Overall it was a great day out and Bupa spares no expense on their events.  Well worth the additional money you pay for one of their events as opposed to others.  Lots of toilets (always important), loads of runners, loads of supporters, well marked, well organised with a great goody bag and a quality-feel medal (I love the medals!).

If you’ve never done the Bupa London 10000 before then I seriously recommend you register for the 2011 event because you won’t regret it.  I got my personal for a 10k at the 2009 event so I’d give it a high personal best potential rating (I mean, if I can do it then so can everyone else!).

I previously mentioned that a work contact of me managed to get me last-minute entry to this event.  Unfortunately he wasn’t able to run with my friend and I as he has been ill the past few days.  Frankly, having not been able to complete the marathon because of illness, I can relate.  We just told him to stay home and chill out; there are always other events.

My super supportive wifey also came along to cheer us on.  She is such a great supporter and she was at the start line as we went by yelling and cheering us on (and even ran beside us for a few metres) and she was at the finish on the Mall to cheer us on again.

I think my friend was quite nervous about the event because the last event he took part in was the Santa Run which was 5k and over off-road terrain.  He thought he would make it to about 4k before he needed to take a walking break.  Nope.  He made it 6.2k before he had to walk the 1st time.  Overall, we only stopped to walk 3 times.  For his first 10k, that is a fantastic achievement and I think he felt that too.

I tried to explain that 10k is a great distance because it’s over before you know it and you also get that fantastic feeling when you cross the finish line.  Whether you’re first or last!  (Note:  I’ve never been either – yet.)

You can check out our route and split times here:-

Overall a great morning out and a great event. Like I said, if you haven’t done it before then give the Bupa London 10000 a go!

Related posts:

1. Entry to 2010 Bupa London 10000
2. 2009 Bupa London 10000
3. Pre 2009 Bupa London 10000

Everything was going well and we flew to Canada as planned.  However, the second or third day there I started sneezing a lot and I thought it was just allergies (my sisters have pets).  Nope.  Full blown cold kicked in and I was seriously congested in the sinuses.  No problem I thought.  It’s “above the neck” so I’ll continue on like normal.

By Saturday I was feeling pretty rough and wasn’t sleeping well.  I was sticking to the plan though and drinking lots of fluids to stay hydrated for the marathon the following day.  I even went to collect my race pack from the race expo on Sat afternoon/evening.

Sunday morning, coughing and exhausted.  I couldn’t do it.  I was too ill and I was scared to put myself through about 5 hours of running whilst being ill.  To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.  My friends jokes of calling me a “real virtual runner” didn’t help much either.

So, that was it.  I was a virtual runner with a bad cold, race number, timing chip and new t-shirt but no completed marathon.  To top it all off I’ve been raising money for charity and I feel as though I’ve let people down.

Put it all together and I’m on a bit of a downer at the moment!

So, what am I doing to sort all of this out and get back on form?  I’m thinking about it and I haven’t decided yet.  I’ll do one of the following:-

1. Register for a new marathon in the autumn and use the time to get in even more training and raise more money for charity (although I’ll feel as though I’m putting things off).
2. Do my own “virtual marathon” by completing 26.2 miles myself and documenting it using my Garmin Forerunner and video.  This means I would need to attempt the distance over the next couple of weeks.  Probably on a Sunday around Reading, Berkshire.  The downside to this is that there is no medal and no finish line.  Will I still feel the same completing it?  Or am I just doing it for the sake of doing it?  A guilt marathon.

I’d be grateful if any of you out there could comment on this post and give me your thoughts and opinions on what you would do in this situation.

As for running, I went and ran for an hour this morning and it was the first time I’ve run in about 2 1/2 weeks.  My hip flexors were a bit sore afterwards but it felt okay.  I’ll probably push the 10k running for the whole week and do a bit most mornings in order to get myself ready to plod around the Bupa 10,000 in London this weekend.  I’ve got my race pack through and it’s a great event to do.  I certainly won’t be getting a PB this year but I’ll still get the medal.  I love the medals!

Once I’ve done the 10k I’ll give you a write up about it and let you know what it was like.  I’m supposed to have a VIP pass to the elite/celeb area before the race so who knows who or what I’ll see!  I’m taking my wife with me because I’m rubbish at spotting anyone famous!

