An Entry About Not Starting, But Motivating

In Which I Get Letters After My Name

Last week I was entered into the Stadium Striders 10k Trail Run in Brighouse, and here’s my recap:

I didn’t go.

I was a DNS.

That’s right, for the first time EVER since I started running (June this year) I missed a race that I’d entered. I hope that the start didn’t get delayed while they waited for me to turn up. My phone was off so I don’t know how many hundreds of times they tried to call, and I must’ve missed them knocking on my door. I bet the whole day was a let down because I didn’t show.

I had good reason though, for the few days leading up to the run my legs were aching, and didn’t want to try run my first ever trail run with sore legs. I thought that I’d regret not going and that I’d be full of remorse, but I guess the little voice in my head knew it was for the best because it didn’t say anything. Instead, me and Sarah had a lie-in and watched Sunday Brunch (Madness were supposed to be on, but they weren’t. I think they must have been too upset about me not showing up for my run.)

On the plus side though, having missed a race seems to have motivated me on a bit more than I was previously motivated. I went out of the bike on Tuesday and rode the 5k route that I ran last week in 20:20, and then the day after I rode the same route again in 17:39. I keep reading about running and cycling and the thing I read the most is “It’s time in the saddle, not speed or distance that makes you better.” I think tomorrow I might just sit stationary on the bike for an hour or so and see how much better I get.

Also, back to motivation, I’m going to start running in the mornings instead of evenings. That way, I figure, I can run from home towards work (bit of a detour to make it into a 5k run) and finish at my gym which is pretty much next door to work. I can then shower and change before starting my day. If I feel up to it, I could maybe do a bit of weights too. Maybe.

My next scheduled run is the Gunpowder Plod on 5th November in York, and there’s no way I’m missing that’n!

2013 in 2013

In Which I Set Myself, And Yourself, A Challenge

Between now and the start of 2013 I will be doing three major things in my life:

1. Buying a house.
2. Getting Married.
3. Surviving the Mayans.

Exciting I know! Mayans of all things!

I’m sure you’ll agree, these are all big big things to be happening in my life. The biggest thing that happened lately is that I bought an out of date magazine so you’ll understand that the word ‘big’ was used twice in a row for a reason. Which brings me to 2013, and wanting to set myself a challenge.

The other day I was looking at my stats on my Sports Tracker App and it said that I’d done just over 100 miles since I started. That’s 100 miles of running since I started a few months ago. “Wouldn’t it be great,” said the voice in my head, “To do 1’000 miles in a year!” “Yes!” Said my mouth (making a customer at work look at me funny) “Yes it would!”

Today at work, the voice in my head said “Wouldn’t it be better, if you did 2013 miles in 2013!”

Sometimes the voice in my head is a bit of a knob.

The idea is now there though, and refuses to budge. Which is why for the past hour I’ve been thinking about and working out average millage per month/week/day. (168/39/5.5 if you were wondering.) I’ll be doing this for charity, and so obviously will be aiming to raise £2013.

If anyone else wants to take on the challenge, feel free to join in. Whether it’s Running, Walking or Cycling, it all adds up. If anyone wants to make me a logo for this page, feel free too. T-Shirts and things to follow. If 2013 miles is too much, how about 2013 kilometres? You never know, if enough of us decide to do it we might get a bit of publicity! If ten of us manage, it’s £20k raised for charity!

Of course, this is still in it’s infancy so might end up just being something else I blog about, but hopefully it will turn into more.

Even set up another Twitter account for it (just in case)

Thinking further on it, I could set up a website and have a monthly leader board for miles done and stuff! Yeah! Where ever you are in the world you can join in, send me your millage each week and I’ll update.

If you fancy it, send me your email address to

do2013in2013@hotmail.co.uk

and I’ll let you know when it’s all sorted properly.

Let me know!

*UPDATE*

To make things a bit clearer, you can do the miles or kilometres however you wish, whether it’s Running (Road or Treadmill), Swimming, Walking or Cycling. Or a mixture! I think mine will be mainly running/walking, with a bit of cycling thrown in for good measure!

