Mission Statement

Welcome my little blog, my name is Martin Hookway and this blog is a way for me to log my personal thoughts & views as I am attempting to complete personal & physical challenges each year with other like minded people.

The next Challenge's:

LONDON MARATHON (21st April 2013)
EDINBURGH MARATHON (26th May 2013)
YORKSHIRE MARATHON (20th Oct 2013)

THE ADIDAS THUNDER RUN 24 hour Race
#PROJECT100in24 (27th to 28th July)

I will be running as usual with GPS with Runkeeper & tweeting as I run on @TEAMB_O_B as long as I have phone coverage so all your support will be gratefully received.

I am currently funraising for Rainbow Trust so please dig deep if you can to help this amazing charity.

Rainbow Trust is a Children’s Charity that provides emotional and practical support to
families when their child has a life threatening or terminal illness; immediate
help is available for families 24 hours a day. Support is offered from diagnosis
through treatment and, should a family become bereaved, we continue to support
them for as long as they need us. They help family members cope with the present
and prepare them for the future.
So please dig deep & help this great charity, just think £10 is a meal at KFC so by donating £10 you will not only be helping yourself but you'll also be helping others ;o)

Cheers for taking the time to read my blog, its greatly apreciated, fingers crossed it will bring a smile to your face. My challenges never quite go to plan... ENJOY.

Tuesday 10 April 2012

Keep The Dream Alive

There are lots of ways to get motivation & support while training, My main one is Twitter. People use Twitter in various ways from stalking their favourite celebrities, abusing their less favourite celebrities, keeping in touch with family & friends, finding new friends, advertising, spamming, the list goes on. I started using it to promote this blog and my challenges, 2 years & 15K tweets later it has become much more than that. I have found some great "Tweeps" who I share laughs, worries & the occasional beer with. These people are fantastic and their support is second to none, tweeting me while I run from *High 5's* to Good luck tweets, even COMMMMME ONNNN tweets while I'm running in races, they all rock! I could easily list all of them on here but I wont, not this this time, you guys know who you are and I appreciate it LOTS!

I want this post however to be about the group motivators, not my personal ones. Twitter accounts such as @takeachallenge, @6amClub, @12pmClub, 6pmClub, @2012milesin2012 the list goes on. These guys reach hundreds & thousands of people with each tweet, inspiring & motivating people of all abilities to get out there and exercise or train for a personal goal, to push and challenge yourself whilst at the same time helping & supporting others.

Chris (@takeachallenge) was the first account like this that I followed, Chris is the perfect balance of an ANIMAL and a true gent, a long run to him lasts days not miles, he's a very humble man with a fantastic story of determination driving him in his quest to help others. Chris set up a very basic concept of @6amClub it's aim is simple, if your busy all day & don't have the time to train, just get up earlier & join other like minded people:

 Wakey Wakey rise & shine, we've had our sleep & it's that time. Always the best way to avoid being a CHUBB, is get outside & join 

Waking up at 4am in winter when it was dark & cold was far from fun, the last thing I wanted to do was get out of my warm bed and go for a run but one look on @6amClub made me realise that I was not the only one & some people were already out pounding the streets.Inspired by Chris and his @6amClub other Clubs soon popped up including @6pmClub & @12pmClub, all very motivating accounts ran by very inspirational people. @2012milesin2012 is a community aiming to cycle, run swim 2012 miles in 2012.

Sadly on the 1st April  Ged (Mr @12pmClub) died at the finish line of the Reading Half Marathon. A very sad day for not only his family & friends but to everyone who followed @12pmClub, just by looking at the account @RIP12pmClub (Set up by a close friend of Ged & his Wife) you can see how much this sad news has effected the whole running community. Messages of sadness & support soon turned into messages of pride & motivation, @12pmClub was a true fighter with drive that not only pushed his own personal goals but helped others to achieve theirs. By reading the messages of support on Twitter & on his friends blogs it is clear he had a big heart and selflessly gave his time to others, he was a devout family man that everyone looked up to. One of favourite posts is by one of his friends (@TheRamblingDuck) titled Too young to die - keeping Your Dream Alive & also a speech from the Reading Park Tribute Run on WWW.12PMCLUB.COM 

The @12pmClub still goes on, people are still tweeting about their runs at midday, most in memory of Ged and the accomplishments he made in his short life are being left on the @RIP12pmClub. The Dream is certainly being kept alive in Geds name.

I sadly picked up a niggle on my run on the 1st of April so I was unable to put in a run in memory of @12pmClub until the Easter Sunday. I mentioned to The Wife the night before that I planned to be out at 11:30pm so as I could be on the moors at 12pm to show my respect from "my playground". I thought nothing of this again until 11am on Sunday when The Wife came down stairs in her gym gear;

"come on then, thought you wanted to be on the moors for 12?"

