Never Mind the Ballots

As far as running is concerned, I was never an actual "runner" but on the other hand it's fair to say I'm not exactly a novice either. The odd run I did do were rare occurences as I was a dedicated gym bunny and preferred to do a decent class than head out to pound pavements. Why waste my gym subs doing something for free? So, what happened to make me do runs?

The biggest and most wonderful event in our lives occurred when our son came home, but this meant my previous fitness regime was put on the back burner. I needed to do some exercise and I'd heard of parkrun (I know, I know, but it's not supposed to be capitalised, they're just pretentious) and thought a quick trot of a Saturday morning would be something I could fit in with my new family life. So, on 3rd January 2015 I took part in my very first organised run at the age of 47. I quite enjoyed the experience so carried it on for a few months. I wanted more and, as I'm from South Shields, I had my eye on a place in the Great North Run. About a year later I decided to enter the ballot for a place and, to my surprise, I succeeded. I was overjoyed until it dawned on me that I had six months of training in front of me. Bollocks! Oh, and I had two weeks all-inclusive in Crete a couple of weeks before. Double bollocks! I was going to need a theme tune for my training. Cue this slice of 70s Geordie folk-rock. I was going to be the running man, running for home.

The soundtrack to my GNR training: Run For Home by Lindifarne
A classic Geordie anthem. It's like a saveloy dip washed down with a bottle of Broon for the ears

As part of my training, I registered for my first ever running races. The Wakefield 10K and (included in the GNR registration) the Gateshead 10K. I did my first competitive race at the age of 48. Wakey 10K was fun. I had no idea what to expect, but finished in a decent time and I got a medal! I've done the Wakey 10K every year since and this was the first and last time I got some bling from it. The tight bastards stopped with the metalwork the next year. It's like that T-shirt you get from a relative that went on some exotic holiday who then signposted their meanness by only bringing you back a T-shirt which said "I was good all year and all I got was this shitty T-shirt", because now in the Wakey 10K all you get is a technical T-shirt and a bottle of mineral water.

Pictorial evidence from my first ever organised road race
Wakefield 10K 2016, still from finishers' video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq8G0DLxZ50&t=841s

For the GNR I followed an actual training plan. I did all sorts of weird drills, like interval training, hill training, sprint training. I quite enjoyed it if I'm honest. Then we went on holiday. Two weeks of all-inclusive Cretan hospitality but there was no way I could stop the training, so did a few runs on foreign soil (not for the first time, I did do a run in Thailand once). It was very hot and very hilly, but the rehydration options were good, at least.

Cretan rehydration drill

Home, and a couple of weeks later I was making my way to South Shields to stay with relatives before getting the Metro on Sunday morning to Newcastle and walk to the start. Words can't describe how great this event is. It's touted as the greatest organised race in the world and I can't imagine another event being better. The whole 13 mile course is lined with people cheering you on and handing out food and drink (ice pops were my particular favourite). And then there are the nipple-greasing stations, doling out Vaseline to prevent runner's nipple. I crossed the finish line in a respectable 1:49:58 and got sunburnt shoulders, even in September in the northeast of England. The curse of being a redhead.

Chewing bling on Gypsy's Green: what the GNR is all about
The Sand Dancer makes it home

So this was my first, and so far only, half marathon. I had entered the ballot and got a place for the 2017 run, but circumstances overtook me, namely acquiring near fatal sepsis in the preceding April. I'll probably mention this again at some point. Having a couple of cardiac arrests; requiring ventilation, dialysis and suffering liver failure plus having a large skin graft to fix debrided skin at the site of infection causing you to be bedbound for several weeks and lose a stone and a half in the prcess can really stymie your training regime. On the other hand, maybe I should market this as my new weight loss scheme (Slimming World, eat your heart out.. provided it's not too many syns).

"I lost 10kg in 7 weeks. 

ASK ME HOW!"

I still ran occasionally after the GNR, intermittently carrying on with parkrun until the aforementioned hospital stay. Recovery took a good few months at which time I got more into gym classes. The major problem I had attending parkrun was that my wife and I alternate getting up with our son, who wakes earlyish which meant that every other week I'd get up with him then have tospoil her lie-in, getting her out of bed for 8:30  so I could go to my local park. On the other weeks I'd prefer to stay in bed myself. As I said in my first entry, I really am a half-arsed, fair weather runner, so the prospect of crawling out of bed to go and run 5000m on Saturday morning, especially when it's pissing down or freezing cold, wasn't really my idea of fun, so I stopped being such a regular at PR. That, and the fact I started doing a HIIT session at my gym on Saturday mornings with one of my favourite instructors.

When I resolved to do more running, or, more to the point become a "runner", I started doing PR again and also joined a local running club. That will make another blog entry (sorry, to make this weekly, when I get an idea I have to spin it out). This was going well until early last year, and we all know what happened next. 

So here I am, running more seriously, but only in a half-arsed way.

This week's activities

Runs
Friday: Sneaky lunchtime 5.31 km at work. (Shoes: Asics Road Hawk, 412 kcal)

Sunday: Long run day 11.85 km (918 kcal, shoes: Asics Road Hawk) . Definitely spring: ducklings, nesting swans and cherry blossom, not forgetting the odd snow leopard

Thursday: Never mind the ballots, here's a wet run. 6.31 km (Shoes: New Balance WT410v6.0, 491 kcal). Headed out for an evening run with the aim of stopping at the polling station to cast my vote. Got absolutely pissed on and hailed on and ended up soaking wet, but, given the sacrifices made by people to give me the privilege to vote, it really paled into insignificance.

The running this week was powered, as usual and as the pictures atest, by Tikiboo, and accompanied by a playing list including this banger of a D'n'B track from Sigama ft Paloma Faith. Difficult not to put your hands in the air as you run when you hit the "I-I-I I can't do this anymore" bit.

Other stuff
Saturday: Body Combat (BC 64, 60 minutes, 495 kcal)

Monday: Body Combat (BC82, 45 minutes, 370 kcal)

Tuesday: Body Combat (Extreme Cardio remix - their words, not mine, 45 minutes, 368 kcal)

Wednesday: Body Combat (Remix, upper body only, no kicks, 40 minutes 303 kcal)