I didn't realise it had been so long since I did a blog post here! Time appears to have gotten away from me. Oops! I've have been a little busy with work and I've been away to visit the family for 4 days just this past weekend but to be honest, I've been in a bit of a funk since Cambridge Half Marathon.. and whilst I had events/races to continue training for(which I'll go into a bit later), I just didn't feel motivated at all to workout and therefore I was finding it difficult to gather the inspiration to post here too since the majority of my posts is centered around my training!

However, the visit with my family has done me good! They've always been so encouraging about my weight loss and my running and training.. and lets face it, when you're in a better mood, you're way more motivated to workout!

I ran 2 six milers whilst I was at my parents and I swam yesterday evening(1.1 mile swim). So I'm fairly sure I'm getting back into the swing of things. Hopefully it will continue!

What's Coming Up?
As I mentioned, I do have a few events already scheduled and booked that I should have been training for. Here's what I have in my diary for definite:
- 5th May - Wings For Life
- 9th June - Great North Swim

I have a few races/events pencilled in too, I just need to figure out  if we're available.. or just haven't booked them yet.
- 3rd/4th June - Summer Wolf Run
- 2nd July - Great Newham Run
- 16th September - Swim Serpentine

So, I've got Wings for Life coming up in 5 weeks. I think the problem I've been having with getting motivated is the fact that the finish line is behind you on this event, so there's not really a distance I'm training for like there was for the Half Marathon. Instead, I've turned the tables and set a goal to be able to get to at least 8 miles before the car catches me, so thats an incentive for training!

Then there's the Great North Swim in June.. which I'm both excited and nervous about! I watched Phillip, his mum & aunty do the swim last year.. and kinda wished I was doing it too. Then I got a wetsuit and was doing open water swims last year, so I've got everything I need.
I can't wait for Open Water Swim to start.. but thats what also brings the nerves as the open water makes me nervous! Hopefully I'll get used to it eventually, I didn't do OWS for the full season last year, I started towards the end.

So, pencilled in, I have the Summer Wolf Run - which will be my first obstacle course race if I register a place for it. Phillip has been going on at me to do a OCR for a while since he did one the year before last and loved it. He's agreed to do it with me as some of the obstacles look tough! It will require some training for sure.. so more of an incentive to start strength training again! Oh Kettlebells.. where are youuuuu ;)

He was caked in mud! Yuk! ;)

Great Newham Run is pretty much certain.. but I just haven't registered for it yet. Phillip and I have done it every year for the last few years and it's quite a good race, so I'm pretty sure we will be doing it again.

Last but not least, I want to do Swim Serpentine this year after I saw loads of people do it last year. The medal was huge last year so thats a total bonus. It's just very close to our holiday in September, so I need to double check we can definitely do it.

So, I've plenty of reasons to keep up my training and I think my body needs a bit of a switch up in routine instead of just running all the time. I think my body has gotten used to my running training and my weight has plateaued. So it's time to switch it up. More swimming, cycling and strength training ahead!

The above will also help for when I eventually book onto a triathlon. I still plan on doing one this year and I've found a couple that look ideal(a sprint, I'm starting small and being sensible!). The London Tri has been recommended a lot but I'm not sure how it will work out for travelling down with a bike and everything! So I'm looking at ones closer for the time being so I don't have to worry about too much on the day.

But that's it for what events I've got planned. I'll be restarting my training diary posts and trying to get back into a more regular blogging schedule.

Question: What events/races do you have planned? Do you ever hit a blip with no motivation after a race?

There's only 9 more days of 2016! And as usual, it's that time of the year where I recap and look back on the year and plan for the next year. I saw a couple of blog posts with peoples 'Year of Running' and thought it'd be a great idea! It's actually been a thing for the last couple of years and I never noticed! Doh!

So, I'm linking up with Courtney @ Eat Pray Run DC for My Year of Running 2016!

Before I get started with the questions/topics to talk about - I figured, since this is a  year of running, I'd just recap my run stats for this year.

