Running Man

One of my favourite hobbies is Running, although i say hobby i'm now taking it a little more serious and shall be entering competitions from Feb 2008! I assume i will be FAR from the best but my ambition is just to complete the courses in a respectable time and to raise as much money for charity as possible. Some competitions have set charities but where they dont i shall be choosing the NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) I remember this being one of the first charities i gave money to so i have decided to stick with this, on occasions i shall also be raising money for a group of people i met while in Zambia (Africa), the money here will be for children and adults for education, foods and construction.

I run at a place called the Abbey Stadium, it has a gym, running track and indoor sports facilities. i have used the track for around 8 years now but only joined the gym in 2007, this is because i played football in between runs so didnt need the gym. I used to average 4 miles per day and never really ran over 5 miles at a time but late last year i started to do 6 - 7 mile runs and also weights in the gym and continued to play football with friends.

My personal best was for a 10km run was achived this week and was 41 mins. Today is the first time i will be training with a running club where my cousin runs(its something iv'e been meaning to do for a while!) Its with my cousin where i shall be running at Brands Hatch in Feb, its a 10k race and should give me some good practice for a half marathon im 'hoping' to compete in at Silverstone in March.

From Feb 18th 07 - 3rd Jan 08 i ran 55 miles, i have found some days really tough but im hoping running with my cousin will give me some idea on running more efficiently as he has alot more experience at running at a good level. I've also picked up some great tips and advice from a forum (about.com) see the link below. Alot of the people there do alot more than i do and compete in 1/2 and full marathons, mostly in the USA. It was just talking to some of them and seeing their blogs and stories that made me take running more seriously, it was the final push i needed.

I played football from the age of 9, 4 1/2 years professionally, but i have found it alot different to training for big runs. I used to train 3 times per week (minimum) and play once per week in a game. Endurance is the key and i'm slowly learning how to pace myself instead of just flying out the front door and running until i nearly drop, lol! Below is a pic of where i train!!

From 25th Dec 07 until now (August 08) i have ran nearly 800miles, this includes Roads, Track and Treadmill. I hope to hit the 1000mile mark by December 25th of this year!!

i entered a 10k race for sports relief this year at the abbey stadium, i raised £40 and completed the race in just over 37 minutes and finished 2nd (my cousin came 1st!!)

We also entered a 10k race for leukaemia charity in Bromsgrove and this was a road/country lane run, probably the hardest race i have ever done, i came 10th out of 250+ people in 41 minutes.

This October (08) i am running in Nottingham in a race called 'survival of the fittest' it's a 10k race with army obstacles every mile! my training at the minute includes running approximately 20-25 miles per week (+ football), weights and hill sprints.