Now, you may or may not be wondering about the title of this blog.  I mean, to say “full of crap” kind of indicates that I’ve lied about something.  But I haven’t.  “Full of crap” relates to the ridiculous amount of food I ate while in Canada.  There is nothing to do where we were.  Fredericton, New Brunswick is a beautiful city in Canada but it’s boring!  So, everything seemed to revolve around food and eating out.  To top it all off, I missed a lot of foods that I used to eat when I lived there so I felt I had to try as much as possible.  Bad idea.

The flight home was a bit uncomfortable and my wife and I thought we may have to book extra seats; one for each butt cheek.

To make myself feel a bit better I went on a (kind of) liquid diet for a couple of days.  Man, it felt nice.  All I ate was cereal for breakfast (I know it’s not a liquid but I need some fibre and stuff.  Most important meal of the day!) soups, yoghurt, smoothies etc.  No more bloated feeling!  All ruined today with a massive feast of delicious burnt bbq meaty goodness.  Damn.

Tomorrow the liquid diet starts again.  It’s a nice cleanse for me and I’ll probably try and do it for the whole week.  At the end of the week I’ll assess how I feel and decide whether to continue.

Yours sincerely,

Fatty Chubberson

Related posts:

1. 20 Miles of Fun
2. Points of (Un)Interest
3. The Long Goodbye

I had missed the chance to register for the Bupa London 10,000 and the online registration was full.  The Bupa 10,000 takes place in London on Monday, 31 May 2010 and it’s a great event.  I did it last year and had a great time.

My job means I am in regular contact with various insurers and Bupa is one of them.  It just so happens that our contact at Bupa has also done some running and he is taking part in the 10k as well.  When I met him the other day he said that he had VIP passes to the elite/celeb starting area and I told him that I didn’t have entry.

Well, he pulled a couple of strings and I’m in!  Had to send a last-minute cheque for £25 off to the organisers but I’m in and I’ve got access to VIP area!  How cool is that?  My wife will also be coming with me to cheer me on and she gets in as well.

I might actually have something interesting to right about after that event!

Related posts:

1. 2010 Bupa London 10000
2. 2009 Bupa London 10000
3. Pre 2009 Bupa London 10000

Outside Buckingham Palace

What a great day out.  My wife and I caught the train from Reading at about 07:30 and after a train journey to London and a couple of trips on the Underground we arrived at Green Park which was the assembly area for the event.  We actually arrived in really good time and we had about 1 1/2 hours to roam around and see what was going on.

The whole event was really well organised and everthing was clearly signposted and there were loads of marshalls everywhere directing people where they needed to go.  I didn’t have any baggage to store (my wife carries it all) so we meandered through past the huge collection of porta-loos (absolutely no queuing anywhere either) towards Buckingham Palace.

The roundabout in front of the Palace was more cordoned off than usual because of the race finishing on the Mall.  The Mall is the main road that runs straight out in front of the Palace, and this is where the finish was.

It was quite a long walk down the Mall to where the finish line was set up but we had lots of time to kill.  When we got there we saw that there were loads of TV cameras set up everwhere and the VIP/Elite runner area was also there.  We could see the media taking photos of people in one of the tents accross the road but I’m not sure who they were photographing because they were all in the way.

My official photographer and wife

We then opted for a walk across St James’s Park towards the start of the race.  There were TV cameras located around the start line and we also noticed two helicopters hovering above the city which we assumed were also filming the event.  The starting area was split into three different coloured zones (Red, Blue & Green respectively) and those were again split into three sections (A, B & C respectively).  Each runner was assigned a colour and section depending on their predicted finish time when they registered for the event.  I couldn’t remember what my predicted time was but I was slightly concerned to be in the Blue A area (first of the blue sections) right after the red numbered runners.

By this point we had about 45 mins before the start of the race so I starting jogging around St James’s Park while my wife looked on in amusement.  I warmed up really good this time and stretched out my calves and quads to help reduce the tightness and potential shin splints during the race.  I was then forced by my wife to proceed to my start area so I didn’t miss the start (although the start wasn’t for another 10 mins).

I was adamant that I wasn’t going to be pulled along by the other runners this time and end up doing the first half too fast.  I wore my running watch this time (forgot it for the Woodley 10k) so I could keep a record of my splits and ensure I was running at an easier pace this time.

My splits are as follows:-

01km – 05:53
02km – 05:30
03km – 05:31
04km – 05:46
05km – 05:45
06km – 05:29
07km – 05:29
08km – 05:18
09km – 05:20
10km – 05:09

Me with my finishers medal

After three kilometres I thought I would slow down for a bit because I didn’t want to injure myself again and I was paranoid about shin splints again.

