Why am I doing this?

Its only 4 weeks away, am I nervous.... erm yep!

I have had an injury the last few weeks since the MK half and am still trying to be 'fit' for the start line on the 21st April.  I have been advised that if I make it to the start 98% of people finish... that's all that matters to me this year!

I keep remembering the quote "Of course it's hard.  Its supposed to be hard.  if it were easy, everybody would do it.  Hard is what makes it great."
- Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) from 'A League of their own'

So why am I putting myself through this?  3 years ago our family's life changed forever - that may sound dramatic but sadly it does change you as a person and also the family.  That's not to say I don't feel we have all come a loooonnnng way since then.  I love my little men dearly and feel blessed we went on to have a gorgeous little Samuel, who brightens up our days.

Little Sophie's death sometimes still feels like a dream, the memories of the days blur and the images you retain in your head are lead by the pictures we still have.  As with any loved ones who leave our lives, you hold on to all those items/photos that remind you of what you had or could have had.  We want more than the photos, I want more...... but sadly, that's it, its all I have.  What I really want is my baby girl who would now be 3 years old and just starting nursery school this year, I would have seen her in her Christmas show, her Easter bonnet parade and celebrated 3 birthdays with pink stuff everywhere!

What could we do to help people in our situation.... to be honest not a lot, its cra@ppy and I can take none of the pain or hurt away from them.  But I can look forward for them, I would love to give them more to remember their little ones by.  I came across hand and foot casting of stillborns through my photography work, I was touched by a lady who had lost her first baby but had the castings when she was at Swindon Hospital.  I loved the fact that the castings were so tactile and reflected so well the form and prints of her little ones feet.  It felt more real that photographs.  I wanted one!!!!!

50% of the money I will raise goes to the materials, training and making of hand and foot castings, making this a free service for all stillborn children at the Horton Maternity Hospital.

The Horton Hospital have been fantastically supportive and have loved the idea,  Claire (Delivery Suite Manager) and Yolanda (Fundraising project manager) have researched and planned how we proceed with implementing the castings.  We are planning a visit to Swindon to see how it works and then use the ideas back in Banbury.  I can't wait to have a trial up and running, if we can prove it is viable we hope the Sands group linked to the Hospital will support the project ongoing.

I am blessed that I have been able to be so hands on with exactly where your money will be going and will ensure that it is a success.

30% of the money also goes to Sands to help support all the other families who rely so heavily on their services after a bereavement.

10% of your money goes to Macmillan who were so good with helping my own mum, with care when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011.

10% goes to an amazing charity, Muscular Dystrophy who fund research to cure this condition and also support families affected by it.  Our close friend's son has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy which causes progressive muscle weakness.  He is an amazing little boy (not so little now!) and currently is fairly fit and healthy..... long may that last.  Love you Ethan! xxxx

So that leads us to the answer...... why am I doing this........ 

why would I not!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE!

Sweepstake, Six weeks and Snow!

Referring to the title, these are the 3 exciting things that have happened this week!

1. My Sweepstake is now live!!!! YAY! its taken me a while to collect and confirm prizes from all my lovely very generous friends/family and set up the webpage for you all to take part.  A huge thank you to my contributors, they can all be found next to their prize details here.

To enter my sweepstake take a look at how it works HERE.  Come on get donating and win a prize!

2. Six weeks to go!! I still have 3 big training weekends before I start tapering before the big day, next weekend sees a 16 mile training session - this will be the furthest I have ever run! as I got up to 15 miles for my 2012 training before I was injured. Then its 17 and 18 miles for the next two following weekends.  I am struggling during the week with training as I am recovering from the long runs and quite frankly I hurt! but am going to keep going with some interval and fartlek training (German for speed play) where I can.  My aim is just to keep injury free so I get to the start.

3. This weekend saw the MK Half Marathon where myself, my brother Richard and his running buddys Alan and Jen, took to the streets of Milton Keynes.  It was bitterly cold and snowing most of the way round, it made for rather a cold miserable Mothers day for me.  However, I enjoyed the race element and tried to beat my half marathon PB of 2h 22m but only missed it by 2 minutes.  I did however have a new PB for my 5k of 30 mins 30 sec.

7 weeks and counting.....

So this week saw a long run of 15 miles which I was not particularly looking forward to.  I decided earlier in the week to go to Pitsford which is a reservoir near us and is about 6.5 miles all the way round, so I knew it would be 2 and a bit laps.

So I got there at about 9.15 this morning and found I was not alone, many other runners and cyclist also think its a great place to run, plus there was an madeyarun marathon event which started at 9.30 so lots of people milling around.  I headed out 15 mins before them but soon found I was being lapped by many people.  It does nothing for your confidence when you are trying your hardest and people whizz past looking like its a walk in the park.  So I decided that I would do the 2nd lap backwards, now I don't mean running backwards 'cause that would really silly. It felt much better!

Mile 13 onwards was hard, especially as I had to run past the carpark and back out for 1 more mile to then turn round and come back again.

Just as I passed the race start for the marathon guys the 1st man was just finishing his 26.2 miles! it puts it into perspective how fast some people are........ I am not made for speed!

However all in all a good 15 miles in 2 hours 59 minutes.

So next week is the MK half marathon for myself and my brother, so only 13 to do, however that is quickly followed by the week after where I'm back up to 16 miles.  Suggestions on anywhere else beautiful to run would be greatly appreciated?

Some very exciting news to come next week on the donations front, watch out for my email/post on facebook about the up and coming sweepstake I will be running.  Win some fantastic prizes and help out my charities at the same time, what could be better :)

A couple of piccys from today :)

Half way there.............

