One thing I definitely WON’T be doing in 2007 …..

… is the 2007 FLM (that’s the Flora London Marathon) as I got my rejection letter, magazine and 'fleece' today. The one option I have left is to get a guaranteed charity place by raising approximately £1,500 but I think I’ll leave it until next year. The most I’ve run is, let’s not forget, 8.2 miles so I need to build up my distance slowly whilst avoiding injury.

I will however be there on 22nd April opposite Embankment tube station handing out jelly babies.

The road to recovery is going very well. Did a 2.5 mile run-walk last Thursday with the proviso that I could stop and walk whenever I want to. I think I ran a lot less than I could have done purely because (and this is psychological as most things are running-wise) I had it in my mind that it was fine to walk. So I did. Far too much.

Also did a couple of 1.5 mile runs ( my usual route – chip shop and back) which were bloody hard work. I feel my 2nd run was slightly easier and faster than my first but I’m not sure, at this early stage, how much my fitness has deteriorated in the 5 week lay off period. I’ve been told that I can build up to my October fitness fairly quickly as I’ve got a base fitness that will return. Does that make sense?

Also used my Garmin (see previous posts) on thee 1.5m runs so typed in my ideal pace and it told me how many feet ahead or behind my ‘virtual partner’ I was. Quite brilliant and exactly what I need. Shame the batteries ran out in the middle of run 2.

** FULHAM 2 – ARSENAL 1 **

Where was I? Knees and thighs ached a bit both during and after runs but calf muscle seems to be absolutely fine. Touch wood.

Healthwise the following is happening:
- I’m seeing a podiatrist who’s making special things for my shoes as I pronate (or over-pronate, I forget) on my left side which may or may not be down to an ankle I broke playing keepy-uppy 9 years ago.
- I’ve cut down on snacking both to, from and at work and walk instead of catching the bus every night.
- I MEAN to walk up and down stairs at work instead of getting the lift (especially from floors 11 to 7 and back again) but haven’t quite managed it yet more than once or twice.
- I really, really wish that I made more (or indeed any) effort with sport and fitness when at school, college and my extensive beery football-based bachelor days. Still, better late than never.

Just found out from a neighbour that there’s a 10 mile race locally in March (Chiswick, Richmond) – a perfect distance and will help with my half-marathon training. That makes it 3 10 mile runs and a half-marathon planned in 2007 so far. Double eeek.

3 slightly random points:
1 – Anyone want to go and see Lily Allen with me in 2007 in Hammersmith? Don’t really want to go on my own but will if I have to.
2 – Found a very, very funny website in the style of ‘The Onion’ but far funnier. www.newsbiscuit.co.uk – brilliant AND started up by a Fulham supporter.
3 – Some people say “Do one thing everyday that scares you”. I say “NO”. Why do you think it scares you in the first place? Trust your instinct, that’s my advice.

My wife has just pointed out what a very good influence she has obviously been on my health and fitness (on the basis that she wasn’t there at school, college or those long gone beery-football days). Fairly true.

A fortnight of two halves ....

….. is how to best describe my calf muscle tear recuperation. The first week or so it felt like nothing was improving at all, probably not helped by a) going in to work the day after it happened and b) abandoning my crutches on day 3 and walking like a penguin which as you’ll know not only looks stupid but can also lead to hip alignment problems .

The second week was brilliant. My boss adopted his normal attitude of ‘take as much time off as you need’. In all honesty I’m not sure whether that means they can or can’t do without me but I took him at his word and did a lot of physio (both land and water) and I think got the rest/exercise ratio about right.

Now abandoned my crutches, driving again and I’ve been told to do some cycling although this hasn’t quite materialised. Generally feeling very positive although wish I had a firm time scale as to when I could run/play football.

As far as future runs are concerned I’ve cancelled the December 10k (shame as I was looking to beating my 2 unbelievably hot, extremely slow summer runs) but have decided to do the January 10 mile as a run/walk exercise and not worry too much about time. This may change nearer the date (7th Jan) so we’ll see.

Still hoping to do the February 10 mile and the Reading half marathon (March) but also applied for the FLM 2007 (that’s Flora London Marathon to the uninitiated). My main reason for applying was to build up credits so that in 5 or 6 years I’d get a GUARANTEED place without having to go down the fundraising route. I’ll find out in the first week of December whether I’ve got in or not but according to various running forums my cheque was cashed on the 2/11 (bad luck) as opposed to the 31/10 (well done).

FLM options:
If I’m in – pretend I’m injured and get a guaranteed place for next year OR run it without raising money OR run it for charity
If I’m not in – see how we go with the 10m, 10m, 13m and perhaps choose another marathon later OR run it for a charity having promised them I’ll raise £1500 for them beforehand.

Difficult to make any kind of decision when injured.

When Becky was pregnant I couldn’t help noticing how many pregnant women there were ‘out there’ – it’s the same with runners. In my current state of infirmity (infirmness/unfirmness??) I’m seeing runners at every turn. Very frustrating and mildly upsetting but as the current governor of California once said ‘I’ll be back’. He also said ‘Hasta la vista baby’ but as I’ve no idea what that means it would be inappropriate to comment.

One last ramble. Whilst my running has taken off and many people have kindly commented on my weight loss I do feel it could be a lot better. The eating danger times are mainly on the way to and from work when buying a newspaper and sometimes at work in the middle of the afternoon but I blame my work colleagues for that one. There’s also the small issue of getting a bus when it’s not absolutely necessary. I’m going to try and cut all of these out with IMMEDIATE effect. That’s right IMMEDIATE effect.

And finally – does anyone know how to get rid of wiry grey hairs from head, ears, nose and eyebrows. Not for me you understand, I’m asking on behalf of a friend.

Put me on the injured step ...

… Although you may have to carry me there!

Ok, let’s go back nearly 3 weeks. Playing football on a Thursday night, as I do, I suffered what I thought was ‘severe cramp’ at about 9.15 and therefore had to go in goal for 45 minutes depriving the others (average age about 40) of their rest time in goal.

Wasn’t sure if it was as a result of not warming up properly, just bad luck or something that had been ‘waiting to happen’. I’m quite good at warming up properly since the GGS 2005 – you’ll know that as the Great Groin Strain of 2005 - that had also been ‘lying in wait’ for a while but decided to wait until the Father’s race at Sports Day to come out in all its glory. So to speak. Hence the constant use of, bordering on addiction to, my magic pants or MP as they’re known the world over.

Anyhow this severe cramp took about a week to disappear, after which I thought I’d, after warming up properly, do a couple of very short (1.5 mile) runs. All well and good so I booked into the Bushy Park Time Trial for last Saturday as I wasn’t needed for ballet delivery. The BPTT is just a short friendly 5k race around the park in Teddington where I’d spent a fair part of my childhood either on foot, bike or with a ball.

The week was going very well from a purchasing point of view as well. The website ‘Fetch Everyone’ about which I’ve previously ranted produce a fairly lary red and yellow running shirt upon which I could iron John L and use as my ‘race shirt’ (not forgetting I’m supposedly in a 10k, 2 10 mile and a half-marathon race in the next 6 or 7 months). This arrived last Thursday.

I’d also taken delivery of a second hand Garmin (very cheap and basic one) which tells you how far you’ve run and at what pace etc. All things that you could do with Google maps and a stopwatch but also has this very exciting feature.

I quote:

Working out with the Forerunner 101 means you're never alone in your personal training, because the unit provides a "Virtual Partner™". This unique feature allows you to set your training goal by configuring your Virtual Partner's pace and workout distance. You'll get a graphic perspective of your performance by viewing your pace in relation to your Virtual Partner's pace, so you can always see at a glance if you're keeping up or falling behind.

See told you it was good. In English that means you set your pace and it bleeps at you if you’re going too fast/slow and displays some exciting graphics. I think. For reasons that will imminently become obvious I haven’t tried it yet.

Anyhow this is all sadly irrelevant. My cramp of two weeks previously was my calf muscle tightening up nicely and after 10 minutes of last Thursday’s footy I was running for the ball and thought someone had kicked me in the calf. No one there. No one anywhere near. The calf muscle had torn and I was in a fair amount of pain. In the next 24 hours I did 3 stupid things:

1 – Played on in goal
2 – Drove home
3 – Went to work on Friday on two crutches so I could not only tire myself out by hopping downstairs to get lunch etc. but also cram my leg under a desk instead of raising, extending, icing etc.

The whole thing is made all the more annoying because I’ve never felt fitter in my life. I am also getting very jealous watching other people running – bizarre behaviour for a couch potato of almost 40 years standing, I mean lying.

Anyhow I’ve had 2 sessions with the physio (all on land) with another 3 more booked in (all in water) so the secret is to be patient and not reckless. Not at work this week, on strict raising and icing duties as well as becoming addicted to Deal Or No Deal which is in essence one of the most ridiculous programmes on telly hosted by the eternally annoying Noel Edmonds (he who brought us Blobby).

Although I’m stating the bleedin' obvious, if anyone was thinking of going to www.justgiving.com/johnlowit and sponsoring me for the Reading half-marathon I suggest they keep their cash in their bank accounts for another month or two until I know what I’m doing.

