A message to my supporters

Dear friends, sponsors & supporters,

It is with great sadness that I have to inform you I have been forced to pull out of the London Marathon due to an Achilles injury and a hip problem.

I have been aware of these issues for some time and have been attending regular sessions with a sports physiotherapist and undertaking specific fitness training in a bid to overcome them in time for the marathon.  However, my physio does not believe I will be physically able to do the required high-mileage training in time or to complete the race on the 17^th April. Due to the risk of causing a serious long-term injury I have had no choice but to pull out.

Naturally, I am hugely disappointed that I won’t be able to run, but I am planning to do a parachute jump to make up for it in some way. I would like to thank all the generous people and businesses who have said they will continue to sponsor me for the jump so Hope House will still benefit.

Meanwhile, the Virgin Balloon Flights team and I are still busy fundraising and we are fast approaching the £5k mark.  We’ll be doing everything we can to raise as much money as possible over the next few weeks.

I would like to wish everyone who is running the marathon the best of luck and sorry I can’t do it with you this time round.

Best wishes

Sue

 

Liz Yelling Training Day with Virgin Money Giving Runner’s Club

I went down to Eton College Rowing Centre at Dorney Lake in Windsor this weekend for a fantastic training workshop with Liz Yelling organised by Virgin Money Giving in preparation for the London Marathon on April 17th. 

The event was an amazing opportunity as it’s not every marathon runner that gets a chance to get top training tips from world class athletes so a huge thank you to the Virgin Money Giving Runners’ Club for organising this for us.

The training day provided loads of hints and tips which will come in really handy. I had the pleasure of meeting Liz and Martin Yelling of Yelling Performance and Mitchell and Elle Phillips from Stride UK who gave the Virgin Unite marathon team lots of stretching advice for pre and post training runs.

It was also good to find out what my comfortable running pace is, at the moment I’m running a 10 minute mile, which means I could hopefully complete the marathon in 4 hours and 30 minutes.

I also learned some useful nutrition tips and what I should be eating whilst training for the marathon to ensure that my body is correctly fuelled.

As a rough guide, and obviously everybody is different, a 5k run might burn around 350 Kcal therefore it is important to ensure that I have this amount of energy inside me before I run and also to remember to replace lost energy post run. A marathon can typically burn around 4,000 Kcal.

We also learned what to drink when we are training and what type of drinks we need to consume to help replace minerals lost whilst running. Some people have been known to die due to the fact that they have not replaced their salt or sodium in their bodies when endurance running so it is a vitally important factor to be aware of.

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Next training day is 26th March so I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

In the meantime if you are able to donate please visit my Virgin Money Giving Page or if you fancy winning some amazing Virgin prizes then you can buy raffle tickets to be in with a chance – good luck.

Roll up roll up the amazing Raffle is Ready with big and shiny Virgin prizes

They’re here!

Our fantastic raffle tickets have arrived hot off the press in the office and they look great.

They are only £1 each or £10 a book. All proceeds go directly to Hope House Children’s Hospices and towards my £10,000 fundraising target (see how I’m getting on at my sponsorship page) for running the London Marathon and the prizes are most definitely worth it.

There’s an iPod, a smart phone, signed Virgin Racing gear, a Virgin Atlantic goody bag, a luxury dining  experience at Sir Richard Branson’s Babylon restaurant at Kensington Roof Gardens in London to name but a few.

Visit our blog for the full list of raffle prizes.

To buy some tickets to sell please contact Kirsty in Marketing via email (KirstyM@virginballoonflights.co.uk) or telephone 01952 212 750 and ask for Kirsty.  You can sell tickets to friends, family, work colleagues and anyone else you can think of.

The draw takes place on the 8th April 2011 and counterfoils need to be returned to us here at the office by 7th April 2011.

Good luck!

Liz Yelling Performance Marathon Workshop

Amazing news!

Just found out that I have been selected to attend a training workshop in Slough with Liz and Martin Yelling!! How lucky am I?

Thank you Virgin Unite for giving me this opportunity which I am sure will be absolutely invaluable – I cannot wait.

