Fed up with ordinaryExtra ordinary is where it's at

This is getting serious (and I’m getting nervous). The run is only about 4 months away and we still haven’t decided on a route.

As you loyal readers will remember, we’d tried to get this sorted before Christmas, but it didn’t happen. It’s still not happened…

The latest update is that we’ll be running the Hadrian’s Wall walking path. Great. But that’s only 84 miles. Add on the 6 miles to get from the end of the wall to the sea and we’re still 60 odd miles short.

It’s really important to me that we run a marathon distance each day for the 6 days we’re running. That’s the whole point of the exercise!

John-Paul is wanting to avoid road running at all costs. I can understand that, and I’d much rather run cross country but doing so has two drawbacks for me. The main one is that running 26 miles cross country is way more effort than on road. Secondly, keeping off-road require much more route planning than following the well described C2C cycle way.

The Hadrian’s Wall walking path is well described and sign posted. It also has a fair amount of ‘accessible’ paths which means they should be easy going.

So I’m happy with that part. We just need to add on 60 extra miles…

A bit of research revealed that there is a Hadrian’s Wall cycle route that starts from a place called Ravensglass. This is about 60 miles down the coast from Bowness-on-Solway, where Hadrian’s Wall starts. The plan is that we will follow the cycle route from Ravensglass to Bowness and then join the walking path from there.

It’s not ideal from my perspective to be honest. If we can run 60 miles of cycle way, a lot of which is on roads anyway, what’s the big difference to just running the C2C route? The thought of running up the coast seems pointless too. Mentally I imagine running across the country, the coastal bit just seems pointless.

Anyway, I just need to get over that I guess and get the route finalised. Note the “I” there. As I’m the one who is bothered about the route and getting things booked in, I need to do it. I can’t wait for us all to get together for the evening and bash it all out as it’s not going to happen. I just need to crack on with it otherwise the stress of it not progressing will get to me too much.

I really wanted the whole thing to be a group effort and didn’t want to push my agenda on the run. Looking back, I think it would have been easier if I had. We’d be a lot further on too. I’ll remember for next time!

Okay, this isn’t a running related post but I’m really quite miffed! No one, other than one guy I was playing Scrabble with, has noticed that I’ve left facebook!

I wanted to leave without telling people but I obviously wanted people to notice I’d gone! It’s quite humbling to realise that in actual fact people aren’t hanging on my every word, waiting with baited breath for my next thrilling status update!

I’ve also found it strange not being able to tell people what I’m doing. I’ve found myself wanting to update my status with things like “Kit Barker is dismantling a big desk” or “Kit Barker needs more coffee”. You know, the usual facebook status update. The thought that people don’t know what I’m doing is somehow troubling. I’m obviously having withdrawal symptoms!

The other side of it is that I’ve had to text people or phone them to ask how their recent holiday was and such like. That’s not a bad thing but if I was on facebook I’d have picked that up through status updates and would have been able to see photos. It obviously has it’s plus points.

At the moment I am thinking about rejoining but with a new policy of not posting everything I’m doing or only checking it twice a day. I would definitely keep it off my phone as I don’t want to get back into the habit of checking it every 2 minutes, even when on the toilet!

Sacrifice. That’s a scary word. But if I’m serious about during this run I need to make some.

I was talking to Smack recently and he inspired me by how disciplined he’s been. He’s given up alcohol, not eating chocolates, not eating at all after 8pm and so on and so forth. He’s set a target weight he wants to achieve for the run and is going for it.

The very thought of giving up say alcohol fills me with dread! That’s not to say I’m an alcoholic, but there’s always an upcoming special event or a reason not to just round the corner. But, if I’m sincere in my desire to do this 150+ mile run I need to make sacrifices.

I haven’t got round to giving up beer yet but I’ve done something equally scary. I’ve deleted my facebook and twitter accounts. That’s it, they’re gone. No more can I waste time reading meaningless and banal status updates or playing Scrabble when you know you’re opponent is cheating (of course, I would never, ever look at Scrabulizer.com or even know about it’s existence…) or deleting the continuous stream of invites to facebook pillow fights.

