Hoo ra!

13 miles smashed today. Hurting a bit now but totally worth it! Wondering how I step it up though and increase the distance as seem to be hitting a wall now. I will figure it out but any suggestions ar welcome in the comments below!

Wish me luck...

About to do a half marathon course. #eek hope this ends well :-)

It's Official!

Well guys, the other piece of really big news is that this is all now official!

Yesterday I received my Save the Children Package through the post with all my race details and running vest! :)

I was very excited when I got back from my run to find that waiting for me... :)

So, I guess there is definitely no backing out now. Next stop April 21st and the Virgin London Marathon!

Please don't forget to visit my sponsorship page if you haven't already done so... I will need all the help I can get to complete this!

My Best,
Jon.

Beginning of November:

Previous Weeks Run:

Wow, has it been that long :(

Hi All,
Sorry it has been a while since my last post (which itself was pretty much a non-post!) but to be honest, I was finding it hard to find things to write about. I wanted this blog to sing with achievements during the course of the training but I just seemed to be putting the same old same old up on-line which was boring for you dear reader, and boring for me.

However, this is no excuse. This is not just a blog for you to read and see how I'm doing, it is also a record of my achievements from overweight non-runner to (hopeful) Marathon completer!

So, to that end, I present below, and in the next few posts, details of my previous few runs to bring me back up to speed.

Please feel free to laugh and comment about my musical selections whilst running :)

My Best,
Jon.

Wow, just realized how long it has been since my last post on here... will address that over the weekend!

Just have to think of something good to say now!

Aprés Holiday!

Well, I am back from a lovely week long holiday on a farm in Nottingham. There is so much to do around there for the kids, I'd never have guessed! But, with all that activity, my time to train was limited and I only managed a single 4km run over that entire week :(

Still, I am back at it now and to make up for the excesses of the previous week, I hit the gym hard today. I did two of my programmes back to back - cardio endurance followed immediately by strength/core training. I have not been this exhausted in a long while!!

A couple of other things to note. Prior to the holiday I managed to knock out a couple of 10mile runs and at the end of the Paralympics, the Samsung Hope Relay promotion came to an end. Whilst the app was active I managed to clock up 84 miles of running, meaning I raised an additional £84 for charity (through the Samsung app) just by training! I am very pleased with this additional bonus!

I also had a fitness test at the gym before I went away, to see how I had improved over my first three months of training. I'll post the full details later, but suffice to say I have improved dramatically and I am now within the fitness band I need to be in to train for an endurance event. :)

So all, in all, things are going well! Thanks for reading, and don't forget to sponsor me!

J.

p.s. Congratulations to all those who completed the Great North Run today. I was watching you run whilst i was at the gym and it inspired me to keep on going. I must get myself entered into a local event soon!!!

It's been awhile...

Hello and to those that have been here before, welcome back. To any new readers, welcome, good to see you and hope you enjoy following my story.

Last week, the latest edition of Soundbites came out to the business which I am hoping is what has encouraged some of you to pay me a visit!

To recap, i will be running the London Marathon in aid of Save the Children in April 2013. Running is not something I've ever done before and so this represents a huge challenge for me.

Status to date: Well i started off back in May weighing nearly 16 stone and unable to run 26 yards let alone 26mile!. What a difference 3month makes. I've been going to the gym 3 times per week and also doing outside runs too. The upshot is that i can now comfortably run 10km in an hour and am pushing on to greater distances as the weeks go by.

so to bring this up to date, yesterday - Saturday 18th August - i decided to push myself that little bit harder and go for that longer distance. At 9am i set off on what would turn out to be a 2hr run and 10.7miles in distance. this was a massive 4 miles or 7km further than i have ever run before!!

Details of my run are below:

If you want to help me with this and support my endeavor, please visit the just giving website (link to right ->) and give generously!!
>br /> And keep checking back (best bet is to subscribe via email to the right!) for future updates.

Sunday/Monday

So in light of my recent efforts in the gym, and my repeated 10k successes on the treadmill, i decided on Sunday to see if i could do that on the road. I set off on Sunday morning at around 8.30am with an initial intention just to make it to Newport and back in one go. I then extended that run up by the canal over the M62 and then back towards Sandholme before heading back home. Total distance ran, 10.3km. All well and good. Managed the run in 1hr 9mins - a new personal best! However, my mistake was then thinking that i could do that same route again on Monday evening! Same route, same distance, slightly better time of 1hr 6mins. However, more pain and feeling quite stiff today! Rest day today and then back at the gym tomorrow. J.

