When I initially came up with the idea of running 100 miles I never gave a thought to running for charity. As the day of the run drew closer I began to wonder if running for a charity would be a good idea.
Around the same time Radio 1 were doing a hike for SightSavers, listening to the difference £5 could make to someones life I knew this would be a great charity to support. For only £5 one persons vision can be restored, for such a small amount of money that is a huge impact.
I am hopeful I will be able to raise more than enough money to save at least one persons vision per mile (or if people are generous maybe 10?). So please donate over at Just Giving. You can make a huge difference for a tiny amount!
I have also produced a number of prints, each sale will raise enough to save one persons vision so check them out!
For the past 2 weeks we have been having a number of car troubles. It just keeps breaking down!
This introduces a number of problems like getting to college, doing the shopping and running. To go for a run my wife usually drives me to the airport and drops me off. Without a car it means I cant really run.
It is a 2 hour walk for my wife to drop me off and pick me up, so not really feasible and I can’t safely walk the route on my own. Far to many busy roads and I don’t know the route very well.
In an effort to keep up my training I decided to take a walk to my parents house. When I lived there I used to have a pretty impressive home gym and some of the equipment still remains. So the plan was to do 20 miles on an exercise bike.
I jumped on the bike and attempted to operate the machine. I was unable to read the screen and it made no audio notifications. After a few minutes this irritated me far to much and I had to stop.
The control I have using RunKeeper simply wasn’t translating to a stationary bike. It was to frustrating having no control and no feedback so I just called it a day.
Frustrated I called it quits and we headed home. So unfortunately I have missed a couple of runs this week. I have put a plan in place to do the big miles as I cannot miss the long runs this close to the race.
Last night despite still feeling a little rough from the pesky cold I decided to do a little run. I have been trying to practice running at night, its something I have never done so I am trying to build my confidence.
It was a short 4 miles run but I was struggling at the 2 mile mark. This should of been a sign, despite this I thought I could run a 28 miler today; in an effort to catch up on missed miles.
Turns out that was a little ambitious. I was struggling at mile 6 and coughing up large amount of phlegm. I convinced myself Gu could solve all and swallowed more than I usually would.
This took me to mile 12, a quick nuun; again convincing myself it was hydration and I was fine for a few more miles. I lasted to mile 15 before it was just time to quit. I was fatigued, down on pace and decided to make the shame call.
Asking my wife to collect me 3 hours early, even worse I didn’t even make it to the agreed collection point, she had to come find me.
So the excuses:
I was ill
Dehydrated
Fatigued from running 10 hours previous
It was unseasonably warm, 20+ in April!
I do worry this close to the race about not hitting weekly mileage, but its a new start next week. I will be over my cold and ready to put in some big runs.
After a bit of a disaster in the pacer department I had been left with no pacers and no support team. With 9 weeks left till the run (eep!) and no pacers I was starting to get a little worried.
I was trying to stay positive and hoped somehow pacers/guides would appear. I had been proactive and contacted local running clubs, local stores and even put up posters in the local area. This resulted in 0 responses. I was a little deflated and unsure where to turn to next.
In the past few weeks I had added Up and Running on twitter, who are a UK wide running store. I am always impressed when brands and stores engage with the community. I had sent a few messages their way commenting on a few things, I then decided to ask if I could place a poster in some of their stores.
They agreed so I whipped up a little writeup in Word and sent it off. Going totally above and beyond Up and Running decided to turn it into a poster and display it nationwide!
I am incredibly happy that such a big store was willing to take my request on board and really run with it. The response already has been fantastic, some people local to the run have got in touch and offered their services.
I am in awe of Up and Running, taking a customers request to this level is amazing. If you live in the UK and they are not your local supplier maybe its time for a change! they have stores nationwide so should be one local to you!
I have included the poster they created below and I cant wait to visit in store! Will be popping over to the Sheffield branch this weekend.
This week I had to pop to the Dr’s about some friction from my old rucksack messing up my back. I arrived at the Dr’s and was met with a horrendous smell, my wife and I couldn’t decide what the smell was, but it did have a faint aroma of urine. The waiting room was packed with people coughing and sniffing so I was happy to be seen quickly.
