
I have two more marathons in the plan – Chester 7th October and Dublin 29th October so hopefully the heat will not be as big a debilitating factor.
I still “owe” a Scottish marathon from my 4 marathon plan – I have an inkling as to how to address this – stay tuned for more info!
This year my fund-raising for MND Scotland involves running four marathons in Wales (Llanelli), Scotland (Edinburgh), England (Chester) and Ireland (Dublin).
Last weekend saw the first of these.
I have never been a fast runner – but parkrun has always been a competitive event for me.
If I have not been chasing a personal best (PB), I have at least been trying to shave a few seconds off my time for the previous week or trying to pass the runner just in front (truth be told I always aim for the person two in front, to make sure I PASS the person in front of me).
This year, what with a series of coughs, colds, splutters, work commitments and various slight injuries; my running has really suffered and my head has not been in the right place either so I have really neglected my marathon training schedule.
I was supposed to be tail running at Strathclyde parkrun event 99 but John Edge asked if he could take my place – he is tactically planning to run his 50th parkrun at our 100th event next Saturday. This left me free to run the event at my own pace! I’m still nursing a slight pull to my hamstring and I was supposed to be running the Alloa half marathon the following day, this left me free to pick my own pace.
Just as we started there was that ominous sound from my Garmin – No Battery, my watch died. Nothing left for it but to just run and listen to my body – run at a nice comfortable pace and enjoy the view and enjoy the company.
This resulted in one of my best parkrun running experiences ever – comfortable enough to have a conversation and enjoy the view. Running in a different part of the field from normal allows you to meet completely new runners, I’m privileged to be a regular volunteer so I do get to see most of the runners but maybe not have as long a chat as I would like.
So why don’t you try it – experience a parkrun at a completely different pace!
Disclaimer : I’m on the core team for Strathclyde parkrun and am always on the lookout for new runners to join our event or do one of the easy volunteer roles that enable our events to be enjoyed by so many.
photo credit: aye_shamus
After my first ever #parkrun DNF (Did Not Finish) due to pulling my hamstring I have finally LEARNED my lesson.
A Warmup/Cooldown and stretching regime is MANDATORY!
My question is this:
What do you consider to be the “best” options?
- A gentle run
- Static stretches
- dynamic stretches
Feel free to send links to YouTube etc as appropriate.
For those that don’t know, my eldest daughter Emma Berry Goodman passed away in September 2008 from Motor Neurone Disease. Whilst she was with us we were greatly helped by three fantastic charities: MND Scotland, Marie Curie Cancer Care and the Childrens Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS).
For the last three years I have dedicated a years fundraising to each of these charities. This year my challenge was to run 1,000km in 2011 for Marie Curie Cancer Care.
If everything goes to plan then I will achieve my 1,000th kilometer when I run in Strathclyde Parkrun – event number 86 on Saturday 17th December.
I know that this is an expensive time of year but if you could see your way to giving a donation at https://www.justgiving.com/1000k-in-2011 or by texting “Ross70 £5” to 70070 – feel free to adjust the amount as you see fit!
Every £20 raised helps to provide 1 hour of nursing care and I can personally vouch for how invaluable the Marie Curie are!
Thank you all for your donations and your support and encouragement in this past year!
If you would like to see just how far 1,000km actually is have a look here.
Categories
The Home Straight
As you should know I set myself the challenge of running 1,000km in 2012 to raise money for the fabulous folks at Marie Curie Cancer Care. I have been slightly tardy with my updates but I am please to report that Iâm getting close: I have just 110 km to go. i.e. I have run 89% of the planned distance with one month to go.
I had hoped to be able to raise £1000. Every £20 raise helps provide an hourâs nursing, £1,000 would equate to 50 hours care! Unfortunately Iâm only at £766 or 76% of target. I am putting a big push in, Iâm planning to run every day in December to guarantee that I hit my km target but I need some help from you to make sure that I hit my £ target!
I understand that these are financially trying times and December is an expensive month but this is exactly when we should be thinking of others. Any donations at all will be gratefully received at https://www.justgiving.com/1000k-in-2011 or you can donate via your mobile phone by texting âRoss70 £5â? to 70070
OK it’s been a week since I finished my second marathon:
This was the first “big” race in my year long 1,000km in 2011 for Marie Curie.
To just add an extra element to the marathon my friend Andy from Reynard Nursery asked me to tweet every mile. I knew every mile would be very offputtingbut I thought I would give it a go. My marathon day tweets start here. I had experimented with VLingo for my BlackBerry which I was carrying anyway. My pre race day tests were all fine – press a button – speak – translated into text – press a button to confirm sending it to Twitter – easy. On the day, being a little breathless and having a howling gale (more of that later) things didn’t go quite to plan. “Four Miles” was translated as “F******* Hell” and “Five Miles and Feeling Good” was translated as “Hi Smiles and Feeling Good”. I reverted to typing after that.
Edinburgh Marathon 2011
As you should know by now I’m running the Edinburgh Marathon to raise funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care. This event is part of my challenge of running 1,000km in 2011. Every £20 raised for Marie Curie helps provide one hour of nursing care. Marie Curie were a fantastic help with my daughter Emma before we lost her to MND.
If you are feeling generous I will be accepting donations until the end of the year at http://www.justgiving.com/1000k-in-2011
If you would like to follow me during my marathon I have set up my phone so you can track my progress:
Another way you can track my progress is via Twitter: https://twitter.com/rossgoodman
I will be attempting to live tweet during the run using VLingo on my phone which should tweet whatever I speak to it. Who knows how well it will work when I’m a bit “breathless”.
As you may knowI am planning to run 1000km in 2011 to raise funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care.
To date I have run 164km or 16.4% of my target distance – unfortunately I am only at 4% of my fundraising target – Never mind I have the Meadows (half) marathon, the Kilomathon and the Edinburgh Marathon in the next few months to give the fundraising a boost.
I thought it would be fun to visualise just how far 164km is, turns out I would be almost at Newcastle by now!
You can see this by clicking here.