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