I threw on my gear & we were off!!! Me, The Wife (Sue) and Cole (Stupid Dog). Its been over a year since The Wife last ran, I've asked her to come out with me on various "recovery runs" & dog walk/runs but to this time she was here running with me. Yes it was a slow run but that was not the point, it was not a recovery run, interval run or long run, it was us doing something as a couple. I was chuffed to be letting her into my world, the conversation for the first 2 miles was very one sided (bless her she was huffing & puffing like train ;o) but that was not the point, the point was THE WIFE WAS RUNNING WITH ME!!! Happy days!

Now lets rewind that a bit, yes 2 miles!!! The Wife ran the first 1.6 miles without stopping at all & she did it in a very respectable 17min. Not too shabby for a non runner running for the 1st time over trial ground.

*PROUD FACE*

We walked for a short length of time before running again, this pattern continued and at 12pm in memory of @12pmClub and to capture the memory of this run with my wife I pulled out my phone and took this pic.

12pm
I had planned to leave The Wife once we got to the edge of the moors, she would head home and I would head into the moors but she wanted to continue her run, we ran out to the viewing tower on the moors (a whole 3.6 miles! in 47mins) then decided to walk back. The Wife had done GREAT! I even had to stop her from running again, she had done enough, she had done above and beyond what anyone would have expected from her. All in all it was a fantastic run, a run that was in memory of a man that I never knew in person, a man that will continue to inspire people & bring people together, a man that would be pleased to hear The Words "I want to be able to run in a 10K race" come from the The Wife as we walked back home.


Please take the time to check out the website made in his honour WWW.12PMCLUB.COM and if you have a challenge you want to compete in in memory of Ged and the British Heart Foundation take a look at the challenges tab

Thank you

Martin.
Click HERE For My Latest Challenge



Thursday 5 April 2012

(PRE) Marathon RelayGB The Build Up

So here we are, at the beginning of a new challenge where all I have to do is run! There is minimum paperwork & planning to do on my part as it is organised & supported by some fantastic people. The Director and Event Organiser of this epic event is John Stanford @RELAYGB
The new challenge is Marathon Relay GB. It's a unique challenge that will aim to run a relay of marathons around Great Britain to brake the current World Record of Marathons ran back to back. We are starting in London on May 4th 2012 and will follow the coastline of Britain, taking in major cities such as Southampton, Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle. The Challenge will end on May 21st back in London after 2600 miles. I have got TEAMBoB a local stage for this challenge but as of yesterday I (Martin) am now part off the support crew so will beheading off to that there London in a couple of days & will be spending the next 2 weeks travelling Great Britain while living in a Camper Van, Driving the team vehicle's, running extra stages & cycling along side runners when need.

This challenge but not a race but each marathon must be done in 4 hrs to keep on track. Therefore, runners will be running on their own or in small groups, at night or during the heat (or Rain) of the day. All the while, the runner will be notching up the miles that will try to break the current world record for distance relay running which currently stands at 1,923 miles set by the ‘Gillette Phenomenal Tour’ in Romania in 2009 over the course of 13 days.

As you all know I am not an athlete & am not up to Marathon distance "yet" but that's where TEAMBOB comes into this challenge, although I am in on the whole distance I was lucky enough to get a stage close to home so I asked around & straight away got a running partner in Ian Man (aka @DOOMON1. Ian Bullas) Ian was the man that got me back into running, at the age of *COUGH* he still pushes his body though Monthly 10K's, Triathlons & those silly races where you run trough walls (yes through), streams & swamps. Some people say he uses it as an excuse to get out of workshop & house and they are probably right (Sorry Tracy ;o) but the point is that he does what a lot of people say they they will do & rest will not even attempt. Running Half a marathon between the two of us would have been "comfortable" *COUGH* but I also wanted to give the opportunity to Sally Wheelhouse a parent at work who has been training really hard for this years London Marathon, Sally completed VLM in a very respectable time so can carry us through this challenge ;o), Sally in turn asked if her Partner Steve Durdy could join the team, Steve who is also an avid runner and has real hills to train on at home, not like the motorway flyover that we have to use around here for hill training, could join the team. So now TEAMBOB consists of Me (Martin), Ian, Sally & Steve. Our stage will be run on the 19th May 2012 and is part 1 & 2 of STAGE 13, we are running from Cleethorpes to Miami Beach, Mablethorpe for the 1st Marathon then onto Friskney for the 2nd Marathon these 52miles have to be done in under 4 Hrs. 


