Into the light...

I had the day off work today because I'm heading back home to Kent for an old school pal's stag do, but rather than waste the day I took on a 14.8 mile route through the sports fields and along the banks of the river in Cambridge!
This sounds like an idyllic, relaxing day out but considering it was the longest run I have done so far it was anything but! This was partly due to the distance involved but also due to the ridiculously muddy conditions in some of the fields! It wasn't raining today but I stupidly didn't think about the huge amounts of the wet stuff we have had all week! Some parts were so bad I had to stop running and strategically hop across each muddy obstacle trying to keep out of the worst bits. My magic trainers that have got me through all of my training so far got filthy as did my Lycra trousers :(

However, on the positive side, today was the first run that I have managed to do in the light of day which made a really nice change!! Maybe I should have more days off work to train?

Also I am really pleased to announce that we are up to £337 which is just over 1/3 of the way towards the £1000 target!
If you would like to add to the current total please click 'HERE'!

Second Place = Not Too Bad?

For those of you that follow the blog, I am delighted to announce that I survived the first of the two stag dos with only a few bruises and a hangover to report - Congratulations Andy on your great send off!

Now...back to running around in the dark!
I had noticed on my last few training sessions that I had been seeing loads of people out running; the funny thing was they were all going the opposite way to me! Perhaps they knew something I didn't? After having a think about it I concluded that, although I wasn't overtaking many people myself, the fact that I wasn't being overtaken at all could only mean one thing! I must be the fastest recreational, evening runner in all of Cambridge!

Tonight I found out that this is in fact not the case!
I was 5 miles into my 12.28 mile route when there was a flash of Lycra and another runner flew past! He was going so fast I didn't bother to speed up at all. I tried to kid myself that he was probably only running a short distance but he wasn't breathing hard at all, we were on a long straight road and he just kept pulling away into the distance. Disheartened, it was at this point that I began to really notice the weather conditions I was running in - it was dark, wet, cold and miserable - moments later it began to snow :(

Apparently I am only the second fastest recreational evening runner in all of Cambridge!

Half-way house

I did the planned 13.1 miles today . . . got round ok but doing it twice is going to be a different story! :(

Chasing the stag(s)

Unfortunately I had to have an easy few days at the end of last week as I had a bit of a stomach bug and then was away at the National Squash Championships in Manchester for 3 days (watching, not playing!). As a result, I didn't get much running done, so I put an extra bit of effort in this evening - did about 9.5 miles but ran it faster than I would have done normally to make up for not doing much in the previous few days. Tomorrow I intend to run the distance of a half marathon - 13.1 miles! The theory being that I have a couple of months to go and if I can do half the distance now I should have just about enough time to get up to the full distance in time for race day!

However, there are a few more hurdles coming up in the next couple of weeks that might slow my progress! Two of my friends have decided to get married just before the marathon in April - their stag dos are on the next two weekends so I will have to get all my training runs in during the week!

If you would like to sponsor me please go to the Elephant Nature Foundation Just Giving page by clicking 'Here'.

Winter Warmers

In 1959 DuPont invented Lycra - I hadn't realised until the past week that they had invented for men like me!

The past two days in Cambridge have been freezing cold and my nighttime training runs have been particularly grim. I haven't been able to feel my feet, hands or face and this evening I also had snow and ice to contend with; the only saving grace has been my fantastic new Lycra trousers!
After only a few runs into my training regime I noticed my legs were taking ages to warm up due to the cold temperatures and as a result I had a few minor muscle pulls and aches. So I invested in the aforementioned trousers and they are brilliant - OK, I wouldn't want to wear them to the pub and I'm glad that I have been mostly wearing them in the dark but they keep my legs warm and best of all they have a little zip pocket for me to put my door key in!

Incidentally, the London Marathon 'meet the experts day' that I went to at the weekend was really good. There was lots of great information available about nutrition, training and what to expect on the day and if anyone out there decides to do the Marathon in the future I would really recommend getting along to one of these events. The best thing was getting a look at some of the other charity runners, being a fairly competitive chap I was delighted to see there were plenty of people there that I reckon I can beat!

We are now up to £190 for the Elephant Nature Foundation - a great effort, thank you. If anyone would like the honour of getting us over the £200 barrier, please get in there quick! - http://www.justgiving.com/running4ENP

Weekend adventure

Went for a good long run this evening through some lovely muddy fields down by the river in Cambridge, I've decided that I am going to do one long run each week and try to add on an extra mile each time!
Tomorrow I am off down to London to attend a London Marathon 'meet the experts' day. Its basically a free exhibition for people like me that are running for a charity giving us the opportunity to speak to people about 'nutrition strategies', training regimes and also get our gait analysed! That sounds a little uncomfortable but basically involved being filmed running on a treadmill and then having someone try to sell you a new pair of trainers!

As I am going to be in London, I may also try to have a sneaky look around some of the course!

Head, SHOULDERS, knees and toes

Despite having played various sports for years, I have never been a particular fan of warming up and when I have done so, a few leg stretches usually suffices.

However, I have discovered in the past couple of days that a thorough warm up really can make a difference! I noticed on Tuesday that my shoulders (not legs!) got really tight and sore half-way round my 11 mile route and when running; there is little one can do to solve the problem except making large cartwheels while going along which looks fairly stupid.
Before today's run I spent a few minutes stretching my shoulders out and low and behold I didn't have any problems!! = lesson learnt!

As an update, I have now covered a total of 69.6 miles around the streets of Cambridge and am now having to plan routes further afield!

I would just like to say a HUGE Thank you to everyone who has sponsored me so far! At the time of writing we are up to £130, which is a great start!

The runner's nod

It hasn't taken too long for me to feel part of the runner's community, a silent, underground population that only comes out after dark!

Every time I have been out for a run so far I have run past loads of people out doing the same as me! Being a friendly bunch, fellow runners always seem to great one other with a friendly nod (probably something to do with the shared suffering).
The interesting thing I have observed thus far, is that it appears to be the person running the fastest, who's responsibility it is to initiate the greeting.
This unwritten piece of etiquette usually works fine, when you are running towards a slower runner or vice versa for example. Problems only occur when the two runners are running at the same pace, unsure who should nod first, both often leave it until the last second and then blurt out an apologetic 'hi'!

The moral of the story is, 'if in doubt, get your nod in first'!