Category: Juneathon

Exclusive preview: Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon 2011 T-Shirt

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I ran the first ever Royal Parks Half in 2008 (read my report). Unfortunately, they thought I was a man called Kevin and sent me a men’s t-shirt. Luckily Kevin was a bit of a weed and so it wasn’t massive but it wasn’t the nicely fitting female t-shirts I saw other girls wear.

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I only realised they thought I was a man called Kevin when my recorded time was half an hour quicker than my Garmin said. Although I would have been delighted with a time of 1:54, I’m not sure Kevin was so happy with his new time of 2:25 and so I emailed the organisers who said yes, they were aware of the error but instead of swapping our times round, they just took me off and gave Kevin his proper time. Bah.

The next year, 2009, I once again entered the Royal Parks Half and received the lilac monstrosity of that year’s t-shirt.

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Eek.

I didn’t make the start line that year, and so spared myself the embarrassment of running through the streets and parks of London stating that I Red heart 2 RUN. It remains unworn in my kit drawer.

For the 2010 race, I was offered a free place, but due to having moved to Kent and my running motivation being at an all time low, turned it down. Had I known that year’s t-shirt was a lovely orange one, I might have taken up their kind offer.

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Thanks to fairweatherrunner for the pics.

This year, I was once again lucky enough to be offered a media place and also be one of the bloggers chosen to be sent the t-shirt ahead of the mainstream media.

Earlier this year, Royal Parks Half Marathon launched a competition in The Telegraph for a member of the public to design the back of this year’s shirt.

Richard Knight, from Chomp, was their winner with his fantastic Run the Royal Parks design and every participant will receive one of these shirts on the day of the event (9th October).

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Nice, innit?

As with all the previous years’ shirts, it’s made from eco-friendly bamboo charcoal and recycled polyester, which is made entirely from recycled plastic bottles. As well as being environmentally friendly and comfortable, they offer distinct performance properties for runners such as high absorbency, quick dry, deodorising and thermal regulation. To see the story behind the idea for the bamboo race shirts, have a look at the following link: http://royalparkshalf.com/about/sustainability/bamboo-shirts.

I wore my t-shirt out for this morning’s Juneathon run and although it was raining, the shirt kept me comfortable and dry and I’m looking forward to wearing it along with 12,000 other runners in October.

Stats
Distance: 1.55 miles
Time: 16:37
Pace: 10:44
Calories: 163
Royal Park Halfs t-shirts: 1

Er, don’t know

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I asked Shaun for a title for my blog, and he said ‘er, don’t know’, so that’ll have to do.

Yesterday evening saw me do an extra Juneathon after my run by cycling to the Good Intent pub 3.2 miles away for beer and food. And what fantastic food and service it was, too. There was a mix up with my meal (they’d put the apple crumble topping on my leek and Wensleydale bake instead of the topping it should have had) and said I wouldn’t be charged for it. As my meal was replaced so quickly and efficiently and charmingly by the waitress, I was happy to pay for it, but the manager refused my money. How impressive is that?

Anyway, after our pub visit, I stayed up drinking more beer and watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and once again going to bed in the early hours, only once again to be woken up before my government recommendation of eight hours sleep by someone ringing a bell and telling me to get up as they wanted to go to the supermarket. I replied by saying I was doing Juneathon first and so Shaun went to the supermarket by himself and came back with what appeared to be the contents of the fat bastard aisle. Pizza and cream cakes for dinner it is then.

I said to Shaun I was going to run up to Tesco, then back through the little park to home which is about half a mile but he said I had to do more than that and gave me another route and I said but that’s about two miles and he said it’s about one point eight miles and so I measured it on Gmaps and it came out at about one point six miles and so I thought ok then, that’s probably a better Juneathon effort and so I went out into the rain and the wind and the cold and burnt off about half the cream cake I will be eating later.

Stats
Distance: 1.57 miles
Time: 16:11
Pace: 10:20 m/m
Calories: 164
8 hour sleeps: 0
Contents of fat bastard aisles: 1

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Pump it up

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This morning I went along to the gym for my usual body pump class where I was very hardcore and used heavier weights and hurrah, my arms didn’t crack on the tricep tracks, so the glucosamine that I’ve started taking again must be doing their thing (or it’s the magic bracelet) and then after body pump I went and did twenty minutes on the rowing machine, then I had planned to do just a mile on the treadmill, although running on the treadmill doesn’t really count as running, but then I decided to do Thru the Gears and then usually on a Friday I go and do spin too but as I have a five mile run tomorrow, I didn’t really want to wear myself out even if it is Juneathon and so I wimped out of doing spin and got changed and then I had to go to the library and I decided to leave my bike where it was and walk the half mile to the library as after all, it is Juneathon, and Juneathon is all about making an extra effort and so I walked to the library and as I passed Top Shop, I saw a sign saying 20% off for students this week and so I went in and saw a stripey t-shirt that I had been eyeing the other day and I tried to work out what 20% off would be and then I saw a t-shirt with Mickey Mouse on it and I wondered if I was too old to wear a t-shirt with Mickey Mouse on it and decided I was and left the shop and opposite was Dorothy Perkins with a sign saying 30% off today and so I went in but there was nothing I liked so I went back into Top Shop and thought fuck it, if I want to wear a t-shirt with Mickey Mouse on it I will and so I bought the Mickey Mouse t-shirt and the stripey t-shirt and with my student discount got £8 off and then I went to the library to collect the books that had been reserved for me and then I strolled back through the town looking at all the teenage girls smoking over their babies and got back to my bike and cycled back.

