Diary of a (wannabe) Marathon Man

I'm back

2011-10-04T21:24:00.005+01:00

Thankfully, I’m back running again. It’s taken some time but I’ve taken it easy, running gradually working down the gym, building up the miles andI really enjoying myself. I’ve been down the Park doing Parkruns most Saturdays and have been building towards Rivington Half Marathon last Saturday.
This was the race I did last year (just coming back from a tear in my thigh) and loved it. Therefore even though I pulled out of Chester marathon, I was determined to run Rivington.
I woke up on Saturday morning to be greeted with the hottest October day on record with the temperatures touching 30 degrees c. and got to the race in plenty of time and enjoyed the pre-race atmosphere. I got chatting to a couple of lads who were running their 1st half marathon. They stated that they wanted to do Rivi as their 1st one as “it was flat”. Oh dear, when they said this, I laughed and about 3 people turned around and looked at them in a really odd way. They didn’t believe me when I told them that there was a 350 metre climb in the 1st mile and then continued to climb and climb for more or less the entire race. When I saw them at the end, collapsed on the grass, think they realised I wasn’t lying.
My time last year was 2.07, so my aim this year was to break 2 hours. Very chuffed with my performance as I managed to come home in 1.57 (winning time was 1.20). Also entered Conwy Half Marathon in November and am hoping to break 1.37, my half PB. Before that I have 2 trail races in 2 days up in the Lake Districts, which is doubling up as a weekend away for me and Sue. Can’t wait

....and back off again

2011-04-27T18:39:00.002+01:00

Not good, leg flared up again after my run the other day and had the follow up physio from the guy who fitted my orthortics. Spent a very painfull hour being treated (if thats the right word) to trigger point needling, which is said to reduce the swelling in the muscle. Have booked in for a sports massage next week and will not run for about a month to six weeks and hopefully, will be in a better state then. Meanwhile will continue with the exercises and swimming/cycling to keep the fitness up. Arse

Back in the Saddle Again

2011-04-25T14:31:00.002+01:00

After seriously over training for a May marathon (my 1st one) throughout the winter I suffered an injury (tibilias posterior tendonosis) in February which has meant that I’ve not been able to run since then, a couple of false starts aside, buggering up myself up again by “taking it steady” (yeah right, stupid competitive nature) on the Woodbank Park Run I finally ran my first run this morning. 1.5 miles in 12 minutes.
Considering when I was running in Jan/Feb I was doing 18-20 miles most Sundays, I have a long way to get back, but it was probably the best and most enjoyable run I’ve ever done. Just to be back with no pain and being able to run free is such a fantastic feeling.

My main problem is getting over-excited, trying to push too far and injuring myself again. I’ve spent too much money on physio (Harris and Ross in Wilmslow, brilliant guys) very painful exercises to strengthen my glutes and orthotics to arse it up by doing too much now. Got to remind myself I've got till early to mid June to get myself in shape for building up again. Made sure that I’ve been doing a lot of swimming and cycling to keep myself in shape. Hopefully, Chester is back on.
I was aiming, in an ideal world for 3.45 but now, may have to re-adjust and just say, “I want to get to the start line in good shape and see what happens”

Laid up

2011-03-24T11:14:00.008Z

Its never nice being injured and even more so when the injury forces you out of two races that you have been looking forward to and training very hard for all the way through the long, cold and dark winter mornings. Sometimes being too enthusiastic for a race is not a good thing. Sometime doing too much training and putting too much effort into attempting to achieve a goal isn’t a good thing. Sometimes running 13 miles on a Saturday and then running a very tough off road 10 miler the next day, then doing a hard track session on the Monday isn’t a good thing. And definitely running 22 ½ miles off road when you’ve got an injury is never a good thing.

I did do all of the above and as a result have sustained a tibialis posterior tendonosis injury which is down to doing too much running and having a left foot which is prone to overpronation, the combined effort of the two have left me incapable of running at all for nearly a month now. This week I finally bowed to the inevitable and pulled out of the Wilmslow Half Marathon and my marathon in Stratford in May. It goes without saying how gutted I am about it especially due to all the cold weather training I’ve done and have been quite a grumpy git around the house. As soon as I was diagnosed and told that I was definitely out, I was a lot better, the thing that was annoying me was clinging on to that little bit of hope that I might be Ok to run.

In the meantime I’ve had an appointment with a sports physio ,Emma who works with a lot of top level athletes including Jenny Meadows. , so I know I’m in good hands. I went to see her on Tuesday and was very impressed. She confirmed what the doctor had told me about the injury. She also went on to advise that my core needs a lot of work doing on it and needs to be strengthened otherwise I’ll have the same problems in the future. (She also stuck a load of needles in my leg and the physion hurt like a bugger, so either she's good or a sadist or maybe a mixture of both !) I was shown in the mirror how much my hip slopes downwards, how much both my knees going inwards when I squat and has given me exercises to help combat it.

I’ve been also told to look at orthotics to help correct the over pronation when I run. This sounds like good advice but I have a dilemma. To get them privately, it’ll cost over £200 but will be specifically designed for a runner and will be very good quality. On the other hand I have an appointment with the local doctor’s surgery orthopaedic section next week who will assess me and probably also sculpt orthotics for me. It’ll be free, but will take longer and I don’t know whether they will be run specific. What I will do is see what happens on Tuesday and go from there, I’ve been told by my physio that I cannot do any running at all at the moment anyway, so I guess there’s no rush.

I am going to go down to Wilmslow on Sunday and act as a Marshall, shouting people on and giving them encouragement, I know I’ve benefitted in the past from the guys marshalling so will be nice to put something back (plus I may also still be able to blag a t-shirt,!)

In the meatime, I just need to keep my fitness up by cycling, rowing and swimming and bide my time. Aim is to get back running by May/June and run Chester marathon in October.

Helsby Halfs and 20 Miles

2011-02-15T13:18:00.003Z

Ran the Helsby (4 Villages) Half Marathon last Sunday, and what a beautiful run it was. Mike Thursk and I travelled on the Sunday morning for a 11am start. Thankfully the weather was perfect, cold, (but above freezing, yayy !) and clear and set for a fast time. The course was relatively flat with, we were told, a big hill from about mile 9-11 then a lovely down hill to the finish.

The pre race organisation was first class, from the free park and ride bus service from the local services (about 1 mile from the race), to the race chip which was connected to your number as opposed to being attached to your shoe.

The slight complaint was the start. This wasn’t the organiser’s fault as health and safety (the 3 most scary words in the English language) had ordered them to move the start further back. This meant that there was a big bottle neck for the first 300 yards of the course, which meant that my 1st mile was over 8 minutes. Still this wasn’t a problem if I’d wanted to avoid that I’d have pushed myself nearer the front. I didn’t as I was too busy chatting to friends !

As I said, the race itself was great, picture postcard, great support along the way, and very fast. Thanks to all the hill training we’ve been doing, the “undulating” nature of the run caused no problems and the last 2 miles down hill was great. Frustratingly I missed out on a PB by 3 seconds, clocking in with a 1.37.06.

Had it not been for the start, I’d have beaten my Conwy time. But to be honest, I’m not bothered, had a good run, felt fine and really enjoyed a nice day. Once again though, my picture looks like I’m just about to lay an egg. , compared with Mike.

The race also featured an unusual world record Personal trainer and ex-marine Lee Riley is chasing the world record at London for running the marathon with a 40lb rucsac. He showed the form he’s in by posting a world-beating time of 1h41, knocking over 2 minutes from the previous best.

Now anyone who undertakes a challenge like this is a bit of a nutter, looking at this lad’s website (a bit of which I’ve copied and paced below) show what this lad is about.

Not afraid of difficult terrains and conditions, Lee set himself a personal challenge of a solo cross country 150 mile run, carrying a 30lb pack along the English Heritage coastline and Hadrians' wall - from Ravensglass (Cumbrian Coast) via Bowness-on-Solway to Wallsend (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) in aid of the British Heart Foundation, a charity close to Lee. Lee completed this in 5 days running on average 10 hours per day.
Military Career

Lee served 10 years in the armed forces 7 years of which were spent in the Royal Marine Commando's. He trained extensively with the S.A.S (Special Air Service), S.B.S (Special Boat Service) and Parachute Regiment where he earned his parachute wings and was also awarded the physical training medal for best recruit in 2001. As a professional soldier he specialized in arctic survival and arctic mountain warfare, serving three tours in Northern Norway.

Blooming flipping heck

I passed him at around 10 miles, and gave an encouraging tap on the back and wished him luck. The great thing about running is the support all the people who ran past him gave him What a star.

My new Mizunos had been rubbing the balls of my feet for the last couple of times I wore them. So I took them back to Sweatshop to take them up on their 30 day take back guarantee, good as gold they honoured it and replaced them. Got chatting to the lad who swapped tin the shop who seemed very impressed with my time and complimented me on the improvements I’ve been achieving. It was only after about 10 minutes that he said he’d also taken part...and finished 3rd in around 1 hour 5 or 6. Gulp.

I managed 20 miles (or just over) in about 2 hours 58. Reason It's a bit vague is that I stopped for a pee at around 14 miles , stopping the watch, and forgot to start it again. Even more daft than that is that for the next 10 minutes I kept looking at my garmin thinking "bloody hell I'm still stuck on 13.7" Took at least 15 minutes for me to realise that my pace wasn’t that slow and started the watch again ! Really annoyed with myself as I’d have liked to have seen exactly what time I had. I do know that it was at least 20 though as it was an “out and back” course down a trailish type run, with 2 nasty hills at the end.

First time I’d listened to Marathon Talk on my IPOD whilst running, fantastic. Only on episode 4, but Tony’s Trials are superb (love the fact he keeps bigging up my club Stockport Harriers) telling us how he had wanted to lose weight for last year’s London marathon but having run two 70 plus weeks had put on a ½ pound….He then said that he’d had at least 8 pints, a pizza and a curry during The Manc Derby. Also Martin Yelling was trying to help this lady lose weight but she was obsessed with cheese. He gave her a choice to lose weight or choose cheese…..She chose cheese.
Great stuff. Certainly made the miles tick away, did get some strange looks from people passing as a chortled away to myself.

Another good tip they gave re gel packs is to take them after certain miles (7,14,20) as opposed to time (I used to take them after 45, 90 minutes etc) Certainly helped today and gave you something to aim for.

Miles for week 31.83
Miles for month 162.26 (27/12/10-30/01/11)

Enjoying the Mileage

2011-01-30T16:42:00.014Z

Running is going well, had a couple of really good weeks, covering a lot of miles, last week especially was hard comprising of a 13 on the Saturday and an absurdly rainy day and a very tough 10 mile off road race in Radcliffe the next day. I really enjoyed Radcliffe always a great atmosphere in off road runs everyone encouraging each other and pushing each other on.

I got around in 1.19. , which placed me quite well in the overall results, again superhuman winning time of 58 minutes, but happy with my pace, as some of the hills were nuts, As can be seen in this "interesting picture of me. (Still always look like a complete tit in every picture)
I did, though pick up an injury to my calf last weekend,, I ran a 7.6 on Wednesday after some physio. Bought some Hilly compression socks and was due to run a 20 on Saturday. Couldn’t do this as was forgot I was duty solicitor in my local court, sod’s law, nothing came in. I then went and ran my local Parkrun at Woodbank in Stockport, really chuffed at knocking 14 seconds off my PB to run a 21.58 (my target for the year was to run a sub 22 !) .
Calf was still a bit sore but got up early this morning and ran 20 miles in 2 hours 47 on a very hilly course. Calf still a bit sore but got my hillys back on and am going to relax and watch the 6 Nations this afternoon.

P.S. A massive shout out to my incredible (and slightly mad) big brother Mark, who despite being quite badly last injured and falling twice in the race ran 40 miles of his 100 miler ultra- endurance race last Sunday, having already ran this distance twice before ! ! ! 40 miles is outstanding for someone without an injury, but to do that not being anywhere near fitness and falling twice is breathtaking. Much, much respect Marky.

PB's and Rest

2011-01-22T14:27:00.018Z

With the 4 villages Helsby half marathon this Sunday, I decided to take it easy this week so be fresh for the race. I’ve really been hammering the miles in January so, having an easy week will probably do me some good, saying that I only missed Monday’s track session as I was working late, had I not been, I’d have been down there and this blog would have been different

I am glad that the decision was taken out of my hands as after my 19 miles on Sunday, I had a bit of tenderness above my right knee, so iced it and relaxed on the settee for the day. One plan that backfired was having an ice bath at home. Got back from the run and threw a load of ice into the bath water and got in, blimey, the pain that shot through my feet was terrible, had to get out. Not sure what it was, but I guess I’d not given my feet enough time to cool down before sitting in an ice bath. Good thing is I had no ill effect the next day so ice baths may not be needed in the future, and I may just stick to going for a swim and ice pool there instead

Got up this morning for a freezing park run and donned my trusty shorts, Stockport 10 long sleeve top and semi trail shoes (they are my Billy’s Boots from Roy of the Rovers)
Started off right near the front and maintained a nice steady pace all the way, managing to knock off my PB finishing in 22.12, knocking 7 seconds off my PB
Happy days. My hands were freezing, always had this problem in the winter, no matter how expensive the gloves are, makes no difference. I have worn 2 pairs in the past which helps but, especially on longer runs, don’t want to do that as, they’ll probably get uncomfortable
Looking forward to tomorrow now, not run this half before, but there’s been overwhelming praise for it, I want to see what the effects of the longer running I’ve been doing will have on my pace. The distance obviously won’t be a problem anymore to the extent where I see it as an easy week. Against that, of course, is the fact that I’ll be running at race pace. Weather looks good, cold but dry. Should be a good un.

The Year Ahead

2011-01-16T14:26:00.007Z

My race plans for 2011 are somewhat different to other years, for a start I’ve decided not to do the Great Manchester Runs anymore. As much as I’ve enjoyed them in the past paying in excess of £45 for a 10k in a bit crazy, it seems to have got a bit too commercialised and its too big to run a decent time as there are always walkers who start in the wrong time zone and walk the entre race.

Secondly, I’ve just booked to run another marathon ! I decided that I couldn’t wait until October especially as I will be doing the London marathon training with Mike, so I had a look around the various races and decided that I wanted to run the Shakespeare Marathon in May.

This is only 3 weeks after London so should be in pretty good shape by race day. I did look at entering the Edinburgh marathon but was put off by quite a few bad reviews, for example running out of water, the bus taking back to the city being a 30 min walk away etc. The Shakespeare run is a lot smaller (1,500 runners for the full marathon) but seems to have great support and the reviews on ruunersworold are all very positive.

With my race in mind, I need to get the miles on the road under my belt, so I started the year with my biggest weekly mileage and longest single run. The 29th December was the annual Stockport Harriers Charity 3 mile race for a local cancer Hospice, really nice event, always a good turn out and ran it chit-chatting with Mike in around 22 minutes. After the run Sue and I went to Sweatshop to buy some new trainers in the sale, I love buying new roadies, and couldn’t decide between Mizuno or Adidas, so Sue suggested I get them both. On this occasion, I thought I would concede and let my good lady wife have her way and used the money mum and dad gave me to buy them (I only would have used the money on something boring like a bill otherwise) This way I can rotate my shoes every time I go out on a run, bargain.

After we went for a swim in the afternoon, the next morning I went out for a 10 mile run in my new Adidas. Really enjoyable, cold and constant light rain, (the sort that soaks you through). down to Bramhall Park and back up the hill. Good fun as the pond was still iced over I had to jump over frozen puddles to avoid going A over T into the pond.

It was our 3rd Wedding Anniversary on the 29th but, as appears to be usual, I was on call, luckily it was quiet and my wife very kindly let me out to play with Mike for a 8 miler in the evening, after that we settled down in front of Les Mis and an Indian for the evening and celebrated 3 happy years married.

As far as the New Year is concerned I’ve been at the top of my game, the weeks since 27 December I’ve put in 40.6 miles, 34.6 miles and 32.6 miles. I’m especially chuffed over my long runs, 16 (in 2 hours 27) 18 (in 2 hours 51) and 19 in 2 hours 53 (did 18 in 2 hours 43 and a slow mile with Mike at the end.
As things stand with about 3 ½ months to go to the marathon, I’m in pretty good shape, at the moment, 20 is about my limit, but I could have possibly pressed on today passed that but I think that they may be silly as I don’t want to get myself injured.

It has also helped that I’ve been doing the Parkrun on a Saturday and the track sessions have also started again. Got a nice fast one on Saturday 22.23, missed a PB by about 3 seconds but hopefully by the end of the year, that’ll be under 22.

Daily - 19
Weekly - 32.63
Monthly - 107.83
Yearly - 107.83

Reflections of 2010.

2010-12-28T00:33:00.002Z

Looking back on 2010, there have been quite a few highs. As regular readers will be aware, I’ve achieved quite a few personal bests in all my distances this year, including knocking 10 minutes off both my half marathon and 10 mile times and made some very good friends at Stockport Harriers as a result. I’ve loved my runs this year especially the never ending hill up the Great Orme in Conwy, the Stockport 10 and the “4 seasons in 1 day” Chesterfield Spire”. However, by far and away the most important and significant race of the year and possibly of my life was undoubtedly Wilmslow Half Marathon in March.

Before this race, I never really trained for runs, didn’t bother with socks, water or gels preferring to turn up and run races relying on a minimal amount of natural talent. This was the case with Wilmslow, I had been lulled into a false sense of security as it was my first half the year before and I’d performed well. This year though, I slammed into the wall at mile 10 and did everything I could not to pass out. Being Mark’s brother though, there was no way I was going to not finish and staggered on to the end.

It was such a defining moment, that when I got home, I immediately did two things. Firstly made a promise to myself that I would never been in that situation again through lack of training, give distance races the respect they deserve by taking running a lot more seriously. Secondly, I entered Sheffield Half Marathon 3 weeks later (Get back on the bike straight away and all that) Since then I’ve not looked back, having a great time with some really nice people at Stockport Harriers down at the track and getting some serious miles in on the road.

