So whats happening ?

Writing a blog can be hard work at times but maybe not as hard as what I have decided to do throughout 2013! I must apologise if the blog is only updated once a month or so the best way to keep up to date with instant news will be through my facebook page and Twitter account.

Anyway I took part in the Petzl Night Runner at Delamere forest in December as a an organised training run. It  was 10K throughout the forest trails in the dark so you had to have a head torch. I really enjoyed the run and  I was impressed with the turn out. I finished 65th out of about 200 odd and posted a time of 47.49 which is actually my fastest official 10k time which was pleasing.

I'm not about running faster times and moving up the positions though, I really enjoy my hill and trail running and I feel if I start clock watching and chasing PB's I'll loose the fun. That's my excuse anyway. I have been getting plenty of running done but it really is hard work in the winter. I don't actually struggle to get motivated to go running but I do struggle fitting it in with everything going on in life, especially my longer runs which I am slowly building up to more and more miles.

The weather hasn't helped either I have had everything from fog/ice/mist and lets not forget RAIN! I don't mind running in the rain and it does make trail running exciting but it does make hard work when the whole road is under water or I'm running through a small river.

So training is just mile after mile I usually get about 5 miles a day done and on weekends try and get out for a couple of hours each day. The runs are due to start in a fortnight on January 19th with the Anglesey Coastal Trail Half Marathon and then it is followed 4 weeks later by a 10 mile Trail race in February and then we jump up to the bigger stuff!

First Race

http://www.endurancelife.com/event-new.asp?series=70&location=180

March is the Montane 26 mile Trail race in Lancashire and as I have never run more than 22 miles in one go I'm really looking forward to it! I doubt I will be saying that half way into it! For some strange reason I am hooked on the idea of Ultra running so this is what I'm aiming for in the months to come, fingers crossed my body holds out.

So whats it all for? Well if you know me then you will know my passion is birds of prey and their conservation. I've been involved with birds of prey in various guises monitoring them in the wild and working with them in captivity, both I still do to this day. I have always wanted to do more for birds in the wild and their conservation and one thing was to raise money for conservation projects and support current charities like the Hawk and Owl Trust. Hence deciding to run for raptors and possibly raise money for some good raptor causes my first one is the bird of prey hospital fund at the ICBP which you can read more about on the link below.

http://www.icbp.org/index/index.php/projects/the-hospital-fund

I am currently trying to sort out the donation side of things so keep hold of your hard earned cash and I will hopefully have the best way of donating sorted before the end of the month! In the next month I will be posting up the next few months races and feel free to join me on any of them or a training run, don't worry I don't go fast!

Keep an eye on the Facebook page for regular updates and I'll probably update this blog after the first run on the 19th.

Running for Raptors 2013!

Well I have come up with a plan and it starts in 2013! Actually its started now and months earlier with training but I am going to run in at least one organised race each month for 2013 culminating possibly in a big run in Nov/Dec. I have to admit training has been slow recently especially as I have been away with work for the last 10 days but I have been on some really nice hill runs over the weekend.

I hope by running in these races I will raise awareness about birds of prey and also vital funds for bird of prey conservation. One of the things I hope to raise funds for is the International Centre for Birds of prey Hospital Fund, where they are hoping to build a state of the art hospital facility to treat the wild birds of prey they get brought and treat with their own funds and specialist vet.

I have updated the About me & blog page to give visitors some idea of what this blog and I am all about and I will also be publishing the event calendar for 2013 with the run's I will be attending. I have 6 months sorted out already. I have also created a Facebook page and Twitter feed which will be the easiest way to keep up to date with whats going on and a donation page will be coming shortly when I can work out the easiest and best way to process donations in a trustworthy and beneficial way for the fund and the people giving.