Stats
Body pump: 45 minutes
Rowing machine: 20 minutes
Treadmill: 15 minutes
Walking: 1 mile
Cycling: 5 miles
Calories: about 845
Stripey t-shirts: 1
Mickey Mouse t-shirt: 1
Library books: 2
Teenage girls smoking over their babies: A few

Blogging, jogging, logging, limerickagogging

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Ok, I made the last word up, but when I said that the Independent Adjudicator had chosen the winning limerick for my competition but that I would announce it later as I first had to blog my jog on JogBlog, Helen said I should blog my jog in limerick form and I said hmm, could I? and she said go on! and so I accepted the challenge and so here is today’s run in limerick form.

There once was a runner in Kent
Whose time should have been better spent
With drinking less beer
And wearing more gear
So out into the fields she went

She ran though the fields climbing stiles
In an effort to put in the miles
When she got to the fifth
Her counting went adrift
As her brain went a bit immobile

She got to the foresty bit
Bears sat around having a shit
They didn’t really
But she is nearly
Running out of words that will fit

She got to the end of her jog
And sat down and started to blog
But then Helen said
Write a limerick instead
But do not forget you must log

That’s a bit of a wonky limerick but I’ll post the winning one later to show you how it should be done.

Stats
Distance: 3.51 miles
Time: 44:13
Pace: 12:36 m/m
Calories: 335
Wonky limericks: 4
Winning limericks to be announced later: 1

Hot sticky scenes, you know what I mean

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First I Juneathoned at around midnight by running for the last train at Stratford International (n.b. adding the word ‘International’ to a station does not make the town any more glamorous. See also Ebbsfleet and Ashford for further proof). I also Juneathoned around 1am by cycling 2.5 miles home from the station. But because I am hardcore and because last year I said to myself that this Juneathon I would run every day, I decided I’d better go for a run. I was only going to do one mile but on looking at my training schedule, it says to either do 2 miles or cross-train, so 2 miles it was to be.

Half of my brain seems to be under the impression that I can’t run without a) my Trion:Z bracelet; b) drinking a Voltz Energy Shot; and c) listening to Audiofuel. The other half of my brain tells me this is all bollocks and I can run perfectly well without any of these things. But something has made me go from a 13 minute miler to a 10-something minute miler within a few weeks and I put it all down to the above and not the fact that I’ve been doing classes and cardio at the gym three times a week for a few months now.

I do decide though that despite being slightly hungover, drinking an energy shot for two miles is a tad unnecessary but you’d have to chop my arm off to make me stop wearing my Trion:Z bracelet and I need Audiofuel to run with. I have a look in iTunes to see if there is any Audiofuel of around 22 minutes to see me through my two miles and spot the (almost) perfect track to start off this year’s Juneathon:  The Juneathon 2010 Mix. Oh yeah. (If we ask Sean really nicely, maybe he’ll do us a 2011 mix…)

Because I’m only going two miles, I wonder if I can do it in twenty minutes, i.e. a 10 minute mile pace. Then I remember that there are two sure-fire ways of getting a running injury and they are a) speed; and b) increasing mileage too quickly (ok, three then: c) getting run over by a bus) and so I decide just to take it easy but hopefully get under 11 minute miles.

Despite the rather annoying traffic lights trying to thwart my plan of under 11 minute miles, my hangover making me want to stop and walk and the heat threatening to melt me into a sticky gooey mess, I do just about scrape into the 10-somethings.

And that’s my first Juneathon 2011 done. Yay.

Stats
Distance: 2.02 miles
Time: 22:06
Pace: 10:58 m/m
Calories: 212

Post-Juneathon Party in the Park

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It was suggested on Facebook that all us Juneathoners have a meet-up in London to celebrate all our hard work with some food and drink.

So, the date has been arranged for Saturday, 17 July.

Our sponsors Sean from Audiofuel and Adam from Fitness Footwear will be coming along and Adam will be handing over personally to this year’s Juneathon winner – Adele – her prize of VFFs.

We’ll be meeting around noon at the bandstand in Hyde Park, then there will be an optional run of around 5k, then meeting back up at around 1pm to have the prize-giving and a picnic (weather permitting). So, if you want to run, bring your running gear (I’m not running, so I can look after any bags) and if you want to eat and drink, bring food and wine/beer/Coca Cola/orange juice/water/whatever or if you just want to come along and hang out, that’s fine too.

Stats:
Where: Bandstand, Hyde Park
When: Saturday, 17 July 2010
What time: 12 noon
What to bring: Running gear, food, wine, beer

Juneathon winners announced!

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Sshh, don’t tell anyone, but I have secret insider knowledge that the Little Crutchy Man has decided upon his Juneathon winners.

You can read all about it here.

The first prize winner will get a pair of Vibram Five Fingers and the two runners up will get to choose four Audiofuel compilations.

If you’re one of the winners, please email me at cathy@jog-blog.co.uk and I’ll pass your details onto our lovely sponsors, Audiofuel and Fitness Footwear and they’ll contact you directly.

Stats:
Juneathons over: 1
Secret insider knowledges: 1
Winners: go and look
Lovely sponsors: 2

On the 29th day of Juneathon, I did more than two sit-ups

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Yes, yesterday’s Juneathon effort was a disgrace but I was really hung over and knackered and couldn’t be bothered and stuff and today I’m still really knackered and can’t be bothered and stuff but I did go out on my pretty pink bicycle for 5.46 miles, so a slightly better effort than yesterday’s.

Stats (cycling):
Distance: 5.46 miles
Time: 32:27
Speed: 10.1mph
Calories: 173

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