The heading of this blog refers to my growing appendages caused by overeating.  I think I saw smoke trailing behind me this morning caused by the friction of my thighs rubbing together while I was running.

I know I haven’t blogged in some time but I have many excuses/reasons:-

1. I have been completely lacking any motivation when it comes to running and any exercise that didn’t involve shoving food in my mouth.
2. I have been away on holiday in Corfu, Greece.
3. My father (Walter) passed away on the 11th of September.
4. I really am a “virtual” runner.
5. I was lazy.

Where should I start?

I hate Marathon Training

Yup, I said it.  It turns out that I love the idea of running 26.2 miles but I hate the training involved, especially the long runs.  I mean, I really shouldn’t be dreading Sundays because I know I’m going to be out running for hours!  I like running a lot, but 3+ hours is painful and makes me miserable for the rest of the day (ask my wife) it seems.

I’ve really been giving it a lot of thought and talking to my wife about things and I’ve discovered that I miss getting up and doing 1 hour (10k) runs in the mornings and going out on the odd weekend to participate in a local 10k event (which are usually on Sundays).  Training for a marathon does not actually allow me to do this as most 10k events are on a Sunday and that is the only day I can do my long runs.

So, what I’ve decided is that I am no longer going to attempt to train for any full marathon unless I get a ballot place in the London Marathon; which I will continue to enter each year.  I’m going to go back to the running schedule I enjoyed and start to look forward to the running again!

Regardless what anyone tells you; you do not have to run a marathon to be considered a runner.  You just need to run!

Corfu, Greece to New Brunswick, Canada

My father sadly passed away on 9th September (09/11) at 09:11pm… how weird is that?  My father never was one to do things in halves!  We were on holiday in Greece at the time.

He was a fantastic man, great father and he will be missed by many.  In his lifetime he was in the army, a police officer a prison officer and besides family and friends there were representatives there in full uniform from all three.

My father died on a Saturday and we weren’t due to fly back to the UK until the Monday morning.  There was no way we could get any earlier flights out of Corfu as we simply couldn’t afford to do it.  My family let me know that my dad’s funeral was going to be on the Wednesday morning at 11am so I had to get back to the UK and get another flight out on the Tuesday morning.  On top of all that we had to sort out some financial issues to make sure we actually had the money to send me to Canada!  Very, very stressful times.

Needless to say, I got home to the UK, had less than 5 hours sleep and then was off to Heathrow the next morning to start my 10+ hour journey to the town where my family lives.

I went to my dad’s funeral and as far as funerals go, it was really great.  My dad would have been very happy with it and my sisters certainly deserve a huge thank you for sorting it all out.

After the funeral I stayed in Canada until the Sunday (the day I was supposed to run a marathon in the UK) to help my mum get sorted out and to help sort out the house.  Queue lots of tidying, moving and little sleep on a different timezone (again).

I’ve been back in the UK for almost a week now and I’m just now feeling better and clear-headed.  Last week I was still a bit of a mess.  Not like depressed or anything, just kind of tired and dopey and not thinking straight.

“frickin’ laser beams”

This Wednesday I have to go back to Ultralase to have my right eye re-treated to get rid of the small prescription that still remains after my laser eye surgery a year ago.  It’s free so I thought; why not?

That makes this week a bit odd work-wise but hopefully it will be okay!  I’ve got tomorrow in the office, Tuesday at a conference for the majority of the day, surgery on Wednesday morning and then working from home the rest of the week whilst trying to recover.  Should be interesting!

Moving Forward

Well, it is running!  Ya gotta move forward don’t you?

I plan on just getting back into the groove with running with no other goal than to build it back up and go back to running for an hour 4 or 5 days a week doing about 30 miles a week.  As soon as I think I’m ready, I’m going to start taking part in whatever 10k events I can find; just like I used to.

As I said, I’m not planning any marathons in the future but I would attempt the London Marathon if I got in by ballot.  I’m sorry to anyone who is waiting for me to run a marathon, but it’s just not happening.  I’m certainly not running a marathon for anyone else!  Any money that was donated to sponsor my marathon attempt has all gone to a good cause and I and the charity appreciate your donations.

Perhaps I’m not destined to do a marathon anyway?  1st one:  got ill.  2nd one:  dad died.  Some would say 3rd time lucky, but I don’t care what they say.

For now, back on track.