To be honest, I never though I’d be able  to run 5 miles let alone further so all in all I’m pretty proud of myself so far but I know it is early days yet. Those who laughed when I first told them I was doing the Virgin London Marathon are really impressed that I’m running further and further each week.

I genuinely believe that anything is possible if you put your mind to it. Although this challenge is a big one and it is never going to be easy I can’t help thinking about how amazing it will be for both my chosen charity Hope House Children’s Hospices and also for me personally to achieve this – I know I can do it.

And don’t forget, every penny counts towards my £10,000 target so please if you are able head on over to my Virgin Money Giving sponsorship page to make a donation.

Thank you.

Tweet to meet and learn from other runners

Yippee all the snow has gone so I’m pounding the pavement like there’s no tomorrow, I’m now up to over 6.5 miles.

I recently had a Tweet to meet for a training session from ‘Steve on the Run’ from Virgin Media, he’s also doing the Virgin London Marathon and in the Virgin Unite Team like me. It was really good meeting up with him, especially as he usually works in Cambridgeshire and just happened to be in the area.

We went for a training session with Eve from Marketing here at Virgin Balloon Flights; I really enjoyed it as this was the first time I’d trained with other people. I found by doing this I realised I was running too fast, since then Eve and I have been out running around Telford in our lunch breaks and she has been brilliant, she’s shown me how to brake when I’m running so as not give in and walk and how to pace myself when running up and down hills. Even better is I have been doing 5 miles without stopping. I’m going to be doing an 8 miler on Sunday which I’m a bit nervous about.

Despite the fact that Wants I finish the Marathon I will keep the running up as I’m really enjoying it.

Will keep you all posted on my progress, Hopeful next time I post my next Blog I will be doing 10 miles + here keeping my fingers crossed.

Vest sponsorship by TopCashBack, TravelPixel and Lemon Press

There’s been a lot of excitement here today as some of our best loved partners won the chance to be my official sponsors for the Virgin London Marathon 2011 after donating generous funds to Hope House Children’s Hospices.

Competing for slots on the back of my running vest the highest sponsorship pledges won the slots. Our friends have been so generous and I’m really chuffed with their support.

The top two slots on my vest went to two of our top affiliates; TravelPixel.net who offer discount codes and travel deals from 100s of travel websites and TopCashBack.co.uk who are the UK’s most generous cash back site who both bid a fantastic £500. Lemon Press the Redditch-based commercial printer took the third space with their bid of £225.

So a brilliant £1225 was raised from the bids which has pushed my total raised to over £2,000, yay! Hope House will of course also have a logo on my running vest for the big day.

I really can’t thank the people from these companies enough. The sponsorship money pledged by TravelPixel, TopCashBack and Lemon Press has really given us a push towards our target and will make a massive difference for Hope House Children’s Hospices. I’ll be proud to represent these companies as well as Hope House and Virgin Unite on the big day!

As if this week couldn’t have been better; Miles Lovegrove, director of our merchandise supplier Fluid Branding, personally pledged to sponsor me £500 and another affiliate, cash back site Quidco, sponsored me on my Virgin Money Giving page.

Thank you so much!

Also in the pipeline is the Virgin Balloon Flights raffle which will be launching soon with fantastic prizes from all across the Virgin Group. Tickets are £1 each and if you would like to buy or sell raffle tickets please contact us.

Marathon Miles Mount

Well I’m pleased to say that my mileage is increasing and I really feel like I’m making some good progress.

I’m aiming to be able to run 5-10 miles by the end of January as I’ve been steadily upping my miles with runs around Telford and Bridgnorth. Think people are getting used to seeing me pounding the pavements and my colleagues are loving it when I get back to the office as red as a beetroot – so much so they are now comparing me to packaging found in our office…see below!

Me looking red after training

They say what you get out is only as good as what you put in so I’ve been focussing on cutting back on the alcohol, drinking loads of water and eating lots of fruit and veg. Breakfast is really important so I make sure I eat a healthy cereal, one that’s not packed full of sugar, and with my main meals good carbs are also a must.  To boost my lean muscle and also to help my body recover quicker after running I’ve also been drinking a protein shake twice a day which my body definitely needs after circuit training and body pump, phew, hard work or what?