13.1 miles - am I sure?

I've done it. I got a bit carried away with the 8.2 mile run last weeekend and after booking a couple of 10 mile runs in the New Year I've also signed up for the Reading half-marathon. I'm raising money for CLIC Sargent (Cancer and Leukemia in Children) and will be doing a sponsorship 'push' in the New Year as part of my 'hassle people once a year' pledge.

If you want to be ahead of the pack then you're more than welcome to go to www.justgiving.com/johnlowit and get in ahead of the crowd.

That's all really for now

Ever onwards

Not entirely sure where to start on this one. Did the 8.2 mile run on Sunday (Kingston) and it was brilliant. Been dreading it for months , then feeling confident about it after doing a couple of 6/7 mile training runs, then back to dreading it after doing something to my back last weekend although Becky thinks that was purely psychological. Not convinced myself but I do know that there wasn't so much as a twinge in either my back or my knees for the duration of the race.
Had a massage immediately after the race then met Andrea (who did the 16 mile version) and Neal (who had to pull out after 9 due to injury) and then Becky and the kids for lunch.

In my post-race euphoria I've now fine tuned my running plan to include a couple of 10 milers in early 2007 with my ultimate 2007 aim being the Reading half-marathon in March (I'll be raising sponsorship money but not until 2007 as promised). Eeeek. I've applied for the London Marathon but almost definitely won't get in. Let's cross that hurdle in early December when the ballot results come out.

Pictures of the run are at http://www.sportcam.net/site3/public/results.php?bib_number=&family_name=lowit&event=645&search=1 and for once I may actually place an order.

Quick note about ipods and whether to use them in a race. YES. If someone wants to chat then take them off and don't use them at the beginning or the end when there's likely to be a crowd but for the boring middle bit I think it's a good idea. Glad that's sorted.

There's a website I told you about last time called http://www.fetcheveryone.com/ which basically combines all the training/running statistical analysis you could need/want with the usual forums concerning training/racing and general running talk. It's very light hearted but has helped me enormously and I'd definitely recommend it to everyone. One of the stats it churns out are your best times for 1 mile, 2 miles ..... 8 miles (in my case) and the same in kilometres. When I start running again, at the weekend, I'm going to try and beat all my previous records starting with the 1.5 mile run to the chip shop and back.

The only other thing to report is I may be famous soon. Becky and I went to see Russell Brand in Shepherd's Bush on Monday night and I got called up on stage so he could ring a massage parlour on my mobile phone! It was recorded for his Xmas DVD so if a) they think that bit of the show was funny and b) they're not recording Tuesday and Wednesday nights then there's a chance (slim but a chance) I may be featured. Not sure I'd show the kids/parents the DVD as the language is a bit colourful at times.

Little Britain on Saturday night and I'm sitting at the back!

Running in the rain ...

... is, bizarrely, a revelation. Strange that someone who has run over 120 miles this year has only just experienced running in the rain. Especially in London. Apart from puddle dodging it was both refreshing and cool.

Anyhow, enough wittering.

Not nearly as scared of doing this 8.2 mile run as I was 3 weeks ago. This is mainly due to stepping up my training recently. As well as doing 3.3 mile runs twice a week with a gang from work I did a 4.75 mile run about 10 days ago, a 6 mile run last weekend and have planned, with the help of Gmaps, a 7 mile run on Friday. A light run at the beginning of next week (probably 3 miles) and I'll be 'as ready as I'll ever be'

Plans for the future include a 10k in December just to keep my hand(!) in and I'm looking for a 10 mile run in Jan or Feb next year as my next goal is going to be the Reading half marathon which comes highly recommended by almost everyone who knows about/has experienced it. I will be hassling for sponsorship for this but not until next year as promised earlier. Probably going to raise money for Clic Sargent (Cancer and Leukemia in Children) - unless anyone has any better ideas.

Not too much else to report, listening to Lily Allen in the car, Ricky Gervais et al. on the Ipod-a-like and have discovered a new running website which has all the usual forums and lots of exciting statistical analysis. It's at www.fetcheveryone.com. All three of these are, in my humble opinion, quite brilliant. Perhaps I'm just easily pleased.

Next post will be after the Kingston run - 8.2MILES, THE FURTHEST SO FAR - so wish me luck.

Please sir, can I have some more?

Don't get me wrong I love 'Oliver'. The 1968 film that is. Don't know about the Dickens book or even the recent film but the 1968 version with Ron Moody, Oliver Reed et al. is in my opinion a classic with a very, very scary villain, loads of charm and some impressively big tunes which are show stoppers both visually and aurally.

That said, if I never hear 'Consider Yourself', 'Food, Glorious Food' or 'You've Gotta Pick a Pocket or Two' again, it'll be too soon.

Rosie, my 5-year-old daughter had seen a production at school and had fallen in love with it, or at least as much as a 5-year-old can. They're famed for their fickleness you know. Best friends change from one day to the next never mind musical tastes.

If you're lucky I may get to the point sometime soon.

We were about to drive from New York (actually New Jersey but let's not split hairs) to Cape Cod, a drive lasting anything between 4 and 8 hours depending on how many times you stop. We knew it would take nearer 8 as Jessie (3) is a very poor traveller, a fact borne out by her being sick (in my hand, since you ask) on the way home. We didn't pack any cds for our hire car. Something had to be done AND QUICK.

Oliver was bought in Borders in Manhattan and played again and again and again and again (possibly 10 times in total). Rosie's favourite track was 'I Shall Scream' - she wasn't alone.

The USA trip was excellent and any flight security fears were unfounded. The car hire was quick and easy and we were made most welcome by Helen and Hillie in Jersey City.

Reasons for doing no running at all in Jersey City:
Very bad at running in unknown places
Too many roads to cross (each 'block' lasts about 5 houses and knew the chances of me getting run over were high)
Wasn't organised enough - don't forget I prefer running in the evenings so it has to be after kids have gone to bed and before supper.

Cape Cod was very pleasant with a slightly artificial feel to it somehow. Beaches were varied but mainly good and food likewise. Food highlight for me was lobster. There are those who can be very happy picking at a crab/lobster for hours and hours and there are those who think the effort put in is in no way matched by the food they get out. I, and my father amongst others, belong to the former.

Reasons for doing no running at all in Cape Cod:
Very bad at running in unknown places
Wasn't organised enough - don't forget I prefer running in the evenings so it has to be after kids have gone to bed and before supper.

Should have run in Cape Cod. Looked like a perfect place to renew my fitness regime but basically was what people in the know call 'a bit rubbish'

Now I'm back and I've got this run in about a month. It's 8.2 miles in Kingston. To put it into perspective it's almost 1/3rd of a marathon and 1/3rd more than the greatest distance I've covered so far (10k). Eeek and double eeek. Now wish I hadn't entered it. I MUST stick to 10ks for the foreseeable future and then possibly progress next year (after I've done 6 or 7 of the little beauties) but I got a bit carried away web-wise after I had done the first 10k.

Training at the moment is basically along the lines of the plan I set out in my last posting. Couple of footballs, couple of runs and a body pump (weights) class somewhere in the middle. Last night's class can still be felt in my arms and shoulders so it must be doing some good.

Runs this week were 1.5 miles on Saturday and 3 miles on Monday with a possible 2 miles this Friday coming and 4 miles on Sunday. I know the distances are a bit sad but I'm trying to slowly work up to the run without pulling/straining/snapping anything.

One last thought. I've detailed the reasons for doing this run before many times but at the moment, even after the holidays, I feel pretty good. Stomach feels flatter and I have loads more energy both when racing the kids and playing my Thursday night indoor footy.

Which is nice.

Attila the Hun

Let's talk degrees. We all know that a 2:2 is a Desmond (Tutu) but did you know that a 2:1 is an Attila, a 1st is a Geoff/Damian (Hurst/Hirst) and a 3rd is a Douglas/Thora (I'll leave that one for you to work out)

Anyhow, I FINALLY managed to get the inevitable and somewhat anti-climactical 2:1 the other week. Many thanks to loads of people for that but mainly college mates and Becky for immense support and encouragement without which I'd be scuppered. Completely. Now for that pay rise.

Just got back from a week abroad (there's a location clue above), which was highly enjoyable. Food, booze and company were very, very good. Weather was temperamental and house excellent (especially swimming pool), although I could have handled slightly fewer mosquitos. Did no running due to immense hilliness but a bit of swimming when weather permitted.

Finished off my "First Marathons: Personal Encounters with the 26.2-Mile Monster" and started "The Non-runner's Marathon Trainer". Both pretty good if immensely American which can grate slightly. More of my running aims and aspirations later.

Before I went away I had a pretty good weekly running/fitness schedule going which went as follows:

Monday
Lunchtime run with Garry and Tim for 30 mins/3 miles (roughly) along Grand Union Canal by side of office. Very pleasant route although a couple of bridges too many possibly.

Tuesday
Weight training class at work. One of the many training programmes I looked at said that if you're stronger you will be able to cope with the latter stages of races much better.

