It's been a good week

29/06/2011 - Oh what a week last week was.  Monday was a little less energetic than I'd planned as the run I was to go on deteriorated into a glass of Champagne.  Well it was rather warm out, the garden looked lovely and I had a bottle of Champagne chilling in the fridge.  I looked to my wife for support but in a pathetic lack of good decision making she got the glasses, the wine cooler and so I popped the cork.  One empty bottle later and we're left wondering if this is any way to go through life?  I retrospect I'm going to say ..... yes.

Running's going really well and I'm doing a comfortable 24 miles a week though my task this week is to get that number up.  Had some really nice runs through the countryside, finding some great new routes and I now have a running partner for Sunday mornings which is nice. Biggest problem at the moment is not my fitness but finding the time to fit the runs in.  As is normally the way at the time I need to be increasing my runs the "other" things get in the way.  None more so than work.

Can't say too much about it other than I've been asked to do some consultancy work in the Big Smoke that is London.  So it's on the train to Canary Wharf; which for a while also includes some weekend days. Been a while since I had to commute to London and about 5 years since I worked at Canary Wharf so it'll be interesting. 

The paving slab laying's nearing an end thank God.  I no longer have any finger prints and my back's foobarred.  Mind you it's coming together nicely and another weekend and a lick of paint and it'll look splendid.  Once finished I'll take a nice picture from the end of the garden so you get the full effect :-)

Getting there

Oh, as an aside my daughter brought home her school report detailing what she's expected to get for her GCSE's.  All of them A or A* except one B.  Like the fantastic parents we praised her unreservedly.  No not really we asked what's with the B lol.

Running again

20/06/2011 - It's  been a good week for running and I'm beginning to feel I might actually be able to do the Adidas Thunder Run in July (deluded fool).  Still need to lose a bit, well a stone, of weight but at least the trainings going OK. Hopefully I'll be able to report in my next blog that I'm increasing the mileage.  Had a nice run with a friend on Sunday morning whose recently moved into the area.  He wanted to know where he could run so I took him out and showed him the running route near where he lived.  I may have made a small mistake taking through the woods.  It was a lot more overgrown than last time I'd run through it and a hell of a lot more "stingy" than I remember.  The way was overgrown with stinging nettles and our legs were a little worse for wear by the time we exited.  Still, good run and he's asked if we can make it a regular thing (but not the wood portion).

I purchased some new running shoes recently, some lovely Nike Lunarglides +2, and I will having used them for a few runs say they are fantastic. It's like running in your best pair of slippers; wonderfully comfortable. I decided to buy the grey and purple ones.  They are also clean.

Biggest problem I have at the moment is that I'm only half way through the laying of the patio area in the rear garden.  Things are progressing well ..... the screaming back pain, the destroyed hands, the agony in the hands, wrists and forearms and lets not forget the stiff neck; all of which are progressing well.  It's hard to go for a run when your bodies in agony.  How do people do this for a living??  I know that 20 years in the IT industry has left me with the hands of a young child, or perhaps those best attached to a Geisha trained in the art of tea making and dealing pleasure,  but I thought the body was reasonably tough.  Years of Martial arts and exercise??  I should be immune to these aches and pains.  Anyway I got on a fair lick and I'm probably 70% of the way through.  I even got the drain cover replaced with a nice new one.

Getting there

So hopefully I'll have the paving completed by the end of this weekend and can start to fit the heaters, water feature etc to make the area a really nice place to sit in the garden ..... for my wife as I'll be indoors painting.

No running at the weekend

13/06/2011 - I sort of knew I was not going to get much in the way of runs in on the weekend just gone.  Still I had hoped to get a quick run in on Saturday Morning but no such luck. The reason for this pessimism was the delivery on Friday of 80 paving slabs and a pallet of cement.  I had a job to do.