Summary of 2016 Running:
Total Runs: 134
Total Mileage: 612 miles
Total Races: 6

Not bad going I would say! Im pretty happy with over 600 miles for the year and 6/12 races for the year isn't too bad, lets aim higher next year! Now lets get on to the linkup questions!

Best race experience: 
It would probably have to be the British 10K London - which became one of my favourite races,  not only because of the sights you get to see in London, but also because I generally just felt really good and actually enjoyed the whole race which doesn't happen very often! It was also the first time I filmed my race!

And did I mention that I love the Vitality Medals?!

Best run: 
I'd probably say Cyprus! Every time I go on holiday, Im eager to run, so I can say I've ran in different countries. However, two years ago in the Dominican Republic, I went running along the beach with Phillip and came back to find I was covered in massive water blisters all over my stomach and back. Not only was it disgusting, but it totally ruined my tan and put a downer on my holiday(until Phillip proposed! ;) ).

Ever since that holiday, I've been too scared to run on holiday for fear that I'd get those water blisters again.. until this year. I was sensible on holiday, didn't get burnt and went out running.. and I was totally fine! I ended up doing 4 runs in the 7 days we were there with 5 miles each run.. and it was a beautiful run I may add! Although it was super hot!
Best new piece of running gear: 
Not 'running gear' as such, but I'd say my GoPro! Every since I started filming my races, I've been enjoying myself so much more during races. I've never been a massive fan of running, I mostly did it to keep the weight off. Running is pretty gruelling and hard work for me. but since i've been GoPro-ing my races, it hasn't been so bad and I've enjoyed every run since!
Best running advice you've received:
I find lots of running advice for different blogs and on social media all the time, but the best piece of advice I've taken on board is actually from myself.. and it's to Run For ME!

I was so caught up in other peoples training, other peoples times, experiences, etc that I was getting really down and stressed out about my own running. I'd often have people asking me about goals, PB's, they'd go on about speed.. and it really put me under some pressure.

At the end of the day, everyone is different, with their own experiences and ways of doing things and I just want to run for me and run how I want to run at the speed that I want to run without any pressure. So thats what Im doing!

Most inspirational runner:
Another toughie! There are so many people that inspire me for lots of different reasons, whether they've achieved something massive, people who have run marathons, people running their first race! There's too many to mention.

Favourite picture from run or race:
This was the last race I did for this year and it was the Ely Festive 5K! It was a fancy dress race to raise money for the Arthur Rank charity and I dressed as a Christmas Tree! It was so much fun(but so hot in costume!) and I thoroughly enjoyed taking part(it was lovely to see all the children out watching everyone run by in fancy dress), I cant wait for next year, maybe I'll have an even better costume!
Race experience you would repeat in a heartbeat?
For a very different reason than would be expected.. but it'd have to be Run Hackney! I've done the Run Hackney Half Marathon the last 2 years.. and the last two years I've been defeated by this race and I've really struggled! Last year I did my personal worst time on RH.. so I've got a score to settle with this race. I'd love to properly prepare for the race and be able to run it without stopping(though the weather hasn't helped! it's been scorching).
If you could sum up your year in a few words, what would they be?
Half Hearted - I didn't really put my all into training this year which reflected in my performance for races, so I'd say it was a pretty half hearted effort.

Basic - Hardly any cross training, it was mostly just running and not much else, I didn't vary my runs very much and basically just didn't train very well!

Redeeming - Despite the above two, I did slightly redeem myself in the last couple of races, not in terms of performance, but in terms of doing things for me and actually enjoying running and races, which I haven't felt for a long time.

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So there we have it! There's the majority of my running for 2016! It's not been a bad year overall, I've got another couple of races under my belt and some more medals on my rack(which is basically what I run for! ;) ).

I've a couple of races already booked for next year, I've a 10k at the beginning of Feb and then the Cambridge Half at the beginning of March - hopefully next year, my 'words for the year' will be a lot more positive!

