I'VE DEFECTED TO THE DARK SIDE

Well i haven't blogged again for a week, and haven't run for a week but last night I went to Delamere forest to run through the trees....at night.....in the dark......with a torch. i hoped i didn't get lost and i didn't, i saw one star in the dark sky and navigated by that...i didn't really, the course was very well defined and i could follow all the other runners torches most of the way but when large gaps opened up and i was on my own i could follow the glow sticks hanging from trees and the major turns were all signposted although you did have to shine your torch at them to see which way the arrows went.








we had a briefing in a warm tent and then headed for the start, we had chip timing bracelet thingies which i had mine on my ankle, it kicks in when you cross the mat at the start and when you finish so gives an accurate time, i had my garmin on anyway so i could see the route we had taken on here the dark side run.

we all set off slowly heading through the car park down towards the main road, there were Marshalls stopping the traffic as 171 runners, some dressed as Christmas crackers ran across the road and away we went, into the forest. i decided to start off fairly slowly as id never run in the dark before, i didn't know what the ground was going to be like, beforehand i was worried we'd be running through dense trees but then common sense prevailed and i thought we'd be running on the many wide tracks the walkers use, which we did thankfully. the first mile or so was quite firm, a few slippy parts and i thought great this isn't too bad, i had got into a steady pace not to many people were overtaking me, mainly coz i started near the back anyway, i was running close to one young lady when we went down a slope, there was a sharp left turn and at the bottom there was the first mud of the night, not too thick but i had to push the young lady head first into it as she just stopped in front of me.....joking, she did stop all girly like, i don't think she wanted to get her trainers dirty, i managed to stay upright even though it was quite slippy which i am pleased about. the mud was sporadic and towards the middle of the race i found my legs getting a little tired and heavy, not sure if its because i wear knee length calf socks for a bit of extra support but anyway i carried on determined not to stop running as i have sometimes had to in the past. there were a few short sharp inclines but there was always a decline to compensate for that where i could open my legs a bit. i didn't look at my garmin but could hear it ping when id done each mile, once id heard the 4th ping i knew i only had a mile to do so tried to speed up a little bit but save some energy for the finish line, it was as i sped up that i hit the thick mud, there as no escape, i leapt from one side to another of the track to avoid it but it was there too, at one point i thought my trainer was coming on, stuck fast in the mud but i clung on to it and eventually after about 15 meters the mud finished. there was then a climb and i could hear traffic and people shouting so once id got to the top i opened my legs a bit with my eyes fixed on the light in front of me, id just overtaken a 6 foot tall bloke walking which made me feel good, he obviously didn't have the mental stamina of an elite athlete like me ;-) so i began to close in on the light in front of me, the final corner turned into an uphill climb to the finish, i was closer to the light now, i could just make out a pony tail swishing from side to side so presumed it was a woman and with 100 yards to go i picked up my knees and tried my hardest to catch her, i did and then i just wanted to get the fastest time i could so a big effort got me over the line, PHEW, i was hot, a Marshall grabbed me to take my timing chip off me, took him over a minute as he said id put it on wrong, hurry up man i need water, he got it off and i grabbed my medal off a figure in the dark and headed to the tent for some water. there i picked up my uninspiring goody bag which had an energy sachet and a pair of magic gloves, what sort of magic i can do in them i don't know!!

so there you have it, my dark side run in Delamere forest was complete, i did it in an official time of 53 Min's 24 seconds, i came in 44th out of 52 in my age category and 128th out of 171 overall here's me at the bottom 

where to next? 10k's next year and the Chester half marathon

LAZY BOY

since my Santa dash 2 weeks ago I have done no exercise whatsoever apart from climbing stairs and the occasional dog walk and guess what, my weight has started to increase, its not rocket science, I've let my calories slip and puddings are becoming a daily intake when perhaps, NO, definitely! they should be a once a week special pud reward. .......if i have been good.

so i have decided in the run up up to Christmas (17 days if you're counting) i will not have a pudding and will cut down the size of the portions I'm having, a smaller plate was recommended which is a good idea us men wouldn't think of!!

