Runners on the Telly

This time next week it'll all be over...

I've got my last long run under my belt and I've just booked a sports massage for Wednesday to unknot all the resulting kinks in my calf muscles. All in all, I'm feeling pretty optimistic about Sunday - I might not run it all, but I'm fairly confident I can get round in one piece. For some reason I managed to get placed in Zone B (honest - not my own choice!) but I think I will drop back to the more realistic Zone F and run with Simon and Chris. I think its important to enjoy the race (as much as possible, anyway), rather than pushing it too hard and hating every second of it.

"In running, it doesn't matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, 'I have finished.' There is a lot of satisfaction in that." -Fred Lebow, New York City Marathon co-founder

Just think - this time next week we will have finished a half marathon!

Ah... takes me back!

Everyone has a comedy treadmill incident they don't talk about!

Checklist

Running shoes...check
Running gear...check
Bin bag...check
Safety pins...check
Gammy calf...check
Sore sinuses...check
List of extra excuses (on request)...check
Sense of foreboding...check
Fingers crossed...check

What a load of old bullion

Salut Bloggeuses and Bloggeurs

A good week training-wise - well there had to be at least one! Total distance of 29km covered, in three runs, which according to Wise Uncle Tom (yes, the same Wise Uncle Tom who said "wanna do the Great North Run?") that should be enough to enable us to get round all the way, like.

Its a beautiful day in Geneva today, which was handy as we had earmarked today for the big push (or more accurately s**t or bust). Christina and I did just over 15km, in 2 hours 7sec at a steady pace. (The 7 seconds were very important to Christina, for reasons best known to her...)I reckon if we can repeat that on race day we should get round the course, which will do me just fine thanks very much. This was a great achievement for Christina in particular as she only got the green light to train again 3 weeks ago after a month off due to a ligament injury. Luckily, we had built a good foundation before her foot went bang, so we weren't starting from zero with three weeks to go.

If we can just arrange it so that the weather is nice and sunny next week, that would be canny.

This week, I will be mostly stretching and trying not to think about the run too much. I'm getting nervous about it - the last time I was anywhere near 55,000 people it was probably at a music festival, so next weekend is going to be way different. I'm made up we did the 10 grand for the RNLI - great work everyone, lets see where we end up with the fundraising. I reckon some of my Swiss banking colleagues must have some gold bullion stashed away somewhere thats not doing anything....

Hang in there Team Atko, nearly there.

Try Try Again

Hello from the Large one,

Anyway just thought i would bring you all up to speed, Considering this crappy knee that cannot decide if its working or not i have managed a combined total of probably 8 miles this weekend so far. Two of these running non-stop and the rest walking at 6ft3 speed (Quite quick).

Anyway i am going to attempt a run/walk this pm again hopefully around 5-9 miles and see how the knee holds out. The 2 miles this morning came out better than expected considering i had not run for nearly a week!!!

Anyway troops less than a week now, and this time next week i will be half way to the start line hopefully running, but if not i will walk it. Anyway keep going guys and gals, hopefully will report that i am running like a train in the week.

Love Uncle rab. XXXXX

Don't need an excuse but....

My brief return to regular training exited left pursued by a bear the moment the youngest Davies came down with some reaction to something and started doing a passable imitation of Superted's best mate. No nursery, no free time, no training to speak of. Irritating this close to the race but will do my best to at least make sure I am mobile this week although we all seem to be struggling with a mild stomach bug too so someone somewhere clearly doesn't want to make this any easier than necessary. Am quite looking forward to the run now so I shall just keep chanting: Positive mental attitude, positive mental attitude, positive mental attitude; and hope that that is enough.

Man Flu

I am off work with a dose of Man Flu, which is preventing me from doing anything in the way of training. With 8 days to go, Im not sure that I will get out for another run.

You can only imagine the frustration of having yet another bit of bad luck to set me back!   

The highlight of the Team Atko week however, was that we reached our initial fundraising target of £10,000 which is an awesome achievement and a great thing to carry to the start line!

See you soon team!!!

Finish the damn race, finish the damn race, finish the damn race, finish the damn race

Too Good to be True

Hello from the big chap,

After a year of training troubleish free! I have an injury to my left knee, arse! I have been able to walk and cycle but when i try to run it is quite painfull. Anyway i am going to attempt a small run today and see what happens, but never fear i will be at the start.

If you think i have lost all this weight and dropped a dress size and sort of stopped drinking and eating for nothing, your all wrong!

P.S. Thinking of you Fluff.

See you all at the start Team.