The blog will continue as a way of me updating people on whats going on with training, the runs themselves and anything else I learn along the way. As always I will also mention bird of prey conservation issues and continue to update my raptorawareness.blogspot.co.uk with news of birds of prey from around the world.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Running-For-Raptors/377083969052136?fref=ts

Twitter - @runforraptors

Well how has the running been going since my very first post in July? Well I think I mentioned the word sporadic in my first post and that is definitely a good word for it. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh because I have done a lot of running but the last month has been very slow if non existent. I have however learnt a fair bit along the way with my running.

Firstly don't over do it, this might sound simple but I have done it a couple of times and apart from the chance of injuries I find it can really kill your mood for running. The other day I went for a run for the first time in 3 weeks with my mate Charlie who is a fair bit fitter than me and I felt like crap by the end of it. We didn't push the PB's but the next day I really didn't want to go for a run.

Secondly is diet and pre run eating. Obviously a healthy varied diet is important but sometimes I eat crap and on one occasion this bit me in the bum. I hadn't had my breakfast and by lunch was starving, I had to pop into town to get some bits and parked right outside a chippy! Oh dear no will power over my empty stomach, the chips and sausage tasted great but not the second time when I went for a run. I also need to sort out not only my eating timetable and content but also the variety for health, at the moment with winter we all feel a bit glum especially about exercise and its not help by the sniffles especially when I'm trying to run up a hill!

I have to admit I love running in the hills, in fact its putting me right off running on the tarmac the views are stunning and the variety the trails offer underfoot keep my mind active. I did however put a big run in off cuff on the roads with a little trail a couple of months ago. My girlfriend was competing on her horses about 11 miles away so I decide to run to watch and then run home again, I managed the first 11 fine and on the way home I felt good until about 3 miles from home when the fatigue really hit me and I walked. This is what I really enjoy, pushing myself physically and mentally to complete a set distance but it amazed me how this fatigue just hit me or was it the fact I knew I was close to home and just wanted to finish?

I'm reading a couple of books at the moment on running which are fantastic, one by the legendary ultra marathoner Scott Jurek and another by Dr Andrew Murray and his Scotland2Sahara run. When I finish I will  do a little write up on them both. I have a few books on the shelf still to read.

Lots of things going on with my work, desperately trying to get some conservation ideas off the ground but we will see. I also have my big challenge burning a hole in my head but the moment I let it out the bag is when I have to put my feet really to the test!

The Idea!

OK so this is the idea for this blog, some of you may have got to this through my other blog Raptor Awareness which was created to keep you up to date with bird of prey conservation and stories worldwide. Well Running for Raptors is all about some challenge ideas I have had and would like to attempt to raise further awareness bird of prey conservation and try and raise some money for some fantastic conservation causes.

So why did I decide to pick running for my challenges? Well apart from the snappy name, I wanted to get fit, do something that is challenging to me and will hopefully get people to think about birds of prey and the conservation efforts taking place around the world. Also running isn't easy or at least it isn't for me and that's the first challenge, all of my ideas for challenges will require some serious training of which is going to take dedication and hopefully this blog will keep me on track as well as keeping my followers up to date.

I wouldn't say I'm the most natural runner, I'm certainly not built like any long distance runner you might see at the Olympics in fact one friend who I used to train with said I had the most unnatural running stride he has seen. I might have to get some professional help and advice on that one.

Now its down to getting out and running, sadly I would say I'm quite a sporadic runner, I tend to get the bug and run hard for a month or so and then other things in life take over and I will miss a couple of months so I end up back at square one. I went for my first run yesterday in about 2 months attempting about 5 miles which didn't seem much fun and to cap it off got a blister! Today I have to do a 5K time trial as part of a fitness test for the new hockey season which is also a big part of my life and another reason for getting fit (shouldn't I be fit already then I hear you say, well I'm a GK so running used to get dodged!)

I do have my first challenge in mind and a very worthy cause but I might have left it a bit short in my training and planning so if it is to go ahead it will be announced at short notice! The rest of this blog will be dedicated to my training and progress, the challenges and the worthy causes!

And if you ever want to drag me out for a run and your in Cheshire let me know I need all the help I can get!