Choo..Choo...the inspiration train has arrived today and just in time.

Well today I was starting to feel a little disheartened and a tad of self doubt about my physical capabilities for the upcoming onslaught of runs for my running campaign in 2014.

It's not surprising really as I have only fully restarted my training runs over the last week as I have had tried my best to rest over the last two months, especially after a last minute Marathon in early November which took a lot out of me, and to try and rest up my back
due to ongoing issues I've had with it for quite some time.

After a couple of earlier runs I managed a 12 mile run a couple of days ago and my back locked up at the end which took a while to ease off, but as usual it did subside.Overall I recovered well but my knees joints didn't feel to comfortable yesterday or this morning so I decided on an easy session in the gym.

So an easy session, listen to your body I told myself as I've often heard this advice from many running Guru's.A little bit of core work for my back etc and then some moderate leg work on the various weight machines and 5km on an exercise bile to loosen it all up and get the blood flowing through the offending knees and joints.

As per usual the little voice in my head said "go on, have a run" I resisted for a while and then thought sod it! so onto the treadmill I went.But what should I do? !mile sprint? 5k? a lazy walk and hope no one notices my lack of effort?

I finally decided I'll start with a 2 minute walk and then into a nice easy run, but I wanted to build my speed toward the end to fast finish, so I eventually decided I'd try intervals, i.e. a run and then a walk for a bit of a rest and then a run again followed by a walk as a rest..and so on.This is what I actually did:

2 minute walk at 4.5mph followed by 3 minute run at 7.5mph (8 min mile pace)
2 minute walk at 4.5mph followed by 3 minute run at 8mph (7:30 min mile pace)
2 minute walk at 4.5mph followed by 3 minute run at 8.5mph (7:04 min mile pace)
2 minute walk at 4.5mph followed by 3 minute run at 9mph (6:40 min mile pace)
2 minute walk at 4.5mph followed by 3 minute run at 9.5mph (6:19 min mile pace)
and finally.....
2 minute walk at 4.5mph followed by 3 minute run at 10mph (6 min mile pace)
Total distance 3.2 miles and in a total time of 30 minutes exactly.

It was actually a fun workout and not at all boring or drawn out and here's the point...
it was actually quite inspiring as I discovered I could teach my body to run faster as long as I took baby steps and built up the stamina and speed.

I left the gym with fresh feeling legs and they felt well up to the challenge ahead for 2014.

The next dose of inspiration was returning home to find two inspiring items in my post box.

Item number one was  a book I had been waiting several weeks to arrive from the USA by non other than Ultra runner Dean Karnazes  this guy can run through hell and back and still go onto run another 100 miles lol.His book is about his 50 marathons in 50 states of America in 50 days!!
Hell if he can run through that I can at least run through 14 runs in an entire year without complaining about pain in my knees and joints.

The other item was my new Mind running vest all ready to go for another year of sweat and not so subtle charity promotion for a good cause.

So I have boarded the inspiration train today and am heading full steam ahead into 2014 and I'm going to enjoy the ride..Choo!!...Choo!!

Today's training run will consist mainly of having a face that feels like it's in a blast freezer...and a serious attack of the munchies....

Well that's another training run done to help out my training partner for the day, I was expecting an easy 6-8 miles tops but Mandy needed to make up the miles for her target miles for the year (1500!!) so I politely obliged whilst regretting not bringing a snack or money with me as I knew the munchies would catch up with me.
After a fair bit of random direction running which involved running past various chip shops, take-a-ways and anything else that smelt of food we eventually ended up back at Mandy's after about 9 miles for me and 11 miles for her.
Thankfully I managed to bag some choc chip cookies and a small orange juice to restock and rest for 5 minutes, and then we said our goodbyes and I was off again.
By now my back had started to lock and the muscles spasm quite a bit so I had to struggle on through it.I managed to clock 12 miles after a bit of redirection at the end to get a nice round number :)
Now I'm going for a lie on the floor and ask my back to forgive me.
That's my long slow run target for this week done so I can treat myself to a shorter faster run on Sunday.                       .  

In the beginning.......there was an idea, a rather daft one at that, and then there was a blog to explain it all....and here it is.

Welcome to my opening  blog of the official 14Runs charity running campaign for 2014.

I think it's best to open with the lengthy description of myself and this campaign that I have already posted on the various social media pages and official donation pages I have set up for this campaign already as I am trying to keep it all neatly tied in together.....

About 14Runs and myself.

14Runs is a series of charity runs across the broad spectrum of distances and types available to the everyday runner, and all to be done in 2014 and all for two charities close to my heart.

My new running goal/challenge and charity campaign for 2014 comprises 14 different runs over different terrain and distances and all to be completed by the end of 2014.

I wanted a new goal and running challenge for 2014 and I wanted to try some of the other distance varieties and run categories like trails, ultra's, 24 hour runs and week long running tours, but I am obviously not Iron Man and therefore decided it would be good to cover as many different distances as I could including the shorter ones that I am already trained for.

It is going to be one hell of a challenge and physically very demanding and will require some nifty planning to try and get all 14 types of runs in within the year and with a decent amount of rest and recovery between each one to prevent injury etc.

Remaining injury free and doing everything I can to reduce the physical impact of all the miles is vital and for this reason I have purchased myself a pair of top end running shoes especially designed for long runs over trail and road.These incredible shoes are called Hoka's and come very well recommended from the long distance running community.

I have been very honored to of been offered a personal discount on all my running gear needs throughout my campaign by a very kind supplier the Ultra marathon running store.com based in the UK, here is a direct link to their Hoka range of shoes and one for the above mentioned generous supplier,a very big thank you to them.

http://www.ultramarathonrunningstore.com/Hoka-One-One-Shoes-s/1935.htm

http://www.ultramarathonrunningstore.com/

A big thank you also to Colin from Holmes-Smith Butchers in Southport for sponsoring me for most of the cost of the Hoka's and for helping me with my nutritional needs again in 2014.

I will be requiring the usual friendly support and encouragement from my running pals and from my family which I know will be readily and happily supplied in abundance

As ever there needs to be a sense of purpose and cause for such a daft way of keeping fit throughout the year otherwise I would probably give up after the first run .So as ever it will all be for charity but this year I have chosen to run for two charities, Mind and Caring For Life.

For more info on why I have chosen Caring For Life please see my page info on my JustGiving page www.justgiving.com/14Runs donations can be made direct to Caring 4 Life via that link.

As some of you will probably already know I ran for Mind in 2013 and I will again be running for them in 2014, for donations to Mind please use this link www.Virginmoneygiving.com/14Runs

The two different links give you a choice of charity to donate to or if you like you could donate to both :))

The distances and types I am covering range from a 1 mile backwards run at the National Backwards Running Championships to 5k's,5 miles, 10k on road,10k on trail,10 miles on road,10 miles on trail, Half marathon on road and Half marathon on trail, Full marathon on road and Full marathon on trail, ultra marathon, 24 hr relay and a 6 day running Tour of Merseyside.

Details of each and every run will be released one by one as they are booked and confirmed on my dedicated 14Runs facebook profile at https://www.facebook.com/14RUNS 

Details will obviously also be released within my blog posts so please follow them via 
http://14runs.blogspot.co.uk

Sponsors as ever will be welcome so please get in touch through here.

As Buzz always says " To infinity and beyond" :))