Rab XXXX

Just another day without Fluff

Yesterday was a year since Fluff left us.  I find that it has all gone incredibly quickly.  

Our son was only a a few weeks old when all of this happened and if ever there is a reminder that life goes on, it was our two boys to care for.

In under 2 weeks, 18 of Ian's friends and family ( 4 out due to back injuries or imminent fatherhood), will travel to Newcastle for the run.  It has been a year in the planning and a year worth of training for most of us. We are all getting a bit battle weary with it now and will be relieved when the job is done.

I am really grateful to my mates for sticking with this.  I didn't realise when I came up with this rather barking plan that it was essentially what I needed.  Ian never came to Newcastle, so being up here and him not around, wasn't too unusual.  That made it very surreal.  Team Atko, the planning and the training has reminded me daily of what has happened and why we are doing this.  It has helped me enormously.  

Yesterday, to celebrate Ian's life I had a plan to go and run 8 miles, listening to Foo Fighters and generally doing it Ian-like.  I was supposed to Go Big, tick off another training run and be on top of the world, reflecting and making sense of Ian and his life.  It didn't quite go that way. 4K in, my calves were feeling super painful and I inadvertently stopped and walked the last 1K home, fearful that I was about to rule myself out of the race.  This was the first run where things actually really hurt. 

I stretched my legs, sat in a cold bath with a Peroni and realised that it had been just another day without Fluff around.

Tim

ps The bath works a treat, and the legs are functional again!

My get up and go, got up and went.... but it's back now!

What a sad day today. My love and best wishes to everyone, hope you're all holding up ok.

A tough week of training for Simon and I, but things are really starting to improve. As Simon has mentioned, I had a bit of ligament trouble in my left leg which stopped me from running for a month. I did other sports to try to keep my legs strong and cardio fitness up, so fortunately I didn't have a terrible shock when I returned to running. I'm delighted to report that my bad leg seems to be holding up just fine. Fingers crossed the good health continues.

Today I ran my first 10k since hurting the ligament. Simon and I ran to France and back! Really - the French border is 5k from our flat. There were lots of other runners out and about, and I am delighted to report (for the sake of my ego) that I seemed to be back in the club. There were lots of "bonjours" and a couple of "courages" from my fellow runners today. Our time was 1 hour 13 minutes, which I was delighted with (although I'm sure that a couple of our Team Atko pro runners will be almost finished in that time).

I am nervous about the actual run. With my history of injuries and lack of any natural sporting ability, I know that I'm not going to get a super duper time. But getting this far with my training over the last year and being able to take part is something I would never have thought possible. I'll be delighted with crossing that finish line.

Good luck team, keep up the good work and I'll see you soon.

P.S. Simon finally got the super duper polar watch working, which is how I know how far I ran today. The watch has also just made me a cup of tea!!!!

Getting there in fits and starts

Bonjour Bloggeurs and Bloggeuses

Less than two weeks to go, and things in Geneva are looking up a bit. I have had a good week running-wise, although getting up at 5am to train is still no fun. Christina has been able to increase the intensity of training, and so far, her foot is taking the punishment ok. We aim to carry on training for the next 10 days or so, building up the distance gradually so we minimise the risk of injuries. Then we'll pack it in, rest up, and hope that the atmosphere on race day will get us round.

I will be glad when the race is run. It's been a long old slog just to get this far and my slightly haphazard training plan has seen me running in Geneva, France, Monaco, Nairobi, Istanbul, Izmir, London, New York, Washington and Jersey (of course!) The coming week was looking disastrous from a training perspective - I was supposed to be in Beirut for 2 days, London for one day, and then on to Jersey for 2 more days. As it happens, no Jersey, no Beirut this week and I can cope with a day in London! Hopefully Christina and I will have a solid week's training to set us up for the event.

Time has passed very quickly and it doesn't seem like a year since Ian left us and Tim had the idea of doing the run. A fair bit has happened in the interim - babies, weddings, funerals, injuries, hefty medical bills, learning new words (still not sure what overpronating means), creative excuses and loads of gripes. Ian would not have let us get away with the last two on that list.

Team Atko is made up of lots of different folks with one thing in common - we all think Ian was a top bloke. It is for him and because of him that we're prepared to put ourselves through this, for the benefit of a cause that really meant something to him. As race day gets closer (thanks for the countdown thingy Tom!!) its important that we stick together, train hard, and help each other to the all important finish.

I am pretty sure that Ian is keeping an eye on our efforts, and I am also pretty sure that he finds them a good source of amusement....