Wednesday
Lunchtime footy at work (outdoor)

Thursday
Evening indoor footy

Friday
Same as Monday

Saturday or Sunday
3m run (to be increased)

This schedule is slightly hypothetical at the moment as I haven't managed a week with everything due to other commitments but it's certainly the aim.

There's also the Saturday morning 'army thing' - see http://www.britmilfit.com for details. They've just started one in Richmond Park so I need to go and have a look really. Nothing ventured etc.

Still got 8 mile run in October in Kingston with Mark H, Alma, Andrea and Neal and possibly doing a 10k also in October - http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/s-10k%20Run - in Regent's Park but I've got to check it doesn't clash with a party.

The very vague fantasy I've got (no, not that one) is to do a half-marathon in 2007 and a marathon in 2008 but realistically I'd like to stick to 10ks for the moment until I feel more comfortable with them and then progress.

Off to Cape Cod soon where I hope to do some running. Looking forward to the holiday immensely but three things concern me about it:
1 - Will miss start of footy season
2 - Will miss end of BB7 (although it's descended into a complete farce at the moment)
3 - Current flying/security/hand luggage nonsense.

That's it really except for one final thing.

You know when you go away for a week and you expect loads of things to have happened while you 've been away but none ever do. WRONG! Nice shiny new benches at Barnes Bridge BR station. In just a week as well.

Amazing.

Race after race after race ....

I’m currently in an interesting period of the year.

World Cup 2006 is over, Fulham’s relegation season yet to start.
Maths project handed in, results (if I haven’t got a *:* I’ll be puzzled and annoyed in equal measures) not out for a couple of weeks
Maths teaching nicely fizzled out
Holidays (three weeks in August) very soon

AND

No more races until October but it’s a biggie (8.2 miles or 13.1k) so I’ll have to start training properly and soon

As Becky pointed out I’ve done a lot more races than actual training recently for one reason or another which probably isn’t good for a slightly overweight 5th decader like myself. Let me rewind quickly to approximately 9 days ago:

The British 10k

If it was cheaper, chipped and there was more water both en route and at the end I’d definitely do it again. The route was excellent taking in Piccadilly, Pall Mall, Embankment, Blackfriars, Westminster Bridge and Whitehall. Due to sheer number of runners it took me about 35 minutes to get through the start line (next to Hard Rock Café) on a very hot day, at least as hot as the Capital run, so some of the promised water stations were empty. Luckily I carried water with me or else it could have been dangerous, especially the complete absence of fluids at the end of the race.

From a personal point of view I finished in a slightly quicker time than the last run (1.18.20 rather than 1.19.00 from memory) although still way slower than what I think I can do. This was achieved without walking (although plodding incredibly slowly for large portions of the race) and being extremely sensible about running in the heat as I knew some were worried about me keeling over.

For a large portion of the race I had a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. The angel sounded a lot like Becky and was saying “Don’t run, there’s no need, take it easy, it’s hot and no-one will think the worse of you if you walk” whilst the devil was saying “Don’t stop, don’t walk, keep running, remember how annoyed you were last time when you walked 2k.”

I think I reached a decent compromise and had there been water waiting at the end it would have been a good, enjoyable race. Actually, no, that wasn’t the only thing – they posted a “400m to go” sign near the finish line. I say near, it was almost a kilometre away. Very annoying for those who like to put in a bit of a spring towards the finish line. Luckily it didn’t affect me in any way whatsoever!

Two other slightly disconcerting things were
– lack of ipod. It’s ok when there’s a crowd geeing you on but on the many quiet bits of the race I could have definitely used some stirring music
– people calling me ‘fatman’. OK so most people shouted “come on John” as I had my name on my t-shirt but because I was wearing my fatmanwalking.com t-shirt (for the very last time I might add) people were shouting “Come on fatman”. Not an ideal situation.

4 days rest later and due to my over eager planning, Thursday was the day for the 4 man GSK team to run the JP Morgan Chase corporate challenge or something similar. Except it wasn’t. Due to half-year end it was only Tim and I who set foot towards Battersea Park.

Apart from someone ‘accidentally’ knocking over my half-pint of Pimms ir was an immensely enjoyable evening. OK, we could have done with some of the corporate hospitality being handed out by some of the bigger teams being diverted our way but I managed to make do with about 6 bottles of water, a banana and 3 t-shirts. Easily pleased, that’s me.

The race itself was very, very crowded so unless you were right at the start you were unlikely to get anywhere near your personal best. It was 5.6km (3.5 miles) which was a very pleasant, doable distance although I’m beginning to get a bit of an issue with walkers. Not only do they get in your way (can’t they go to one side) but also, as I may have mentioned a couple of hundred times before, put the following thought in your head – “Go on, you can walk, they are”. The only other gripe with this run is that the route snaked by (and practically caressed) the finish line whilst still being about a kilometre from the actual finish. You could hear people being congratulated over the tannoy AND EVERYTHING. Cruel.

I wanted to do the race in under 40 minutes (did it by 5 seconds) and Tim completed in well under 30 minutes.

Next run is this 8.2mile Kingston October race – EEEEK – so I’m going to take a step back and train specifically for this race and no other. I’ve got 3 months to do it in so I should be ok. I think. This week consists of outdoor runs, treadmill sessions, weight training session and a work footy session.

Onwards and upwards

Anticipation

It's a big week in the running world next week with my British 10k (got the hat AND the t-shirt) on Sunday and the JPM Chase 5.6k on Thursday. Despite doing very little training since Hyde Park I'm looking forward to both as a result of a very, very good 40 minute treadmill session yesterday.

Or at least I was looking forward to both until ............

THE BLOODY WEATHER FORECAST

Apparently it's going to be another very hot weekend. Aaaarrggghhh. Does anyone know any rain dances?

My tactics for Sunday are as follows:

Start slow
Start in either the 50-60 min pack or the 60-70 min pack so I don't spend the first kilometre weaving in and out of people
Not worry about the time
Finish it

Ideally, of course, I don't want to walk any of it but if it is as hot as last time and it's a choice between walking or lying on the ground struggling for breath I'll take the former. My priorities have changed so much that I'm even thinking of leaving the new flash stop watch at home. Maybe.

With a sort of reversed, warped logic I'm planning big changes from next weekend onwards including changing my eating habits, going on a strict training plan geared towards the 8.2 miles in October (it's actually geared towards 10 miles but I'll adapt slightly), running with boys from work every Monday (hate running with other people although as I've never tried it ....), doing a class in the work gym with the rather dodgy title of 'Body Pump' which is basically a lot of weights work (I read somewhere that this will help your overall strength, especially at the end of races. Makes sense really).

That's it really, quietly confident about next week and thanks for the £1,078.72 from the BUPA Capital run. I've taken the link off for now.

Plodding on

No excuses for carrying a bulky water bottle on races now.

The main news to report, and you know this already, is that my near final total (still a couple of stragglers to come, possibly) is £1,008.38. Not bad for an hour’s work. Many thanks once again to all (and indeed sundry) for stumping up their hard-earned cash.

Further proof of my participation can be found by going to http://www1.sportcam.net/site3/public/browse.php?event=673&competitor=cf0f3e96-4b3d-4d54-9428-9b3da3a6c7c3&mode=full. Not sure I’ll order any prints at their exorbitant prices but they make interesting viewing.

Speaking of cash, as we were a minute ago, this whole sponsorship thing is very tricky. Who do you ask? Can you hassle them? Why do some people ‘pledge’ by email rather than going directly to the website? I appreciate that sites such as justgiving.com have made the whole process much easier but I’m very glad that, following my ONE sponsorship run a year rule, I don’t have to go through the begging process again for another 6 months at least.

Nothing much has happened since the run about 10 days ago. The only exercise I’ve taken has been a fairly hot and immensely enjoyable game of indoor 5-a-side last Thursday. I was due to do a run on Saturday night but, having spent a day with the girls, returned home exhausted and fell asleep on the sofa just after Brian McBride (one of only three Fulham players representing the mighty whites at this years World Cup) got elbowed by an over eager Italian defender.

Hoping to get at least 30 minutes on the treadmill at work this afternoon as last night I increased my ‘organised runs to do by the end of 2006’ by 50%. I’ve now got 3 little beauties of varying scariness lined up. They are as follows:

http://www.thebritish10klondon.co.uk/

This is the British 10k run on Sunday 2nd July at 9.35am (please don’t let it be hot). The website will give you all the details you need. Currently doing it alone (although possibly with a neighbour) and my reason for doing it is very, very simple. I want to do a 10k without walking. I honestly don’t care if I do it in 1 hour or 1 hour 30 as long as I run (or plod) all the way round. It is however in under 2 weeks so I need to get back into training pretty damn soon hence treadmill this afternoon.

http://www.jpmorganchasecc.com/events.php?city_id=10

This is the JPMorganChase Corporate Challenge on Thursday 6th July at 6.45 pm which describes itself as a 5.6km run-walk in Battersea Park. I’m doing this with Garry, Anthony and Tim from work and for some reason we’ve all set ourselves target times. From memory their target times are something like 22, 23 and 24 minutes! Mine is 33 minutes which won’t be easy at all. Should be interesting.

http://www.humanrace.co.uk/festival/index.html

This final one is a bit scary. It’s an 8.2 mile race along Kingston on the morning of Sunday 8th October. In an example of running before you can plod I booked into this ages ago as I thought it would be a decent step up from the BUPA Capital 10k also giving me 4 months extra training. I’m now dreading it but have persuaded Mark H (in my mobile I have numbers for Mark A, Mark H, Mark N, Mark R, Mark S, Mark C and I thought John was a common name) and Alma to join me whilst Andrea and Neal will be doing the 16 mile version on the same morning. Nutters.

