Claire's Bucket List Challenges by claireo

My name is Claire and last year I set myself a few ‘Bucket List’challenges, including:

1 -Run 5k in under 30 min.

(PB=29:09 on 06/07/10) DONE √

2 -Run 10k for charity before end of 2009

 (10k CancerResearch run 25^th Oct 2009) DONE √

3 -Run half-marathon for charity in 2010
(Great Scottish Run Half Marathon, 5th Sept in aid of CLIC Sargent! 02:16:09) DONE √

4 -Run a marathon for charity, by the time I reach my next BIG birthday!
(Entered the Ballot for the 2011 Virgin London Marathon!)

5 -Run the London marathon  
(Entered the Ballot for the 2011 Virgin London Marathon!)

6 -Run the New York marathon

In my younger days I attended dancing class several times a week, but hung up my dancing shoes several years ago. Having not really done much exercise for a few years, I took up running in July 2009.

I trained for 3 months and ran the CancerResearch 10k on 25^th Oct 2009 (Number 2 on my Bucket List challenges), coughing and spluttering the whole way in 65min. During my training I had a persistent cough which seemed to get worse around time of the run. A couple of weeks later I was diagnosed with pneumonia! Pretty bad over Christmas and New Year and also lost a further 1.5 stone due to an unrelated stomach problem, rough couple of months!

After several months off from running to recover, I began running again in early May 2010...and now well into training for next challenge, the Great Scottish Run Half Marathon on 5th Sept 2010, in aid of CLIC Sargent (Number 3 on my bucket list challenges!).Training is progressing well. Managed 10mile runs past couple of weekends and last weeks included a pretty big hill! Aiming for 11 miles on Sunday!

My fundraising for CLIC Sargent is also going well. I would really appreciate any donations: http://www.justgiving.com/Claire-ORourke

I’ve also entered the ballot for the VLM 2011. Just have to wait till October to find out if secured a place! Like a lot of folk, I’ve sat at home watching the London marathon on TV each year saying “I’d love to do that one day”…but never done anything about it until this year!! Fingers-crossed I secure a place, ‘cos I’ve well and truly caught the running bug and think it would be fantastic to take part in such an amazing event and also raise money for charity while doing it!

…Anyway, running has definitely made me a happier person, must be all that endorphin stuff,  happy running! J