Sainsburys Anniversary Games 2014

On Sunday 20th July 2014 I had the pleasure of volunteering at the
Sainsburys Anniversary Games organised by British Athletics. It had
been the end of a busy day for me having ran round the Olympic Park in
the morning. My volunteer role was a stand officer at Horse Guards
Parade at the evening session.

It was great to see all the athletes up close and I came across some
fellow Games Makers too. Some were volunteering at the event, many
were in the crowd. Another nice thing for me was wearing the 'uniform'
: orange t-shirt with the accreditation. I still am and always have
been an avid fan of watching Athletics on telly and quite used to
seeing others wear that uniform. That day was my turn to wear it
having organised to volunteer at it via the Team London website.

Of course, the Anniversary Games celebrated the London 2012 Games
which I also volunteered at. Would love to do it again in future and
at other events organised by British Athletics.

The Sainsburys Anniversary Games 2014 was also broadcast live on Channel 4 so its possible I may have even been spotted on telly.

Happy New Year 2014!

Happy New Year everybody! Today I ran the New Year's Day 10k organised by Cleethorpes Athletics Club, running 6 miles steadily for the 2nd time since my foot injury (photos above) which I got at the Scunthorpe Cross Country on 10th November. I had begun running again on the friday before christmas.
The past few weeks has made me realise that I have lost my speed and some of my fitness in the time I have been out of action, which is just under 6 weeks. It will be steady running for me throughout January while my fitness is rebuilding and I run loads more mileage into my legs. My plans for 2014 will be on another post.
From this point onwards things can only get better

Happy New Year 2013!: My Goals for the Year

Happy New Year everybody! It has been a little while since my last blog post due partly to some financial problems which also affected my internet. Business is now resuming :)

My Athletic goals for 2013 are:

To run 6 Half Marathons (Minimum 3) and 2 Full Marathons including Mablethorpe.
Run in as many local races and events as possible.
Buy some Trail shoes and do at least 1 Fell race or off-road race.
Get a new Clee AC Vest and put my name on it.
Marshall at all local races I can get transport to should I decide that I'm not running in them
Help out Clee AC at the Track, usually on Tuesday nights, and to encourage the Kids

Oh and do as many Fun Runs as I can as long as they dont clash with any other races I want to run in :)

On a non athletic note I intend to continue being a Volunteer steward for Local non-commercial footie team Cleethorpes Town FC.

Those are my goals for 2013 and I hope any runners reading this achieve their personal running goals.

Clee AC 5K Series 2012…So Far

October 5K Results: http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/Finley-Thompson-wins-2012-13-Cleethorpes-5k-road/story-17030846-detail/story.html

November 5K Results: http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/Record-field-latest-Cleethorpes-AC-winter-5K-race/story-17275863-detail/story.html

It is always my aim in any race to beat my previous time and next Tuesday it will be no different at the December 5K. My time in October was 26.01 which was followed by a time of 25.57 in November, quicker by only 4 seconds.

The race is hosted by my running club, Cleethorpes Athletics Club, and should be able to reach my target due to some Hill reps and a little bit off road running I have done since. With my aim to run at 8.30 mins a mile the target for the 5K will be 25.30. Should I be able to run quicker I will do so. I am going to do it!! Hopefully the weather will be a little kinder next week but wont bet on it.

Results above of all the runners in the previous races are from my local paper the Grimsby Telegraph

When The Running Bug First Bit

I first succumbed to running Fever or to be more precise, when I first discovered that I enjoyed running back in September 2009. It was a Fun Run, specifically the Lumbard Fun Run.

My friend Annette from my local wargames club had shown an interest in doing the Lumbard Fun Run that year and she had always ran in it in previous years in addition to which she had been seeking sponsorship. Initially I just wanted to go down to the Fun Run, support her and cheer her on and then I thought: instead of just supporting her, why dont I actually run the race with her? It was then I decided to take part in the Fun Run itself. Unfortunately I only decided to take part in the Fun Run just over a week before it took place so only had a short period of time to raise sponsorship for the event. The charity I chose to help on this occasion was Cancer Research UK. Being a member of a gym at that time the only running training I had was on a treadmill.

Both Annette and myself decided we were going to do it in Fancy Dress so there was some discussion over what we both might wear for the event. It was not until the actual day itself that we both saw our costumes. Being a fan of Pirates of the Caribbean I had hired an excellent Pirate outfit from Twinkles Fancy Dress at Cleethorpes and Annette had become dressed as a bumblebee. For this Fun Run Annette also brought her lovely dog Flash with her and with whom she ran with. Flash was an incredibly enthusiastic runner on this day and he practically dragged her along. I ran with both of them and we all completed the 4 mile course in 45 minutes although there was a litttle bit of walking involved. It was during this run that I found I actually enjoyed the running.

