The year started well

I had the honour of running Bushy Park parkrun on 1^st January 2014 all down to the fact that I have a wonderful partner who organised our New Year’s Eve celebrations that were only 40 minutes away from Bushy. 

Ok it might not be everyone’s cup of tea to get up at 6:30am in New Year’s Day and pull on Lycra running capris and a head off in the dark, dank and drizzly morning at 7:30am!  I

suspect that a large majority were nursing hangovers and wondering /marvelling exactly how they ended up in bed not only underdressed but in their JP’s as the last thing they remember was singing along to meatloaf on the karaoke.

Now don't get me wrong I am not knocking it, if you can do it GREAT. However, long gone have the days where I could drink most of the night and still function the next day; feeling sick to my stomach is not something that I relish and the next day is always a write off for me and I always feel incredibly guilty about. 

Back to Bushy, if you don't know it already Bushy Park is a mecca for all parkrunners, it was where it all began back in 2004 with just 13 runners in Bushy Park, Teddington.  Bushy regularly gets well over 500 runners each week, it really a sight to behold, they have great signs like when you are in the audience of a TV show “Quite please during the run briefing” which made me giggle, and “caution hazard” signs which made me wonder was the marshal the hazard or something else!

I really enjoyed the run and you would think that being one of 571 finishers on the day and being over 100 miles away from home that I wouldn't know anyone. Well you would be wrong I met and chatted Joanne Sinton-Hewitt the wife of the brains behind the concept of parkrun. Only the week previous we had met the week before at my local parkrun where both her and Paul enjoyed the hills of Hanley parkrun before joining up for coffee at the church café afterwards.

My second encounter was Neil Hankey, who noticed my Trentham top, we got talking about how he was a native of Stoke on Trent and had run Hanley parkrun on a number of occasions when he visited home, which was all very nice but it was close to the finish and I really wanted to go sub 25 minutes for my 1^st parkrun of 2014. 

Aalst it was not to be (25:12 and finished 240th), but I can't really blame Neil it was a very wet and muddy finis. I think that if I had pushed on hard I may very well have performed a spectacular faceplant in the finish funnel, not something I would have wanted to be remembered for!   

I'm very close to celebrating my 50^th parkrun and I'm hoping that on my 2^nd day of being 40 I can also celebrate being 50!

To find out more about parkrun check out these links: 

"This is parkrun" video http://vimeo.com/10348812   

Weekly parkrun podcast http://www.marathontalk.com/parkrun.php

The parkrun website http://www.parkrun.org.uk/

The historical chart of parkrun “the zombie effect” http://www.parkrun.org.uk/results/historicalchart/

My local parkrun Hanley http://www.parkrun.org.uk/hanley/

My parkrun history http://www.parkrun.org.uk/results/athleteresultshistory/?athleteNumber=199129

Food for thought

As some of you know I am currently working my way through my Higher National Certificate in Sport and Exercise  I have found out some really really interesting things during my course this semester it is all about being physical activity, which brings me to the reason for my post, I have been researching my last assignment and found some very scary facts......

The World Health Organisation (WHO) have reported that Physical inactivity has been identified as the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality causing an estimated 3.2 million deaths globally. 

In a recent report published by the British Heart Foundation on physical activity it reported that in Great Britain the average distance travelled on foot or by bike by each person per year has decreased from 306 miles in 1975/76 to 221 miles in 2010.(now that is embarrassing!!)

Why is being physical important? 

WHO (2011) reports that people who are not physically active have 20% to 30% increased risk of all-cause mortality (DEATH). It is internationally recognized that physical activity such as cycling or walking has major health benefits, it can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and certain cancers all of which are classified as Non Communicable, which in means they are preventable we can do something about it. All you have to do to increase your chance of staying healthy for longer is get moving and get your arse up out of the chair and regularly going out for a walk. Here are the government guidelines 

Go on give a go, see if you can beat the odds and stop being average!!!  be extraordinary and try to double the amount of miles you are moving

Not the 1st but the 2nd

There is always something nice about the 1st of the month it is a little like starting all over again; a new start one where you can start a fresh eating more healthy, new exercise routine a brand new month to do better. 

Unfortunately this 1st of the month, however I have failed  by spending the day being  really unhealthy. Eating chocolate and anything else that was marked as naughty;  I should have say no to the Lindt bunny, the chocolate cupcake or even the chocolate cake.

Coupled with the fact that I am recovering from my 18 mile run back from Crewe yesterday I have done no exercise; yes I could have gone out for a walk but no, could have got my bike out but again and I have no excuse (although it would have meant me having to pumping up my flat front tyre). 

I have been a slave to my gluttonous and sloth like ways.  What is the matter with me, I seem determined to sabotage all my hard work, I really need to TRY HARDER. Well I am not going to wait until the 1st May!

I am going to start tomorrow and 2nd becomes the new 1st so have a great April everyone, I will be giving it a 150% effort will you?