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.

Inaugural Cleethorpes parkrun 24th May 2014

Photo of all the volunteers (left) by Cleethorpes parkrun volunteer Anne-Marie Fowler. Run Director Darren Rowe is far right. The photo was taken on 24th May 2014 after the first ever Cleethorpes parkrun had finished.

 

 

Playing a part in the first ever Cleethorpes parkrun was one of those moments where I can say that once again “I was there”. Had a few of those in these past few years. I played no part in the organising or setting up of it but was one of the first people to express an interest in volunteering at it as soon as I knew of the intention to set one up.

Before attending the meeting about parkrun at the Cleethorpes Leisure Centre for anyone interested in volunteering at parkrun I was aware that a donation had been given due to an article in the Grimsby Telegraph: Weekly parkrun set up in Cleethorpes

At that initial volunteer meeting one of the matters that had been discussed was a trial run on 21st May. I attended and volunteered at the trial run too, which went really well, with 20 odd local runners turning up. It gave the Run Director Darren Rowe and the other Run Directors – some of whom volunteered at the event – an opportunity to test it out and see what needed tweaking and resolve any possible issues before the official launch. A few of the core volunteers do take it in turns to become the Run Director.

On the 24th May 2014 it was the Official launch day of the Cleethorpes parkrun and the weather was not on our side. Overcast and wet but not short of volunteers (see above). I marshalled in my London 2012 Olympics Games Maker uniform as I like to do on occasion with the aim of trying to inspire and encourage people to run, with the help of my cheery uniform. This time I also brought my Join In foam finger that was given to me when I went on the Olympic Park last year, specifically July 19th 2013 (see photos below). The North section of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – where the Velodrome is – opened to the public on 27th July 2013.

With my foam finger I planned to use it to give directions – well, I was marshalling, which I did. My inspiration was my fellow Games Makers who used foam fingers in London during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to give directions. To my surprise, most runners seemed to cheer up when they saw me and most of the runners high-fived it, which was also fun. Bit of a party atmosphere. Noticed many experienced parkrunners running around with one of those ‘100’ parkrun T-shirts for parkrunners who have ran in more than 100 parkruns.

In total there were 177 runners on the Inaugural Cleethorpes parkrun, which was amazing! They came from all over. Here is the Run Report on the 1st ever Cleethorpes parkrun by Colin Wright.

Reports in the local paper: New Weekly parkrun gets Underway with a Bang and 170 Runners turn up for first ever Cleethorpes parkrun 

To anyone who doesnt know, a parkrun is NOT a race! It is a weekly timed 5k run. You run as fast or as slow as you want. parkrun cannot function without volunteers: Volunteer at Cleethorpes parkrun

You can find photos from the Cleethorpes parkrun here

Go Local - Launch Event for the Join In Summer

This is one event I had the pleasure of going to on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on July 19th 2013, 10 days before the North section of the park (near the Velodrome) was reopened to the public. It was also one of the hottest days of the year and I melted on the Olympic Park that day. I also took loads of photos, some of which will be posted on the next post.

Please view the video from the 'Join In' charity below, who organised the event about the events of that day.