Targeting Great Newham London Run 2015

A few months ago I signed up to run round the Olympic Park again. No Longer called 'The Anniversary Run' the event is now called 'The Great Newham London Run' and now a 10k event. It is special this year because not only is it a new event and new course but it finishes in the newly refurbished Olympic Stadium which doesnt open to the public till 2016.
As its the home of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, I want to run the best 10k I can. Wont be easy though as its usually 23C to 25C on the Olympic Park in July and I dont run well in hot weather. Am also slightly unfit at the minute so made a plan to get it back and train up for this special event on the Olympic Park. Other than running regularly at least 3 times a week and running on the track I decided a great way to train would be to run Cleethorpes parkrun at least once a month. Apart from being a fun, friendly, social event its also a free timed 5k away from cars and roads making it ideal for Speedwork.Until last Saturday I hadnt ran Cleethorpes parkrun since last June when my PB became 28.46 under the old course. My first parkrun under the current course was on 11th April 2015 - ignoring my tailrunning at parkrun, in a time of 29.40. Due to the way the parkrun software works it doesn't distinguish between the different courses so it regards my PB as 28.46 until I beat that time. 28.46 is the time I need to beat at Cleethorpes parkrun in order to get any kind of PB.

For the time I want to run in this 10k I need to get a time of 22 or 23 mins. That will be hard as I have never ran a 5k in even 25 mins not even in the Prom Race's on Cleethorpes seafront. The important thing is just to keep pushing it and keep getting it down. So as long as I keep improving and end up on the PB corner of the Cleethorpes parkrun website reasonably regularly, I will be on course for a decent run in the Great Newham London Run.

I sort of "announced" the fact I'm doing the Great Newham London Run through the Cleethorpes parkrun website here: http://www.parkrun.org.uk/cleethorpes/news/2015/04/11/parkrun-xl1v/

Looking forward to going...Back to the Stadium #backtothestadium

Maravan 22nd/23rd November 2014

Over 6 months ago I took a spontaneous decision to run the “Maravan” as its called. Its a play on words for “Marathon” held in a caravan park, Thorpe Park, at Cleethorpes at the end of November 2014. At the beginning of the year I had decided that I was not going a run a marathon this year. Once I was aware of the “Maravan” race my mind changed just like that. For this race you can either run either the Saturday or the Sunday or run both days. To make it more of a challenge and more interesting, I decided to run BOTH days making my “maravan” race running 2 full marathons in 2 consecutive days. The event itself is now under 2 months away being on the 22nd/23rd November 2014.

In my lifetime I have ever ran 1 marathon, the Hull Marathon, in April 2012 so this is an incredible challenge for me which will also make me even fitter.

 

To find more information on the Maravan event click here

Click here for the Maravan entry list

Many local runners are also taking part, of which many of those are experienced marathon runners or ultrarunners. Expect they will get round the course better than I will however I am confident I will run BOTH days without a problem. My training began on the 19th/July 2014 as part of my 19 week training program, which this time was created by myself. One of my first training runs for it was the National Lottery Newham London Anniversary Run round the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, the home of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Newham London National Lottery Anniversary Run – Part 1

Today was National Olympic Day all over the planet celebrating the Olympics. As part of my celebration I’m going to tell you about my next visit to the home of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games: Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford, London.

At the end of March, a few days after its return had been announced in the Press, I entered myself in this year’s National Lottery Anniversary Run. Its new title is the Newham London National Lottery Anniversary Run and got my place confirmed.

With about a month to go I’m looking forward to it. The event takes place on Sunday 20th July 2014.

 

 

 

 

Here is the course of the run and it looks brilliant. It takes in the Orbit, Olympic Stadium, the Copperbox, Athletes village, Aquatic Centre and the Velodrome plus some of the paths through the gardens. View the course on the official website

 

 

Last time I ran through the park it was for Sport Relief on March 23rd before the South Section of the park (Olympic Stadium etc) officially opened to the public on April 5th 2014. Will be running through the park for Sport Relief again this time too, asking for donations through my Sport Relief 2014 Justgiving page for the run.

Above is a few photos from when I ran 6 miles for Sport Relief round the Olympic Park…Saving that story for another post. As I did for Sport Relief I’ll be running in my Games Maker hat, Olympic Accreditation and some of my Games Maker badges and other London 2012 badges that were given to me when I was a London 2012 Olympics Games Maker during the games.