And the first one said to the second one there I hope you're having fun.

Run. Knee. Ouch. Ice. Less ouch.

The End.

'cause when the feelin's right....

Good stuff first, another longish run 9.5 km in 48 minutes...yay!

Now the bad, damn dirty knee and my ITBS playing up again. Nay.

Rest it for a bit. Pray.

..if I only could I'd make a deal with God....

Muddy, soaking wet and a bit chilly but another 10km at race pace (hopefully!) under my belt. Feeling positive still. Preferring this weather than the sun for running; had the railway walk and the seafront all to myself.

Like the tortoise...

Slow and steady but progress is being made...managed thirteen and a half km today in an hour and a half by doing circuits up Welly Hill and down St Saviours then round the one way system up Welly Hill again and down Mont Millais. Managed that flaming thing four times before my sanity took over and pointed me homewards. I think I have my race strategy about right in my head so fingers crossed.

Zone K - clearly the organisers believed me when I told them I was lamer than an ITV sitcom. Still, less pressure in the cheap seats! Anyone else three miles from the start line or are all of you RNLI scroungers in G or higher?

And finally two quotes: one motivational and one that just tickled me a BIT;

"Failure lies not in falling down. Failure lies in not getting up." (traditional Chinese proverb)

"It's not something you can just run away from like a hotel bill or a crying baby..."

To blog or not to blog

Played in a cup final last Monday for my current team (Rossendale Amatuers 4th XI - I know!) and we were awful. Having already secured the league we decided to let in 6 in the cup! At 4-0 some irritating dwarf like oik decided I had no futher use for my right leg so put both of his feet, studs first, through the side of it with my ankle being the lowest point of contact (no laughing at the back Davies!). Of course I pointed out that this was most unpleasant not to mention unsporting in my usual calm.........

Anyroad, that has meant I haven't run since the 7th when I was well chuffed with 6.5 miles (bloody kilometre's, you should all hang your heads!) in 46 mins. A sort of slow Nick The Greek pace if you will. Rubbish, rubbish rubbish. Mind you the weather has been to good and the lawn has needed mowing!

Beer and Burgers

Now then. After a heavy weekend on the pop, as in Friday, Saturday, Sunday I decided to get back at it today. Had a burger at about 3pm and went out at about half five.

All the above should be clues that your either going to be sick or knackered very quickly as any decent PE teacher would tell you, oh well!

As an aside, why do people who pack flat pack furniture put empty boxes inside the boxes? And are tiddly-wink factory workers counter productive? Answers on a postcard.......

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, you've created a monster.

I have bought a copy of this month's Runner's World.

Yes, let me repeat that for you: I have bought a copy of this month's Runner's World.

I didn't even realise I was doing it until I got to the counter and there, beneath my copy of Top Gear like some sordid surreptitious delve into top shelf territory, it sat beaming up at me. A little later it hit me (no, not the magazine, that would be ridiculous) that I am actually starting to enjoy this running lark. In and amongst the motivational quotes I found this which I felt was fairly apt for those of us 'running impaired' folk and made me think of one Mr I Atkinson at the same time:

"Get up and walk if you have to, but finish the damned race." (Ron Hill)

What a wheeze (literally)

New best for my Queens Valley circuit, woohay. However chuffed I may feel at having taken a full ten minutes of this particular circuit in ten days is somewhat tempered by the fact that the 5.5K it involves (twice round in case you are wondering) is merely a quarter of what will be required in October! Don't think I am getting full of myself with times etc. far from it...I have no doubt about my Red Bull Racing status but I like to think that being relatively open about what I have and haven't been able to do will make others feel better about their own times and achievements thus far.

Remember, there is always someone worse at something than we are. Now, if any of you could point him out to me....?

p.s My three year old daughter is now insisting on "going for a run with daddy" every time I don the running gear but I don't want to get shown up so for now she stays at home!

Tales of the Unexpected

It's always good to see a little flurry of activity on the blog and it is perhaps understandable given the time of year but it is also nice to know that we are all hurting as much as each other. I had this nagging suspicion that come race day I would watch the other twenty or so Team_Atko members steam off into the distance hoping against hope that they wouldn't be waiting somewhere at the end trying to be positive and supportive (whilst checking their watches) and that I would deeply regret getting involved at all but listening to the painful and breathless team zeitgeist in this blog is actually, and rather perversely, giving me a boost as it does actually feel like a proper team effort. I am not sure I even care how long I take any more as long as I can continue to feel part of the collective achievement to do our best. Thankfully this hasn't stopped me pushing myself harder and harder, hell I took five minutes off my 5Km time today!

Feelings of inadequacy

And I quote:

Great North Run

Paula Radcliffe won the Great North Run in a world-best time. She completed the 13.1-mile (21.1 km) half marathon course from Newcastle to South Shields in 65 minutes and 40 seconds.

Cow.

What was that Tim, it is going to hurt....it already is mate , it already is.

Definitions of surreal no.1

Running in Jersey in April on a Sunday morning... in the snow!

Cold and wet and probably good practice for up North. Now where are my tights?

Choices we must make and live with.

Further to Tim's post I was advised that tights are, and I quote, "nigh on essential in cold conditions". However I have tried to weigh the undoubted truth and value of this and that they may hold my bones in place for the duration of the race and act like some sort of meat sock against the following considerations:

1) do I wish to look like some sort of transvestite runner;
2) when I collapse over the finishing line (!?!) looking like the amateur that I am do I really want to be wearing more pro kit than is normal;
3) isn't it going to complicate things if any of us have a "Paula" moment, I mean come on it would be like pushing nutella through a sieve!

