The Final Countdown...and other popular motivational songs!

In tonight's blog, I don't want to talk about how there are only two weeks until race day. Nor do I want to talk about how that means I'll have eight practice runs at the most until the race. I'm not even going to talk about the fact that I'm still not even half way towards my fundraising target.

This evening I'm going to talk about music.

For me, a big part of my motivation when I'm running comes from having some music on while I'm doing. There are a couple of ways it helps me. I run faster when listening song I really like that has a good 'drop'. When I'm getting near the end of the distance I'm running that day I encourage myself by thinking 'two more songs...'. Also, I think it generally just helps to make it more interesting, especially on the treadmill when there's no nice scenery to take in (well, apart some of the men!)

Generally, I just stick on a 'running trax' album and off I go - they're simple effective running songs. But out of the whole album I probably only listen to about seven songs. So as part of my final preparations (have I mentioned there are only two weeks to go?) I've decided it will be a good idea to put a raceday playlist to keep me going for the whole 10k route (which I'm still no where near being trained enough to do, in case you were wondering).

So I'm appealing for help! I want your suggestions of good, motivational, upbeat songs to keep me going. I'm not fussy about genre, however I've recently discovered dubstep can be quite difficult to run to! What would be great is if you've got a song that has a memory with me attached to it (for the extra motivation when that memory pops in my head while I'm running round!)

As ever, please don't forget the whole reason behind my blog is that I would love to raise a good amount of money for Alzheimer's Society!

Panic (v) sudden uncontrollable fear or anxiety

I received a parcel this week. Normally, when I get any form of mail I find it a bit exciting (needless to say that's because all my bills are emailed to me..) But my parcel this week is something I'd been expecting to come any day. The thing I'd been so eagerly awaiting was this (excuse the creases!):

I've always been a worrier and this weekend has proved to be no exception. As soon as the excitement of ironing the letters on (yes I ironed them on and neglected to iron the rest of the top) the panic started to set it.

Race day is bloody close now, and I can only just about manage half the distance of the 10k route. I did improve my Parkrun time by a good minute this week, but I need to be able to run twice that distance in what is now less than three. weeks.

Added to that, I'm moving house this week, which means training might get a bit difficult. I'm not saying I won't be doing any, but it's likely to be more frequent, shorter runs.

Only 21 days to go, and while I'm not saying I don't think I'll be able to do it (I'll crawl over that finish line if I have to!!), I'm really really worried that I won't be very good at it. And those of you who know me well will know that I don't like to be not very good at things.

I'm also worried that I've barely had any sponsors yet! I'm hoping that as next week's end of month pay day comes and the days to the race get nearer, then people will start to donate.

In summary, this weekend I'm panicking. I'm panicking about running, I'm panicking about sponsors and I'm panicking about moving house. All these things combined mean that Aldi definitely need to start panicking about their wine stock reserves...

If you're one of those people who don't have too much month left at the end of the money, please drop by my Just Giving page and donate a little something, I really do appreciate it!!!

Soggy Saturday

I've never been one for huge lie-ins at the weekend. Not because I don't want to stay in bed for a good few hours longer than during the week, but because I've got a finely tuned body clock that refuses to let me sleep past 7am most of the time. 

So naturally, when I needed to be up at about 7.45am yesterday to take part in my first ever Parkrun, I was still sound asleep when my alarm went off. Hearing the rain hammering on the window really wasn't encouraging me to get out of bed, either. But I'd decided beforehand that I was going on this run so I dragged myself out of my pit and got my running gear on. 

I'd seen a few things about Parkrun on Facebook and via a massive banner on my running routes so I gave it a Google last week to find out exactly what it is. In short, it's a 5k, timed run and it happens up and down the country at 9am on Saturday. 

For the last week or so I've been getting a bit bored of my training routines again so I thought I'd give it a go. I also thought it would be a good idea to have a go at running with a big group to get some experience of it ahead of race day (which is four weeks today...) 

I'm not sure why, but I was a bit nervous as I made my way there. I needn't have been though! There were around 80 people at the start line and everyone was lovely and friendly. There was a quick welcome/safety speech and then we were off! 

Despite the absolutely shocking British summer weather and the steep hilly bits (which I normally avoid), I really enjoyed myself! It was nice to be running with other people and getting to the end was really satisfying! I  was near the bottom of the finisher's table but I'm fairly pleased with my time of 32:47 mins.

I'll definitely be going back next week!! If you want more info on Parkrun, have a look at parkrun.org.uk 

As I mentioned earlier, there's now only four weeks until my race!! I'm not even half way to my target sponsorship yet, please give generously! www.justgiving.co.uk/kayk10k  

#thisgirlcan

Once again this week I was starting to worry I'd not got a decent topic for my weekly blog. Then I wore a close-fitting vest to the gym.