Fundraising is going well, still a long way to go but huge thanks to those sponsoring me so far as I am nearly at my first £1,000 which is great news for the children at Hope House.

You can see my donations on my Virgin Money Giving page also donate there too if you are able and willing, thank you

Festive fun finished, time to turn on the burn

Well the festive season is over and the hardcore marathon training is on!

I must have drunk enough to sink the Titanic this Christmas so I eased my way back into training on Boxing Day.  On Bank Holiday Monday I went for a 5 mile walk which was nice and burned off a few calories.

Then I went for a morning run once back at work after the Christmas break and OMG I can’t believe how hard it was.

On the 2^nd of January I thought I’d done a 3 mile run but in fact it was 3.17 miles so I did the same yesterday and going to the gym today.  My legs, arms and whole body ache, but all I keep thinking of is that the reason I’m doing this is or the kids at Hope House.

Will keep you all up date on my training.

It’s all about Hope House, the running and the jumping

I was lucky enough to visit  Hope House on Friday.  I say lucky because I think if you get to visit your charity and actually see what they do first hand then this makes you even more determined to focus on what is necessary to achieve something like a marathon in aid of the young children and their families that rely heavily on the support that the Hope House hospices provide.

If we can raise £10,000, which I am committed to doing everything I possibly can to achieve this, what would that £10,000 mean to Hope House I hear you ask?

Well, £10,000 will provide funding for a whole year for special group trips out for the children staying at the hospices to go to different kinds of events, to the likes of visits to the zoo and to parks.  This will also include travel to and from the hospices and also for the nurses and carers to accompany the children on these trips.

So far I have quite a lot lined up to help raise as much money as possible, and I’ve only just begun

I am in marathon training from now until April 17^th 2011, and as of January I will be giving up alcohol.  Those of you who know me really well I can just hear you laughing, but mark my words I will be doing it.

On March the 6^th 2011 I am entering my very first half marathon, the Silverstone Half Marathon.  Not sure I’ll be able to run as fast as the race cars but I’ll give it a good go and look forward to receiving my very first race medal.

Next in the fundraising calendar is the 9^th April 2011 when I will be bravely throwing myself out of a perfectly good aircraft as I am doing a sky dive over the beautiful county of Shropshire. Am hoping that I’ll be able to enjoy the views and not shut my eyes or scream so loud I deafen my tandem. Cameras at the ready for some no doubt amusing photos.

The big day is then the 17^th April 2011 which is London Marathon day.  Last year I remember there being over 35,000 entrants, I really can’t imagine what it must be like to run with so many people. Terrifying and totally exciting at the same time.

Hopefully there will be more fundraising events along the way.

At the moment I’m finding it hard to get people to donate money via my Virgin Money Giving page with Christmas being so close, so I’m going to just focus on my training now and then chase everyone in the new year.

My company Virgin Balloon Flights have put a banner in all of their outgoing emails which will hopefully raise lots of awareness as it links right through to my fundraising page:

Virgin Balloon Flights Email Signature

I’ll keep you all updated on my training and what money I have raised so far.

Joining the gym and meeting my personal trainer

Well with all the snow we’ve have had followed by the pavement turning to ice and then me keep getting colds….So,

Beanie hat for warmth

 

A spot of ice running, brrr

I decided to take cover indoors and join the gym.  This way I can train no matter what the weather throws at me as I’ll be inside which will hopefully mean that I am less likely to catch a cold. Fingers crossed.

Early start.  Went to the gym at 7am on Friday and ran 2.5miles without stopping, I was so happy, as I have never done this since the start of my training.

Off to the gym again today for another training work-out during my lunch break, then back in again tomorrow morning (7am) to  meet my personal trainer who is going to help me with the correct training program including weights to assist with strengthening my core, toning me up and building some muscle so that I can pack in those marathon miles!