Anyone, anywhere in the world is welcomed to join in.

If you choose to raise money, choose any charity you wish.

Email me weekly with your millage updates and I’ll update your stats. (When I decide how to show it…)

I’m working on a month by month chart that you can print out, with daily/weekly/monthly averages and you can then fill in your details after each session.

FAQ section ASAP!

An Update Of Three Things

In Which I Achieve A Goal, Sign Up For Something Awesome, And Try Something New

Something Achieved

Finally getting over almost dying from a vicious cold, and from being worried about being outdated, I decided to go for a run yesterday, on my day off. Up til now I’ve normally run on my way home or after work, but have been sticking quite well to my running schedule so I got my kit on and got my jog on.

I mapped out the 5k route that I tried (and failed) before and left it up on the computer so Sarah could see. (I’ve seen 127 hours.) I was looking forward to trying this route because I knew that I could now get round it, and that there were plenty of roads to cross so plenty of time for little breathers. (That is NOT cheating. I checked.) It’s a loop which starts off at our house and finishes at… er… our house.

I took it nice and easy to start with, running down Harrogate road, passing the wonderful smell of fish and chips from the Chippy. Getting towards the round-a-bout I turned left up towards Eccleshill Village and my first challenge: a short, but steep, hill. I ran to the top then turned right towards Morrisons, walking for a minute or so to catch my breath. I ran on the left side of the road because there are lots of side streets leading off of it, and so quite a few chances of a cheeky little walk. Next time I’ll try the right hand side as there’s hardly any side streets and the ones there are are mainly cul-de-sacs so you can easily assess whether you need to stop or not.

A slight downhill slope brought me to the corner where the Lane Ends Pub is (SO tempted) but I turned left and ran up the hill towards Bolton Junction. It’s a steady slope so I did a mixture of running and walking (about 60% running). I felt quite proud when i ran past the place where I burnt out last time I did this loop, and this spurred me on to run (downhill) towards the traffic lights.

I then did my longest bout of walking, about 2-3 minutes, up the hill towards the library, then turned right onto Leeds Road which would take me (flatly) all the way home. My plan was to take a short walking break after I passed the Manor Pub but there was a few kids in front of me (going in the same direction) so decided to run passed them. When I got passed, it wasn’t much further to the crossing so kept going. I waited for the lights to change, then ran all the way to the top of our driveway.

Pressing ‘Stop’ on Sports Tracker, I started to walk up and down the drive a few times to cool down and looked at my time. It said that I had run 5k in UNDER 30 minutes! Three seconds under, but a Sub 30minute 5k is a Sub 30minute 5k! It also told me that I’d now logged 100 miles on the app. Pleased with that! (I know it says 3.08mi but it didn’t start til I’d run a bit, and I couldn’t get my phone out to stop it straight away because my fingers were cold, so it levels out and I’m claiming it. So there.)

Sub 25min next!

Something Awesome

On the 5th November (Remember Remember) as well as it being Bonfire Night, there’s a race going on in York. Not just any race, a 5k Fire Work Spectacular race called The Gun Powder Plod. As Guy Fawkes was from York, where better to have it? It’s in the late afternoon, in the dark, and there’s fireworks to guide you along. Afterwards there’s a bonfire and a huge Firework Display, along with food and beer tents and live music. You also get a t-shirt, medal, sparkler and picture with Guy Fawkes. (Not sure if it’s the real one or not. I got duped by a Santa like this once.)

This is going to be awesome.

Their website and more details are here:

Gun Powder Plod

Gun Powder Plod – York

(On a side note, my mate Rob once said to me: ‘You know Bonfire Night, why don’t they call it Guy Fawkes Night?’ I said ‘Er, they do.)

Something New

We’re moving house in a few weeks and so decided that I’m going to get a bike to ride to work and back, and it’d be a bit far to run every day. I mentioned this around the table and Ironman Tony has lent me a bike that he no longer uses. (I think that leaves him with four bikes…) I rode to work on it this morning (all downhill WHEEEEEEEEE!!!!) and am going to attempt to ride it home tonight. (Uphill. Boo.) It has those pedals where you need specialist shoes to clip in (he offered to lend me some, but haven’t been on a bike in years and I don’t think the first time back on one, riding down the main road downhill  is best to try out a new way of being attached) and so my feet hurt a bit. And my legs. And my bum. I only peddled about three times, so not sure about the ride home…

Two thirds towards a triathlon!