Sweaty doesn't even begin to describe it!

Me and Sir Richard of Bacon

Hooray

Hotter than a witch's mother ...

... is a slightly bizarre expression that an old boss of mine used to use. That was how hot it was on Saturday morning in Hyde Park - 31 degrees apparently - and that is why I didn't do as well as I would have liked. Simple really.

The facts of the matter are as follows:
I finished it in 1:19 dead (proof: http://www.raceahead.net/SearchResults.aspx and type in 2648), nowhere near the hour I was aiming for. Geoff did it in 1:15:45 and was very supportive in some of my more pedestrian moments and Niccy did it in 1:31:44 which is I think almost exactly what she said she was going to do it in.

So, what have I learnt:
Positives first:
Ran from about 0-4.75km and 7.75km to 10km
Putting my name on my t shirt was a good idea and there were 5 or 6 encouraging shouts as a direct result.
I'm still alive (i.e not lying down by the side of the track like 3 or 4 others, one with eyes rolling)
I got to see Jimmy Nail, Richard Bacon and Floella Benjamin (!)
I have raised over £850 for Help A London Child and expect that total to rise by about £100 when I've finished collecting (http://www.capital10k.co.uk/RunnerPage.aspx?BCID=1025425 is the place to go)
No aches and pains from legs, back, knees etc. either during or after the race
Definitely room for improvement as this was my first run.

Negatives:
Walk/run combo from 4.75km-7.75km. Fair to say that in total I probably ran 8 out of 10km
Silly to carry one of those .75l Volvic 'sports cap' bottles round with me. Next purchase should be one of those water bottles that are designed to be carried whilst running/plodding.
Possibly went off too quickly although difficult to say as I was weaving in and out of VERY slow runners.
When 2 out of 3 people ahead of you are walking it's much more difficult to fight the desire to join them than when you are running on your own.
Did absolutely no training in anything approaching hot weather which showed.

My rough plan to do a half marathon next year and a full one the year after are being put on hold so for the moment I've got a 5.6km run with 3 guys from work at the beginning of July, the 8.2 mile run (help) in October and nothing else planned but I am constantly looking at more 10ks which is where I will stay for the time being.

On the day, Niccy, Geoff and I started together briefly and then Geoff and I went ahead quite quickly. After a few minutes I 'found my pace' (approximately the 6 minute kilometre that I was aiming for) and then lost Geoff. Weaving in and out of some of the slower runners (there were some, believe me) I felt quite good for the first couple of kilometres despite the heat. I did miss the mp3 player though and carrying the water bottle was a pain. Hit a minor wall at about 3.5km I think and was still fighting it at 4.75km when I reached a hill. A bloody hill - can you believe it? That said, if I was to go back and look at the course now it would probably be a minor slope but at the time it felt like Everest. OK maybe not Everest but certainly something fairly nasty!

Before the race Becky, Niccy and my parents had expressed concerns regarding the heat (have I mentioned how hot it was?) and that no risks should be taken with regards to health. This was in my mind along with the sight of most other people walking (I'll blame them shall I?). The other thing about walking, and apologies for my obsession with this, is that it's very, very difficult to start running again after walking so the next 3km both with and without Geoff who by now had caught me up were a walk/plod combo. Thanks to Geoff for his words of encouragement at this time which 'sort of' worked. Geoff went off at about 7.5km and I decided to run solidly from at least 8 til the end. These last 2 and a bit kilometres were fine overall. The highlight of this last stretch were the encouraging shouts of 'Come on John' from at least 5 different sources. The lowlight was seeing the finish in the distance up a slight hill, running for a couple of minutes and realising that the finish looked no closer.

Reaching the finish was a mixture of emotions. Relief at finishing, anger at not being quicker and allowing myself to walk, happiness at seeing Becky, Rosie and Jessica waiting for me just afterwards.

Being a bloke I'm no expert on childbirth (although been present twice so possibly more of an expert than some) but unless it's a truly awful experience I'm led to believe that women quickly forget the sheer pain involved fairly soon afterwards. I'm beginning to think that it's the same with running.

A weeks rest and then onto training for the 5.6km (http://www.jpmorganchasecc.com/events.php?city_id=10) and so far persuaded Rupert T and Alma to join me in Kingston in October as well as Andrea and Neal doing the 16.2 mile course at the same time.

Any more takers?

PS - Halfway through a very interesting book at the moment. Recommended. The Looniness of the Long Distance Runner - very funny

Good news and bad news

Four bits of exciting news since last time:

Becky completed her Moonwalk with flying colours. I don't think she'll be doing it again though - combination of missing out on a whole night's sleep, bad route (seeing finishing line about 10 miles from the end isn't ideal psychologically), and a fairly miserable atmosphere (I suppose they miss out on the jazz bands, supporters etc.) That said I am IMMENSELY proud of her.

Someone (actually Steve Smedley from Suffolk) has mentioned my blog in his blog (http://www.millwalkhouse.co.uk/2006/04/running-along-tram-lines.asp) - very exciting. There's probably a term for a blog being blogged - any suggestions.

My chip has arrived. Not the kind of chip I'd usually get excited about I'll grant you, this is the one that measures your EXACT time if (and only if) you remember to thread it through your laces before you set out. I'm guessing that quite a few of you don't share my excitement on this one. Probably the majority that aren't going to scan the web to look for the new season's football fixtures at 10am on 22nd June. Oh well, each to their own.

Having done a fair few 4 mile runs and even a couple of 5.3 milers I decided on Sunday to actually do a 10k. I finished it albeit in an agonisingly slow 68 minutes (that's the fourth exciting bit of news) but did something to my knee whilst running. Bugger. As it is getting a bit better every day I'll wait and see how it goes.

My priorities for this race on Sunday week were:
Finish in an hour or less

Now they are:
Start the race
Finish without walking
Finish in an hour or less

I realised that I could probably beat the hour mark (with which I've become so obsessed) if I do the run/walk/run thing but I don't want to do that which has shown me that running it all is more important to me than time. I think.

Final word on the psychological side of things:
1 - In the first 20% of the run you'll want to turn back, go home and have a nice cup of tea in front of Big Brother. DON'T. Think of the feeling you always get when you finish.
2 - There will be periods on the run when the going will be both painful and agonisingly slow. For every one of these there's a period just after where everything picks up a bit and seems just a little easier. Stick with it.

Hope to write again before I hobble round 10k.

15,000 women - all in bras

Becky is doing the Moonwalk this Saturday night. This is a 26 mile walk (taking about 7 1/2 hours) both starting and finishing in Hyde Park. The start is at midnight! She's asked me again to thank everyone for sponsoring her. Very impressive, I'd far rather run for an hour than walk for seven.

And she's doing it in her bra which is I believe the norm for these sort of escapades.

All going well on the training front for my 10k (in UNDER a month). I followed the Friday 4 mile plod with a Monday 4 mile much faster plod. I was immensely pleased with this and took the opportunity to book myself into another run - an 8.2 mile run in Kingston in October. I hear Jamaica's lovely that time of year. Boom, boom. I felt I needed to book another run so that I had some motivation after I'd finished the 10k.

Thursday was indoor footy - very good - felt full of energy.

Due to either myself or Becky being out a lot at the moment there are limited evenings I can get out onto the 'open road'. Because of this I decided to revisit the treadmill at work. On Friday evening I programmed in 10k/hour with an incline of 3.0 (3.0 what? Percent? Hamsters? Who knows) and off I went. Very strange experience and somewhat artificial. No kerbs or dips in the pavement, no landmarks against which to measure your route. The only exciting thing was the screeching noise the machine went as I strayed away from the middle of the 'tread' and onto the 'mill'. Didn't fall off it - I'll leave those sort of shenanigans to young Geoffrey. I had to put my towel over the display and only let myself look at it every 4 songs (the display, not the towel) otherwise you look at the time which says 1 min 24 secs and the next time you look it says 2 min 10 secs etc. etc.

I know a few people who use treadmills. Mark so that he can kill 2 birds at the same time and watch the footy. Chrissy because "And of course living where I live (it's hilly in Wales y'know) it would be pretty near impossible to find a 5 or 10k course round here that does not have a crippling gradient to navigate, so best stick to the treadmill induced euphoria". Fair point but it's definitely second best for me. Give me the South Circular any day of the week.

Last Sunday was a slow 4 miles (I've measured 5 on that swanky new website I told you about last time and will definitely do it in the next couple of weeks) mainly due to the fact that I didn't set out until gone 9.30 for many reasons - most of them child-related. When I say fast and slow, there's a 2 minute difference between them ranging from about 38 mins to about 40 which is dangerously close to my 10k hour target.

