Hello!
I haven't updated my blog in such a long time, which is pretty bad considering the fact that I used to write or make a video every week. But the thing is, the further into the challenge I got, the more I felt like the posts and videos were becoming a little repetitive. There's only so many times I can say "I went for a run. Then the next day, I went for a run again" before it gets a bit dull.
BUT, I'm storming through the miles now. I've been working really, really hard over the last few weeks, and I'm not over 70 miles ahead of target and well on the way to the finish line. I have 128 miles to go, and everything seems to be ticking along quite nicely.
I strted making a real big effort mid-sptember when I had a week off work. I was helping some friends with their charity walk to the west end, and I found myself with a lot of time on my hands. So I decided to clock up some miles, and really get ahead of schedule. And since then, I've realised that working harder than normal will mean that I could probably reach the 1,000 mile mark by the start of December, and I can have a proper rest and recovery period over Christmas.
So I'm getting 2 runs a day in now. And even though it's not always nice to be in the gym at 6.30am when it's still dark and freezing cold outside, it will all be worth it in the end. My daily average has gone up to between 5 and 6 miles now, so I really am going for it in a big way.
Thanks to everyone who keeps up the massive support on Twitter and Facebook. It really does mean a lot to have everyone cheering me on, offering advice, drumming up support and just being friendly.
I haven't been nagging about sponsorship too much, but I think it's about time to drop the link in for you - just in case you feel generous! If you can spare a few pennies, please click here and give what you can. I'm doing the hard work - help me out by keeping a smile on my face!
Thanks very much,
Nat xx
Monday, 25 October 2010
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Half way there...
Ok... so it's been ages since I wrote anything or made a video. But that's because I've had a hell of a lot of catching up to do!
Those of you who follow me on twitter or are on my facebook page will know that I had a pretty nasty knee injury a few weeks back. I had to have some horrible treatment, and take a lot of time off. Which meant that I ended up being almost 50 miles behind schedule, and I was finding that my spirits were pretty low. But, thanks to a lot of encouragement and support from everyone, I managed to really step up and work hard to get things back on track.
And so, I am now over half way to the 1,000mile finish line.
I'm really feeling quite proud of myself right now. 500miles is a big achievement and it really proves to people that I'm serious about this. I've also caught up on the miles that I lost during my injury, which is a huge weight off my shoulders. I can now get back to running sensible amounts (as I'm very aware that running ten miles is silly, considering I obviously have a weak knee), and I'll even be able to take the odd day off without feeling guilty about it! So it's smiles all around from this girl.
On the sponsorship front... things are going well, but I'm not half way to my target yet. It'd be great if I could reach £1,500 soon. I have to give a big shout-out to Graeme Hackland though - he sponsors me every time I cross another 100mile marker. And he even donates extra money when he feels like I've been working hard! So thank you very much Graeme :)
And now for my excuse about not making a video! Basically, there were about three weeks when I wasn't running. So that would have been quite boring and pointless. And then I was running so much to catch up, that I've barely had time to do anything. (I feel like I'm at school and explaining why I haven't done my homework). But there are plans in place for a mighty comeback of the exciting challenges, and a video will be coming your way very soon. Like it or not :P
I think that's pretty much everything for now. You're all up to speed on how it's going, and that's good! If anyone is feeling especially generous as you're reading this, click on my little JustGiving tab on the right hand side of the page and throw a few pennies into my sponsorship pot. Cheeky, I know, but if you don't ask, you don't get!
I'll try not to leave it so long next time :)
Love Nat xx
Those of you who follow me on twitter or are on my facebook page will know that I had a pretty nasty knee injury a few weeks back. I had to have some horrible treatment, and take a lot of time off. Which meant that I ended up being almost 50 miles behind schedule, and I was finding that my spirits were pretty low. But, thanks to a lot of encouragement and support from everyone, I managed to really step up and work hard to get things back on track.
And so, I am now over half way to the 1,000mile finish line.