I've been running this morning and it felt great, the weather was chilly but dry, the ground was firm but not too icy and there weren't many people about, i saw a huge buzzard sat in the sun on a fence but i scared him off with my coughing and spluttering as I dug deep to pound out 3.6 miles, CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY EFFORTS its always nice to see the sun and a great sunrise it was too but i also saw the moon, when i was young a long long time ago, i thought the moon only came out at night, i like seeing it during the day.

My average pace seems to be around 9.4 minutes a mile, id like to think i can run faster than that but i suppose keeping it up for 10k or 12.1 miles is the main feat of achievement, the pace feels steady, I'm still carrying too much weight so maybe by the the time March comes around and i start my 10k races in High Legh and Lymm I will be lower in weight and speed might improve, wondering what i should aim for time wise for the 10k, 59mins and 59 seconds as a start point???

Ive recently joined a facebook group called run for fun, and run for fun they certainly do, so much encouragement and praise its a really good group to be in, if you take up running even if its just to do a little exercise, id recommend popping on to facebook and giving them a hello as they'd certainly give you the bug to get out there and enjoy it.
they also have a 14 day core challenge which im going to attempt, who knows i may be posting pictures of 6 pack soon enough.

is this really attractive? i think it has the look of an alien invader.

 

WHAT A PUDDING

Close your eyes, picture the scene, bright sunshine, warm breeze gently gliding though your hair, pina colada by your side and the waves breaking onto the white sandy beach beneath your feet.....FORGET THAT, gale blowing your Santa beard into your eyes, cold freezing rain battering into your eyes and deep puddles all across the 5 miles route of your Christmas pudding dash, add to that a fallen tree we had to hurdle as we ran through the woods around Wythenshawe Park near Manchester twice but all in all an enjoyable run if not a bit slippy and very very wet underfoot.

I managed the 4.9 miles in 49 minutes and 12 seconds, if it had been dry i reckon i could have shaved the 12 seconds off, not bad considering i had set a goal of 60 minutes to be on the safe side, came in 55th out of 133 but reckon i broke the record for eating a mince pie once i had finished. unfortunately they cancelled the mulled wine or i may have been mullered by 12 o'clock.

Here is my Prize for finishing, quite remarkable they got my picture on the medal so quickly.
Here is the run and my vital statistics pudding run details

I think I've got this running bug now, my next official race is in March in High Legh, a 10k memorial race and then another 10k in Lymm in April and then the Great Manchester 10k at the end of May, if fitness goes to plan and I lose some more weight I hope to run a half marathon in the summer if we get one, maybe a Glasgow or a Dublin trip for a holiday run.

LONG AND SLOW

on the advice from an elite marathon runner I took my weekend run nice and slowly but I did go further and i managed a 4 and a half miles relatively pain free. i set off from my flat walking quickly until i reached the frozen entrance to Carey Park, i did some very quick stretches of my calves and off i went. i had recently bought a winter running jacket, on my first run wearing it lst wednesday I was extremely warm, probably too warm for running but this time i was glad i was wearing it, overnight had been a frosty one, we dont suffer too badly with extreme weather, no floods, no major snowfalls and no lovely picturesque scenic views to look at either. 
as i passed a few walkers with their dogs i kept in my mind to not go off too quickly, i tend to think im steve cram and go as fast as i can without dying but with the knowledge of doing longer but slower being better for me in the long run(no pun intended) i took my time for once. i did a route i have often walked, heading off to the river weaver and then turning right and heading toward the flashes, no this is not an instruction to scare the birds away by flashing it is the name of the area which is attributed to the Neumann and Ashton salt workings, subsidence caused by the salt extraction cause the pool or flashes to form. click here for history 
my run was uneventful but i must admit i found it more enjoyble doing it slightly slower, maybe im getting used to running a bit now, the time i took wasnt that much slower than i have been running but it all bodes well for this Sunday...."whats happening Sunday?" i hear you cry, well, this Sunday i am taking part in the Manchester Christmas pudding race at Wythenshaw Park, 1030am for all those who want to cheer me on, its a 5 mile run, 2 laps of a course with various terrain on and off road, i have targetted to finish in under 55 minutes, thats not very fast but its my first proper run for a while so im not being too ambitious, considering ive had quite a bad calf injury i think im being sensible for once.

i will again attempt this 4.5 mile course on tuesday or wednesday and then stretch and rest before sundays race, hopefully picking up a free christmas pud and with a bit of luck a mulled wine to warm my cockles.