Sunday 22nd July

So, just to prove that last Sunday wasn't a fluke, I went back to the gym to see if i could repeat my 10k. Not only did i manage to do the 10k again, but i shaved 2mins off my time.

Further to that i also preceded my run with a nice 10k bike ride as a warm up!

I am definitely feeling my abilities increase with the training and even through the pain, am really enjoying making these achievements.

Next stop, 10k on the road instead of the treadmill!!

J.

More milestones.

Well, what a week this has been.

After last weeks break in training due to customer visits in London, i absolutely knocked it out of the park on Sunday and did my first 10k continuous run on the treadmill! I was absolutely made up about this as it was such a step up in terms of distance and i managed to do it in 75mins flat.

Average pace was 8.3k per hour with a slight gradient applied.

I am very pleased with this and I think it is a good jumping off point now to really drive that time down.

Last night i had a free training session at the gym, but only had an hour by the time i got there. I still managed to knock out 8.4k though in 60mins which again, i am happy about.

Tonight, if the great british weather holds, i'll be going for a 5.5k run around the village and then back to the gym on Sunday to attack that 10k time again.

My training is going really well at the moment, so will be doing my best to keep it up and avoid injuries.

J.

Wow

I am now consistently knocking out 5 km runs every time I go out. For me this is a major achievement. Another week of the programme at the gym and I think I'll step up the distance I'm running outside of the gym to 7.5 km.

if I can get to a  place where I am easily doing 10 km each time by september I'll be really happy.

I have a nice little route now between gilberdyke and newport which is exactly 5 km. did it in 32 mins today which is superb progress.

And finally for today. I've downloaded a new app called samsung hope relay. This app runs in the background tracking your run distance and for every mile you do, samsung donate £1. So I'm now raising money for two charities! Yay me! Anyone reading this blog should download the samsung app. It's free, and without any extra effort on your part, will raise money whilst you go for your runs anyway.

Right shower time and then family Sunday!

Have a good day,
J.

Milestone

Woo hoo! Another milestone reached. As of today, I have dropped 1 stone in weight since training began. I'm now 204 pounds. 8 more and I'll be under 14 stone for the first time in about 8 years!

Back to normal!

Well, all seems to be back to normal with my knee and training has resumed full pace. Happy days all round! :-)

Gentle run on Monday followed by gym session last night. Another road run tonight to look forward to. Then i can start working on increasing the distances I'm covering. 2miles is where I'm hitting a limit at the moment. Will try to get that up to 3 miles by the weekend.

Well, i can aim for that anyway!

J.

Monday night run

First night back out running around Eastrington Nature Reserve since my injury and it was pretty good to be honest. 2.03 miles in just over 20 mins. Not bad for someone who just 5 weeks ago couldn't run any distance at all.

One thing though, i will have to buy another pair of running shoes for outdoor training. The ones I've got are now a little muddy and will have to be cleaned before i go back to the gym tomorrow!! Or they might complain about me!

J.

Feeling fine.

Well, it's taken a couple of weeks but my knee seems to be better. I spent the day walking around Bridlington yesterday with the family and it didn't twinge once, so it's back to the gym tonight and back into training. Finally!

:-)

J.

Lunchtime

So this is what lunch used to look like:

And this is what it looks like now:

:-)

Pain

So it has been a bad week for me so far. After the 5k run I did last sunday, my knee has been hurting pretty bad. I've been to the gym twice to try and run it off but yesterday was not very nice. Some nurofen had helped with it's anti inflammatory properties but it has been a stark reminder that I have a long way to go and I must be sensible in how I get there.

Walk before I can run!

Anyway, it will be Sunday before I am back at the gym but think I will try a light walk tonight around the village to see how my knee holds up. From all the advice I can see on the net, this is just a temporary thing called 'runners knee' but I still have to be careful!

j.

Lazy Sunday mornings?

Ok, so Sunday was supposed to be a rest day, but when Alex woke up at 6.15 and Catherine said why not go for a run before Isabelle wakes up, I thought, why not!

I decided to run from my village to the next and back. A total of 5k. Managed to do it in 30 mins with a short rest fire stretching in Newport at the half way stage.

