I am a half marathon runner!!

Right then, today. Where do I start?! I'll start at the beginning (I've heard that's a very good place to start...) 

My alarm went off at 6.30am... no don't worry it won't be that boring 

At the start of today I was nervous, extremely nervous. I'm not normally a nervous type, but I am one for putting a lot of pressure on myself, so I think that, coupled with the fact that a half marathon isn't exactly an easy walk in the park, set my stomach butterflies into overdrive. 

I managed to keep things quite well at bay for the first few hours of the day, there was a great buzz around the race village and a particular highlight was catching up with my old friend, Becky. But then before I knew it it was time to head into the pens and my bloody nerves went into overdrive. I spent the next 20 minutes doing what can only be described as a nervous jig which I'm hoping was just about in time to the music to look like I was having a little dance. 

Eventually, the claxons started going and the elites were off. Slowly but surely, my gang walked forward and made our way towards the start line, at long last it was time to start! I pressed play on my mp3 player and the beats of antidote by Swedish House Mafia (always my first song of the race) kicked in and I was off!!

And just like that my nerves melted away! I was running like I've done hundreds of times before and it wasn't scary anymore! People were lined on the pavements and clapping and I couldn't stop smiling. I was finally doing the half marathon that I've been training for months to do. The first couple of KMs (forgot to change the bloody measurements on my watch) went by like a breeze, I kept bumping into the lovely Becky, joined in on a bit of 'bants' with fellow runners and was in excellent spirits. 

Robin Hood marathon/half is popular with runners across the country for being quite flat... and in the most part it is. However, just shy of two miles in you turn off Castle Boulevard and begin the ascent into the Park. Flipping heck the hills!! Obviously, castles are built on hills for a reason, but I've no idea which bloody evil person decided the route should take in these hills. After about a mile of seemingly never ending hills that twisted and turned through the really lovely park area of town I was so glad to see the familiar semi-derelict sights of canning circus.. it meant the gradual descent of Derby Road was upon us! 

Trotting down Derby Road with a grin on my face thinking about many uni memories from the area was great, I was really getting into my stride and enjoying myself by this point. Smiling away to myself, I started to hear "KKAAAAAAYYYYYY" and see flapping arms to the side of the road. My little smile turned into a huge grin as I saw two of my best pals cheering me on! I'm quite the emotional type so I definitely had a few teary sniffles for the next couple of hundred meters. 

I'm conscious that I'm going on a bit now, so I'll summarise miles 4-10. Hot, liked seeing the speedy runners on their way back, loved Wollaton Park, running down the ringroad was fun. Not a fan of the several hairpin bends. There was a final evil hill moment on Abbey Bridge but the cheerleading squad from my lovely Notts Women Runners helped with that!

Before I knew it, I was approaching mile 10 which was when I really started to think "shit, I've got this, I've nearly done.. only a parkrun to go!" I had another couple of little sniffely teary moments when I realised this, one by the Irish Centre where there was a live band playing and another coming past the train station when it really hit me how close I was. 

In what seemed like no time at all, I was at mile 12 and so nearly there! Turning back onto the Embankment and into some well needed shade I couldn't keep the smile off my face. The crowd support on the finishers tunnel was like nothing I've experienced, hundreds of people clapping, smiling, cheering! I almost missed mum and dad, and their camera unfortunately missed me! 

I attempted my usual sprint-finish but my legs weren't fully cooperating, however it didn't matter as in what seemed like no time at all I was clicking my watch off and over the finish line! I'd done it, I'd bloody done it!!! 

I collected my very big and heavy medal and eventually found mum and dad where a few more tears ensued, I couldn't believe it was all over! My time is looking like 2:22:09 which I'm really chuffed with.

And that's it really. I can't really think of how else to round it off. Even now hours later I don't think it's properly sunk in... I am a half marathon runner! Who knows what will be next. 

One more shameless plug.. it's not too late to sponsor me! At least now you know you've got your monies worth and I didn't bottle it! Head over to my fundraising page and help me make the most money possible for the fantastic Royal British Legion. 

Wearing my t-shirt proud as punch

My and my dad promoting Wastecycle!

All done! With the world's best football ground in the background

Look at the evil hills!!

Me and the lovely Becky!

One bad run, one week to go.

As my last couple of blogs have described, things have been going well and I've been feeling as positive and confident as one can about their first ever half marathon.

