Adam in Runderland

Another good week last week with the long run on Saturday being the highlight. I’m still managing to do the yoga and eat healthily although I did have an extra bottle of wine. This week has been a different matter. With the Beachy head Marathon coming up I am on a taper, so no running, or limited anyway. I’ve been helped in this by moving house which has kept me busy. I continue to do my yoga stretches and have done plenty of walking to keep active. I already have my kit laid out in preparation. I’ll be taking a jacket, hat and gloves as the temperature is due to drop for the weekend. My camelback will provide the water I need and will also store some mini cheddars, a protein bar and some energy sweets. My train leaves Folkestone at 6am which will enable me time to fuel up on the journey. The plan is to have a bowl of porridge and a strong coffee before leaving the house. On the train I will add a banana, some sandwiches and another coffee. I’m due in to Eastbourne station...

The sun was just coming up as I left my house and drove over to Folkestone on Saturday. I stopped the car at the top of the cliffs and took a photo. The clouds were edged with fuscia pink and a warm, saffron glow was emerging from the sea. It was going to be a beautiful morning following the heavy rain of the night before. It was Runday, Saturday, and I was due to meet John at 7am for a long run before parkrun. He had a route sorted and I was happy to go along with it. In the previous seven days I had pushed myself to cover over 30 miles of steep, hilly terrain at tempo speeds. My legs were tired but my appetite to run was stronger. We headed north to the downs and climbed the sharp ascent up Castle Hill. After skirting the edge of Crete Road we plunged down through grass covered fields and along muddy tracks towards Peene. Just before we reached the village we passed through a gate and turned sharp right up another precipitous slope. This one is both sheer and long, but we r...

This week I have continued my attempt to form some good habits. While I have slipped up on the alcohol I have continued to eat well and run hard. I’ve been stretching every other day, which isn’t ideal, but has kept the stiff joints at bay with the help of cod liver oil. On Monday I received my London Marathon rejection and so took out my frustration by running a tough set of long hill reps up and down the Leas in Folkestone. Four reps with a total of 1,800 feet elevation at 8.5 miles an hour. I followed this by a 1.5 mile warm down. Then on Tuesday I decided to run to Summerhouse Hill a few miles from town. John had run there on Sunday and sent me a photo from the summit making me very jealous, so I decided to repay the compliment. I ran hard through town and out along the Channel Tunnel route, reaching the hill after 5 miles and crawling my way to the top. Photo taken, I took a rather circuitous route back through woodland to Seabrook and Sandgate making it a half marathon (see ...

That was the word that confronted me this morning when my London Marathon magazine landed. Every year a ballot is held to enable people to enter the event. In October magazines are sent out to all who put their names forward. Two editions are printed. One for those who didn’t get in, like me, and one for those more fortunate. They get You're in! I get Commiserations. Of course, it isn’t the only way to get in. Hundreds of charities have places available in return for raising money for their good cause. This is what makes the London Marathon what it is, and I applaud it. £64 million was raised in 2018 and almost £1 billion has been raised since the first race in 1981. The only problem is being able to raise £1500 - £2000 doing something everyone knows you love. It’s strange because if I was to do a parachute jump or swim with sharks or ask people to sponsor me to not run I would probably have an easier time of it. People like you to earn your money and don’t want to give f...

Having run to Wye I had the opportunity this weekend to add Ware to my list of question runs. I was there for a recruitment roadshow with Mission Aviation Fellowship and received special dispensation to attend parkrun before we started work. The run was at the Three Lakes Campsite at Westmills farm just outside Ware in Hertfordshire. I arrived early to scope out the course and despite the cloudy weather was met with a beautiful scene. Rolling green hills surrounded a series of fishing lakes. Tall trees with turning leaves of yellow and gold stood scattered over the landscape. You could see for miles from the high vantage point which was the start and finish line. I jogged for a couple of miles around the lakes, greeting the fishermen that had no doubt already been there for hours. By a quarter to nine others had begun to arrive and we were given a race briefing outlining the route for those of us who were there for the first time. There were a few people who were parkrun virg...

Despite this year being my most prolific in terms of miles covered, it hasn’t been my best in terms of running performance. One of the reasons for this is the lack of care and attention I have given to other aspects of my physical and mental wellbeing. Running well is not just about the running. It involves so many other facets from diet and sleep to hydration, stress and flexibility. At any one time I am focussing on one or two of these, but rarely do they all have my full attention. The result is often that I run well but not at my best. During October I am attempting to build in some strong habits to hold me in good stead over the winter months. This takes self-discipline, sacrifice, effort and not a little stubbornness. I lack the first, don’t like the second, try and avoid the third as often as possible, but have bucketloads of the fourth. The reason for writing about this is to feel that I’m being made accountable. By blogging about how I am doing through the month should kee...