Monday, July 22, 2013

8 Weeks til Race Day

Yesterday was 8 weeks til race day.  I completed my 9.5 mile training run in just over 2 hours.  I'm very pleased with that performance.  Last weekend's long run had left me anxious about a couple of things.  

First of all the heat, but thankfully it was a cool morning in Grand Rapids, cloudy for most of the run.  I was able to leave home at 8am.  Way better than the 6am I had anticipated.  That gave me time for a yogurt, a cup of tea and a little relax before setting off.

My second concern was hunger and thirst.  I don't usually eat before I run or carry a water bottle - too much distraction.  After the previous week's performance I knew I'd need both.  I got myself a tiny runner's water bottle that sits in the palm of my hand - if I just squeezed a few drops at a time, I was able to keep my mouth from drying up and didn't choke myself either - bonus!  I also swallowed a "gel-pack" at the halfway point.  It was like 2 tablespoons of honey with caffeine.  That really sorted me out for the rest of the run :0)

In blanket news, last week we had our trusty British photographer Bob staying with us.  An ideal time to get some quality "images" of the fundraising-blanket-in-progress.......
340-ish hexes waiting to be patched together......
I spent a good hour laying out most of the hexes for the next pic......

The hexes laid out as colour-grouped as I could manage.
So, total hexes right this minute is 350, with 55 days to go.  I should be able to add a good 150 to that total by race day.

If you'd like to sponsor my Great North Run, here are my fundraising pages.  A fiver to either charity is one entry to win the blanket.  Please email me at discoknits AT gmail DOT com (no spaces or caps) after donating, so that I have your contact details.

NSPCC in the UK

Thompson Child & Family Focus in the USA

Thanks so much for supporting me on this journey.
disco xoxo

3 comments:

IrishGirlieKnits said...

This is going to be stunning Disco!! So proud of your dedication!

Kirsty, New Zealand said...

Wow, that blanket is going to be stunning! Thank you so much for the lovely comment you left on my blog, it really made me feel inspired! I hope you don't mind but I have put a link to your blog on my blog, Kirsty xx

danielle said...

Donation made! Best of luck!!!