Today, Wednesday, was another treadmill session at work. A fairly tough but immensely enjoyable 40 minutes. Getting the hang of the tedium and only letting myself look at the counter every 5 songs. Seems to work quite well. Next run will probably be Sunday night although I may do a treadmill session on Friday if I'm not aching too much from Thursday night footy.

Steve Vaught - www.fatmanwalking.com - has finished. See website for details. Impressive.

Just time to quickly repeat 3 very basic things to help very new runners (I've moved up from very new to just new now)
1 - Sort your breathing out. The more efficient the better and don't forget the pursed lips to greatly reduce the risk of stitches.
2 - Lean slightly forward when running. Helps with the momentum I find.
3 - Punching with clenched fists when running. Also helps although not entirely sure why.

Once again, best wishes to Becky and Sarah on the Moonwalk this weekend.

The Goody, the bad and the ugly

Where was I?

Oh yes, that’s right. Just done my first 4 miles and feeling pretty smug. I did another one on the following Saturday (22/4) in about 7 seconds slower but that wasn’t a problem. The only problem was saying hello to a complete stranger at the 3 mile mark – thought he was someone else. Possibly because he was just a blur. Possibly not. I was very pleased with doing 2 x 4 miles in under a week. Very pleased indeed. The day after was the Marathon. Rosie and I decided to go up and watch armed with jelly babies TO HAND OUT TO THE RUNNERS – don’t laugh, a hot tip from a couple of people who’ve done it before – which were extremely well received. It’s only a very slight exaggeration to say that the runners, now on their 24th/25th mile, couldn’t have been happier if we’d been handing out £50 notes.

The whole experience was quite emotional and despite missing both of my two known runners (BOTH FINISHED, CONGRATULATIONS SAM AND KATE) definitely an experience to be repeated. I might even do it myself one day. Many thanks to Andrea, Neal and assorted families for finding a perfect viewing spot and generally looking after both myself and Rosie.

I was going to talk about Jade Goody’s marathon behaviour/training regime but I think it’s all already been said. A couple of people thought I was doing the marathon this year – ha ha - I wonder if it’s because of the fuss I’ve made and the build up that I’ve given this humble 10k?

Anyhow, it was after the marathon that things started to go downhill.

I played football at work on the Wednesday and despite feeling a bit fitter and generally putting in the effort I did something to my back that is still troubling me a week later. I’ve been told to go to the physio but as there’s been a constant improvement from day to day I may well just wait and see. It’s only as I’m writing this that I realise that of the 3 hours 15 minutes I spent watching the Marathon approximately 2 of those hours were spent with a 4-year-old (now 5, then 4) on my shoulders. It all makes sense.

I’ve cancelled all exercise – AGAIN – to get my back straight and once it’s OK I’ll avoid the following:
Putting kids on my shoulders
Playing football at work (but not indoors on Thursday)

I’d very much like to do another run this weekend but I don’t want to really foul things up.

On the subject of other news, my friend Rupert was over from NY for a week and introduced me to an excellent website - http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/ - on which you can plot your runs and work out your distances without looking like an idiot driving round Barnes at night in a Honda CR-V. Which I believe is what some people do. You can also plot towpath distances etc. Very exciting.

Cash has gone up to over £770 due to another round of begging emails. I think one more ‘cash push’ on the week of the race should do it. I hate ‘hassling’ for the money but it’s all in a good cause etc. If I ever do another race (like to do half then full marathon in the fullness of time) I’m not sure where the sponsorship is going to come from but I’ll worry about that if and when it happens

Talking to Geoff about this running lark he hit on a good point when discussing how much is psychological, at least for us newbies. Many a time I’ve had doubts and generally negative thoughts in the first 5 or 10 minutes – that’s when you’re most likely to turn around and go home in my opinion. On the other side of the coin it’s a great boost when you find yourself on the ‘homeward stretch’ whether it’s the last mile or the last 5 miles. The treadmill people won’t appreciate this at all sadly.

** STOP PRESS **
Did another 4 miles last night (Fri 5/5) after a gap of about a fortnight. Absolutely knackering, very, very slow and I wanted to go back a couple of times BUT I did it. Over a minute worse than the 2 other 4 mile runs but extremely pleased that I did it. Have I mentioned that I did it?

Another one tomorrow or Monday methinks.

PS Green Wing still brilliant, Lost started again, Earl very funny and Prison Break highly addictive. Surprising I ever find the time to waddle, I mean run!

A rest is as good as a change

Both the whites and the light blues let me down badly that weekend. The whites had an awful game against Pompey. Only one change from the team that BEAT CHELSEA but they just looked like they couldn’t be bothered. So much is dependent on how ‘up for it’ a team is regardless of skill which is how we were able to beat a team of Chelsea’s ability in the first place.

Cambridge were poor as well. Never mind, always next year.

On the Monday I did the usual circuits class which was tough. Not sure why but whilst I found it rewarding it was very hard work. I did the usual 3 mile run on the Tuesday which was good although carrying a bit of a sore hip for some reason. Finished it in quite a good time so I was reasonably happy. That run and the 3 previous ones were all within a 6 second band so I think it was fair to say I had found my level. I’ve since heard from various sources that your speed doesn’t get faster but your recovery time gets quicker. Played football at work on the Wednesday lunchtime and not only contributed next to nothing but felt very, very achy afterwards. Back, hip and knees were all letting me know that I was carrying too many years and pounds.

Luckily I had already cancelled my usual Thursday night football so I had plenty of time to recover until my next run which I planned to run ‘sometime that weekend’. Saturday night was a busy night so I decided to run on Sunday morning which would be the first time I’d run in the morning rather than under cover of darkness.

It was a disaster

I went out at 10 am. There were far too many people ‘out and about’. I was completely and totally lacking in energy. I thought that was because I hadn’t eaten anything that morning but apparently the really early morning runners don’t eat anything pre-run. Quite apart from lacking in any energy I was aching all over with the old favourites of back, hip and knees being the main culprits although I couldn’t rule out some sort of additional groin pain providing the icing on the cake ailments-wise.

Ok so not really a disaster on a global scale. No deaths occurred.

At that stage I decided to have a week off any and all forms of exercise from circuits and work football to running and my usual Thursday night indoor football. A quiet week followed apart from my enquiries to Becky about whether they do hip replacement operations on 40 year-olds. Her response was to remind me that it’s probably not unusual to run with a bit of pain and I probably won’t notice it after a while.

My ‘barren’ week wasn’t wasted as I had time to go out in the car and measure out a 4 mile run as I’d already done 5 3 mile runs and felt that I needed to move up sooner rather than later. For info the new 4 mile run takes me past the chip shop, Ask Pizza, Barnes station, Rosslyn Park, down the Upper Richmond Road for what seemed like bloody miles and back along St Leonard’s road past Jessie’s nursery finishing at Mortlake bus garage.

I was debating when to do my ‘comeback’ run and putting off the date from Saturday to Sunday and then from Sunday to Monday. Physically I was ok, or not too bad, but mentally I was dreading going out after my last experience. Finally I donned the appropriate attire on Monday evening and set out unsure as to whether I was going to run 3 or 4 miles. I bit the bullet and did 4. It was hard work but the feeling I got at the end was amazing and better than anything I’d experienced before in this short running ‘adventure’. No pain at any stage apart from my upper legs feeling very tight 36 hours after the event. My plan for the future is to do 2 4 mile runs a week until further notice but as the evenings get lighter I may well head for the towpath and abandon any fixed length runs in favour of running for 40 or 50 minutes.

I know 2 people who are doing the marathon this weekend – Kate, a good friend of Becky’s and Sam, our next door neighbour - and I wish them both luck

I’ve decided that I’m now a beginner and not an absolute novice which puts me in a good position to offer more titbits of advice/observations to absolute novices

- Run don’t walk. Whilst this may be the absolute opposite of what you’ve heard in swimming baths and school corridors I’ve got a friend who has just taken up running for similar reasons to me except without the run date at the end. He has been doing better times than me because his ‘run’ consists of run/walk/run/walk/run/walk/run. Is that defeating the object? Apart from my two aborted runs I’ve run every single inch of the way. Does that make me a better person? Is incorporating a walk defeating the object? Discuss

- My running has a goal. The 10k on 11th June. This gives me something to aim for and in turn increases my motivation. Simple.

- Posture. A combination of ‘pumping my arms’ and leaning slightly forward whilst running makes the run that little bit easier. Possibly. Breathing efficiently helps as well.

- Fast food outlets and restaurants. Try not to run past (or indeed into) too many of these. Not a good idea especially when hungry.

- Boombastic, Mambo no 5 and Ooh ah (just a little bit) are surprisingly uplifting running songs. Possibly not the best three songs in the world and the boombastic lyrics are interesting to say the least but very good for running to. IMHO.

- People walking on the pavement are annoying. Don’t they realise what the pavement is for? Fools!

- Spitting is disgusting. I’ve hated it for 40 years now. Sadly I have to do it about twice a mile. Just thought you’d like to know

Just two more things to report.

Celebrity spot this week was Michael Ball (singer) in a bookshop in Barnes and Dad. Thought I’d add Dad as he’s been in ALL THREE episodes of Green Wing so far. Most impressive.

