# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
The face of a man having realised he still has 17 kilometres to go! 

# data[].attributes.body
On Sunday the 3rd of October 2021, I completed my first marathon. My determination to reach this goal came from inspiration from my two brothers, who run daily. Running now forms part of my life and since the marathon, is something that I do regularly. This notice board is to highlight my journey to achieve this goal & I will outline different strands that prepared me to complete this run. It will showcase all the socially situated literacies that I used to complete the run & still use today. There are clear similarities between my own daily social literacy practice and that highlighted by (Mace, 2005, P2). Mace indicates that literacy as a social practice involves a culture of people communicating to each other regarding a common theme. As I reflect on my achievement, I can relate to this through the communication I had with other runners whilst I trained for the Big M.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
My brothers & I at 'Bushy Park' PR. My marathon motivation! 

# data[].attributes.body
This was a challenge that I did not take lightly & I have identified the following area's that played a pivotal part.

1. Kit.

2. Course.

3. Training.

4. Clubs.

These activities were critical for me competing the marathon. I practiced many different forms of socially situated literacy & I had formed a culture of relationships with others, Mace (2005). The literacies I used was not exclusive to core traditional practices, such as reading & writing. Garcia (2013) highlights different forms of literacy, which I was open to.

The Many Forms of Literacy (educatorinnovator.org)

Garcia identifies 9 types of literacy events & explores how the evolution of technology has changed communication from tradition forms. He links these practices to teaching pedagogies. As a trainer this resonates with me as I can link these different literacy forms to my marathon preparation & associated activities. This notice board will explore different forms and evaluate my literacy practice within each activity.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Paragraph 6 outlines the gait test I organised and completed. 

# data[].attributes.body
During preparation I had to consider what footwear I would require. I started to conduct research by reading journals, articles & on-line reviews. Looking at information relating to this topic, I quickly learnt that to purchase the right trainers, I would need a gait test. Higginson (2009) summarises my gait analysis research, outlining the factors I explored.

Methods of Running Gait Analysis : Current Sports Medicine Reports (lww.com)

A gait test is an assessment of a running style to determine the cushioning a runner will need in their trainer. I embarked on information literacy, one of the literacy forms outlined by Garcia (2013). Further to Garcia and according to the SCONUL working group (2011), information literacy has seven pillars. SCONUL (2011) highlights that to be information literate you develop skills through abilities to manage, evaluate, present, gather, identify, plan & scope information. SCONUL's model can be seen via the link below.

coremodel.pdf (sconul.ac.uk)

These are skills I subconsciously developed, as I gathered and evaluated specific information about running gait analysis. I developed this skill to my advantage and necessity of purchasing the right trainers. It's easy to get lost in too much information, but the results of this literacy practice was the appointment I made at Tri-UK to have my running gait assessed. The above QR code has details of that appointment.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
qrcode_www.i-ride.co.uk (Gait Analysis - App at Tri Uk Yeovil)

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
PR at Moors Valley wearing trialled & purchased trainers.

# data[].attributes.body
The gait test helped me understand I would require trainers with a neutral cushion. I shopped around & conducted a significant amount of reading, taking advise from running peers. As a literacy practice, I recalled that the more I read the more I was approached by leading brands. Not only did I look at digital forms of reading literacies, but I also looked as visual literacies. This phase of reading reminded me of an analogy used by Mace (2005). She explains that reading as a social practice is controlled by the author. Mace uses the analogy of a person sat in a laundrette reading three posters. The three posters had different instructions, which were purposely constructed by the writer, to get the recipient to compile with specific instructions. I understand this because I was that person reading the poster when shopping. I acknowledge that the writer can be selective to what the reader needs to know, to make a sale. This as a clever use of literature, to the benefit of the writer. As that person, reading reviews, I purchased a pair of Nike Air Quest 4's, as seen above.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
10K PB Stats - Use of digital data to set targets.

