300km for Dementia UK

At the finish of the Stanley Half Marathon (the medals are stuck on a container ship somewhere in the Atlantic) The past few weeks have seen me back racing again for the first time since I arrived in the Falkland Islands in July. It wasn't that I didn't want to race, only that there weren't any races to enter. So with that in mind I decide to create my own running event based on the Parkrun format I have enjoyed in the UK all year. The cost and time of trying to set up an actual Parkrun here is currently prohibitive so I instead created the MPC Run (Mount Pleasant Complex) which entails a 5k run at 0800hrs on a Saturday morning. After snow, sleet and gale force winds, I was praying that the first event on the 6th of October wouldn't be a wash out and I was so happy to wake up in the morning to sunshine and low winds. The race went well with 17 runners and 1 dog completing the course which turned out to be .5km longer than I was expecting (I probably should have

Finishing the Great North 10K in Gateshead Stadium This is a belated entry for a number of reasons. Firstly, with my deployment on the horizon I feel like I didn’t have any time to sit down and write the blog. I was either away on courses, spending time with the family or running! And I was exhausted! Which leads me to the second reason, that I needed a break from this challenge. Whilst I was enjoying running races on both days of the weekend, I was so tired and by the time I got to the Falklands I needed a rest. So a rest is what I had. What I intended to be for about 4 days turned very quickly into 4 weeks. I did no physical exercise and ate what I wanted which seemed fun to begin with until I realised again that I love running and wanted to get back out there. I am back training now; running, swimming and cycling 5-6 times a week and am loving it. But more on that later. It is now time to catch up on the events I crammed in before I deployed. After enjoying a weeks holida

A week of running, sunshine and smiles! This week was a busy week with three races; 2 x 5k and a 10k in Gosport and Bedford respectively.  I started the week doing the Gosport Summer Series 5k Race 2 on Tuesday evening after a day of Police training. This was an exciting race for me as I had looked at the the results of Race 1 the previous month and knew that if I ran as fast as I thought I could, and the other competitiors were the same then I stood a chance of winning my age category. This was the first race all year where there was something more to gain than just a PB or a medal and so the adrenaline was pumping as I stood on the start line. So much so that when the race started I went off at a blistering speed thinking that I was Mo Farah or something and was leading the pack for a good 5 metres! And then my body caught up with me and I realised that I couldn’t possibly keep up that pace and had to slow down a bit whilst what seeemed like the entire field passed me. Howev

My well deserved ice lolly after a boiling St Albans Half Marathon I had a busy weekend with my usual 5k Parkrun on Saturday and then the St Albans Half Marathon today. I knew that I needed to save my legs for the race today and so at Parkrun yesterday I donned a Hi-Vis jacket and ran as a 35min pacer. It was the first time I have ever paced a race and so I was pretty nervous that I was going to get it wrong, I must have looked at my phone a hundred times to make sure I was on pace. Unfortunately I hadn’t taken into account the fact that the course always measures slightly over 5k and so I finished at 35:03. Luckily the people who were trying to finish before 35 minutes were in front of me and so still reached their goal. This was a different experience for me but really enjoyable. I talked to a lot of people as I ran around and had lots of people talking about staying with the ‘Pace Lady’! The biggest benefit for me though was given my legs an easy, comfortable run before the

3 Parkruns in a row in beautiful sunshine I have been quiet on the blog front since the Sunderland Half Marathon but I have been quietly adding to my run total by attending Bedford Parkrun every Saturday. The weather has been so good and it has been the perfect way to start the weekend. I am continuing to improve and finally broke the 25 min barrier on Saturday with a PB of 24:36. I even persuaded my friend Amy to come along and join me and she completed her first Parkrun with me three weeks ago. Thank you Amy for joining me! The next few weeks will be a bit more hectic with a Parkrun on Saturday and a Half Marathon or a 10K on the Sunday. This will be the case for four of the next five weekends with a week in Cyprus to relax inbetween. The reason for this is that my overseas deployment was brought forward by six months and so I will unfortunately be leaving the country in the middle of July. This means I have to try and cram in as much as I can before I go as I don’t beli

Running 21km with my big sister                                                                                         This race, the Sunderland City Half Marathon was probably the most important race of this challenge. I got to run in my hometown with my big sister by my side and the majority of Grandma’s family were there to cheer us on- 10 adults, 6 children and 2 dogs to be exact! It was the first time we had all been together since her funeral and I like to think that it was a happy and proud occasion to remember my Grandma and support the fundraising for Dementia UK. The race itself was ok, the massive amount of hills was not! I definitely do not remember there being so many long hills in Sunderland and the looping nature of the course was a bit demoralising at times. However once we crossed the bridge to our ‘neck of the woods’ it was a lot more enjoyable; running along the seafront and through the park where I spent my childhood and running into the cheers of all of o

