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Family Fitness Fundraising Marathon Me MND Motor Neuron Disease Ross Running

Great Welsh Marathon 2012

This year my fund-raising for MND Scotland involves running four marathons in Wales (Llanelli), Scotland (Edinburgh), England (Chester) and Ireland (Dublin).

Last weekend saw the first of these.

IMG-20120415-00043.jpg

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Fitness Hobbies Me Ross Running

I love #parkrun!

parkrun-StrathclydePark-20111210

I have never been a fast runner – but parkrun has always been a competitive event for me.
If I have not been chasing a personal best (PB), I have at least been trying to shave a few seconds off my time for the previous week or trying to pass the runner just in front (truth be told I always aim for the person two in front, to make sure I PASS the person in front of me).

This year, what with a series of coughs, colds, splutters, work commitments and various slight injuries; my running has really suffered and my head has not been in the right place either so I have really neglected my marathon training schedule.

I was supposed to be tail running at Strathclyde parkrun event 99 but John Edge asked if he could take my place – he is tactically planning to run his 50th parkrun at our 100th event next Saturday. This left me free to run the event at my own pace! I’m still nursing a slight pull to my hamstring and I was supposed to be running the Alloa half marathon the following day, this left me free to pick my own pace.

Just as we started there was that ominous sound from my Garmin – No Battery, my watch died. Nothing left for it but to just run and listen to my body – run at a nice comfortable pace and enjoy the view and enjoy the company.

This resulted in one of my best parkrun running experiences ever – comfortable enough to have a conversation and enjoy the view. Running in a different part of the field from normal allows you to meet completely new runners, I’m privileged to be a regular volunteer so I do get to see most of the runners but maybe not have as long a chat as I would like.

So why don’t you try it – experience a parkrun at a completely different pace!

Disclaimer : I’m on the core team for Strathclyde parkrun and am always on the lookout for new runners to join our event or do one of the easy volunteer roles that enable our events to be enjoyed by so many.

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Fitness Marathon Running

Help Me Stretch Myself

head, shoulder, knees and toes, knees and toes
Creative Commons License photo credit: aye_shamus

After my first ever #parkrun DNF (Did Not Finish) due to pulling my hamstring I have finally LEARNED my lesson.

A Warmup/Cooldown and stretching regime is MANDATORY!

My question is this:

What do you consider to be the “best” options?

  • A gentle run
  • Static stretches
  • dynamic stretches

Feel free to send links to YouTube etc as appropriate.

Categories
Fundraising Marathon MND Motor Neuron Disease Running

1000km Almost There

Ross At Edinburgh Marathon
Thanks to Marathon-Photos.com

For those that don’t know, my eldest daughter Emma Berry Goodman passed away in September 2008 from Motor Neurone Disease. Whilst she was with us we were greatly helped by three fantastic charities: MND Scotland, Marie Curie Cancer Care and the Childrens Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS).

For the last three years I have dedicated a years fundraising to each of these charities. This year my challenge was to run 1,000km in 2011 for Marie Curie Cancer Care.
If everything goes to plan then I will achieve my 1,000th kilometer when I run in Strathclyde Parkrun –  event number 86 on Saturday 17th December.

I know that this is an expensive time of year but if you could see your way to giving a donation at https://www.justgiving.com/1000k-in-2011 or by texting “Ross70 £5” to 70070 – feel free to adjust the amount as you see fit!
Every £20 raised helps to provide 1 hour of nursing care and I can personally vouch for how invaluable the Marie Curie are!

Thank you all for your donations and your support and encouragement in this past year!

If you would like to see just how far 1,000km actually is have a look here.

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Fundraising Running

The Home Straight

As you should know I set myself the challenge of running 1,000km in 2012 to raise money for the fabulous folks at Marie Curie Cancer Care. I have been slightly tardy with my updates but I am please to report that I’m getting close: I have just 110 km to go. i.e. I have run 89% of the planned distance with one month to go.

I had hoped to be able to raise £1000. Every £20 raise helps provide an hour’s nursing, £1,000 would equate to 50 hours care! Unfortunately I’m only at £766 or 76% of target. I am putting a big push in, I’m planning to run every day in December to guarantee that I hit my km target but I need some help from you to make sure that I hit my £ target!

I understand that these are financially trying times and December is an expensive month but this is exactly when we should be thinking of others. Any donations at all will be gratefully received at https://www.justgiving.com/1000k-in-2011 or you can donate via your mobile phone by texting “Ross70 £5â€? to 70070

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Fundraising Marathon Ross Running

Edinburgh Marathon Festival 2011

OK it’s been a week since I finished my second marathon:
Ross Goodman Edinburgh Marathon 2011 Finishers Medal
This was the first “big” race in my year long 1,000km in 2011 for Marie Curie.

To just add an extra element to the marathon my friend Andy from Reynard Nursery asked me to tweet every mile. I knew every mile would be very offputtingbut I thought I would give it a go. My marathon day tweets start here. I had experimented with VLingo for my BlackBerry which I was carrying anyway. My pre race day tests were all fine – press a button – speak – translated into text – press a button to confirm sending it to Twitter – easy. On the day, being a little breathless and having a howling gale (more of that later) things didn’t go quite to plan. “Four Miles” was translated as “F******* Hell” and “Five Miles and Feeling Good” was translated as “Hi Smiles and Feeling Good”. I reverted to typing after that.

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Fitness Fundraising Marathon Ross Running

Run To Date – Just over 100 miles

As you may knowI am planning to run 1000km in 2011 to raise funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

To date I have run 164km or 16.4% of my target distance – unfortunately I am only at 4% of my fundraising target – Never mind I have the Meadows (half) marathon, the Kilomathon and the Edinburgh Marathon in the next few months to give the fundraising a boost.

I thought it would be fun to visualise just how far 164km is, turns out I would be almost at Newcastle by now!

You can see this by clicking here.

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Fitness Fundraising Ross Running

1000K In 2011 – My Dashboard

As you know I have pledged to run 1,000 kilometers in 2011 For Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Here is the first draft of the dashboard I’ll be using to communicate my progress.

Click here for the bigger version.

The JustGiving page has also been set up here : http://www.justgiving.com/1000k-in-2011

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Fundraising Running

2011 – Fundraising Challenge – Run 1000km

Marie Curie Logo

In 2011 I plan to run 1000km to raise funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

This will be spread across multiple events including the Edinburgh Marathon and all of my training sessions.

If you would like to donate please visit http://www.justgiving.com/1000k-in-2011

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Fitness Fundraising Hobbies Me Running

Marcothon (December Running) Update

Fast man!
Creative Commons License photo credit: Nick-K (Nikos Koutoulas)

The concept behind Marcothon was simple : run every day in December for at least 25 minutes or 3 miles.

My results:

  • 15 days out of 31
  • 18 runs in total
  • 75.51km or 46.92 miles covered
  • 10 hours 30 minutes running time

Officially that is a “fail” but it is my fourth best month in the year for distance and time but by far my best for actual number of runs.

I’m counting it as a HUGE success as it has been the ideal “warm up” for my 2011 running challenge.