I'm really feeling quite proud of myself right now. 500miles is a big achievement and it really proves to people that I'm serious about this. I've also caught up on the miles that I lost during my injury, which is a huge weight off my shoulders. I can now get back to running sensible amounts (as I'm very aware that running ten miles is silly, considering I obviously have a weak knee), and I'll even be able to take the odd day off without feeling guilty about it! So it's smiles all around from this girl.
On the sponsorship front... things are going well, but I'm not half way to my target yet. It'd be great if I could reach £1,500 soon. I have to give a big shout-out to Graeme Hackland though - he sponsors me every time I cross another 100mile marker. And he even donates extra money when he feels like I've been working hard! So thank you very much Graeme :)
And now for my excuse about not making a video! Basically, there were about three weeks when I wasn't running. So that would have been quite boring and pointless. And then I was running so much to catch up, that I've barely had time to do anything. (I feel like I'm at school and explaining why I haven't done my homework). But there are plans in place for a mighty comeback of the exciting challenges, and a video will be coming your way very soon. Like it or not :P
I think that's pretty much everything for now. You're all up to speed on how it's going, and that's good! If anyone is feeling especially generous as you're reading this, click on my little JustGiving tab on the right hand side of the page and throw a few pennies into my sponsorship pot. Cheeky, I know, but if you don't ask, you don't get!
I'll try not to leave it so long next time :)
Love Nat xx
Wednesday, 9 June 2010
The vlog: Episode 12.
Okay, so I know I'm due to do an actual proper written 'post' by now. I will get my head down to a bit of writing at some point, but for now, just watch the video if you want to know how it's all going :) xx
Monday, 24 May 2010
New vlog!
After a pretty long break, due to issues beyond my control, the vlog has once again landed and will hopefully be back on form.
Monday, 10 May 2010
Dear Secret Donor, you have made my day.
I've got the week off work this week. And so I was already in a fairly good mood when I woke up and had the blissful feeling of being able to stay in bed for as long as I wanted. But then I checked my email, and saw something from JustGiving...
"Someone has donated £60 to your charity"
Hell yeah they had!! That alone was enough to put a huge smile on my face, but when I actually visited the page to see who had booked themselves a spot on my awesome list of awesome people, I was really surprised to see that they'd donated under the name 'Secret Donor'. And that has just plain and simple excited me.
I don't know if this random act of kindness is down to someone that I know, or just someone who has heard about what I'm doing on the grapevine of the internet. But either way, the idea of someone donating a pretty big sum of money and not taking credit for it just has a very heartwarming effect on me. This must be what it feels like to be rescued by Spiderman.
I've already sent a thank you out via twitter and facebook, in the hope that Secret Donor will be able to see it, but I'll just say it here too - you've really made me smile! You've taken my sponsorship total up to £1,000 now, and that's a pretty massive deal if you ask me. While I'm issuing the thank yous, I'd just like to give a massive virtual hug to everyone else who has sponsored me along the way so far. It's made me feel quite proud of myself and it's made the pain and the sweating and the tiredness all worth it. I've still got a long, long way to run, and I hope that means that there's still a lot more money to be raised!
Speaking of, I've got a little event planned that will coincide with my crossing the 300mile mark. My mum is a teacher, and her colleagues are always sending lovely messages of support for me, so I thought I'd try and get the whole school involved. This Friday, I'm running over 9miles from Burton Joyce to Rushcliffe, where my mum's school is. It'll take me through Colwick, Wilford and West Bridgeford. And let's face it, it's Nottingham we're talking about. So there is a fairly good chance that I may be shot. Or maybe I'll just be on the receiving end of some verbal abuse from a rude boi. Ya get meeee, blad? Assuming I can dodge any bullets though, I'll arrive at the school at breaktime, and there will be loads of students there to cheer me on, followed by a massive cake sale and other little money raising plots. I've also hoodwinked the sixth form girls to go and flirt shamelessly in order to get people to sponsor me. Fingers crossed, it'll work!