After the halfway mark I thought I should speed up a bit and did a couple of kms at a 05:29 pace and then sped up even more for kms 8 and 9.  My last km was done at a 05:09 pace which is pretty fast for me.

The atmosphere during the event was really great and along with the thousands of runners there were thousands of supporters along the route giving their various brands of support.  It was really great and the things people were shouting were very supportive.  It was what everyone needs during one of these events to help push them along.  Sometimes I wonder how much the atmosphere actually contributes to finish times because of the positive feeling it can give runners which helps to spur them on.

By my watch I had my finish time at about 00:55:15 but my official finish time, according to the Bupa 10,000 website, shows a finish time of 00:55:13 which is even better!

My wife's vantage point where she waited for me and missed me.

After I got past the finish line it was a long walk through the ramps where people removed your timing chips for you and on down to Buckingham Palace.  My wife and I had agreed a meeting point in front of the statue outside the Queen’s house.  I didn’t see my wife anywhere near the finish (which was odd because I always see her at the finish of a race) so I headed for the agreed meeting point.  An hour later (I’d completely cooled and dried off by this point) I finally asked a stranger if I could use his mobile/cell phone to call my wife.  She showed up seconds later.  She said she was near the arches (at the 400m mark) waiting for me to come through towards the finish.  She said she was getting worried because she didn’t see me come through!  I thought it was quite funny and reminded her that if it gets to about 1 hour and 50 mins into a 10k race (and I normally finish in about 1 hour) and she hasn’t seen me, to head for the meeting point.  She was really disappointed because she travelled all that way to support me and see me running and never saw me run once!

Related posts:

1. 2010 Bupa London 10000
2. Pre 2009 Bupa London 10000
3. Entry to 2010 Bupa London 10000

I think I’m ready for the Bupa 10,000 tomorrow and I even went for a run this morning to test out my ankle and to see if any shin splints would flare up.  It was okay.  I haven’t done much running at all this week, but I thought that was prudent since I was injured after the Woodley 10k last Sunday.

I ran 5.33km (3.31 miles) on Friday morning (on the treadmill) at a 05:38 min/km (09:06 min/mile) and I felt okay.  I wore an ankle support (just to be sure) and I only had a short painful twinge in my ankle after about 15 mins that went away quickly.  I also had no shin splints at all.

This morning I got up at 06:30 and it was a great clear morning with a nice blue sky.  I thought of going to Dinton Pastures to run around the lakes but I opted to run the roads and go to the local supermarket (not to get anything, just as a destination) and back but using some roundabout route.  I forgot that it is mostly uphill the entire way to the supermarket… nice.  Overall it was a great run and I covered 5.14km (3.19 miles) at a 05:48 min/km (09:20 min/mile) pace.  I just took it easy and it felt great.

My fiance was bugging me to sort out what we are doing tomorrow because we have to travel in to London for the Bupa 10,000.  I’ve already got my race number and timing chip and tomorrow morning we are going to go to Reading town centre and catch the train there straight in to Paddington Station.  We can then get the Underground to the Assembly Area in Green Park which is near the Queen’s house (Buckingham Palace).

The race starts a short walk away (walking past the palace) over to Birdcage Walk.  From there the race takes us along Victoria Embankment out and back and past a lot of historic places.  It should go past the Houses of Parliment, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Horseguards Parade, Nelsons Column, Cleopatra’s Needle, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Millenium Bridge and the Tate Modern.  I’m actually debating whether or not to run with my phone in my hand so I can take some pics for you all while I’m running around.  What do you think?

For those of you in the UK that read this (all both of you), the Bupa London 10,000 will be televised on Channel 5 live from 09:50 in the morning.  Keep an eye out for me.  I’ll be the slightly overweight, sweaty, bald guy shuffling along.  Number 5641!

However, I am wondering what predicted time I gave when I registered.  The start is phased based on predicted finish time and I’m in the blue section at the front (section A).  If you’re interested you can look at the map and instructions from Bupa by clicking here. 

As for non-running related matters, my (best) friend Robby returned from his trek across the artic a few weeks ago and I haven’t heard anything from him at all.  I hope he’s okay and gets in contact soon!

Related posts:

1. 2009 Bupa London 10000
2. 2010 Bupa London 10000
3. Entry to 2010 Bupa London 10000