Updates completed

Lunch time draws to a close... check out MindSpill :-D

Coaster Hell

No run today - I'm posting a few upadtes over on Mindspill if you'd like to check 'em out :-D

Wrestle With the Wind

That's what I had to do at lunchtime...

Horrid run! rainy and windy :-X I had no energy today either and to make it 100% worse - no iPod. ERROR! I had left it at home.

I did 4 miles before I fell over my lip. I also found out my worse running surface today - wet uneven cobble stones.

Just a quick one...

For the records :-) Managed a 4 miler with Preston :-D

Salsa for beginners

We arrived at the village hall 10 minutes early - like jogblog I like to be early.

The car park only hosted a handful of cars... were we going to be the only ones shaking our asses?

Once inside a small group had made it, but sat without a word passing between them.

Everyone else I know that has attempted to learn Salsa had done so with the aid of copious amounts of red wine and usually upstairs in a bar. We were all stone cold sober, perhaps this added to the lack of verbal communication.

Our instructors introduced themselves and began showing us what we would be capable of doing at the end of our 8 week course. Yeah right!

The hour passed quickly, we made some new friends, learnt 5 steps and had a great time :-D

Looking forward to going back next week (but I still love me running).

Running video

After reading the "Big Bum Running" post over on warriorwomen I have been wondering how I land my feet when I run. So with 2 miles to make up on the treadmill I thought I'd take the opportunity to take a quick video to have a look.

I'm not really sure what style I've got, but it's how I run... I kind of land mid foot (I think).

I'm more impressed with the super bounce flex deck on my running machine...BONG, BONG , BONG!

Here's the video for consumption - be warned contains moving images some may find offensive ;-)

PS - check out my new trainers :-D oh and I did another 2 miles.

Happy blogday to me...

With all the commotion at home these days I forgot to mention last Friday that it was my blogs first year blogday :-D

I can't believe I've managed to keep writing for a year. I'm not the world's best at putting my thoughts down in words - I never paid attention at school in English, favouring to sit and day dream and doodle (which worked out ok 'cause that's what I do for a living now).

But I would like to say "Thanks" to everyone who stops by and helps keep me motivated to keep on jogging and blogging. Also from the webstats I know loads of people read but never comment - It would be great to hear from you :-D

On the running front, unlike jogblog I woke up to an amazing spring like morning and went for a 7 miler around the village. I will put in another 2 on the tread mill to make my mileage up to 25 this week. I seem to be struggling to push it up any further at the moment - hopefully when home life settles down a bit I can put some more miles in.

Well that’s it for now - look out for “salsa gate” posting later ;-)

Who needs an alarm clock...

When you've got Preston, I'm glad I remembered to set him last night to wake me up at 5.12am this morning...Oh yeah - I didn't! But the self proclaimed king of the Mods gave us a cheeky wake up call in the form of a 5.12am text message, why? alcohol was to blame I believe! I did manage to resist and return the favour when I got to run at seven... I'll wait until he is not expecting it.

I managed to do a 4 miles on the treadmill - did it in 36 minutes :-)

Tomorrow Jog Blog has a 5 miler - hope the weather cheers up a bit for her. I will have a new subject to blog about tomorrow. We are starting Salsa lessons (not my idea - but should be a laugh) - So expect reports of being harassed by pensioners etc late on in the evening.

4+4

Did a 4 miler yesterday lunchtime and another 4 today. :-)

Sorry it's been blogger lite at the moment - but it's due to the fact that cancer sucks!

He was meant to go in Friday for his last stop over chemo session. But they didn't have a bed so it was rearranged for Monday. He had been complaining of a pain in his shoulder and Friday he was in agony with it and it carried on hurting all weekend. The cause of the pain... a lump that is getting bigger and bigger.

Fast forward to Monday just gone, and he was admitted to hospital for his chemo. When I got there after work everyone was trying not to cry. Turns out that the lump in his neck/shoulder looks like it is cancer...B*STARD!

So instead of celebrating his last hit of hospital chemo we now have the sh*ty waiting game to play all over again. It's not fair!

Every time it seems things are starting to look up it turns sh*t. When he completed his prostate treatment and it was gone we should have been able to celebrate - but no, we were told he had stomach cancer. After he had his stomach removed they told us it had spread to his lymph system. And now after 6 months of hardcore chemo we should be planning holidays - but no, thanks Big C we can't.

Life stinks sometimes...

Fun sized Preston

Returning the favour, no drawing but photoshop fun.

‘The Jogger Blogger’

by Preston (aged 25 and a half)

I’m going to send this to Tony Hart. If he doesn’t put me in the gallery I’m going to pull Morph’s arms off.

we ran 4 miles...

Sunday Seven

I did my longest run so far on the treadmill, seven miles :-D

That puts my mileage this week at 25 - I want to hit at least 30 next week. I also need to look for a race to enter, a 10K or half.

Hope everyone is keeping well and fighting the cold bug that's going around again :-/

Saturday Six

Got up early this morning for a quick one... managed 6 miles :-) I ran it in around 50 minutes - not sure of the exact timing because I had to stop a few times because my ankle was tweaking :-/

I think this due to the fact that I was running in some new trainers :-)

I "had" to get some because I hadn't realised how minging my outdoor shoes had become, and when I ran on the treadmill the dirt flew of the back... eww! So I went along to my favourite footwear emporium and purchased a spanking new pair of new balance (the same ones I had last time) but with £15 off :-D bargain.

Blo*dy hospitals!

Tahhhddaaaa!! The last ever Chemo session.

