July, August & September

Finally I have found the time to catch up on my blog! I can’t believe I haven’t posted anything for 3 months, especially with the amount of running I’ve been doing 😃

July

July was a quiet month with regards to how many miles I ran. Over the month I only ran a total of 75.37 miles (121.28km). This was made up of 14 runs which were on average 5.38 miles in length and my average pace was a 8:52 min/mile. A bit slower than last month but I’m putting that down to running in the heat.

At the start of July we were supposed to be flying to Crete on our summer holiday but Cerys woke up on the morning of our flight having finally caught Freya’s chickenpox which we’d been hoping she was going to catch quicker for the previous 2 weeks! Lots of phone calls to cancel things, driving 250 miles home with a disappointed family and a week of trying to book a last minute alternative holiday with out spending a small fortune, resulted in not much time or energy for running. I did however manage one run at the start of the month which I feel is worth sharing, on the 5th July I ran 5.23 miles with a 7:58 min/mile which was my fastest pace for the distance so far which if it’d carried on and sustained would have resulted in a sub 50 min 10km!! Fingers crossed I could achieve this in August in the Forth Road Bridge 10km.

A week or so later we were off for a 2 week holiday in Bulgaria. I packed my running stuff to take, never in a million years did I think I would be the sort of person to run while on a foreign family holiday let alone covering 20 miles over 5 runs in 2 weeks!!

As the month progressed despite my poor effort with the amount of km’s I had covered it was clear I was going to hit my 1000km target for the year at the end of month seven. I went out for a run on the 29th July with the plan of trying to get to 999km, however I misjudged it and ended up completing my challenge with a 6.54 mile run.  I had wanted to reach my 1000km with a long run in the Pentlands but despite reaching 1000km two days earlier, I went out on the 31st July and had a great 14 mile run. I tried a new route which I had been planning for a while, which is one of the great things about running in the Pentlands there is so much running space. It was my first experience of running through a field of cows which certainly made me run faster and I had to take a bit of a detour when I got to Castle Law and the red flag was flying meaning the army were doing live firing on the range. Luckily I met a friendly hill walker who suggested a different route for me.

 

August

August was better distance wise, I covered 112.98 miles (181.84km) over 20 runs with an average run length of 5.65 miles and an average speed of 8:47 min/mile and finished August having run a total of 1204 km’s for the year.

I had another lucky month in August, I won a high roller (foam roller) from completing and being selected on another running heroes challenge and I also won a years gym membership to Oriam  (Scotland’s new national performance centre for sport) on a Facebook competition to say why I should win. My reason was my new found love of running and my need for somewhere to run when our typical Scottish weather was against me and the facilities to work on my core strength. I couldn’t believe it when I won and am really looking forward to using the facilities properly over the winter months.

I was also very grateful to my Dad for buying me a very early Christmas present in the shape of a Garmin Forerunner 235 that I had been obsessing over for at least 5 months.

In August I ran two half marathon distances, one in the Pentlands and another to my Mums house on a more flat route. My thinking was that this would give me a better idea of the time I could hope to expect to complete The Great North Run in September in. I ran part of the way along the Water of Leith, part on the Union Canal, across Bruntsfield Links, The Meadows and around Arthur’s Seat so I got a good tour of Edinburgh. I was amazed when I got to Mums in 1 hour 57 minutes as I felt like I hadn’t really been trying as hard as I could of and that was 2 minutes faster than I had completed the Edinburgh Half in May.

On the 14th August I took part in the Forth Road Bridge 10km which was the race I had sat armed and ready with my laptop and an alarm set on my phone back in March to try and secure a place for that sold out in 11 minutes. I was quite nervous in the lead up to the race as it was my first race where headphones were not allowed and I like listening to music rather than my heavy breathing when I run but in the end it wasn’t as bad as I expected. Although I didn’t quite manage my sub 50 min 10km, I was very happy with my chip time of 50:12 and thoroughly enjoyed the cakes and sandwiches put on by Pitreavie AAC Running Club at the end.

 

In August I managed to go for a run with two people from the online running group I am part of. They were in Edinburgh for work and we met at 6:30 one morning and went for a 5 mile run round Arthur’s Seat. It was really nice to go for a run with other like minded people and to finally meet them. The running group continues to be a great motivator and support, it is nice to be able to post my runs and talk about running without boring everyone else with my constant running posts on my Facebook page (although my Facebook friends will probably say I do still seem to post about running A LOT)

September

September was a very busy month, I ran my longest ever run both instance and time, ran a half marathon and a 10km race the following weekend, went on my first ever demo run and ran on a treadmill for the first time in years.

