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Apologies to anyone who reads this for not keeping you up to date with the events of the past month or so, I know you will have been on the edge of your seat, anxiously waiting to hear how the Aviemore half marathon went.
Well, it went OK. I finished it, and I did so in under my target time of 2 hours
I should be really happy with my time of 1 hour 52 minutes and 10 seconds, but I really struggled for the majority of the race, and the last three miles were a nightmare.
It was a bright but chilly morning. Before the race I was feeling good, quite excited and eager to get going.
Here's the intrepid (1/2) marathon runners, Mel, me and Laura, before we started.
My lack of experience showed and I let the adrenalin and excitement of the event get to me.
We lined up at the start next to our predicted finishing time, so I positioned myself at the 2 hour marker. When the gun went off, we were a fair bit back from the start so couldn't go anywhere until the people in front of us got going, even then it was a walk to start with. As we crossed the start line we could break into a jog, then as the field started spreading out a little we could start running properly.
Now, I had positioned myself at the 2 hour mark, and this is my first half marathon, so I assume that the other people starting at the 2 hour mark probably know what they are doing. So we all start running at roughly the same speed. I'm thinking 'OK, this is the speed we need to go at to finish in 2 hours'.
I know, because I've worked it out, that to finish in 2 hours I have to do a mile every 9 minutes or faster. At the first mile marker I look at my watch and see that only 7 and a half minutes has gone. Oops! better slow down a touch. But it's hard to do that. It's hard to remember that you're not racing against these other people that are doing the same route; you are only running against yourself.
At two miles, only 15 and a half minutes has gone, still too fast, but I'm feeling alright, maybe I can keep up this pace, and I've already got 2 and a half minutes in the bank should I need a break.
I keep going and hit the 3 mile marker after 23 and three quarter minutes, so the third mile took me 8 and a quarter.
The first of three hydration stations was at 3 and a half miles. My plan was to use these as rest points; to walk for 30 seconds or so while taking on some fluids. The truth is that by this stage I was already starting to feel the pace and was glad of a rest.
During training I had started develop a pain in my hip which would come on after a while when running. I had felt the discomfort almost immediately after starting but I had already had a couple of ibuprofen and was hoping it wouldn't come to much. At this first water stop I swallowed another couple of tablets because I knew I was in for some serious pain.
I kicked off again and was making good time when I passed Pablo, waiting to see us all. That gave me a bit of a boost and kept me going for a while but I was only four miles in and the only thing I could think about was trying to work out what percentage of the way through it I was.
I really did feel like chucking it before I was a third of the way through.
I eventually had to stop to stretch at about 5 miles, then pushed on again. At 6 miles my time was 48 and a half minutes, so my second 3 miles was only one minute slower than the first 3. That means I have 5 and a half minutes in the bank, I think to myself.
The next few miles I just bashed on, stopping occasionally to walk and have a bit of a stretch. The hip was bothering me but I was mainly just tired. The scenery was wonderful, round the banks of the beautiful Loch Morlich and through the Rothiemurchus Forest, but I had no time or energy to appreciate it at all. The sun came out and it was just annoying and hot and in my eyes.
At 9 miles I had taken one hour 13 and a half minutes, so my pace was pretty steady. If I could keep this up I would get a good time, but I was really starting to struggle. I had passed the second water point a while ago and was just holding out for the next one to appear as I rounded a bend.
I was on the long, slightly downhill stretch from the forest towards Aviemore itself. It was like I was going backwards the rate at which people were overtaking me. I even had to stop for a pee in the trees, but I was actually glad of another reason to stop for a while.
Next I started getting cramp in my calf muscle, having to walk for about 30 seconds every two or three minutes. All I wanted was for a drink and someone to tell me it's OK to stop. When it started raining I was glad. I opened up my mouth and tried to catch drops as I ran along.
The other runners were great. They would see my hobbling along, clutching my hip or rubbing at my calf and give words of encouragement. "It's not far now", and "Keep going, almost there" helped, for about 20 seconds then I lost the momentum again.
I made it to 12 miles, there was a water station, I only had one mile to go, I was on the outskirts of Aviemore. I was going to make it.
After all the pain and sweat and near tears I was going to get to the finish line. I had to make a big final push to make sure I beat the 2 hours.