Yesterday I ran half a marathon! 13.2 miles in 2 hours and 35 minutes and burnt 2000 calories ........

So to put this into perspective that's the equivalent of:

• Running from Towcester to Milton Keynes City centre to do a spot of shopping
• Running whilst watching the film 'The Sound of Music' although would not like to run in a nuns outfit!
• Burning off the calories of eating 100 Jelly Babies, eating the heads first obviously
• Running 52 times around a football pitch, less dull than watching a match I would say!
• Running whilst watching 7 episodes back to back of 'Friends'......'how you doin'..........
• Burning off the calories of two 'Big Mac' Meals yeuch!!!!

This time I ran with podcasts playing rather than 2+ hours of continuous music, so if anyone has any good books I could listen to or any interesting/funny etc podcasts they can think of the please let me know!

Just because I can't do anything without sneaking a little photograph in, google 'Nun running' here it is........ Nun running.... she does look remarkably happy about it! :)

Keeping me 'Appy' running - Give us a CHEER!!!!!

Okay, so I use two lots of timekeeping/distance tracking devices.... maybe its an OCD, but I need to know at all times how I am doing.... its just my thing!

Firstly I have a great little Garmin watch which has my heart rate monitor paired to it so I can see how much I am pushing myself and at a glance, distance and pace, this is great but I found an 'app' I love more!

The Nike running app I think is fantastic, its a motivator as well as a tracker and I NEED the motivation sometimes.  Okay yes the app is American and the lady (or man should you wish) who talks in my ear can some times be a little annoying, but she is positive and lets me know how I am doing.

So what features do I most like from this little app:

1. You can connect it to its online 'mummy' app at www.nikeplus.nike.com which gives you sooooo much info, stats and targets which is motivating in itself, how far you have run in total, average run, how many weeks you have been running, plus your all time records.  Obviously it maps all your individual runs via GPS with splits etc.  Your iphone will automatically sync when you get home to your computer.

2. Whilst you are running you plug your headphones in and the nice American lady will tell you how you are doing, i.e. distance and your pace per mile, I set mine to tell me every half mile but you can change this, plus it syncs any playlist you want to listen to so at a touch of a button at the start of running it sorts music out for you too!  You can set it to a certain distance per run, okay today I am going to run 11 miles, she counts you up to half way then tells you how far you have left, just before you finish she will tell you 'You are nearly at your target, keep going!' then at the end you get a random sports personality congratulating you on how you have done ~ cheesy I know but its instant gratification for a long hard run!

3. I have my app set up to sync mine with Facebook, which when you then start a run it automatically add it in to my status.  Then whenever someone 'comments' or 'likes' my status and I am out running I get a cheer and clapping in my ear!!! how great, what a lovely thing to hear that someone is rooting for you (albeit in the comfort of their homes, probably sat on the sofa, but I try and dismiss this thought!!)  So when I am in the middle of the countryside, on my 8,9,10 etc mile I can randomly get a cheer and it pushes me on! ~ you can even 'like' then 'unlike' and 'like' again just to give me more!! lol : )

So before everyone starts thinking I am suddenly employed by Nike PR! I shall leave you to download this little app, try it out for yourself and see if you like it!  Tell me what you think?

And remember if you ever see this posted on my Facebook, 'LIKE' the status, give me a cheer, keep me running!! :)

"Snow way I can run on the roads!"

What a lovely week of snow, kids have loved it and I think I could probably add in a couple more miles of hiking the kids around on their sledges.

But as for running on the roads its been too dangerous here, tried it last year and many times nearly landed on my behind!  After my injury last year I decided to err on the side of caution and if there are other options available to train then I will take them rather than risk another injury.

I approached a local Gym a while back and asked if their donation to my training could be the use of their gym when I can't get out on the roads.  They have been fantastic and agreed to help in any way, so twice this week I have been to the gym and had an hour cross training and on the treadmill, not only is this easier on my joints but I managed to wedge in a bit of hill training too!

So this week I would like to give a huge thank you to Adam from AGW fitness gym at Towcester Rugby club for their help.  Its a fantastic friendly gym with great equipment.  Join them here on Facebook.

A little motivation goes a long way......

I have been thinking recently how to motivate myself to get through the next 14 weeks of training. The thing about running is its very much a mental battle as well as a physical. No one wants to run for 2 hours+ on their own, training. So I am thinking what will help me get through the next 14 weeks. Its very personal, what motivates one person may not motivate another..... So here's mine:

1) Running with others - its not possible all the time but having a companion does mean you don't feel like you are doing this all by yourself.

2) Good music - I have tried many times running without it but it does help you get through those tough bits, having 'Greatest day' and Gary by your side does a girl a lot of good!

3) Seeing how far you have gone, how quickly and what you have left - This is one I definitely think is my OCD, I wear both a Garmin (which I can glance at on my wrist) and use my iphone with my Nike app on it, this provides my music and a American lady in my ear telling me what I am doing every half a mile and cheers from you guys 'liking' on facebook! - I am thinking of writing a post on this little app as I love it (coming soon!)

4) Telling people before hand what I am up to on that day - this means mentally you are stating that its going to happen, whether you fancy it or not! It makes it real and you feel obliged to go through with it. So sorry guys that's why I often post on facebook etc because it means I feel like I can't back out!

Am going to try a audiobook (if someone suggests a good one) or maybe a podcast (again suggestions welcome) as it does take your mind somewhere else away from your legs.

So what advice or suggestions have you got for me for the next 14 weeks?? please drop me a message below and tell me what you think!?

oh and I bought some new trainers.... : )

As always, feel free to sponsor me and I am still looking for a few more great sweepstake prizes for you lovely people to win on the big day!