I’ve also discovered trail running this year and really like it. I did my first one in March, a nine miler with a climb of about 1200 foot over rocks and big momma boulders and a reward of incredible views over the Peak District. The trails are so much fun, I love the climbing over stiles, wading through muddy lakes getting away from the roads into nature. The Rivington Half Marathon was the best half I’ve done, very hard, extremely muddy but oh so addictive. I think that running trails and all the increased hill training I’ve been doing as a result have really helped me improve over the year.

I guess 2010 is the year where running has changed from being something that I do for an event like the Great Manchester Run or a half once a year into something I do to challenge myself, to knock 2 minutes off that time or to run up Etherow Park Hills without stopping. Either way this was the year where I decided that I am ready to take on a marathon and willing to do the training that that involves. It’s not often I have people that I look up to for inspiration, but one of the key motivators behind my decision to enter a 26 miler is my brother. Seeing what he has achieved through dedication and hard work has made me realise and consider what could I do if I could only be bothered to train. Hopefully 2011 will show exactly what I can do.

Have a great new year

Santa Run

2010-12-23T21:57:00.004Z

Had a lovely day last Saturday, got up at about 5am to go out for a 15 mile run with Mike in the very deep snow. It was great fun, very hard like running on sand, but great company, beautiful day plus listening to the cricket on the radio the same time made it so much fun.
One of the best things about Saturday`s run was the fact that we were dressed as Santa (Santa Special in the Park Run), and virtually every car we passed beeped, laughed and waved at us. I love Christmas

More Stocky 10 pics

2010-12-17T21:27:00.004Z

Mike and Carol

Simon

The Stockport 10

2010-12-15T16:20:00.013Z

The ice and snow of December are still with us and the world famous Stockport 10 was last Sunday, it was with this in mind that I set off for the club run on Wednesday. With temperatures around the minus 8 degree C mark and solid ice pretty much everywhere it was a slow 8 miler, pretty much tip-toeing over all the slippery patches and concentrating on not breaking my neck. Still, I always like running in the really cold weather, watching people looking at you in their cars like there is something wrong with you gives me a sort of perverse pleasure. Very comfortable, slow run in about 1 hour 15 minutes, it was more about getting out there and getting the miles in than anything about speed.

Luckily, the days from Wednesday to Sunday were a lot milder, with rain and temperatures above zero things did thaw a bit, not much (as the cows highlight) but enough to give you a chance to run properly and attempt to achieve a decent time. This is the second time I’ve ran the Stockport 10 and looking back over my blog from last year’s run (time of 1.23) It would be interesting to see how a year of relatively decent training could get me.

The race starts off with 2 laps of the athletics track before going out in the rugged (and very hilly) streets of Stockport, through track and farm lands, before two major, seemingly never ending climbs, before finishing with a half lap of the track . The support from the local people and the extremely enthusiastic marshals was brilliant, especially on such a cold day. Stockport Harriers is a very friendly club and have gone all out this year to try to build the race up and sell out it its 900 capacity, this, no doubt, was in no small part to it’s extensive teaser campaign on you-tube as to what was in the world famous goody bag this year

I started off strongly having taken the decision to dump my water belt and gel pack before I started. The 1st 2 laps are always a bit crazy trying to get past people and to attempt to maintain a steady pace. When the pack opened up, I was able to maintain around a relatively easy 7 minute mile pace, and seemed to be passing quite a few people. The lack of a water bottle (took a sip from a cup at the water point at 5 miles) didn’t trouble me, I’d taken a rehydration drink an hour or so before the race and it was cold, so I knew there was not going to be a problem. I felt strong throughout the race especially on the hills, this time last year I had to stop on the first hill as it banks off to the left and gets very steep. I was determined to conquer that this year and keep on running, it was tough but I managed to push through it and reached the top in one go.

I knew after about 4 miles that I was going to beat last year’s time and so focussed on my best time for a 10 miler at Chesterfield of 1.18 min. I’ve done a lot of running and core work since Chesterfield and feel that I may be in better shape as a result. Whatever it was, I managed to smash my previous PB and finished in 1.12.45, (the official time was 1.13.01 but that’s because there was no chip timing and I started half way down the pack) Even so, I finished (according to the official time) 179th out of 686 (Where were the missing 214 ? Blooming wimps)

It also appears that a new world record was set at this year’s race. The record was set by Lee Riley, who covered the ten-mile distance in 73:10 carrying a 40lb backpack. Lee, who spent ten years in the armed forces, is aiming to run the London marathon in under four hours carrying his backback to set another world record and to raise funds for The Soldiers’ Charity

Just a Perfect Day

2010-12-04T19:32:00.003Z

I had a great day today, got up at 5am to watch England wallop the Aussies in the Ashes, before going out with Mike and Helen for a 13 mile run in the frozen and snowy hills of Cheshire. We made sure that we included some big hills in our run in readiness for the Stockport 10 next Sunday. It was tough as the snow was still deep and it was like running through sand. Great training though and despite the snow I seemed to be flying up the hills and felt good all the way around.
After our run we headed on down to the Woodbank Park for the Parkrun. The normal route had been changed due to the weather as the hills were way to dangerous to run on so we ended up with 3 laps of the park, my time was pants, (26 mins) but this was down to already having ran 10 miles beforehand and slipping and sliding all around the course.
After I got home we went out to buy our Christmas Tree ! This is always exciting, and marks the official start of Christmas for us, the smell of the tree and just in the dark watching the lights sparkling with Christmas music playing (and the snow outside) is so exciting.
If watching England doing so well, having a great run, buying a Christmas Tree wasn’t enough, we then watched my local football club Swansea City win live on Sky Sport, AND THEN went into Manchester to the European Markets and bought German Hotdogs, pancakes and strudels.
Bliss

All snowed in

2010-12-01T22:08:00.003Z

Doesn't seem like a year when the snow last fell on the UK crippling the transport system and messing up my running programme, however it is and its back. This time its started in November and continued into early December. Plan was to go for a 7-8 mile run tonight with a 17 miler in mind on Saturday, howevever, very heavy snow over night made that impossible with the risk of a broken ankle a distinct probability. Therefore we retreated to the warmer climate of the gym where Sue and I did an equally punishing aerobic and weights workout. Hopefully Saturday is still on

Crazy in Conwy

2010-11-23T19:38:00.007Z

I had a great time on Sunday doing the half marathon, 5 of us from Stockport Harriers went up in a car early in the morning to the picturesque town of Conwy. We got up there with about 90 minutes to spare and so all went to a lovely coffee shop overlooking the sea. The atmosphere was cracking in there, the staff so pleasant and friendly and the camaraderie between all the runners was superb. The time spent in there went really quickly in a midst of micky taking, tales about previous races and winding each other up about the tough Great Orme hill ahead of us

Another reason we stayed in for so long was that it was a freezing day, but ideal for running, but having made the mistake in the past about dressing way to warm I was simply decked out in shorts and club vest.

Just under 1000 runners took assembled at the start all jumping up and down to try to keep warm The gun sounded and we were all off around the coast, through the town before climbing up the imposing Great Orme. My aim was to not stop running before I got to the top which I managed to do, it was tough but the views at the top (Snowdonia) were well worth the climb.

Of course what goes up must come down and the run down the other side was so much fun, well worth the effort. The course then took you back into the town, onto a sandy bike path, before the final race the end.

When I started the race I had no idea what I was aiming for, but was hoping for a steady pace and a to complete the race feeling good. I started the race with a lad called Simon from Harriers who is a really good runner, far better than me, with an aim to try to keep him in my sights for as long as possible. After a mile or two he was right in front of me, I was feeling fine so picked up the pace, went past him and stayed in front all the way around. Unbelievably for a race with such a big climb, I knocked 10 minutes off my PB coming home in 1 hour 37.

I looked for the race pictures I was hoping to see me running majestically around the course, looking at feeling good. Hmmm, sadly the pictures look as if I’m trying to pass the biggest kidney stone in the world. Not a good look.

The third picture especially isn’t my best ever (This won't link directly, so click on road running, Conwy, then type in number 943 to see my 3 pics. Dad click on the underlined sentence on this page, then on each picture to make them bigger. The one under 934 is slightly better)

I finished 129th out of 906, so pretty happy with that. When I started the race I had no idea what I was aiming for, but was hoping for a steady pace and a to complete the race feeling good. I ran with a lad called Simon from Harriers who is a really good runner, far better than me, with an aim to try to keep him in my sights for as long as possible. After a mile or two he was right in front of me, I was feeling fine so picked up the pace, went past him and stayed in front all the way around. Unbelievably for a race with such a big climb, I knocked 10 minutes off my PB coming home in 1 hour 37.

The next race coming up in the Stockport 10, quite a hilly course where I got around 1.22 last year, hoping to beat that, and maybe get close to the 1.15 mark. Who knows ? I'm also looking at entering a 20 miler in March of next year building up to Chester in October. Let the good times roll

Results

Dirty Dotties and Hilly Billies

2010-11-09T21:14:00.007Z

I've bitten the bullet and entered my first marathon. Chester on 09/10/11. Its the second running of the race and looks a good one with 6,000 runners and according to the reviews from last year, great support around the course taking in all of Chester`s landmarks, looking forward to it.

At the moment, I'm running 16 miles on a Sunday, the track on a Monday, about 8-9 miles on a Wednesday and Parkrun on a Saturday, with swimming and gym in between, I'm doing OK and should be in pretty good shape come next year.

Monday`s track session was excellent, 4 x 1 mile repeats. It was a freezing night but felt good (apart from the now usual tweak in my calf), I averaged a 7 minute mile apart from the last set which was my quickest at 6.55.

Sunday was my favourite run of the year so far, Hellrunner. Superb trail run over crazyass hills, falling down steep muddy banks, and the infamous bogs of doom. The pics below show just 5 pictures from it, the last showing where I fell over a branch flat on my face in the mud. The run itself was around 9 miles in total, but was so much fun, no garmin, no watch, just trail shoes, shorts, a vest and an appetite for mud. I travelled up with a mate from Harriers, Simon, who finished in 1 hour 25, I was 5 minutes behind in 1 hour 30, with plenty left in the tank, it wasn't a run where you could overtake people, due to the terrain, so I could have got closer to him, but, hey, who cares, it was fun fun fun, and that`s the important thing.

1. Jonny Mellor 00:58:28
2. Gavin Chatterton 00:58:58
280 Simon Hilton 01:25:01
403 John Richards 01:29:46
1772 Nicola Lewis 02:47:36

(DAD IF YOU ARE READING THIS, CLICK ON THE PICS WITH THE LEFT MOUSE BUTTON TO MAKE THEM BIGGER)

Longest Distance, Personal Best and Run in the Sun

2010-10-31T16:50:00.011Z

Been a busy boy the past couple of weeks and my weekly mileage is steadily going up. The week started off with a pyramid session of two to five minutes and back down again at the track. This is always a high intensity run at near threshold pace with half the recovery being half the running time, tough workout and good for speed work.

As the clocks went forward last night, it’s going to be dark by 5pm in the evening so I took the opportunity to run a 7 mile circuit around the hills of Etherow Park on Wednesday. I love hill running, you really feel like you’ve been in a tough session when you’ve finished it and you’ve the fun and game of the down hills in the second half

I’ve got to know two lads very well in Stockport Harriers, both great runners and seasoned marathoners and last Saturday went for a long run with them in the local area. Got up at 6.15am in the dark and rain to run the 1st of a 3 tier run. 10.6 miles, then the Park Run and then back to Mike`s house. Total of 15.6 miles. This was the furthest I've ever run and I thoroughly enjoyed it. When we got to the Park for the 5k, I ate a gell pack, which seemed a bit odd considering it was only a 5k, but I needed the boost. I struggled a bit during the 5k as I'd warmed down and had to get back out again. Not surprisingly, but time was a lot slower than normal coming in it 24.16 (I'm usually just over 23 mins) but was happy with that considering the long run before it.

Aftr the Park Run we finished off by a couple of miles back to Mike`s house, I was delighted with the run in 2 hours 16. My furthest run and longest time.

There`s a new by-pass opening in Alderley Edge late this year, so a local running club organised a 5 miler along the so to be openned road on the Sunday aftr my long run. It was very icy and sunny on the Sunday and rather stupidly, I put on 3 layers for the cold weather. Hmm, yes, of course during the run, the day suddenly warmed up and I became very hot. It made it a very tough race, but I was happy with my time of 35 minutes, especially as I was sore from the day before.

1 Ryan Holroyd JM 1 Staffordshire Moorlands AC 26:26
2 Stuart Doyle Vale Royal AC 27:02
156 Andrew Potter Unattached 35:47
157 John Richards Stockport Harriers 35:48
158 Geoff Hand V50 0 Spectrum Striders 35:49
866 Nicky Watts L 343 Unattached 1:06:58
867 Cat Woodham L 344 Unattached 1:06:58

Took a week off this week as I was feeling a bit sore after clocking up 30 miles last week, my furthest in a week to date. I did pop down the gym after work on Friday and did a hard hill session on the treadmill, sit ups and push ups, and some general core workouts.

Week got better and better with a personal best of 22.19 at the Park Run knocking 43 seconds off my previous best, I felt fine during the race and had no idea I was running that quickly.

I went out again on Sunday with Mike and Simon for our weekly long run, it was mainly hills throughout but all the training on the hills I've been doing lately seems to be paying off as I seemed to be able to attack the hills very strongly and covered the 15.5 miles quite easily in 2 hours 40. Huge thank you to Mike and Simon for the encouragement during the route.

My aim for the next year is to run a marathon, my initial thoughts were to take part in the Snowdon Marathon but my brother came out with the cracking idea of running my first marathon in the States with him. I'm very excited by this idea and really really want to do it, dependant upon finances, its something that`s on our calender for next year as part of a tour of the States we're hoping to do.

Half Marathon Fever

2010-10-16T22:24:00.005+01:00

Entered 2 more half marathons today, one in Conwy, which takes a route through the coastal town starting and finishing at the Castle and another one in January in a little village called Helsby. Both completely different races, both very hilly and both should be a lot of fun.

Did the Parkrun again this morning despite still having problem with my stupid calf, (also having had an Indian last night) did quite well clocking in 23.09, missing my PB by 3 seconds. Am going on a run tomorrow to get some miles in my legs, its very difficult trying to achieve a balance between resting the injury and not losing my running fitness. I have to get my fitness up to decent levels as November is a month with lots of long races in. I'm just hoping the calf starts to behave itself.

Sue and I have just come back from a lovely week in Scotland, we stayed in a log cabin overlooking Loch Long in Argyle. Great break, spent hours walking up the mountains surrounding the Lochs and enjoying the tranquility of the Scottish Highlands, just wished it didn't end as quickly as it did.

PB at Woodbank

2010-10-09T16:02:00.006+01:00

Ran a nice run this morning in glorious autumn sunshine at Woodbank Park. I wanted to run cautiously as my calf was still aggravating me, but for some reason all logic goes out of the windown when the gun goes off and I ran my normal race.

I always underestimate how difficult the Parktun is 2 laps of the course will steep evil hills. Happy to say though I knocked 3 seconds off my PB for that course finishing in 23.06.

Sue and I are off to Scotland for a week this Monday, staying in a log cabin in Argyle, next to a Loch. Plenty of plans for running, walking and cycling. Cannot wait

Take me home country trails, tis the race that I love

2010-10-07T15:07:00.008+01:00

Good ol' John Denver

It’s funny, being injured was horrible, the frustration at not being able to run was really bad, (especially as I’d just bought a new of trail/road hybrids) but the sense of joy and freedom when I finally got back on the road was superb.

I was determined to do the Rivi trail irrespective of my lack of running for the weeks leading up to it and I’m so glad I did. The weather the week before the race could not have been any worse, the rain was torrential and hardly let up all week. Thankfully though the day of the race dawned bright and sunny and I left home at around 7am to drive the short distance up to Bolton for my 1st trail half marathon.

The guys at Salomon certainly know how to put on a show, they’d laid on free massages ( which I took advantage of before and after the race for my calf) loudspeakers which music, some of their stalls selling shoes etc, all in all led to a quite a cool carnival atmosphere.

The race started with a lap around a running track before going straight into a long, steep uphill ascent over the first couple of miles which certainly split the field up quite a bit. At the top, we were treated to a fabulous view of countryside which was breathtaking, before beginning the fun part of the course getting really off road into the countryside. Now, because the weather had been so bad over the preceding week, most of the path was either a mud bath or a river. This was especially so where there were supposed to be stepping stones leading you over the river but they were completely covered which give you little choice other than to wade through. I’d not experienced a race like this before but it sapped your strength no end having to wade through calf deep water, or splodge through ankle deep sections of mud.

Of course, you had the obligatory queues over the stiles, which some people were complaining about. I just thought that it was trail race, what do you expect ? I was chuffed with the way I ran the course and wasn’t too concerned about my time, I just wanted to enjoy the experience. Again I didn’t bother with my Ipod and enjoyed the run far more for not having it.

The organisation was very good, the only minor gripes being the complete lack of any enthusiasm by the Stewards, which I suppose if they are volunteers you cannot really complain but come on guys, don’t do it if you can’t be bothered giving us a little shout.

The other point being on the 3rd water station, the water had run out, which obviously isn’t good, but they did explain that 400 people had entered on the day which took them by surprise a tad. I grabbed the last one, took a sip and then ran back about 100m to give it to a lad behind me who was clearly struggling, you never know when you may be in that position and need the same favour.

I finished the race in 2 hour 6 minutes feeling elated and delighted but bizarrely covered in blood and full of cuts on my arms and hands. Really good fun, beats the pants off any road running I’ve done before.

