Running attempt completed!

Back at home after running the Paris Marathon! Had a fantastic time, the route was beautiful and it was a lovely sunny day. I was not affected by coughs or colds, so was able to stick with the pace I set myself. I enjoyed the whole thing- well, maybe the last 6 miles were a bit painful, but it was worth it! 3hrs 48mins 07 secs.

Allez-y!

Tuesday today. I did my last longish run on Sunday- 10 miles, down in Devon. It was a beautiful sunny morning, with clear views across to Dartmoor. Plenty of short, steep hills to run up and down, which is good for the legs! Since then I have been resting a lot, trying to save my energy up for the marathon next Sunday. I'll do a couple of short jogs tomorrow and Thursday, and then start to eat loads of carbohydrates on Friday and Saturday. Hopefully by then I will have kicked off the slight cold which I have at the moment, so that I will be ready and waiting for the start line in Paris! Looking forward to it, plus a bit nervous...this tune is great for the headphones!

Where has Spring gone?

This time next week I will be on my way to Paris. Only 3 more training runs to go, and then the big one- yippeee! Today was a leisurely 3 mile jog. All the advice tells you to taper down at this point and save energy for the race, so I am doing what it says on the tin.

Last weekend I ran the Yeovil half marathon, as a training run. It was an enjoyable day, and it felt nice to be out running with other people for a change- I am usually out pounding the pavements on my own. It was a good indicator of my fitness levels, and I was able to do the distance without feeling too tired, which is fortunate considering it is only half the length of the full 26.2 miles. By golly though it was a freezing cold day and for the first 5 miles I couldn't feel my fingers and even my chin was numb. It feels like I have been running in sub zero temperatures for the whole of 2013 thus far, so I now have to ask- WHERE IS THE SPRING? It appeared for a day or 2 about 2 weeks ago I faintly recall, but it has not been seen since. It is just plain wrong to be running still in a hat and gloves, and if I have to do that in Paris I will not be impressed. Can somebody please tell the weather people to sort it out. Thank you.

3 weeks to go.

I have just got back from my last long training run. Today it was 22 miles, and as I have a cold at the moment, it felt like it was further. I was Ok up to 14 miles, and then it became a total slog for the next 8. If I have a cold in Paris, then this marathon lark is not going to be as much fun as I thought. However, today I am proud to announce the arrival of my new positive attitude, which will overcome all obstacles. From now on in it will be plain sailing!

I must say a big thank you to everybody who has sponsored me so far. I am amazed that so many people have made donations, and as you know, all that money is going to go to a very good cause. Cheers!

This tune is going to be on my mp3 player in Paris- I'm gonna be surfing down those streets!

Just keep going!

So now it is March at last and I am on the toughest leg of the training program. The milage for these three weeks is the highest I have ever done- about 40. On Sunday I ran a 22 miler, and for the first time I really felt that I could finish the whole marathon distance without collapsing. I have found out that in order to do this I need to eat LOADS of pasta and rice for 2 days beforehand, and swallow lots of energy gels whilst running. Also making sure I drink about 2 litres of water on the way round. Plus I will need to completely rest for 2 days before the race. Mind you, it is still 4 weeks before we go to Paris, so I don't want to get ahead of myself. There are 2 more long runs to do, as well as the Yeovil half marathon on 24th March. In fact running seems to have taken over my life for the time being!  
 

Back on track.

Week 11, day 4. Crikey its been a whole month since my last post. We have all been ill in our house. Flu and colds going around meaning training schedules had to be put on hold. I was in bed for a week, and then needed another week to get my energy back, doing low mileage jogging. Up to that point I had been doing pretty well with upping the distance of my weekly long run. I have now run an 18 miler and two 20 milers, which all proved tough to complete. I seem to be ok up to about 16/17 miles, and then the legs become really tired and it all becomes a right struggle, even when I am force feeding myself with energy gels and flap jacks and jelly beans! I think the training is working though. Last weekend I ran the Weston Tough Ten, a ten mile race which I also entered last year. This year my time was 7 minutes quicker, so I have definitely improved over the last 12 months. Paris doesn't seem very far away now. The next 3 weeks involve 2 long runs and plenty of extra mileage, and then there will be 3 weeks of tapering- lowering the mileage and recovering in preparation for the real thing!

I had this song turn up on my mp3 player whilst out on a run last week. When I am at 19 miles, the title kind of says it all. I feel like giving in. But never mind, vive la France!

 

It's Official: Hill repeats can be tedious.

Yes they certainly can. I have been running up the same bloody hill for 7 weeks now, and tonight I ran 5 circuits. The first 2 laps were run easy pace, the next 3 a bit faster. But it is all so predictable and every time it just gets a bit more boring. Thank goodness I have my mp3 player to distract me, and as I started to slow down I was helped by this marvelous tune from the Bevis Frond...

