Happy New Year

Did a 10K this morning - It was meant to be a race, but I ran it alongside a girl from work that was doing it for the first time :-D I thought I'd stay with her for support. It was a really nice route and very well organized.

Now it's time to say Happy New Year to everyone - hope you all have a great time tonight. We were meant to be going out, but the Cancer Gods have different ideas. Here’s to a great 2007 - It's got to be better than this year.

Cheers (it's almost half past wine).

A must have...

I got this as a present :-) I really recommend it - It's worth it for the Artic Monkeys version of Love machine alone :-)

The other tracks are:

Disc 1
Foo Fighters - DOA
Arctic Monkeys - Love Machine
Snow Patrol - Run
The Kooks - Crazy
Razorlight - Golden Touch
Corinne Bailey Rae - Munich
The Automatic - Goldigger
The Editors - All Sparks
Boy Kill Boy - Maneater
Queens Of The Stone Age - No One Knows
Embrace - How Come
James Blunt - If There's Any Justice
Natasha Bedingfield - The Scientist
The Kings Of Leon - Molly's Chambers
Jamie Cullum - Frontin'
Sugababes - Livin' For the Weekend
Lemar - I Believe In A Thing Called Love
Will Young - Hey Ya
Hard Fi - Tied Up Too Tight
Oasis - Songbird

Disc 2
Coldplay - The Scientist
Lily Allen - Smile
Keane - With Or Without You
K T Tunstall - Other Side Of The World
Franz Ferdinand - What You Waiting For
Pink - Family Portrait
Outkast - Ms Jackson
The Futureheads - Hounds Of Love
Jamelia - Numb
Dizzee Rascal - Jus A Rascal
Lemon Jelly - Nice Weather For Ducks
Mylo - In My Arms
My Chemical Romance - Song 2
The Coral - Dreaming Of You
Maximo Park - Gone Missing
The Bravery - Honest Mistake
The Streets - Let's Push Things Forward
Basement Jaxx - Romeo
Orson - Push The Button
50 Cent - In Da Club

Preston sings for your enjoyment

Not to be left behind by Phil or Susan and wanting to stay down with the kids I've uploaded a video to youtube for you all to enjoy. It is a short heart warming piece with love from us wishing you all a peaceful new year. (please excuse the rubbish camera work - I did it with my normal camera and had it on it's side).

Running freebies

Shades
Originally uploaded by jogger164.

Don't laugh at the picture. This is proof that running pays! Preston and I found these lovely shades on our run today. After a jet wash we now timeshare a pair of free glasses ;-)

I can't wait to see what we find next... half a packet of crisps, a bag of glue? who knows.

Preston fights back.

Don't faint today marked the long awaited sweaty return of the old prestonator :-)

I'm not sure if it's a quest for fitness or just that work has been mind numbing this week. But come 1.00pm he actually wanted to go running?

We did a cheeky 3.5 miler, no chav kids today drinking or riding mini motos. We were overtaken by some serious runners, who looked at us funny because we were talking and having a laugh.

To mark the boy wonders return he was allowed to use the deluxe shower (we have two shower rooms at work). The reason it's known as the deluxe shower is that it has a plastic chair and more importantly the floor doesn't stink of p*ss.

We did find something quite cool whilst out running - i'll post a picture tomorrow.

It must be the school holidays...

... Because there's loads of twelve year olds piss*d up on speical brew shouting at joggers and people walking their dogs. Class - can't wait too see what the future holds for them ;-)

Did a 4.3mile run - do I round that up to 4.5mile? :-D

Back to wok now though :-(

Boixing day run

Got my trainers on an headed out for a run before the hospital visiting schedule. Why is it called boxing day? I must admit I didn't know so when I got home I googled it... here's the answer.

The village was full of people walking around HAHA! they don't know what to do with themselves when the shops are shut :-) I managed a 6 miler.

Good news from the hospital - He can come home today :-D, but he has to go in on Friday for his next lot of chemo.

Hospital Trees Xmas day 2006

Coming out of hospital tonight they had all the Xmas lights on :-) I liked this tree the most - looks kind of creepy.

The hospital had put a really good effort in today - presents, mince pies sherry and everything :-)

Hospital Update

Just back from the hospital.

Some good news - The xray showed that the tube had moved but had not fallen out, so they managed to push it and wiggle it back into postion (Ouch) and restitch him. The antbiotics have kicked in and taken the top of his temperature. Also the infection seems to be under control as well. If all goes to plan he should be out in a few days - but the lucky chap has chemo next Friday :-(

I think I'd like Santa to bring the cure for all cancer to our house this Chirstmas, I'm not that bothered about an XBox 360.

