The blog has been quiet for a while but rather than a lack of things to blog about I have just been too busy.

Adjusting to university has been a lot harder than I had anticipated. With the commute to university being the first time I have used my long cane it has been taking its toll. I perhaps rather wrongly assumed people would be forgiving of me using the cane and be polite. This turned out to be wrong.

Today for example as I boarded the tram someone clean kicked my cane out from me. No apology they just looked at me and pushed by me. This unfortunately happens on the majority of commutes. On the flip side about once a week someone is actually helpful and assists me with something.

With the rush hour commute being difficult I decided to make a few changes to my timetable to ease the process. Thankfully i didn’t enjoy the module I dropped to ease the commute. So I suppose it did all work out for the best.

While I begin to get my studies under control I have been thinking about next years ultra running. I am definitely entering the UltraRace Championship which will see me return to the Cotswold 100 amongst many other races (90 miles in Jan I best get training!) I have begun to think about other challenges.

I have never been fond of the multi day event but the past few weeks have been thinking about how far I could run in a week. 210 miles seems perfect achievable so could I run 280? push it to 300? I have a few destinations in mind and some interesting point-to-point runs. Just need some funding! (or sponsorship!)

University looms just around the corner; I am still a little anxious about starting university there are just so many unknowns. One of the biggest for me is the commute.

Historically I would adjust the commute so it was absolutely minimal. In the early days when I worked retail, I would catch the bus just after or at its terminal so the bus was empty. This would make it very easy to find a seat and negate a lot of the issues with transport. Fast forward a few years and jobs and I lived literally next door to where I worked, totally removing the commute.

My commute now consists of, being dropped off at the train station, a train then a tram. The journey to university is relatively simple, my wife points out the right train and I board it. Finding a seat is still an issue but I can stand if I must, The tram journey is also very easy, I board the tram and the terminal and there are only two trams, one takes me to the right destination, the other relatively close. So if I go wrong here no big problem.

The issues arise on the way home, I can’t see the name on the tram so I have no idea if I board the right one, the same goes for the train. So I am forced to rely on asking any bystanders if they know where the next train or tram goes. Not the most ideal situation but needs must.

I am also conscious of moving around the campus and the studying itself. Having never studied at this level before I am unsure of the adaptations I will have to make to succeed along the way. All seems a little ad-hoc at the minute, I am confident I will be settled in and know what I am doing within a few weeks. After all everyone at university is in the same boat, its somewhere new and scary!

I also have an ultra coming up in a few weeks, so best start upping the miles. Nothing like adding to the pressure!

Today during cane training I was finally awarded my own long cane. Before you can be presented with a cane you have to show the ability to navigate safely as well as know a few key movements of the cane.

In reality I mastered the cane a few weeks ago but have been a little to busy to meet up and finalise the process. Today we hit a few of the routes I plan to use when commuting to university as well as practicing a few road crossings.

Crossing the road is always dangerous when blind as frankly there are too many crazy drivers! But we headed to a busy road instead of picking the quiet areas so I got a feel of what it is really like rather than spending my time crossing easy roads.

This was also a great opportunity to try different tips for the cane. I have decided to use the rollerball tip, which is basically exactly what its namesake implies. An enormous rollerball. It glides over surfaces far easier and snags less, making walking on rough surfaces such as paving slabs easier.

Today was also a great change to try out some speaking alarm clocks and wristwatches. Now the watch I actually want is a black faced TW Steel but I cant afford it right now. Money is constrained so I may end up with a cheap ugly RNIB watch. Not looking forward to that but needs must.

While I continue to train with the long cane I am also incredibly interested in using a guide dog. I love dogs and really like the idea of having a little buddy with me when I go out.

To progress through the process I attended an introduction day where you get to handle a guide dog and have a little chat with a reasonably new guide down owner.

I arrived at the centre and was met by an enormous german shepherd; quite rare in the guide dog world. It was the largest german shepherd I had seen and we used to have them as family pets! As we waiting for another person to arrive we chatted about guide dogs in general and their capabilities.

