#RunThisTown update and time for you to get involved...

With it being the Olympics and expectations for Team GB at an all time high I get on to thinking about my own sporting journey, and of course it is by no means anywhere near as important as the medals, but wow wee, there is only 47 days to go… yes 47 excuse me whilst I throw up a little! #RunThisTown is well n truly picking up pace now and my training for the GNR half mara hit fever pitch this weekend when I managed to log my first 10miles in training. 10 miles has always been a big mental barrier and a year ago a physical one too, but on Sunday I laced up the trainers, ignored the severe weather warnings (in July!) and headed out. The first 3 miles for me always seem hard: I never know how my body will react and know by now, that if by the end of the 3 miles I'm still uncomfortable then this run isn’t going much further, and this run was no exception. At 3 miles I had only just found my stride but I had found it good, I eased into the 4mile mark and with my thoughts solely on the GNR actual race, I got to thinking about my #RunThisTown team mates.

Being able to say I’m with these guys has been great: I know I am based a million miles away from most of the team members but I know my girls and boys are always here for me online whenever I need advice or a kick up the bum. Mile 5 came easy but miles 6 and 7 were slightly jaded, and despite me going pretty much all the way around Maidenhead I still wasn’t anywhere near finishing. With an ominous big black cloud chasing me, I headed off into Cookham and decided to go into the fields for a more rougher terrain, as the heavy rain began to fall my speed and spirit lifted – there is something magical about running in the rain – refreshing much?! And before I knew it, 10 miles was done.

Now I feel ready for the half marathon.

After my surprise ease at the 10 miler I was especially happy to see my first #RunThisTown email ping into my inbox. As you already know this was started by the gorgeous Sam (@samcentric) here http://geordieracer.posterous.com/runthistown and seeing the first email made me swell with pride. With handy running tips and the opportunity to make plans for before AND after the big race, this email couldn’t have come at a better time, so this is where you lot come into it, if you are running the Great North Run half marathon and you want to run with some amazing runners that are, err, non-runners, want a giggle and to party hard then we ARE your team! Sign up for the emails by clicking HERE

Go on… you know you want to!

Lastly, I want to give a shout out to Nike… as a self-proclaimed Nike dressed advert every time I go out and run, there isn’t a bigger or better compliment that someone copying and Nike have done just that… launching their own version of #RunThisTown. Now, I don’t mind as such but it would be really awesome if  Nike, read this and all our tweets and join us so we can really get #RunThisTown underway! We are all runners from different ends of the UK, doing what we like most and not taking ourselves too seriously…So come on Nike, give us a hand…. You can help us by tweeting @nikerunning telling them that WE #RunThisTown and link to Sam’s post (http://geordieracer.posterous.com/runthistown) or this one!

Also, you can still go and show me some support by sponsoring me on my journey HERE

Have you been out running? What do you think of the Olympics?