The next day we both awoke with a cold. We had both managed to catch something while in the Dr’s waiting room. Great. You pop in for a quick check-up and come out ill. Next time I will wear a facemask, I swear.
Having a cold has really impacted my running; I took a quick twitter poll and asked if people ran with a sore throat. The resounding answer was: yes. But if you have respiratory issues then no. Well guess who was wheezing when breathing and became fatigued from walking, that’s right me!
I am very annoyed, as I always am when ill. I just HATE being ill. I would much rather be out training, racking up some serious miles especially as the weather is fine.
It did make me think though. Two weeks before my run no one leaves or enters the house, I cannot catch a cold before the 100!!
On the face of it it appears I have been neglecting my blog. This is slightly true but I have been busy writing for so many other blogs and magazines I often forget they don’t appear on here!
In recent weeks I have created content for
TCL Sports
RunAddicts
Wired Playbook
Numerous applications for sponsorship
A couple of magazines
Others I cant even remember!
I plan to make an effort to try and feature some of the content here, or at least write more original content for my own blog!
I have been thinking how I could do a video describing how I achieve my run for a while. So I decided to hold the iPhone while on a run last week and talk about how I know all the different sections.
I tried to give as much detail as possible but I am sure I left quite a bit out, so feel free to ask any specifics.
My current ambition to run the Cotswolds 100 has gained support recently from a number of websites and a newspaper. After using RunKeeper for a number of months to aid with my running I finally decided to create a post detailing exactly how it assisted me. This created an explosion of interest in my little adventure.
RunKeeper featured my post on their own blog which put the wheels in motion for a number of other opportunities. I was first contacted by Wired who asked to feature my post and asked if I would create regular updates for their Wired Playbook, I jumped at the opportunity and have had three posts published so far.
One day later I received an e-mail from The Daily and ending up giving an interview, my first ever! I was incredibly excited to be featured in a newspaper and have printed out a copy as a memory sake.
Being featured on these websites has allowed people in the blind and running community to get in touch. This has been fantastic and I have enjoyed talking to everyone, so don’t be afraid to get in touch. I have added a Skype button in the sidebar so people can call me too.
For Christmas my wife bought me an Inov8 rucksack with their H2Oriztonal hydration system. The design is unique and a great idea to move the water lower to reduce movement and sloshing. I have only just begun to use it and today was my third use.
After 2.5 miles it was time to take some water on board so I bit down on the valve and began to suck. Nothing. I sucked harder. Nothing. Equipment failures for me are pretty catastrophic; I have no idea what the point of failure is, just that it doesn’t work. I can’t see if water is running up the tube or if the valve itself is broken. Just as the rucksack was about to go sailing into the bushes I decided to call the cavalry, I quickly told Sian what was wrong and we agreed to meet at collection point 3 to dump the bladder and go old school with bottles of water.
This meant changing my planned route, missing out on my hydration and nutrition timings and making a one-mile run to meet Sian. Frustrated and angry I headed to collection point 3. It turned out the valve was broken. That setup cost me £60+ and it lasted 3 uses. I will be sending a complaint email next week to Inov8.
With bottles of water on board I got back to the set route: running a few inclines. By now my hydration and nutrition was shot and I was becoming frustrated, mistakes started creeping in and I fell down a ditch. I still had 15 miles to go so I needed to get into a positive mind-set. Just then Kanye West POWER! began playing which instantly perked me up followed by a runkeeper distance update. Ahhhh 10 more minutes and I can crack out the Mr Kipling!
The next 10 miles went along swiftly, passing the half marathon mark the heavens opened. This is the point I realise I forgot to pack my rain jacket. I quickly gobbled a few Mr Kipling lemon slices and powered through. The last mile was accompanied by the delights of Ray Charles and a Lucozade.
The bottles of water did prove somewhat of a distraction, as I constantly mistook the sloshing of the water bottles as footsteps. So I desperately need a new hydration system. So if anyone has any recommendations to one that can last and not flake after a few uses let me know!