My longest run was for a challenge organised by the online running group I am part of. It was following the death of Muhammad Ali, Michelle who started the group earlier this year and organises everything, collects stats etc thought it would be nice to do a run in his memory and raise money for Parkinson’s. Everyone who entered paid £10 and committed to ‘Be The Greatest You Can Be’ in September. As I had a few races in September and a weekend away I wanted to get mine done at the start of the month. I set out knowing that I needed to run more than 16 miles to run further than I had before. I headed to my favourite running place (The Pentlands)  and had another great run, running up hills, climbing over walls and stiles, hopping across stepping stones and flying down hills with arms out stretched and a stupidly big grin on my face. As I neared home I could see I would end up having done 17 miles but decided 20 miles was so much better so pushed through my exhaustion and ran past the road I needed to take to get home and added on a 3 mile loop. When I got home and collapsed, literally, my legs started cramping up almost immediately but nothing could take away from me the great sense of achievement I felt. I definitely had been the greatest I could be and earned my medal!

 

 On the 7th of the month I went along to an inov-8 demo run held by an outdoor sports shop at the foot of the Pentlands. I had no idea what to expect and was a little bit nervous but I ended up having a great time. I met some inspirational people, went on a run in the Pentlands with approximately 8 people and at the end of it all we got to keep the Trail Talon 275’s that we had worn for the run and also got a pair of smart wool running socks too. On the run there were 3 people from what would be  my local running club which after speaking to them I am now seriously considering joining.

The first of my races this month was my first official race for ICP support and was The Great North Run. We had left the house at 6am to drive to Newcastle on the morning of the race, I was feeling fairly confident and hoped to finish in about 1hour 50 minutes – 1 hour 55 minutes. I got there in plenty time and sat in the sun for a bit before heading off to meet some other members of Team ICP. The sheer volume of people was incredible, there was 57,000 people running in it. I started off well and hit the 5km marker in 26 minutes, the 10km marker in 54 minutes and the 15km in 1 hour 26 minutes, I finished in 2 hours and 7 minutes. I was gutted but glad I had managed to finish as I had seriously doubted I would be able to at a few points.  It all went wrong about mile 8 when it felt like I was hyperventilating and I really struggled to catch my breath and had to run/walk for the rest of the race while trying to control my breathing. I have no idea what caused it, looking back at my stats and my heart rate I don’t think I had gone off to fast. I think it was possibly a panic attack caused by the heat, the sheer volume of people and the pressure I was putting on myself to finish it as fast as I could! I was trying to beat my brother’s time from when he had done it a number of years ago and realised around mile 8 that if I kept going as I was for the final 5 miles I would by about 2 minutes, I ended up about 17 minutes slower.  Lesson learnt and it is something I have heard over and over since starting running it is not about comparing yourself to others but running your own race. I am going to try and focus on this in the future and hopefully prevent more breathing issues. Towards the end when I was really struggling and knew I wasn’t going to finish in the time I wanted to I decided if I could finish below my bib number, 20783 I would be happy. I found out that evening that I had finished in 15118th place, not bad out of 57,000 people. When I did finish it was so nice to be met by the girls in their #mummy’s little itch t-shirts, although Freya decided she would pretend hers said Mummy’s big itch as she was big and made me really really itchy when she was in my tummy. We sat on the hill in the sunshine at the end watching the red arrows do a display before braving the traffic to drive back to Edinburgh. It really brought it home about why I was doing ‘Kim’s Crazy Challenge’ and raising money and awareness for ICP Support. My girls were there to meet me at the end but not everybody running for Team ICP was so fortunate as their precious babies had been stillborn due to this dreadful condition.  Please if you are reading my blog take the time to look at the charity’s website and familiarise yourself with the condition and the great work the charity do. The more people who know about the condition and the more research the charity can fund will hopefully result in more babies being delivered safely. http://www.icpsupport.org/

 

The following weekend, I had the Scottish 10km to run having won entrance to it in another running heroes challenge. As this race was closer to home I drove to Mum’s and got her to give me a lift to the start a few miles from her house. I was very aware of my breathing and also the fact that the course was the part of the Edinburgh Half Marathon I had found the most tedious. I ran it steadily while trying not to push myself to hard in case my breathing went funny again and was happy with a finishing time of 51:21. That put me in an overall position of 228th out of 972 and 28th out of 291 in my age category. I had to laugh at myself at the end when I called Mum to say I would run to meet her half way, I ended up running a further 2 miles, I felt like a hardened runner