# data[].attributes.body
Key to completing the big M was training, so I wrote my own training plan. My plan took into consideration diet, nutrition, hydration, muscle building & rest between runs. I used several different literacy skills to draw up my plan, including numeracy and I.T. Working from a calendar, I used numeracy skills to set weekly distance targets. I used a digital app called Strava to track performance & for data comparison to improve personal best times. Split times of a Strava run can be seen above, setting a 10-kilometre personal best, running as close to 5 minutes per kilometre. Strava motivates me to improve through the incentive of challenges. Challenges involve completion of set distances, which require my numeracy and mathematic skills to set weekly targets. Numeracy literacy skills comes naturally to me and is something that I taught myself, having struggled with Maths at school. Reed & Lave (1981) have shown that people who have not been to school often solve problems in different ways from people who have. This is a view that is also shared by Carraher, Carraher and Schliemann (1985). In their article for British Psychology, they found that children working on the streets of Brazil developed numeracy using street maths, rather than through conventional classroom forms. There are comparisons between the above theories and my own numeracy skills. I taught myself numeracy because of the social environment I was raised in as a child. To create an effective training plan, I had to trust my self-taught abilities. Self-teaching is a literacy social practice that is outlined recently by Oughton (2018). Oughton suggests that adults use their own situated numeracy practices, rather than those typically taught in the classroom. This resounds with me and my numeracy journey. I have confidence in my self-taught skill set and an example of putting this into practice is entering running challenges, having judged if it is achievable using data & numeracy skills. The link below is a challenge that I recently completed.

The BRIT 2021 Challenge | Home (thebritchallenge.org.uk)

# data[].attributes.body
I had to decide what route I was going to run. I was not running as part of an organised event, so had to research & decide based on several factors. This included terrain, a loop or an out and back run & assistance points. I am not a reader and I struggled with the amount of information. My attention drifted from the objective of finding a route that meet my circumstances. The situation reminded me of my own upbringing and how from an early age, I did not enjoy reading. According to Brice Heath (1994), how well we develop our own reading literacy skills is dictated to by the primary socialisation we have. Brice Heath looks at contrasting social area's & explores the differences in literacy ability, where children are either read to or not by their parents. Brice Heath explores how these different social upbringings (bedtime reading), has on adult's literacy skills later in life. The area of similarity to my circumstances is mainstream education. I was fortunate to have mainstream education, but this differed from other children where I was not read to at night, meaning my reading skills lacked. (Brice Heath, 1994, p. 79) highlights this having a knock-on effect in adulthood & suggests this shapes literacy habits & narrative skills. I can associate to this theory when reading to find the best route. As Brice Heath evaluates mainstream literacy skills (1994 p. 79), I became selective in my approach. I did not read any more than necessary and went straight to what I required, being an out and back along the North Dorset Trail Way.

North Dorset Trailway | Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (dorsetaonb.org.uk)

# data[].attributes.body
Book list and References.

BARTON, D. & HAMILTON, M. (2012) Local Literacies: reading and writing in one community. 2nd Edition, Abingdon: Routledge.

BRICE HEATH, S. (1994) What no bedtime story means: narrative skills at home and school. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd, pp. 73-95.

BURGESS, A. (2012) Power and positioning in writing: Exploring issues of authorship and authority. In TETT, L., HAMILTON, M., and CROWTHER, J. (eds) (2012) More Powerful Literacies. Leicester: NIACE, pp 89-90.

CARRAHER, T,N., CARRAHER, D,W., and SCHLIEMANN, A,D. (1985) 'Mathematics in the streets and in schools'. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, volume 3, pp. 21-29.

GARCIA, A. (2013). The many forms of literacy. Available at:
http://thecurrent.educatorinnovator.org/resource_section/the-many-forms-of-literacy (Accessed:27/05/2022).

HIGGINSON, B,K. (2009). 'Methods of running gait analysis'. Current sports medicine reports, volume 8 (Issue number 3), pp. 136-141.