A sunny Bedford Parkrun Another Saturday meant another Parkrun for me to add another 5k to my total, and what a lovely Saturday it was too. The sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The race went well and I managed to finish in 26:42 which is another PB for me and knocked 1:10 off my previous PB. I finished very red faced and sweaty but happy that my fitness seems to be getting back to where it was in February before I had all the illness and injury. It has given me a bit more confidence going into the Sunderland Half Marathon on Sunday that I will hopefully be able to get a decent time and not get left behind by my sister who is running it with me. This week also saw me host a coffee morning at RAF Henlow where we had lots and lots of cake available and a guess the name of the teddy bear and guess the amount of sweets in the jar competition. The morning was a great success and we raised £217 for Dementia UK which will help fund Admiral Nurses to support familie

Flitwick 10K I hate the word ‘undulating’. Just say ‘hilly’ so that we can all mentally prepare for a race that mainly consists of hills. Magic hills that seem to go up and up but never come down! Flitwick 10k was one of these races. The hills weren’t massive but the 2-3k sections of a steady incline were not my favourite.  It has been two weeks since the Brighton Marathon and one week since me and Raf nearly repeated the Marathon distance walking around Disneyworld. I tried to start running again on Monday but had to stop after two miles due to pain in my knee. Luckily I had an appointment with the physio that afternoon and so she suggested that resting it for a week should help. My rib injury has massively improved and whilst I still haven’t got my full lung capacity back, I am in hardly any pain now and not dependant on painkillers. So I hesitantly signed up for the Flitwick 10k on Friday as I had been leaving it as long as possible to see how my knee was doing. I decided

Holding back the tears at the finish! What a day! I knew that marathon day was not going to be how I originally envisaged when I signed up to the challenge last September. With two months of illness and injury hindering my progress I had to mentally let all aspirations of fast times go and just embrace the marathon journey. And what a journey it was! It all started with a fairly relaxed morning in that there were no kids to worry about and I was staying a ten minute walk from the race start. I got to the start, stood in a half hour queue to go to the toilet and was lined up ready to go at 0945hrs after a karaoke rendition of Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’. The atmosphere was buzzing and I told myself it was just nerves and that I didn’t need to go to the toilet again. However, as soon as I started running I realised that actually I did need to go and so half a mile into the race saw me nipping behind a bush to ‘make myself more comfortable’ before I ran another 25+ miles!. Running th

Well it is two days to the marathon and the nerves are really setting in. Whilst this past months training has been extremely disappointing I am still looking forward to getting out there on Sunday and completing the distance, no matter what! I have been referred to the Physio and after our first consultation she has said that the cartilage surrounding the floating ribs is inflamed and that the two are rubbing together which is causing the pain. She is hopeful that it will burn itself out eventually and that I can continue to train without causing further damage. I do however need to concentrate on keeping myself healthy as the coughing is exacerbating the pain and stopping it from healing. So hopefully with a bit of rest and recuperation after the marathon I will be ready for my next race. As well as this blog, I was asked by Dementia UK to write a Guest Blog for their website about why I was doing this challenge. I got to write about my Grandma and her experience with dementia a

Bedford Parkrun I took ten days off training after the Bedford 20 in the hopes that my rib injury would heal in that time.....it hasn’t. I think it actually might be a bit worse. Every time I laugh or cough (or cry at this point) it exacerbates it. So what to do now? Drug myself up at every opportunity and continue like nothing has changed! Granted this isn’t the greatest of plans and I will probably be in a world of pain after the marathon but I don’t feel like I have a choice. The marathon was the beginning of this challenge; where it all stemmed from and I feel like if I cant complete this marathon then it will all have been a failure. So yesterday I headed to Bedford for another Parkrun in a bid to convince myself that running 5k will be about the same as running as 42k. So I lined up at 0900hrs ready to start and when I started running I felt pretty good. A bit of pain in the ribs but overall very good. That lasted for about half a mile before I started feeling like I was

Well that was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my life! It was an emotional run and I shed a few tears when I completed the race from sheer exhaustion and happiness that I had completed the distance. It was even more special as I had Raf, Amelia and Fox as well as my Mam and Dad to cheer me on at the finish line which is somewhere I never thought I would get to after the week I had with illness and injury. But I am glad that I was stubborn and completed the distance even though I am in so much pain today! I have since been to the doctor and am on painkillers and anti-inflammatories to help with the muscle sprain below my ribs and am aiming to be out running again in the next couple of days. It has got me slightly terrified about the marathon which is only three short weeks away as I don’t know where I am going to find those extra six miles from. But I will do it, I have no doubts about that. Even if I have to crawl across the finish line! And did I mention that I