On a funnier note - Some family in the ward had a massive argument about tomorrows Christmas dinner plans... LOL! you're in a cancer ward I think there's bigger things to worry about than turkey and sprouts... tw*ts!

Well that's Christmas over...

The fastest Christmas breaks ever. Got down south yesterday ok, a few traffic jams but nothing major. Did a quick 3 miler for funHad then a cheeky whisky coffee - followed by a red wine, YUM! Then we got a phone call. :-(

Dad's been rushed back into hospital as he has got high temperature and no immune system to fight it. But the reason he has a high temperature is a bit grim... the tube that he has in to his gut to feed him looks like it has slipped and he has been pumping liquid food stuff straight in to his body...not good! Also if this is the case he will need an operation to sort it all out (and being xmas no surgeons are around at the moment).

He has had a load of test; they have taken him off chemo and put him on antibiotics.

Fingers and legs crossed all goes well. It never rains eh!

Quick one.

Got out for a early morning misty run - did 5 miles :-)

Heading down to the parents for the weekend - so hopefully I will be able to have a run around the old town :-) Not sure If I will be posting over the Xmas weekend, so if not...

Happy Christmas everyone :-) thanks for dropping in all year and commenting. I appreciate the support - it really helps to keep me motivated and drag my sorry ass out the door for a run when I don't want to.

Cheers! (is it wine o'clock yet?).

Get your skates on...

I got home from work late - the freezing fog has slowed everything down to snail speed (glad I'm not sat overnight at the airports).

Went for a quick 2 miler, but should have worn my ice skates - man it's slippy! coming down hill was fun. Might just have to put some flat bottom shoes on and go out for a good old fashion skid ;-)

New kid on the blog

Just a quick post to introduce my new blog. It's a place to keep all my doodles together. Have a look - hope you enjoy..

Happy Christmas...

It's proper cold!

Man it's dropped cold! Did a 4 miler in the frosty fog - Yum!

Well tired today - the small person has been running a temp since Saturday and hasn't been able to sleep Monday and Tuesday because of coughing and being sick (so that means we can't either). Went to the Dr's to find out that the fault lies with Asthma :-( that's why it seems the last year has been a new cold/flu every month. It's hammering the small ones lungs so we got some drugs to help...

Hopefully they will kick in and we all can get a little sleep.

Swim at the gym...

I went for a lunchtime dip in the outside pool :-D
It's great going to an expensive gym, no chavs! just a pity that's the last visit for me (my free pass has run out) :-(

It's a sh*t job...

...But someone’s got to design it!

I can imagine how many people wanted to do this job when the brief came in :-) nasty.

This is a new campaign they have around where I run at work... it doesn't seem to be working though. I got out and did a 4miler - reckon it's outdoor swimming time tomorrow.

Push the button.

If I turn left at the bottom of the lane (which nine times out of ten I do) the first half mile of my run is straight up hill. This morning I did turn left, and thought to myself “I wonder how fast I can run this stretch” - bear in mind the following:

1 - I hate the first mile of any run.
2 - It had taken me at least an hour to convince myself to actually get my arse out the door
3 - It was dark and cold.

So I took a deep breath and run for all I was worth. As I got to the top of the hill and turned down the main road (which is pretty flat for a mile) I couldn’t wait to see what time I had made… BUMMER!! I hadn’t pushed the start button on my Garmin… Idiot!

The rest of my run was pretty dull, apart from someone’s dog having a go at me - and meeting the miserable Sunday runner women. They are two of the most sour faced women ever, they never say hello or thank you.

Today I saw them jogging towards me, so I stepped into the road so they could carry on running side by side - not even a nod! I’ll get ‘em back next week - the parish council have put a few new dog sh*t bins around the village and they are already over full, I think I lay the old girls a bagged surprise finishing line J

Tis the season...

To drink and not sleep. We had our Agency party on Thursday night – What a night. We went out straight from work and had a meal booked for 8.30pm – so that gave us about 2 hours pre dinner drinking time.

When we got to the restaurant the staff were the slowest group of people in the world, even though we all had pre-booked our food weeks ago. I think the main course made an appearance at around 10.30… too much time to drink and not eat.

Next came the usual cheesy club, then the realisation that you’re sat in a hotel bar at 4.30am and have to be at work in 4 hours time.

We had a great laugh though J but Friday night wasn’t much better for getting to bed (around 1am) so this morning when I got up at 7.30am I had to drag myself out for a run.

Did 5 miles in the cold. It’s that kind of cold when you were little you pretend that you are a dragon, breathing out smoke. But the trouble is when you’re out running it comes of the top of your sweaty head.

Fed up with the dark.