1 Billy Burns Male Open Salford hariers 01:19:02 01:19:02
2 Mark Russell Male Open BOLTON TRIATHLON CLUB 01:23:33 01:23:33
3 Andy Walling Male Open 01:24:34 01:24:34
4 Phillip Foster 45 - 49 01:26:06 01:26:05
5 Robert De'giovanni Male Open VALLEY STRIDERS 01:26:43 01:26:43
242 Dean Mcginty Male Open 02:06:57 02:06:51
243 John Richards Male Open STOCKPORT HARRIERS 02:07:24 02:06:45
244 Thomas Shirley Male Open 02:07:28 02:06:52
245 Liam Rushton Male Open 02:07:31 02:06:52
246 John Richardson Male Open 02:07:43 02:07:11 (John Richards wannabe)
424 418 2998 Lucy Merrick Female Open 02:56:53 02:56:53

I came 243rd out of 424 (slightly higher up if you look at my chip time instead of the gun time), so am very happy with that. The lad who won it, in 1 hour 19, lives in Switzerland and he normally takes part in. international mountain races

There were some great pictures taken, which shows what a gorgeous day it was and something of the scenary you could see at the top of the pike. Its scary, looking at the pics of me, how much I look like my brother, must be getting old (Click on the link, then Rivington Half Marathon, then type in 3203 in the search box to find about 5 pics)

All in all, its going to be very hard to get back to the plodding of the road and I think my coversion to off road is complete.

Trailing the Trail

2010-10-01T14:21:00.002+01:00

Have rested up well this week, icing my leg like a good `un and, although its not 100 percent I am definitely running tomorrow. The weather is set for sunny on Satuday but we've have very heavy rain past couple of days and am told that part of the course is ankle deep in water, still should give my new trail runners a good baptism.

I am very excited about tomorrow`s race had a bit of camp fever wanting to get back out again on the trails, the reviews of the race say that its a toughie with an elevation of over 1,100 feet. Most importantly the techincal t-shirt is supposed to be ace and I've promised myself a Dominoes as a reward.

Let you know tomorrow how I get on

Time Heals, but why so slowly ?

2010-09-28T16:33:00.000+01:00

Won’t come as a surprise but I did miss out on the Great North, I tried to go for a run around my block a couple of days before the race but couldn’t even manage that so it was a no-brainer in the end and I sadly had to withdraw. What I did do though was give my position to another lad in the running club which made me feel a lot better as at least it didn’t go to waste.

Slowly I am running again, did mile and a half on Saturday, three miles on Sunday and did a track session last night. (Well I ran up and down the hilly grass banks with a lap of the track every now and then) It’s odd, its not completely healed as I can feel it whenever I run, but it’s definitely a lot better than it was. My initial plan was to go for a long run on Wednesday with the club but as I’ve got a trail half marathon on Saturday, I’m going to rest for the rest of the week and not do much at all Again this is very frustrating as I wanted to do aerobic work this week, be it on the bike or swimming, but I think it may be sensible to give it as much rest as possible for Saturday. I know that I am not going to be in peak fitness but, having done a hard session of continuous steep hills yesterday, I know I will get through it. Also judging by the reviews on Runners World it looks like way too much fun to miss out on.

Injured and Annoyed

2010-09-15T08:43:00.002+01:00

I hate being injured, its now Wednesday and the calf injury is worse than I first thought. I went for some physio on Monday and was told that I had a micro-tear in the calf and need to rest up this week. This is extremely frustrating as it has completely messed up my last week before the Great North Run and I've not been able to do anything whatsoever this week. As things stand it is touch and go as to whether I'll be able to run on Sunday, I've got another physiotherapy session tonight, then it more rest for the remainder of the week before seeing what it is like on Saturday. If it is as bad as last Saturday (where I struggled to run 200m but was perfectly fine doing an intensive 30 mins on the bike) I'll pull out as the last thing I want to do is make my injury worse and be out for weeks.

Rather ironically, I think the injury has come about due to the amount of running I’ve been doing, especially hill work (which would make sense with a calf injury). I will be gutted if I miss the Great North, but I’ve got a trail half two weeks later and the Hell Runner in November, so may be a case of better of two evils.

Anyway, here`s hoping I’ll be blogging about how much fun Newcastle was and celebrating with a Dominos come Sunday night,

Countdown to the Great North Run

2010-09-12T16:56:00.010+01:00

Just a week to go to the Great North Run and things are going well as I've been doing a lot of running and I'm feeling good. I'm still training with the Stockport Harriers and spending a lot of time doing hill work.

I went up to Chesterfield (about an hour away) couple of weeks ago and ran in the 10 mile hill race. My aim was to attempt to get a time under 1 hour 20, my previous best for a 10 miler being 1 hour 22 in Stockport last year. I made an early start and drove up to Chesterfield to be greated by typical bizarre British September weather....torential rain, howling wind but warm.

Once again there was a great atmosphere, very friendly, with people laughing and chatting about the monsoon like conditions. My Ipod had died the night before so I ran my 1st race without it, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience, chatting with the other runners. The race itself was very tough, the 1st 5 miles being all uphill, climing nearly 1000 foot in the 1st 3, far more fun was the latter part of the race, very fast and quite a bit of downhill involved.

Overall it was a superb race, so much fun and I felt really good, really strong and battered my PB clocking in at just under 1 hour 18 mins. Really chuffed with that and good practice for Newcastle.

Pos Time Name Club Category No Pos
1 0:53:11 GREENLEAF, Andy Winchester & Dist AC Senior Men 370 1
2 0:54:35 FISHER, Ian Senior Men 374 2
3 0:55:31 SHELTON, Chris Senior Men 367 3
119 1:17:59 WALTON, Steve Vet Men 50-54 3 119
120 1:18:01 RICHARDS, John Stockport Harriers Senior Men 500 120121 1:18:03 MILLS, Mary Holme Pierrepoint RC Vet Ladies 45-49 157 121
328 1:58:00 FILDES, Lisa Rolls Royce Harriers Vet Ladies 40-44 35 328
329 2:08:43 HODGKINSON, Catherine Vet Ladies 45-49 7 329
330 2:15:09 BOLTON, Patricia Biddulph RC Vet Ladies 65+ 8 330

I came 120th out of 330, the winning time was an incredible 53 mins ! Wow, good thing about running is that you run agasint yourself not the 5 minute mile nutters

Bought some trail shoes yesterday, ready for my half marathon in Bolton two weeks after Newcastle, really looking forward to that, my 1st trail half, should be really challenging. There was a practice run last weekend which I planned to do but my plans were scuppered due to my working till 3am this night before.

I was supposed to be doing a run today of about 11-12 miles but have picked up an extremely annoying calf injury in the last couple of days, nothing mindblowing but nigly enough to make me rest for a couple of days. If its like this next week, I'll be able to get through it with plenry of stapping.

Next Sunday is going to be a busy day, will be waking up at around 4am before travelling up to Newcastle with some friends from Harriers. The Great North Run is the biggest half in the world with over 55,000 runners taking part, live on BBC, its something I've always wanted to do, so am super excited, can't wait. Fog on the Tyne, Ee ar Pet, Ant and Dec etc

Born to Run

2010-08-23T10:17:00.004+01:00

Been a busy boy these past couple of weeks, had two weddings, lots of runs and mum and dad were up helping us decorating the house as we were having a new bathroom fitted, ceilings plastered and new lights being put in the kitchen.

Our house was built sometime in the late 1950`s-1960s and the chap that owned it before us lived there more or less from the start. The problem is that he smoked and as a result the place reeked of cigarettes and had to be redecorated, when we took the walpaper off in the living room, it was horrible, covered in disgusting yellow stuff from all the cigarattes, the carpats were the same, and the amount of soot and ash that came up was incredible.

2 years down the line and we`d finished the living room and dining room, and 2 of the bedrooms, the kitchen was more or less done, save for new spotlights, the next room that needed looking at was the bathroom.

This was a pretty big job as it was hideous, very old , very falling apart (bath leaking, lights not working, fan nosiy) so we decided to bite the bullet and use some of our savings to get a brand spanking new one. (That`s our summer holidays this year !). The result is awesome, got a new stand alone shower cubicle, bath, spotlights, looks really good. All we got left now to do is new as we are walking on wooden boards up the stairs.

This is where I've got to say a huge thank you to Sue and mum and dad, all three worked so hard in the house doing things and as a result saved us so much money. When I was away on one of the stag do`s Sue spent the entire weekend tiling the kitchen wall and floor and did a great job.

She also took a week off work and spent all of it working so hard in the house. She laid all the bathroom floor and wall tiles which saved us around £1000 and did a very professional job to boot. We`re also very grateful to mum and dad who worked tirelesly papering the downstairs rooms, all the way up the stairs and the 3rd bedroom, again saving us loads of money, really really grateful for all the hard work, cheers guys.

I'm running around 4 times a week at the moment, and I'm feeling the benefit. I ran a 22.12 (think it was) 5k on the track last week and a personal best 47.42 10k on Sunday. What was great about Sunday`s race is that I felt so strong throughout it and could have stepped us the pace slightly to get under 47. Still I knocked over 2 minutes off my previous PB for 10k so can't moan. Considering that the 1st 10k I did I ran in about 1 hour 18, not a bad improvement.

Running tonight and Wednesday with Harriers, the Park Run on Saturday and a 10 mile hill race in Chesterfield on Sunday. My training is picking up, as I've a couple of tricky trail half marathons coming up and am determined not to "do a Wilmslow again" and unprepared and hit the wall.

Trail Running

2010-07-16T10:15:00.009+01:00

I’m really enjoying my running at the moment and doing quite a lot of it, both at the track and on the trails and roads. I love running up hills surrounded by trees and wildlife, far more fun than running down the road breathing in exhaust fumes. I ran two races last week, the Wizard 5, in Alderley Edge and the Bollington Nostalgia Hill Race (7 miler). Both were great local events and tough hills, especially the Hill Race.

The Wizard 5 was organised through Wilmslow Running Club by a really nice bloke and my local police sergeant Malcolm Fowler. The guy is an incredible runner, tall and thin and comes in the top 3 in most races in which he competes. The run took place in a beautiful setting in a National Trust site, full of club runners over multi terrain with a mixture of road and trail/fell. I did enjoy it, but as the picture below shows, the last hill was tough.

I didn’t do too badly, finishing in 135th out of 209 with a time of 40.42. Not ultra quick, but not bad. (Especially compared with the winning time of 27.50

1 Damian Nicholls M Wilmslow Running Club 27.50
2 James Scott-Buccleuch M Stockport Harriers 28.24
3 Andy Wilton M45 Staffs Moorlands 28.56
133 Nigel Dean M Unattached 40.39
134 David Sharpe M Unattached 40.40
135 John Richards M Stockport Harriers 40.42
136 Barry Chambers M50 Vale Royal AC 40.47
137 Paul Clutterbuck M40 Vale Royal AC 40.54
205 Rebbeca Styles F35 Unattached 50.01
208 Brian Vigrass M75 (1) Staffs Moorlands 55.41
209 Geoff Bean M65 Unattached 67.12

After this race last Thursday, I also ran the Bollington 7 miler. This was a 1200 foot climb over 7.1 miles with the first 3 miles being all up hill. Crumbs this was tough, my pre race target of around 54 minutes was overly ambitious as I had no idea how steep the climbs were going to be. At some stages it was hands on knees pushing yourself up ascent. The views at the top though were very much worth it, with stunning views over the Cheshire hills. Being surrounded my those views and grazing animals gave you a great sense of being at one with nature (Did I just say that ? Must be getting old) This was slightly spoiled on the very steep, hazardous downward descent as some maniac sprinted past me shouting “Kamikaze” all the way down.

The downward bits were fun though and the last couple of mile were along the canal bank which I used to pick off people from Wilmlsow Harriers one by one. My overall time was 1 hour 4 minutes, which meant I finished 104 out of 137. Again the crazy winning time being 42 minutes.

1 Mike Salt M Cambridge & Coleridge 42.14
2 Andy Pead M40 Goyt Valley Striders 42.54
3 Malcolm Fowler M40 Wilmslow Running Club 43.30
102 Philomena Smith F40 Goyt Valley Striders 63.26
103 Andy Smith M40 Helsby RC 63.33
104 John Richards M Stockport Harriers 64.02
105 Steffi Sperring F Wilmslow Running Club 64.04
106 Andrew Dodd M Wilmslow Running Club 64.05
136 Caroline Page F40 Denbigh Harriers 74.57
137 Julian Page M40 Denbigh Harriers 77.24

This was probably my favourite race so far, very demanding but such a great atmosphere. The finishing line was at the end of a long downhill on cobbled streets which all the other runners hung around to clap you in. Love that about local races, great spirit.

Four More Years of Hurt

2010-06-28T15:12:00.002+01:00

Not surprisingly, England are again out of the World Cup after being rightly thrashed by a very youthful, exciting, intelligent Germany side. Some people are blaming the disallowed goal for England’s shocking performance saying that if that had been given, which no doubt it should have been, then the score would have been 2-2 and England would have had the momentum and gone on to win. This may be true, the game would have been different, and it raises an extremely strong argument for goal line technology. However, even if it had made a difference, even if the game would have been different, even if England would not lost in the manner they did, I think that it would have been merely papering over the cracks

The problem goes far deeper than the English football side which underlies the entire British culture. For far too long now the Brits have had a blasé attitude about life, a lack of “get up and go” and a failure to take responsibility for oneself. It can be seem in our benefit culture, generations of people unemployed, not wanting to work, being paid to sit on their backsides not doing anything. It can be seen in court, people relentlessly suing Councils for falling over, doctors, because something went wrong with an operation, even cigarette companies because they get ill. People want something for nothing, are not prepared to put in the hard hours and moan when it doesn’t happen.

A lot of this comes from school. Recently, many schools all over the country have banned competitive sports days in case the children get upset if they don’t win ! It is apparently being done as they are trying to protect children from being hurt by competition. This is nonsense, kids love competition, life is a competition, as soon as kids get into that mindset the better.

You do have the other end of the scale when you get the ridiculous parents on the side of the pitch screaming abuse at the ref in the under 10`s football match and dragging the kids off he if misses a penalty, I’m, not condoning that, but there is nothing wrong with mini leagues even with young kids. I’m all for sport being about enjoyment especially with young children but the idea that kids have be wrapped up in cotton wool is nonsense.

Wales played New Zealand on the weekend in rugby and got smashed. This is the second week in a row this has happened. In the Southern Hemisphere, this nonsense doesn’t happen, sport is king over there, the fields are full of kids running around and playing all sorts of games. They also have a belief in themselves that they can win, some call it arrogance, but all the great teams have it. For years Wales kept getting smashed by Australia in rugby as did the English cricket team, however a couple of wins come along and the belief appears. Wales are beaten before the get on the pitch against the All Blacks, there’s no real belief they can win.

This all goes back to what I was saying about schools. Kids are rewarded mediocrity. I’m told that kids fail don’t today, they get a “negative pass”. They need to be told that winning is good, that striving for success is positive, of course it is most important that they are told that as long as they do their best they should be proud but there is nothing wrong in being pushed to do your best, sometimes beyond your normal limits, striving to go that extra little bit to achieve.

Looking at the German match in particular, the English are still obsessed with the war. As soon as it was known that England were playing Germany, the usual stupid analogies came out, about “Krouts” and how we won the war, and beating the Germans in 1966. Apart from the glaring fact that for the overwhelming majority of Germans in the 1940s and today, Nazi Germany’s defeat was a liberation for them also, they see it as just another match and always play so much better.

I don’t understand why the immediate reaction to England’s humiliating exit is to sack the coach. Happened every time, Sven, Keegan, Taylor, Why ? The players are extremely well paid, earning well over £100,000 a week, where is their responsibility ? Capello said that they were “tired” They are professional sports men, it is said that Capello didn’t do enough to get them motivated. If you can’t get motivated to play for your country in the biggest event in the world, there is something seriously lacking.

Start changing the system, make it ok to win in school, give kids an incentive to want to win, give them the belief that they can do anything, then maybe, just maybe, they may do it.

Rant Over

Hail to Nick the Beer King

2010-06-24T16:12:00.001+01:00

Life is damn fine at the moment, its summer, the World Cup is on, the running is going well and I’m going on my second stag do of the month this weekend.

As I’ve said before, I’m not a big drinker by any means, and I can quite happily go months without a drop of the Beelzebub’s brew passing my lips, so the prospect of two beer soaked weekends within a couple of weeks of each other was a bit daunting.

The stags are Nick and Tim, my two cousins are finally giving in to the inevitable and getting married this year. At the beginning of the month we met up in Newquay for Nick’s stag do. Over the years I’ve been on quite a few beer soaked escaped with Nick ranging from a sailing holiday in Menorca, to obtaining our PADI diving qualifications in West Wales all the way to having fun with camels in Egypt and getting into mischief on my stag do in Prague a couple of years ago, so I know as much as anyone that Nick is partial to a couple of Panda Shandies when the need arises.

We all went out for a couple of cheeky vimtos on the Friday night, with a plan to make it a quiet one before retiring at a reasonable enough time to get up early on the Saturday to enjoy the beach and the sun….Hmm, it appears as it the beer pixies got overcame us as for some reason at about 3am we were in the trashiest pub in the whole of Newquay called Sailors. Really sad when you go into a club and you are the oldest there by about 10 years, must be getting old.

Woke up the next day not feeling too chipper, think I may have drank 8 pints of something that disagreed with me. Sadly I realised that I had little choice other than to pop to the white phone and have a good chat. After being reacquainted with last night fish and chips I felt much better and staggered down stairs for breakfast for a nice greasy fry up.

After completing the recovery procedure, my Uncle Hugh and I decided to go for a nice morning dip, laughing at those with wetsuits with calls of “jessies” loud and proud. Normally, my way of getting into the sea is to do a run and dive in. Didn’t really work this time as it was COLD. Even when you got under water, it was COLD. Think we managed to stay in for about 3 minutes before running out like a couple of fairies and drying in the sun.

Had a great day from there on it, I went for a run on the beach, played beach cricket and rugby (after about 10 mins of rugby, 3 out of 6 of us were limping, I blame the soft sand). We then went for a game of golf and went carting before getting back to the hotel for the England v USA game.

