Yesterday I posted that Helsby is 4 and a half weeks away - why when I know it's only 3 and a half weeks to go, I don't know. Maybe trying to convince myself there's more training time than there is. Allowing for a 'taper' at the end (there won't be much time for that) I've only got a few weeks training left to get in shape.
Probably the least prepared I've been for Helsby to date.
Thursday 27 December 2007
Wednesday 26 December 2007
Helsby Countdown...
Just 4 and a half weeks to Helsby - and I need to get in shape for it and decide whether 2008 is the year to attempt a marathon or not. If so, which one? Obviously, not London - I didn't get in and don't stand a chance or raising the sponsirship required for a gold bond place.
Edinburgh does look like a good favourite - gives me a few extra weeks of training to get into shape, but does involve a hotel stay for 2 nights and it's a week after another race I've planned in. Maybe 2009 sounds more likely...
But before then I've got to concentrate on Helsby. Get back to full race fitness and give it a go. There's loads of hills - but it's fun. Usually a good start to the year for my racing!
Edinburgh does look like a good favourite - gives me a few extra weeks of training to get into shape, but does involve a hotel stay for 2 nights and it's a week after another race I've planned in. Maybe 2009 sounds more likely...
But before then I've got to concentrate on Helsby. Get back to full race fitness and give it a go. There's loads of hills - but it's fun. Usually a good start to the year for my racing!
Thursday 20 December 2007
Great North Run Accommodation Sorted
Well it's sorted after a lot of sweat, tears and hanging onto phone lines and trawling through websites. We're back off to the caravan site we used last time! (see link here.).
Not exactly 5* accommodation, but beggars can't be choosers - especially finding accommodation for the Great North Run. It's cheap (£91 per van), they were clean and we could get showered and dry after the race before we drove home. I'll just use some of the cash I've saved to by a heater as caravans aren't the warmest of accommodations.
Great North Run accommodation sorted - now just the training to go. Should get easier from here!
Not exactly 5* accommodation, but beggars can't be choosers - especially finding accommodation for the Great North Run. It's cheap (£91 per van), they were clean and we could get showered and dry after the race before we drove home. I'll just use some of the cash I've saved to by a heater as caravans aren't the warmest of accommodations.
Great North Run accommodation sorted - now just the training to go. Should get easier from here!
Wednesday 19 December 2007
Great North Run Accommodation - How Difficult?
How difficult can it be to find accommodation for the Great North Run? Book a hotel, turn up. Surely it's easy?
It's pre Christmas. Almost 10 months to go before the race and the job isn't easy. Hotels charging £130 - £150 per room per night and we need 2 rooms, one for 2 nights and the other for 3 nights. Plus one needs to be a family room - and they can be even more expensive!
It's not fun and it will be what eventually stops me running the Great North Run. Running it is easy. Finding somewhere to stay that's not going to cost over £600 is far harder!
It's pre Christmas. Almost 10 months to go before the race and the job isn't easy. Hotels charging £130 - £150 per room per night and we need 2 rooms, one for 2 nights and the other for 3 nights. Plus one needs to be a family room - and they can be even more expensive!
It's not fun and it will be what eventually stops me running the Great North Run. Running it is easy. Finding somewhere to stay that's not going to cost over £600 is far harder!
Tuesday 18 December 2007
Still Looking For Great North Run Accommodation
Finding Great North Run Accommodation is proving even more difficult that last year! Every year it seems to get more difficult and more expensive. And every year I wonder when we'll give up entering the race because the accommodation is becoming a joke.
We started looking for caravans like last year (see links to recommendations on this page). Worked a treat then, but this year the caravan parks haven't released their availability yet. The nearest accommodation we could find in a caravan was almost 40 miles from Newcastle.
So we started to look at a short break in a cottage (again, some links on this post). There does seem to be plenty available and for a good price. It's strange that it works out so much cheaper whilst giving the benefit of somewhere to get showered and changed after the Great North Run. Why we didn't think of it years ago I'll never know! Probably because we discovered it for last year through sheer desperation!
