(that was over 5 years ago, you do the maths!)
Said no long distance runner, ever!
Another long run this Sunday and this time 26km. A solo run following the route of my running club’s planned run, but an hour and a half earlier, then reversing the route, catching the running group setting off! So I saw the same route and the same hills three times!
Great for strength building on the legs though!
Fundraising is going really well for Breast Cancer Care, I’ve just passed the £1000 mark!
Thank you to all those who have donated!
Another Sunday, another long run. 11km solo run then the exact same route in reverse with the Walney Wind Cheetahs running club, 22km total.
My 26 ribbons for 26 miles have been a huge success since they went on sale on Friday – I’ve sold 12 of my 26 miles at £20 each – details in the link if you want to purchase a mile to dedicate to a special someone.
What would it mean to me? In case you’re not aware, Asics have a worldwide team of selected runners that operate as Asics Frontrunners, a group that are champions for the brand and for the running community.
Applications opened recently for the latest new recruits to join this movement and I wasted no time in applying once again to join them.
What would it mean to me? Well, I’m a complete Asics fan, all my running gear, with the exception of my club vest (that I have no choice over) is manufactured by Asics – shoes (lots), leggings, shorts, tops, all of it. I appreciate the fit and function of the Asics brand and research that goes into producing the equipment. I can honestly say I’ve never been let down by the brand, from my first gait analysis where I was fitted up with a pair of GT2000 through many pairs to my second pair of Gel Nimbus 20 London edition which are still boxed ready to unleashed on the streets of London in April for the London Marathon.
As an ambassador for running, I fulfil that role naturally, having been a Run Leader, Chairman of a local running club and encouraging new runners through Couch to 5k programmes and the recently launched Mental Health Mile in Barrow. I live an active social media life, networking with other runners around the world and sharing tips and advice, it all fits well with the Asics Frontrunner ideals, I just hope that this time I’ll be lucky enough to be chosen!
Happy Running!
After a good few years trying to get into Virgin London Marathon through the public ballot, I decided to increase my chances this year by applying for a charity place too. As my wife Lisa has secondary breast cancer, I opted to support Breast Cancer Care and applied for one of their 40 charity places.
Unsuccessful in the public ballot, I received word that I hadn’t made the cut for BCC either, although the “regret” email did say that my application was very strong and I was placed on the shortlist should a place become available. I enquired as to how long the shortlist was and was told by the lovely Charlotte at BCC that I was in the top 5!
All I had to do was wait I guess…
And then on the 6th December an email arrived….
“Hi Darren
I hope this email finds you well – I’ve been trying to get in touch with you in regards to your London Marathon application but the number I have doesn’t appear to work….”
Eek! I was straight on the phone to Charlotte and 5 minutes later I’m in! I have an ambitious target of £2000 to raise for this amazing charity that is so close to us as a family, but I can do this!
Training is going well, a couple of set-backs with the recurrence of a niggling back issue, but last Sunday I was back on the “long runs” with a 10 miler under my belt.
If you can support me in any way, my just giving link is
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/darrenmcsweeney
Thanks
Darren
After falling in love with the design of the London edition Nimbus 20s I ordered a pair direct from asics online. I had a 20% discount code from being unsuccessful in the 2018 Frontrunner process so this reduced the price from £150 to £120 – postage was free but I messed up selecting standard delivery which took nearly a week, when I could have gone for two day delivery at no extra cost using my One Asics login.
Unboxing was a delight, they are above my normal price line so I did have a bit of the big kid about me when opening the parcel. They came in a red box carrying the “city icons” branding, there’s a lid raise boomerang video on my insta if you want to share the excitement.
I wore them in the house for an evening and then took the dog out for a short walk before taking them out for a proper test today.
I joined some pals from the local Sand Rats group for a 10km circuit around half of the beautiful Walney Island coast, we planned on taking an hour for this at 930 am then having a full English in the Ferry pub when we finished. The route planned out at 11km and took exactly the hour, the weather was cool but fine.
The asics Gel Nimbus are an amazingly comfortable shoe, but they really seemed to give a lot of support and stability too. We ran on differing surfaces, dry grass, sand, shingle and tarmac and the heel area support seemed solid on the challenging soft sand where the ankle may have had a tendency to roll. The heel structure of the shoe looks really supportive too.
The mesh is really breathable, seems more so than any other asics shoe I’ve had before, in fact from inside the shoe you can see quite a lot of daylight coming through, it feels light and breezy when worn outside. From heel strike to toe off the ride feels comfortable yet solid, it feels a really “confident” shoe.
The design is stunning, the logo, the glitter 20, the insole which no-one will ever see, the tongue and tongue logo are a nice finish too.
All in all, I’m giving it 10/10 – I’m an asics fan, most of my shoes are asics, I have tried others but always come back.
I purchased the asics Gel Nimbus 20 London edition direct from Asics online, using a 20% discount code, with my own money. The review is completely independent of asics and whilst I’m a self confessed asics fan, this did not influence my review, written after running 11km in them.
Full English breakfast at The Ferry was ace!
Aghhh, I really need to sort this! I had planned to join my group (the Walney WInd Cheetahs) today for the longer Sunday run but lying in bed until 9:30 when the run starts at 10 was not a good idea!
I then told myself I’d go out later on my owm, but having taken the dog out for a walk and realised it was only one degree above zero, I binned that idea too.
The last two years and I would have been prepping for the annual Keswick to Barrow walk, a 40 mile challenge through the Lake District and this would have been my motivation to get out. Taking a year out has left me with no real reason to force me out!
I need to sign up for a half I think!
How do you get motivated in this rubbish weather? Let me know your tips and tricks!