Finally if anyone wants to do a 10,000 word Maths project on Magic Squares then can they contact me immediately.

Please.

Fresh air, dirty trainers

Before I start I’ve taken Becky’s link off this page as she now says she’s got enough money (needed £100, received to date £237.95) and thank you all very much for your overwhelming generosity.

Went on my usual 3 mile run the Tuesday before last (10/11 days ago), felt like very hard work but bizarrely finished it in LESS THAN A SECOND slower than my previous one. It’s fair to say I may have found my pace although I’m confident the roar of the crowd will drag my time the right side of the hour mark. That and another 10 weeks training.

One slightly worrying thing is my pace (or lack of it). I was going past Barnes Bridge station whilst people were getting off the train and it took me longer than I’d like to catch up and even overtake them. This will improve. I hope.

I need to generally review my fitness routine/diet. On the fitness side of things I’m aiming for either 2 or 3 runs per week added to my circuits class and a maximum of 2 football games. If I miss a footy game and/or circuits class then I’ll try and make it 3 runs etc. Don’t want to overdo it at my age! Also need to go on a diet – been drinking too much these last few weeks and made no effort to lose weight which would obviously make the whole running thing a lot easier.

Due to go on a run last Saturday but was so shattered that I was in bed at 7.30 and was even read a bedtime story by Rosie (5 next month) rather than the other way round. Also got very, very, very slight hip(!) and knee soreness so trying to take it a bit easy for the time being. As far as the run goes, I’ve got time on my side.

STOP PRESS: Becky’s moonwalk is on the same night as the Eurovision Song Contest – what should I/we do. At this point half of you are shouting ‘Saddos’ at your screens and the other half are truly feeling my pain.



From Monday to Wednesday I went, with 30 of my work colleagues, to a hotel in Ascot for some ‘team-building’. Better than I thought, best bit: Scalextric evening, worst bit: Horse whispering. There were offers from Garry of an early morning run but these were politely declined for the following reasons:

Early morning (I do very well for early mornings at home, looking forward to 8 o’clock lie-ins when away)

Garry is probably at least 4 times as fast as me and whilst at the beginning the general consensus was that it’s good to run with other people I think I definitely prefer running on my own – especially at this still early stage.

On the Tuesday evening we had an hour before dinner so I donned my magic pants (and other assorted clothing, obviously) and went for a quick run outside the hotel gates. Not my best run for the following reasons:

Hilly – or possibly slightly undulating – but hillier than Barnes/Mortlake
Limited pavement - had to keep crossing road to find more pavement. This was an unrestricted road where cars felt free to travel at speeds in excess of 250 miles per hour. Or so it seemed.
No pavement – just one of those muddy patches of grass (or grassy patches of mud) with the aforementioned road on one side and a ditch on the other.
Smells – animal excrement I’d wager. And mud of course.
If I got lost/broke my ankle – how would I get back
Lack of landmarks – in the leafy suburbs of SW13/14 I know that if I go past the chip shop (go PAST the chip shop – that’s right) I’m either 4 or 26 minutes from home and if I see the Red Lion I’m just past halfway and should be back in the warm in about 15 minutes etc. etc.
MY SHOES GOT MUDDY

Enough said

The last couple of Thursdays (5 a side football in Brentford) have been good and definitely feel I’m getting more out of the games now although first touch, shooting etc. still need a lot of work.

Despite feeling exhausted I went on another 3 mile run last night (Friday). It was fairly easy/comfortable in some places but very tough in others. A bit of light rain at the beginning was welcomed unlike a couple of the Oxbridge ‘types’ here for the boat race on Sunday who seemed to relish trying to block my path. Running around here you get cars and pedestrians who treat you as if you’re invisible and think ‘Why should I have to move for him’ but luckily there are slightly more people who make a conscious effort to get out of your way/stop their car to let you cross. Timewise the run was about 6 seconds faster than the most recent two so that's good. Thinking about moving up to 4 or 4.5 miles in mid April. Possibly.

One last point: I got sent the following link from an old friend of mine, Damian, and also saw it on the BBC website. It’s called http://www.thefatmanwalking.com/ – have a look at it. I found it very interesting.

That’s all for now

Saturday – Come on you Whites
Sunday – Come on you Light Blues

Fulham 1 Chelsea 0

OK so nothing at all to do with running and I can claim little (or possibly no) credit for the rather impressive scoreline above but I just like seeing it in big letters.

Cash news - all going brilliantly, Becky is happy with her total (she says thanks very much and you can stop now) and I'm more than happy with mine, thank you all very much.

You'll see a few very messy links down on the right hand side. If anyone knows how to tidy them up then I'll try my best but I'm new at all this blog/web stuff. Two are for cheap petrol and one for cheap cds/dvds etc. Certainly worth having a look at if you've got a couple of minutes.

I did it. I achieved what I set out to do at the beginning of the week. I thought three times in a week would be too much but with a lot of determination and effort I did it.

Now enough talk of pub visits, let's get back to running/exercise.

My second three-miler was on Wednesday. Very confident going into it as my first had been a great success in my view (i.e didn't collapse/die/walk/explode) however after practically knocking my old mate Stubbsy over by the White Hart Lane level crossing (look him up - Ray Stubbs) I developed a stitch on the mile mark that not only wouldn't go away but seemed to get worse. Started as a stitch in the side and increased all round my trunk (around my ribs, nowhere near my face) heavily restricting my breathing.

Glumly I had to head back mainly walking but also trotting (am I an elephant or a horse?) slightly until the pain kicked in. Put 'running stitch' into Google and after sifting through all the knitting and sewing websites was told to do the following:

Take deep breaths whilst running
Warm up properly
Breathe out through 'pursed' lips thus fully utilising the diaphragm
Alternate which side of the body I 'land on' whilst exhaling
Start at a reasonable pace but don't go off 'like a shot'

The whole breathing thing has always been a bit random and my 'efficiency' has probably suffered as a result so to get that sorted would be a major boost.

Slightly depressed when I got back but realised this was a minor hitch and no more than that.

Thursday was a very good footy session and felt definitely fitter afterwards (did I say that last week?). Friday was a pub night and on Saturday I once again attempted to complete my second three-miler. Very good run although about a minute slower than my first one (exact times are only important when I'm getting faster - you should know that by now) but I always felt comfortable and with a little bit more 'in the tank' if you get my drift.

Sunday was another rest day watching the football which was excellent although marred by some idiots running onto the pitch as was Monday (a rest day not a day marred by idiots etc. although that said .......) as I didn't go to my normal circuits class for many reasons, the main one being I didn't book it in time but also I seem to have acquired a slightly sore hip. Perhaps I've been overdoing it - we'll see. Perhaps that first sentence was far too long. Perhaps.

Talking to a couple of very old (in both senses) and extremely computer-literate friends in the pub about blogs/websites on Friday night and why or why not people should have them they came to the conclusion they should only exist if people have something worth saying. I may not fall into that category but this has definitely helped for two main reasons:

Charity Fund Raising
Motivating me to get out and get fitter (which I DEFINITELY feel)

That's justified it to myself - job done.

I think I've not conformed to blog etiquette by emailing people when there's been an update. I think you're supposed to just let people look as and when they can/feel like it. That's what I'll do from now on but I will say that I'll try and update at least every two weeks.

Cheers

Never as bad as you think

** Previous posts are at the bottom of the page **

Becky would like it to be known that the following was planned long before I decided to do my run and that she is regretting her impetuous, some might say insane, decision to participate in

The Playtex Moonwalk 2006

This is the one that, I think, starts at midnight and involves thousands of women in bras (custom designed obviously) walking a marathon around London on 20/21 May 2006. Anyhow, my current total stands at a not meagre £529 so for all those people who haven't quite got round to sponsoring me yet, can I divert your funds towards https://www.bmycharity.com/V2/beckyharris

Ta muchly.

It's raising funds for breast cancer and I think you have to raise £100 before they let you take part.

Becky says "Please don't feel under any pressure to contribute as you've all been so kind already"

Anyhow what's been going on since last time? I've had 'dodgy guts' - I believe that's the correct medical expression - since last Monday forcing me to miss my normal Monday circuits class at work and my Tuesday run (insert run/runs joke here if you can be bothered). Thursday was footy day which went quite well. We lost but played well and fitness was noticeably better.

Before I rant further, celebrity watch this week was slightly better than last. SIR Trevor McDonald in Waitrose and Ray Stubbs in Ye White Hart watching the excellent Arsenal v Real Madrid game. Everyone know who both of those people are? Good.

Friday was the last 1.5m run - all went well although 10 seconds off my best but I've been told that I've been placing far too much importance on time. Probably right but for me it's the best (if not only) method of measuring improvement.

Sporting activity on Saturday was limited to participating in some excellent snooker in the evening (Fat Boys 4, Bannister's Bottlers 0) followed by watching an abject (and that's being kind) Fulham performance.