It has been a really tough month in my marathon training and I am hoping my luck will change NOW! After the success of the Hampton Court Half Marathon I unfortunately had to take nine days off training due to a bad cold. Whilst I was annoyed that I was ill I thought “Well at least I am getting the illness over with now” I was wrong! Raring to go after my forced rest the Beast from the East had me running in -4 temperatures and forcing me into the gym to run on the treadmill which I absolutely hate. I managed to get out and run 16 miles once the snow had melted before being hit with the flu on Mother’s Day. We are 13 days on from then and I still have a chesty cough and have managed to pull the muscles around my ribs from coughing which is painful to say the least. Tomorrow is the Bedford 20. ‘20 Miles of Magic’ supposedly although I am currently sceptical! So what do I do? Should I withdraw from the race because running probably isn’t the best idea right now or should I give it a go

Slightly red faced after the Hampton Court Half Marathon This morning I had the pleasure of getting up at 5:30am and travelling to Hampton Court  for my first half marathon of the challenge. It was absolutely freezing when we arrived but by the time the race started the sun had come out and it was perfect running conditions. Despite arriving only thirty minutes before the gun went off and navigating my way through the insanely long lines for the toilets, I was ready to go at 8:30 am and start my run around the Thames Ditton area accompanied by a slightly wheezy Batman and a gentleman who loudly shouted encouragement to himself when things got tough! The first half of the race was fairly sedate but I managed to push through the second half and storm down the finish coming in at 2:03:32 which was over ten minutes faster than my current PB. Woo hoo! It only got better when I looked into my goody bag and discovered a Tunnocks Caramel Wafer! That made all the pain worth it. The hour an

Love Welwyn Garden City 10k This morning was my second 10k of the challenge and was a world away from the mud bath of two weeks ago. The sun was shining and there was minimal mud and hills which suited me down to the ground! It actually felt pretty easy and I was surprised how quickly I was getting around the course and was so excited to cross the finish at 55:32; a full 7 1/2 minutes quicker than Harpenden two weeks ago and an all time 10k PB! I have been suffering with shin splints in the past week which has me worried when I have so much distance to cover but it was great to see that it didn’t bother me too much in the race. Onwards and upwards to my first half marathon which is next Sunday. Eek! It has been fantastic watching the sponsors mount up so a big thank you to Laura Mackay, Claire Anastassiou, Ashley Berglund Buscanera, Wilf Francis and Brenda Francis. Your donations are ensuring that Admiral Nurses can continue to work with those suffering with dementia and prov

I don’t like cross country. Ive never liked cross country. And so when I arrived at Harpenden 10k this morning and realised it was a cross country course a little part of me died inside. Coupled with lots and hills and mud it wasn’t going to make for an enjoyable run. Within two minutes of starting the race I was transported back to Year 7 cross country with Miss Jacques where we were forced to run around the cliffs of Whitburn. I didn’t like it then and it wasn’t much better today. But it is all for a good cause so I pushed myself around the four laps of the course slipping and sliding in the mud on the way. It was only around the half way point that I realised that the course was short. I dont know if it wasn’t measured correctly or whether the people I were following were cutting off corners but as I got to the last lap I had a decision to make. I wanted the race to be over but also, since this challenge is based on distance, felt I was cheating myself and my sponsors if I didn’t

I completed the first 5k of my challenge on Saturday at Bedford Parkrun. It was raining....a lot! So I managed to drag my freezing cold and wet behind around the course in 29:24 placing 233rd out of 418. Not my best time but definitely a good place to start. I am planning on doing the Parkrun every month this year and hopefully with some more training and some better weather I will look less of a mess than I do in this picture! Please visit my fundraising page and help support me in this challenge. I am still looking for that first donor to get me started. Will you be the first??   https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/HelenFrancis10

I am in my second week of training and I cannot remember how it feels to not be in pain! With running three times a week and doing circuits twice a week I am certainly regretting the Christmas indulgence (actually I’m not, it was totally worth it). My first half marathon is only four weeks ago and I am a little bit scared but hopefully once the first one is done, the others wont seem so bad. Fingers crossed! I am doing Parkrun Bedford on Saturday for the first time which will kick off my challenge and bring me 5k closer to my target. Only 195k to go after that! If you are willing and able then please support me on this challenge and donate whatever you can to Dementia UK using the following link: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/HelenFrancis10 There is also more information on there as to why I am doing this challenge and why it is so important to me. If you want to know more about the charity then please follow this link: https://www.dementiauk.org/ Thanks for reading and se