Story
26th September
Thank you all again for your support, and so that those who still want to contribute to the work of the British Heart Foundation this page will remain open until after the Great South Run which takes place at the end of October.
19th September 2011
All done, race run, and home safley and in walking order.
The race was hard work (far more difficult than I imagined) and I got round in 2hrs 30mins. I was overtaken by quite a few other runners including: Fireman in full rigout; a sunflower; runner dressed as a pig; a banana with a gorilla; a large foam book; two anglican vicars; a man with a fridge on his back; a pair of smurfs; and a giant womble.
Fantastic!
Update 11th September 2011
Training completed and all that remains to be done is plenty of rest in preparation for the event next sunday.
Thank you so much for the encouragement and support that you have given to me whilst I've been working towards the Great North Run. Look out for me on the telly. I'll be wearing fancy dress of running shirt, running shorts, running socks, running shoes. You will be able to recognise me easily... I'll be masquerading as a proper athlete :-)
Update 5th September 2011
A big thank you to the members of the Slimming World Group at Flixton who, as well as donating to the BHF, made a committment to do one thing to look after their own hearts.
And a very special thank you too to Jean Whitfield for making the super cake which we used to guess the weight of the cake.
Update 4th September 2011
Be Happy - be very happy.
1hr 45 mins later and a very comfortable and enjoyable 9 mile run. Note to self (again) I must continue to practice mastering not listening to the nagging doubter that lives within the circles of the windmills of my mind.
Thank you again for your encouragement!
Update 4th September 2011
Be afraid - be very afraid.
In two weeks time I will be on the starting line at the Great North Run - I know and believe that I will be excited and will have that feeling that I have done something good, something worthwhile.
This morning however I feel afraid and the nagging little voice in my head is telling me that I can't do it and my dreams of running both the 1/2 marathon in Newcastle and the full marathon Manchester next April are pointless. So near to the goal my little helper is telling me 'don't bother - what's the point - you'll probably fail. He is telling me not to bother going out for my final long training run this morning.
So little voice here is the message: 20 people who know me well believe that I can do it demonstrated by them giving their personal financial details to an internet site; two peole have started to excercise on a regular basis after learning about the training programme that I'm on; and the economy of the local shops has been boosted by the additional sales of Band Aid, vaseline, knee supports, and bananas.
Moreover my entering this event and undertaking the training programme is for the other me, the me in search of meaning, the me who says 'yes I can.'
Little voice - I can, so save your breath.
Update 12th August 2011
Thank you all for all of your support and donations.
It's getting a little more difficult to keep up with the training - but I'm on it.
Great day at the SKYride Manchester last sunday, a 1hr 20 min run on tuesday, interval trainign last night and more cylcling and running this weekend.
Looking forward to next tuesday and the Nexus Running Club - our meet was cancelled this week because of some local difficulties in the center of Manchester.
Update 29th July 2011
Training is progressing well and the schedule for last week was as follows.
Tuesday 5K run with #nexusrunningclub (caution low bridge)
Thursday 6K run including 4 x 3 min's at threshold
Saturday 2K easy run
Sunday 15Min walk followed by 70min easy run.
All completed, and a video of the team from Nexus Running Club has been posted.
About this page.
I thought that it might be a good idea to start to look after my own little ticker before the Hospital has to, and at the same time take the advice of our diabetes experts and reduce my risk of developing the disease.
If you want to apply some pressure to keep me motivated and training towards this event then I know that the BHF will spend your hard earned money wisely. :-)
And thanks to the good people of #ECE11 Education in a changing environment conference at Salford University and Dwelltime for starting me off with a £250 donation.