Sunday, last night, was the first of the 3m runs. I think doing this in 29 minutes puts you on course for a 60 minute 10k. Wasn't looking forward to doing this at all and bizarrely quite nervous. Now sorted out my playlist so know that every song is a good one or at least hand-picked with no Disney-based surprises. Started off with 'Another one bites the dust' which, like a few Queen songs, has a very strong beat. Sadly this one had rap (with a capital C) all over it. Will delete. 'Don't stop me now' and 'Boombastic' are current favourites. Started at a very slow pace and I think remained at a steady pace for most of the run. The music helped enormously and also the fact that I knew where I was and exactly when I was on the 'homeward straight' (going down Barnes High Street with the Red Lion behind me since you ask)

This running training has similarities with 'a nice walk in the country'. As long as you know how long you're going to walk/run for you can prepare yourself accordingly and feel an amazing sense of achievement when you get back and settle down in front of the telly for an hour or two. It's when either of these activities appear without an end that things become less than ideal.

Finished the 3 miles in 31 minutes, which I was very pleased with as a first attempt at that particular distance. Still definitely looking for 29 mins in an ideal world but we'll see how the next 5 or 6 runs progress. Felt fantastic when I finished, knackered but not dead on my feet and very happy. Easily pleased.

This lunchtime I did circuits which was good but very intense but sadly my running plan this week has hit 3 major snags. Tuesday, Friday and Sunday are my normal running nights. This week I am going out drinking on ........... Tuesday (college boys in Russell Square), Friday (old friends in Richmond) and Sunday (pre-match tincture in Putney before Fulham 1 Chelsea 24). Probably run on Wed and Sat instead.


Just a few things I want to finish on:

1 - How do people cope with running past restaurants? Last night, at about the halfway stage, there was a restaurant with its doors open and two men SPIT ROASTING something meat-based (quite possibly an ex-animal of some sort) ON THE PAVEMENT. Unbelievable! How am I supposed to run/plod past?

2 - At what stage can I legitimately buy one of those water carrying belts and take water on my run? They look quite exciting and an excellent money spending opportunity.

3 - Apparently the crowds at these events can knock minutes off your time. The best trick is to put your name on your shirt so that when they start shouting at/for/near you it spurs you on to greater speeds. Allegedly. If I put 'John' on the back of my shirt, how will I know that they're shouting at/for me. Could be someone else? Does it matter? Do I need a more exclusive name? Do I need a life?

That's me done for the week, wish me luck and can I refer those in the 'I'll definitely sponsor you before the big day just haven't got round to it yet' camp to the Becky link at the top of this entry.

Time to step up?

** Previous posts are at the bottom of the page **

Geoff's on board, training and going to the gym. Mark has said he'll do it but hasn't registered yet so we'll see how that pans out and I've got £516.20 sponsorship so far and a new MP3 player so all's right with the world. In fact I've got a second hand Zen thing that I got for £50 but is worth over £120 with a rather attractive velcro-based arm strap thing. Good.

Thursday night was footy as usual. Pretty good in parts but wasn't knackered at the end which is 20% increased fitness and 80% not trying as hard as I should. I'll definitely change that soon.

Friday night was another run, although my first with new exciting Zen/strap combination. Nothing special or new to report, hard work but the time was OK. I know the time isn't really important but I like to see visual (or even statistical) signs of improvement within each distance.

Sporting events on Saturday involved my first visit to Craven Cottage since November to see us get thrashed by Arsenal. They were good, Henry was magnificent and we were appalling. Our next home game is a nice easy one, some distinctly average team also based in Fulham. Eeeek. The only memorable thing was seeing Victor Lewis-Smith (Evening Standard amusing if a little predictable television critic) take his seat near us and seeing two 'stars' of Big Brother (7 I think) outside after the game. For those who know about these things it was the nasty idiot Maxwell behaving like a moron and the extremely aggressive Saskia strutting like a very chunky peacock. Memorable may be pushing the point slightly.

Sunday was another run and it wasn't too cold, there was little or no wind and I wasn't knackered as I'd had a lie-in that morning. My time was pretty good as well - 852 compared with the previous 6 of 939, 900, 877, 894 (whoops), 861 and 867. Felt like I'd given it my best shot and if I averaged that in the run I'd do it in just over 56 minutes but obviously only if I kept that constant pace over the 10k. I've decided to do 2 more runs at 1.5k and then up the distance to 3k. My routes are restriced to the road/pavement as I want to measure the distance out in the car first. Later on, once I reach a more consistent and predictable speed, I'll do things like run for 30/45 minutes but for the moment I quite like the fixed routes idea. I've already measured the 3k distance in the car and my first attempt will be next Sunday with a target time of 29 minutes dead. Wish me luck.

Let's not forget that in this run I have 2 very simple aims:
1 - Run don't walk AT ANY STAGE
2 - Finish in under an hour (or else I'll owe Garry money)

Told you they were simple.

Playlist is coming along nicely - thanks for all the suggestions. If you leave comments on this blog could you give me a clue who you are, unless of course you want to remain anonymous which is your perogative. Thanks for all the support/advice, it's all very, very much appreciated.

Slowly but surely

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Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. Just thought I'd introduce the funny looking people above. The one on the bottom is my sister, Niccy and the one on the top is me. The other one on the top is Geoff. Whilst they're both 'training' in other parts of the land - Niccy lives in Turnpike Lane (sorry I mean Wood Green) and Geoff lives in Petersfield - we shall all be running together 'on the day'. Or at least at the start. I'm a great believer in finding your own pace and whilst it would be nice (if a little strange, let's be honest) to all hold hands crossing the finishing line there may well be quite a variance in the finishing times if I can get a bit statistical on you for a moment.

Anyhow should you want to sponsor either Niccy or Geoff you need to go to http://www.capital10k.co.uk/RunnerPage.aspx?BCID=1025504 (Niccy) or http://www.capital10k.co.uk/RunnerPage.aspx?BCID=1026137 (Geoff) but be patient as the websites are a bit erratic.

On the subject of cash, I'm doing very nicely with my £462.50 with a lot more promised. I'm not going to hassle people at the moment as there are about 14 weeks to go but I may be pointing people towards the third link down towards the end of May.

Now let's get up-to-date.

Monday was circuits day - very good little 'workout' in the gym at work involving all sorts of things like press ups, squat thrusts, ab crunches etc. Shoulders don't hurt like last week so fairly happy and it's not a 'run day' anyhow.

Went for a run on Tuesday, and improved my time to 14.22 which is 24 seconds better than last Friday and we're ignoring Sunday's freak result. That was an outlier which is another exciting statistical expression. Mmmm. Nothing much to report except random MP3 player, windy, few people about and running with a slight and intermittent stitch.

Wednesday - was going to play football at lunchtime but the auditors had other ideas.

Aiming to play football tonight and go for a run tomorrow

3 things to note:
1 - A couple of Queen tracks (We will rock you and can't remember the name of the other) have very solid beats which are excellent to run to. Also downloaded 'Eye of the tiger' - very naff and I'm obviously not going to run up steps quickly as I'll do my ankle in, not as young as I was etc. etc. but may be a good song to run to. Or may not. We'll see.

2 - I really, really, really didn't want to run on Tuesday. It was cold, I was knackered, didn't get home from in-laws until nearly 8 etc. but because of all the money raised (thanks to all) and this blog I HAD TO. That's why I'm doing the blog. It all makes sense now.

3 - Haven't restricted my eating/drinking yet or looked at running diets but I will do later. Any advice on this to john.lowit@gmail.com would be much appreciated as usual. Also need to look at training plans and decide when to increase the distance.

Not sure when the next update will be but I'll send out the usual email. Thanks to everyone for reading/sponsoring/reading and sponsoring.

Late note - apologies to Gary for implying that it was his Northern-ness that won the table football tournament. Utter rubbish. It was his keen eye combined with his quick hands/firm wrists combination. Glad that's sorted.

The ecstasy and the agony

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It's Sunday night and despite the total raised so far being an amazing £462.80 I'm experiencing a very slight low but more of that later.

Thursday was fairly uneventful - no running but my usual 5 a side football. We got hammered and fitness wise I noticed a slight difference as I wasn't completely exhausted at the end although part of that my be lack of effort but I'm sure a tiny part of it may be due to my new fitness regime. Time will tell.

Friday was another run day (my 3rd although it seems a lot more). The good news is my time went down from 15 dead to 14 38. This means my 3 times have been 15 40, 15 dead and 14 38. Very exciting. The bad news is that Becky said I looked like 'The only gay in the village'. Shoe and sock-wise I've managed to attain the best that cash can buy, almost. From the knees up however, as I'm only running in the dark, I tend to put on old football shirts, the magic pants (groin-wise I'm possibly not what I should be but that's a story for another day) and any old shorts keeping the new ones for daylight activities. The run seemed hard work and it was another windy night on the borders of Barnes and Mortlake so I was happy to get such a good time. The MP3 player seems to playing my songs randomly - 'I just can't wait to be king' followed by 'Angels'. Good songs in their own right but Angels makes me want to set fire to something and put it in my mouth (don't smoke) and wave my lighter in the air in a way unbecoming of someone of my advanced years. It seems that with MP3 players like with most things you get what you pay for.

