Told you I was excited...

I remembers what I forgot.... Got my shirts printed :-) And also got the support of rugby legend Sean Fitzpatrick. A student of mine contacted me to say Sean was iin his house for a dinner party and had given him a signed Team GB shirt for me to auction. I did wonder why he had a signed Team GB shirt with him but didn't expect for him to have signed it and written 'To Matt' on it. Don't suppose it will raise a great deal at auction but still a nice touch... Now was there anything else? Oh yes, payday weekend, you know where to sponsor me lovelies :-) http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=MattRogersonispremierleague

Excitabababable

Don't know why I am so excitable today but I have that feeling in my belly and bones that I get before major races and events. Imagine a child in the week before Christmas and times by 10 basically, I really have to struggle to keep myself under control and not use up too much energy. So I am not sure whether is the fact is 4 weeks today that has got me frothing or the fact that the donations are slowly picking up, I could reach £2000 any time now which is nice :-) I had a donation off Romsey Round Table of £200 last night which gave me hell of a boost. It turns out that an old friend in Southampton is a member and the committee voted unanimously to donate and offer support when I am in the area, which is nice. Having spoken to the guy he agreed that is was worth contacting all branches on route so that is what I have been doing tonight, am about half way through, at Little Haywood, think I should contact 50-60 in all, is it too much to dream that maybe half of them will come through? Apparently they are very competitive and if they know one is supporting will want to outdo them so watch this space.... Running has been an ok week, 43 miles in last 3 days and a LOT planned for next 3 days. I have been questioning this today though and probably wont do as many as I first had planned. A friend of mine who had a similar crazy challenge lined up has a stress fracture of the lower leg and this has bought into focus how important it is I do everything in my power to get to the start line on 28th March in one piece, is only so prepared I can be and I DO NOT want to break myself now.... Sure I had gazillion more things to say but no idea what they were now so until next time....

We are family!

Not sure when I last blogged, was it a week ago, was it longer? Has been a bloody long week I Know that so have gazillions to report/ look back on so apologies in advance for my rambling. Didn’t get a great deal of miles in on two feet last week, not ideal preparation for the challenge but was way too busy with organising the ‘Born to Run’ ultra and teaching and stuff to fit many miles in. Did manage 100 miles on Veera between Friday evening and Saturday evening on the ultra course so not all bad. Two rest days has set me up nicely for 120 miles planned in the next 6 days, then 90 next week, 50-60 week after, 30 and then well is going to be time to go :-0 So the ultra was a resounding success, huge amounts of positive feedback, but let me tell you it was a bloody cold one. Friday night I started putting signs up on the course at 1530 and got to 25 miles at around 1815 when I realised that even with lights the path was getting too dark and I was getting too cold. Am so glad I decided to ride for home by then because I got back I was cold right through to the core, my eyes were, if this is possible?, actually frozen and I was starting to find it really hard to coordinate myself. I was pretty scared let me tell you, I think any longer out there and it could have got really hairy. Got home at 1900 and then went to the pub to carry out RD duties by 2015 and was still shivering. Wasn’t really until I got to bed that I felt I had warmed up. This made me a little wary about the event on Saturday because even though I had St Johns ambulance at key points around the course and very mobile I was aware that at least one competitor was going to be out for 9 hours or so and had to think about safety of the marshalls too. Thankfully there were some great performances, in conditions that remained cold and included snow showers, and everyone got through without major mishap bar one torn calf. I did have to pull one competitor who was at 34 miles had hurt his knee and been sick and was adamant he wanted to walk the rest of the way. He didn’t seem overly impressed at the time but soon came round to my way of thinking and I’m sure appreciated the decision I had to make. I gave him free entry to next year anyway. The key for me as always with my events was enjoyment, value for money and for competitors to go away feeling they had been treated as an individual rather than a number, it’s a family affair. Feedback suggest this is definitely the case and entries have already started to come in more than a year before next years event, 17 entrants so far in the four days since the event suggests to me that word is really getting out now and I will hit my maximum target of 100 competitors early this time round. That is the maximum I will allow to enable me to keep up the family ethos and offer the personal service. Overall it was just a great day, with a Nandos and a few liquid carbs with lovely friends new and old in the evening. I wont even start to say how wonderful my marshalls were either as I will never stop, wonderful wonderful people one and all. Despite enjoying it immensely I am bloody glad it is out of the way as with just over four weeks until ‘I am Premier League’ starts I really must concentrate on that now so am going to talk with my logistics manager (brother) tonight to identify any gaps in accommodation, routes planning and support so we can start pulling together the loose ends. Will probably be another begging for help blog on the way very soon, please have a read, you can’t even begin to imagine how the smallest contribution can help, and that is before even considering the fundraising. On that score though things are going very well and it has picked up over the last week but without wanting to get Bob Geldof on you I will never be able to raise enough for these fantastic causes so if you have considered donating please do, if you can’t afford to I fully appreciate it but maybe you could share the challenge with family and friends and ask them to do the same? Anyway better get my running shoes back on and get out of here! No rest for the wicked….. Sponsorship Page - http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=MattRogersonispremierleague Website - http://breathefitnessandevents.wordpress.com/i-am-premier-league/

If you don't ask you don't get! Another good day at the office!