The previous day we had taken a walk down the last half mile or so of the route so we would know where we were as we approached the finish. I crossed the bridge, went through the tunnel under the railway line, up the slope and onto the main road.
Summoning all my reserves of energy I lengthened my stride and picked up the pace once again. It actually felt better to be running a bit more freely, but there's no way I could have done that for much longer.
As I crossed the line I was overjoyed to see that I had smashed the 2 hour mark, 1.52:10, and was delighted to see my mate Richy in the crowd, but I was well and truly broken.
I collected my medal and goodie bag and then sat down in the first spot I could find. I think I must have looked a bit ill as people were giving me strange looks. I caught Richy's eye and just shook my head at him; never again.
Amazing how quickly you feel better though. After munching the banana and drinking the juice from my goodie bag I was able to walk again. I went to get my outer kit on then went to speak to Richy who told me Mel had just come in, just outside 2 hours, an excellent time.
I went and hugged Mel and then found Pablo as we waited for Laura who wasn't too far behind. I'm so proud of us all, if you don't mind me saying, I think we all did amazingly well.
After the race we went for lunch and a beer in Aviemore then headed back to Grantown where we were staying and had a very quiet evening including an Indian takeaway. The main challenge for the next couple of days was trying to walk, but that soon passed.
Now I'm thinking, I could definitely beat 1.45 next year....
ps Managed to raise over 200 quid for charity while doing this, so thanks to anyone who sponsored me.
Quick update on the parking ticket story.
Got a letter from the council saying "Parking at double yellow lines is not permitted. Even if only part of a vehicle is parked at a double yellow line it is still liable to be issued with a parking ticket."
At this stage I thought it was going to tell me to pay up or else and was wondering if the early payment discount was out of time.
But the letter goes on to say "We can however appreciate that the vehicle was not causing an inconvenience or obstruction to other road users and in view of this the parking ticket will be cancelled on this occasion."
Get in. Make that one nil for common sense.
Well that's ruined things slightly.
I went out to jump in the car which was parked just outside my house in its usual spot, to discover I've been given a bloody parking ticket.
The parking bay is just long enough for four cars to fit in, with angled ends, but recently the council decided to reduce the size of the usable space by painting double yellow lines over the angled parts. I can see why they did this, to stop people parking side-on to these bits, thus having their rear end causing an obstruction on the road.
But my car wasn't causing any obstruction to anyone. I went as far back as possible to allow space for other cars to get in. The rear wheels where barely touching the yellow lines. Had I been four inches further forward they couldn't have touched me. But some over-zealous parking warden comes along and decides that I have made the following parking contravention:
Parking or loading/unloading in a restricted street where waiting and loading/unloading restrictions are in force.
Decide for yourself, I'd be interested to hear what you think. But it looks to me like I'm not doing too much wrong.
This just seems like a money making exercise to me. There's no way I'm going to line the council coffers for something as trifling as this. As Naldo said to me, I'd rather pay a bit more in a fair and equitable tax than get hit for ridiculous so-called infringements like this.
I'm gonna dispute this and take it all the way if I have to.
Innit great when you take a half day?
Walking out your work a few minutes after 12 when your colleagues still have a good four or five hours of toil at the coalface. "See ye laters, I'm on a Colonel Gadaffi!" you trill whilst skipping out the door.
"Bastard!" they say, as escape just in time to avoid the pens, elastic bands and staplers which hit the back of the door.
It's even better when it is followed by a long weekend with both Friday and Monday off.
Yes, no work til Tuesday for me, and I'm going to enjoy it. Apart from maybe Saturday afternoon, but more on that later...
...With many a winding turn.
That's true, but I'm getting closer to my destination.
I wrote a while ago about my training for a half marathon that me, my bird and oor pal Laura are running. Well, I'm still training, and it's still going OK. With 5 and a half weeks to go, I'm slowly getting up to speed, if that isn't an oxymoron.
I have set myself an unofficial target of 2 hours to complete the 13.1 mile route. That means I have to run at an average speed of a mile every 9 minutes 9 seconds. That would be fine if I was running 6 miles, or even 8, but at this stage I'm not yet able to keep that pace up for 2 hours.
On Saturday I went out for a 6 mile run and completed it in 53 minutes which I was fairly happy with. But then I was kinda knackered for the rest of the day and felt a bit shabby, even when I was through in Glasgow watching Scotland win at fitba, as described beautifully by Naldo here. I managed to pull myself together and get dressed up for Biff's big 30th Birthday Bash along with Jonny Nipflick as Bros.
