The Major Series 10k

I am sorry for not posting so many updates recently; I've been incredibly busy training (in the mud)
 ...

On the 16th of March I ran the 10k Major Series ... an incredibly challenging mud run. With just four weeks until the marathon, my friend Kelly and I were wading through swamps and clambering under nets, through webs, under electric fences and barbed wire, through tunnels, bouncing on space hoppers, doing wheel barrow races, crawling under bridges, though tyres, over hay bales, through ice baths, down slides and swimming through lakes ... in some very tough mud! It was the first ever muddy obstacle race I have completed and I can safely say I loved it ... thank you Kelly for persuading me to sign up!

A before and after shot ...

Fresh faced before we started ...

 A very muddy, slippery slide ...

We were still smiling! 

Muddy warriors!

Crossing the finish line 2 hours and 35 mins later ... yes, it really took that long!!

 We were very lucky and had beautiful sunshine all day long!

We were very proud of our NO MUD NO GLORY t-shirts and medals we received on completion!

This takes forever to wash out ...

I know these don't look very painful ... but they were ...

Finally, I want to say a huge THANK YOU to Amber Cars Leeds taxi company for being so supportive of us running the race. Not only did they take my friend and myself to the race and bring us home again, but they generously donated £50 to my charity, CLIC Sargent, and £50 to Kelly's chosen charity, Action for Children. We are so grateful and would encourage you to use their firm when in Leeds! The number is:  0113 231 1366.

Twitter Excitement!

Over these past few weeks since I hit the half marathon mark, my progress has been a little slow, so you can imagine my delight when Virgin Money retweeted my training tweet to 17,500 followers and posted my photo collage on their website!

And then, today, I was hit by even more amazing news … the judging panel at Virgin Money chose me, along with 4 other runners, to receive a £100 contribution to my fundraising! This has definitely boosted my motivation and I am going to go on a run right now!

Half Marathon Completed!

Last Wednesday, I hit the next milestone - a half marathon! It took me 2 hours, 15 mins (okay, so not at all fast but at least I did it!), with an elevation of 947 feet. I also burnt 1,375 calories - not bad at all! It feels so exciting to be able to run this, but a little daunting that it is only half way! I feel like it is impossible to get any fitter!

I have also signed up for another mud run - The Gauntlet, in Essex, in April - just 2 weeks before the marathon. It is a 12k run through mud and other horrible obstacles, so if you would like to sponsor me to do this, please use the same link, www.justgiving.com/chiaracreates. Thank you!

A new milestone!

As of today, I have raised over £1,000 for CLIC Sargent (not even including Gift Aid)! I would like to say a massive thank you to the following people for your donations and kind messages of support:

My very generous and supportive parents

Debbie, James and Hannah Moon

My motivational running partner, Kelly Faherty

My encouraging boyfriend, Tom Smyth

My friends in Leeds

            Nicole Moses

Emily Clarke

Dan Fox

Ellie Gazey

My course girls

Marie Langley

Lauren Campbell

Nicole McCracken

Megan Lewis

Sophie Hodgson

Friends of Richard and the Moon family

Zoe Delahunty-Light

Jamie and Suzie Marshall

Pauline Skidmore

Sarah Lumley

Jan Pierce

Friends and associates of Steve Creates

Pete Wilder

Nick Riley

Steve Jennett

Glenn Hunt

Richard Gillgrass

            Tony Wheatley

Paddy and Gill Chandler

Douglas and Sue Robb

And all my other kind and encouraging friends

Imogen Winter

Anne Allman

Glenn and Sharon Clarke

Flo Tilling

James Hodge

Sam Monro

Peter and Sue Smyth

Lydia Snow

Thank you all so much. Not only do your donations motivate me, but the money goes to help children and young people and their families who are battling cancer.

If you haven’t yet donated, you still have time! You can either visit www.justgiving.com/chiaracreates or give the money to me when you see me.

Happy New Year!

I haven’t posted in a while, but now with all the Christmas and New Year festivities out the way, it is time to update you all on my progress! Before Christmas, I was getting up to quite a good distance, but I am sorry to say I haven’t had much time over the last few weeks so will have to build my fitness up again. However, thanks to the generous donations and messages of support from many of you, my motivation is back … thanks also in part to the new running clothing I got for Christmas! Hopefully I can get back on track and start running some longer distances!

When I go back up to Leeds later this month, I will be able to use the gym so the bad weather will no longer be an excuse. A friend has also encouraged me to run Parkrun with her – details can be found here http://www.parkrun.org.uk. It looks like a really good scheme and I will let you know how we get on.

The very same friend has also signed us up to The Major Series – a 10-12k run in March. Little did I know that it wasn’t just a run but an army-style obstacle course, running through mud and rivers, under nets, through swamps, across logs, through ice baths and a lot more! It does look like great fun though, so thank you Kelly for making me sign up! If you would like to find out more (or even join me) visit www.majorseries.com. Please feel free to sponsor me for this as well as the marathon on my Justgiving page www.justgiving.com/chiaracreates.

Training is going well!

I haven’t posted in a while as things have been very busy but I have good news – last week I hit the 10k milestone! Yay! Although I still have a long way to go this is incredible progress when I think back to where I was when I started training – not even able to run 1k without stopping! I have mainly been using the gym for training (as well as walking up the stairs to my flat on the 9th floor!) and today I tried out some fitness videos as the gym was too busy - they're a good way to stay motivated!