No sleep...

It's the 5th night in a row that I'm up past my bed time. How comes you can't sleep until it's time to get up and got to work? rubbish! The rain sounds nice bouncing off the roof :-P

5 Reasons Why Today’s Jog Was a Winner…

Guest posting via the dirty baboon (Preston)

1. It was raining and we got soaked…but we looked like double-hard action heroes running in the rain.

2. My running socks (that have now gone unwashed for over 6 weeks) didn’t disintegrate.

3. We didn’t get attacked by any of the following: geese, 10 year old happy slappers, angry gypsies or ninjas.

4. No van drivers abused us with the always hilarious ‘Run Forrest, Run’ gag.

5. The shower didn’t smell of stale vomit. It smelt of fresh vomit. Bonus.

Back to me – we did 6K in the rain ☺

Got to find the off button...

Got up at 7, went to the car boot sale, got home went for a run, got home again and mowed the lawns and them trimmed the privet hedges... can I stop now please :-P

I had a really good run, managed the 13 miles easier than I ever had before, the only pain that I had was in my feet, put them on ice as soon as I got home for 10 minutes (does this pain ease with more years of running?) I'm really looking forward to the Robin Hood now :-)

I've also sent in my application for the Clumber park 10K. It's a lovely course, and will keep me motivated to carry on running up until we go away on holiday at the end of October.

Tabs

Tabs
Originally uploaded by jogger164.

I"m going to do a 13 miler either later on today or tomorrow - Just to tell myself that the half won't be a killer :-)

My daughter has been running around the house like a right nutter after her rabbit :-P the ideal short distance training partner.

YAWN!

I've noticed over the last few runs that I keep yawning - I think this is to do with my breathing, I like to breath in through my mouth to help keep my pace. Does anyone else yawn a lot when you’re out jogging?

Well enough of the small talk - straight to the facts (well fact) I did a 4K run :-)

Teddy

Teddy
Originally uploaded by jogger164.

I haven't posted a scribble for a while...

Rubber runner

Well I was going to do a cheeky 4K but ended up doing 6K :-) My iPod made me smile again to day by popping on “Boogie on down the Bronx”, which was nice. (Thank you Mr Steve Jobs and co).

It made me start to think (I know, me thinking ekk!) Should I run the Rubber Hood ohps I mean Robin Hood with my iPod on? I love running listening to tunes now, so I think I’ll take it along in case. But then what songs do I put on it? It’s only a 1Gb shuffle so I need to choose the tracks right :-) any ideas? Let me know what you think…

Resting on my laurels

Took today off running - rest the old pins a bit. :-)

Cancer update... 6 months of Chemo ahead, with a good chance this will kill the cancer in the lymph glands. Fingers crossed and all that.

Long lunch run tomorrow.

PS Preston and I got some verbal abuse runnning the other day, it was rather a well thought out rant, not! a white van man shouted "Your Running!" yeup! we are...

Slow and low that is the tempo...

As the Beastie Boys said that was the tempo of my lunchtime 4K jaunt today :-) Not by choice as such but my leg seems to have developed "shin splints" :-X

It's not a pain that I've had before really - looked it up on runnersworld and the description given for shin splints seems to match the pain I'm experiencing. I have a sneaky suspicion that the treadmill was to blame; it's the only factor that's changed in my running over the last week. Has anyone else had this? Any advice would be welcome. :-)

Anyway - back to work now :-P

The weekends over :-(

BOOOOOOOOH!

Had a great weekend away! We stayed at a Hilton hotel (very nice) and managed to go swimming 5 times and spank out a 5miler on the gyms treadmill.

One thing that I can't get over is how good the small person is at swimming! She has been part of a swimming team for a while now, and it shows. I wished that I had been able to have proper tuition when I was younger.

Back to work today! And also a long run with Mr Preston at lunchtime. We did a good 10K. I must day I really enjoy running outside compared to running on a machine (saying that it would be good to have one for winter days).

Well that's the round-up from me.

Splish, Splash Splosh!

It’s the weekend :-D well it is for me – I’ve got a day off work YAH!

I think someone at Thames water found the on switch to the UK’s clouds last night. It has been raining solid for about 14 hours now, when I pulled back the curtains this morning I was expecting to see Noah bobbing past.

