Have you been inspired by the Olympics to get more active? The final of the mens 5000m has certainly inspired me to encourage participation in physical activity, sport and exercise this week.
Hopefully people across the UK have been inspired by what they saw last night when Mo Farah achieved a second Olympic gold for Great Britain in the 5km. What a race by Mo! And what a great way to raise the profile of UK athletics.
parkrun, together with Join in Local Sport are aiming to make Saturday 18th August the biggest parkrun ever and get as many people in the UK running and walking 5000m as possible.
No country has ever done this before, so let GB be the first!
With North East parkruns now at Newcastle, Whitley Bay, Gateshead, Durham, Chester-le-street Riverside, and Sunderland, theres no excuse not to get involved!
Register once at www.parkrun.com and find your local event - most events also have a Facebook page and Twitter feed if you have any questions or want to find out more. Once you're registered, just turn up ready to to run or walk for 9am at any of the parkruns around the UK. If you don't feel like running or walking parkrun, why not volunteer or simply come along to watch.
parkrun is completely free and ran entirely by volunteers. To get as many people running and walking at parkrun this weekend, everyone is encouraged to bring a friend or friends along to try it.
I am in Newcastle this weekend and will be running at Newcastle parkrun at the back of the field as Tail Runner - come and say hello!
Get involved and be a part of creating the biggest parkrun participation event ever!
Its not just the elite athletes that can do something to make us feel proud of UK athletics, we can all do it too :)
Niyc
xx
Sunday, 12 August 2012
Thursday, 9 February 2012
Newcastle parkrunners, please complete!
As you may know I am currently working towards a masters (MSc) degree in Applied Positive Psychology. As part of the course we are each asked to undertake a meaningful piece of research which will be ready to submit for publication by an academic journal.
My main research interests lie within physical activity, and how exercise can improve mental health. Couple with this my passion for parkrun, and this is how I arrived at my research topic for my thesis.
I am running a survey which looks to understand the impact that parkrun might have upon individual and societal functioning, and I am administering this survey online.
If you are a registered Newcastle parkrunner, then please do click the link below and complete the survey.
I am looking to get all registered Newcastle parkrunners to respond - regardless of how many times you have ran or volunteered at parkrun. Even if you have never attended a Newcastle parkrun, but are registered with Newcastle as your home run, I would still love your responses to the survey.
I have already had 90 responses, within just a few days which really is amazing, and a great data set to work with. However, ambitious as always, I would love to think that all 3000 (ish) members of Newcastle parkrun might be able to complete the survey in order to allow for some really robust results.
The survey is completely anonymous and takes 3 minutes to complete, so please click the link above and participate in the study.
Thank you to all that have completed and are about to complete the survey, your response is very much appreciated!
Niyc xx
Friday, 3 February 2012
I shall return
So I haven't posted here for almost a lifetime (well, a year), and since then a lot has changed. I now live in europe for a start! Its snowing outside and its too cold to run, so I joined another gym this week and tried a few classes. I have done spinning classes for years and I really love them. They're a great, high energy, intense work out and I would definitely recommend them! I did body pump this week too and absolutely love it - the class focusses on barbell work, with lots of squats and lunges combined with other exercises to really work deep into the muscles, and the instructor was fantastic. I always admire how group exercise instructors maintain their energy whilst teaching and doing the class themselves. Fitness is such a great industry to work in, filled with energy and motivation and I love it. I still have some pain in my knee when I run, so 40 minutes has been about my limit for the past 6 months. Very frustrating, but I'm limited with treatments whilst I'm out of the UK so I have been focussing a lot on strengthening exercises to build the muscle around the knee and take the pressure off the joint. Body weight exercises have formed the main part of my training, with some short runs, interval sprints, and now the classes as well. Its good to mix it up a bit so you don't get bored, and it means your body is constantly adapting and improving because of the different training methods and how they work the body. Im sure I'll manage a marathon one day, just not anytime soon unfortunately!
Each time I visit the UK I head straight for Newcastle parkrun as soon as I get home. It's great to catch up with everyone and see how the run has grown and developed. When I left the UK last year I handed over operations to Ian Kirtley and he has done a fantastic job alongside the other race directors David, Sue, and Nigel to bring the weekly attendance numbers up to over 300 runners. Great news that so many people across the North East are getting up and running each week, fantastic! In the north east, many other park runs have been developed, with Sunderland and Durham both operating great runs, and Whitley Bay and Gateshead looking to launch in the near future. Paul Sinton-Hewitt's vision for every town in the UK to have a parkrun is quickly becoming a reality, which is great news for the health of the nation and the development of communities. Visit www.parkrun.com to find your local parkrun.
Alongside fitness it is so important to also look after your nutrition, as both go hand in hand when creating a healthy body and mind. I truly believe that if you nourish your body right you give yourself a great foundation for healing and development. Because of the way food is produced these days, lifestyle diseases are widely prevalent and many people are simply not allowing themselves to reach optimal health and functioning. Food choices should always fresh foods rather than processed, and should favour organic and sustainably farmed meats and fish, sourced locally where possible. Mass produced and processed usually means factory farmed and full of chemicals and diseases and this is what should be avoided. I no longer eat meat at all, and lots of vegetables and legumes, with organic and wild fish. I avoid processed foods completely, preferring to make everything from fresh organic ingredients. It really allows you to feel great every day and always full of energy. More on nutrition next time.......
Each time I visit the UK I head straight for Newcastle parkrun as soon as I get home. It's great to catch up with everyone and see how the run has grown and developed. When I left the UK last year I handed over operations to Ian Kirtley and he has done a fantastic job alongside the other race directors David, Sue, and Nigel to bring the weekly attendance numbers up to over 300 runners. Great news that so many people across the North East are getting up and running each week, fantastic! In the north east, many other park runs have been developed, with Sunderland and Durham both operating great runs, and Whitley Bay and Gateshead looking to launch in the near future. Paul Sinton-Hewitt's vision for every town in the UK to have a parkrun is quickly becoming a reality, which is great news for the health of the nation and the development of communities. Visit www.parkrun.com to find your local parkrun.
Alongside fitness it is so important to also look after your nutrition, as both go hand in hand when creating a healthy body and mind. I truly believe that if you nourish your body right you give yourself a great foundation for healing and development. Because of the way food is produced these days, lifestyle diseases are widely prevalent and many people are simply not allowing themselves to reach optimal health and functioning. Food choices should always fresh foods rather than processed, and should favour organic and sustainably farmed meats and fish, sourced locally where possible. Mass produced and processed usually means factory farmed and full of chemicals and diseases and this is what should be avoided. I no longer eat meat at all, and lots of vegetables and legumes, with organic and wild fish. I avoid processed foods completely, preferring to make everything from fresh organic ingredients. It really allows you to feel great every day and always full of energy. More on nutrition next time.......
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