REMEMBER

TODAY IS REMEMBRANCE DAY, lest we forget.

today i have been for another run, that's 3 in 2 weeks, not elite running standards i know but after the injury I've had with my calf i think I'm on the right track. i set off on the same route i had been on the previous 2 times but i took a detour(deliberately, i didn't get lost) and ended up doing a mile more, 3.2 miles in total in just under 32 minutes, i was tiring at the end as i hadn't run that far for a long time but all in all I'm very pleased with the time and wasn't expecting to see that i had improved on the last run. my average pace has come down and i have now run over 30 Min's, doesn't sound a lot but i think I've got to get time and distance in my legs in order to improve more. click here to see my 3rd run

my next run should be Wednesday as I'm not working that day, i have my HGV re-test that afternoon.

IM VERY FORGETFUL

alzheimers is setting in, whilst typing out my enourmously long last blog i forgot to mention my weight, i am now down to 188lbs so a massive loss in total of 32lbs which sounds less when you say 2st 4lbs. with me starting to run now and keeping my diet in check im hoping to get even more off, im still wobbly in places so maybe that will tighten up a bit.

WHERE HAVE I BEEN??

Ive been working long, hard, 12 hour days driving around the north west of England and have had very little time or energy to do any exercise at all.
since my last blog, which seems like 21 days ago, i have been to my physio and been told to "go away"....politely and if there is no more pain and stiffness in my calf, "that i should never go again" yippee!!!! so i have to keep stretching my calfs and keep up my good work ;-)

last Monday i took the first steps toward training for my 10k "race" in Manchester next May, i had been reading a "running for beginners" magazine during my breaks on the road, that stated i should start slowly, walking 5 mins and running for  1 minute, sounded like a good plan to get me started. bearing in mind the last time i had run or should i say "tried" to run i was over 2 stone heavier and had a problem calf, so i walked about 250 yards till i got to the gates of Carey park, then i started to jog, it felt good, in fact so good i ignored or should i say "forgot" about the walking part and just kept going fully expecting to feel bad in a few hundred yards....i didn't and kept on running all the way round until i reached the gates again on the way out of the park, i walked the 250 yards back to my flat as my warm down.  click this link to view that run 
i hadn't felt so at ease running for about 20 odd years, I've never been a good runner, its always been a struggle, at school i hated cross country, i was more of a sprinter at junior school but when i went to high school i don't know what went wrong, i seemed to be running backwards compared to the others, they grew tall and i stayed a little short arse. the regular twice weekly runs when i joined the army seemed to help a lot, i felt i was improving but the disciplined routine of the army apprentice college fell away when i got my first posting to Catterick, i seemed to struggle after that, the emphasis was no longer on fitness but more on the job itself supplying the rest of the army with kit from nuts and bolts to heavy artillery and everything in between.
the days after Mondays run my legs were slightly stiff, i wasn't like a board but i knew i had done something i hadn't for a long long time, the aches gradually faded away and today, Sunday, i woke up early, my running gear was already by my bed so i got straight into running mode, put my heart monitor on, fired up my garmin forerunner 405cx and set off out of the door at walking pace to warm up a bit, it was very cold and id wished i had found my fluorescent running gloves as fingerless cycling gloves leave the extremity's of my fingers vulnerable to the nippy cold air, wimp you say!!! got to be comfortable to enjoy the run which in turn will not make it a chore to do, so that's my next task finding them!! anyway back to the run, i started running before i had reached the gates this time, i had set off on the same course as Monday thus giving me a baseline to work from to see if it had become any easier, i think i will stick to this course for a while so i can monitor any improvements, will there be any???? certainly hope so. i found it slightly harder than Monday, i don't know whether that is down to the time of day, i hadn't eaten anything before i went out, I'm not good doing exercise after eating, lets just say things don't stay down inside my body! i was fully expecting to get so far into the run and feel like i needed to stop but i seemed to develop a sense of determination and kept saying "keep going" and indeed i did, i managed not only to run all the way to the gates but all the way back to the flat. i downloaded my efforts from my garmin to my laptop, you can view the run HERE, the results are improving and i had my heart monitor on this time so i can see how much effort it is taking me in future.
so i am hoping that work will allow me to get a run in next week, in an ideal world i guess running Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday would be great, maybe i will have to get up early to achieve that.