Guess who's back again...

...The Geese!

Be afraid, be very afraid.

I am!

Had to take nearly a half mile detour on tonights run, wont be going that route again for a while.... :-(

No Direction Home?

Feels like all is lost, there's nowhere left to go
Through the seasoned sands, cross the sky to the morning snow
Is there no direction home, nowhere left to go, no direction home

First of my three marathons in three weekends is now only 6 days away and I have just completed my last training run of any note, a nice strong 13 miles in glorious sunshine and on my favourite coastal path route. Had a bit of a feeling all week of impending doom though and is only now I have put my finger on why when everything in life is actually so rosy. Talking to my Dad now about the marathons has made me realise that exactly three weeks from now, as I type, I will, if all goes according to plan, be running down The Mall and the quest that has enveloped my life for the last 6 months will be over. Yes I will continue running, as I was before, but the fundraising, organising of auction nights and the track marathon, the being in awe of my daughters efforts in organising a sponsored walk and raising over £200 in a space of a week and everything else will be over, and have promised the family no similar quests until 2013 so what will I do? Thing is, if I feel like this now how am I going to feel 3 weeks from now , apart from wanting to get very very drunk. Please forgive me if I blub! ;-)

By the way when I said no similar quests until 2013 (and that will eclipse this effort ten-fold) what I actually mean is no charity fundraising promises, although I will donate all profits from the Ultra I am going to organise to Cancer charities. Although I had already had the following idea it is again only now, this second, as I type, that I have realised that it means I do have a sense of direction still. It is my 40th birthday next year and to celebrate it I aim to do 40 things I haven’t done before in 2012, maybe you could help me with ideas because I have only thought of a handful of things so far which are:

1. Do at least one race a month.
2. Do my first 10 mile race.
3. Do my first 20 mile race.
4. Do my first kilomathon.
5. Do my first ultra.
6. Organise an ultra.
7. Go up in a helicopter.
8. Have a hot air balloon trip.
9. Do a parachute jump.
10. Learn to swim front crawl.
11. Take my wife for our first weekend away alone since the birth of our eldest, will be over 16 years.
12. Learn to play one song on a guitar.
13. Visit Scotland.
14. Start writing my life story. (very boring but is not for anyone except me)

So that is as far as I have got, can you help me think of more, or fulfil any of them?

Feeling much more positive now….

I hope you understand me
Just trying to stay positive
I ain't no preaching fucker and I ain't no do-goody-goody either
This is about when shit goes pear-shaped
And if you aren't or never have been at rock bottom then good luck to you in the big wide world
But remember that one day shit might just start crumbling
Your bird might fuck off or you might lose your job
It's when that happens that what I'm talking about will feel much more important to you
So if you ain't feeling it, just be thankful that everything's cool in your world
Positivity
Positivity

Harder better faster stronger

Work It Harder Make It Better
Do It Faster, Makes Us stronger
More Than Ever Hour After
Our Work Is Never Over

Is a funny old game eh? The life of a runner!

With the three marathons coming up I have certainly trained harder better and faster this year and last weekends Llanelli Waterside Half Marathon PB suggests I am definitely stronger. Felt good throughout @ 7.25mm pace on a lovely Llanelli morning on a route I know like the back of my proverbial hand. Could have kept on keeping on for sure.

Fast forward 4 days to tonights run home from work and is amazing how hard I had to push to do 6 @ 8mm pace, albeit it hilly and windy and still aching from my first ever tabata workout on Monday. Was/am shattered, although no doubt tomorrows 14 mile doubler will be much easier. Thats the way it works....Right?

Terrible photo eh? Thought Laura would have told me to ditch the headgear...

First days of Spring

There's a hope in every new seed
And every flower that grows upon the earth

Spring is in the air and there is a spring in the step.

Never really noticed the difference a change in the weather makes but all the smiling faces and families out walking on the coastal path made my run very enjoyable tonight. Seeing the sun set over the Gower as I came over the brow of the hill to wards the beach just put the cherry on the icing on the cake.

Feeling strong leading up to Sunday's Half Marathon and the forecast remains good so hopeful of a good PB. Watch this space I guess...

Tesco 'Finest' Chocolate cookies eh...