Challenges

To keep the inspiration levels high I often get myself involved in some form of sporting challenge.
Regular staples are the Janathon and Juneathon – “run and blog every day of the month” challenges but I’ve also taken part in a run the London Tube Line Salomon challenge and the Nike Grid.

A Soft Approach to the London Marathon

October 11, 2011
A Soft Approach to the London Marathon

I’m taking a softly softly approach to this years attempt at the London marathon. No early heroics or ambitious time targets. I need to make it to the start line this year and that means, at the very least, that I have to still be capable of running when the proper marathon program starts at [...]

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The Happy Magazine

October 2, 2011
The Happy Magazine

My London Marathon acceptance mag dropped through the front door on Friday. It wasn’t unexpected as I’d had to defer from last years event due to a frustrating struggle with plantar fasciitis but it has come around frighteningly quickly. I’m still supposedly trying to rest my way out of heel pain but now the mag [...]

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Juneathon Day 21

June 22, 2011
Juneathon Day 21

I’ve been pouring over my stats and trends this evening and it just confirms that this Juneathon is not going to rattle the record books. Multiple 2k runs just don’t cut the mustard and by day 21 I still haven’t racked up a complete marathon. That sort of benchmark gives me a whole new appreciation [...]

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Mitcham Common Adventurers

June 19, 2011
Mitcham Common Adventurers

We set off in the direction of adventure and the uncharted waters of the eastern wedge of Mitcham Common. Unfortunately it didn’t prove to be entirely virgin territory and we had to endure quite substantial size-related abuse from the native youths walking their bull terriers. It’s easy to overlook these scrub-like triangles of Mitcham Common, [...]

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Gardener’s Revenge

June 12, 2011
Gardener's Revenge

This evenings run was a true gardener’s revenge. There was the repeated crack and whoops as my running buddy splattered my ankle with the entrails of multiple snails. We went out on our regular double loop. I like the repetition, the familiar markers that enable you to compare performance with a previous run. Today’s run [...]

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Dress Rehearsal

June 12, 2011
Dress Rehearsal

Yesterday we were at a friends wedding for the day. It felt like a dress rehearsal for our own nuptials, now just 4 weeks away. I left with many mental notes of missing plans and inevitably spent this evening trying to plug the gaps. I ended up getting stressy over playlists, ribbons and table layouts [...]

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A Brief Recommendation

June 9, 2011
A Brief Recommendation

As ever with Juneathon it’s the blogging challenge that gets me first. I can almost run daily, I can certainly think about running daily but I just can’t cope with the pressure of blogging about running daily. Fortunately there are many out there with greater creative stamina than me. If you fancy some artistically succinct [...]

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My Treadmill

June 6, 2011
My Treadmill

I came downstairs fully kitted out and found someone else on my treadmill. My treadmill. I remember when  I was the only runner in the house, now the cat, the lover and her dog want a go. Day 6 Tally Runs: 5/6 Run Distance: 2k / 11.06k total Alcohol Free Days: 2/6

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Press ups for June

June 5, 2011
Press ups for June

Having spent the entire day hobbling with my dastardly plantar fasciitis I decided it would be wise to take a day off the running. Yesterdays barefoot treadmill run didn’t help matters at all. Barefoot running was supposed to offer a miracle cure for plantar fasciitis but I don’t think I have perfected my barefoot form. [...]

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Lobsters and Cats

June 5, 2011
Lobsters and Cats

Having just returned from 6 hours wandering around the Westfield centre we weren’t terribly eager to go out again and foolishly felt a treadmill mile showdown might be the perfect low energy Juneathon offering. I was sent some really interesting Tabio sports socks to try out today but unfortunately they were about 4 sizes too [...]

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