Juneathon – Day 15 – 19 (I’m here)

Last Updated on Friday, 19 June 2009 08:58 Written by The Virtual Runner Friday, 19 June 2009 07:52

Sorry I haven’t written anything in a few days but I’ve been very stressed and writing on my blog hasn’t been foremost in my mind.

My Uncle

My Uncle Gordon in Canada passed away last week and he’ll certainly be missed.  Unfortunately I couldn’t be there with the rest of the clan to say my good-byes but my thoughts and love are being broadcast across the Atlantic to my Aunt and all the family.

My Dad

On returning from her brother’s funeral, my mother had to take my father to hospital and he got admitted straight away.  My father isn’t very well at the moment (Parkinsons, Polymyalgia Rheumatica & Osteoporosis to name a few) and he’s quite frail.  My mother said he caught a cold and got pneumonia.  He was in the hospital and the doctors said his heart wasn’t strong enough to pump (congestive heart failure).

They’ve been medicating him and he’s not in intensive care at the moment.  Mum said he’s grouchy so he is stable.

My Brother (Best Friend)

My best friend (who is a brother to me) travelled across northern Canada by dogsled all the way to Alaska.  It took him a few months and he was out of contact with me and everyone else during the whole trip which lasted about four months.  At the end of April he sent a message via facebook to say he was back in civilization.  I couldn’t wait to hear his stories!  Unfortunately I never heard from him again until a few days ago.  I was getting really worried because I had no numbers for him or anything and he wasn’t responding to emails either.  I’ve spoken to him now and I’m so relieved.  I’m still waiting to hear the stories about his adventure though and get some pictures.  As soon as I get some I’ll post them here and you can have a look.  I might even get Rob to write or post some stories from his trip.

Our Home

About a week ago we received a letter from our letting agent advising us that our landlord would like to renew our rental agreement at £1000 per month.  £1000!  What a joke!  Sure, our rent is £950 at the moment and it’s only £50 more but our place isn’t worth £950 either even if it is a 4 bed detached property.  There is no double glazing and our heating bill in the winter period was well over £100 a month.  He never sorts anything out and we haven’t had a proper written rental agreement since 2007.  The place is run down.  Enough is enough.

The day I got the letter from our letting agent I went online and did a search for 2 bedroom properties to let in the area.  The first one I found was a 2 bedroom semi-detached cottage (£750 per month).  We promptly called and arranged to view the property on Monday (just passed).  It was lovely.  The letting agent said that the rent was so cheap because the property was so close to the motorway, but we didn’t care.  It has a huge garden and the house has been completely renovated throughout.

Ours is on the left:

This is the front of the house:

The kitchen:

It’s a lovely house and everything is new including the wiring and plumbing, the fridge, the kitchen, the cooker the flooring the lighting… everything.  We hope to get the keys to the new property on 01 July.

So, as we will be moving I may not have internet access during parts of July.  It depends on how long it takes our current broadband provider to transfer things etc.  It’s bad enough I gotta wait a month for the Sky TV to be moved over!  That sucks.

My Juneathon Efforts

Not enough running, that’s for sure.  I just haven’t been able to get myself up and out.  It’s been hard the past couple of weeks but I’ve made some effort toward Juneathon as follows:-

Monday, 15th June – 5 sets of push-ups (20, 22, 20, 20 & 20)

Tuesday, 16th June - 2 sets of push-ups (20 & 20) – I couldn’t really be bothered.

Wednesday, 17th June – 2 sets of crunces (50 & 30) – I couldn’t really be bothered and it was late.

Thursday, 18th June – 3 sets of crunches (50, 60 & 60) and 5 sets of push-ups (20, 31, 28, 26 & 20)

Friday, 19th June – 3 sets of crunches (50, 60 & 70) and 3 sets of push-ups (20, 20 & 20)

Realistically I should’ve done more running when I was feeling stressed to help reduce the stress levels.  Anyway, I’m happier now and I’m gonna get up off my ass and do some more running!  I promise!

I’m sooo happy about the house…

Pre 2009 Bupa London 10000

Last Updated on Monday, 31 May 2010 05:43 Written by The Virtual Runner Sunday, 24 May 2009 02:12

It’s a lovely warm sunny sunday and there isn’t a cloud in the sky.  My fiance has driven to the airport to pick up her mum who is flying back from Belgium today and my son is having a nap, so I thought I’d write some more rubbish for you to read (or not, as the case may be).

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!