29 Apr 2013

London Marathon Ballot!


Early this morning, (2:30 am danish time), I woke up and signed up once again for the London Marathon ballot which had opened just after midnight British time.

London Marathon ballot

I won't feel like I have reached my marathon goal until I run London Marathon. I know there are many other marathons I could (and do) run but my goal from when I was 14 years old was to one day run London Marathon so I will never give up trying!



I know that there are charity places but raising £2000 while living in Denmark is not going to happen as the Danish races are not run for charity very much. I tried raising money for Help for Heroes when I ran Copenhagen Marathon in 2011 and only managed to raise £150! And I was promoted on the radio then too.

If anyone out there wants to team up and help me raise the charity money but not actually run the race, (or gets injured after raising the money and can't run), I will run for you!


17 Apr 2013

Rock 'n' Roll Edinburgh Half Marathon Write up!


It is with a heavy heart that I am writing this as nothing that I am about to write really seems to matter anymore after the attacks in Boston! As a runner and a marathoner this has affected me very much! I don't have any words, only tears!

Here is the write up for what it's worth:-

I woke up on Sunday morning to lots of rain and lots of wind! Luckily I had bought a throwaway poncho so after a spot of breakfast and putting on my running stuff, I threw on the poncho and stepped outside.



It was so cold and so rainy and extremely windy! I was not looking forward to running in this! I met another runner heading to the start line 20 minutes away so we walked together. He was Italian and running his first half marathon.



At the start line I queued for over 20 minutes for the standard port-a-loo stop and then headed to my corral number 8. I was standing there with all the other runners there and we were all jumping up and down in the wind and rain trying to keep warm. About 1 minute after the first runners had started the race a first aid car came past where I was standing with a lady in the back. I remember thinking that there must have been a pile up at the start. What had actually happened to the poor lady was that while she was using the port-a-loo it had blown over with her in it!!



The race itself wasn't very eventful. There were bands for the first half of the half marathon but then they seemed to have disappeared. Again because of the strong winds they couldn't play and neither could the band at the finish line so there was no concert at the end :-(


Running along the water front was awful!! I had the cold rain pouring down on me and the wind trying its hardest to push me onto the beach.


After the sea front I struggled up hills with the wind and rain again pushing against me! I had a hard couple of kilometres there.



Coming down the hill behind Arthurs Seat was great fun though as the wind was actually pushing us down it so we were all zooming along very fast. While going down I met a lady that I had climbed Arthurs Seat with a few days before. She is a coach for Team in Training from Canada and we got on so well :-) Hi Angela if you're reading this :-)





There we ran through the Old Town part of the city and right by where I had rented an apartment to stay in while I was there. Here there were many spectators braving the weather and this really seemed to help keep me going.




I finished in 2 hours and 7 minutes! 5 minutes off my best time but in those conditions I'm very happy with that time. After crossing the finish line I actually had to look for someone giving out medals! Just like in Berlin they tried to hand it to me and just like in Berlin I made them put it over my head. (Paul will remember that).






T-shirt pick up was after the race so I joined a long queue which I assumed was for the T-shirts and found out after 10 minutes it was for bag pick up. I found the right queue and stood shivering in it for another 20 minutes for my T-shirt. By this time I was so very cold! Some other runners had the foil sheets on but most of us didn't and no one seemed to know where we got them from. You have to remember that it was cold, windy, and rainy all the time so there were a lot of runners shivering. The queue for the bags was over one hour long (something to do with the tents blowing down) so runners couldn't even get their dry clothes and coats on.

After about 35 minutes I managed to find someone giving out the foil sheets but I was still so cold. I had a 20 minute walk back to the apartment where I would then be by myself. I therefore decided to play it safe and visit the first aid tent! I have never had to visit the first aid people before!
I sat in the tent for about 20 minutes and once I'd warmed up I went back to my apartment and had a relaxing bubble bath :-)

This is my mud line! Erghhh!
Would I run this race again? Yes I would and want to do it again next year!

15 Apr 2013

Adidas Boost Edinburgh Sightseeing!

With their well deserved medal!
Over this weekend my Adistar Boosts packed their suitcase and went on a little trip to Edinburgh to run the Rock 'n' Roll Edinburgh half marathon and also do some sightseeing :-)

At the top of Arthurs Seat

On Edinburgh Castles Wall

At Dean Village

At Calton Hill

Ready to run!

They are great to wear walking around and they certainly did a lot of walking!

I found them to be very comfortable during the half marathon! I had no blisters and all my toenails are still there. Unfortunately because of the weather I wasn't paying much attention to what my legs and feet were saying!

The Adistar Boosts must be great though as I was only 5 minutes slower than my half marathon PB and finished in 2 hours and 7 minutes. Once you read my Rock 'n' Roll Edinburgh half marathon write up (coming Tuesday) you'll understand why that was such an achievement!!




8 Apr 2013

Adidas Boost Copenhagen Sightseeing

Last Thursday I went to an Adidas Boost event at Kaiser Sport. I am now an official Adidas Boost Ambassador!



On Friday I tested my new Adistar Boost trainers out on a hill run and was liking them a lot! The energy does indeed seem to be returned back to you as you bounce down the road :-) The trainers 'hug' the feet so they feel all nice and snug. There is no pinching or foot suffocation though. My toes don't feel tight and actually feel very comfortable.



Today I decided to dress up in the whole Adidas Boost gear with a t-shirt, jacket, running tights, and, of course, the trainers, and then take a 10k run around the city centre! 



For the first 6k I didn't notice so much difference between my Adistar Boosts and my Brooks trainers just the bouncing like before but after this distance my legs seemed to have a life of their own! I have never experienced anything like it before and it's very hard to describe the feeling. The best I can come up with is a 'runners high for legs'. This is something that has to be tried to be believed!



I WILL be wearing my Adistar Boosts for Rock 'n' Roll Edinburgh half marathon on Sunday and am very much looking forward to testing them out over a longer distance :-)