A lot of people had made a good effort and there were some cracking outfits. Me and Jonny were getting a lot of photos taken of us though and playing up to it terribly. I've seen some of the photos but I reckon there's more slightly embarrassing shots to show up yet.
After a couple of days off training to let the legs recover, I went out this evening and did a quick four mile run which I managed to complete in a smidgen over 33 minutes which is a new personal best for the route I took.
I'll have a day off the running tomorrow, though I might cycle to work, I'll do a bit of a run on Thursday and then head out and try and do 8 miles on Saturday morning before going to James and Lisa's wedding in the afternoon. That will be a full-on party and no mistake so I'll try not to be too done-in so I can properly enjoy it.
I still get a few aches and pains now and then, especially last week cos I foolishly played a game of football again, but overall I'm happy my fitness is getting better. I discovered I've been losing weight, about 12 pounds in the last three months, and the running is definitely getting easier.
I decided to try and raise a bit of money for the official charity of the half marathon, the Speyside Trust. As such, if you feel and generous and want to make an online contribution, however small, please feel free to do so. Any donation would be appreciated but I understand there's a lot of these things on the go all the time and nobody can give to them all.
I'll be back with another progress update before the big day.
I am at the end of a week off from work. I took a week of holiday to see some of the Edinburgh Festival, get out on my bike a bit, hopefully catch some decent weather, and just to chill as it's been ages since I had some decent time off.
I feel I've managed to fit a decent amount of Festival things in so far.
A few of us went to see the Tom Tom Crew at the Udderbelly on Friday night. That was brilliant. A live drummer, DJ, beatboxer and a troupe of acrobats/gymnasts/breakdancers. It was a really high energy show that at points had me just laughing in admiration at some of the stuff the guys were doing, and all with a funky hip hop soundtrack. I would definitely recommend checking the show if you are in Edinburgh or it comes to anywhere near you.
Went to the Mela on Saturday afternoon, which is a celebration of Asian culture, mainly Indian but also including other nationalities. Lots of nice food, music, family atmosphere and we were lucky and got sunshine as well. Checked out the Rough Cut Nation exhibition at the portrait gallery which is pretty impressive and worth checking out and features some work by our old chum Elph. At night I put on the festival Headspin where we had our regular DJ crew and percussionist plus Elph doing some live painting in the club and with video projections mixed and looped live. It was a good night but I think folks perhaps weren't used to the extended opening hours yet as it started to empty out a bit before the end.
On Tuesday me and Stevie D went up to catch some festival vibes and maybe a show or two, hopefully for free. Some gadge stopped us in the street and offered us to see a comedian from New York for free. We thought "yeah, why not?". We went in to this little place and there were two other members of the audience, our mate Midge and his pal. The audience eventually numbered 6 people, the show wasn't great but the guy did about as well as could be expected to such a small crowd. I can't remember the fella's name unfortunately.
The four of us headed to the Pleasance which is a busy courtyard in the middle of loads of little venues with mainly comedy shows, it has a bar, lots of people hang out and it has a nice atmosphere. We had a couple of bevoirs and were having a laugh with the people handing out the flyers for shows and we were given free tickets for some 'comedy-play' about a competition that happens in the States where people have to touch a van for as long as they can. We were going to go along to that but then we got last minute freebies for a comedian called Geoff Norcott who turned out to be pretty funny with his observations about the differences between the sexes. Not groundbreaking stuff but entertaining enough. Quite a successful day all in all which we rounded off by going for a curry.
On Thursday it was a lovely sunny day so Stevie and I decided to get ootnaboot and try and see a few more things. We already had arranged to go and see something at 7pm so we had all afternoon to fill any way we wanted. Unsurprisingly, what we wanted first and foremost was a pint of lager. We had a couple of those then headed for a comedy sketch show called Superclump which was pretty decent. A group of about 8 young comedians doing various quick-fire sketches with very little props or costumes. Not bad considering it was only a fiver to get in. We then nashed to the Voodoo Rooms for another free stand-up show, accompanied by the obligatory pint of premium lager style beer.
