London Marthon
Published by Running Admin on Tagged RacesThis year the London Marathon entry process is being done on-line. Great I thought that should make it easier to register. Until a had a look on the Monday after the London Marathon to find the entries had already closed. All initial 80,000 ballot entries have been taken. I guess it just goes to show that everyone is online these days. I guess one thing that must be true is that running must be very popular. Anyway the entries open again on Monday 21 April at 9am. Be quick !
Click here to go direct to the site.
Running and the Flu
Published by Running Admin on Tagged IllnessRunning now feels like a distant dream at the moment as I have been struck down by Flue yet again. I am blaming my daughter for most of these problems as she seems to get it and then give it to me and the wife. So basically the whole house now has the Flu. After avoiding the doctors initially for a few days ( I like to think I can beat this things myself ) we are now all on anti biotics and hopefully on the road to recovery.
As a runner I just find it so frustartly that I can’t do anything apart from sit around and watch TV. My concentration does not seem to be there to read so this is my only option.
Oh well as the 80’s band Yazz used to say ‘The only way is up’
London Marathon Charity Place
Published by Running Admin on Tagged RacesAs normal I apply for the London Marathon every year in the hope of getting a place via the lottery system. Unfortunatly again this year I have failed to get in. Now although a little disappointed I was not sure I would be able to run due to my various injuries and I guess niggles but I would have to see at the time. I have in the past run the event for charity but it is hard work raising the large amounts of money charities now expect you to raise (most wanting over £1500 and more). I had a phone call a couple of days ago from one such charity that I had run for previosuly. The reason for asking me was that I had raised a good amount of money for them last time (although they did not set any limit) just for the record it was over £1000. The lady on the phone was honest enough and said they had asked a couple of people who in the past had raised a lot of money and I can understand they just want to get as much money for the charity as possible. I do feel though sometimes this type of system excludes most runners as I can say from experience raising large sums of money is not easy ( and collecting the money is even harder !). Anyway to cut a long story short I turned down the offer as I did not want the preasure of having to pull out due to my current problems (achiles, etc). Maybe I will be good enough to run a marathon later this year. I’m going to do a long run on Sunday (10-15 miles) to see what happens.
Take care and happy running.
Baby joggers - push chairs
Published by Running Admin on Tagged ShoppingMothercare have an excellant range of push chairs which allow runners to take there babies out with them whilst jogging.
They currently have a sale on. With saving of up to 50%.
Boxing Day Run
Published by Running Admin on Tagged OtherAfter the indulgence of Christmas day I deceided that I should drag myself out for a run today. This is the first time I have been for a run for over 5 days due to what seems like an on / off love affair I have been having with colds recently so I was looking forward to getting some fresh air.
I did just over 5 miles seeing a few people walking who I know and I am sure they must have thought that I was mad going for a run. It was an easy run and I did feel a lot better for it.
Now all I have to do is finsh off the remaining turkey and the Christmas cake. Like is tuff sometimes.
Paula Radcliffe - New York
Published by Running Admin on Tagged RacesPaula’s first marathon since the birth of her first child is going to be the 2007 New York Marathon. A marathon Paula has won previously back in 2004 when she had a sprint finish with the Kenyan Susan Chepkemei by three seconds. Probably one of the closest finishes for the New York marathon.
It is going to be a hard race with one of the strongest women’s fields.
I hope Paula does well and also hope that it will be on the TV in some form in the UK.
Paula’s return
Published by Running Admin on Tagged RacesIt was great to see Paula Radcliffe back in action following the birth of her baby daughter competing in the Great North run. It has been 21 months since Paula’s last competitive race and to come back and finish 2nd behind an excellant run by the American Kara Goucher was no disgrace at all. I got the feeling from Paula’s post race interview that she did not exactly feel the same way but this is why Paula Radcliffe is so good because she is never satisfied until she has won and 2nd place is not where she wants to be. It is great to see that she still has the motivation and does not want to rest on her already great moments in running history. I can’t wait for the Beijing olympics.
Current State of my running
Published by Running Admin on Tagged TrainingMy current training has been very slow. I have been suffering from Achiles Tendinites for over 10 months now and despite trying various methods the pain still exists. Things do slowly seem to be getting a bit better and I am hopeful for the first time this year things are improving. I have sent my application in for the London Marathon 2008 so we will have to see what happens. I guess if I am lucky enough to get a place I can at least defer until the following year.
It is vary depressing to go from being able to consistantly running 5 miles at 7 minute mile pace to only managing around 8 minute miles but this has all been down to lack of being able to run more then 3 miles without the pain getting to much or have to run so slow that the pain does not build to much. I will hopefully post an entry on what I have tried and why things seem to be improving shortly.