I was actually pulling a funny face, that’s not my normal look!
I don’t tend to run with earphones and music, which leaves my mind totally free to wander when running. My regular distance is 5km and my most regular activity is the weekly parkrun at Barrow. The course at Barrow is 2 and a half laps of what is described as an “undulating” course – bloody hilly in layman’s terms.
This course means you climb to the summit of the park, the cenotaph memorial, three times. Lap one and you’ve only just started, but even that early in the run my mind is saying “only two more of this climb before the finish”. Is this normal? Do other people count down markers towards the finish? Is the finish the only goal? What about actually enjoying the run? I find that if I’m in a pack then these thoughts don’t happen, but invariably I find myself running alone and then it’s measuring to the person in front, “is that person pulling away from me?” – “if I let them get further ahead at this point, can I claw it back?” – I know parkun is a run and not a race, but I can’t help judging my efforts against others – I’m not a competitive person in sport, I’m happy to just challenge myself, but my mind seems to think otherwise when I’m actually in the run!
Lap two and it’s “only one more climb up here” – no matter how much I try not to think about it, these mental markers always appear. Lap three and 4km is under your belt, there is a feeling of relief that the climbing is done, there is one short sharp hill left and thoughts turn to that.
There is one more long steady climb on the course, but you only do this bit twice, I’ve trained my mind to not see this as a hill anymore – I used to count down on this one too, but I don’t anymore – I wonder if I could do that with the other bits and just enjoy the whole run?
My longest run, the annual 40 mile Keswick to Barrow – I have similar issues – I switch my Garmin to miles (I always measure km) as 40 seems less of a mental challenge than glancing at your watch and seeing 70 km ticking down! My mental count on this one is different – the two times that I have done it I aimed for a Top 100 finish – the first year I came in just over – 110th. The next year I started at the front with the elite guys and counted how many people passed me, when it got to the 80s and 90s I upped my pace! It kept my mind busy for a good few hours.
What do you think about when running? I’d love to just go out and run and not focus on numbers, markers and times, maybe my mind is competitive and I just don’t know it or want to admit it?
….since my last post on my running blog! That’s gotta be some kind of record surely?
This changes right now. I need to write more about my running journey and with a nod to friends from #RedJanuary who also blog, I’m back!
So the blog headline is “45 is a great age to start running”, my last post was when I’d already turned 46 and that was three years ago…. you do the maths! It does mean I have another milestone as well as my running milestones to reach this year!
I’ve rediscovered my mojo since taking part in Red January 2018, I did take part in 2017 but it didn’t go to plan, some of you will know the story. For those that don’t I dare say it will pop up in these blogs as the bombshell that derailed Red 2017 is still very much a part of our daily lives as a family.
So where am I currently on my running journey?
5km PB 19:38, current average – just under 23 minutes
10km PB 42:35, current average – not even thinking about >5km at the moment
Longest run – 69km! I know, crazy, it’s a local annual “walk” through the Lake District, 40-ish Miles, but some of us run it. 8 and a half hours. About 2 weeks recovery! Not doing it this year!
So it’s currently parkrun on a Saturday and whatever else I can squeeze in! Red did wonders in getting me out, but then on day 31 that lurgy hit (the one everyone seems to have had), followed by sciatica, so it’s been crap! But I’m feeling like I’m back, so relaunching the blog made sense!
Hoping to keep it up and share more on here than I can fit in my Instagram posts.
keep smiling, keep running!
It’s been a while since I posted on here – full of good intentions when I started this blog, but running the blog for the Love Barrow Awards on top of social media management for Kidfest has taken up all of my time – on top of searching for a new job!
Happily I can report I have managed to find a job, finishing after 16 years at McBride on 23rd December and staring in BAE on the 5th Jan, perfect timing!
So what have I been up to running wise? I joined the Walney Wind Cheetahs rather than running on my own mid-week – it was fine in the summer but once the nights started to draw in it was bit lonely and miserable – so a couple of runs a week with the Cheetahs nicely fills the mid-week diary.
My parkrunning has been steady – my PB is down to 21:42, this was achieved in September and although I can’t seem to reach it now, sub 23 is normal territory and I’m really happy with that.
I couldn’t have dreamt in April when I started that come Xmas I’d be sat in third place in the male points table for Barrow parkrun, albeit assisted by two outings as a volunteer (one when injured, one when hungover).
I won’t be managing the Xmas day run, but will be there on the Saturday to run off some of the Xmas excesses, good luck to everyone who does make it to the park on Xmas day!
In all, a fab year – I’m still loving the running and can only look forward to a great year ahead – best wishes to everyone for Christmas and hope we all have a great running New Year.
5 months ago in April when I first had this mad idea about running 5k around my local park, I was determined to succeed and keep going. As a hobby. A parkrun now and then, maybe even building up to going every week?
But that isn’t how the running bug works is it?
5 months on and I’m running in a 5k race in another town. 18 parkruns, 11 PB’s, two pairs of running shoes, running clothes for birthday presents, a Garmin on my wrist with a HRM strapped across my chest and there’s no denying the bug has bitten! I’ve even bought a bloody bike!
But what keeps you going – what is it about that bug that bites and won’t let go?
The personal challenge? The strive for another PB? Increasing fitness? Maybe all of those, but there’s another element that outsiders and people new to running maybe don’t see at first – THE CRAIC – or “the camaraderie” as those well spoken types like John Greenwood of the Walney Wind Cheetahs would probably refer to it.
The local running groups, Panthers, Cheetahs, Wolves, Dragons… what a fantastic, supportive, inclusive bunch of people – the local running community is one big family and it’s great to be a part of it!
Started running aged 45... 