Half Marathon #5 - Home Sweet Home!

On Sunday I completed my 5th half marathon of year in what is now my home town of Leeds! I have run this race for the previous 3 years and know it really well. This meant, with the training I've put in, I was able to run my 3rd PB of the year of 1:21:19, knocking 9 seconds off from my time in Madrid! My legs are clearly getting used to running this pace now!

It was a great race and I manged to finish in 20th place, my best finish in a big race of my running career :) it was great to see so many from Doss running it, with Emily Bircahll winning the women's race and Freddy Slemeck coming 3rd in the men's race! It was great to have so much support around the course, it really spurred me on and is keeping me going in trying to raise as much money as possible.

Thanks to Michael for this and some of my other photos, his new photography skills are clearly showing through!  

I have now raised over £1,100 and and am hoping to get up to the £2,000 mark now! Please give anything that you can to the great cause of Cancer Research UK, I really appreciate everything that is raised, it makes the constant training really worth it.

My next half marathon is in Lanzarote :) going to be a very very hot one!

See you next month! James x

Hi!

I have hit the £1,000 mark :) extremely happy to have reached my target so early on, thanks to everyone who has donated so far! I would love to make it up to £2,000 and any you can give would be great to help me raise as much as possible for a great cause.

Cheers, James

Medio Maratón de Madrid - #4 of 12

Hello!

I hope you've all enjoyed the hot weather last week, it was very similar (well even hotter!) in Madrid, the location of my 4th half marathon of the year! We had 2 glorious days in Madrid before the race but luckily it wasn't as warm on race morning. In these, still warm, but good conditions, I ran a new PB time of 1:21:28, beating the adjusted PB I got in Brighton which I didn't really count! I felt the best I have done in a race for ages and actually ran a negative split (2nd half faster for those non-runners reading this!) so I'm extremely happy! Next stage, with a bit more speed work, is to go sub 80mins. I feel it's doable very soon!

It was a really nice course taking in the streets of Madrid, there were a few cheeky gradual hills and a couple of little steepish ones too but overall a pretty fast course. The city is incredible, amazing buildings and the Bernabeu was just immense! As was the bull fighting arena! Well worth the weekend away to my first half marathon of the 12 in a different country!

Many thanks to Jo and her parents for joining me for the weekend away and helping organise it all! Was a cracking weekend and well done Jo for doing the race with me! It was her 5th half marathon in her 4th different country in 3 years!

Since my last half marathon, I've had an amazing response on the donations front, with my total now standing at £900.31! So I'm now within £100 of my target after just a third of the challenge completed. Thanks to everyone who has sponsored me so far, it is all much appreciated. Anyone who hasn't donated yet, anything you can give would be great. It is dead easy, you can donate on my just giving site:

https://www.justgiving.com/James-Gardner-2012

Or get in contact with me to sort it out for you. Once I hit this £1,000 mark, I'm going to push my target up to the £2,000 mark which I think is very achievable, but only with your help!

I now have 6 weeks until #5 in Leeds in May, which will be 4th successive year at this half marathon! Thanks for your support so far, please keep it coming!

Adios, James x

Half Marathon #3 of 12 - Silverstone

So we're well into March and yesterday I completed the 3rd of my 12 half marathons for the year at Silverstone race course!

A cracking race, running around the famous race track was amazing! It was a great atmosphere and bright sunshine for the whole day :) which the announcer wrongly described as "perfect conditions"!

I was trying to run a PB (sub 1:22) and at the 7 mile mark I was on track to do so, however, a lack of miles in my legs and the raised temperatures, I fell away and really felt my legs tire. Still a good time and good enough for a 72nd place out of a field of 6,350! Going to start getting back to some proper training now so that I can try to get my times down for the next couple.

Thanks to Joss for driving me down and many congrats to her for coming an amazing 2nd place in a PB time! She really deserves it! Thanks also to my mum and grandad for coming to watch and support me :) I told my dad to stay at home and watch the Leeds vs Boro game as it was on TV!

My sponsorship is up to £587.11, many thanks to everyone who has sponsored me so far. If you can spare a few hard earned pounds, please donate at my page to help me raise as much as possible for Cancer Research UK:

https://www.justgiving.com/James-Gardner-2012

My next race is in Madrid on 1 April! Speak to you then :) x

Half Marathon #2

Happy Pancake Day!

So with it being February and the 2nd month of the year, it was time for the next race in my challenge! On Sunday 19th February I ran my 2nd half marathon of the year in Brighton in a time of 1:24:06, knocking 2 minutes off my time in January which I was very happy with!

However, when I came to recording my mile splits, I noticed that the 4th and 5th miles were a lot slower than the others. So I went back onto the Brighton Half Marathon website only to discover that there was a statement saying that the race was 13.42 miles long, 0.32 longer than it should be! My adjusted time they had given to me was 1:22:05 which is new PB :) knocking 34 seconds off my previous PB! Bring on Silverstone in less than 3 weeks where I hope to go under 1:20!

Brighton was a beautiful course right along the seafront and the sun was out for the whole morning which added to it all! Glad I took the shades! I felt really good throughout the race and had a 400m, pedal to the floor, sprint finish with a guy who caught up to me at mile 12 and beat him :) last 100m I eased away, can't beat a good sprint finish!

After this race it has really got me excited about getting some full training in and I can't wait for the next few races, 2 of which are in the 6 weeks! Silverstone is now only 2 and a half weeks away and with 2 half marathons done, my sponsorship is now at £462 which is amazing for this early stage!

I am still not quite half way to my target though so if you could spare some money and sponsor me at https://www.justgiving.com/James-Gardner-2012 you can help raise money for Cancer Research UK, a brilliant charity that deserves everything you can donate.

Thanks to Jemma for letting me stay in Brighton and for supporting me at the race!

I'll speak to you all in a couple of weeks after Silverstone and hopefully another PB!

Over and out. James x

Half Marathon #1

Hello and Happy New Year!

On Monday I completed the first of my half marathons in my 2012 challenge! The race was the Central Lancashire New Year's half marathon (http://www.fyldecoastrunning.com/central-lancs.html) on 2 January 2012. It isn't one of the biggest half marathons around but it had a great local atmosphere with the 364 runners and all the friends and family that came to watch! It was very well organised and was a lovely course through the country roads north of Preston.

I ran the race in 1hour 26mins 9secs (1:26:09) and came 32nd in the field which, given that I haven't trained properly since September due to injuries and some rest time, I was extremely happy with! The weather was interesting too as we had to fight all 4 seasons during the race! It started with  temperatures near 0 degrees and through miles 2-5 there was a stiff head wind which in turn was pretty cold! Then for a mile or so there was a mixture of hail and rain, followed by the remaining 7 miles with the sun out :) so given conditions, I am extremely happy with my time! It gives me a solid platform to start training fully again to try and get my time down throughout 2012.

Thanks to Ruth who came to support me when I finished!

My next half marathon is the Brighton half marathon on Sunday 19 February 2012. If you are around the area that weekend and fancy coming to support me, I would very much appreciate your support and would be happy to see you!

You can donate via my page at www.justgiving.com/James-Gardner-2012, anything you can give would be great cheers! So far I have £115 and have set myself a target of £1,000 so please help me reach this!

Cheers :) James x