Aside from the 10k mission I'm on at the minute, I'm also on a mission to lose a spare tyre or two from around the waist. All my life my weight's been something that has been a bit of a battle (to say the least). After re-joining Slimming World for the what seems like the millionth time a couple of months ago, I'm starting to win that battle again.

So, feeling great after getting my stone award last week, I decided to ditch my usual gym attire of a hugely baggy t-shirt and trade it in for a more sleek, fitted garment.

Big mistake.

Walking from the changing room onto the treadmill was fine. My two-minute power walk warm-up was sort of alright. The 30 minutes that followed were not good.

As as my power walk turned into a jog and then to a run, my top rode further and further up my mid-riff.

However discreet I tried to be while pulling it back down to hide my wobbly bits, I'm pretty sure I failed. As my top continued to creep up over itself, removing the 'it' from a well known sports brand's slogan I was feeling completely and utterly self conscious.

But then, as the endorphins started to kick in, my thoughts turned to some adverts I've seen recently. Going under the mantra 'This Girl Can' the point of the campaign is to break down a lot of the common barriers women feel stop them from exercising. It encourages us to embrace the bits that jiggle when we run and get on with it. So that's what I did, and I managed to shave nearly a minute and a half from my 5k time!

And as for the vest? Well, I'm just going to have to keep running until it fits properly!

It's a fantastic campaign, have a look at their website for more information.

And once you've been on that website, maybe pop across to my Just Giving page?

Pushing it

After last week's injury based training blip, I got my trainers back out this week with a new sense of determination. I can't believe how quickly the weeks are going by (six weeks and seven days now) until race day, and I was really starting to panic last weekend about how little my training was progressing.

So I did my little run (outside for the first time) last Sunday to check my knee was back up and running (apologies for that shocker of a pun) and then set about this week's training plan determined to start making some real progress.

And it worked! I've had a great week which has included hitting 5k for the first time and getting my best time so far for two miles. My 5k took a couple of minutes longer than my 30min target, but I'm hoping to get that sorted and tightened up a bit over the course of this week.

I'm also relived that donations have started to trickle in now, very appreciated! If you would like to sponsor me, please click on the link below.

Fingers crossed for another good week this week! 

Back on my feet and doing something new!

Not much to report training-wise as a result of last week's knee injury! Turned out I was in a fair bit of pain with it for a good few days so I didn't end up doing any running until today.

With Dementia Awareness Week starting today, I thought I'd dedicate this blog post to the cause of all my running and talk a bit more about the charity I'm hoping to raise a good bit of money for!

To be honest, I don't know huge amounts about it, so writing this week's blog has been a good chunk of motivation for me as I've been reading up on how my fundraising could help.

So a few things I've learned are:

• 850,000 people in the UK are currently living with Dementia
• Too many of these aren't enjoying the quality of life they could/should be
• 7 out of 10 people of these are also living with another illness
• Dementia costs the UK £26.5 billion every year, but a huge chunk of this is the cost to unpaid carers and their families
• There's a massive spending gap on research, much more could be done if the money was available
• Roughly one person every three minutes develops Dementia

This year's Dementia Awareness Week centres around the #dosomethingnew campaign, with the sentiment that just because a person has been daignosed with Dementia, it doesn't mean they can't carry on living as 'normal' and exciting life possible. There's some interesting stories here all about this. 

I did something new today - I did an outdoor run for the first time! It wasn't too bad - once I got through the paranoia that everyone was looking and laughing I actually quite enjoyed it. It wasn't easy, my fitness has definitely dropped in the last seven days with the lack of exercise!

Please don't forget that these blog posts aren't just a jolly bit of reading every Sunday evening, I'd really love it if they made you want to sponsor me! Race day is eight weeks away and it's safe to say I'm starting to get scared! 

A spanner in the works

I was starting to think I wouldn't really have anything to write about this week. Training's going pretty well and as such there isn't anything particularly exciting to write about. 

Then I went out last night.

Now, last week you might remember I briefly mentioned my often-scabby knees. Well today they're in a pretty poor state as a result of lots of cocktails, some lovely pastel pink wedges and a particularly troublesome pavement. 

This throws a bit of a spanner in the works for the old training regime. I've rested it all day today but it's feeling very sore and I don't think it's quite finished swelling up yet. I'm wasn't planning on going to the gym until Tuesday anyway, but I'm trying to decide whether I think I'd be better powering through and risking more damage, or having a good few days off but risking my fitness taking a nose dive.

Heart-breakingly, I've come to the decision that the nights out are going to have to take a back seat until after 12th July! Not only does it bring the risk of further injuries, but I'd realised already that I struggle twice as much at my first gym session after a heavy one. I'm not saying I'm going tee-total, but for the next nine weeks it will be strictly a glass of wine after a long day instead of mad weekend rampages! 

The offender

Don't forget to visit my Just Giving page and sponsor me!