After the other guest arrived we headed out to have a trial run with Lola the german shepherd. I was nominated to go first. The instructor had chose an incredibly busy street with a number of obstacles to demonstrate what the dog was capable of and see if I was willing to allow the dog to lead. In order to keep it safer the instructor also had the dog on a leash while I held the harness handle.

With a simply instruction of forward we were off. The first 20m or so felt so strange, the dog moved at a fast pace, far faster than I could navigate alone. The dog weaved in and out of the pedestrians and obstacles and I quickly found it easy to understand the dogs movements and follow along.

The one thing I seemed to keep forgetting to do was praise the dog, you have to constantly reward the dog be it verbally or through a treat to let it know its doing a good job. But apart from that I felt I was doing incredibly well. After a few more basic commands and crossing a couple of roads the instructor decided to release the leash and let me have a go solo.

The dog picked up the pace and we were off zooming down the high street. Lola was able to identify possible obstacles in the distance and noticeable slowed as she calculated the best route. The dog overall performed excellent right up till we returned to the car. As Lola spotted the car she bolted and pulled me along!

I really enjoyed my experience with a guide dog and look forward to hopefully passing my final assessment next week. Then its a case of waiting a long period of time (upto 18 months) to be matched with a dog.

As the run approaches I have also been continuing with my cane training. I am pleased to say I have mastered the majority of the techniques and was praised for being so competent so quickly.

The cane training came at an odd time as attempting to run a 100 miles does not seem to go hand in hand with mobility issues. This contrast has been interesting as the skills I have acquired through running and training alone translated incredibly well to using a long cane.

It turned out the techniques I had developed on my own where the actual techniques used to navigate with a cane. A strange coincidence indeed! This allowed me to quickly progress through my training and become proficient with the cane in an incredibly short time frame.

On todays lesson a student accompanied me and my rehab officer. The student had to ask if I was indeed blind as I moved around so well. I laughed and confirmed I was and told her she should come see me running alone!

Despite becoming proficient with the cane my training is not complete. We are beginning to work on set routes I will utilise on a daily basis. So we will be practicing boarding the train and tram I will use to get to university. I am really looking forward to this as I see it as a fantastic step forward in regaining my independent mobility,

For a number of years I have been putting off cane training.  I had developed a system to navigate that during the time I felt was acceptable.  In hindsight all I had really done is stopped going out on my own.  I had restricted my travel to assure I was always accompanied by someone else.

I had decided a month or so ago to start the training but I was waiting for my request to be processed.  Finally last week I met for my first lesson with the cane.  Mobility previously caused a large amount of anxiety, while I was able to navigate in known areas I was still incredibly anxious and navigating around in unknown areas was incredibly difficult.

Beginning to use the cane I instantly dropped this anxiety as know I was sure I wasn’t going to walk into anything.  I was now able to walk around at a consistent pace at ease.  I had been resilient of the cane as I would lose my anonymity and I would instantly be identified as blind.  However while utilising the cane this thought never once entered my mind instead I was focussed on the instant difference it was making.

I am continuing my lessons with the cane and will chronicle my progress as I go.  Its week or so till my next lesson however as the intructor is on her holidays.

I finally bit the bullet and confirmed my place at Sheffield University.  I followed this up with a quick visit with the disability department to discuss my needs and assistance I may require.

After discussing my needs and being reassured assistance would be put into place we hit the same old problem: Books in a digital format.  Of the 5-pre course books on the reading list only 2 are available digitally.  This continues to frustrate me, as we all know books are created in digital formats.  There isn’t someone sat at a typewriter creating a book that is then photocopied.  It is obviously sent to the printers digitally.  So why not just convert that and sell?

I know the answer, its stupid DRM.  Publishers do not want to lose control of their books.  So now I will be forced to purchase the paper books and pay for them to be converted, making a £20 book a £200 book.

I am trying not to let this get me down and focussing on the course itself, I am looking forwarding to studying psychology at degree level and I am especially looking forward to the lectures.  Not so much the commute though, but it’s the price I am paying to continue my other pursuits.  There is always a trade off.

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.