Got Tim’s stag do down in Brighton this weekend, going to be great fun, I’ve a feeling its going to slightly more laid back than Nick’s, which will suit me down to the ground. Looking forward to catching up and enjoying the great weather which is promised.

Running is going well at the moment, met up with the Stockport Harriers last night for a fell run up and around Lyme Park. This is a great way to keep my fitness levels up, most, if not all of the group are experienced fell or run marathon runners so It’s the best people to run with. We ended up doing around 8 miles, most of which were hills, with great views overlooking the peak districts. Did pretty well too, keeping to the front for most of the run. If I can keep this up, hopefully my half marathon times should come tumbling down. I’ve got my eye on a few local fell runs which I want to do in July, I’ll have a look when I get back this weekend.

South Wales, Woodbank and Yorkshire

2010-06-07T19:09:00.014+01:00

I’ve had a brilliant couple of weeks being very busy for the past two weekends. We went home to South Wales last weekend for the first time in a good couple of years and even though I moved out when I was 18, some 13 years ago, I’ll always call it home. Instead of taking the normal route down the M5, we decided to take the far more scenic route through Powys and the Brecon Beacons, which probably adds about an hour on to the journey, but, crumbs, is it worth it !

http://www.breconbeacons.org/ Text to show
The drive down took about 5 hours, which went really quickly, Sue and I chatted and laughed all the way down, continuously pointing out the scenery as we ambled our way down through the country. (I enjoyed myself so much I rarely put the radio on to find out the cricket score !) We found a delightful tiny country pub just on the English side of the border, who even though we arrived just as they were finishing serving, had no problems at all in staying open to cook us a meal. What was even better is that is was proper home cooked food, not the usual heated up frozen rubbish you normally get in pubs. By the end of the meal, he knew who we were, where we were heading and all about our trip. Great pub

We had a lovely time in Neath, mum and dad took us down to see the Gower Pennisula, back to the beach where I proposed to Sue. We walked up to the Gnoll grounds where we spent countless golden, sundrenched summers running around the fields playing rugby, football and cricket. (as I remember every summer was very hot) The great thing is even though the place has been developed a bit, I still saw it exactly as I remember it, with the climbing frames and the “dizzy roundabout”, the Gnoll Pond and the rather bizarre exercise equipment they had there (made up of some odd brown coloured metal benched sloping downwards to do sit ups on !)

http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~waggy/Gnoll.htm Text to show
We also went to see our closest beach Aberavon. My brother and I spent many many summers down Aberavon surfing on the waves when we were younger. Starting when I was about 12 and my brother got his first car. Despite at the time it being famously very dirty due to the oil refinery and the Steel Works, it was a great beach for waves, and the numerous times you spent the evening being sick didn’t seem to put us off. If anything, just like the condemned beach in Point Break, it drew us in even more.

This is a beach which has now changed beyond all recognition, even being awarded the prestigious blue flag which goes to the best and cleanest beaches in the area. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/wales/7413538.stm

This is only extraordinary if you knew what a pit this place was back in the day, now they’ve got a nice café where we all had lunch and the local council are spending a couple of million to get it up to an even better standard.

After Aberavon we went over to Porthcawl Fair which was another iconic place from my childhood. It had two beaches, one being Rest Bay and Coney Beach . Rest Bay was stunningly unspoilt, gem of a beach, with great waves on some days and kiddy friendly splashy waves on others. This was the place was always went on a “big day out” in our summer holidays taking the rubber dinghy attached to a cord around my dad`s arm to stop us being swept out to sea. We could easily spend all day, messing about in the sand (making my dad build hundreds of sandcastles before me and my brother jumping up and down on them) and playing in the sea. Great fun

Coney Beach was far more touristy being next to the fair which had the usual rack of fortune tellers, bumper cars, roller coasters, arcades and fixed stall games. I loved that place, one of my favourites being the “Flying Carpets” which was a huge slide (using carpets like a helter skelter) which you could ride as many times as you wanted. The big ride though was the water chute, which disappeared a few years ago after a 9-year-old boy died in an incident when a gantry fell onto the track.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/boy-killed-on-water-ride-at-fairground-1367475.html

One of the most bizarre things there was the Fun House. This was a big warehouse type place with the most dangerous and injury inducing rides you could ever get your broken and injured hands on. It had all sort of crazy things on it, such as giant wooden “hamster wheels” where you ran in till you got tired and fell over. A massive horizontal spinning wheel where the object was to get to the middle before being thrown into the very hard sides, and possibly most alarmingly a completely vertical drop slide ! None of these had any kind of supervision or any first aid tent, if you went in there, you were almost guaranteed being injured in some way. In those happy naïve days of the mid 1980s, there was never any thought of suing for injury, you knew the risks, you got injured, you healed. Looking back now, that type of place would never even be thought of today. Sad in a way, as it taught you as a kid to get hurt and get back up again because the longer you were crying the more fun you missed out on.

Despite what I tell my parents, I am proud of Wales , it is a stunning country which is lucky enough to have beautiful mountain, running all the way down from Snowdon to the Brecon Beacons, and equally as impressive coastlines, from Abersoch to the Gower Peninsula . Even though I grew up in South Wales , you don’t appreciate how lucky you are to live in an area of “Outstanding Natural Beauty” as the Gower was famously described. (It was the first area in the UK to be given the honour).

My running is going well too, ran a very warm 5k on Saturday in Woodbank Park, in 23.35. Still cannot get under 23 but I’m working on it. I also ran a very hilly 7 miler up in Yorkshire on Sunday.(www.roberttownroadrunners.co.uk) I really love these local small races they are so friendly and there is always great local support. It was hot but raining all the way which really helped, what also helped is some brilliant local kids who had cut up oranges and were handing them out to the runners as they were going passed.

I was very happy with my time of 54 minutes, I finished strongly and felt good all the way around. 7 ½ minute mile is pretty respectable, its going in the right direction and I’m finishing in the top 3rd of most races I take part in. I just wish I had the dedication to train properly, who knows what I’d do if I did ?

Pos Time Name Club Category
1 38.35 Kevin Ogden Spen A.C
2 39.03 Benjamin Cross Heaton Harriers
3 41.38 Donald Kennedy Longwood A.C
4 42.01 Martin Hall Dewsbury Road Runners
5 42.11 Michael Hyde Stadium Runners
6 42.34 Simon Courtney Stadium Runners
7 42.46 James Morris Dewsbury Road Runners
8 42.56 Gerrard Skippins Spen A.C
9 43.16 David McGuire Hyde Park Runners
10 43.40 Paul Hiley Unattached

50 54.00 John Richards Stockport Harriers

114 73.02 Nicola Woodward Hyde Park Runners
115 73.42 Liz Jones Virgin Active R.R
116 74.42 Philip Ramsden Horsforth Harriers
117 74.46 Lee Wolfenden Unattached
118 75.34 Trevor Ellis Hartshead R C
119 75.43 Helen Davies Unattached
120 75.43 Jackie McGronaghan Unattached
121 79.07 Ian Brown Kirkstall Harriers
122 81.41 Jaz Bangerh Hyde Park Runners
123 81.41 Tess Hornsby Smith Hyde Park Runners
124 81.42 John Burkhill Killamarsh Kestrels

Pics of Mobberley

2010-05-25T20:26:00.001+01:00

Found some pics of Mobberley, great race

Mobberley Trail Run

2010-05-21T11:47:00.007+01:00

Hello, I ran a very enjoyable local multi terrain race last night organised Wilmlsow Running Club with all entry fees going towards the East Cheshire Hospice. It was a lovely night, really warm and a great course taking in pleasant country lanes, climbing over stiles and an added bonus of running alongside the second runway of Manchester Airport watching planes taking off before running under the runway via the River Bollin tunnel. Even though I’d been warned about the hill after the tunnel, I wasn’t prepared for how steep it was, which was made even worse by one of the marashalls who knows me from the Saturday morning runs, pointing at me and laughing as my speed slowed down to a gradual crawl as I made it to the top. (D`oh)

One of the best things about these races is that you meet the same people at the races and get to know them and there’s always a very nice camaraderie between the runners. I met a lad called Martin Williams who I knew from the Goyt Valley race. We were chatting before it started both commenting as to how much we enjoyed the Goyt and how I'd beaten him by just a couple of minutes. He got his revenge last night as he sped past me after around the 3rd mile. (Great run mate) Another fun thing about last night was, as it was a Cheshire race I knew the police officers who were closing different roads for the runners, who said “hi John” as I was running past. As they shouted out the chap who was running next to me at that point asked “they seem to know you, are you a copper ?” I couldn’t resist I replied “No, I’m a burglar” and ran off. I got the end of the race in front of him and he said to me “I’ve got to ask, are you really a burglar ?” I told him that I wasn’t really, I was a lawyer and met them as part of my job, he said he was very relieved and didn’t want to pass me as he was scared I might “do something”. Not sure what that was, unless I was going to have it away with his daps or something.

Apart from my usual starting off too quickly (I just cannot help it) I managed a nice sprint finish. At 5 miles, my time was 39.21, and I my finishing time (5.3 miles) was 41.24. Quite pleased with that, felt I had more in the engine at the end and maybe should have started the sprint a bit further back. Its only when I see the finishing line, does the red mist descend. The pics aren’t up yet, I’ll post them when they are. I finished 115th out of 221.

Mobberley Trail 5.3
1 Damian Nicholls 29.25 1 M Wilmslow Running Club
2 James Noakes 29.38 1 M40 Macclesfield Harriers
3 Rob Downs 29.57 1 M45 Wilmslow Running Club
4 Edd Crowther 31.00 2 M Vale Royal AC
5 Andrew Asler 31.01 2 M40 City of Stoke AC
6 Jack Ross 31.14 3 M Staffs Moorlands
7 Tom Annable 31.24 2 M45 Vale Royal AC
8 Paul Watson 31.39 4 M Altrincham AC
9 Chris Chandler 31.41 3 M45 Unattached
10 Dan Oliver 31.49 5 M Stockport Harriers

90 Tony Spencer 39.37 16 M45 Unattached
91 Paul Clutterbuck 39.39 13 M40 Vale Royal AC
92 Michael Escoine 39.40 38 M Sandbach Striders
93 Darryl Stocker 39.41 39 M Unattached
94 Andy Gray 39.47 40 M Lincoln Harriers
95 Des Miles 39.49 17 M45 Unattached
96 Martin Stocker 40.05 6 M50 Unattached
97 John Malone 40.07 7 M50 Winston Runners
98 Jo Miles 40.14 4 F45 Goyt Valley Striders
99 Tony Smith 40.16 5 M55 Unattached
100 Mike Barry 40.17 41 M Stockport Harriers
101 Ian Sparks 40.22 8 M50 Macclesfield Harriers
102 Penny Hinke 40.33 1 F50 Wilmslow Running Club
103 Mark Sutton 40.40 42 M Unattached
104 Joanne Healy 40.45 3 F35 Dragons RC
105 Barry Chambers 40.47 6 M55 Vale Royal AC
106 Robert Buckley 40.48 7 M55 Altrincham AC
107 Chris Metcalfe 40.49 18 M45 Razzers Runners
108 Ian Ashcroft 40.52 4 M60 Wilmslow Running Club
109 Martin Williams 40.53 9 M50 Unattached
110 Jane Blackburn 40.54 2 F40 Unattached
111 Catriona Marshal 40.55 3 F40 Wilmslow Running Club
112 Chris Watts 40.56 43 M Wilmslow Running Club
113 Dan Williamson 41.10 44 M Unattached
114 Lyn Ward 41.19 4 F40 Unattached
115 John Richards 41.24 45 M Stockport Harriers
116 Sue Strang 41.30 5 F45 Unattached
117 Owen Ashcroft 41.35 46 M Wilmslow Running Club
118 David Leys 41.41 47 M Unattached
119 Rod Coombs 41.47 8 M55 Wilmslow Running Club
120 Andrew Malone 41.49 48 M Winston Runners
121 Danny Martin 41.52 14 M40 Unattached
122 Nick Jackson 41.53 49 M Unattached
123 Gaynor James 41.54 6 F Unattached
124 Helen Mann 41.58 7 F Unattached
125 Sharon Jones 41.59 5 F40 Wilmslow Running Club
126 Nicola Preston 42.03 8 F Unattached
127 Joanne Jones 42.27 6 F45 Unattached
128 Angie Maziere 42.40 7 F45 Wilmslow Running Club
129 Perry Wyatt 42.45 10 M50 Sandbach Striders
130 Simon Fenton 42.56 3 M65 Wilmslow Running Club

210 Richard Norris 51.54 17 M55 Unattached
211 David Taylor 53.51 14 M50 Staffs Moorlands
212 Jean Bayley 55.05 5 F50 Manchester Harriers
213 Aimee Shaw 55.06 19 F Unattached
214 Mark Taylor 55.30 57 M Staffs Moorlands
215 Margaret Nixon 57.04 20 F Unattached
216 Clare Shepherd 57.15 13 F35 Unattached
217 Jean Skitt 57.39 1 F65 Manchester Harriers
218 Davinder Baine 60.14 21 F Unattached
219 Claire Crowther 63.43 6 F50 Unattached
220 Rebecca Alvarez 65.08 22 F Unattached
221 Rogeria Mendes 65.19 13 F40 Unattached

Getting ready for Buxton Half Marathon

2010-05-16T14:18:00.005+01:00

Been out and about on different tracks lately getting ready for the Buxton Half Marathon. Sue and I went out last Sunday (she on the bike me running) down the Middlewood Way on a 10 mile track. Its lovely down there, completely free of any traffic, on a country path shared by walkers, cyclists, runners and horseriders, still doing 10 miles in around 1 hour 20 mins, which is pretty average for me. I'm happy that I can do that distance pretty easily now and still have plenty in the tank. I'm always knackered after a race, but I guees thats the way it should be, as if you finish a race with plenty left, you've not done enough.

The Park Runs are going well too, ran a 23.30 this week, which is about 20 seconds down on last time's race. I'm trying to get back to my best which was around 22.25 last year, but still its not a bad time for a hilly 5k.

With Buxton in mind, went for an hours hill run this morning in Etherow Park. Love this place, its huge, full of hills and always new paths to discover, felt good after it. I much prefer hill running as running on the flat gets so boring and is part of the reason why I sometimes gets bored with running sometimes. Hill running knackers you out so much, you've not got time to get bored.

I went out last Friday with the Poynton Round Table to a beer festival in Macclesfield, I don't really drink that much, I can go months without alcohol, but it seemed to be a good night and a chance to get to know my friends a bit better. I really enjoyed myself, you were given a free pint glass and a programme to select the beers that you fancied. Ended up drinking about 4 pints, including some Cava (which I think is Pear Cider) which was really nice. As the pic below shows, 4 pints was more than enough for me. Cheers !

I almost forgot, have a look at the race profile below...shocking first
hill.
http://www.buxtonac.org.uk/half_marathon.htm#race_profile

Pics of Woodbank

2010-05-02T18:24:00.002+01:00

Look at me, horray !

Trail running is so much fun

2010-05-01T16:19:00.005+01:00

Ran the Goyt Valley 10k fell race on Thursday and had a great old time. I’m very quickly becoming a fell/trail race convert, much more fun than road running, as you run up hills, over grass and stiles, reminds me of the cross country race we used to have in school in the summer every year.

Goyt is a beautiful unspoilt area where you start off which a lap around a reservoir before getting onto the trail part of the race. I was told beforehand that the second half of the run was hilly, and blimey, they weren’t kidding. I had to walk part of the way up the biggest hill as it kept on coming, but when I got there, the view was stunning and the downward part after was even better. The worst/best thing was just as you think you are finishing they throw in another bint of a hill. Despite the “looking as if I’m trying to go to the toilet strain” on my face. I managed to put on a sprint finish.

Even though my time of 55 minutes isn’t anywhere near my PB (49 min) it was a very hilly course, and I’m chuffed with the time I got. I’m going to look for a flat 10k in the area and see what time I can get now.

http://www.race-results.co.uk/results/2010/goytvalley.pdf

Also been keeping up with my park runs on Saturday, found this great link to you-tube which shows the number of people doing the Bramhall run and how pretty it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb4fo-G6lTU

Did the Woodbank 5k race this Saturday and came 18th out of 79 with a time of 23.09 For the last 3 weeks I’ve had the same time (23.04 for the past 2), I’m trying to break 23 minutes and get somewhere near my PB of 22.27. Sure I’ll do it in time, but the important thing is that I’m having fun again running.

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/woodbank/Results/LatestResults.aspx

Sheffield Half Marathon . Hilly, Hot, Tough….I loved it

2010-04-27T17:20:00.003+01:00

I woke up at 6am on Sunday morning to drive up to Sheffield for the early start of the Half Marathon at 9am. It was a nice drive up into the hilly district of South Yorkshire on a gloriously sunny and warm early summer’s morning, listening to the radio commentators getting very excited about the London Marathon that was on the same day. I’m never failed to be impressed by the lengths of craziness that people go to when participating in the London Marathon,

A small number of runners, known as the "Ever Presents", have completed each of the London Marathons since 1981. By 2009 their number had shrunk to 21. This year, the oldest runners amongst them are 75 year old Kenneth Jones and Jeffrey Gordon, whilst the youngest runner is 50-year-old ultra-runner and father of 3 Chris Finill. They are all male.

On 19 April 2003, former boxer Michael Watson who had been told he would never be able to walk again after a fight with Chris Eubank, made headlines by finishing the marathon in six days, becoming a national hero in the UK

Also a Leukemia survivor named Lloyd Scott holds the record for finishing the course in the slowest ever time of 5 days, 8 hours, 29 minutes. Impressive you may think for someone who had just recovered but coupled with the fact that he did it dressed in a 130lb deep sea diving suit, makes it even more special.

Sheffield was superb from start to finish, excellent organisation, friendly people, lovely weather. Parked for free in the Sheffield Arena (nice touch) and made my way over to the Don Valley Stadium where the Sheffield Eagles Rugby League team play. There was a big crowd inside with cheerleaders, a band and a mascott race before the start. I got myself in the 1.45 to 2 hour category, stopping to shake hands with a soldier running for “Help the Heroes” dressed in full military gear, with back pack, boots, the lot. Gun fired and we were off.