It’s not just about the time saving, it’s about removing clutter. Mental clutter. I spent so much of my time checking social networking sites at work but also on my phone and it’s such an intrusion. I’d check facebook on the toilet, at the dinner table, walking home… I get no benefit from it and it fills my mind with crap!

Nowhere could I escape. Well, now I have. It feels a little weird at the moment to be honest. How do I talk to people? How do I tell people what I’m up to? But it also feels like I’m free. I’ve dropped off the radar. I’m anonymous and I’m free from the binds of the world.

Well, almost.

Well, well, well… what’s this? A new post? It’s been FAR too long since the last post.

Oh, the reasons are many and varied but needless to say the last couple of months have been a nightmare in terms of preparing for this run. I’ve been ill, exhausted, run off my feet, eaten too much, stressed and depressed all at various times since my last post. I’ve also ‘started again’ more than once!

Well, wow the new year is here I’m panicking about the run big style. I’m way off target fitness wise and we still haven’t agreed on a route despite agreeing that we would get it sorted before Christmas.

After putting it off too long, I went out for a run on Sunday and got only a couple of miles before feeling sick. I think it was a combination of stress, fear, worry and too much food but I couldn’t go on. I stopped, feeling like I was going to vomit. I sat down on a wall and cried. If the rest of the team were there I would have told them I was dropping out. I couldn’t do it. I’ve tried. And failed. It was just too hard. At every turn events seemed to conspire to stop me. I was defeated.

To rub salt into the wound the park was full of runners. Everywhere I looked I could see people running and enjoying themselves. I wanted to punch them all!

I sat on that wall for what seemed like an age. In the end I got up and walked home. On the way home, I was praying and things got better. A plan started unfolding. I could do this. It would be hard, yes and it would require sacrifice but I would do it. I had a good conversation with myself and with God and by the time I was at the end of the park I was ready to start again!

So, this week is another ‘start again’ week. Hopefully it’s the last one but already my plans to run are under attack. This morning my eldest child was off school, unable to weight-bear on his right leg. His knee was knocked playing football a while ago and hurt a bit at the time, but nothing serious. Last night he was complaining it hurt and this morning he couldn’t walk. No school for him today and no running for me. I’ll go out tomorrow instead…

That’s a good question. My last post was way back on 24th October, so just what have I been doing all time?

The simple and honest answer to that question is, not much running.

In fact it’s more like, a lot of eating and not much running.

This last month has been a hard one for many reasons:

• The weather has turned for the worse big style
• It’s dark very late in the morning
• It’s dark very early in the evening
• I’ve been busy at work

But the main reason is that I’ve struggled for motivation for life in general. There are a number of personal reasons for this which I’m not going to expand on here, but needless to say it’s been a hard month. Very hard.

I’ve been running only once a week for the last month. That’s meant each time I’ve gone out it’s been unbelievably hard. I’ve been more prone to minor injuries too. Which then means I can’t run for at least three or four days anyway, which leads to being more tired and having more injuries etc etc etc.

I went out for a 9 mile run with Smack last weekend. It was only a little further than I’ve gone previously and the same route I’ve done three times previously. But this time it was hell. Smack was a gent and tried to make out he was tired too but I don’t think he was really!

I guess I’ve learnt a lot over the last month. Stuff like (be prepared for massive revelation here):

• Running less frequent is bad.
• Being depressed is bad.
• Eating lots of take aways is bad.
• Being too busy at work is bad.

So the question I’m asking at the moment is where do I go from here? How do I get back to the place where I wanted to run and was enjoying it?

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we’ve not met as a group at all in the last month. That is something that needs to change. I feel time marching on and we’re still unsure of the route, the date, where we’re staying, blah blah. May will be upon us before we know it!