Following on from last weeks bloggage regards shirt design I called into the local sports and schoolwear suppliers, Picton Sports (plug plug) on the way home from work to see if I could negotiate a cheap price, at least, to get 5 shirts printed. Now to cut a long story short by agreeing to have their logo on the shirt they have offered to do them for free which is fantastic. Now I know there is pretty much one reason and one reason only why I managed to negotiate this and it is very unfortunate, or fortunate in my case, but it is down to just how many peoples lives are touched by cancer. The manager certainly insinuated to me that it was the fact I had a cancer charity that swung the owner to make the decision to do them for free, as, and I know this from previous requests, this is a rare occurence. Lets hope a huge amount of good comes from them... Here is the design, a bit blurry, thanks for all the feedback last week. In other news today was a 'rest' day so just used Veera to get to work and back, around 13 miles in all I think, one 'steep' hill on the way home made me realise how tired my legs were so am about to do some foam rolling and will be back out plodding the streets tommorrow. Another £50+ donated so far today by people I don't know which makes me sooooooo happy, word is getting out there :-) As ever you can donate right here if you feel that way inclined http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=MattRogersonispremierleague Happy Monday my friends!

Wonderful Daughter/ Wonderful People

Have been canvassing pretty hard the last 24 hours for donations as I have seen the fund edging closer and closer to 4 figures and with another 6 miles planned later to add on to this mornings 16 I posted on FB that I wasn't going out until I got to £1000. When I got down to £5 left I issued another plea at which point Megan came down and donated the shortfall out of her own pocket, she is lovely sometimes :-) So another 6 miles it is, am going to hit the longest, steepest hill in Llanelli just to make it worth her money! *STOP PRESS* As I type this I have had another notification to say that an ex student, who had already donated £10 this morning, put another £5 in the pot so I could give daughter her money back. It always seems to be the ones who can least afford it who make the most effort, why is that? I love people anyway.... Have a nice weekend everyone :-)

The Pros and Cons of chronology!

Have been reading the countdown to Allan's Riprun with interest and debating whether I myself should do such a countdown and thnking of reasons for and against keeping such track of events. Without much shadow of a doubt I will document each day of the challenge numerically in the blogosphere but for now I think I will just keep trying to come up with 'clever' (they are not clever really, when I read a number of blogs I am awed by a lot of peoples skills in conveying genuine feeling and emotion through the medium of written prose) titles to at least try and attract a few people to read and share my journey. The main reasons for this though are that I don't really want to remind myself anymore or how close the challenge is getting, I'm aware is kicking off in 6 or 7 weeks, that is enough for me, it can not become my everything just yet, I have kids to nurture at home and in college and many other things to concern myself with before that. Another thing and I don't think I am one of those who is scared of getting older, I thoroughly looked forward to and enjoyed my 40th birthday, is that feeling that time is slipping through your fingers and counting the days doesn't really help with this. Robert is 18 this year, Meggy will be doing her GCSEs next year and Caitlin keeps telling me she is not a baby anymore. None of that really adds up in my pea sized brain. I guess I am happy to accept the passing of time and our mortality and all that but would still rather not think too much about it. Probably the same for everyone. Well that is some deep shit right there, as deep as it gets for me anyway, so I will quickly talk a bit about running now. 18 point something fairly progressive miles run this morning in beautiful sunshine and with fantastic views. Was all quite lovely even if I am a little tired now as had to stay up until 2 with Megan's boyfriend who came to ours after they got back from the French trip to wait for his parents to pick him up (they had been to Egypt). He is a good kid really, he laughs at my jokes anyway which is a start, plus he learnt quite early on that Tottenham banter is not really a great idea, I have supported them long enough to know their shortcomings without being reminded ;-) Will crank another hopefully 25 miles out over two sessions tomorrow and about the same Sunday. I'm sure after that I will be even less inclined to start counting down the days, all I know in my head is that come the challenge I will take each day as it comes, enjoy the good days and accept the bad days. Sponsor me if you like :-) http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=MattRogersonispremierleague

The returning daughter

Today is one of much excitement in Chez Rogerson as middle child is returning from a weeks exchange visit in France where amongst other things she has been watching Les Rouges beat Les Bleus, climbiing the Eiffel Tower, visiting Oradour Sur Glane (I had never heard of this place, history has never been my strong point, what an amazing/sad story) and staying with an exchange student in Agen, which is twinned with Llanelli. She seems to have had a fantastic time, I certainly hope so, I have missed her loads so it better have been worth my pain (plus I haven't had a cup of tea made for me in a week) Don't feel I can blog this morning without mentioning Oscar Pistorious, another terribly sad story. I could insert a rant here about the futility of guns, really does anything good come from them ever? I think not but then again 'I think I told you, I'm a lover not a fighter'... Strong running last 3 days, just a short 5-6 mile recovery lined up today, is all time constraints will allow anyway and then 60 or so over the weekend. Time for a bit of foam rolling (and token core work) first though. Going to watch Foals on the red button before anything though! Ciao

Oi IT/Arty people, cop a load of this!