I won't lie, that last half a kilometer really hurt and it was a real struggle not to stop and walk the last of the distance, but I kept pushing and made it!

So, two firsts for me today. My first continuous 5k and my first run along the road. Not bad for someone who up until two weeks ago hadn't run more than 10m!

J.

So Saturday morning has come round and while the kids were having breakfast with Catherine, i went to the gym again! Really good session today, mixed up the programme a bit and changed the 1km run to 3.2km after i did so well on Thursday. Managed the distance without stopping/slowing in 23.47min at and average pace of 8.2km/h.

I'm enjoying this. Might be time to look for a light run to do over a longer distance!

J.

update to last nights run...

found this neat little feature of Endomondo... hope it works!

This is the data from last nights run:

Thursday 24th

Decided that a run would be a good idea, glad I went. 1.54 miles in 16.33 mins. 250 cal burned at an average pace of 10.43 min/mile. An improvement from Tuesdays 1.31 miles in 14.27 mins with an average pace of 11.02 min/mile.

Admittedly that is only a small improvement but during tonights run I managed to keep going the whole way without slowing to a walk at any point! Yay me!

Anyway, tomorrow is a rest day before hitting the gym on saturday morning.

Night folks.

Ouch...

Ok, so perhaps tried to do a bit too much last night! Legs hurt this morning. I have to remember that I'm new to this gym game and trying to keep up with those who have obviously been going there for a very long time is A. Bad. Idea...!

Still, despite the pain, it was a good session. Another 3.5k under the belt.  Will see how I feel later as to whether tonight I go for a run or have a rest night!

J.

Wednesday Night = Training Night

Well, another day at work almost draws to a close and the gym beckons...

Training schedule for tonight:
10mins variable resistance Cross Trainer
16mins interval training on treadmill
3x12 reps Lat Pull down
3x12 reps Chest Press
3x12 reps Leg Press
1km run - time to beat from Monday 6mins 40secs
3x12 reps Ab Crunch
3x12 reps Back stretch

This is session number 4 since I had my initial induction. In combination with change in diet I have dropped 3.5lbs since I started all this.

Two more weeks on this programme before I step up the times, distances and weights!

Onwards!
J.

The Saga Begins.

Hi, and welcome to my first post on the new blog RunFatBoyRun!

Who am I?
I am a person who put on a form that he dreamed to one day run the London Marathon.
I am a person who never expected this to get read.
I am a person who never dreamed that it would get picked.
I am a person who after never running a mile in his life, is now training to run one of the most famous endurance events in the world!

I am Jonathan Farrell, Logistics Solutions Manager for Reckitt Benckiser UK, and I am incredibly proud to be running the London Marathon in 2013 for Save The Children.

How this all began...
Many years ago, I used to play Rugby Union to a fairly decent standard. Then I picked up injuries in my knee and both shoulders, which effectively ended my playing career. From that point on, me and physical exercise grew apart, only seeing each other occasionally, and never with much love.

That all changed about 7years ago when I had a change in career, moved to a new area and decided that me and exercise would give it another go. So I joined a gym, started cycling to work and all was well. This new relationship lasted about 2yrs before another change of career and location ended it. From that point on I saw my fitness levels decline, my waist expand and my general energy levels just drop away.

Each year I would watch events like the London Marathon and think "I'd love to do that..." but then the motivation would fade and another year would pass until I would say it all over again.

Well no more - this year is going to be different. In the spirit of "Dream, Dare, Deliver", I put my dream down on paper and RB are now brilliantly supporting me in this endeavour. I will be running the London Marathon in 2013, there is no backing out and I will raise a whole heap of money for Save The Children. And yes, for those that remember, I do have another motive for this... I wrote on the form that not only did I want to do all the above, but I also wanted to do something that my kids would be proud of. Well, I am committed to this, and they will be there in London next year waiting to meet me after the race.

A tough year of training ensues, but it has already started and is going well. I even went for my first ever outdoor run last night, and whilst it hurt, it also felt brilliant!

I feel very privileged to have been given this opportunity by RB and I am supremely grateful for all the support that has been given to me so far. I will post regular updates on here with regards to training and sponsorship so you can all see how i am doing.

And as for the title of this Blog. Well, lets just say that at the end of all this, I hope I can remove the word "Fat" from that title!

Best Regards,
Jon.