Sun at last.

Week 5 day 1. Yesterday I ran my longest run so far- 16.5 miles. I wasn't sure how it would go, because I have felt tired all week from last Sunday's Herepath Half. However, I am pleased to say that I went the distance without any trouble. It was a beautiful, freezing, sunny day, which made the whole run an enjoyable experience. I headed off across the levels listening to Bad Brains, then Jelly Roll Morton, then Deerhoof, then The New York Dolls. I love random play!

Keeping going was not difficult- I just settled into an easy rhythm, kept breathing, and listened to the tunes. I drank water whenever I felt thirsty, and had an energy gel every 3 miles. I was tired when I tramped past The Sheppey Inn at mile 13, but happy in the knowledge that I would return there later for a pint. Sundays were meant for this! 

Wot, mud?

Week 4, day 2. No run today. My schedule says I should run 5 miles, but I need a rest. The last 2 weeks have been pretty tiring, and this morning after only being up for 2 hours my body started to protest. At 8.30 I took L to school as usual, with J in tow. On returning home J and me spent an hour doing activity books at the kitchen table which was fine, but then it had to be the goggle box I'm afraid. This afternoon we went out and about on the scooter for 2 hours, then when M came home from work I had to lie down for another 2. The Xmas and New Year period requires stamina as it is, without adding 25 miles a week onto it! I am living proof that accumulating mileage and alcoholic units simultaneously can lead to engine failure.

Mind you, I did 2 good long runs. Last Sunday was a 10 miler down in Devon, then this week gone I participated in the inaugural Herepath Half Marathon trail run. It was lush! 7 miles running up into the Blackdown Hills, then 7 miles running back down. Beautiful wild scenery at the top. No rain for a change, but it was very, very muddy. At one point I slipped and fell flat on my face, which was quite alarming. It was then I realised that the sticky stuff underfoot was only 50% mud. The rest cow pat.

A random thought for the day from J:

'Daddy did you know that a long, long, long time ago cats used to lay eggs?' 

It's Xmaaaaaaaas!!!

Well, that was xmas 2012. When we all watched doggy doo to see what was coming next, and we all laughed. And then my lovely lady wife danced in her onesie babygro’ with her wonder woman pants on top, and had a look on her face like I don’t know what. She span like a marshmallow on a stick and we laughed so hard I wanted it to last forever. And then me and M with L and J watched a family cartoon and L felt safe and at home and was brave with the scary bits and sat on my lap, and when it was finished he said 'that was a GREAT film!' and me and M almost cried. Xmas 2012- I went for a run on 25 and 26, filled with food on the day and booze from the day before, legs aching up the hills and then quietly plodding down the other side- wanting to get home. April in Paris seems a long way away. And J said thank you so many times, and played with his penguins like they were the best thing ever. We built Lego racing cars and then never played with them again- and shot angry birds across the room. Loads of turkey and parsnips and Abney and Teal on tv. My mum came to stay, which was wonderful. And I was a lazy old fart and watched 'Rocky' on the telly late at night. 27 Dec- 1 mile time trial, on a bellyfull of bubble and squeek.

I saw a kingfisher.

Crikey, what a run I have been on today. To start off with I was late leaving, and so was worried that it would be dark before I finished and I would be stuck running along narrow country lanes with farmers and boy racers speeding past. I didn't want to have to dodge their Land Rovers and souped up Peugeots without so much as a florescent green headband to illuminate me.

Then after that I had run only 2 miles when I found myself facing an impassable section of road. We have had bucket loads of rainfall around these parts of late, leading to floods all over the shop and road closures aplenty. I kind of expected something like this would happen, but took a leap into the unknown- that's the sort of adventurous guy I am! However, I am not so adventurous that I would get my feet wet unnecessarily, so I turned around and chose an alternate route- adding an extra mile to my run. There was loads of surface water everywhere, meaning I had to weave around enormous puddles in the road whilst watching out for oncoming vehicles- extreme running or what, heh?

Anyway, after 8 miles I turned off the main road and headed down a side track which takes you by a small river. Vehicles don't use the track very often, so it is always quiet. I was jogging along slowly, enjoying the scenery of the levels with the Tor in the distance, when all of a sudden a shimmering flash of blue was gliding along just above the water to my right. Yes folks, it was a kingfisher! I don't know why, but every time I see a kingfisher, which is not very often, my heart is lifted. I watched it for only about 10 seconds before it disappeared, but that was enough to make my day. After that I started noticing all the other birds flying around- I saw a kestrel hovering above me, and a flock of geese heading westwards to the sea. And then, as the dusk was arriving, along came the starlings. In winter time enormous numbers of starlings gather to roost here on the levels, and as I was jogging down the track the sky above me darkened. Murmuration after murmuration flew over my head and I could see their reflections in the puddles at my feet and in the flooded fields surrounding me. This all happened at mile 11, and by this stage I was running in some sort of trance, so the whole thing was quite something.