As per usual I set off too quickly, doing the 1st mile in about 6 mins. I can’t help it, I get caught up in the excitement and get giddy. I purposely slowed down after this to my plodding 8 minute mile pace.

As I said, it was very hot and was very grateful for the water stations at every 2.5 miles throughout the course. 1 cup for your head, 1 to drink. My plan was to save for carb gel for the 9 mile marker but I think I started wilting after about 8 so used it then. It did do the trick though and I perked up and ploughed on through.

Rather wonderfully on mile 10, they gave out Isotonic Sports Drinks alongside a sponge station which helped a lot, also there were loads of kids on the route who were handing out jelly babies which gave you a welcome sugar rush and quenched your dry mouth.

As always the last couple of miles were tough, though more mentally than physically, the site of the stadium coming into view was a Godsend. The race finished off with a lap of the stadium before celebrating crossing the line and being rewarded with the cool goody bag, t-shirt and medal. Time wasn't great, but not bad on a hot day 1hour 51, I came 1571 out of 4600.

What was very noticeable on this race was the amount of people that collapsed both on the route and after the race but thankfully the ambulance and St John’s people did an amazing job of tending to the casualties and making sure that everyoine was OK

My running is going fine at the moment, my 5k time is just over 23 minutes, and I'm building in hill training for Buxton in June.

Dumb, Dumber and Me

2010-04-25T17:08:00.006+01:00

Britain , the United Kingdom , home of democracy, the mother of Parliament, leader of the Free World, a welcome home to peoples of need, inspiration to the world when it comes to the Rule of Law. A country steeped in wondrous history, Kings and Queens of note of the like of Henry VIII, Elizabeth , Victoria . Defender of the Free, We stood alone for so long in our darkest hours against the Evil Nazi Empire, fighting the Battle of Britain for very existence, which conjured such inspirational speeches such as Churchill’s incredible :-

“I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once more able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone.

Even though large parts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the Old .”

…is a pity then that we are home to many many many idiots. People for whom the word “common sense” is a mystery. The following you-tube link shows this very well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_mkwB9ayK4&feature=player_embedded

Must be said that, it’s rather ironic that the makers of the video, spelt Tony Blair “Tony Blare”. (I got the race question wrong !)

One of the most stupid people is very well known to me on quite a personal basis, someone who I've known for a long time.....me

Before Sheffield half this Sunday I signed up to run a 10k in the Goyt valley, a very hilly course ideal prep. So last Thursday, after work we set off to start the race at 7.15. However the postcode I put in to the Sat Nav (the right one)
landed us on top of a mountain somewhere at about 7pm and completely lost. Knowing we only had 15 mins to find the course. We got more and more lost and poor Sue copped it big style from me as I had a tantram as we could not find the place. After much sulking on my part Sue managed to get us there at 7.30. There were no runners there as it had started at 7.15. I decided to run it anyway, just to do the route. It was in a place called Ettherow Sailing Club, !) so I asked one of the sailors what time the runners set off. She just looked at me blankly and asked me what I was talking about. I told her that there was a 10k race there which should have started about 10 minutes ago. She again looked confused so I showed her the race info sheet (stupid woman !) She handed it back pointing out that it was 29 the April not the 22nd. D`oh
7.30

Summer Loving

2010-04-18T18:41:00.000+01:00

Something happened to me after Wilmslow which has never happened before, I fell out of love with running. Yeah, I went on the road and run up the miles and felt good afterwards having achieved a decent time for the distance, but something was wrong, I wasn’t enjoying it, I came home from work, feeling tired or it was raining and using it as an excuse not to go out. Then Sue pointed out that I was running the same route more or less every time, and especially as part of it was on a main road, it may not be surprising that I’d got a bit bored.

It wasn’t just that, my confidence took a bit of a knock after Wilmslow as I’ve never faced a situation like that before where I’ve really struggled to finish a race (and struggled not to faint).

On Thursday this week I decided to go for a run in Etherow Park, and guess what ? I absolutely loved it. My Garmin couldn’t find a signal, so all I had was the stopwatch. I had a great run through a very hilly and beautiful country park including running around two big lakes and over waterfalls.

I ran the Bramhall 5k this Saturday too, getting a respectable 23 min 04, not a PB, which is 22.27, but I found the old Heartbreak Hill a lot easier than I used to, and enjoyed it a lot. Good to be back enjoying running again.

Out and About in the Springtime

2010-04-07T09:20:00.003+01:00

Back in work after the fantastic four day bank holiday weekend. Had a nice time off with Sue, chilling out and relaxing in the early Spring sunshine.

The long, long winter seems to be finally behind us so we decided to take a break from the gym and head into the great outdoors. Starting in a park called Etherow.

http://www.stockport.gov.uk/services/leisureculture/parksandrecreation/countryside/countryparks/etherowpark/

I was really surprised when I saw it, as I was not expecting something as nice as this, I had no idea it existed, its over 32 acres and has some cracking running routes with some big hills and obviously traffic free. We spent a good couple of hours wandering round the lake and up the hills towards a cottage, which I assume belonged the grounds keeper and then fantasying about how cool it would be to live in a place like that.

Monday was also a really nice day, so we went for a 10 mile bike ride down a place called the Middlewood Way which runs from Marple to Macclesfield. This is the furthest I’ve ever cycled, and I found it fine, could quite easily have done 15 if not more miles, and I’m still trying to get used to my pedal clips, without falling over. Again it makes a great running track, saw a number of people running up and down. Next Saturday, we may well take Sue’s bike and I’ll run.

http://macclesfield-outdoors.co.uk/places/middlewoodway.html

As I’d not run for a couple of days, I was feeling guilty so I went for a late night run of 7 miles on Monday night. In order to combat the problems I had in Wilmslow I’ve bought some protein gell, which I put in my pocket. I know that I don’t need them for a 7 mile run but I wanted to check them out on a training run just to see what they were like. I was really happy with them, gave me a nice boost just before my hill training part of the run and I ended up sprinting the last half mile, to clock in at about 57 minutes. Again, I could quite easily have done at least 3 or 4 more miles, but I’ve still got 3 weeks so need to take my time and not rush anything. Planning on doing a long run on the Middlewood Way on the weekend.

Dr Who started again this Saturday, must say it was good, the new Dr is very funny, will he be as good as David Tennant ? Only time will tell, but he’s got a high bar to get over if he matches my favourite ever Doctor.

Dancing in the Rain

2010-04-02T20:51:00.003+01:00

I got back on the road yesterday doing a nice gentle 4 miles (in 31 minutes) in the rain and cold, but I enjoyed it and felt no ill effects from the weekend. The weather this morning, was a lot nicer, so I put my shorts on for the first time this year and ran a hilly 6 miles. We then went down the gym for a weights session.

I really enjoy my strength work and am managing to bench and dead left around 60kg. My core strength, especially my back is really good. What I don't want to do is bulk up too much, like I did last year, as it will effect my running but simply keep it where it is now.

There's only 3 weeks to Sheffield so I want to average at least 20 miles a week at before then, with long runs on the weekend. I’ve got one eye on Buxton in June so at some point I’ll need to do some serious hill runs to get ready for it.

We’re going home to South Wales to see mum and dad on May Bank Holiday, which will be great, not been home for ages. Be lovely to see the old place again, go down to The Gower, and see my old haunting grounds. Will get to meet up with my old about mate from school, who I’ve not seen for 15 years and go out for a meal and some beers. Daniel and I were friends from the 1st year in Primary School all the way through College, and simply lost touch when we went to Uni.

I’ve entered a race in Cardiff on the Bank Holiday Monday, it’s a 5 miler through Cardiff Bay, with the Sea on one side and the Bay on the other, hope for a nice day.

Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail

2010-03-28T18:28:00.000+01:00

I finished the Wilmslow Half Marathon and it was the worst and most personally difficult race I’ve ever ran. The course itself wasn’t especially tough but from mile 10 I was completely spent. Now, I kinda knew before the race that I was undercooked, this is in part down to the awful snow we had for months this winter and me tearing my hamsting, but since then I’ve still not done the requisite number of miles in the evenings after work. Last year I was out at 9pm slowly building up the distance, not done the same thing time around.

I think I thought that as I ran the Congleton 9 and other 10 milers recently, It’d be fine, unfortunately it wasn’t. I started off well, running easily and setting a really good pace. The majority of the race was fine and I crossed the 10 mile line at 1 hour 24 mins, well on course to equal or beat last year’s time (around 1 hour 46).

The next 3 miles were incredibly hard, I had to resort to walking so many times as I felt dizzy and very sleepy, but there was no way I wasn’t going to finish, I didn’t really care about the time as I knew it was going to be bad just wanted to get to the end. I’ve never hit “The Wall” before but I slapped into it today and found it just to hard to climb over. Its such a weird feeling, I’ve found races tough before, but always enjoyed them, this wasn’t fun, and became a personal battle to get to the end.

Pleased to say I did, but you can see how much I struggled as it took me 34 minutes to complete the last 3 miles, way slower than I’ve ever done before. My chip time was 1 hour 58.08 not a terrible time for a half marathon but not what I expect of myself, and I am very disappointed with myself.

I am very sore at the moment, got some nasty blisters and both my feet have swollen up. Need to give myself a couple of days off before getting back on the road. I’ve got the Sheffield Half Marathon in a month’s time, which is thankfully flat but “one of the toughest road races in the UK in June” with the Buxton Half Marathon.

I’m not that far away as I got a decent time over 10 miles, but I need to get some more endurance before next month, any tips would be gratefully appreciated. Will put the results and pics up in the next couple of days

Pics of Cloud 9

2010-03-08T17:48:00.008Z

I really like these pics, and they are all free ! The photographer doesn't charge at all, just likes to let people have access to them. What a star !

www.racephotos.org.uk

I ended up 314 out of 383, with an official time of 1.32.09

I've not posted the entire list, just the winner, me and the person in last, just to give an idea as to how I did

Pos Name Category Club Time
1 Simon Bailey Mercia 52:10
314 John Richards Stockport Harriers 1:32:09
380 David Taylor M50 SMAC 1:57:43
381 Philippa Southern L Unattached 1:58:40 92
382 Lee Coupland Unattached DNF
383 Steven Lindsay Unattached DNF

I need to get me some trail shoes

2010-03-07T16:24:00.004Z

Woke up this morning to a beautifully cold late winters morning. Not a cloud in the sky and perfect conditions for running.

Race kicked off at 11am this morning, so I made my way out to Congleton and got there around 10, so I could have a wander, eat a banana, and pick up my race shirt and number. I guess around 500 people ran the race (results on line tomorrow) and we all made our way up to the top of the mountain.

The race started off with a minute`s silence for a local runner Phil Janaway who sadly died earlier this year, he was only 44. http://www.mh.k313.com/mh/index.php

The first couple of miles were nice and flat(ish) before making a steep climb of 1,225 feet to the top of the mountain. It was tough getting up there, and I had to walk some of the way to climb over rocks and wait in turn to get past stiles. I got near the top and paused to take a picture. A fellow runner, very kindly, stopped to take a picture of me. You can see the superb views you get from the top, well worth the climb. The second half involved running through very muddy fields and more stiles, very knackering but great sense of achievement and I managed a 100 metre sprint finish (why do I always do that ?) I post a link up to the results when they come on and also post up any pics that I find.

Oh nearly forgot, I managed to complete the 9 mile hill climb in 1 hour 32. Judging from previous years, the winning times have been around 54 minutes. I'm feeling in pretty good shape for Wilmslow

Now I've never done a trail race before and did not want to buy a pair of trails till I tried it out to see if I liked it. I used an old pair of Asics which seem to do the trick. I did slip and slide a bit and get my shoes stuck in some pretty deep mud, but they seemed to be ok. May well invest some trails though, definitely do it again

Getting ready for Cloud 9

2010-03-06T16:01:00.008Z

Got a hard race on Sunday called the Cloud 9 Hill Race (or Hell 9 as its affectionately known) which is a 9 mile fell race over stiles and hedges up to the top of the mountain overlooking the local countryside. Its supposed to be a bit of a nightmare but with stunning views at the top with the added bonus of a great t-shirt at the end.

The race is perfect timing as I need a bit of hill training to get more strength in my legs before the Wilmslow Half at the end of the month. With this is mind I ran the distance yesterday, in about 1 hour 48, then did 50 lengths in the pool, before having a sauna and an ice bath. All in all I'm in pretty good shape for the end of the month.

I've entered quite a few races this year now, most of them quite nasty hilly ones. Should be fun.

7th March - Cloud 9 - Congleton - 9 Miles

28th March - Wilmslow Half - Wilmslow 13.1 Miles

25th April - Sheffield Half - Sheffield - 13.1 Miles

6th June - Buxton Half - Buxton - 13.1 Miles

19th September - Gt North Run - Newcastle - 13.1 Miles

02nd October - Solomon Rivington Horwich - 13.1 MIles

Will stick some pics on tomorrow.

By the way, if you can, check out Eddie Izzard's incredible 43 marathons in 51 days on BBC on Thursday, superb achievement

Road Running...Its good to be racing again

2010-03-01T12:09:00.002Z

Finally, my running season has started ! By this time I was on schedule to have ran 5 races (3 in January 2 in February), two fell victim to the snow whilst the other two fell victim to my torn hamstring. Yesterday, however , I managed to get a race in ! A nice, hilly relatively challenging 6 miler up in Lostock, near Bolton, Lancashire.

The were doubts on Saturday as to whether it would take place after forecasts of heavy snow, thank goodness it didn’t materialise and the running conditions were perfect. It was a lovely, clear cold, late winter’s day. The Lostock 6 is a local race organised by the running club, through the town and countryside, with an evil hill after about 4 miles, before finishing running through a boggy farm. This really threw me as I put a sprint on for the last, what I thought to be 300 metres, before being confronted by a mini field of mud. Managed to finish pretty much on schedule of 48 mins,

Next week’s race should be really good fun. Its called the Cloud 9, which is a 9 mile trail run in a little village called Congleton. It’s a race through fields and bogs, up over fences and climbing over rocks. I’m told that when you get to the top, there’s outstanding views over the countryside. Not done a trail race before, so have not got trail shoes. I do have some old Asics which I’m going to use as I don’t want to destroy my nice runners. Should be fun

Last week was a race that I was really looking forward to. The Trafford 10k, a really fast flat track, ideal for PBs. Clearly just coming back from injury, it wouldn’t have been a fast one for me, just seeing how the legs held out. Anyway, needless to say I was buzzing on Saturday night, eager to get back out into a competitive race again. I’d had enough of running round the track and doing hamstring curls in the gym.

The forecast on the Saturday was for a light dusting of snow, but nothing of any concern, couldn’t believe it when I woke up on Sunday to find heavy snow everywhere. The sensible part of me was saying (especially as it was 7am on a Sunday morning) that there was no point in going as it was obviously going to be called off) the more dominant stupid part (probably about 90 %) said no, sod it, lets go down and have a look. It was only about 30 mins drive away, so I drove down through blizzard like conditions, (which should have really confirmed it)

When I got there, the car park was completely shut with no signs of life, I rang a sports shop who were supposed to be coming down to sell stuff and they confirmed it was off

What I did see were a number of volunteers getting verbally abused by some complete idiots about the race being cancelled. I find this behaviour completely unacceptable. The marshals are all volunteers, who turned up even in that weather only to be abused by some numpty.

I met some people who had travelled long distances, some from near Cornwall, a couple from Scotland and most incredibly, an elite runner from Australia who had flown in for the race ! (Why, was the first question on my mind) They were are nice as pie, and chalked it down to experience. The race has been re-scheduled for March, but it clashes with another race I already have and therefore, they’ve deferred by entry to next year.

Fund raising is going well for the Great North Run, If you did want to donate, you’ll find the information here… Ta very much

http://www.justgiving.com/John-Richards2

Arse (en Wenger)

2010-01-30T09:05:00.002Z

Sue and I joined a new gym on Friday. It cheaper than the one we go to now, has a sauna, jacuzi, a huge swimming pool, and a 200m running track around the gym. My intention was to do a weights work out concentrating on my core, neck, back, arms and then do 9x 60m sprints on the track. Me being me, didn't warm my legs up (i'll be fine, never ben injured before etc). All was fine until the 6th set when I was sprinting down the track and I heard a "pop", hamstring gone. Limped off to the side of the track and could not walk.

The guys in Total Fitness were ace, came over straight away with an ice pack and made sure I was ok Very embarassing, it was completely my own fault.

Can't really walk this morning, its put me out of at least the next two Sunday races, and is going to screw up my running prep. Saturdays are supposed to be my long running day, looking at 12 miles today, obviously that's not going to happen.
I'm going to the gym today, but will do chest, shoulders and arms, then go for a gentle swim. Here's hoping I'll be back running as soon as possible

And so it starts

2010-01-23T13:14:00.006Z

The snow has gone !!! Yayy, after about 6 weeks of crazy weather, heavy snow and ice I could finally get back on the road today and get some running done. I've entered quite a lot of races this year, including 4 half marathons, the most exciting of which being the Great North Run. I've always wanted to do this, its the biggest half marathon in the world with over 50,000 people running it last year in Newcastle. Sue and I are going to make a weekend of it, going up on the Friday and seeing a bit of the City. The Geordies are generally said to be the friendliest people in the UK, so should be a fun weekend.

Its normally almost impossible to get a place, but I'm going to run it this year for research into testicular cancer. I've pledged to raise £300 which is quite a lot considering I only managed to raise around £150 in the Great Manchester Run last year, however the local Round Table, of which I'm a member have sponsored me £200. The Round Table is a great organisation which raises money for local causes, doing like Christmas floats and fireworks on bonfire night, but also so really cool things like wall climbing, karting, skeet shooting, diving, paragliding etc.

