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