All in all, I'm feeling quite positive about the sponsorship side of things. The further into my challenge I get, the more interest I seem to get and so I'm hoping that things will just keep on getting better and better :)
Oh and on the vlog front - I realise that I've totally slacked off the last couple of weeks. Truth is, I've been having some computer issues. Which is massively annoying. But I'm hoping to have things fixed up and ready to rock again by the time it comes to the run to school on Friday. If you miss me, just watch the older ones on the Videos page. If you don't miss me and are enjoying the break from having to see my weekly vlog, then don't watch the old ones.
Thanks for stopping by, and come back soon :)
Love,
Nat xx
P.S. Davina McCall totally re-tweeted me again the other day. Along with a message: "Well done! Amazing!" when I told her how far I'd got in my challenge so far. I'm thinking I'm about 2 tweets away from being invited round for dinner :) x
"Someone has donated £60 to your charity"
Hell yeah they had!! That alone was enough to put a huge smile on my face, but when I actually visited the page to see who had booked themselves a spot on my awesome list of awesome people, I was really surprised to see that they'd donated under the name 'Secret Donor'. And that has just plain and simple excited me.
I don't know if this random act of kindness is down to someone that I know, or just someone who has heard about what I'm doing on the grapevine of the internet. But either way, the idea of someone donating a pretty big sum of money and not taking credit for it just has a very heartwarming effect on me. This must be what it feels like to be rescued by Spiderman.
I've already sent a thank you out via twitter and facebook, in the hope that Secret Donor will be able to see it, but I'll just say it here too - you've really made me smile! You've taken my sponsorship total up to £1,000 now, and that's a pretty massive deal if you ask me. While I'm issuing the thank yous, I'd just like to give a massive virtual hug to everyone else who has sponsored me along the way so far. It's made me feel quite proud of myself and it's made the pain and the sweating and the tiredness all worth it. I've still got a long, long way to run, and I hope that means that there's still a lot more money to be raised!
Speaking of, I've got a little event planned that will coincide with my crossing the 300mile mark. My mum is a teacher, and her colleagues are always sending lovely messages of support for me, so I thought I'd try and get the whole school involved. This Friday, I'm running over 9miles from Burton Joyce to Rushcliffe, where my mum's school is. It'll take me through Colwick, Wilford and West Bridgeford. And let's face it, it's Nottingham we're talking about. So there is a fairly good chance that I may be shot. Or maybe I'll just be on the receiving end of some verbal abuse from a rude boi. Ya get meeee, blad? Assuming I can dodge any bullets though, I'll arrive at the school at breaktime, and there will be loads of students there to cheer me on, followed by a massive cake sale and other little money raising plots. I've also hoodwinked the sixth form girls to go and flirt shamelessly in order to get people to sponsor me. Fingers crossed, it'll work!
All in all, I'm feeling quite positive about the sponsorship side of things. The further into my challenge I get, the more interest I seem to get and so I'm hoping that things will just keep on getting better and better :)
Oh and on the vlog front - I realise that I've totally slacked off the last couple of weeks. Truth is, I've been having some computer issues. Which is massively annoying. But I'm hoping to have things fixed up and ready to rock again by the time it comes to the run to school on Friday. If you miss me, just watch the older ones on the Videos page. If you don't miss me and are enjoying the break from having to see my weekly vlog, then don't watch the old ones.
Thanks for stopping by, and come back soon :)
Love,
Nat xx
P.S. Davina McCall totally re-tweeted me again the other day. Along with a message: "Well done! Amazing!" when I told her how far I'd got in my challenge so far. I'm thinking I'm about 2 tweets away from being invited round for dinner :) x
Sunday, 25 April 2010
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Shin splints.
Those of you who are into the whole swing of things on the vlog front will notice that last week's was a no-show. There is a reason for this.
On Wednesday whilst at the gym, I suddenly felt like someone had stabbed me in the shin with a hot poker. And I'm not even exaggerating. As soon as it happened, I kind of knew what was wrong - shin splints. But at the same time, I didn't actually want to say that anything was wrong. See, I have this ridiculous logic (or lack of), whereby I believe that something is only true if you say it out loud. So I kept my mouth shut and hoped for the best.