The Poynton Round Table Website

Back to today I ran a 10 miler in 1 hour 24, which is not bad considering I've not done any running since before Christmas. I've quite a few 6-10 milers coming up in the next few weeks, with the Wilmslow Half at the end of March. My plan is to be running 15 mile long runs on the weekends to get me in shape for the halves. When I get comfortable at that distance, then I may look at doing my first marathon, maybe this time next year.

In The Mid Blid Winter

2010-01-09T23:57:00.003Z

The big freeze is still here, we have been made subject to heavy snow and thick ice for about 4 weeks now and there is no sign of it stopping for at least 2 weeks. I was supposed to have 3 races over Christmas and one tomorrow, but they've all been cancelled. Also due to the thick ice all over the pavements I've not been able to get our running either. I went to Harriers on Monday but the track was completely covered in ice.

Its the worst winter in 50 years last Tuesday it dipped down to -18 degrees celcius ! Bit worrying as I've entered 3 half marathons this year including two nasty ones. Really can't wait till Spring and warm sunshine. Hate the winter

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/manchester/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_8443000/8443593.stm

2009-12-20T13:00:00.003Z

Wow, I've lived up here for 7 years now but have never seen snow of the like that has landed today. You can pretty much guarantee snow oop North every year, but the amount of snow that has landed and the blizzard like conditions were something I've not come across before

Its 5 days too early for Christmas but hopefully the pics I've downloaded to something to convey who magical it was when we went out for a walk this morning.

No surprise race didn't go ahead, way too dangerous, couldn't have got there anyways.

Woodbank Park 5k

2009-12-19T20:43:00.003Z

Decided to get back into the 5k Parkruns and went to Woodbank Park today to run the Christmas Course. I found my Santa hat and an old t-shirt from back in 2003 called the Reindeer Run. This has special memories for me as it was the first run that Mark and I did together. A 10k around the historic grounds of Margam Park in Port Talbot back home (Remember "Soapy John" Nance ?) We ran it together, helped each other around and went passed the finishing line arms around each other's shoulders. This was before Mark, was rebuilt better than before into the Bionic Man.

Anyways, back to today, lovely sunny day, but cold and snowing, fast flat track (the hills were out of bounds due to the snow and ice), my time of 23.40 is disapointing but I started out way too quickly (under a 7 min mile, for the 1st mile) and tapered off towards the end. Nevertheless I'm determined to get my speed and endurance up. My 1st aim is to get a 7 min mile 5k and look for under a 45 min 10k.

I'm supposed to be running my 1st fell race tomorrow, up in the Staffordshire Moorlands. A 8 miler, however, lots of snow forecast tonight, and was told today that its very likely to be called off.

Off to the gym for me, I think

Tough Race, But Great Race

2009-12-13T12:44:00.007Z

Just come back from the Stockport 10 mile race. Without a doubt the hardest race I've done so far. Far harder than the Wilmslow half from last year. Looking at the forum about the race people were talking about two nasty hills at 5 and 8 miles. Let me tell you, they're not wrong, they were horrible. The 1st especially, involved a long steep climb, until you reached the corner. Problem is it then continued again after the corner. NASTY

Today was a perfect day for running, about 4 degrees, cold, sunny and dry. Arrived early and got chatting to numerous people I know from different races and the Harriers including one guy from the forum (only known by the fact his race number was 666 !)

The race wasn't chipped so my time will be slightly different from the official time, but I started off well with 2 laps of the Stockport Harriers track before running off into the town.

The thing I love about these races is the camaraderie between the runners. When I did the Wilmslow Half in March, I struggled in the last mile and was given great encouragement by my fellow runners. I’m glad to say that I was able to return the compliment this time. On the final hill around mile 8, a chap was really struggling to the point where he was on the verge of giving up. I was able to help him through it give him encouragement and get him through it. Also I experienced my 1st type run. Through most of the race I was with a group of about 3 other runner, two girls and another lad. We took it in turns to pace each other and take the wind, blocking it from the other 3. The race finished with a half lap of the track and when we got there, we did a very American type “all hands together” and said to see other at the end.

My aim for the race was unknown and I did not know how bad the hills were. When I have ran 10 miles in practice I always ran over 1 hour 25, so anything around that would be good. I’m pleased to say that I finished the race (according to the time I crossed the start and finish in 1 hour 21 minutes 54 seconds. Job well done.

There were loads of photographers around the course and I’ll try to post them up here if I can.

Running rocks (I can say that now, I hated it about an hour ago)

I must say though, the goody bag was the best I've ever had, it had a grat technical running t-shirt....a Penguin chocky bar, some two metal screws, and a plastic glove with meal worm inside ! I kid you not. Lives up to its "infamous" goody bag disclaimer. If you don't believe me, they've put it on you tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQCqU6OyGEA Classic

Stockport 10 Mile Race

2009-12-12T18:09:00.001Z

I’ve entered the Wilmslow half marathon again next year and after a year of getting blisters on my right in exactly the same place time after time and trying blisters plasters, different socks and taping my feet I gave in and decided to buy a new pair of running shoes. I went to a shop in nearby Alderley Edge (where David and Victoria Beckham used to live !) and went to a running shop called Running Bear. They took me downstairs and filmed me running on a treadmill which showed that my right foot rolls inwards as my feet touch the ground, (over pronating), which was totally bizarre. He recommended some Nike Zooms which are built for that purpose, and threw in some free running socks.

I’ve been out running in them since, a couple of 10 milers and have found no problems whatsoever. I hereby pay tribute and moan the death of my Asics 2100s. (I’ll use them for fell running in Lyme Park )

With my new found trainers and a plan to attempt to get under 1 hour 40 for Wilmslow, I have joined my local running club, Stockport Harriers. They are a top notch club which some incredible runners, especially a lad named Bashir Hussain who holds all the club records. http://www.stockportharriers.com/index.php

Since writing this, I went out for a 10 mile training run and did not bother putting running socks on and instead simply left my socks on that I had been wearing all week in work, didn’t get a blister but did rub a layer of skin off.

Its Saturday night now, and am looking forward to the Stockport 10 miler tomorrow. Its got a good rating on runnersworld website, and is said to have two nasty hills. I’m hoping to get around 1 hour 25, but I’ve not run the course before so have no idea how much the hills will slow me down. Whats good about this race is that they have spot prizes for different runners. The last person had a prize last year, (a toilet seat, I’m told), and I think they randomise the rest, with maybe most improved, best new comer, etc.

Anyway looks like fun, and I’ll let you know how I get on tomorrow.

Run Johnny Run

2009-08-30T16:03:00.002+01:00

Went for a run today. Initially my plan was to up my route by a mile, gradually increasing to the half marathon distance, but I'm a bit of a silly sod and when I got to the 4.5 mile point (where I normally double back so I can finish on the horrible 2 mile hill) I carried on running through a town called Poynton and back near home. The problem with this is that route is only about 8 miles so I kept on running back down to Bramhall again. My thoughts then were to do a 10 miler, but when I got to the point where I was supposed to turn around..I didn't and kept on running. Hey you may as well do the half marathon distance if you've done 10 ? Once again the 2 mile Bramhall hill is a bitch to finish on, but I did, 13.1 miles in 1 hour 57, again not a great time but a very hilly course compared with the relatively flat Wilmslow half.

Got horrible blisters on my right foot again, am stumped as to how to get over this problem, but am chuffed that I've managed the half marathon distance so early on in my training.

Distance 13.1 Miles
Time 1 hour 57
Total Distance (This training programme) 21.1 Miles

Legends of Sport Number 1 Paul Thorburn

2009-08-26T20:53:00.003+01:00

Reading my brother's blog recently, he came up with a great idea and listed his favourite sportsmen, who meant a lot to him when we were growing up. When I was growing up I followed Neath RFC with my mum, dad and brother all over the country. I loved it and was very lucky to grow up in a time when Neath Rugby Club was probably one of the best in the UK. So much so that in the 1988/89 season they managed to break two world records, for the number of points in a season and the number of tries (1,917 and 345 respectively).

It was a wonderful time, in a space of a decade Neath played all three Tri Nation sides (New Zealand, Australia and South Africa) at a time when the Welsh side were dire, and pushed all three mighty close. The New Zealand game especially was a superb occasion, in the weeks building up to the match the town went mental. Everywhere was covered in black, good luck signs plastered in shops, Neath scarves out of every window. They ended up losing 26-15 but New Zealand were THE team at the time, world cup holders, smashing every side they played, To match them like Neath did on that day especially when you are only 10 and a Neath fanatic was brilliant.

Paul Thorburn was the Neath full back during this period and he was my hero. He was a rather unconventional figure, not especially stylish but my goodness could he kick a rugby ball ! When Wales played Scotland back in 1986, Wales were awarded a penalty kick deep inside their own half. (I think measured around 65 metres !) and he kicked it with ease, a record that still stands today !

I also remember when Wales beat England in Cardiff in 1989, the press had been writing down Wales’ chances of winning all week, but one journalist a Stephen Jones (a Welshman) writing for the Sunday Times said that it would be better if Wales lost heavily so that the whole Welsh system could be overhauled. England had not beaten Wales in Cardiff for 26 years and they were about to embark on almost 20 years of almost complete domination, coupled with that the traditional rivalry of the Wales, England games and you can imagine the atmosphere.

Now I can understand looking back now what Jones was trying to say, had it been against any other side in the world he may have had some sympathy but a Welshman saying that when the opposition is England is, hmmm, a bit silly.

Well, Wales, as I’ve said, did beat England and I remember Thorburn being very animated coming off the pitch. In the post match press conference he said that Stephen Jones was the “scum of the earth and got into all sorts of trouble on the back of it. My brother being the nice person he is, knew how much I loved Thorburn (bearing in mind I’m 10) met me coming back from shopping in Town and said to m “John Thorburn’s been sent to prison”, me being the trusting sort ran inside in tears to check teletext (years and years before the internet)

That was one the many things I admired about Thorburn, his passion about the game shown when he broke down in tears during the national anthem when he was captain. What made the man hero status in my eyes was something he did for me when I was in school.

In the last year in Primary School I told all my friends that he was my uncle. Obviously no-one believed me, and one of my friends told my dad this. My dad seeing my little face told him it was true. I still don’t think he believed him. As luck would have it though, he was opening a local sports store in the town the next week. I was taken down for a picture with him with his arm around me and my dad explained the story about his being my uncle. Paul Thorburn asked my dad to get the photo developed and bring it to rugby training the next week so he could sign it. My dad duly obliged and he returned with the signature “To John with love from Uncle Paul Thorburn” What a star, what a legend, what a gentleman.

Back in Training

2009-08-24T20:56:00.004+01:00

Hello again ! After a summer mostly spent down the gym and watching England regain the Ashes, I've decided to get back into my running. I'm going to do the Wilmslow Half again next March and have had a thought. If I can get a 1.46 with 3 months of light to moderate training what will happen if I train (kinda) properly for 6 months ? My aim is to run a 1 hour 40.

Another motivation is that my wife and I are going out to Texas in the new year to see my brother and his family. I'm going to keep up the training over there so will need to get the miles in before then so as not to make myself look (too much) like an arse when running with him.

Today was quite a warm evening so I donned my running stuff and went on my normal running route down to Bramhall and up the horrible hill back to home. My inital aim today was to run at least a 10k as a base and see how I go from there.

I glad to say I felt pretty good, and managed to complete 8 miles as my first training run in 1 hour 11 mins 30 sec. Part of me wanted to carry on to 10, but its my first run (apart from 5ks in the gym) since the Gt Manc Run. Not entirely happy with the time, but not too bad for my first run back.

As this is my first entry for a while, got to say huge congratulations to my brother and his wife on the arrival of their second little boy Dylan. Yayy

The Great Manchester Run

2009-05-17T14:10:00.009+01:00

The rain stayed off and gave way to perfect running conditions. Overcast and nice and warm to let you build up a little sweat on the way round.

The best thing about the Gt Manc Run is the mass participation of it all. Its not an event where people get PBs (saying that I got mine today) as its the biggest 10k in the country with over 33,000 running it this year. Its organised really well though with different waves for different estimated times. You still get the annoying people entering the quickest wave and walking it, but you're not going to stop that.

As with every race I've run, the atmosphere is brilliant, with runners encouraging each other, shouting each other on, the bands playing on the side of the road, and the huge number of people cheering from the sidelines. Its also on Grandstand on BBC meaning that every year I religiously check out the programme in the vain hope that I'll see myself running past on camera (never happened in 5 years of doing this). The last big factor in why I love the Great Manchester Run (apart from raising money for the MS Trust http://www.justgiving.com/johnrichards2009) is that proper athletes enter. This year Haile Gebrselassie ran the race again and won it in an incredible time of 27 mins 39 seconds, something like a 4.5 min mile ! Incredible athlete.

After the run had finished, I made my way over to the charity village to find out my official time and to say hello to the MS people. More importantly they were giving out free sports drinks and even more excitingly free waffles !

I was quite happy with the times this year. Last year, I think, my time was something like 56 mins. At the start of my training for the Wilmslow Half, my aims were to do the half marathon under 2 hours and the 10k under 50 mins. Typically for me my running since Wilmslow has been non existent, and I do wonder what I'd get if I had my brother's determination for training. Nevertheless, I did manage to acheive my aims and recorded 49min 10 seconds.

The run time breakdowns were as follows :

3k: 00:14:08
5K: 00:23:56
7.5K 00:36:46
10K: 00:49:10

I dipped a bit at around the 7.5k mark but managed to get a second wind towards the end and finished off quite strongly

Theres no pics available yet but I'll put them on here, if there are any as soon as I can.

Nike have done this brilliant stat, show you how your pace was throughout the race, you can comapre it with the winner, males, or anyone else.

http://www.nike.com/europerunning/grs/index.jsp?runner=743485&rid=122
http://www.greatrun.org/RAWresults/Results.aspx

Great Manc Run (Eve)

2009-05-16T17:54:00.002+01:00

Its the daybefore the Great Manchester Run and apart from one 10k hilly run, I've done no running training since the Wilmslow Half. Instead Steve and I have been training a lot down the gym. Steve's sorted out a good training regime for us and has come out with this...

http://www.hoylesfitness.com/training/train-with-hoyles-fitness/

Its really good training programme, and its working as I'm starting to get muscles in places where I've never had muscles before, which is cool.

Getting back to the run itself, really looking forward to it, its a great event every year with over 25,000 running last year. Unfortunately this year, the weather looks really bad, heavy rain is forecast, but I should hopefully get round the course in under 50 mins.

Run Pics

2009-04-04T18:58:00.005+01:00

Got these pics from one of the website from the website http://www.wilmslowhalf.org.uk/

They are quite cool, and give a fair representation of the state of play throughout the run from the start to the end, you can see me geting more knackered in each picture. Plan tomorrow is to get my bike out and start off on a nice 10 mile ride down to Bramhall and back, supposed to be a nice day, and am looking forward to getting the training started for next summer.

All my blisters are healed up and I'm looking to get back out running next week with a view to getting a really fast 10k time for the Great Manchester Run at the end of May.

Job Done

2009-03-29T17:22:00.008+01:00

The Wilmslow Half Marathon is done. Today dawned bright and very sunny, perfect conditions for running. Got up about 8am for the 10.30 start time and ate 3 rounds of toast for brekky. We picked up Steve and got to the race for about 10ish.

Started the run off at a good pace, and even managed to get passed a couple of lads I used to run with at the Stockport Harriers. Unfortunately Steve and I separated after about a mile and so, so I carried on on my own, stuck the Ipod in and got into the race.

Managed to get a decent pace going and negotiated the first half of the race without a problem doing the first 10k in about 47 mins. Did start to struggle a bit in the second half and was completely spent in the last couple of miles. Great thing about a run like this is that you got a load of encouragment from your fellow runners. I nearly stopped running and had to start to walk a few times near the end but a few encouraging pats on the back and shouts of "don't give up, keep running" kept me going.

Chuffed to say that I didn't stop running and kept going to the line. The last 2 miles of the race never seemed to end even when I heard the annoucer shouting as people were coming over the line, this gave me a spur on, and when I rounded the last corner and saw the finishing line, I was feeling good. Weirdly though the line never seemed to be getting any nearer. However, finally it did and I managed to complete the race in 1 hour 47 min. Very happy with that as my initial target was 2 hours, was wrecked by the end of the race, and have a couple of cracking blisters but am very happy I completed the race and my diary of a half marathon man.

Steve also did really well, he had bad problems with his knee throughout which meant him having to stop constantly to sort it out, despite that he managed to get a cracking time of 2 hours 8 minutes. Well done mate

I'm going to keep the diary up, when I can,I've got the Gt Manc run in May, am hopefully going to get that under 50 mins and I'm still looking to get a sub 20 on the Bramhall runs.

Other than that, will keep at it down the gym, and will post some pics of the run in the next couple of days.

Miles 13.1

Total Miles 132

Its the final countdown. Da da daa daa, dada daa da daa (Good old Europe)

2009-03-27T17:22:00.003Z

Well 1 day left till the race on Sunday and I'm feeling pretty good. Feet are fine, feeling fit Ipod loaded up with my favourite songs, and getting quite excited. My inital plan was to run under 2 hours, I've kinda revised that to hopefully around 1.50 (hope I don't look like an arse on Sunday having said that !)

Race starts at 10.30am so we aim to get there around 10am to warm up and get a decent position on the starting line. Hopefully then we can have a decent run and not beo to bogged down in the "fun runners".

Been looking at the weather for Sunday, at the moment, it loods really good, sunny. Its been really odd as its changed from thunder, to sleet to heavy rain and now to sun.

Well, next time I come on here, the race will be run. Wish me well, hope to crack the 1.50 mark

Spring Has Sprung

2009-03-16T17:14:00.005Z

The Half Marathon is just under 2 weeks ago, so I went for a nice 5 miler after work today in an effort to build up the miles and peak just before the race. It was a lovely day and I made the mistake of wearing my running top thats been serving me well all winter. The reason its been serving me well all winter became apparant about a mile into the run, it keeps the heat very well, which meant that I struggled throughout. I should really have worn my running vest but i didn't think it was that warm outside. Its really odd that I should struggle on a 5 miler more than I did then half marathon distance.