By the end of September I had run a total of 126.85 miles (204.14 km’s) which was over 20 runs and was an average run length of 6.34 miles per run with an average pace of 8:48 min/mile. Over the last 3 months my speed seems to have slowed slightly which is possibly due to the weather so increasing my speed and pushing my distance is what I am hoping to focus on in October. If I can do that and finish the Birmingham Half without any breathing problems I’ll be happy. It is also looking good for my new target of running 1000 miles in 2016 as I finished September having run 1408km which is 875 miles. Who knows I may even manage 2000km!!

If you haven’t already and feel inspired by my running, want to support me, encourage me or just donate money to a fantastic charity then please visit my btdonate page and donate whatever you can, it will be greatly appreciated. https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/kimkenny1

Thanks for reading and I’ll try to post Octobers blog post a bit quicker.

Kim x x

June

Well that’s June over and six months of my challenge to run 1000km in 2016 completed. When I first set out in January, I thought I’d really struggle to complete the 1000km in the year but fast forward 6 months and here I am, still standing, having finished the month with a whopping total so far for the year of 901km’s 😱 I’m beginning to think if I keep going I may even make 1000 miles in 2016!

However, it’s not always easy. I started off June feeling a bit flat after the Edinburgh half marathon at the end of May. I have a place in a 10km race in August but with nothing planned for June or July I was struggling to find motivation to get out there. I have also been battling with a pain in my calf which alternates from a sharp stabbing pain to a strange numbness.  I had been putting off going to the Dr’s in case they told me I couldn’t run and I missed out doing the half at the end of May so with that out the way and a very painful run at the start of June I made an appointment. The Dr said I’ve trapped a nerve which he would expect to get better in about 12 weeks but could last for 12-18 months! Luckily for me he said I could continue to run.

Through all of this, the support, encouragement and advice I got from the fantastic online running group I am part of was invaluable. They are such a great group of people and being able to share everyone else’s runs, achievements, set backs and progress as well as my own I soon got my head back in it and found my running mojo again 😄

With no race in the immediate future to work towards, I wasn’t sure what to focus on in June whether to be working on distance or speed. An unplanned 5km village fun run that a friend’s company (Harburn Finance Ltd) was sponsoring on the 11th June resulted in me not only getting my fastest 5km but also finishing second female overall. This got me thinking about my speed!

When I run, I run with headphones in, listening to music with the Map My Run app on. I have it set so that every mile it gives me the total time it has taken me so far, I then work out what my average per mile is. At the fun run, I was approximately 100-400 metres behind the winning female at all times, the first mile I ran in 7:49 mins and as I had previously been running between 8:30-9 min miles I was thinking while running that I wouldn’t be able to sustain the pace. I kept going but afterwards when thinking about it, I think subconsciously this made me slow slightly. With this in mind, I thought I’d put it to the test. Two days later I went out, ran a 5km but turned off the voice feedback on Map My Run. My plan worked, I ran my fastest 5km in 24:33, which was my first ever sub 25 minutes 5km and my average pace was 7:54 per mile.

June also saw me running my furthest distance to date.  On the 17th, I set out for a run in the Pentlands and ran 16.31 miles around 7 of the reservoirs up there! The Pentlands is definitely my favourite place to run so far, I love running off the path, up and down hills, over burns, there is so much to focus on that it feels like you’re only running about half the distance. I only wish I could find more time to disappear up there for 2-3 hours at a time but with a young family and school holidays now, it’s not that easy!

 

This month I was also extremely grateful to ICP Support for giving me a place that came up to run for them in The Great North Run in September. I will also be running the Birmingham Half in October for them, so I now have two half marathons to look forward to and something to train towards.

I have also been extremely lucky this month. I use the website running heroes to help motivate me as they run weekly challenges and this month I won entry into the Scottish 10km in September. I also won a pair of compression calf guards from a local running shop by entering a photo of myself finishing the Edinburgh Half. I’ve not got round to collecting them yet but am hoping when I do they may help with the calf pain I have been experiencing!

So in the end June has been a pretty good month. I have run a total of 112.10 miles (180.41km’s) and my average pace per mile this month has dropped 22 seconds to 8:40min/mile. I have completed 20 runs in total with the average being 5.61 miles.