We started looking for caravans like last year (see links to recommendations on this page). Worked a treat then, but this year the caravan parks haven't released their availability yet. The nearest accommodation we could find in a caravan was almost 40 miles from Newcastle.
So we started to look at a short break in a cottage (again, some links on this post). There does seem to be plenty available and for a good price. It's strange that it works out so much cheaper whilst giving the benefit of somewhere to get showered and changed after the Great North Run. Why we didn't think of it years ago I'll never know! Probably because we discovered it for last year through sheer desperation!
Monday 17 December 2007
Accommodation For The Great North Run Isn't Easy!
I don't know what people will do who enter through the ballot and then need Accommodation for the Great North Run. If our experience this, and previous years, is anything to go by then by February there's going to be nothing left!
Our problem is compounded by taking 2 spectators and our daughter. Needing 2 rooms makes it a bit harder, but most places can sort that out. But is seems that none of the hotel websites can cope with booking a family room. The usual website (see yesterday's posts for a link - I don't want to plaster this with links to other people's sites) was great when there was just the 2 of us and it does display prices for 'larger rooms', but there doesn't seem a way of booking them. Maybe they are working on it...
I don't want to go direct to the hotels, that's far too expensive. Using a third party website for accommodation is much cheaper and has saved me loads of cash in Great North Runs in the previous years. But it looks like the only way to book a room for 3 is to go direct. And needing a couple of nights, that makes it very expensive.
I think it's cottages & caravan parks for me today. Hope I find something cheap!
Our problem is compounded by taking 2 spectators and our daughter. Needing 2 rooms makes it a bit harder, but most places can sort that out. But is seems that none of the hotel websites can cope with booking a family room. The usual website (see yesterday's posts for a link - I don't want to plaster this with links to other people's sites) was great when there was just the 2 of us and it does display prices for 'larger rooms', but there doesn't seem a way of booking them. Maybe they are working on it...
I don't want to go direct to the hotels, that's far too expensive. Using a third party website for accommodation is much cheaper and has saved me loads of cash in Great North Runs in the previous years. But it looks like the only way to book a room for 3 is to go direct. And needing a couple of nights, that makes it very expensive.
I think it's cottages & caravan parks for me today. Hope I find something cheap!
Sunday 16 December 2007
Great North Run Accommodation
Finding accommodation for the Great North Run is getting harder by the year! The first year we used Nirvana because we booked late and were put in a nice B&B in Morpeth. It was convenient for the bus transfer, but it took ages to get back there after the race. The following year we saw the prices had gone up, so we did our own thing.
So we then used Active Hotels a few times. These were great - one year we tried to book directly with the hotel and they asked for far more then Active Hotels asked for. Best of all, you don't pay a penny when you book - just when you checkout. And the hotels we've booked through them can be cancelled until the day before arrival. So if you are thinking of running the Great North Run, save yourself the hassle of finding accommodation for the race in February when the results of the ballot are announced and book with Active Hotels now. Check the T&C of the hotel and if you don't get a ballot place then you can cancel the booking without charge. But looking for Great North Run accommodation once the ballot opens is always hard work. Once the results are announced...
The problem with Active Hotels is that we haven't found how to book a triple room. It meant having to go direct to the hotel - and loosing those great discounts. So the last couple of years, since our daughter & other relatives have been coming with us, we've started to look elsewhere. So last year we started using at Hoseasons and Cottages4You.
Now these last 2 might seem a bit daft, but to be honest, we are finding them an excellent alternative. Last year the caravan site was a hive of activity on the morning of the Great North Run - obviously we weren't the only runners to have thought of that idea. And the fact that the nearer sites were booked up early shows that's true.
The thing is with a cottage / caravan etc is that you can do a short break. It's not hard to find one that costs less for a short break than a hotel does for a night (we paid less than £100 for our 3 night stay in a caravan last year - most Great North Run hotels seem to charge £130+ per night). You then arrive Friday after work, have a leisurely day Saturday and after the race you can go back, get showered and changed and either head home or spend another night there. We really enjoyed that. Just a pity the place we stayed in is fully booked up.