I hate getting up in the dark, leaving the house for work in the dark, running in the dark and coming home in the dark!

Went for a cold and windy 5 miler. Forgot to take a running jacket again (it’s becoming a habit – exercising in the cold). It was pretty uneventful, but I have found out what the chavs do when it’s to cold to drink larger and fish in the park near work… They drink and play with radio-controlled cars. Which may sound ok, but not when the twats hassle you with them as you run past. If they do it again, I may have to stamp on one :-D

PS – We went to get the small person a dictionary for school the other day. The nearest shop was “Partners” after a couple of minutes looking we couldn’t find one – asking the shop assistant if they had any, she went in the back to check. On her return she said “Sorry, we haven’t got an Oxford English dictionary, but we have this one” handing us an Italian one. Yeah, that is the same! LOL!

Swimming in the rain

No run today - ran the last 3 days so I thought that I'd have a day off. So it was great news when I was offered a free 5 day membership to the David Llyod gym on the industrial park.

To make it even better I managed 45 minutes swimming in the outdoor pool in the pouring rain :-D WICKED!

Wish I could afford to join...

It's all about me...

Self Portrait, originally uploaded by jogger164.

Self Portrait

Easy Peasy.

Ever had one of those runs that went so well you couldn’t believe it. I had one of those this lunch time. The rain had stopped just for me, my Garmin picked up a satellite in seconds and every tune on my iPod shuffle rocked. I didn’t have any stomach cramps or foot pain. WOW!

If only every five miler went so easily.

On the negative side of it - how rubbish is getting up and leaving in the dark to go to work and getting home in the dark. I’m going to try and get out and have at least 2-3 runs a week at lunchtime over the next few months - got to get some daylight ( we have no windows at all at work).

PS - I bet tomorrows run is going to suck ;-)

No money in signs!

back, originally uploaded by jogger164.

Went out for a grimmble around the block 3 miler this lunchtime (no long run - had to go back to hospital)

I'd seen this sign on the back of the street signs before - but kept forgetting to take my camera with me.

No money to be made in stealing signs these days...

Front of sign

Front, originally uploaded by jogger164.

Good news, Bad news.

Chemo yesterday - went well. He was home this lunchtime - record timing thank goodness.

The cancer wards are really grim.

Last night whilst I was visiting for a couple of ours I witnessed the saddest thing I’ve ever seen. An old man on the ward (who had been rushed in that day) couldn’t stop coughing and was really, really finding it difficult to breath. His wife was there holding his hand telling him over and over how much she loved him and that she was there for him.

After about thirty minutes his grown up daughters came literally running in. The all sat around holding tears back, listening to him struggle for breath - then the coughing stopped. That’s when they all begun to cry and carried on telling him that they loved him.

Rubbish! :-(

It’s at times like this that make you realise that life’s a limited offer and you need to make sure that you’re living yours.

Must be mental.

Joggers must be mad - or just masochistic, why else would anyone choose to get out of bed on a Saturday morning and go out in the freezing cold wind and rain to run? I did 5 miles :-D

Refreshing...

Or was it really cold wet and windy this lunchtime :-/

This morning when I was stumbling around looking for a running jacket I couldn't find one, mistake! Running at this time of year with shorts and a t-shirt was probably not the greatest of ideas. But that's what I ended up wearing for 4 miles.

My brain is completely fried now.

Balls

Balls, originally uploaded by jogger164.

Lunchtime wet and windy 4miler - Here's the graffiti as promised :-D It made me laugh, kids today eh!

Round

Round
Originally uploaded by jogger164.

Not sure why I drew this...

Up-side

Up-side
Originally uploaded by jogger164.

Sneaked off for a cheeky night away with the small person this weekend. Had a great time, we only managed to use the hotel pool 4 times in 2 days before they threw us out.

Dragged myself out for a run on Sunday afternoon (5k) but it was a struggle - I had a big breakfast at the hotel that refused to digest, leaving me feeling like Jabba.

Product review - The Buzz Monkey game is class! Well worth a go, It’s one of those games that’s hard to stop once you begin.

Monday morning came around way too fast, but got out for a lunchtime 3.5miler.

I've got to start pushing myself a bit more over the next few weeks- the New Years Eve race is coming around quickly.

Found one of the funniest bits of graffiti whilst running today, I will make sure that I have my camera on me tomorrow.

No work for me today :-P

Had today off as a holiday day - not real reason apart from I needed to use my last day off (and everyone else has already got the xmas days off).

Dropped the small person off at school and went for a run when I got home :-) 5.2miles in 49 minutes... I'm slowly getting faster if that makes sense.

Looking forward to playing this later on today with said small person, If it's as good as the quiz version it should be a good laugh.