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!