Week 8 and 9

I have really got to make more notes!

Ok so, here are a few things to bring you up to date, sorry it’s a bit of a ‘War and Peace’ but I think I have nothing to tell you …and then I start typing and it all appears from nowhere.

At 9.45am on Wednesday 19th March I appeared on the Mark DennisonShow on BBC Radio Nottingham to talk photography. 

Mark Dennison

While there I asked about returning to talk '5K a day' they said they would love to have me come on again and do that, there was talk of joining in on a run as well.

I’ve completed the run with the TSB. It took place on Thursday 20th march and I ran it with just one staff member, Jack from Clifton to the West Bridgford branch.

TSB Jack and I 

We set off and it was very windy and cold, the traffic was starting to build up on the wide and already busy roads we used and the schools were kicking out. It made for an interesting obstacle race. I had no part in plotting the route and it turned out to be 6.6km. we just made it to the other branch and it started to rain. A glass or 2 of water, a sit down and then back in a taxi the Clifton. The intention was to run with 3 of the staff but they were unable to make it due to family stuff. Jack told me that they had raised around £100 for the hospice in the weeks leading up to the run. Thank you staff and customers of the TSB and big thanks to Jack for getting out there with me.

The challenge made it in to the Nottingham Post again. Just a small piece this time covering the TSB run.

I also made the back pages of the Stapleford Inspire Magazine,

I’m a photographer so Saturday 22nd March was a wedding shoot day. Knowing these things are usually a full day and there was no way I was going to run when i arrived home at 10pm, I ran early. It was a lovely morning so I thought a gentle run down the Nottingham Canal would be a good idea. I took a few photos while I was trotting along. If there are photos it’s because I’m walking. It was a tough one even at the slow pace I mustered up. My body hates me dragging it out for early runs these days. Nice to see some green on the trees though. I hardly ever see anyone on this route, it makes me think that it’s my own private track sometimes. Now I’ve said it, I won’t be able to move for bikes, dogs and runners!

Sunday 23^rd and Adam and I were out for a run, but this time it was his route. It took in a lot of what I already do around the area, but it sort of joined them up. It made for a nice run with a lot of different surfaces, road, pavement, gravel, single track and grass. We tried to miss out as much road as we could. There was a great sunset that day and I have to say I should have took a shot or two but here’s never time when we run on a Sunday, we are a bit too driven. I even saw a guy I used to work with many moons ago. I acknowledged him out walking the dog with an “ayup” and a nod. As I ran off I realised this was the second time id ran passed him on the same route so I shouted back “Next time I might stop and chat!” I think he laughed… not sure. Anyway we finished the run at 9.2km… 9.2? who runs 9.2km it was only a bit short of 10km. This realisation was made worse when I noticed that my app had once again done the dirty on me and stopped at 8.6km.

Monday 23^rd would you believe it, I ran the same route as the day before but added a bit on the end to make it 10km. It bugged me too much!

I felt a bit better, nothing too much to report from this week’s runs. I received a foam roller in the post, Victoria at PhysioNeeds recommended I get one as it was better that stretching out and could be done at any time. As long as it hurts when you roll on it you’re doing it right she tells me…. Well it does!

Thursday 27^th march was my eldest sons 12^th birthday and it also marked 2 months’ worth of running every day.

I don’t know what amazes me more, him getting to 12 or me running for 2 months every day without a rest! I arrived back home that afternoon knowing I had only a small window until we were off out for pizza so I had to run now or id struggle to do it later with a ‘deep pan -flaming hot’ sloshing about in there. Feeling the pressure of time I went out way too fast and had to stop to walk a bit. No time to warm down either. Friday morning I was out on my old man’s legs again at 6.30am. running early was the only option as I had a massage booked for the evening and was told not to run straight afterwards. No time to warm down properly after that run either, consequently I was in some pain by the time I arrived for the physio later. I explained my lack of stretching/warm down due to a pressing pizza party and work commitments. Unfortunately there was an unforgiving look received… I considered myself told. She beat me up as usual and I came out feeling better, but by the time I arrived home I was thirsty as is the norm. I felt quiet sick as well, this lasted all evening, anyone else ever feel like this after a massage?

ParkRun news

Saturday 29^th was my 3^rd Rushcliffe park run. It was a lovely morning. I was running late (no pun intended) and I rushed to the start line with only a minute or 2 to spare. Steve was already there waiting to start. I pulled away a little from Steve during the first section and usually if one of us does that the other will step up a bit to catch up, that didn’t happen today. I felt a bit bad as I pulled away a bit more as he only started to run with me for support and now I was running away from him. The feeling soon past! 

My app time was 24.59 another Parkrun PB. Steve was only a minute or so behind and when we met up once more I apologised for my speed burst. During the last Kilometre I did feel as if id bitten off more than I could chew and I was about to walk for a few seconds, but as the thought crossed my mind I was overtaken by, well let’s call him an ‘older gentleman’ I wasn’t walking after that.

The organisers of the run asked for feedback from the participants so I sent over a short email about the challenge and they kindly added it to the run report, I was also sent a message of good luck too.

Here is the link to the article

Other Pages

Caroline who is the website manager at the hospice has created a Pinterest board for the challenge I’m going to try and supply enough video and photos to fill it up. Check it out here. 

While I’m on the subject of page creation, the Nottinghamshire FA have also created a page on their website for the challenge. I’ll be running at St Georges Park in June with representatives from the FA too. You can check out the page here.