See track - think train

Today I ran 2 miles. That feels good to say considering I’m 10. The first mile was easy. I ran quite fast and did it in 8 minutes 30 seconds. The second mile was a different story. I did it in 10 minutes. The worst 10 minutes of my life. I wished that I hadn’t drunk half a bottle of apple juice before I left. When I was running I could feel all the apple juice juggling around in my tummy. I kept telling my dad I was going to be sick. He told me that when Paula Radcliffe was tired she counted from 100 down to 1. I tried, but I only got to 70. I’m not a very patient person. My legs were really tired but I kept going to the end.

Through the whole run there were dogs on the path. I thought one of them was going to chase me. Luckily it didn’t.

When I finished I realised that my back was covered in muck and that was why everybody was staring at me.

Embarrassing! J

I had a rest day today. I did not get up until 12:30:) Now that's what I call a good start to a new year:)

I have something to look forward to tomorrow. I'm going to my friend's birthday party. We are going to the cinema and then we are going for pizza (Yummy yummy in my tummy).

My next run is on Friday. Another 2 miler. This time I am going to go slower on the first mile and then speed up on the second. Hopefully I'll have a faster time.

slán

Today I ran 2.25 miles along the canal. I ran the first mile with my sister and dad and did it in 9:50. After we dropped my sister off we picked up the pace and did the second mile in 8:08. We then cooled down for 0.25 of a mile.

When I woke up this morning my legs were sore. I thought that I was not going to be able to run today): But dad fixed my legs and I was able to run:)

To be honest with you, I could have run another mile. I'm very happy with my run today.

My next run will be on Sunday and will probably be at the beach, running barefoot. (YAY!) Dad said that we will not be using the watch for a while now. We will be doing some Kenyan style running. I have to pretend that I am late for school. I'm never late for school - my teacher is very nice and he's a runner.

I had a rest day today. Tomorrow I am going running at the beach.

This afternoon I watched the Edinburgh cross-country races. In the women's 6k race Fionnuala Britton (from Ireland) came first. She was the captain of the European team. Mattie Suver captained the US team and she came third.

Before the race they interviewed all the captains and Mattie Suver sounded very nice. She said she would be happy enough to finish in the top ten and that she was just going to have fun out there.

Hopefully the weather will be good for my run at the beach.

Slán

Today I ran at the beach. My warm up was 1 mile. Then I did 2x4x15seconds of strides. I did 5 minutes jogging between the sets. Then I did 1 mile warm down. In total, I ran for 30 minutes, all barefooted.

My favourite thing that I did was the strides. It's when you run down the beach towards the ocean at a good pace and then jog back to the start.

At the same time as running, I was concentrating on:

1. Making sure every part of my body was moving forward.

2. I wanted to make sure that my arms were relaxed.

3. That my head stayed still.

I love running at the beach. There were lots of people there playing hurley (an Irish game using sticks that are similar to hockey sticks and a sliotar - that's a small, hard, white ball). Fact: hurley is the fastest game in the world.

On Wednesday, I'm going to my athletics club where we play games and race. It's great fun:)

Slán

Back to school today:(  I am very tired and I have lots of homework. I have to write a story about being stuck on an Ireland:(

My next run day is Wednesday when I'll be going to athletics.

It's dad's birthday today:) He's 48. That's very old. He says that he feels like a 28 year old. Yeah, right.

I went to school today and I'm really tired. Luckily I didn't get too much homework tonight:) I'm looking forward to athletics tomorrow night.

Slán

I went to athletics today and we did lots of running drills. We were also learning about starting a race, to be in the right position. The lady said that I was very good at jumping over hurdles but I hate doing them. I had to demonstrate how to do the hurdle drills to all the girls and then all the boys. Embarrassing.

slán

Today I ran three and a half miles of cross country with my dad. The grass was all muddy and wet. When I finished I was covered in muck. About two miles into my run a black dog jumped on me and pulled my pants down to my knees. Embarrassing. The dog was called Magic. I know this because the lady who was walking him was shouting at him to get down.

Through the run we were jumping over walls and fences. We ran along a narrow bank next to the river and at one point I was looking out at the mountains and I fell. It was very sore but I carried on.

At the end of the run I had to run up a big hill. I sprinted away from dad. He couldn't keep up with me. He said it was because of his sore bum. Likely story.

Slán

3 miles in the rain and wind and hail stones:( I ran along the canal with dad. It was the worst run EVER! The wind pushed me everywhere and the hail stones were like real stones falling from the sky. The rain was pinning down and my tracksuit was soaked. To be honest with you, there was probably no point me wearing clothes. I mean, all the rain went through my clothes and besides, there was nobody out anyway, well, apart from one random lady.

A couple of minutes into the run dad slipped and damaged his leg. He nearly fell in the canal:)

This Saturday I'm running in a 5k race in the National Park in Killarney. I can't wait:)

slán

I went to athletics tonight and  we did lots of drills and shuttles. In a few weeks time we will start athletics on the track in Castleisland on Sundays. So I'll be doing athletics twice a week and running with dad once. I'm excited about the 5k race on Saturday. Dad told me I'll be able to do a race report:)

slán