Most importantly however, please remember I am doing all of this running to raise vital funds and awareness for the amazing charity ICP Support http://www.icpsupport.org/ . You may have seen this month on Netmums the founder of ICP Support, Jenny Chambers shared her own story. This was a very brave thing for Jenny to do and the last I heard the article had been read over 14,000 times! Myself, I found Jenny’s story incredibly moving and it really brought home why I am doing this challenge and trying to help this charity so close to my heart. As most of you know I suffered from  ICP in both my pregnancies and was induced early in both. If you are interested in reading more about my experience of ICP and the condition itself you can find more details on the front page of this blog.

That’s it for June but please if you haven’t already sponsored me and can spare a donation please do. I am just over half way to my target amount but still have a long way to go and every donation, no matter how small makes a massive difference. You can donate by visiting my page https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/kimkenny1

Thanks

Kim x x

 

 

 

 

 

May

Month 5 of my challenge completed. I started off the month with the aim of running 100 miles in May, I ended it having ran 110.12 miles and I am very proud to report that I have now ran (as of the end of May) 721 km so far this year.

My focus throughout the month was mainly on my preparation for the Edinburgh Half Marathon at the end of May. For the first 3 weeks of the month I ran 5 times a week, 4 runs of approximately 5 miles in length trying to improve my speed and one longer run of between 10-14 miles.

The common thing  you hear when preparing for a race is DO NOT try anything new on race day! I therefore decided to get organised and tried out energy gels for the first time on my longer runs during the month. I was very apprehensive as I have heard lots of horror stories about them upsetting peoples stomachs, I am happy to report I am not one of those people! The first ones I tried SIS gels were not for me at all. I found them quite thick and gloopy and to be honest they made me gag. I then tried the High5 ones which were the ones they would be giving out at the half marathon during the race,  they were so much nicer. I’m not sure how much of a difference the gels actually make, they certainly seem to give me a bit of a boost but I’m not sure how much of that is actually in my head as previously when I ran longer runs I didn’t need them or miss them. Next month I plan to try other foods to fuel my longer runs like raisins and Haribo.

I purchased a hydration belt this month at an extremely reduced price from Camden Gear in exchange for reviewing it on amazon. It is great, it has a decent size pouch to hold my supplies in, 2 water bottles and is really comfy. The best bit for me is that it has loops which I use to store my t-shirt or lightweight jacket without it falling off or flapping about me when I am running. This is great in the ever changing Scottish weather, one morning I set of for a run in wet, dreich mist but 20 minutes later when I’d run up to the Pentlands, it was blazing sunshine so I needed to de-layer.

Race day came and I was very nervous, all the races I had done previously I had started in the last wave but this time I started in the 3rd wave out of 6 on Regent Road. The volume of runners was incredible, there was 8601 who ran in total. I had my hydration belt with my water and gels and had set myself the goal of trying to finish in under 2 hours. Once the race started the nerves went and the first 8 miles were great but from about mile 9 it was mentally pretty tough. The course runs more or less past the finish line and out for another 2 miles or so and then back on yourself. I found the outward part of this leg really difficult as you are running towards people who are on their way back to the finish and all you can see is a sea of people stretching off in to the distance. My mind went in to a loop of where does it end, when do I get to turn around, surely it can’t be much further and trying to calculate in my head how far I’d run and how much further it would be before I got to turn around and be on the homeward stretch. Needless to say I eventually got to the end of the outward stretch and began the last few miles back, as I ran in to the finishing straight through all the crowds I heard Paul shouting and made a sprint for the finish line. It almost resulted in me throwing up at the end but it was worth it as I met my goal (just) and my official finish time was 1:59:39. My stats for the race were 735th in my age category, 1344th female and 4087th overall. Not bad considering five months previously at my first park run I couldn’t even run 5km (3.2 miles) without stopping to walk let alone run 13.1 miles in sub 2 hours.

 

This month on a trip down to Paul’s parents, I got the chance to run the same Park Run that I ran on Boxing day. I was ecstatic to finish it in 26:22 more than 10 minutes faster than when I ran it previously. This got me thinking and I decided to work out exactly how much I have improved so far this year. Luckily I have a geek for a husband, so I did the maths and he created these!