Bit the bullet and went for a run. Even though it was still raining hard, gotta love running in the rain :-P

The only trouble with running around the village this morning is that about 2 miles of it takes a footpath along the main road, and with all the water collecting down the side of the tarmac I was open game for sadistic motorists to play soak the jogger.

I thought I had escaped a drenching until a large vehicle came speeding along towards me, hugging the curb. No, not a white van but a bloody Porsche Cayenne-Turbo-S. Parting the water like Moses it managed soak me from head to toe in minging road water.

But my trusty iPod managed to cheer me nearly straight away by selecting “In the Jailhouse Now” from the sound track of “O Brother Where Art Thou”.

Well apart from that my run was pretty non-adventfull. I have tweaked the route a bit and it now has 6 hard hills to go at and lasts 11K.

I’m off down to sunny Leicestershire this weekend, so I’m not sure what running I will manage to pull in.

Hope everyone has a great weekend – see you on the other side.

Flipside

Nearly forgot to say… managed to get a quick 4K in at lunchtime yesterday with Preston. We wanted to do a longer run, but a flipping meeting put a stop to that plan grrrrrrr!

I need some junk miles...

Junk miles are what I need! Had a day off running yesterday :-D nice to rest my legs a bit. But the day ended with rubbish news (getting used to it at the moment).

Dad went to the hospital to be told that the cancer has spread to his lymph nodes, and now has to have chemo for sure... more waiting :-/

I really feel sorry for him! Cancer has changed him so much. It has sucked the life out of him, only last year we were out charging 40+ mile mountain bike rides now he looks like and old man that can only just manage to walk to the end of the lane and back.

The thing that really sucks is that they knew that it had spread before the operation and waited until yesterday to tell him, this information would have made him think about the choices that he has made :-(

But today's a new day, got to keep fighting on... bring on them junk miles!

I'm just plain tired!

I'm tired, my eyes are sore, my legs ache and I think my head might pop! I blame all the hospital/cancer rubbish and not sleeping catching up! I dragged my way round the 6K route near work today it felt like 20K. I'm going to have a day off running tomorrow and try and re-energise a bit.

Cancer update - Well he has been home for over a week now, which has got to be better than staying in the hospital. Life seems to be a day at a time now. Some days he is ok, others really ill. Hospital tomorrow to find out what chemo he will have to have. I imagine this will knock him out again :-/ Cancer really is rubbish. It can change your life overnight. But hopefully this time next year all will be good.

I'd just like to say a massive thank you again to all the people that have sponsored me to run for Cancer Research UK.

Moose

Moose
Originally uploaded by jogger164.

And another one :-P

Happy...

Happy...
Originally uploaded by jogger164.

Had loads of big photoshop files to do yesterday... plenty of time to scribble :-P

Hot hot hot!

WOW! the weather sure did pick up this afternoon - No need to wear a jacket running at lunchtime. I managed to get Preston out for a brisk 5K.

:-)

It's minging outside...

Rain, rain go away... oh, wait a minute wasn't I moaning that it was too hot last month ;-)

I really didn't want to drag my sorry ass out of the door this lunchtime for a run, but after a lucozade sport (I've not really had one before) I bit the bullet and went out. I'm glad I did I had a wicked 11K run, I'm not sure if it was the lucozade but I seemed to have loads of energy - which made a nice change.

Well it's 4 weeks today before the Robinhood - so it's all systems go ( I think I ran 6 days last week)

:-P

It's Saturday...

Baboon Army complete
Originally uploaded by jogger164.

Went for another cheeky 4K - going to do a long run tomorrow and put in an hour or so on Prestons picture... hope he likes it.

Ohhpss...better post about running...

:-) Well thank goodness the weekend is here (it must be Pete Tong was on the radio on the way home).

I didn't get out before work this morning and worked through lunch - so popped out for a 4K when I got home.

Enjoyed the run, and it rained a little - but had that fantastic "a storm is coming" smell.

Dirty Baboon... a work in progress.

DB
Originally uploaded by jogger164.

It's coming up to Prestons birthday, so what do you get a guy about town that has everything? I thought I'd do him a picture for his pad.

Why Baboons? And why an army of Dirty Baboons? Well he keeps a journal, which he has named the Dirty Baboon (for reasons only he knows).

So I thought I'd do him a monkey (or is it ape) based army - all I need to do to finish it is draw a giant sized Preston in the centre controlling his minions...