But by Thursday morning, the pain wasn't getting any better, and I needed to stop being silly. So I put it out on twitter that I was in pain, and the general response confirmed that shin splints were the diagnosis.
Now, it's not the end of the world. It's not like I'd broken my leg. But the kicker of it is, that the very best - and sometimes only - way to get rid of shin splints is to rest. But I can't do that. I have a giant progress chart on my wall that rules my life for this year, and it tells me that I can't take time off. So, I was left with only one option: sort it out on the go.
After a lot of frustration and a couple of very down days, where I just sulked about the situation, I decided to stop being such a baby and work things out. I collected up all of the lovely twitter messages and facebook comments from people (one of which came from Liz Yelling, off of the Olympics... how cool is that?!) and came to the conclusion that new trainers, insoles and shin sleeves were called for.
And thank god for the fact that my dad is brilliant.
There's no way that I would have been able to afford all of that stuff, and so my dad stepped up to look after his firstborn, and bought me some brilliant new trainers. I'm not going to lie, I properly love them. It feels like I'm running on the moon - that's how much cushioning and shock-absorbing action is going on beneath my feet now. And with a combination of taking it fairly slow, lots of ice and my new best friends (the trainers - I'm not yet cool enough to have made actual human new friends), the pain is subsiding and a smile is slowly creeping back onto my little face.
So, that's the end of the drama. I have decided. It was a pretty near miss as far as injuries go, and I didn't like it one bit. So no more of that crap for me, thanks very much.
I'm nearly a quarter of the way there now, and feeling a lot more positive than I was at the end of last week. I just want to say a massive thankyou to everyone who has offered helpful advice and general support though - it never goes unnoticed and I appreciate it more than I can say, without sounding like the lyrics to a cheesy song.
Lots of love,
Nat xx
On Wednesday whilst at the gym, I suddenly felt like someone had stabbed me in the shin with a hot poker. And I'm not even exaggerating. As soon as it happened, I kind of knew what was wrong - shin splints. But at the same time, I didn't actually want to say that anything was wrong. See, I have this ridiculous logic (or lack of), whereby I believe that something is only true if you say it out loud. So I kept my mouth shut and hoped for the best.
But by Thursday morning, the pain wasn't getting any better, and I needed to stop being silly. So I put it out on twitter that I was in pain, and the general response confirmed that shin splints were the diagnosis.
Now, it's not the end of the world. It's not like I'd broken my leg. But the kicker of it is, that the very best - and sometimes only - way to get rid of shin splints is to rest. But I can't do that. I have a giant progress chart on my wall that rules my life for this year, and it tells me that I can't take time off. So, I was left with only one option: sort it out on the go.
After a lot of frustration and a couple of very down days, where I just sulked about the situation, I decided to stop being such a baby and work things out. I collected up all of the lovely twitter messages and facebook comments from people (one of which came from Liz Yelling, off of the Olympics... how cool is that?!) and came to the conclusion that new trainers, insoles and shin sleeves were called for.
And thank god for the fact that my dad is brilliant.
There's no way that I would have been able to afford all of that stuff, and so my dad stepped up to look after his firstborn, and bought me some brilliant new trainers. I'm not going to lie, I properly love them. It feels like I'm running on the moon - that's how much cushioning and shock-absorbing action is going on beneath my feet now. And with a combination of taking it fairly slow, lots of ice and my new best friends (the trainers - I'm not yet cool enough to have made actual human new friends), the pain is subsiding and a smile is slowly creeping back onto my little face.
So, that's the end of the drama. I have decided. It was a pretty near miss as far as injuries go, and I didn't like it one bit. So no more of that crap for me, thanks very much.
I'm nearly a quarter of the way there now, and feeling a lot more positive than I was at the end of last week. I just want to say a massive thankyou to everyone who has offered helpful advice and general support though - it never goes unnoticed and I appreciate it more than I can say, without sounding like the lyrics to a cheesy song.
Lots of love,
Nat xx
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