 

So there it is, my blog for month 5 of my challenge.  Better late than never but I must confess to having been making the most of the abnormally prolonged presence of the yellow thing in the sky, that is rarely seen in Scotland 😄

Please remember I am doing all this running to raise vital funds and awareness for the amazing charity ICP Support. If you haven’t sponsored me please visit my fundraising page and give what you can, no matter how small, every penny counts and is greatly appreciated. https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/kimkenny1

If you want to read more about the work the charity does and the condition itself please visit their website http://www.icpsupport.org

Thanks

Kim x x

April

Month 4 of my challenge to run 1000km in 2016 to raise awareness and money for ICP support completed, and April has certainly been an up and down month in every way.

It started off metaphorically on an up, my first run of the month was the first park run I had done since the one I had done on Boxing Day (in 36:33) and also my 5km virtual race for ICP Support. I absolutely smashed it and finished in 27:51. It felt amazing and after feeling that my pace was just kind of plodding along while I worked on my distance in March, I decided April would be the month to push myself for speed.

That evening however my massive metaphorical low came, when my husband was admitted to hospital for suspected appendicitis. Three hospitals, two operations and five days later I finally got him home minus a large number of gallstones and 4/5ths of his gall bladder! Although it wasn’t life threatening, it was extremely stressful not knowing what was going on and being at home on my own with my teenage step son and two daughters aged 3 & 11 months!

Luckily my Mum was on hand to help facilitate my running (THANKS MUM), she came round the morning after he was admitted to watch the kids so I could go out for a run. The stress of worrying about Paul and the guilt of being out running when he had been admitted to hospital less than 12 hours previously, certainly helped my speed and my average pace for that 5 mile run was 8:30 a mile. My fastest run ever.

The next day metaphoric low number 2 hit. I woke up and was unable to bend my leg. My knee was so swollen I couldn’t kneel down to change my daughters nappy or bath them and I was really concerned I had potentially done some serious damage by overstretching myself trying to run faster. I was also worried as I had The Great Edinburgh Run in less than 2 weeks and didn’t want to have to pull out. Four days later I went to see the Dr to check I was safe to run, he confirmed it was most probably bursitis (which is what my Mum, an ex physiotherapist had thought). The Dr said to continue RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) and that medically he would advise resting over running. However, if it was him he would probably venture out for a run to see how it was and that it was really up to me. At that point I admitted I had already decided before I went to my appointment that as long as there was no serious damage I would go out for a run straight after. I did, I got home and straight away ventured out for a cheeky little 5km and actually found that the following day I had more movement in my knee!

Two days later and already on the 10th of the month, I decided to try and gain some highs both literally and metaphorically. Having lived on and off in Edinburgh for most of my 18 years since leaving school, there has always been one thing that really daunted me, the thought of running up Arthurs Seat. So dressed in my new ICP Support t-shirt, girls safely dropped off at Mums, I faced my nemesis……10.4 miles later and I arrived back at Mum’s feeling amazing, I don’t know what I was worried about. The feeling I got running on a beautiful Sunday morning after the stress of the previous week, looking down over the different areas of the city I love, knowing I was conquering Arthur’s Seat was exhilarating, euphoric even, a definite ‘Runner’s High’.

Three days after and wanting to get one more run in before the 10 mile Great Edinburgh Run on the 17th, off I went to tackle Arthur’s Seat again. This time I planned to go right up to the top! Being a Scottish lass and not one to be put off by dreich weather I went for it regardless of the rain and poor visibility.

As you can see from the picture I made it to the top but once I was up there, I couldn’t see more than a few metres in front of me so I had no idea which way had the best terrain to get down. Needless to say I chose the worst option and it took me almost 22 minutes to get down the very slippy uneven steps to Salisbury Crags. I was petrified I was going to fall and break something and was pretty annoyed at myself for picking such a stupid down route. Luckily as I got further down the weather cleared slightly (or maybe I just got out of the clouds) so I decided to continue and ventured up Salisbury Crags. Running along the top of the Crags in the rain was refreshing and the views over rainy Edinburgh were fabulous, although I was careful to run more than slipping distance away from the edge. The best part of my run that day was running full pelt down the hill to St Margaret’s Loch from the top of the Crags. I had my arms outstretched and felt like I was about 3, I considered screaming weeeeeeeeeeee the whole way down but unfortunately my self-conscious got the better of me. However, I enjoyed it so much I then ran over the middle between Arthur’s Seat and the Crags so I could run down the other side!

