SportsShoes Blog

Well here goes, my first ever blog entry!

I’m sat in yet another hotel room in Cardiff getting ready to compete tomorrow night in the Super 8 meeting. I’ve just returned back from Poland where I competed in the 1500m at the 55th Janusz Kusocinski Memorial meeting and ran a lifetime best of 4.05.06 , the World Champs A Qualifying time! Woo Hoo, I knocked nearly 3 secs off! What a relief. Feels great to have the qualifying time in the bag and all I need to concentrate on now is getting in that top 3 at the trials in July and I’m on the plane to Berlin!

I was in the SportsShoes shop just before I left for Poland and purchased the Skins half shorts and I love them! Felt great to race in! I also got a new pair of the Saucony Triumphs, which I also love! The cushioing is just the best. I raced in the Saucony Endorphin MD spikes and they are fast! Really get you up on your toes and also have great cushioning.

Ok, well I’ll be on again soon to let you know how I go in the Super 8 meet. Look out for me on Sky Sports 2 Friday night showing the highlights! I’m the one who will hopefully be winning with the big curly hair!

Charlene x

Saturday saw the 55th running of the classic 3 Peaks Fell Race in Yorkshire.

The event is 24 miles long with 4500 ft of climb and takes in Pen-y-gent, Whernside and Ingleborough. It pretty much follows the  route of the 3 Peaks Walk which is attempted by thousands each year who set out to try and complete it in under 12 hours.

The course record for the race was set by my pal Andy Peace back in 1996 and stands at a staggering 2 hours and 46 minutes - a time which I find simply incredible.

I completed it for the 5th time on Saturday which I guess isn’t bad but when you compare that with one chap who did it for the 42nd time (and is 70 years old) then my tally is somewhat feeble!

Anyway, I managed to post a PB getting round the course in 3 hours and 34 minutes and finishing in 29th place overall from 689 starters.

Despite this, I don’t feel I had a particularly good race and was dissappointed with my climbs up Whernside and Ingleborough. It’s hard to say what exactly went wrong but I just didn’t feel to have any spring in my step on the ups but thankfully I came round a bit on the descents to allow me to stay well ahead of any time I’ve done previously.

I would have really liked to break the 3 hour 30 barrier but this year it was not to be. That said, I think if I could run like I did in the Haworth Hobble a few weeks ago I would be able to knock at least 5 minutes off Saturday’s time so next year I’ll try again.

The race was won by my team mate Rob Jebb and with Andy Peace in 8th, my training partner Jamie Robinson in 24th and me 29th we won the team prize for Bingley Harriers.

This morning 2 days after the race, I managed a very short walk / jog with my dog although descending anything higher than about 1 inch is very painful and I’m still having to come down stairs sideways….. I’m not injured it’s my leg muscles (quads in particular) that are struggling to recover from the battering they took on the descents.

Next it’s the Fred Whitton cycle race which at 112 miles should prove an interesting challenging.