June 10th, 2013 by Shaun Day

Leeds half marathon: Great cause, great run, great experience!

As promised, here I am, to let you know how the Leeds Half Marathon went. In all honestly I thought the 13.1 miles would be a breeze with the amount of training I did in preparation however it turned out to be more difficult than expected!!! I ran the half marathon for the fantastic Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice based in Huddersfield. I chose to represent this charity not only because it is a fantastic cause but for the excellent service they provide to families with unbearable circumstances. The charity is 12 years old and has to raise  £2.5 million each year to maintain the high level of care and support they offer. With only 4% of the funding coming from the Government, I realised the epic task they face, with this in mind I wanted to do my part to help. If you have time you can check them out here: http://www.forgetmenotchild.co.uk/ Matt Fawcus (Senior Business Development Manager at HSDonline) Training began around two months before the race with my co-runner James Stevens who also completed the challenge. Starting with mild runs of around 3 miles to eventually building up to 10 mile jogs as the race drew closer. Luckily for us it was the worst spring in years and it rained for nearly all of the training runs! Around 20 blisters, one black toe nail and ferociously tight calves, it was time for race day...  

Beginning of the race

The beginning of the Leeds half is quite hilly which took its toll as 99.99% of our training for the event was done on flat! Going in to the second half of the race things got a little easier as fortunately for us it was all flat ground. Like the rookies we were, we set off at a blistering pace… I would like to think this was because I wanted to push myself but it was definitely due to the fact I was surrounded by "stunning chicks in lycra"!   Matt (left) & James (right)   The increase in speed and the appearance of small mountains, which were unexpected, took its toll and by the 7th mile I was severely starting to question my stamina. After a couple of flat miles we both caught a second wind and romped home at a fantastic time of 1 hour 50 minutes & 58 seconds of which we were both over the moon with for our first half! (It could also be my last haha!!).  

The overall experience was fantastic and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to push themselves physically or raise money for charity – I can certainly say that every penny in sponsorship was earned in sweat and even blood after removing my right trainer but I won't go in to detail about that!

  James Stevens (left) & Matt Fawcus (right)    James and I were both impressed with the organisation of the event which was superb but even more impressed with the community feel of the event. Locals were outside their houses offering sweets and drinks to keep the runners going! Local businesses on the route were offering support and there was even a brass band to cheer us along! I would just like to thank my many sponsors for their overwhelming support who helped me to achieve a grand total of £502.50! which was £2.50 above my target!!! A big thanks to CEF, Agropharm, Freedom First, CPD and of course everyone at HSD for their support.  

 **Thanks to Matt Fawcus (Senior business development manager) for sharing his running experience**

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