This spring/summer I have two races I’ve signed up for already. I feel a bit shocked though because I hadn’t planned on things happening this way!  Honestly I was going to focus on the big race, and train for that and once I had that under my belt I’d think about my next step.

So what’s up with my summer runnin’?

To begin with, a couple of months ago I signed up for the Flora Woman’s Mini-Marathon, a 10k run that is a big event here, very popular and with loads of entrants.   It’s my first 10k, and I’m approaching training for it like it’s a marathon!  I will be fundraising for that one, for the Dublin Simon Community who provide services for the homeless or at risk homeless in Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow.  If you are interested in supporting this charity and my run, that would be absolutely awesome! My fundraising page is thisfatgirlruns10k at mycharity.ie.

Anyway, recently I started toying with the idea of entering a 5k before hand.  To get some more race experience, (and ok I’ll admit it, another medal) and I thought a race would help with my training  I couldn’t find any appropriate 5k races, but someone on twitter suggested a 5 mile race.  I figured that’s 8k, it’s doable and would be good training.  And I found one.  And I entered.

All in the space of a weekend.

Yikes!

So here’s what my summer runnin’ looks like so far:

18th May:  8km race

2nd June: 10km mini-marathon

I’m nervous but excited about both races! I’ve managed to run 8km twice now, but that was with strategic breaks at traffic lights (oh traffic lights, how I love thee!) and so I haven’t run that distance strictly non-stop.  Which is totally ok! Taking breaks and walking when needed is smart for a runner like me.  I do know I still have a ways to go with my training before I can feel confident about these upcoming races.

So that’s my latest running news!  Any tips, advice or words of wisdom from my fellow runners? I could use it so please leave a comment below!