Having proved to myself hills were no longer something to be feared I was feeling pretty ready for The Great Edinburgh Run. Again on race day the sun was out and the race conditions were great. Although I experienced something I’d never felt before for the first 3 miles which was frozen toes! I can only put it down to the fact I was in the last pen and therefore was standing more or less still for 30 minutes waiting for my wave to start, when I did I  couldn’t feel my toes which was an incredibly strange sensation, I likened it at the time to how my 11 month old daughter must feel now she’s begin to wear shoes and her feet are all bunched up as she is learning to keep them flat. Luckily they thawed out and I had a great race. I had hoped for an average mile pace of between 9:30-10:00 minutes so when I finished and my app said I’d done it in 8:58 I was ecstatic.

 

The following day, Monday the 18th I went out for a 4.2 mile recovery run, where i’d planned to take it slow but ended up pushing myself and finishing with an average pace of 9:09 a mile. On Wednesday I did another 4 mile run and then on Friday ventured in to the low parts of the Pentlands Hills for what was supposed to be a 5.5 mile run. It was really pretty running around two of the reservoirs and I was enjoying it so much I ended up doing an additional 4 miles!

 

Two days later I went out for a 4 mile run and hit the half way mark. Not even four full months in to the year and I’ve already run 500km…….so come on people if you’re reading this and haven’t sponsored me yet, dig deep!!!! I was hoping to match every km run with a £ sponsorship but the £’s are lagging behind at the moment. You can sponsor me by visiting my fundraising page https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/kimkenny1

To those who are reading this and have already sponsored me thank you so much!

 

Anyway back to the running, my next run was on my birthday –  34 years young! What better way for a new running obsessed woman to spend her birthday morning when her husband is at work, step son is at school and eldest daughter is at playgroup than to get her Mum round to look after the baby and head out to pound the streets. 8 miles later at a pace of 8:42 a mile I was ready to work my way through not one but two birthday cakes.

I did another couple of 5km runs that week and then my final run of the month was another amazing hill run. Those of you who know me well will know how much I love the snow, so what was I suppose to do when I saw snow on the hills than to head to them for a run.

My plan had been to go for a 6 mile run in the opposite direction than my last low level run (in the Pentlands) earlier in the month, and to run around another few reservoirs. Needless to say after 4 miles of glorious scenery when faced with turning right to head back down the hill for home or turning left and heading for the hills and the snow I turned left. I roughly worked out I had about 1 hour 20 minutes before I needed to be at my Slimming World meeting to get weighed, I’d previously mapped part of the route (excluding the run to and from home) and including the distance I had already run it was probably an additional 6-8miles so I should just about make it! I set of up the hills and was so glad I did, I was in my element, slipping and sliding through the snow, running through muddy puddles, hopping across stepping stones over burns, going over styles, overtaking two mountain bikers going up the final steep hill and best of all running almost 3 full miles downhill home. I made it home after 12.79 miles with 5 minutes to get to class, just enough time to get out of my soaking wet socks, no chance of a shower so off I went to get weighed, sweaty, red faced, legs covered in mud with the biggest smile on my face. Needless to say despite my best effort eating lots of birthday cake I still lost a pound so am now 5lbs under target and have decided to set a new target as all this running is doing wonders for my baby weight loss.

So that’s it April, my month of highs and lows. I finished the month having completed 544kms of the challenge in total and my average pace has dropped from 9:58 per mile in March to 9:28 per mile in April (which I am really happy with especially as I have been doing a lot more hill running this month). I am really excited to find out what May has in store for me and complete some more great runs in the hills.

Thanks

Kim x x

 

March

Month 3 of my 1000km challenge finished and I’m proud to report I’ve run a total of 404km so far!

March has been the month for races.

I ran my first ever race on Mother’s Day. It was brilliant, it was a 10km along the foreshore at Cramond. The sun was shining and the course  was flat (which was a nice change from my normal hilly routes). I loved the atmosphere and running with other people around. Paul and the kids came and cheered me on over the finish line which gave me a little lump in my throat.

Although the race wasn’t chipped, I used my MapMyRun App, I didn’t stop it bang on the finish line but I reckon I did it in about 58mins!  I can’t believe how far I’ve come since I ran/walked my first ever 5km park run in approx 38mins on Boxing Day 2015 with my sisters-in-law.

I ran my second race 2 weeks later, it was the Kilomathon (13.2km) from Ocean Terminal to Murrayfield Stadium. This race was a lot bigger with runners started in waves depending on their estimated time. I was a bit apprehensive prior to the start, partly because of the size of the race, partly because I didn’t know the route but also because I had been ill in the week leading up to it with a chesty cough and cold.