The 405 is some pretty cool kit and I’m looking forward to giving it a go this weekend on my long run.  I was going to use it this evening for my interval training at the track but it was raining so hard that I didn’t go.  My friend and I decided that we were fairweather-runners and decided to stay in and chill-out instead.

Tomorrow morning and Friday morning I’ll be on the treadmill.  This is mainly because I go at 6am and it’s dark outside at that time so that means I would rather not run the roads around here.  Wed night running club sessions and Sunday long runs are out and about.  Remaining training sessions are at the gym.

I’ve updated my running log (up to 02 October 2009) and I’ve covered a total distance so far of 2529.83km on my virtual run across Canada.  I’ll map out where I am in Canada later on this week and I’ll update the location map as well.

On another note, I’ve been reading my list of blogs lately and I noticed that The Fat Runner has decided to run a half-marathon and is looking for sponsorship in exchange for a listing on his website as advertising space.  Obviously the advertising space won’t make a massive difference to your site (if you’ve got one) but I think it is a worthwile cause to raise money for and I’m also happy to encourage a fellow runner to achieve their goals.  I’m happy that he’s attempting a half marathon and I wish him all the best with his training.  Let’s just hope he keeps blogging and doesn’t be like me with huge gaps in posts!  (sorry)

If you’re interested in sponsoring The Fat Runner or finding out more then you can visit him here:-

http://thefatrunner.blogspot.com/2009/09/half-marathon-madness.html

When it comes to my own ambitions, you probably saw my previous post which was my rejection magazine from the Virgin London Marathon.  I should say my “first” rejection magazine because I’ll probably get others in my lifetime!  Anyway, it doesn’t matter because I have already registered for the Brighton Marathon and I’ve also booked my hotel so I’m all ready.  Just got to do that whole training thing….

It’s getting late now (10:30pm) and I’m sleepy.  I get up a 5:20am every weekday morning and it seems to come quicker every day!  Tomorrow I’m going to do some hill-work and mix it up with a bit of sprinting/intervals as well.

It was fantastic watching the thousands of people in the crowds, the celebrities being interviewed (Katie Price, Peter Andre, Nell McAndrew, Gordon Ramsay to name a few) as well as all the other runners.  Everyone was running for different charities and reasons and the atmosphere of the event was amazing.

Nell McAndrew was the fasted celebrity with a time of 03:10:20  while Katie Price and her husband Peter Andre finished in 07:11:00.

The winner for the elite men was Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya) in 02:05:10, the winner of the elite women was Irina Mikitenko (Germany) in 02:22:11 and the winner of the wheelchair race was Kurt Fearnley (Australia) in 01:28:57.

I ran 16.00km (9.94 miles) at a 05:38 min/km (09:05 min/mile) pace while watching the marathon and the time just flew by.  I was so engrossed in the event and coverage.

I’ve also decided (like many that watch the event) that I am going to enter the ballot for the 2010 London Marathon.  Why not?  If I get in, great!  It will be something to train for and a great day and achievement at one of the worldest biggest and best events.  If I don’t get in, no big deal.  There are other years or other marathons.  About 150,000 people enter the ballot and about 36,000 people get to run.  You do the maths.

The rest of my day was spent chilling out with my family, barbecuing and putting together a gazebo/tent thingy in the garden.

As soon as I’ve completed this rambling session I’m going to update my running log/spreadsheet with my recent runs and I’m also going to work out where I am on my virtual run across Canada so I can update my location map.

Previous two runs this week:

24 April 2009 – 10.82km (6.72 miles) at a 05:32 min/km (08:55 min/mile) pace.

23 April 2009 – 10.79km (6.70 miles) at a 05:32 min/km (08:55 min/mile) pace.

Not much variety in my runs since the half marathon and I’m fully aware of that fact.  I’m just holding steady at the moment with our wedding day coming up and the honeymoon week away as well.  I’ll concentrate more on quality training when I get back… I promise.

Obviously, my first choice is the London Marathon and I will try and get a place (it’s done by ballot). Failing that, I’m considering the following (in this order):-

1. Paris Marathon
2. Brussels Marathon
3. Berlin Marathon
4. Flanders Fields Marathon

It all depends on entry fees and whether we have the money to travel and how far we can go (and are willing to go). Most importantly, it depends on whether my family is willing to travel with me!

One day in the future I’d love to be able to do one of these ones (in this order):-

1. New York City Marathon
2. Great Wall Marathon
3. Boston Marathon
4. Athens Marathon