To complement all this visual stimulation, todays' standout track on the mp3 player was the good old J&MC. Rest assured, this tune will keep you running like there's no tomorrow. By the way, I got home before dark. Signing out.

       

5+5+12=22

Week 1, day 6. I ran 5 miles today and 5 miles yesterday, and will run 12 miles tomorrow. That is a lot of miles for me! I do feel tired tonight, so will need to pace myself properly tomorrow. No alcoholic beverages tonight either- I have learned that you cannot do long runs the morning after the night before. This might cause me a problem or two during the Xmas period, but I am determined to stick to the schedule- I WILL NOT FALTER! (ok, I probably will, but never mind)

 

Give me all your money!

Week 1, day 4. Ooh my sore legs- I think I need a rest. How fortunate then, that today is officially my first rest day! This gives me the opportunity to relay to you the fine and noble purpose of my running quest. No, I am not just running the Paris Marathon to get fit, or to big myself up in the eyes of my legions of Facebook and Twitter followers. Of course not! Why would anyone do that? Instead, I am trying to raise a bit of money for what I consider to be a really good cause:

MIND is the national mental health charity that provides advice and support to anyone who has a mental health problem. It does this online, on the phone, and in numerous regional drop-in centres. MIND also campaigns on a range of issues, such as stigma, that could affect anybody with a mental health problem. 1 in 4 of us will experience a mental health problem during the course of a year, so we can all benefit from the service that MIND provides. If you are interested in finding out more about MIND, then here is a link for you...
http://www.mind.org.uk/

So, I would love it and be really grateful if you could make a donation to this fantastic and essential organisation- via my VirginMoneyGiving Page. Any amount, large or small, will be greedily accepted, and you will even receive a salutary e-mail from the runner himself. Merci beaucoup!
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserPage.action?userUrl=AndyNation&faId=274861&isTeam=false  

A little bit of hillage.

Week 1, day 3. No, not Steve Hillage- that would be silly. If you run up a hill it makes your legs stronger, and that is what I am doing once a week for the next 6 weeks or so. Tonight it was 4 1/2 miles, up and down twice. It is pretty flat around these parts, with only one area of hillage nearby- the Tor. So that is where I run. My legs felt good, and I took it easy. Techno on the headphones, running in the dark- I love it!

  

Slowly jogging...

Week 1, day 2. I caught the running bug 2 years ago, and have built up my mileage slowly. 5-10 miles a week for the first year, moving up to 15-20 miles a week this year. Today I went out and jogged for 3 1/2 miles. This felt ok, after the really short 1 1/2 miles yesterday. I am building up gradually this week, to be ready for a 12 mile run on Sunday. I can manage this sort of distance fairly well, coz although I have not run a full marathon before, I have run 4 half marathons this year. Yo, give me a peanut, eh? The big leap for me is going to be the amount of miles I have to run each week in training. This marathon malarkey means that in the next 16 weeks my mileage is going to leap up to 30-40. It might be too much for me, so I will just have to listen to what my body says and make sure I don't over do it.

As for writing this blog, I am going to try my best to make it more than just an account of weather conditions and miles run. How boring would that be? Instead I will attempt to fill it with witty banter, words of wisdom and facts that you never realised you needed to know. Actually, this will be harder to do than the running. But throw me a bone wontcha? For example, did you know that one of the runniest tunes I listened to on my mp3 player whilst out running today was this? It has an ace throbbing rhythm, perfect for pounding pavements. Incidentally, I do not advocate running down to Union Square to score drugs, now or at any time. Especially whilst training to run a marathon.

Right, here goes...

OK. Week 1, day 1. Thanks for visiting my amazing new blog! It may look a little bit bare at the moment, but I will soon be dressing it up in various fashionable items of lycra clothing. Today is the start of my training program for the Paris Marathon 2013. It takes place on 7th April next year, which gives me 16 weeks to get fit enough to run 26 miles. I have never run a marathon before, so at present this all seems a little bit daunting to me. However, if those other people can do it, then I must be able to as well! Over the course of the next 16 weeks I will be posting stuff here so that anyone interested can see how I am getting on with my running attempt. It starts today with a gentle jog of 1 1/2 miles, so here goes. Catch you later, running fans!