Leg1 Ian, Steve & (Runner to be named)

Leg 2 Martin & Sally






Although there are runners taking part like Former London Marathon winner, Mike Gratton, who will be running a full marathon leg amateur runners can also take part as a team breaking up each stage between them. Runners can enter as individuals or as teams doing a ‘relay within a relay‘ sharing the 26 mile leg. Corporate and running club entries are also welcome.

Not only will there be the physical challenge to runners of all abilities but the event will also raise funds and awareness for brain tumour research. There are still stages free so if you fancy being part of a world record braking team why not contact RelayGB Director, John Stanford (@RELAYGB) via the challenges website HERE, you can also find more information on the challenge by clicking the link. Weather its a personal challenge or you want to support Brain Tumour UK in their research this is a great challenge to be part of.

To help make a difference and to support Brain Tumour GB we are fundraising via Justgiving so please if you help up reach our target and donate as much as you can, you can visit via our Justgiving site by clicking HERE! The Justgiving link to the upper right of this screen OR by Texting TBOB50 £(amount) to 70070:


In the meantime please keep visiting this site, we will update it regularly with "interesting" stories. If your a regular to this blog you will no that training never really goes to plan for me (Me), mishaps happen regularly! Sooooo you will be pleased to know that Ian is even worse than me so we should not be short of humorous/embarrassing stories to follow.

Thanks for taking the time to read this far guys, its been a while since I have blogged so I'm very rusty, but on a good note I have a few "mishaps" already in my locker to tell you about so watch this space. BUT first PLEASE Click the Facebook, Twitter or/& Google share tabs below and lets get the word out about this challenge... Oh and if you new to all this don't forget to follow @TEAMB_O_B and follow/stalk me (Martin) while I blunder through life.

MARTIN
& TeamBoB  





ONE DOOR CLOSES... PT1

Welcome to my blog, some of you will be new to these parts so please take a look around. Others will be my ramblings of bad grammar. I'll firstly apologise for not writing for so long, lots have gone on since I last posted but to be honest I just have not had the time or the heart to post. Secondly can I apologise for the writing to come, its just me rambling to get things off of my chest. Part 2 of this post will complete the saying "As one door closes another door opens" so please bare with it, the next challenge is here!

Firstly the JogleRelay cycle ride is no longer on my list of challenges, I'm not going to go into details, It was a nasty falling out & I was gutted to be told I was no longer wanted on the team due to a "clash of personality" by a so called friend & the fact that it was managed by a very controlling person that i refused to work for. I still wanted to ride, I just could not continue to jump through hoops helping behind the scenes, sadly I as told I could not do that. 

But that is now in the past and although I am no longer part of such a great challenge that I had put a lot of work & emotion into, I am still supporting the team from the side lines as they have put a lot into this challenge & it is for a great cause. I may have lost one friend but because of this I have gained lots more in the rest of the team members & like minded people. I am still in touch with the team & a few of us have discussed future challenges to do together so get yourself over there show them your support, they are doing such a great job.

I put my drive and passion fully back into running my business again, things were going great! I'd started running again too, although I struggled to even run a mile in January without stopping the fitness soon came back with the help of people like @6AMCLUB a Twitter account ran by @TAKEACHALLENGE full of like minded people who love to run. Inspired and motivated by these like minded people I upped my mileage and lowered my times before applying for races again with IAN MAN (aka @DOOMON1). I'd built my mileage up to 14 Miles and felt good, I have raced 3 10K's so far this year setting a new personal best each time, my best was 43:34 at the Lincoln 10K.

An absolute fantastic day out with the family, it was the first time my girls had been to watch me race so I was so glad it turned out to be a great day, very well organised. To top it all off Daughter 4 got the bug & has asked if I can enter her into the next fun run.... RESULT.

Well that was a couple of weeks ago, everything was going well so something had to give. As it happened it did! If you know me in "real life" or are friends with me on Twitter you will already know that I have my work cut out to get my business open again. This has taken a lot out of me but with the support of friends, family, the community I live & run my business in we will get Marshland Happy Days back open.

As I said earlier one door closes and another one opens. This whole post has been one massive ramble. It has just been thrown together to get things off of my chest. As this new door opens we are closer to opening up the business and I've started training again.... Oh and I'm on with another challenge!!! Not many people get the chance to be part of a world record attempt but somehow as I lose the opportunity to attempt one, another challenge comes my way. The Challenge is to be in a team of runners to attempt the worlds longest running relay. Excited is a massive understatement!

More info about this fantastic challenge will be in my next post!