Tag: #GetBexRunning

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Life(style)

Getting Ready to Run for the @NSPCC #GetBexRunning

A little parcel that turned up in the post this morning! Which also let me know about options for signing up for a fundraising page (I try and spread out my fundraising so I don’t ask for anything more than once a year, usually 2!):

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/drbexl

They’ve got some great social media going on on the page too, and v. impressed to get a response on Facebook within 20-30 minutes after posting a hello! So who’s going to help me keep going (it kept me going for the Moonwalk, when I’d raised £400!)

So, now, “all” there is to do is to get the trainers back on, and get back on the streets… well, aside from the fact that I’ve been working on building up the muscles in my legs – stretching, swimming, circuit training, some realignment of my muscles by Winchester Holistics!

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Life(style)

#GetBexRunning: 1

OK, so I said I was going to start running again, and I tried to put it off tonight (even scoffing Haribos on the way home :-(), but then decided to look through the App store for more ideas. Sara Batts had suggested http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml, but I in trying to find the app that went it, saw there were loads that talk to you whilst running (whilst allowing you to play music), keep a record, and then Tweet at the end of it. Sounded about right!

I went for: http://splendid-things.co.uk/getrunning/, as it had a huge number of positive reviews on the iTunes store. Also a forum you can join:

OK, so the first run starts off with a 5 minute warm up, at which they recommend that you walk at a brisk pace (there’s various settings you can set up on the phone for age, weight, connect to Twitter, etc.), with a pleasantly voiced woman (I detect a tang of Aus in there!) giving calm instructions, and letting you know what comes next:

The app then sends you off on your first 1 minute run, indicating that you have 8 of these, and that you will walk for 1.5 minutes in between each:

This is how I was looking just before the half-way mark … hadn’t realised that it gave an instruction to turn round at the exact halfway, and had turned round a minute beforehand, ho hum…

If desired, you can check the phone to see how you’re going on, otherwise leave the music going, and I found my body responding almost automatically to the instructions (tired, feel a bit like a robot!), although by the 5th run my calf muscles were aching a bit (they’ve only just recovered from snapping 3 times in 4 weeks earlier in the summer… but have been building up with shuttle runs at the gym… those are a minute each too… but I guess the body gets stretched in between…): 

“She” congratulates you at the end of those runs, having kept you going, and calls for a 5 minute walk down … she let’s you know when the warm down is done, and recommends that you stretch (but no particular stretches – I know lots from the gym, but I’d be a little worried that complete coachers would not know what to do):

As I had linked the app to Twitter (or could have done Facebook), and asked it to pre-write the message – that’s what happened, and here goes this message (it puts your next run in too, but short of running at James/Holly’s… I’d rather run again Thurs!):

Feeling quite tired at the end of that… more the psychology of getting myself running again … have been in this flat for 1.5 years and not run from here… used to run from previous lodgings (the joy of Winchester, it’s not FLAT!):

So, how are you going to cheer me on? Ensure that I run again (Thursday, I think!)… or join my ‘Secret’ Facebook group!

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Event Life(style)

I’m signed up for the @Great_Run (South)

At this point, I’ve just signed up for the Great South Run, 28th October 2012.

In 2006, I was on a ski trip in January, and said that I would run the Manchester 10k (May) .. thinking it didn’t sound that far… but after 1 minute on the treadmill, I was slightly dying, so joined the running club. My aim was to get it done in 1 hour 30 minutes, but I did it in 1 hour 8 minutes 26 seconds…

Later that year, after sharing a bottle of wine with a friend, we signed up for the Winchester 10k, which was a WEEK later (and I was still running, but definitely not at the same level), but I completed that in 1 hour 6 minutes! I’m sure it’s more hilly also…

In the time since, I’ve been travelling around the world (where I got a chest infection), partaken in a number of computer based jobs, and I felt the need for something to inspire me to get my ‘get up and go back’ (I’ve been back at the gym for over a year, and love the classes there)… and know that running before, though I don’t particularly “enjoy” it, I really reap the benefits from it… and seeing @batty_towers talking about her runs, a friend running today in the Great South Run, and seeing the apps that show how far you’ve run (seen those Tweets about #runkeeper?). Also see:

I’ll be running on behalf of the NSPCC, so at some point there will be an appeal for sponsorship, but encouragement & support will be greatly appreciated!