So we're left in the hunt for Great North Run Accommodation. Only December and everywhere is filling up already. What will it be like when the ballot opens???
So we then used Active Hotels a few times. These were great - one year we tried to book directly with the hotel and they asked for far more then Active Hotels asked for. Best of all, you don't pay a penny when you book - just when you checkout. And the hotels we've booked through them can be cancelled until the day before arrival. So if you are thinking of running the Great North Run, save yourself the hassle of finding accommodation for the race in February when the results of the ballot are announced and book with Active Hotels now. Check the T&C of the hotel and if you don't get a ballot place then you can cancel the booking without charge. But looking for Great North Run accommodation once the ballot opens is always hard work. Once the results are announced...
The problem with Active Hotels is that we haven't found how to book a triple room. It meant having to go direct to the hotel - and loosing those great discounts. So the last couple of years, since our daughter & other relatives have been coming with us, we've started to look elsewhere. So last year we started using at Hoseasons and Cottages4You.
Now these last 2 might seem a bit daft, but to be honest, we are finding them an excellent alternative. Last year the caravan site was a hive of activity on the morning of the Great North Run - obviously we weren't the only runners to have thought of that idea. And the fact that the nearer sites were booked up early shows that's true.
The thing is with a cottage / caravan etc is that you can do a short break. It's not hard to find one that costs less for a short break than a hotel does for a night (we paid less than £100 for our 3 night stay in a caravan last year - most Great North Run hotels seem to charge £130+ per night). You then arrive Friday after work, have a leisurely day Saturday and after the race you can go back, get showered and changed and either head home or spend another night there. We really enjoyed that. Just a pity the place we stayed in is fully booked up.
So we're left in the hunt for Great North Run Accommodation. Only December and everywhere is filling up already. What will it be like when the ballot opens???
Saturday 15 December 2007
Great North Run
Well we are both entered for next year's Greatn North Run, with guaranteed entries for the following 2 years as well. Not cheap, but it allows us to get accommodation (especially for the following years) early, before all of the cheaper rooms are taken. Also get some sort of technical t-shirt - still to be seen!
Friday 14 December 2007
This Running Isn't Meant To Be...
Would you believe that hte guy here to fix the boiler locked himself out of his van for 2 hours this morning??? Now I'm behind on work and it looks like today's run is out of the window. And I'd hoped to start daily running this week. Failed miserably there!
Next week. Must start next week (before Christmas).
Next week. Must start next week (before Christmas).
Sunday 9 December 2007
Helsby - 42 days and counting
Just 42 days until the Helsby half - 4 weeks of training, less taper time. I really must get back into the training but listening to the gale outside it just isn't appealing. Work load is getting in the way of my being keen to get out - I've just looked at the list of emails in ready for tomorrow. And I've not done a long run for ages - and it wasn't long enough.
I'll have to decide in the next week or two (definitely by Christmas) whether I am marathoning next year and then build up a decent race schedule one way or the other. Not heard yet from the Great North Run people yet, so don't know what the situation is with entries there and whether they are repeating the Great Run club. So might not even be running there next year.
Not easy to get inspired... Roll on the warmer weather, some 10k races and inspiration.
I'll have to decide in the next week or two (definitely by Christmas) whether I am marathoning next year and then build up a decent race schedule one way or the other. Not heard yet from the Great North Run people yet, so don't know what the situation is with entries there and whether they are repeating the Great Run club. So might not even be running there next year.
Not easy to get inspired... Roll on the warmer weather, some 10k races and inspiration.
Tuesday 4 December 2007
Helsby - I'll Be There
Was getting quite worried about my Helsby half marathon entry. My name hadn't appeared on the list of entrants and the closing date had passed. But overnight by fears have been put to rest and I'm there. Last year I was one of the earliest entries, this year I'm just about the last to enter!
Suppose that means that now I have to get the shoes on and actually start some decent training. Must only be 7, maybe 8, weeks away...
Suppose that means that now I have to get the shoes on and actually start some decent training. Must only be 7, maybe 8, weeks away...
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