A blustery day

It's been windy one today - Got home from work put on my new balance and went for a 10k run.

Even the wind in my face wasn't a problem tonight as a few weeks ago I purchased some running glasses from decathlon sports, they are a light weight polycarbonate type pair and have interchangeable lenses (a dark pair and a light pair)- all for a huge £7.50 including a carry case.

They are really really excellent... I use to have a pair of Oakley’s until some deviant stole them, and these are even better - and at that price you cant go wrong! I really wished I had brought a pair at the start of the year.


End of mini review :-D

Who says treadmills are boring

Saw this over on "Love to Runs" blog

:-D

There's something hairy popping out my pocket...

Teddy
Originally uploaded by jogger164.

:-D

Anyone fancy a cool down...

Where did the rain go?
Originally uploaded by jogger164.

It seemed a grim morning at the time, but with the recent heatwave imagine if you could have an hour running in this :-D bliss!

Jack Sparrow

Jack Sparrow
Originally uploaded by jogger164.

Look at what I got today :-) He is ACE!

Late Lunch

Just got back in from a quick 4K late lunch run :-)
I'm trying to mix up the distances a bit, in the hope my leg won't drop off.

Not much to report apart from the wandering hobo type bloke that I've seen nearly everyday, munching his way along the riverside eating blackberries shouted at me today! I couldn't make out what he had said though as I had my ipod world filter on.

Sorry that's it... I must live a more interesting life to blog about :-D

Monday Monday

Good start to the running week - went for a 11K with the sidekick prestonator this lunchtime :-)

Happy to say that my ankle seems to be holding up as I slowly increase the distances ready for next months 1/2. In fact I'm looking forward to it!

Is it just me part 2

Whilst I was getting ready for my run this morning the fun sized one asked if she could come along. So we did a mile together around the block (which is fantastic as it's great to see her getting into running at an early age) - then I dropped her off back home and went out and did a 10K :-)

Is it just me part 2
When I'm running along at my plodding speed, if I see another runner coming along towards me I can't help but straighten up and speed up, is it just me?...

Welcome Home

Welcome Home
Originally uploaded by jogger164.

It says it all :-) or little girl did this for her "Pops" great news! he is back home... now for the recovery :-D

Is it just me...

But when I get a notification e-mail telling me that someone has posted a comment on my blog. I have to go on to my blog and read the comment in situ :-) I can’t read it on the e-mail…

Is it just me?

ipod-jog

I love my iPod shuffle :-) it's my best friend when I go running. The only thing that it does wrong now again is play a bizarre cr*p track.

Today’s mystery track was Jermaine Stewart "We don't have to take our clothes off" How did this get on my iTunes and when? LOL! To make it funnier it was sandwiched between Marilyn Manson "Saint" and Jack Johnson "Bubble Toes". My iPod shuffle is as random as my brain :-)

Anyway enough babbling - this lunchtime I did a slow and low 8K.

Ballad of the jogger

Guest jogger spot via - Mr Preston

A windy day in Derby town
to make things worse it p*ssed it down
but through this bleak and blustery day
two young joggers, made their way
across the park, around the pond
jogged quickly passed the bird flu’d swans
and down the path where gypsies cruise
who’d steal the laces from your shoes
flying past with feet like wings
legs covered in red nettle stings
and back to work, smelling grim
they pay the price for keeping trim
they wash before they get their tea
in shower rooms that smell of wee
so ends the ballad that we hum
for the jogger and his jogging chum.

(We did around 8K)

Catch up

Well - Saturday’s behind the stage tour at the theatre was brilliant - I hadn’t realised that it was over 200 years old :-D and we all enjoyed being able to get on the stage.

No run Sunday (my ankle was killing me).

No run Monday, but… I spent all day with the fun sized one running around Alton Towers theme park. It was a great Dad/Daughter day. I can’t believe that she goes on all of the rides, and she’s only 7. Nutter!

I can remember going on my first roller coaster at 14 and being scared witless. She on the other hand is fearless. As we approached the first drop on AIR (the one where you hang underneath the track in a superman style) she looked over to me and said “if the harness gives way will we dangle by our legs?” LOL!

Anyway back to jogging related topics - Eased back into running today with a 4K. I am going to run 4-6K’s all week to build up my ankles, and then start adding some longer distances next week and so on as the run up to the Robin Hood builds up.