Last week a fellow member of Cleethorpes Athletics Club, Ed Huxford, had been good enough to donate to me a spare pair of his track spikes. Not only are they smart but found them to be very comfortable. Am still getting used to them but looking forward to using them at training and at future track meetings.
Their first major event is tomorrow at the Clee AC open meeting at King George V Stadium beginning with the 3k race. I expect to be using them a lot tomorrow.
My time at this year’s Barton Cross Country was 64.44 as compared to last year’s 57.58. The difference being last year I was running quite well and before my timings had started to come down on the track. In addition to which I still had my ‘fitness’, running at a decent pace. Due to my injury at the Scunthorpe Cross Country last year which took me out of action for 6 weeks, I lost some of my fitness. Hence why my time this year is much slower.
Nevertheless it was a good run round Baysgarth Park in my Clee AC vest and thoroughly enjoyed it. The Barton Cross Country course while being easier than the National Cross Country Championships which I ran in a few weeks ago, is still quite tough. More info on the National Cross Country Championships later.
Photos taken of me below are by Steve Green.
Sunday 12th January marks being back in training only 4 weeks. In those 4 weeks I have also ran in 2 races, very steadily. Sometimes near the end of a run I feel I can muster some short spurts or sprints but not far and not for very long. Need to be running steadily anyway whilst my fitness is rebuilt.
My first week of Jantastic doing 3 runs a week went well with the 2nd week just beginning.
Although time is irrelevant to me at the moment it is a good way of measuring my fitness and whether or not it is improving. I ran in the New Years Day 10k and the January 5k Prom Race with the following times and paces:
| Race | Time | Pace Per Mile |
| New Years Day 10K | 61.38 | 9.55 |
| January Prom Race 5k | 29.12 | 9.23 |
By my calculations that is an improvement of 32 seconds per mile, which isnt a great deal but can only be regarded as a sign of improving fitness. There was only 1 training run of 5 miles done between both these races. For January and early february the plan is to carry on doing steady runs but no speedwork just yet. Wont attack any ‘proper’ cross country training till February when I feel much fitter to tackle the terrain.
Here are reports in my local paper, the Grimsby Telegraph, about the following races: New Years Day 10k, January Prom Race 5k
Today begins Jantastic 2014 for me. I put down for 3 runs a week for January, which was my normal running routine before my injury. All runs must be at least 1 mile apparently which will be no problem for me. The plan for January is basically just doing steady runs, getting used to running again and getting used to running miles again with the goal of getting back my fitness.
Jantastic is basically a website designed to motivate runners, whether as an individual or part of a team. I’m part of the Clee AC Jantastic team which had 33 members in it last time I Iooked.
The plan is that my first run for Jantastic will be tonights Clee AC 5k Prom Race. Hopefully I will finish in under half an hour, even at my steady speed. Wish me Luck!
In early June of 2013 an opportunity was presented to me to participate in a local and new sports discussion show called ‘On the Bench’. I would have originally been in the 1st episode of the new series had I responded a little quicker but was very glad to have been involved in it. I was in fact in the 2nd episode of the 1st series, which is available to view below:
Of course my aim was to go on and promote my running club, Cleethorpes Athletics Club, whilst talking about the Olympics, which is what I did. Another objective was to talk up our fantastic and talented track athletes at Clee AC. Until that point I had never been in a studio setting and preferred dealing with the media ‘live’ when talking to journalists and photographers at fun runs etc so found it more than a little nerve-racking. In the process during filming I did make one factual error concerning the age the club takes kids on, which is actually at 7 years old.
At the end I really enjoyed the experience and looking forward to returning to the series one day soon in some sort of episode which also catches up with what i’ve been doing since my first appearance.
‘On the Bench’ is still going and currently into its second series, produced and made by Estuary TV. ‘On the Bench’ can be followed on twitter here @onthebenchtv and Estuary TV can be found @estuarytv
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It was very cold this morning but such a nice day and couldnt wait to get going, partly because i wanted to keep warm. Not long after arriving at St James House in St James Square in Grimsby, loads of Santas arrived, some of them four legged – in their Santa suits. Knew 2 of them personally. The Grimsby Telegraph was there taking photos of some of the Santas and including a pic of all of us in a group so it should be in the paper in the next few days.
Being a Fun Run and not a race it was still my intention to run it as fast as possible with the aim of about 17 mins. The course was 3 circuits amounting to 2 miles. Unfortunately a few minutes in a wardrobe malfunction occurred again. This time the belt didnt snap, it slid down but left my Santa pants unsupported. As a result I was once again running the course holding my pants up! Dont worry Folks I was wearing my normal running gear underneath .i.e. running shorts and t-shirt!
As I had predicted earlier my fellow Clee AC clubmate Jon Dollery, who was also running as a Santa, was the first one back! Knowing his pace he probably did it in about 12 mins. My stopwatch had me finishing in 17.05 which bodes well for the 5k on Tuesday, despite my little malfunction.
Donations are not due in till March 2013 so either donate to me personally or use my donation page at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JasonNeilson
St Andrews Childrens Hospice, Grimsby can be found at http://www.standrewschildrenshospice.com/
This afternoon I attended a service at Grimsby Minster in memory of Laura Mcphee, the girl who I ran the Hull Marathon for earlier in the year. The charity can be found at http://lauramcpheememorial.webs.com. Please Support them. The service was really nice.
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