Also writing this thing helps too. I read previous articles and it shows me the progress I’ve made. It’s all too easy to forget the fact that in September I got tired running 200 metres to the shops. Now I’m moaning that I found a 9 mile run hard! That’s an amazing achievement that I need to keep reminding myself of.

So my goals for the coming week are to:

• Go running today or tomorrow at least 5 miles
• Meet with at least two of the guys, preferably all of us together
• Plan in time during the working week where I can take a long lunch break and go for a 5/6 mile run

That’s the plan, let’s see how we do… now then, where’s my coffee…

I’m not sure I need to explain the title too much, it should be self explanatory!

I didn’t quite manage the 10 miles I was hoping for today but seeing as it was raining and windy and I ran up some steep hills, I wasn’t too upset.

It was a hard run today, physically mentally. I did have to walk up one of the hills because I was exhausted. In the end I managed 8.5 miles in just under 1.5 hours.

After getting home I showered as normal but was in for a world of pain as the tingly-minty-menthol Original Mint Source shower gel set my cracked and slightly bleeding nipples on fire! Too late to do anything about it but scream (I was alone in the house) and curse each one of the 7,635 mint leaves that were causing me pain!

I’m sat here more than an hour later and I’m still sore from the stupid shower gel! I hope it eases soon!

Well it’s been a week since my last run and boy can I feel it.

It’s strange that in the short time I’ve been running I’ve noticed such a change. Previously not doing any exercise all week was the norm and I felt okay about that. Now after a week without running, my legs ache, I really feel like every meal is just piling the pounds on without running them off and I’m frustrated that I’ve not managed to run.

So my body is telling me it needs to run but my mind is saying other things! The kids are off to a party this afternoon and I’ve got a couple of hours free time. I’m going to do at least 8 miles, hopefully 10, but my brain is urging me not to!

It’s a struggle to remember that I can run 8 miles. I’ve done it only a month ago but it’s like my brain is trying to convince me that it was a dream or something. The thought of running 6 miles even making me nervous and yet I’ve done that distance about 6 times now.

So why is my brain being such a pain in the arse about this? Answers on a postcard please…

The last two weeks have been hard from a running point of view.

Two things have happened:

1) My runs are getting longer and so taking more time. My short runs are 6 miles and long ones about 8 miles. That means I’m out for between an hour and an hour and a half.

2) Work has been very busy. Increasing the amount of time at work means less time for running.

The result has been that I’ve not enjoying the same frequency of runs that I have been. Or the amount of time to write on this blog.

Given the fact that the days are getting shorter, I’m going to have to either run in the dark – which means running in well lit areas i.e. roads, or run during the day during work time. Work being busy means much less time to run and there’s nothing I can do about that really. Work has to come first if I want to eat and pay the mortgage (which I do).

Running along roads in the dark doesn’t sound too unappealing to be honest but I haven’t got any nice routes that are obvious. I guess I need to get onto Google Maps and plan out a couple and stop moaning!

So far the weather has been glorious the last couple of weeks, but I know that’s changing. I hope my enthusiasm for running keeps up when it’s cold and wet!

Only time will tell…

For the last few runs, including my 8 mile run, I’ve been wearing my ‘normal’ running shoes. After a 4 mile run yesterday I had a slight pain in my knees and ankles. I’m not sure if it’s my shoes but that’s the only thing that’s changed.

The next week of running I’m going to do in my flatter shoes. The problem is that they aren’t a brilliant fit for running and rub slightly. So less pain in the knees and ankles but more blisters. What a choice!

Anyway, I think I need to get some professional advice. I’ve been recommended a couple of shops in Sheffield that offer gait analysis and such like so I think that’s what I need to do. I just hope they recommend Vibram FiveFingers!

Oh, how I really want a pair of them…

I’ve added a forum to the site (see the “Stuff and nonsense” link under the Pages menu).

Feel free to use it to post general chat, or whatever. I hope that it will add a little more interaction than just a using posts and comments.

It’s just the first WordPress forum I found and so I’ve no idea if it’s any good or not. Let me know what you think.