Saturday was a very sporting day if you count playing table football (got a proper table football table(!) from Becky, Mark H, Mark A, Geoff and Ade for my 40th), watching football results and rugby. Gary won football, congratulations, and was best player by a distance. Must be a Northern thing. Perhaps.

Sunday. Quiet day enlivened by big lunch in Tootsie's in Putney (that new wharf bit by the river diagonally opposite the home of English football) followed by early supper with the girls. Error. Left it a couple of hours after supper before running but found it tough and went round in a very disappointing 14 55. 17 seconds worse than 2 days ago. Why? The obvious thing to note is the fact that I ate before the run. On the other three runs I had supper when I got back from my run and not before. Could also have been complacency or thinking that I was going to improve EVERY time I went out. I think it was mainly the food - this will also become apparent as time goes on. Tonights run was enlivened by the first few bars of 'Don't stop me now' about 20 seconds from the end. Freddie said I was having such a good time. I wasn't. Especially after I saw the time.

So feeling a bit down but a couple of things I need to air/discuss:
1 - What music do people listen to when they run? I know a few who don't listen to music at all on the roads as it gets a bit dangerous with cars and pedestrians. My routes have to be by roads for the time being as I need exact measurements for my stats.
2 - Had I improved my time tonight I would have upped the distance to 2 or 2.5 miles for the next few runs but I think I'll stick with 1.5 miles until at least the weekend and see what happens with my time.

What I've got to remember is it's all a huge learning experience. Feel better now. I'm running this race with Niccy, my sister, and possibly Geoff, my best man (or one of them) who is wavering so I need everyone to send a blank email to gwoo@btinternet.com with the subject line: DO THE RUN, YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO.

That's all for now, thanks for the masses of extremely positive feedback.

Very quick post

** Previous posts are at the bottom of the page **

2 things:

Shall I run tonight? Do my legs hurt from 'playing' football last night?

** Amazingly I've just gone over £400 in sponsorship in only 11 days! Many, many thanks to everyone. **

That's all - watch this space.

2nd Run

** Previous posts are at the bottom of the page **

Stuff and Nonsense

Firstly I'd like to thank people who've sponsored me so far. The total is over £270 (online only) and rising every day. I've also got £30 in cash from various people and about another £30 promised so many thanks to everyone. I'll try not to let anyone down.
The link to sponsor is http://www.capital10k.co.uk/RunnerPage.aspx?BCID=1025425

I have two arms. Not particularly strong but certainly two in number. I say this because from my photo (the only one I can find in which I look even remotely sporty) it looks like I have only one. Or perhaps only one and a bit. But certainly not two. Glad that's sorted.

Does the clock on here look rubbish? Thought so. All this computer stuff is very confusing.

If Dave sponsors me I'll plug his company (see the 'Eden' on my t-shirt), if he doesn't I won't. Simple really.

Gmail is excellent, if anyone wants a gmail account then email me at john.lowit@gmail.com

You didn't come here to read my ramblings. You want to know about pavement pounding (and I do mean pounding) and the blood, sweat and tears associated with training for this 10k. With this in mind, read on:

Tuesday 21st February 2005

On the plus side I remembered to take my MP3 player (not an ipod, a cheap and cheerful 128mb player from ebay). On the minus side I programmed it incorrectly so had to do a mid-run fiddle to stop it playing 'Hakuna Matata' which you'll instantly recognise as one of the main songs in 'The Lion King'. It means 'no worries' ... etc. etc. Anyhow, I digress. I was knackered, it was windy and both the roads and pavements were more congested than the previous Sunday. Becky mentioned I'd have to be ultra-alert not to get run over whilst listening to the music. She was right.

Set off at quite a pace (these things are relative) but found my natural running speed very, very quickly. Definitely found it extremely hard going, the main reason being that perhaps in my excitement of actually surviving Sunday I had painted a rather rosier picture of my virgin run and therefore thought I could almost float through the mile and a half. I couldn't. It was knackering. People hogging the pavement. I'm sure one man coming out of Barnes Bridge station actually wanted me in the road. Grrrr. All these people possibly had a positive effect on my running as I think I speeded up as I went past them to try to give a rather better impression. Have I mentioned how windy it was?

So, mp3 player tucked into my shorts, phone clutched in my right hand (it records split times and saves them! How I love numbers and ridiculous statistics), wind rushing through my hair I actually managed to complete the 'course' in 15 minutes dead and not the 15 40 that I covered it in on Sunday. This was good news. Stats were noted, my VO2 max had suddenly become important (slightlier sprightlier slug now) and I experienced a buzz I've not had since birth of kids, getting married, Fulham getting promoted etc. etc.

5 a side football tonight so next run is probably not until Friday night or more realistically Saturday night. I'd be VERY happy with 14 50 but not displeased with 15 minutes dead again. Socks arrived this morning - special 'twin skin' anklets, don't you know. Something about keeping foot moisture away from outside world and rain away from manky (I blame my father) feet. See you soon and don't forget http://www.capital10k.co.uk/RunnerPage.aspx?BCID=1025425

Training Diary - Thursday 17th February 2006 to Tuesday 21st February 2006

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Thursday 16th February 2006

Today is the all-important trainer buying day. Very exciting. Spending opportunities are always welcome although this is a rare one as it doesn't involve my friends on ebay. I decide to go 'The Sweat Shop' in Teddington on the recommendation of Mark who has done a few marathons in his time. I can fit this in before my 5 a side football. One small problem though - I appear to have done my back in due to too much Jessica (2 1/2) carrying. Get shoes - Asics Gel Kayano XI or something similar for a bargain £85 (down from £110 - they're practically giving them away). My participation in tonight's football is no more as running is even more painful and embarrassing than usual so go home and lie down.

Friday 17th February 2006

Look at training schedules. The beginner's one on the BUPA/Capital website http://www.capital10k.co.uk/trainingschedule.asp seems to have been written for whichever one of Andy/Lou from Little Britain spends most of his life in a wheelchair. Niccy sent me another one http://www.realbuzz.com/shop/index.php?cPath=115. Don't spend a fiver on it, if you email me at john.lowit@gmail.com I'll send it to you. I'm not sure which one to follow so I think I'll probably make my own one up.

Sunday 19th February 2006

Excellent - an excuse for matrices, spreadsheets and all things statistical. In the book that my sister lent me there is something called a VO2 max index which tells you how unfit you are. It is something to measure my improvement/deterioration against and therefore I like it. There are many places on the web where you can find out and calculate this if you're interested. You basically have to measure out a 1.5m course which you have to run WITHOUT FEELING EXHAUSTED and then calculate your score using a combination of weight, sex (m/f not frequency) and time to run the aforementioned 1.5m. On the way home from my cousin's house in Milton Keynes we plot a 1.5 mile course. For those still awake it's house - White Hart Lane level crossing - Ye White Hart - Chip shop.

Here we go. Kids in bed (almost) so time for my first run. Using a combination of magic pants, footy top, shorts, spanking new trainers and sexy double-skinned socks but forgetting my MP3 player - bugger - I head off on my course carrying my phone in stopwatch mode. Note to self - buy proper racing stopwatch - possibly. It's wet and my lovely new shoes get covered in mud almost instantly but I may be missing the point. Decide to record split times, house - Tim Rice's house - Pelican crossing outside chip shop - bus stop outside Henry's (friend of Rosie 4 1/2 year-old daughter) house - bus garage. Although the whole thing took 15 minutes 40 seconds I was very, very happy for the following reasons:
1 - Didn't stop once. Ran pretty bloody slowly most of the time but didn't actually stop once.
2 - Bizarrely got a real buzz from doing it.
Now I know it's only a mile and a half but it's a start. When I got home I calculated that my VO2 max is that of a slug but it's something to be improved upon.

Monday 20th February 2006

No running but I do a 45 minute circuits class at work. Now it's not just my legs that ache but my shoulders as well. Next run tomorrow - looking forward to it. Honestly.

Introduction

Last Monday I decided to enter the Capital Radio/BUPA 10k run to be held in Hyde Park on 11th June. You can sponsor me at http://www.capital10k.co.uk/RunnerPage.aspx?BCID=1025425. I've just started training and it's a lot more interesting/exciting/rewarding than I thought it would be. I was hoping some friends would train and then do the run with me. Don't think that's going to happen but Niccy (my sister) is going to join me on the day. Now go back to that link, sponsor me and then read on.

Reasons for doing the run:

Thought it would be a laugh
Manageable distance (approx. 6 miles)
Raise money for charity
Get fit and therefore provide good example to kids (4 1/2 and 2 1/2)

Reasons for doing the blog:

Thought it would be interesting for both myself and others to do an online progress report. I could be wrong - let's see.
Possibly give an incentive for others like me (5th decade, unfit, little or no regular exercise) to do something similar when they see how interesting/exciting/rewarding it is.
Always wanted to do something like this again since my journals from Europe/India in 1998 which can be found on http://www.rgalea.com/travel/main.html (bear in mind these were written before I met someone with an inate loathing of exclamation marks)

So that's all so far - keep popping back and I'll try and update things every couple of days.

Have I mentioned http://www.capital10k.co.uk/RunnerPage.aspx?BCID=1025425 ?