2013 Challenge Series

Well I've done my review of 2012, and I'm now looking forward to 2013.... so what has this year got in store? Well, a pretty momentous occasion for me... I'm hitting 50. I found 40 bad enough, so I'm not sure how I'll react to another decade... I'll see.

So, instead of having a huge knees up to celebrate, I thought I'd celebrate by running my "2013 Challenge Series", with the aim of getting/keeping fit and raising money for a charity close to my heart, NYAS. You may think this is a bit of a strange thing to do, but I do need to lose some weight and would like to get fitter.... I'm not a great runner and I am getting on a bit, so these races will be a challenge for me, which is good! I also see this as a way of supporting the work of these charities: both, in different ways, work with some of the most vulnerable children and adults in Britain and both do some excellent work... look at their websites for more info.

So what am I planning on doing? Well here is a list of the races I have planned... so far!
24th February - Winslow Lions 10k 
3rd March - Cambridge Boundary Run (half marathon)
31st March - City to City run (16.5 miles)
14th April - Flitwick 10k 
21st April - Ronnie Bowker 10k
5th May - Fen Drayton 10k
12th May -Sheffield Half Marathon
2nd June - Woodhall Spa 10k
9th June  - St Albans Half Marathon
29th September - Stoke-on-Trent 10k
20th October - Birmingham Great Run (half marathon)
3rd November - New York Marathon!!!

So my targets and challenges! Basically doing any of them will be a challenge in itself, as I'm not a natural runner. Having said that, I have been in training and do feel more confident of completing the races... but the number of them means I will have to stay fit and injury free, which I guess will be challenge number one. I also want to do a half marathon under 2 hours (way off that at the moment), 10k in under 55 minutes (not so far off that) and 5k in under 25 minutes (some way off this)... and for the marathon..... just to finish! If I do any of these I will be pretty pleased! I also want to raise as much money as I can for NYAS... I've set a target of £2000, but would ideally like to raise more.

So, if you want to follow my progress, I'll be posting other blogs about how I'm getting on, do do come back and visit, and/or visit my fundraising pages on BT Donate... and if you can, please give generously.. or if you want, join me in a run!