Smiles all round. But Mr NHS (or Miss/Mrs) has over plans. Sorry we have no room for you on the ward :-(

Fingers crossed Monday will present an opportunity for a bed... Hope everyone has great weekends and reports on all the running/drinking ;-)

Wheeezzzyyyy

Dragged my oldman body around the 4 mile circuit at work this lunchtime :-P I must say it was one of them "non fun runs" I didn't want to do it, it was cold and it was windy :-/

Better late than never...

Forgot to post - Did a lunchtime 4 miler :-D

Treadmill Update

The running machine is working out great. I like the fact that it is so low impact on your legs and feet. The one I went for is a NordicTrack 4200R REFLEX that has a bendy flexible running platform that springs you in to your next step.

The upside to running indoors:

• It’s warm and not windy or wet.
• You don’t have to worry about being mugged.
• Running on the mill has made me pick my pace up both indoor and out on the road, because she is an unrelenting mistress pushing me to run faster every run.

The downside of running indoors:

• It is boring compared to running outside.
• You sweat lots and man do I sweat! I can’t believe how much jogger juice pours out of my body when I’m running indoor – MINGING! I suppose I must sweat the same amount running road but haven’t noticed it.

The small person always comes in about 30-40minutes in to a run armed with her little wooden chair and sits down to talk to me. This is cute/very nice but the conversation is never a yes or no one – I always seem to struggle grunting words out.

One thing I have learnt though, don’t turn your head to talk to people whilst running fast as you lose all ability to run central on the belt and fall off.

With the extra ability to pop on for a run anytime of day I’m aiming to push my average weekly total up to around 30-36 miles (it’s about 25+) at the moment… I will see what my ankle thinks about it and go from there.

All that said – I didn’t run indoors today I did a cold 4 miler at lunchtime, on my own as Preston is struggling with a cold.

I've gone "PRO"

;-) don't worry I'm not going to be selling my wares down a dodgy tree lined cul-de-sac in suburbia - but I've gone pro on Flickr. It wasn't really a choice I had to. The freebie Flickr account only allows you to keep 200 pictures up - so to carry on posting images on my site I updated to a pro account.

HaHa!

When is not a good time to drive through the local ford? after it has been snowing heavy then raining solid for a day and a night :-) How funny is this picture - the driver actually drove his car into it! DOH!

Rewind - we got up and went for a walk around a local park and abbey, the small person zoomed around like a maniac as we made our way down to the ford to watch the cars splashing through... then we came across the car in the photo :-)

Running wise I did 6 miles :-)

SnowSaturday :-)

Up and out early this morning to play in the snow - managed 2 hours before the rain ruined it all :-/ The snow's great when you don't have work :-)

After a quick de-frosting I couldn't face heading out in the rain so did a cheeky 5 miles on the treadmill in 46minutes with the gradient set on 2. I like mixing outdoor and treadmill sessions - gotta keep it real like jogblog.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZ

Boring! I work 26 miles away from my house. I was going to go for a run on the treadmill when I got in from work tonight, but... Jack Frost hates my running program! It took 3.15 mins to travel a stupid 26 miles because of the crazy snow storm.

BrrrrrrrRRRR

It's snowing - for once the weather man got it right :-)

But I wasn't going to let the weather stop the jogging and headed out for the first time ever wearing a woolly hat. At least I wasn't the only crazy out and about, I past 3 other runners. I didn't have time for a long run though just managed a 3 miler - the snow is ace to run on, if the pavement was that comfortable all year round I'd never suffer any joint pain.

Quick one...

Did a quick 5.5miler at lunchtime today :-) gettting in as much outdoor action as possible before the snow hits later.

Lunch anyone?

Not for Preston and I.

We did a quick 3 miler (it would have been further but Preston was complaining that his ankle hurt - I think he had been breaking in a new pair of heels this weekend ).

Nothing to report :-/

No rest for the wicked

We all got up early this morning - helped by the small person 3.00am alarm clock (which I must add we hadn't set)

So I packed the car early for a bike riding trip. We had a really good time - the weather was crisper than a mods shirt collar. After blazing around the English country side for a few hours we headed home and managed to get back before 11.30am - that's just plain wrong.

I ditched the idea of heading out for a Sunday run and sneaked in to spend some time with my new friend. 4 miles later and I was asked "Can I have a run Dad", she managed a mile without stopping (5mph speed) - well happy with that :-) she is loving the treadmill as much as I am.

Now we are playing board games... I love weekends :-P

Running Machine

As promised here's a photo of the latest member of the family :-) The funsized person loves it and had been on 3 time already today (I wonder how long it will last) and done 2 miles :-)

I did a 4 miler on it - it's very nice, going to build up slowly on it though as it feels different than running outside and I'm not risking doing my ankle in again.

The weather is lovely - well crisp and sunny, going to do my Sunday run outside, I'll take my camera as well.

On the camera front, I'm going to have to upgrade to a FLICKR pro account, I've just found out that you can only use 200 pic's on the free account.

Cool...

Love the treadmill :-) did a quick 1 mile, more tomorrow :-)

Keeping it real

Nipped out for a 3.5 miler at lunchtime. The weather was lovely, really crisp. But my run on the other hand was rubbish. I really struggled today - I think it has to do with the amount of sleep (or lack of it) that I'm getting at nights.

Looking forward to getting home tonight and fine tuning the running machine and taking it for a test spin.

What every man wants to hear...

As I got through the door last night after work, Mrs JB came running up smiling, looking at me saying "it's huge!" - "why thank you" I thought. But looking over her shoulder I could tell she meant the monstrous package waiting in the hallway. The running machine had arrived. YAH! After 2 hours of putting it together I opted for dinner instead of a long run on it.

I did have a test jog - and must say it's great. Had to tweak the belt a bit but other than that very comfortable.

This ushers in a new era, jogging in your underwear :-D