After a decent show featuring short sets from three different stand-ups it was off to the Henderson Gallery for the main event of the day, something I personally was looking forward to hugely since Naldo brought it to my attention last week. Unfortunately he wasn't able to make it due to having gone fishing, but he had kindly sorted out tickets for the rest of us. It was Archie MacPherson In Conversation. If you don't know of Archie, he was the voice of football coverage when I was a kid and was reknowned for his effussive use of language, punctuated by emphatic interjections such as "Woof!" when the ball rockets goalward off the boot of the attacking player.
It was billed 'In Conversation' but the presenter asked one question and then Archie was off, talking for the best part of an hour about his career, his experiences and his family. He asnswered a few questions from the audience at the end, including a question from me about the recent Scotland defeat by Norway, and that was it. An entertaining and interesting evening in the company of a broadcasting legend - I do not use the word lightly. Gaunyersel Archie.
I'm starting to show the early signs of Festival Fatigue now though. When you find it takes ten minutes to walk 200 metres along the street and you feel the stress levels rising as someone thrusts a flyer in your face for their 'comedy' musical version of The Roswell Incident or some such horseshit, it's maybe time to give the festival a wider berth.
But I'm not quite there yet. I'm hoping me and my bird can go to see some bits and pieces this weekend and I'm looking forward to a gig during the week when one of my favourite new bands play. I have mentioned The Phantom Band before as I played their album pretty much constantly for a few weeks and I will get to see them play for the first time on Wednesday at the Electric Circus.
So my week off has flown by at double-quick time but at least I've managed to do what I set out to do with the days away from work.
A strange thing has happened recently.
I have always been quite active and - I would like to think - quite fit; but football was always my sport. I liked watching it and loved playing it. I would play two or sometimes three times a week.
A couple of years ago I started getting a lot of niggly injuries while playing footy. I went over on my ankle and did it in pretty bad, it took about 4 months before I was ready to play again. A bit after that I picked up a groin strain. I took a few weeks off to try and rest it before going back but 5 minutes into my first game I pulled it again, this time I was out for a couple of months.
A couple of weeks after coming back to playing I did my ankle again. I've pulled my hamstring a couple of times. My groin still gives my gyp so I can't run at full pace these days and I recently had a bit of tendinitis in my achilles.
Some of these injuries are things that just happen sometimes. Others may be due to failing to warm up and stretch properly or rushing back too soon after injury. Some of them I think are happening because I'm getting a bit older - 34 last month - and all of them are now taking longer to heal.
While I've not been able to play I've tried to keep in shape, initially by doing push ups, sit ups and a little work with dumbbells as well as some swimming and cycling. Then I was able to start jogging. I got myself some decent running shoes and hit the roads.
At first the jogging was pretty hard going, I would get shin splints, sore knees and my groin would nip. I'm quite heavy for my size, 5ft 10 and 13 stone, though not fat, I would say of medium build. The weight was part of the problem, but after a while my legs started getting used to it and I would be in less discomfort.
It's got to the stage now that I'm really enjoying going out for runs. I still can't go all that fast due to the not-quite-healed groin thing and my continued love affair with food and beer which mean I haven't yet shifted any of the 182 pounds. But I'm usually out three or four times a week and noticing improvement by the week.
When my bird, Laura, Ronnie and Mary were running a relay in the Edinburgh Marathon a couple of months ago me, Don, Pablo and Wanless decided to do the same thing in next year's event. Having something to aim for has really helped, even though it is quite far away. My bird has started talking about doing the Aviemore Half Marathon in October. My progress has been good so I think I'm going to aim for that as well.
On Saturday my bird and I went out for a run. We had worked out a 7.5 mile route around the forests by her ma's house. We took it at a pretty easy pace and were both feeling fine. The track split into two and we weren't sure which way to go. Inevitably we ended up taking the wrong turn and it added and extra mile and a half onto the distance we had to run. But we both completed it and I felt great after it and could have went on. 9 miles in under an hour and a half isn't too bad, especially as I had to stop half way through to run into the woods for a keech.
So that's it, I'm now more into my running than my football. I played footy last night and today I am in some pain with my groin. I tried to go for a nice easy jog earlier and it didn't feel right at all. So I think I am going to have to knock the footy on the head for now. I'll go back to it after the half marathon, but I'm going to concentrate on trying to beat 2 hours for the 13 and a bit miles.
11 weeks and counting. Bring it on!
