RunningGirl

When I did the Grim in December which is a pretty muddy course (knee deep at one point!) I thought my shoes would be ruined. They went in the wash on a cool cycle for about two hours and came out good as new.

I did the Grim Challenge last year. It's pretty good fun and doesn't seem as mental as the Warrior Dash! http://original.grimchallenge.co.uk/

With regard to effective healthy eating on a budget, it's pretty obvious so I'm betting you already know this, but it's always MILES cheaper to buy your fruit and veg from a green grocer rather than a super market. My sister likes to eat blueberries for breakfast. At the greengrocer stall over the road from my office you can buy a big box for £1. At the Waitrose practically next door it's something like £2.49 for a much smaller box. The same goes with fresh meat. It'll work out a lot cheaper of you bulk buy at a proper butchers shop and freeze meat, than if you buy from a supermarket.

Wow props for joining the army!

It's horrible and it won't go away! The boyfriend got one when he went snowboarding in January as well and his is still there! I've been told I should wear a slightly bigger pair of trainers as my toe bashing on the front of my shoe is probably what caused it. Thank goodness for nail polish!

I was running about 6 miles a few times a week leading up to the half, then in the week of the race I was just doing 3 miles every couple of days as I didn't want to push myself and three miles is a fairly easy run for me. I also took up Zumba classes just to help with my overall stamina so I was basically doing Zumba on a Monday, running 6 miles on a Tuesday, Zumba on Wednesday, 3-6 miles (depending on how tired I was) on Thursdays and resting on Fridays and then cutting down to just 3 miles in the week leading up to the race. Honestly I had no real plan to speak of, but I do have a lot of motivation which I think pushed me most of the way round the course.

Friends warned me that during my first half marathon, I'll probably need to go and it'll probably be messy - And the first toilet wasn't until the 5th mile! . I was so scared I popped an Imodium right before the race. Didn't need to go at all Might be a short term solution to your problem until you can figure out what's making you need to go.

Practice, practice, practice If I'm honest I really didn't train as much as I should have for my first half. The furthest I'd run during training was 6 miles and I was stopping quite a bit to catch my breath during the race. I think if I really work hard over the next five months, I could cut off quite a few minutes I've also bought an actual proper pair of running shoes. I think just not running with bricks on my feet should certainly help! Despite my lack of training and shoddy equipment, I was still pretty pleased with my time and the only injury I came away with was a black toenail.

I've been running for just over a year in a random pair of Adidas trainers. They've got me through several races just fine with decent times but I'm looking to get a bit more serious and beat my time from my first half marathon (2:16), so as I'm not really prone to injury, I'm going down the minimalist route and have ordered a pair of Nike Free Run 3's after trying a pair on in the shop and finding them super lightweight and comfy. I'll report back on how I get on with them. They should be arriving tomorrow. I've never been this excited about a pair of trainers before!!

Hi there! I'm new around here but my sister has been registered for a while. A bit about myself: I'm 27 years old, I live in London and I love running! I did my first half marathon back in March this year (The Adidas Silverstone Half) in a time of 2:16 and am hoping to beat it at my next event in October. My aim is to knock about 6 minutes off my last time. I'm looking to improve my running hopefully with some helpful advice around here, and generally improve my fitness.