My first week of tapering hasn't been exactly as planned, at some point in the middle of the week germs descended on me and I became somewhat of a coughing, sniffing and spluttering lurgi-filled mess. This meant I decided to give myself a break after four days of spending a good 14 hours out of the house and give Thursday's planned treadmill 5k a miss.

Not too deterred from my missed session and with the worst of my cold behind me, I woke up this morning feeling quite confident and looking forward to the gentle 10k I had planned as my last long run before next weekend. I followed my normal pre-run routine of breakfast etc and set out in the sunshine, looking forward to having an hour to myself away from the chaos that has been the preceding week.

The first couple of kilometres were fine, I was going at my normal 10k pace and really enjoying it. Then something weird that hasn't really happened before came across me as I broke into the third kilometre. My legs went heavier than normal, my eyes went all spekeldy and everything was just weird. I slowed to a stop and as soon as I stopped moving I went scarily dizzy. I quickly clutched onto the nearest lamp-post and tried to get some blood to go back to my head (having a really annoying squeamish complex which often sends me into these weird spells means that luckily I know exactly what to do!)

As I stood (well, leaned) there, trying not to panic I had to decide what my next move was going to be.  I was close to phoning my Dad to come and get me, but as the dizziness passed I went for the "eat a couple of magic beans and walk it off" plan. Either way I knew I'd have to walk a bit to somewhere my Dad could get me from so it seemed the best option.

A bit shaky at first, I slowly got into my stride and made my way around the seemingly never-ending Bypass and eventually felt like I was up to a little jog. I came up with the plan that I'd jog back home to try and remind myself I could, but I'd go for the direct route rather than adding in the extra 4km loop I'd planned to take the run up to 10k.

The rest of the run is quite uneventful really. I got home, had a long soak in the bath, did lots of thinking and, if I'm honest, had a bit of a cry. I felt quite sad and deflated, after all these great months of training I felt a bit like I'd fell at the final hurdle and the confidence I'd spent months building up was faltering fast.

Fortunately, I'm a member of an absolutely fantastic running club. I explained my ordeal to my lovely purple ladies and ever since I've been inundated with advice, encouragement and, most importantly, reassurance. I'm still not feeling as confident as I was this time last week, but I'm feeling a hundred times better than I did as I plodded up the path this morning.

This all leads quite nicely into my plea for sponsorship. Because really, by sponsoring me, you're not just showing your support for the 13.1 mile challenge that lies ahead of me next Sunday. You'll be sponsoring me to recognise the hours, the sweat, the determination and the tears I've put in over the last few months to get me to this stage. I'm raising money for a truly great charity and I'm so keen to get to my £200 target. Head over to my fundraising page and help me to get there.

Thanks for reading!

Running. Out of time.

Despite being in the final stages of training, I've not done an update for a good few weeks. Not because I don't have anything to say (I can always think of something). And not really because my training has been going particularly well or badly (it's been ticking by quite nicely, if you were wondering).

I've not written anything for a few weeks because I've just not been able to find the time.

It seems to be that there's been an unfortunate clash between some of the busiest and most stressful few weeks I've had in a long time - don't worry I won't bore everyone with all the details - and the final few weeks of prep for my first ever half marathon.

I'm not complaining... I've started a Uni course I've really wanted to do for ages and I've been preparing to take over as Brown Owl which I'm excited about, mixed in with the general work-based madness (oh look at that, I am going to bore you with all the details...) So it has been and is still shaping up to be a fantastic bunch of weeks, it's just that like the proverbial bus... everything's came at once.

So enough with my half-moaning, I'd better talk about running.

I think I'm prepared for the half marathon I'll be doing in what is now less than 13 day's time. My long runs have been good, I trained up to 11.5 miles a couple of weeks ago and bashed (well plodded) 10 miles out yesterday so I'm pretty sure I can do it. I'm in the taper phase now, which I'm still not fully sure what it means but I've found a decent online plan to follow.

In standard Kay Knowles style I'm swinging rapidly from being calm and rational to being a snappy, mardy nervous wreck though, something which from previous experience will probably only get more intense over the next less-than-thirteen days.

What I am worrying about is that I've not started collecting sponsorship yet. I chose my charity - The Royal British Legion - several months ago and some admin issues at my local branch mean I'm yet to start my fundraising. Even if I have to do everything the old fashioned way via actual paper forms, I'll be coming round cap in hand by the end of this week and praying the sponsors come flooding in.

Expect a desperate "dig deep pretty please" style blog post to follow. And I promise that post will feature more running. Because.. well.. it's a running blog not a moaning about being busy blog!