(I can’t swim though.)

Conned!

In which I am outdated, and outraged

I’ve been ill these past few days, and today is my first day back at work. I’ve missed a couple of runs due to almost dying (it was a SERIOUS cold) and so when I popped into the shop on my way in, I bought a running magazine for inspiration.

Exhibit ‘A’

So far, so good. Infact, I was so pleased with myself for being on my way to a healthier life (buying a running mag is almost as good as going for a run) that I decided to take a picture of said magazine, instagram the crap out of it, and upload to Twitter and Facebook to show how healthy I am.

A few minutes later, I received this tweet:

Tweet Tweet

“Not got that copy.” That was (should have been) my first clue.

New out! I thought. I’m going to be on the cutting edge of all the new information, and I’ll be running better than everyone! I should’ve brought my running gear to work so I could start straight away, a few laps of the shop, perhaps?

I started looking through the magazine and read: “This month is a big one for marathons, and they don’t come bigger than London.”

London? That’s ages away! (Clue #2). Uber-Cutting Edge! They talk about things 6 months in the future as though they’re this month! I’ll be getting all sorts of questions about why I’m so good and where I got my info! I’ll be rich!

Sadly, no.

I looked at the front of the magazine, at the date.

May.

Incase you’ve forgotten, or don’t have a calendar handy, it’s October.

BUT WAIT! It get’s worse.

Exhibit ‘B’ (Just the same as Exhibit ‘A’, but zoomed in a bit)

MAY 2011!

17 months ago! It hasn’t been 2011 for at least nine months! You could have a baby in that time!

I’m no longer cutting edge, I’m off the edge! I don’t even know where the edge is! (Touring with U2, probably. Boom boom!)

Now I’m worried that my running technique will be outdated! People will laugh at my running style and say things like “Look at him, he’s SO May 2011…!”

I can’t even remember what I was doing in May 2011 so I can’t pretend I time travelled or anything!

The cover of the magazine promises “369 Unmissable Races To Enter Now” but I’ve missed all 369. It should’ve said “369 Unmissable Races To Enter Now Unless You’ve Been Sold This Magazine By Someone Who Ignores Dates And By Dates We Mean Dates As In Days And Months And Not Dates As In Fruit Or Going For A Nice Meal With A Loved One Or Someone You Fancy A Bit.”

I go in that shop quite often, so next time I’m in I’ll mention this (for want of a better word) balls-up, and tell him that if anyone laughs at my out-dated running, I’ll make sure they don’t come into his shop. Or I’ll ask for a free Twix.

I daren’t even look at the milk I bought.

Cold Running, and a Cold

In which I feel sorry for myself, and get Lost

The past few days, I’ve been ill. I knew it was coming because Andy at work has been ill, and so has Ironman Tony. (The gits.) Only a matter of time before I caught it myself. Luckily, I seem to be over the worst of it.

What’s the best amount of time to wait, after an illness, before going out for another run? I guess it’s all down to how you feel inside. I’ve run home from work a few times in the past week, all uphill, and have been improving steadily. It’s 1.8 miles home, and from start to finish raises just over 325feet. I don’t want to reset all the hard work!

The first time I ran it (I can’t run the whole way without stopping, yet) it took me 20m 12s. Last week I ran it in 19:37. Two days later, 18:32. Over a full minute quicker in two days. A few days later, it was pouring down and cold. I ran it in 20:15. I could feel my ankles straining before I got halfway, and had to walk more than I would’ve liked.

Should I be warming up more in the cold weather, or do I need to wear more clothes? I have a 10k trail run in two weeks (in Brighouse) and want to run it in under an hour, so any cold running or running in the rain advice is more than welcome.

But for the next couple of days in staying in bed and watching Lost.