I'll slowly increase my miles over the next two weeks and should be in fine fettle for the race at the end of the month. We can then start training for the John o Groats Lands End bike ride next summer

Miles 5
Total Miles 118

Personal Best Time, Personal Worst Picture

2009-03-07T18:11:00.006Z

After a break of a month, Steve texted me on Friday to ask if I wanted to run the Bramhall 5k on Saturday in an effort to help him with the injury to his knee and get back into running. I'm glad he did as I'd got quite used to the Saturday morning lie in, and it was the kick up the bum I needed.

I think that the training I've been doing has worked out as I posted a really good time 22.27, knocking 72 seconds off my best time. As you can see from the above picture I did a bit of a sprint at the end and was pretty much spent when I crossed the lie, dry heaving and all sorts of fun. Steve did really well on his first run clocking an impresive 23.47, considering he had to walk once as his knee started hurting him half way round, its an excellent time. Though looking at his annoyingly decent finishing picture he looked as if he's got better times in him to come.

Thanks again to the great team at the Park Run at Bramhall for arranging a fabulous run, couldn't be done without the great volunteers.

http://www.parkrun.com/Default.aspx?tabid=301

Miles 3.1

Total 113

Blommin French

2009-02-28T17:00:00.005Z

So Wales` quest for the Grand Slam is over for this year, beaten by the French in Paris on Friday night in, what has to be said, a fantastic game of running rugby. It says something for much Wales have improved over the past couple of years that France did a lap of honour after the win. When I was younger the French used to take a win against Wales as a gimmee so to see them so delighted was such a compliment.

I went for a run this morning with an aim to getting the distance for the half marathon, again I wanted to do a harder course than the Wilmslow and incorporated as many hills in as possible (Wilmslow is supposedly flat). It started raining after the first couple of miles, which was quite nice as it kept me cool.

I did start to struggle in the last couple of miles as the hills (all on the last part of the run) started to take their toll. I chuffed to report though that I finished the full half marathon distance in 1 hour 51 minutes. Pretty happy with that, I now know I can do the distance, my right foot did start hurting towards the end but I kept telling myself how annoyed I would be with myself if I gave up with a couple of mile left. I'll give myself a couple of days off and do some fartleks next week before repeating it next weekend.

We're off into Manchester tonight to a Japanese resturant with Steve, never eaten Japanese before, should be fun.

Miles 13.1
Total 109.9

One for all and all for one

2009-02-21T21:43:00.004Z

Completed a nice run today of 8.5 miles t oday. The initial plan was to try top 12, but Steve buggered his knee up earlier on in the week and was struggling, so we kept it down not to aggravate it and cause further injury. Finally my feet are starting to not hurt, my left is completely fine now (blister free) and the right one only started rubbing after about 7 miles. At the moment things are going very well, doing the gym about twice a week and running at least twice a week, will go out on Monday night and try to beast the 12 or maybe 13.1 and then concentrate on getting the times down. We're running at 7.2 miles an hour at the moment so our 2 hour target looks pretty gettable.

Miles 8.5
Total 96.8

Who beat the English ?

2009-02-16T22:29:00.005Z

The second week of the 6 nations is over and Wales were playing England. This is one of (if not THE) oldest rivalry in world rugby. When I was younger this was the main game of the year, as the stereophonics put it "as long as we beat the English, we don't care"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/welsh/6944320.stm

This for many years did not happen, apart from the ocassional victory. However, Wales' biggest dream was ironically the cause of their biggest nightmare. The whole Welsh season was judged on whether or not they beat England, it mattered not if they lost every other game as long as Enlgand were defeated. England on the other hand, tended (especially the last decade or so, to see it as just another game), and winning the Grand Slam. or World Cup was the priority. Thankfully, a couple of years ago, Warren Gatland (a New Zealander) became manager and over night all that nonsense went away. England was a game like any other, the tournament was the aim. not one game.

Anyway, Wales did win on Saturday, 23-15, it was a cracker of a match with both sides looking like they could win it. Wales were always in the ascendency but could never quite pull away, England played well too and showed a lot more grit than they have done for a long time. With the British Lions playing at the end of the season, we need a strong England.

Continued our running tonight, Steve turned his ankle on the weekend, so we did a nice 7 miler, down to Bramhall and back, will do a longer run at the end of the week, with a weight session tomorrow.

Miles 7
Total 88.3

Super Super Mark, Super Super Mark, Super Super Mark, Super Marky Richards

2009-02-09T20:19:00.002Z

My incredible brother ran his 100 mile race this weekend, finishing in an unbelievable 21.35. This is a sensation achievement, not only completing the race (which in itself is extraordinary) but doing it in this time is just staggering. Take a look at this link for his report.
http://www.welshrunner.blogspot.com/

Had good fun yesterday afternoon went to Lyme Park and played in the snow. It was snowing quite heavily, there were loads of people sledging and snowmen all over the place. Sue and I had a brilliant snowball fight, (which I won) and walked up to the watchtower in a heavy snow storm.

After this we went home to watch Wales whoop the Scots. Now they were really good, one of the best performances from a Welsh side I've seen in years, completely overwhelmed them, and played in the true "Welsh Way", running rugby, sublime skill, beating sides on skill alone. They did, take the foot off the gear in the second half and let the Scots back in, but still managed a comfortable 26-13 victory.

Come on Wales

2009-02-08T13:39:00.009Z

The best time of the year, the start of the 6 Nations. For those of you reading this not from Europe or New Zealand South Africa, Oz or Argentina, this is the annual rugby tournament involving Wales, England Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy and has been played since 1883 (Before 2000 it was the 5 Nations with Italy joining). In our family, its was a wonderful time, compulsive viewing, everyone crowded around the television (grapes specially ordered) to watch the match. Now in the 1970 (sadly before I was born) Wales ruled the roost, and were arguably the best team in the world. When I was growing up in the 1980s Wales were a bit pants. However, that didn't stop my blindsighted optimism, at the start of every tournament telling my dad "I'm sure it's Wales` year this year dad". Hmm never really happenend, apart from the ocassional triumph. Happily though recently Wales have started to turn things around beating every other team twice in the past two years.

The wonderful thing about rugby and especially the 6 nations is the friendly atmosphere and rivalry between the two sets of supporters. There's never any problems with the crowds with both sets drinking in the same pubs and sat next to each other during the game. Thats one the superb things about the game I love, unlike football, you do not feel fear or any kind of apprehension about there being any trouble in the match and you can have a laugh and joke with the opposing fans.

Another great rugby related memory from my childhood is Max Boyce. Everyone in rugby knows about him. He invokes a lot of what is special about rugby and has written many songs and rugby related poems for example the Scottish Trip

The Scottish Trip
By Max Boyce
Oh! We went up to the highlands of Scotland,
To the land of the loch and the glen.
And we'll all bring our wives back a present,
So we can go next time again.
Singing...

Too-ral-ay, oo-ral-ay addy,
We went up by train and by car.
When the juice of the barley was flowing,
We all saw the game in the bar.

Oh! We loaded the bus up with flagons,
And left about twenty past seven.
We stopped fourteen times between Neath and Bridgend,
We were still in Glamorgan at eleven.

Singing...

Too-ral-ay, oo-ral-ay addy,
We went up by train and by car.
When the juice of the barley was flowing,
We all saw the game in the bar.

On the M5 Will spoke to the driver,
He said "Can you no stop this bus for a while?"
He said "Man alive, we're on the M5,
You'll have to hang on to Carlisle!"

Singing...

Too-ral-ay, oo-ral-ay addy,
We went up by train and by car.
When the juice of the barley was flowing,
We all saw the game in the bar.

Old Willie climbed out on the sun-roof,
And he stood on the bus in disgrace.
He wasn't to know that the bridge was so low,
But he died with a smile on his face.

Singing...

Too-ral-ay, oo-ral-ay addy,
We went up by train and by car.
When the juice of the barley was flowing,
We all saw the game in the bar.

He was splattered all over the pavement,
And his leek it was stuffed down his throat,
And I heard his friend say, as they scraped him away,
My ticket was inside his coat!

Singing...

Too-ral-ay, oo-ral-ay addy,
We went up by train and by car.
When the juice of the barley was flowing,
We all saw the game in the bar.

My brother ran his 100 miler race yesterday, not heard how he got on yet, I'll let you know as soon as I do

Oh yeah, I ran 7 miles today

Miles 7
Total 81.3

New at 10...BONG

2009-02-06T17:28:00.003Z

After having the worst snow storms for 15 years, the road were finally runnable(ish) last night to get back on the roads. It was still very icy with snow on the ground, but at least it wasn't dangerous.

Well, we've crossed the 10 mile barrier, Steve and I went out for a run with a view to adding a mile from last week and running 9. I decided that we should go a completely different route and run towards Bramhall. Much nicer run, not on the main road, a quite a few hills. We started off quick quickly running the 1st couple of miles under 7 min pace. When we got to half way and turned around we tho0ught it would be a good idea to run the second half fartlek. This really took it out of us as the combination of sprinting and running was knackering.

My legendery lack of direction was brought to the fore again as instead of heading back towards Bramhall we headed in a completely different direction towards Poynton. This was OK though as it was due to this that we got the 10 miler that we were looking for. We're way ahead of schedule, by about 3-4 weeks, so next week we may run another 10 miles to consolidate, before pushing on for the final three.

Even better news is that my shoes finally seem to have been broken in as, my feet were OK after last night, my lower calf was a bit tight, but other than that, it was cool.

Miles 10.2
Total 74.3

Here comes the snow

2009-01-31T20:16:00.004Z

With heavy snow and the "coldest winter for decades" promised over the next few weeks, it was great to wake up this morning and see the sun out and no frost. The race kicked off with no ice on the ground and a lovely morning. I've been so lucky so far in that its never rained in any the races I've run in Bramhall.

I bought some blister plasters during the week, which seemed to help with the healing process. I put my running socks on but still ended up with aching feet by the end of the race. When I got home one of the blister plasters had come off. What I'm going to do from now on in is put a bigger plaster on top of the blister one to hold it on. I also bought some tape in the supermarket today to tape my feet when I run, which so hopefully solve the problem. There is a running shop in Alderley Edge, a couple of villages down from us, which we may go to tomorrow to get quality running socks, failing that, I may have to cut my losses and get properly assessed for shoes in Alderley.

Nevertheless I did manage to get another PB, knocking 7 seconds off my time from last week, running a 23.40. Oddly though, for the past two weeks even though I've been getting faster times, I've been ending up lower down the leader board. Last week, I finished 55/161 this week 64/163. Obviously, there's nothing I can do about the other runners, the more popular the race the more quality runners it'll attract.

The winner this week was a lad called Bashir Hussain. I used to run for a while with Stockport Harriers last year and he was there. He's a really nice bloke who is in his 40s and is a completely understated personality considering that he ran today's race in 16.32 !

I did manage to speak to Steve today when I went down the gym, my body fat content is now 8.1 % (athletes are supposed to be between 6 % and 12 %) and I weigh just over 10 stone. Steve didn't have his laptop on him so he coudn't tell me what my stats were when I 1st went to the gym. I do know though that I've gained weight and lost fat content which has been replaced by muscle. This training lark seems to be working.

Miles 3.1
Total 64.1

Blisters blisters everywhere but not a drop to drink

2009-01-28T20:36:00.003Z

Went running with Steve on Monday despite still having some blisters from the weekend. I put some blister plasters onto tbe spot but didn't have any running socks available so I simply put the socks I wore to work on. I realised after about 3-4 miles that both my feet were hurting on the insoles, I did press on to 7 miles as I wanted to past Steve's previous longest distance of around 5 miles. When I got back home I realised that on my right foot there were about 3 blisters on top of one another, with another forming on my left.

I bought some "2nd skin" plasters from Boots today which will hopefully heal the blisters, now even though I've got some running socks, I may invest in some padded ones to protect the area that seems to be the problem. I'll also use "bodyglide" on my feet to stop the rubbing.

I've never had this problem before, but then again, I've never done anywhere near this amount of ruuing beofre, hopefully, the more I use the trainers, the softer they'll become.

Other than that, I've been down to the gym today, and am booked in to do a spinning and Abs class with Steve on Friday, before doing a weights session. I've asked him to do my stats, body fat, and all that. It was done when I 1st came to the gym, be interesting to see what they are now.

Miles 7
Total Miles 61

Bramhall - The Race I love to hate

2009-01-24T13:05:00.008Z

Completed my 4th Bamhall Park Run today in sunny weather but very icy. Having had a few days off running following a few nasty blisters on Tuesday, I went to the gym last night to lift a few weights and to do some fartlek training on the treadmill. I also wanted to see what effect running would have on my foot. It seemed to be fine, both when I was jogging and sprinting, so with a happy heart I packed up my trainers for this morning's run.
http://www.parkrun.com/Default.aspx?tabid=304#

I've managed to find a setting on my garmin which enables you to run against a vitual runner. In other words you put a time in you want to beat (for me, last week's 24.24) and it tells you if you are ahead or behind the pace. This is brilliant as you can pace yourself and let you know how near you are to obtaining a new PB.

Whenever I'm running a race, I always seem to have a feeling half way around like "why on earth am I doing this ?" This is normally when, especially on a short faster race you're a bit out of breath, It usually passes quite quickly when you've finished your last hill and there's a nice sprint to the end.

Today's race followed the normal pattern, start off quickly, wish I'd carb loaded the night before, feel knackered, want to slow down, start arguing with yourself not to, as you want to get a PB, and then realise you are less than 1k to the end of the race. Now that I'm sat at home, typing this I know that I really enjoyed the race and despite that during it I was cursing it and wondering why I get out of bed early on a Saturday morning, I know I'll do it again next Saturday. The fact that I knocked 37 seconds off my PB to give me a new PB of 23.47 also helped a bit aswell I think.

Miles 3.1

Total Miles 54

Curry and Running Doesn't Mix

2009-01-20T22:42:00.004Z

Went for a run tonight with my new trainers on my feet and a curry inside me. Sue had made a delicious Chicken Jalfrezi and also a Tikka Masala for tea which we had half of each and saved some for tomorrow. I figured that if I ate that at about 6ish and not go running till about 9 I'd be fine. Oh dear, big mistake, I only managed just over 4 miles before my tummy started asking for me to open the release valve. Added to this it was the first run with my new trainers which started to rub my right foot which meant that I had to turn off for home much earlier then intended. I wanted to run at least 7 miles, with a view to hitting 8 tonight, but the thought of doing a Paula Radcliffe at the side of the road give me little choice.

Miles 4.13
Total Miles 51.9

Heartbreak Hill is a killer

2009-01-17T14:13:00.006Z

Ran the Bramhall 5k this morning, with a view to setting off with a quick pace. I started near the front in order to see what kind of pace the leaders would set off on. There's a hill right at the start of the course which takes you up the lake, and it quite steep. The "proper" runners set off at a really good pace and I tried to take the hill as quickly as possible. I did alright for a while and got into a quick pace, however after about the 1st k I realised that I was struggling and had to pull it in a bit and slow down.

It was a beautiful day today and brilliant for a race, it was very muddy in parts especially on "heartbreak hill" which really sucks your feet in and saps your energy when you are trying to get up there. There were times, espcecially in the 1st half of the race when I had to really dig in to keep a decent pace up. After I completed the hill for the 2nd time and I knew I was less than a 1k to the end, I got my 2nd wind and I managed to sprint to the end and get another PB. I was happy with my time of 24.24 knocking just under a minute off last race's time. I ended up 53rd out of 146, the really encouraging thing is though if I manage to knock 3 minutes my time I'll be in the 20, less than 4 minutess and I'll be in the top ten ! www.parkrun.com/BRTT_results.aspx

After the run, Sue and I went into the village and bought some new trainers, I've always run with Asics trainers. At the moment I've got a pair of GT 2110s, which are ace, but are starting to lose comfort. With the half marathon in mind, we thought if may be a good idea to get some new ones. I got a pair of Asics GT 2130s which feel really comfortable. They were originally £80 odd but I bought them for £50 as they were white and red and no one wanted to buy them ! http://www.holdall.co.uk/product/21915/0/asics_gt_2130_mens_running_shoe__red_black_

Sue's trainers especially were knackered and offered no support at all for her knees so we got her some nice ones to help her prepare for her Race for Life.

Well, we're off to the gym, check in soon.

Miles 3.1
Total Miles 47.7

Knobbly knees and blowing trees

2009-01-15T20:35:00.006Z

Have had a good week so far this week with the training, went for a 5.6 mile run on Tuesday with Steve. (blooming new rechargable batteries went again, my fault didn't charge them up properly) Very pleased with that as again, its record for him, the furthest he's ran before. I think a lot of credit has to go to him, to have not run any kind of distance before and then go for a half marathon as your 1st one, mighty impressive.

Following Steve's advice to build up muscle in the gym I went for quite an intensive weights session on Wednesday. Starting off with squats then, power lifts, and dead lift. Rather than simply lifting 3 sets of 12 or 15 for example, I lift 10 sets, starting at 10, then 9, 8 etc.

After that I moved onto the dips and chin ups. Am really happy with my progress on this, doing a lot of reps with no weight assistance. Considering a couple of weeks ago, I had 15kg assistance to help me along, I'm pleased with my progress. Finished it off with a 10-1 on the low row machine where again I managed to lift the entire stack.

After work today, I had to decide whether to go back down the gym again or go for a run. The run won through so off I went for a wander. For some reason I didn't fell as fresh tonight and my knees hurt a bit, I did manage to run 7 miles in an hour, which is pretty good, and again good progress towards the 13.1 miles target. Not sure whether this was because I really went for it in the gym last night, or because I went running straight from work and had not eaten much today, as I've been stuck in court. I did push through and get to my eventual target of 7 miles.

What I find to be really odd though is that my 5k pace is more or less the same as my 7 mile pace and my 10k pace at around 8 minute miles. I see what happens on Saturday with the 5k run. I may try to run at a 7.5 mile/minute pace which will give me a time of around 23 minutes. We'll have to wait and see.