The sun was shining again on race day, the route was a lot flatter than I’d expected and starting in waves went smoothly. Everything seemed to be going well until about the 6km mark and all of a sudden I couldn’t catch my breath and felt like I was having a panic attack! It was a horrible experience, I walked for a bit and tried to rationalise all the thoughts in my head, was I having a heart attack, was I having a panic attack, did I need medical assistance, should I quit, aargh all these people are overtaking me! I was saved by my eldest daughter Freya’s favourite song coming through my headphones (All About That Bass, Meghan Trainor). I started running again and focused on her, her dancing and singing to it, her doing her exercises with me when I come in from a run and her insistence on giving me lots of kisses before I head out for a run because I’ll be too sweaty to kiss when I get back 😄. I gave myself a talking to and reminded myself why I was clocking these km, to challenge myself and raise funds for ICP support. The charity is so close to my heart having had ICP in both my pregnancies, that with the thought of raising money for them and all the people who had sponsored me so far I ran on!

The rest of the race went fine and I finished in what I felt was a very respectable 1:21. As you can see in the picture below, I was obviously not really focused at the end as I’m posing with my medal back to front 😊

I took 3 days off running after the race as my cold came back with a vengeance. That in itself was really tough, I hated not being able to go out for a run. When I did, it was probably too soon as I had the same problem with my chest and breathing I had had on race day.

I’m happy to report however that I have run 7 times in the last 8 days (varying distances from 7km-14km) and have been absolutely fine. Lesson learnt – rest when required and don’t push myself when my body’s not ready. I am relieved though that my ‘blip’ on race day seems most likely to have been caused by my ill health and not from nerves or sheer panic……

This month also saw me doing something I never in a million years thought I would do. I sat one Sunday night armed with my laptop and an alarm set on my phone to try and secure a place in a 10km race over the Forth Road bridge. There were only 400 places available and it sold out in 11 minutes but I got my place!! Oh how times have changed.

The first screenshot below was on the 9th March and I thought it was quite a coincidence that I had completed 298km with 298 days of the year remaining. The second screenshot was taken today, I am so proud of myself that I have managed to run 404km (251 miles) in the first 3 months of my crazy challenge. At this rate I’ll be completing not just 1000km in 2016 but 1000 miles.

If you haven’t sponsored me already and can spare a £ or 2, please donate what you can https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/kimkenny1 and help me turn each of my kilometres into a £

 

 

 

February

Month two of my challenge to run 1000km in 2016 whilst raising awareness of Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy/Obstetric Cholestasis and raising money for the charity ICP Support is now completed.

This month apart from doing a lot of running I have also signed up for 4 races and am currently contemplating signing up for another 4! One of these is a virtual run organised by ICP Support, if you fancy running a 5km for a great cause check out this link for further details.  http://www.icpsupport.org/itchingtorun.shtml.

So, on to my running for February. The start of the month was really tough, I had an awful cold and chesty cough and doubted I would manage to keep going. Running was the last thing I felt like doing but I persevered and clocked up some kilometres by sticking to shorter runs (approx. 5kms) and not running flat out. It was on one of these runs that a helpful police man stopped the traffic for me when I was waiting to cross a busy road, and while I was extremely grateful to him, I was actually really enjoying having a break and catching my breath 😄

By week 2 I was feeling much better and decided that in February I was going to try and see just how far and for how long I could run. I started off with a 13.25km run on the 9th February, it went okay apart from me getting lost at one point and having to phone Paul for directions (I only realised after that I could have just looked at the map on my phone!). I also realised on that run that if I was going to be increasing my distance I should probably eat before running and also take some water!

My next long run was in Cheshire on the 14th with my sister in law Danielle. Danielle is part of a running club and runs regularly so I asked her to take me on a long run but not to tell me how far we were going. We ended up doing 10 miles (16.51kms), I was so chuffed that I had managed to run the whole way, with the exception of the 5 seconds I had to stop to chew a gummy bear, it turns out that although I can multi-task very well, I can not run, breathe and chew all at the same time.

