RunBristol Cross Country Series

Just heard that RunBristol are adding a weekend of off-road events to it’s portfolio of races - Bristol Half and Bristol 10k. Due to be held over the weekend of 12-13th November 2011 in Ashton Court, the off-road events include a Cancer Research UK 10k charity run and the McCain Bristol Cross Country Challenge.

A special guest at the event will be Olympian Tim Hutchings. Hutchings twice won a silver medal at the World Cross Country Championships  in 1984 and again in 1989.

The 10k sounds very appealing to me!

Sports Day - Victory Park

It was great to see all the kids at Holymead Junior School enjoying their sports day in Victory Park last week. The rain held off and the sun shone. Jessie came home complaining that her legs were aching so that's a good sign that she did lots of activities. Shame they didn't include a race for the mums and dads!

We did the Bristol Race for Life

So Jessie and I and her pals ran The Race for Life on Saturday. We ran in the afternoon in glorious sunshine. I have to admit I thought it was going to be a bit of a mud bath after the torrential rain we had in the morning. I felt for the morning runners doing the Race for Life 10k.

Anyway we got round the 5k route with a bit of a struggle. I joked in my last post that Jess might run bare foot if she didn't wear her trainers at least once before the race. (She had been refusing to wear them despite loving them when we bought them). But that's exactly what happened. Last year she flew round the course wearing basic kiddies trainers from Clarks. This year she was wearing new "clumpy" trainers,  if that's the word to use, from Clarks, but she struggled and moaned so much that I said, "right, take off the trainers and run bare foot!" and that's exactly what she did. In fact her mate did the same and all of a sudden they were racing ahead. They loved it and their feet felt so much better on the cool soft grass. They got lots of cheers from the crowd as they ran along in their muddy socks.

I think she should just wear her daps next time or just a very basic plimsoll/running shoe. Just goes to show these fancy trainers aren't all what they are cracked up to be. Does anyone have any tips on running shoes for kids? Obviously Jessie is only nine and wouldn't normally be running 5k, but it would be interesting to hear if any other parents have had similar problems with kiddies trainers.

We rounded off the run with a huge picnic and a game of rounders! Lots of fun.

Running & Volunteers

I was out running in my local park the other day and couldn’t help thinking about the importance of volunteers and the difference they make to running. For someone that prefers to run off-road through local parks and open spaces, it doesn’t seem like that many years ago that I didn’t feel comfortable running on my own around the local parks and always made a point of teaming up with someone. A number of the local parks had suffered from anti-social behaviour, the playgrounds were vandalised and falling apart and people generally were not using the parks that much.

Thankfully this has all changed due to local volunteers setting up park groups and getting things sorted especially in Victory Park, Nightingale Valley, Eastwood Farm, Arnos Court Park and Arnos Vale Cemetery.

Check out the rest of my post on Bristol Running Resource.

Race For Life on Saturday

Jessie and I are running the Race for Life on Saturday on The Downs with several thousand other women and young girls all dressed in pink. Last year Jessie completely surprised me with her speed so I am a little worried about keeping up with her. We've also done a bit of fundraising for Cancer Research UK.

Lets hope the rain stays away as traditionally we always have a huge picnic after the race. Yes you guessed it, cakes, chocolate, cakes, crisps and did I mention cakes........

Happy people in Eastwood Farm

Did a fab relaxed run this morning with my running buddy. We haven't been out together for ages and it was a real pleasure. Struggled, of course on the hills, but generally took it easy. Must mention that everyone we met this morning running through Eastwood Farm were so friendly. Lots of 'Good mornings', 'come on girls!' and other words of encouragement and smiles. It doesn't take much to be cheerful and it certainly helps struggling 'middle-aged women' like us get round their running course. Christ I hate that expression. So lots of thanks to you happy people.