Overall I fear that whilst I can just about afford to be ridiculed by all and sundry for being overtaken by two pensioners dressed as a pantomime horse, a bloke running backwards and a glacier I very much doubt I could slump at the post race table enjoying beer and pizza whilst wondering whether I should have gone for the 10 denier sheer or the 20 denier opaque!!!!

p.s. I have decided to revise my target for the race to a sub five hour time. Aim low, you know it makes sense.

Woo yay....sort of.

45 minutes non stop running today. Such small pleasures and such sore nipples! Any suggestions gratefully received and field tested. Only another two hours to add on and I am there..........???

Some pain, some gain

Back in the saddle and Nike+ to the hilt have now managed a distinctly underwhelming 7km of laddered interval training over the course of two days (15 mins and 30 mins respectively) and a whole load of strength training to boot. But hey, some progress is still progress. So in the wholly unlikely event that I can maintain that pace that gives me a feeble 2' 15'' GNR time! Damn you Father Time, damn you all to hell.


The shame of it.

Excuses....prepare yourselves Ladies and Gents!

As Mr Morris has already mentioned Avoriaz did indeed have some fantastic conditions for damaging oneself but as a unit we managed only one piffling medivac situation and even that thankfully was not as bad as it could have been. However (here they come...batten down those excuse hatches), on my return I discovered that my entire family has come down with dengue fever or something similar, my wife has done her knee in and aggravated an old skiing injury and now needs a chauffeur and even the bloody cat has gone and got its leg in plaster and requires a taxi to and from the vet during my free time so this, of course, has made something of a dent on my already chocolatey teapot of a training structure. I have also just discovered that part of my childcare arrangements for a month or so is going to be compromised thus reducing the potential for training time and of course the school holidays are also about to start.....aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggggghhhhh!

Does anyone know if I can defer my entry to the 2028 race?

p.s. Mr Macready, since when has your 'annoying' energy only been evident after a hard day at school?

In The Swing

Finally put me new shoes into operation in the last two weeks and have, despite the rain, actually enjoyed it. Must be something to do with all the cross country Mr Finney put us through at Quennevais.

The Waafe thinks it's a good idea as well as I get rid of the 'annoying' energy that seems to exist some days when I get home from work. Must admit though that having got back in, showered and parked in front of sky sports I tend to open a bottle of birra which is probably not helping the cause, ah well, few weeks to go. That and Mrs Macready is getting bigger by the day, which, others may confirm, has started to result in serious duvet theivery, not good for preparations.....

Things wot I 'ave learn't this week...

1) Running on a quiet and wet Sunday morning is actually quite pleasant (no less painful, mind, just more contemplative).
2) Rowing in Narnia (for those of you that have been to my house) isn't.
3) Gits (you know who you are)need to understand that not everyone is an athlete and that they may get punched if they laugh at them too much for failing to match Haile Gebrselassie's pace!
4) Mexico City used to be known as Tenochtitlan in Aztec times! The Aztecs liked running too*.



* This bit may be a lie, the running that is not Tenochtitlan.

Simple as tying your shoelace with mittens on.

Words that should be associated with organising charitable events and attracting sponsorship: give, money, good, cause, help, others, be, nice.

Actual words associated with organising charitable events and attracting sponsorship: Red tape, guidelines, liability, risk assessment, insurance, authority, permission, health & 'effing' safety.

If I had any hair I would be pulling it out and getting slightly aggro in a Bob "give us your foooooooo*in' money" Geldof stylie.

Now if you'll excuse me I am going to my happy place...ummmmmmmmmmmm.

Thinking about it.......

Tim and Russ sum it up, I remeber Tim asking me to run, and I am probably one of the 'gits' that Russell refers to! That said it will probably be my downfall.

Training so far has consisted of playing footy on a Saturday and purchasing a shiny pair of Ascics shoes, 'cause the enfant serving me in JJB said 'yeah, they're quite popular', nothing like expert advice I say, and that was certainly nothing like it!

Still, as the boys have mentioned it's all in a good cause and will hopefully go some way to filling a rather large hole left in our lives. Left, of course, by someone who, at a cards night, asked to speak to my intended (on the phone) because "someone has to warn the poor girl that your a complete *&%$!£". Thanks mate!

Really, really tough...but worth it.

Cliche it may be but you never quite appreciate some things until they are gone or until you witness them first hand. All of us running in this bloody race (sorry but it hurts to run, alright!) have lived in Jersey for some sizeable portion of our lives and with us being surrounded by so much beautiful coastline and consequently so much of our lives spent on, in, under, near or reliant on the water the RNLI really is the 4th emergency service (not the AA, who after all don't tend to go out in a Force 8 to rescue ill equipped speedboats!). Watching footage of the Jersey RNLI making sail in the recent storms proved to be a valuable reminder to me how easy it is to forget what they face just during their 'shouts' and also how the need for the best equipment is completely justified.

It will be tough running this race, some of our group are very fit and used to this sort of thing (the gits), most of us less so. I personally am a big fat walking bag of damaged bones , viruses and cartilage at the moment with a training program lying in tatters like the undergarments of the Cadburys Caramel bunny during mating season but as my physio oh so helpfully advised me whilst a marathon was out of the question I should be okay for a half marathon (perhaps that should be a fun-size Marathon?). If you have no idea how hard it will be try running for seven or eight minutes and then contemplate another twenty of those immediately after. But hey, if it wasn't worth it I doubt any of us would even contemplate it. Yet despite this is still pales into comparison with the rigours of RNLI's daily challenges.

Through the loss of a wonderful friend we have probably all realised that life is a terribly fragile thing and folk like the RNLI willingly risk theirs for others without guaranteed funding and often without recognition. That is why we want your money. Simple to understand really isn't it?

Sanctimonious, self indulgences aside I will be annoying a number of people for donations soon so please pass the message on to anyone you know that we are here and please give something . Now, where is that phone book...?