Here's to another year of running!

Question: How would you sum up your year of running? Why do you run?

A few weeks ago, I booked my first two races & half marathon of 2017. I also found out I didn't get into London Marathon again(boooo!). I've been looking into what races I want to do for next year and it actually got me thinking about a race bucket list and what races/types of races I'd love to do.

So, whilst I planned out next years race calendar, I also made a bucket list of all the running races that I'd like to complete at some point(probably not next year but sometime in the future). I'm sure I'll add more to the list over time when I find different races I want to do, but here's whats at the top of my list thus far!

1) London Marathon -  I NEVER thought that this would be on a bucket list of things I want to complete for running, if you'd have asked me 5 years back when I was 250+lbs, I'd have probably laughed, but now I've lost the weight and I've been running for a few years, it's definitely become a 'goal' as such to complete a Marathon and in particular the London Marathon.

Photo Credit: London Marathon

I've watched it on the TV since I started running and although it sounds absolutely grueling, it looks like such an amazing race to do and would be a massive accomplishment - the atmosphere looks amazing too!

I don't particularly enjoy long distance running.. Half Marathons are extremely hard work for me and imagining having to run another half marathon after finishing one scares the sh*t out of me! I'm fairly certain at this point that I only want to do one marathon and it may as well be London! Maybe I would change my mind after completing one but right now I'm thinking I'll be happy with one! ;)

2) Disney Races - I've wanted to do a Disney race, ever since I started running. I LOVE Disney and fun fact..I've never been to Disneyland Paris OR Florida! So being able to do this whilst running sounds like an amazing time! It sounds like so much fun running round the park and seeing all the different characters and the bling looks AWESOME too! I definitely wouldn't mind some of that on my wall!

Photo Credit: Run Disney

3) Obstacle Course Race - I've kinda grouped this, just because there's so many out there and I've got a couple on my list! Tough Mudder/Spartan/Insane Terrain/Zombie Evacuation to name a few..

I'd really love to do an Obstacle Course Race at some point, they look like fun.. but also hard work! I've watched Phillip do one before and he loved it. I imagine something like this takes a lot of training to get over the different obstacles.. so maybe one day I'll train for one!

4) Wings for Life -  I saw a couple of bloggers that had done this race last year and I really like the concept! The fact that you don't know when the race will finish as the finish line is behind you(a car!) is such a different concept to a normal race where you have a specific distance that you have to run. The Wings For Life Run is actually in Cambridge next year.. which almost makes it fate that it should be added to my race calendar for next year?!

Photo Credit: Wings For Life

5) 24 Hour Relay Race - Spitfire Scramble/Monster Ambit - Another race that I've seen a couple of bloggers do(the UK Fitness Bloggers had a team at Spitfire Scramble) - it sounds like a great idea to have a relay type race - for 24 hours you basically do as many laps as you can as a team and you get to hang out with some awesome people too!

The only thing slightly worrying is.. I only typically run once in a day.. not twice or more times so not sure how my legs would cope with that! ;)

6) Cakeathon! - We're beginning to get onto a trend here as I feel like I'm very race inspired by bloggers on this post - but I came across Cakeathon when it was being spoken about on twitter a while back and this sounds RIGHT up my street. Running AND Cake? What is not to love?! and can we just take a second to admire the bling!

Photo Credit: Saxon Shore

Cakeathon is a 4.6 mile loop, you basically run as many loops as you'd like within an 8 hour period and there's cakes for fuel! WHAT?! I definitely want to do this one! That medal will be on my rack at some point!

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So, there's six of the races on my bucket list. I'm sure that I will be inspired by other runners and I'll end up with an even bigger list.. maybe at some point I'll do an updated post!

Of course, this list only has running races and I'm like a wannabe triathlete now?( ha ;) ).. so I've got a couple of Triathlons I'd love to do and some cycling events too - maybe I'll do another post for them!

Question: Do you have a race bucket list? What is a race you'd really love to do? Any you'd recommend?