Miles (Monday) 5.6
Miles (Thursday) 7

Total Miles 44.6

Through fire, ice, wind and water

2009-01-11T16:57:00.008Z

Had a busy week this week, after my very cold run on Monday, work's been a bit manic, so much so that I've only managed to get one gym session in during the week. On Friday I went down with Mrs John, who is training for the Manchester Race for Life in the summer with an aim to get a time under 30min, I'm sure she'll slam it.

I had a great session mostly on free weights, but also on the vertical pull down and low row machine and I was chuffed as I managed to stack both machines. I'm enjoying my weight training as I'm gradually getting stronger and toning up which should hopefully help me with my running and make me more durable. Rather unfairly, Sue has given me a new nickname of Pob, which was a kids TV character in the 80s which she reckons I look like when I doing weights. Most unfair.... (see above)

I didn't train on Friday as I was knackered from the week of work and I wanted to be in good shape for getting a PB in Bramhall on Saturday. Sadly that didn't quite transpire as when I got down to the park, the officials told everyone that the race had to be cancelled due to the ice. Apparantley there was a lot of black ice around the lake area, which meant that they couldn't guarantee people's safety.

Instead we all (Sue, Steve and I) went to Lyme Park http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-lymepark this afternoon for a bit of a cross country run. Lyme Park is a beautiful country house set in no end of acres of gorgeous Peak District countryside and also where I asked Sue to marry me. (The link takes you to the spot where I proposed, and was also where "Darcy" in BBC's Pride and Prejudice junmped in the lake). We ran for about an hour up and down hills through mud and against very strong winds. We are going do this on a weekly basis to build up our strength and is a perfect scenario for fartlek training.

After this we went down the gym for a spot of weight training, again I was very chuffed that I managed to do my sets of chin ups and tricep dips without any weight assistance, a thing I've been working on for ages. Jobs a good un.

Miles 6.1

Total Miles 32

Oh Johnny its cold outside

2009-01-06T19:55:00.010Z

I'd arranged with Steve to go running last night, not realising that the forecast was -10c and one of the coldest nights in a long long time. Still arrangments had been made so at about 9pm ish, off we went on a nice 5 miler. Despite the freezing temperatures, it was a really nice run, very clear, frosty night, no-one on the road, great for running in. Granted, there were big ice patches everywhere and we kept slipping all over the place but there is something quite liberating about being out and about when its really cold and most people are inside hiding. Steve did really well, he's not run a 5 miler before but he's got a very good level of fitness and ran it very easily

I’ve never run with anyone before, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I normally run on my own, plug my Ipod in and listen to my music. Going training with someone else however is great, you can put the world to rights, have a good chat, plan the run ahead, motivate and generally encourage each other.
I think the training is starting to pay off as I could quite easily have ran double the distance. I can understand why people like Mark run marathons, there’s something special about being out and about on the road, running up the miles seeing how far your body can take you, seeing how much the training you are doing can increase your fitness, and how the weight training can make you more powerful and hopefully quicker.

Something that Steve mentioned a competition yesterday
called "Toughguy" . Apparently it’s a 10 mile run followed by “the toughest assault course in the worldm running through fire, ice water, brambles, electric wire, etc. Sounds interesting http://www.toughguy.co.uk/

Mum and dad have been staying with us for two weeks, sadly today is the last day before they go off to see my brother in the States. I combined my day off from training today to take them out for a meal, to thank them for all the help they’ve given us in the past couple of weeks and to wish them all the best for the trip to the US. They'll be leaving the freezing UK to spend some time in Texas where its probably in the early 80s.....gits (only joking).

Miles 5.3
Time 49 minutes

Total miles 25.9

Never buy crap batteries

2009-01-04T20:51:00.005Z

Woke up this morning, feeling very energetic, and as Sue was going to the gym I decided to go for another run. Sue managed to fix my garmin last night, and I set off full of the joys of winter with my now working garmin and, unbeknowst to me very low batteries which died after about 1 mile into the run. This really annoyed me as I really wanted to keep a check on my pace, it was even more annoying as I was going to take my digital watch as a back up timer, but I didn't bother.

Anyroads, I kept a decent pace up and ran all the way. I came home and drove the route and was quite chuffed to find that I had ran 8.6 miles (a bit annoying as had I had my garmin I would have rounded it up to 9 miles). I think the time was around 1 hour 20 min but that's only guess work.

Steve had sent me a text last night asking me if I wanted to do a weights session at 3, again this was fine by me and so I made one of my new protein drink for afterwards and set off for the gym. It was a really good session, we both managed to lift the entire stack on some of the machines, (me albeit with Steve's help on the vertical traction) which I was chuffed about.

After that we were off to the squash court so the 3 of us could play a kinda round robin squash game. Really enjoyed that and have made plans for a gentle 5 miler tomorrow. Hope I'm not aching too much

Miles 8.6
Time 1.20 ish
Total Miles 20.6

New kit, New Personal Best

2009-01-03T20:54:00.005Z

Ran the Bramhall 5k this morning, and got a new PB of 25.11 which is about an 8 mile minute pace. Pretty happy with that as its a hilly course and I knocked about 2.30 mins off my last time. My official time was 25.21 but thats because its not a chipped event and I had to walk across the start line due to number of people running it.

I do like the Bramhall run as it's quite a challenge, 2 circuits of the course, with the "heartbreak hill" near the end. My aim is to do the run most Saturdays to improve my speed and 5k running pace. If I mix this in with my weekly running and weights, I hopefully should improve.

I'm always amazed at the volunteers at these races, giving up their time for free lining the course, taking pictures (they are free at this race), giving you your times. Great people, the races couldn't take place without them.

Went down to Decathalon (sports shop) afterwards to get some running gear, We had a great time, got new socks, shorts, tops, and gloves. This is all for night training in January/February when its going to be really cold.

Just read on my brother's blog, http://www.welshrunner.blogspot.com/ that he's just a a PB on his latest marathon with a great time of 3.30. This sadly means that I have to run a 1.30 odd in my half to beat him. Hmmm, its going to be a tough.

Miles 3.1
Time 25.11

Total Miles 12

I love it when a plan (starts) to come together

2009-01-02T23:10:00.007Z

Had a good day fitness wise today, went spinning at the gym and Steve (who was giving the lesson) asked me to do some weights after. This wasn't really a problem but for some reason I found the session really hard. Steve reckons that some of the the bikes are more sensitive than others so that when I was turning mine up half a turn it may have been going up more, hence why I found it so hard. I reckon he was just being kind, and I was just crap. Didn't matter though as I did managed to complete it.

Anyway, as I was saying, after this we went to do some weights working on arms, shoulders and chest This was fun, but a bit of a killer, we did ten sets, starting on 10, then 9 etc right down to 1. I must admit, I struggled on the arm and chest, but I found the shoulders quite easy. I think this is down to my swimming extensively when I was a kid. Steve, on the other had, seemed to do all 3 quite easily, it'd be good to get up to his standard with the arms and chest.

I'm going to do the Bramhall run tomorrow, its definite this time, as I won't be in court. I'm starting to take the whole training quite seriously now, been told to concentrate on eating chicken, veg, fruit and carbs. I've also bought some "whey protein" drinks to use after weight training. I need to take in quite a lot of calories as I think we've going to be lifting a lot of weights and running a lot of miles in the next couple of weeks.....Bring it on.

Getting there

2008-12-27T20:47:00.003Z

My planned morning run didn't transpire this morning as I had to go to court again to deal with someone in custody. Didn't sleep that well last time as my phone went off a couple of times in the night, from the police regarding this lad in custody. When I got up this morning, there was ice everywhere, this was a bit of a shock as its been so mild recently.

Did manage to go for a longer run this evening though, 6.51 miles, again I enjoyed it, and was quite happy with my fitness and they way I managed to get around. I think I could have ran a couple more miles but don't want to push it and injure myself, especially as I've got 3 months to prepare for it.

Supposed to be playing squash tomorrow, I got Sue a new racquet for Christmas, which probably means she'll beat me as she was good before with a pants one. Hey ho, I can always blame my sore legs from today.

Distance 6.51 miles
Time 58 mins 36 sec.

Total Miles 8.91

Runny run run

2008-12-26T20:07:00.004Z

Started on my road running did a gentle 2.4 miles, my garmin was playing up so I've no idea how far I'd gone until I came home and drove the route. No idea why the garmin wasn't working, didn't calculate my distance or the pace, hopefully it'll be ok tomorrow if I take it outside before turning it on. Did the run in 19 mins 30 sec. What I intend to do is get up to running 6 miles regularly by the end of January, 10 miles by the end of Feb before averaging the 13 come mid March. I may do beter than that who knows, but that seems like a good plan.

Hoping to go for another run tomorrow, unfortunately I've a client in court tomorrow, but I'll increase my route to try to run about 4-5 miles and see what time I'll get. It was really great to get back on the road today, listening to my music, lovely clear day, perfect for running. Blimey I think I'm enjoying it.

Distance 2.4 miles
Time 19 min. 30 sec

Total miles 2.4

Christmas Time, mistletoe and bucks fizz

2008-12-25T21:44:00.003Z

God, I love Christmas, great fun, prezzies, beautiful food cooked by my equally beautiful wife, and lying around all day not doing much.

I got up this morning around 8ish and couldn't find Sue anywhere. The turkey was in the oven but no Sue, not in bed, not in the bathroom. I looked out the window and saw her coming back from a run. Before 9am on Christmas Day ! This is not good enough, my excuses have run out about starting in January, about the training plan being perfect from then, about doing work in the gym.... My training proper starts tomorrow. I'll start off with a nice 5k to run todays food off and build up to a 10k.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and I'll see you all tomorrow.

Christmas Countdown

2008-12-22T22:31:00.003Z

Only 3 days to Christmas and I'm getting quite excited, won't be too long before Daddy Christmas comes down our (albeit blocked up) chimney. Got the last of my Christmas shopping done today and all our non Santa presents are under the tree. Also got our huge 18 pound turkey and shed loads of food for Christmas Day (We've got 8 people coming in total for Christmas Dinner) We've never cooked for so many people before and should be a lot of fun getting the turkey ready, cooking it and dishing it out on Christmas Day. We can then put a Christmas Carol CD on and have a lovely day.

Went to play squash again today with Sue, had a good laugh, though half way through one rally we (or I) managed to lodge the squash ball into one the lights. Even more bizarely, we looked up and couldn't see it, so goodness knows where it went !

Heard a great Christmas joke the other day.

Good King Wenceslas, is feeling a bit hungry, so he phones up his local Pizza Hut. They answer, and he says "oh hello, Good King Wenceslas here" "Hello Good King Wenceslas" they say "How are you ?" "Fine" says the King, "Do you want a pizza ?" "Yes please", says His Highness, "Your usual ?" enquires the chap from Pizza Hut, "Yes please" he says.........

Wait for it....

Its really good...

"Deep Pan, Crisp and Even"

Hmmm, I'll get my coat

Breaking wind twice a day, makes the pain go away. (How's that for rhyming Mark ?)

2008-12-21T15:55:00.004Z

Had a good day today. Woke up at about 10ish as was up late last night playing Monkey Island on my PC (Great adventure game that I used to play with my brother on our Amiga when we were kids, its still as fun as it was all those years ago) I came down the stairs and found Sue all ready to go down the gym, so I ran back upstairs and got changed, grabbing my swimming costume on the way.

It was my weights day today, just as I finished my chin ups, Sue called me over and sort of challenged me to do some squats with the weight resting on your shoulders. Now this wasn't a problem, but leg presses were the next exercise and there is no way I'd challenge her on that, she starts on 120 kg and goes to 160kg (fThe max is 200) and builds up from there, I normally finish on 120kg and I stagger of it like I've been shot. She's actually better than me on this (shhh don't tell Sue). After that we went for a bit of a swim, I only managed about 15 lengths as was a bit knackered from the gym. I'm working tomorrow, but we've booked a squash court for when I come home, so I can give Sue another walloping.

On the way home we popped into the local butcher to get some sausages and meat the week. Got my mum and dad coming up on Tuesday for Christmas, which we`re really excited about. We haven't seen them since March (they live 3 hours drive away) which is a shame, but with Sue and mum and dad here Christmas 2008 should be as magical as I remember from when I was a child.

Worky worky work

2008-12-20T20:52:00.002Z

Plans have gone awry in the past couple of days, I've been stuck in the police station and court till late every night (Its ok, not for me, I'm a criminal solicitor). My plans to race the Bramhall 5k this morning were pulled when I had to go to court this morning to try to get a client out who was remanded over night by the police. By the time I got home, the race was well over, but we consoled ourselves by going to play squash instead.

Other that we've been busy prepaing ourselves for Christmas, we've got 8 people coming for Christmas Dinner this year, which should be fun. My running partners` back from his hols down South after Christmas so we can get the training schedule up and running

Swimmy swim swim

2008-12-17T22:11:00.002Z

Got back into the training today with 51 lengths of the local pool. Quite pleased with myself, as that's the longest I've swam in a long time. I used to swim a lot when I was a kid, 3 times a week in the swimming club, and its kinda cool getting my fitness levels back.

Probably going to unable to do anything tomorrow as I'm going to be working late, but will do weights on Friday. Plan at the moment is to do the Bramhall Hall 5k on Saturday morning, last time I did it was before I started any kind of training and I did it in about 27 minutes, but good to see if I can improve on that any.

Day Off

2008-12-16T21:44:00.003Z

I had a day off from training today so I chill out and go for a swim tomorrow. Another reason why I couldn't go today is because I was giving blood. This is something I do 3 times a year and am quite proud of the fact that today was my 26th pint. I'm also on the bone marrow register and am quite happy for all my bits and pieces to be chipped and chopped out of me and plopped into another person when I shuffle off this mortal coil. With both my cousins being doctors and my uncle a retired consultant surgeon, would feel a bit bad if I didn't

Mark has sent me a 13 week running plan for the race, I've e-mailed it to Steve and we'll possibly modify it a bit for our plan. I'd imagine that our road running in earnest will start in January, but before than I'll make sure that I won't slack off and get my fitness levels up for the new year.

Starting Up

2008-12-15T22:20:00.001Z

Well, I've started. I swam 41 length of the pool yesterday (1025m) and went to the gym after work today doing a 6k run on the treadmill , 15 minutes on the cross trainer and a 5min bike ride.

Was a bit knackered after the run which is a bit concerning, but it was very hot in there and running on a treadmill is compeletely different to the roads. When we get our training programme sorted out most of our running will be on the roads which will be far more reflective as to where I am fitness-wise. In the meantime, I need to do work on my little legs to build them up and swimming a couple of times a week On the plus side, the run isn't till 29th March, so there's plenty of time to get my stamina up. With regards diet and lifestyle, despite the way in which the run came about, I hardly ever drink, and I don't smoke, so getting my diet in place shouldn't be too much of a stress.

I officially entered the Wilmslow Half Marathon today http://www.wilmslowhalf.org.uk/ looking on the website, it sounds like an OK course, hopefully its a pretty flat one, which would be ideal for a first timer. The best thing about it though is that you get a t-shirt which is always a massive bonus.

An Idea is born

2008-12-14T11:15:00.003Z

As a result of a drunken night out in Bramhall with my wife, a gym instructor mate of ours and his lady friend I have decided that I am going to do the Wilmslow Half Marathon at the end of March 2009 with an aim of completing it in under 2 hours. We also discussed doing John o Groats to Lands End on bikes and possibly canoes sometime in 2010, which sounds like a lot of fun, but lets get this run out of the way first.

I’ve done 5ks and 10k runs in the past, but this would be my longest distance I’ve ever run. I’m quite lucky in that I’m relatively fit and seem to be able to run races in fairly decent times without much training. For example last year I decided to go for a run to train as I had the Great Manchester Run in a couple of weeks and had done zero training for 3 or 4 months and thought that it may be a good idea to at least find my trainers. I thought that I would do a 5k and then build up to a 10k. I ran down to the train station, then I thought I’d run a bit more, so I ran to the petrol station, (I feel Forest Gump coming on here) until I’d run 5 miles, then of course I decided, I might as well run home since I’m here and ended up running 10 miles in just over 1 ½ hrs.

My biggest problem is, as my wife quite rightly tells me, that I lose interest in things quite quickly. I started running in the Bramhall Hall Race every Saturday and then lost interest. This is the main reason why I’m a) writing this diary and b) running with Steve as he is a personal trainer and is likely to keep me motivated and tell me off if I lose interest. Hopefully this can be a two way thing and I can tell him off if he slacks

The second person that my shirking annoys is my brother (Mark). He’s an incredible athlete with an even more incredible sense of motivation and enthusiasm. I’m sure he won’t be offended by my saying this but I do not think that he’s a hugely naturally gifted runner but his dedication to his training is awesome. About 5 or 6 years ago we started running 5ks and 10ks. At times Mark struggled to complete some of the races and one day he decided that he would start training to do a marathon. Blimey did he do that. Not only did he undertake a very intensive training programme and completed not only a marathon but then went on to do a ultra marathon (35miles) and 50 miler and a 100 miler. Now I’ve no enthusiasm to do anywhere near this but if I can tap into even 10 % of his dedication, I’ll be well on the way.

Mark has said to me that he envies me in a way as he believes me to have a natural ability for running (Without any training my 10k time is around 54mins, and 5k around 24 mins), now I’m not sure about that but I know with some training, and if I actually stick to a regime, I’ll certainly improve my times.

I have made a start in that I have been going the gym regularly since about August and I swim 40 lengths (1k) every time go. Now Steve has set up a programme for me in the gym to improve my 5 and 10k times, which I’m sure can be tailored for my half marathon. I’ve also started a spinning class on Fridays which will build up my legs.

At the moment, in December, the prospect of running 12 ½ miles (or whatever it is) is both exciting and a bit intimidating. Hopefully, I stick to my training and this diary and I’ll reach my target of running the half in under 2 hours. Stay tuned it should be fun.