After the high of my run on the 14th, on the 21st I ran the length of the Water of Leith (and a bit extra) covering a total of 21.5kms. Despite living in Edinburgh for pretty much the last 17 years I had never done this route in it’s entirety before. I really enjoyed it and for any of you who live in Edinburgh or visit I would strongly recommend it. There was so many great photo opportunities but I was on a roll and didn’t want to break my pace. Towards the end of the run I was exhausted, my knees and hips were starting to hurt but it really is mind over matter and I guess that’s where my strong will and determination come in handy. My battery died at 19.5kms which was heart breaking as it meant my timing and route were messed up. Mum came to the rescue in the car though and we drove back to measure the extra distance I had done and I was extremely grateful for the lift home too.

During the month, in between my long runs, I have also been doing approximately 4 x 5-6kms runs a week. However on the 23rd and 24th I increased my morning runs to 5 miles. It was on one of these runs that it hit me…..I’m a runner now, an actual proper runner! So I decided to celebrate on the 26th with another half marathon distance run, my second of the week which actually ended up being 22.62km run as I got lost again (it turns out canal paths aren’t mapped on my phone) and I ended up doing a long cut!

This month has definitely been the month of long runs, I have clocked another 149kms for my challenge giving me a grand total at the end of February of 258 kilometres as pictured below (screenshot taken on the 29th February). Oh yes and I have also managed to get my 5km time under 30 minutes.

Please help  me to achieve my fundraising target and turn each of my km into a £, donations can be made by visiting my fundraising page at the following link. https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/kimkenny1. Any amount is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Kim x x

 

 

January

January, the first month of my challenge to run 1000km in 2016!

Seriously, what was I thinking! This was the phrase that went through my head pretty much constantly on every run for the first two weeks.

My first run of the challenge I did on New Years day morning (with a slightly fuzzy head). I ran 5km and it took me 37:12. Not a very good time but considering my first ever 5km had only been 6 days earlier not too bad.

I then ran a further 7 x 5km (approx.) over the next two weeks. The weather wasn’t great and the majority of the time I was running in conditions like the picture below. I had a few slips but luckily none that resulted in injury.

Not the easiest running conditions

I read quite a lot of running articles over the first few weeks, hoping that some tip would spring out and I would suddenly love running. I tried counting trees, as one magazine suggested, but when you’re running along the Water of Leith this is really a bit ridiculous. I tried focusing on my breathing, rather than on my poor tired, heavy sore legs but I couldn’t banish the ‘oh my god what am I doing’ thoughts that were playing on repeat in my head. I still kept going, plugging away, alternating my routes, doing more hills, trying to push myself week after week.

Don’t get me wrong it wasn’t all horrific, I loved getting home and seeing that my average pace had dropped. I enjoyed getting out and having some me time as living at home with my husband, 13 year old step son, and my daughters aged 2.5 and 8 months, alone time is pretty much non existent. So I persevered and did a further 8km run and another 5 x 5km (approx.)

And then like magic it happened, I went out for a run and realised I LOVED RUNNING. It was on January 27th, it was pouring with rain, I whinged to Paul about going and said I would try for 5km but would probably do less and off I reluctantly went.

I’d done about 1.5km, when a car went through a puddle and soaked me but I kept going, I got to about the 4km point where I would normally cut off the path and head back to the house but amazingly I wasn’t tired so I kept going. Unfortunately by this point, whether it was because my phone had got wet or an issue with the app, I could no longer see my distance only the calories burnt and average pace so I had no idea how far I had run. I figured as I had run to the turning point of one of my normal 5km loops and had started with another, by the time I got home it would be approximately 10km. I looped back and headed for home, getting drenched by a bus on the way. When I got home, I was devastated to discover I had only done 9km especially as I could have carried on and done 10km. At the same time though I was ecstatic, I had enjoyed every minute of it, I had ran the whole way and I had completed it in 57:53 (which I think is a reasonably good time for a beginner?).

The day after I went for a 5.5km run, 2 days after that I went for a 10.32km run and to finish off the month I ran the same route I ran on the 1st January. This time it only took me 30:27, I was gutted it wasn’t under 30 minutes but overjoyed it was almost 7 minutes faster than on the 1st.

 

 

I can’t believe how far I have come in a month. I feel so much fitter, so motivated and extremely determined to do this. I have run a total of 109km in January and I have done something I never thought I would have the courage to do. I have entered not one but three races of varying distance that will take place between now and April.

I have had the confidence to make contact with ICP Support, https://www.icpsupport.org and committed to raising money for them while completing my 1000k challenge. I have created my BT donate page https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/kimkenny1 and in case you missed it I HAVE RUN 109KM!!!

Please donate what you can to this fantastic charity and help me turn each of my km into a £.

Thanks

Kim x x