MACE, J. (2005). Events, practices and values. In: FOWLER, E. and MACE, J., eds. Outside the classroom: researching literacy with adult learners. Leicester: NIACE, pp 2-3.

OUGHTON, H. (2018). 'Disrupting dominant discourses: a (re)introduction to social practice theories of adult numeracy', Numeracy 11 (Issue 1, Article 2).

REED, H,J. & LAVE, J. (1981). Arithmetic as a tool for investigating the relationship between culture and cognition. In CASSON, R,W. (ed.), Language, Culture and Cognition: Anthropological Perspectives. New York: Macmillan.

SCONUL Working group. (2011). The SCONUL Seven Pillars of Information Literacy.  Available at: http://www.sconul.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/coremodel.pdf (Acessed:27/05/2022).

WHITE, D. (2014). Visitors and residents. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPOG3iThmRI&t=25s
(Accessed: 01/06/2022).

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Team Photo, Moors Valley PR, 23rd of April 2022.

# data[].attributes.headline
Clubs, 'Park Run' - Writing / Speaking Literacy.

# data[].attributes.subject
Clubs, 'Park Run' - Writing / Speaking Literacy.

# data[].attributes.body
Traditional forms of social situated literacy are important forms of communication. Arguably these forms are superseded by digital literacy, however, are still regularly practised. To supplement my training, I developed a love of Park Run; A free weekly timed 5-kilometre run, which is open to all. From a social aspect, I communicated with race directors, putting forward personal requests. I did this using e-mail (written) and in person (speaking). Barton and Hamilton (2012) regard this as a hybrid approach, adopting different social literacies. They refer to a theory called vernacular literacies, which stem from everyday life and practices, not governed by rules and procedures. Instead (Barton & Hamilton, 2012, P 248) regard this literacy as evolving from organising life, personal communication and private leisure. On reflection, I made personal requests via e-mail for personal agenda. As an example, I contacted Moors Valley Park Run to advise that the initial training department would be attending their event on the 23rd of April. I had e-mail replies advising the department would have an acknowledgement during the pre-run brief. I reinforced this on the day by speaking to the race director. It struck me of how personal I made these events. They became part of everyday life and it all linked to my love of running. It occurred to me as I wrote I wrote in confidence, expressing myself and my personal agenda. This is one benefit of written literacy, where it is easier to express feelings this via text. For me (Burgess, 2012, P 89-90) summarises this theory by indicating that individuals write to represent themselves, using text to be descriptive about feelings. Taking this forward, I have learnt to write with the freedom to express myself.

# data[].attributes.headline
Clubs, 'SaSAR' - Digital Literacy (Mapping).

# data[].attributes.subject
Clubs, 'SaSAR' - Digital Literacy (Mapping).

# data[].attributes.body
Joining running clubs assisted my training. Facebook gave me the digital platform to find the SaSAR club, local to where I live. As a social situated literacy, the screen shot above highlights contact I had with the group. I reflected about how far society has come, in terms of how we communicate. Communication is now broader using digital formats, no longer relying on traditional forms. David White (2014) outlines this when exploring individual digital journeys. He refers to this as Mapping, asking individuals to review their digital usage & examine whether they consider themselves to be residents or visitors to particulars sites.

Visitors and Residents - YouTube

I now realise I use digital platforms to communicate more than I thought. My mapping exercise highlighted I use Facebook daily and therefore describe myself as a resident. As technology has evolved, communication has become easier. This is the case for me in my digital journey. Embracing change, I use it to my advantage. In this case regular contact with the group. I believe that if it was not for my digital literacy social interactions, my training would have suffered and marathon run impacted.

# data[].attributes.body
I completed the Big M in 5:11. This task has helped me see that I used several literacy skills to plan, train & compete the run. The literacies used depended on personal circumstances & activities required to finish the Big M. On reflection, I am aware of more socially situated literacy skills and will use them in the future to my benefit & love of running.