Well initially I got someone in to quote for the work and my wife for her part told me that I was doing it so that was that.  Measured up, did my calculations and ordered the paving slabs and cement (not enough cement as it goes).  Anyway the lot arrives on Friday and first job is lugging the lot round to the rear garden.  After moving the bags of cement and 20 of the slabs I decided the other 60 could just stay where they were until needed.

Saturday morning, work clothes on and I get stuck in.  30 minutes later I'm having a coffee and letting the fact sink in that this was going to be a rather painful day.  This is pretty much how the day goes, 30 minutes of work, coffee, small cry, 30 minutes of work.  By around 6:30 pm I'm knackered and stop for the evening meal.  I wash and collapse in front of the telly.  Then my lovely wife in a show of contrition cracks open a lovely bottle of vintage Cava and it's off to the cinema room to watch Taken (damn good film too).  Next day, Sunday, it's much the same.  If there is a difference it's perhaps that the work rate has dropped and I'm sobbing more frequently.  By 3pm my wife says to pack in for the day.  I think she's grown weary of hearing a groan man cry.  So I tidy and clean up both the garden and myself.  So after two days of solid work I've managed to lay 30 slabs (see below).

30 slabs laid (you can't see the ones going back to the door)

Now it's Monday and I have to ask myself what are these sore infected lumps of flesh I see before me? Oh yes they're my fingers. Mind you they are not painful; well not when compared to the agony that is my back and neck. Both of which pale into insignificance when compared to the searing visceral compilation of pain that is my wrists and forearms. On the upside I saved the £20 it would have cost me to exploit a young eastern european chap to do it for me.

One small consolation is that the woman that made me do it now has to hear me moaning & groaning constantly until I've finished then I expect she'll get driven mad by the "tales" of my endeavors for years to come (remember the fence sweetie?). 

Also I've decided to get my own back on my lovely wife by posting the trials and tribulations of the patio laying over the next few weeks on my blog (starting tonight). If ever the social services decide to include the protection of husbands in their remit I'll have all they need for them to remove me to a safe location and care of a foster wife.

Oh yes and despite the pain I'm going to go for a run on the morning.  Sometimes hero is too small a word.

The New Forest, a 10k and new shoes

08/06/11 - Well sine coming back from Cuba I've started training in earnest for the Adidas Thunder run in July.  I'm currently running 20 miles a week and the intention is to increase that week on week until I'm hitting around 40 a week prior to the race.

Training took a bit of a hit due to a lovely long weekend in the New Forest. I'd completed 3 10K (total 18 mile) runs that week before we left for the New Forest.  The plan was to do another while I was there.  Oh well; best laid plans and all that.  First morning it was out the door of the New Forest Inn and off into the wilderness.

 Well to be honest first it was off into the shops of Lyndhurst for the morning.  Then it was back to the Inn to dropped off the purchases and then finally off into the wilderness.  We must have walked about ten miles through the forest meeting wild horses and cows along the way.

Well we got back I popped my running kit on a went for a run (idiot).  Next day we visited the New Forest visitor centre then once again set off into the great unknown.  We managed about another 10 miles but thankfully managed to fit in a pub on the walk.  Loads more wild horses; they even came over while we were at the pub.

Back to the Inn and a stunning lovely Sunday roast dinner.  A pretty prefect weekend topped off on the Monday for our daughter as she got to go riding for two hours prior to our journey home. I can't recommend the New Forest Inn enough; or in fact the New Forest itself.

Now I had a 10k race coming up at the Whipsnade Zoo so the day after we get back from the New Forest I'm out for a run.  Ouch!!!  I had to turn back after a mile due to very painful shin pain - blasted walking.  I'm not built for walking.  So I did no more running that week.  Sunday comes and it's off for the race.  I'm worried I'll not make it round because of my legs but I've paid so I'm going.  As it goes I need not have worried.  Got round OK and the legs were fine (race report will be in the completed race section shortly).

Finally this week I took delivery of a new pair of Lunarglide +2.  Wow!  Amazing how comfy they are.  I Thought the original Lunarglides they replace were good but these are lovely.  First run in them tonight and they were first rate.  Very happy :-)