The Lumbard Fun Run was won by Sam Atkin, then 16, of Lincoln Wellington Athletics Club in 19 minutes 24 seconds. As far as I am aware The Lumbard Fun Run has not taken place in Grimsby since then, which is a shame. It was a great event and loads of people took part.

Before the event both myself and Annette were photographed by the Grimsby Telegraph who talked to both of us about the event. Both the photos of myself and Annette and the write up of the event were published in the Grimsby Telegraph on September 21st, 2009. Photos of the article can be seen below:

 

The Grimsby Telegraph article on the Lumbard Fun Run in 2009 is still available online at: http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/RACERS-RUN-RIOT-TRIBUTE/story-11547850-detail/story.html

New Years Day 10K 2012 and Some Of Its History

This year was the second year I had taken part in the New Years Day 10K and as usual it was a great event to be part of with hundreds of runners taking part. Before the event it was my understanding that 481 had entered the race but only 421 participated and completed it. My plan this year was just to improve on last year’s time which was 1 hr 4 mins with the aim of completing in an hour or less. Having managed to get to the start line without a hangover having drunk only a bottle of cider and a can of Stella Artois – the lager, not the cider – the night before I was nevertheless still feeling a little tired when the race began. The night before I had gone to Clee AC Chairman Andrew Gristwood’s New Year Eve Party at his house, which was excellent as always. Unlike some runners I know I find it impossible to run with a hangover but thankfully I did not have one.

Uncertain of the weather which turned out to be good running conditions, I actually wore last years New Years Day 10K T-shirt under my Clee AC vest. Over Christmas i had been feeling very under the weather and very “wiped out” so had only ran twice in the week building up till New Year mainly due to having a really bad cold and very bad cough. In the early hours of Christmas Eve I had been sick several times as well. At least in 2011 I did not have a really bad cold to run with on the first day of the year.

The New Years Day 10K 2012 was the beginning of Week 5 of my marathon training. The plan this year was to start at the back behind all the other runners as had been suggested to me by other runners beforehand as I was informed I would have a better race. That was exactly what i did. I may have set off a little too quick it was impossible to tell this time as I had accidentally forgotten my stopwatch which is highly unusual for me as I always run wearing it. After the first few circuits I found I had got myself into a steady pace which I had managed to keep going throughout without stopping. Before exiting Chichester Avenue into Taylor’s Avenue at the 5km mark, I clearly heard the Marshall call my time as 29 mins 56 seconds. It was then I realised I was running close to my steady pace of about 10 mins a mile. After running down Taylor’s Avenue the route turned left and headed towards the Beachcomber past the entrance to the Country Park. Once the Beachcomber was in my sights I started to feel much better as the finish line was only a short distance down Kings Road from that point. Crossing over the small bridge above a small stream there I decided to quicken my pace a little to the finish line and was glad to have finally finished the race. Up to the 5km mark I was unusually tired which I would not normally be after running 3 miles. I thoroughly enjoyed the race. There were plenty of people supporting us runners along the route and at the end as normally happens. My finish time, according to Clee AC, was 1 hr 1 mins 15 seconds. The Results of the 10K race can be downloaded from the Cleethorpes Athletics Club website as a pdf by clicking here. It seems this year was only an improvement on my time by 3 minutes so I look forward to completely trashing any of my times so far in 2013.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above are some screenshots of the Grimsby Telegraph article on the New Years Day 10K 2012 on their website. The Article itself can be found here: http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/Athletics-Brown-wins-Clee-10k-race/story-14305324-detail/story.html

Recently an article had been published in the Grimsby Telegraph detailing the history of the New Years day 10K race. Although I had missed the actual article I read it online on the Grimsby Telegraph website. To my surprise it turns out the race had first been ran on New Years Day 1976, shortly after the Cleethorpes Athletics Club had been formed! I would have been 3 when that first race had been run. Read the article yourself by Colin Wright on the Grimsby Telegraph website here: http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/RACING-NEW-YEAR/story-14208571-detail/story.html

To see photos of the New Years Day 10K, please follow these links:

Great 10K Cleethorpes Run – Gallery on the Grimsby Telegraph website by a member of the public
Cleethorpes 10K 2012 photos from the Wolds Vets Photostream
Cleethorpes 10K 2012 photos by Adrian Royle
Cleethorpes 10K 2012 photos by Geoff Pinchbeck
Cleethorpes 10K Photos by Paul Mortimer

Before closing this post I thought I would have a little look back on last year’s race:

 

Here is a clipping from the Grimsby Post which republished the details of the New Years Day 10K last year. On this occasion I was wearing a Santa Suit which, feeling in a festive mood, I decided to wear just for fun. Thats me on the bottom left of the clipping. In 2011 I ran the race in 1 hr 4 mins.

 

 

 

 

Here is the entire Article on the New Years Day 10K race in the Grimsby Post. Last year the race was won by Gregan Clarkson.

 

 

 

 

On a entirely different note if there are any of you out there with a running website or running blog just leave a comment on here with your website/blog address and I shall be happy to link back to you.