Anyone with an opinion would actually do. Have just, erm, 'designed' my shirt for the run. Have a look at the pics, basically I am thinkiing writing on the back, images on the front, bearing in mind also that I will have a backpack on at least half of the time. Really would love to hear your opinions, advice on improvements or offers to do better, I am not great at this sort of thing :-( Hope to locate a friendly shirt printer then who is willing to do 5 shirts out of the goodness of their hearts (and for a fair bit of publicity). Is all for charidee after all. In running news am getting some good mileage in over half term, should do over 100 for the week which will set me up nicely for when the challenge kicks off, just hope is a little warmer, dryer and less windy by then. Looking to average basically 20 miles a day this Friday, Saturday and Sunday with at least one day with full pack and lunch break etc. Will be first time I have done anything like this but with some long days ahead food breaks will be a necessity, what sort of things should I look at eating though? Knowing my guts will have to be pretty bland. Going to be a case of suck it and see over next few weeks I suppose?

I wont quit my gibber gabber

Is it for me, is it for you, I don't bloody know, who is a blog for? Actually the minimal amount of people who read my blog it must be for me but I am, CATEGORICALLY, going to blog every day up until I am Premier League and VLM is over so this whole bloody thing is documented. Some days it may just say 'shit day' or 'good day' other days I may ramble on and on about stuff like why small dogs are so bloody aggressive or why I just ate 4 snickers a double decker and a pack of chocolate digestives in one sitting.... Today though I am just going to tell you about how I am ramping the mileage back up, hope to make 100+ this week but not sure logistics will allow, just have to watch this space. Did 6 miles this morning, very slow but that is ok, is nice to have the garmin on to measure duration and distance but not look at the pace. Is very cathartic or therapeutic or both or something like one of them... Used my winnings on SportPursuit too and will soon be taking delivery of two new pairs of Inov-8 Road 255s, shorts, socks and new sunglasses. Tidy that is :-) nearly ready to go for next weeks ultra too, just waiting for the last delivery than can do the bags, a bit of laminating, a bit of baking and some sign putting up and will be under starters orders for the 2nd 'Born to Run' ultra. That's tidy too that is! Until next time x

Horse marriages and lasagne with gay meat...

What a week it has been for news that makes me ask what is the bloody issue here? Usually I will admit that apart from keeping up with the economic news and business stuff for my job I try to give the media news propoganda scaremongering nonsense a very wide berth but this week these two stories have made me sit up and scratch my head. Maybe I have paid attention a little more because I have had a deadly serious case of man flu, or something worse, today was my first painkiller free day since last Sunday, and tomorrow will be my first run in a week. Firstly with the whole gay marriage debacle, so they had to vote right? Why did so many vote against it though? What exactly is the problem, I mean to say I am a red blooded male and can not even start to see the issue. Go for your life I say! I can however see, being a business lecturer and from a food processing industry background, why there is a 'slight' quality issue with people buying beef products that are actually horse meat but am not sure why as a nation we don't eat horse? I know it is not part of our culture but, and correct me if I'm wrong, lots do right? I wouldn't mind giving it a try so am genuinely interested as to why it is frowned upon in our culture, is it because people keep them as 'pets'? Anyway can't wait to get out and run tomorrow, only 6 miles, will probably cycle Sunday, then all being well plan to do 10 miles Monday and add another 2 miles on per day until I end up doing 22 next Sunday, a big week along with dotting the I's and crossing the T's for Born to Run ultra and continuing to plan for 'I am Premier League'. Thank Gawd is half term. Only got accommodation to sort for Kingston now for the run and am ready to go there or thereabouts. Can spend my SportPursuit winnings too :-)

A futile gesture on a good day

Sponsor me here I had an email from the Royal Mail this morning having contacted them on the off chance they would cover the costs of posting things ahead of me on the challenge. They said they couldn't , as I expected really, but said if I was willing to promote their new Bobby Moore stamps and change my charity to Prostate Cancer UK they would match any donations. Er thanks for that but no thanks... Was pleased however to secure third place in the FB competition to win kit and donations to my charity to the total of £300, is just a shame that Allan Rumbles couldn't get amongst the prizes too Will mean a lot to my challenge though and I think is just reward for a hard week of campaigning, apologies to my FB friends for my constant nagging, worked though I will now start nagging for donations again Had a few letters this week from the clubs I'm visiting, including the mighty Spurs, all offering me access to the pitch, photo opportunities and signed memorabilia, even if Spurs wouldn't give me tickets for the City game. I will still be there on matchday though so will hopefully raise some funds, not going to the game is probably for the best with Family von Rogerson arriving and the expo that day too. Been a quiet week so far for the running as I think I have been doing too much too soon on my new foam roller and calves have really been aching, only 20 miles so far and 35 on Veera, will look to get 40 in over the weekend now though....