A Bientot Running

Hello again

As many of you know, I've had a love/hate relationship with running over the last year or so.  If you're unfamiliar with that, you might want to re-read the opening post of this blog and the one describing my finest hour (but don't feel obliged).

Tonight will mark my penultimate run of 2012, with my grand finale being the Great Yorkshire Run on Sunday.  It's a difficult decision to turn my back on it for a while, but it's the right one to make.

In truth, I've not felt right since the marathon in April and I've held on to the notion that having races like the upcoming 10km at the weekend will keep me fit and solve all of my problems.  The reality is much different.

Without rehashing old ground too much, I've found myself back at almost the exact same place I was a year ago.  I'm not as fit as I was in March and my inability to find any kind of consistent exercise has meant I've piled on about 2 stone since the end of April.  I'm probably a bit better off in the sense that my diabetes is more controlled than this time 12 months ago (though it's still be no means perfect).

I'm also battling quite severe shin splints.  No matter how much I try and convince myself it's not a problem, I know deep down it is.  I'm at the stage where a long drive in the car causes me pain from holding my foot on the accelerator in the same position.  Fortunately I rarely drive more than about 30 miles at a time.

The only real treatment for shin splints is rest and so I find myself in the situation where I'll be stopping my running adventure for this year when I cross the finish line on Sunday.  I suppose if I was less stubborn, I wouldn't even bother on Sunday, but I've paid my entrance fee and with the opportunity to get a medal as well, I'm not prepared to give up (I'm all about the glory really).

Instead I've turned my attention to a low impact form of exercise and I've bought an exercise bike which is currently in front of the TV in my living room (much to my wife's disdain).  I'm on a mission to lose around 35lbs by Christmas all being well and I'm hoping that 2 bursts a day on the bike will help with that.  It'll be more regular exercise than I've had in years so I'm hoping the "little and often" approach will work.

Of course I'll never manage twice a day every day, but if I keep my targets realistic then I'm confident I'll start to see a difference eventually and I'll allow my body the time it needs to properly recover.  I managed 7km before breakfast this morning and hopefully that can continue alongside a longer burst in the evenings.

I know I'm going to have a certain amount of jealousy when I see other people out running but I'm trying to look at the positives and come back fighting fit in 2013.  The date of the Sheffield half marathon is 12th May 2013 and I'm determined to finally beat the distance.  I'm aiming to start training after the New Year so I've got 4 months of cycling and dieting to get me into the right position for that.

My sponsorship page for the Great Yorkshire Run is still open and you can find it by following this link.  I've not actually raised anything yet, and I feel a bit cheeky asking people to dip into their pockets again given how incredibly generous people were at the start of the year, but if you have two quid spare, then The Children's Hospital and Diabetes UK would be really grateful of it.  I'm going to stagger over the line come what may and I'm optimistic of beating my 10km time from three weeks ago (68 minutes).

Before I go, I should wish Dan and Ben all the best for Sunday as well.  I know they're both running and will do a much better (faster) job of it than I will.  I'd also like to mention Sam who's running the Berlin Marathon on 30th September for Children With Cancer.  I'm sure Sam will attest to the fact that distance running isn't without pain and suffering and you can follow her journey on her blog.

Thanks to everyone who's supported my running/fundraising efforts this year - I do appreciate it all so much.  Hopefully I'll be back next year asking for your money and support again.  The blog will continue in the meantime...

Take care

Andy

Starting over

Hello again

This past week has had a distinct feeling of starting from scratch and venturing into the relative unknown.

You may remember I spoke a little about Resolutions a week or so ago and since then I've been making a big effort to keep with them.

I've worked through about 3 hours of Italian audio and was pleasantly surprised that I remember more than I thought I knew.  I last had a crack at it back in 2006 when I got married and we went to Rome for our honeymoon.  It's still a bit basic but I should get somewhere with it if I persevere.  My main learning time is in the car to and from work a couple of days a week - I have a mini audio course on my iPod.  I think that will get me so far but I probably need to do a bit of work away from that to be able to really get to grips with it.

My other resolution was to learn guitar and that's going OK as well.  I've managed to learn 7 or 8 chords but I'm predictably finding stringing them together into something familiar a bit more difficult.  Obviously patience and practice are key here and to think I would be able to play anything in such a short space of time would be foolish.  That said, I've managed to learn a couple of simple nursery rhymes to keep my daughter onside.  I'm making the effort to pick the guitar up for about 15 or 20 minutes every day and I think that'll really help.  In the evenings I'm trying to watch the football with the sound muted whilst I "practice" and that's helping a little.  Hopefully I'll get to something passable by Christmas.

I've also done my first post-marathon run this last week and that's been a bit of a shock to the system.  It's not wholly unexpected as I'd not run for about 50 days for a variety of reasons (blisters, brusing, holidays to name three) but it's something I want to keep doing and now I know what I'm capable of, it all seems a bit more straight forward.  I'm entered in the Great Yorkshire Run at the start of September which is a 10km route around Sheffield and so I'm effectively starting over in preparation for that.  I'm revisiting my old 2 mile route twice a week at the moment just to get back into a routine.  I'll keep upping that distance when I get back to a decent level of fitness. 

Once again, I'm running for Diabetes UK and Sheffield Children's Hospital but this time I'm trying to raise a more modest £200.  If you feel like you can spare perhaps £2 for two worthy causes you can donate here (you'll have to click on the Great Yorkshire Run 2012 page).  If I reach my target for this run, I'll have raised £1700 for charity this year which would be incredible.

My wife has put together a record of the marathon journey we went through in a photobook.  Whilst the real thing hasn't been delievered yet, I have a link of what it will look like so if you're a little interested, you can see it here (I'd look at it in full screen for best results)

I suppose this post should have an actual point (it would make a change eh?)  Whilst trying something new can be a bit daunting and frustrating, I'm feeling positive about the challenges.  I think previously I've probably been a bit immature or fickle to really be able to sit down and learn a new skill.  It's fair to say that in the past, I've been quick to get bored of something if it's not going my way.  I think there's still a slim chance of that happening (it'd be a bit short sighted to think I've totally changed in the last few weeks or months) but hopefully I can stick with it.

I've started to find a genuine interest in things that would have previously passed me by and whilst I'll continue to waste a few hours playing Xbox or watching some second rate TV, I feel like I've found things that will give me some genuine enjoyment which can't be a bad thing can it?

I guess it's never too late to try your hand at something new.

Talk to you soon

Andy