Why I do the events I do

I was asked an interesting question by a mate at work today... Why do I pick the events I do?

It comes down to 2 or 3 things...

First will I enjoy them - yes despite all at pain, injuries, time and cost (of which more later) I do this for enjoyment and to keep myself fit and sane

Classic examples - Santa Dash, local 5 and 10 k



Second are those which are a "challenge", where its not just turn up and run but I have to plan for the training and build up to

Classic Examples - Great North Run, Liverpool, long distance walks

New example - Edinburgh Marathon, other Marathons...

Third are the ones that capture my imagination... No rhyme or reason, they just gel with my mojo...

like this one https://shine.cancerresearchuk.org/ - the idea of walking all night to do a marathon, no running allowed, just makes me smile.

I've also asked how I'm paying for all of my events - simply I'm paying for them, and my equipment (other than a couple of logo'd running vests) all of my travel and hotel costs are out of my pocket - so anything you donate goes straight to the CHF.

So what next - 2 weeks off (other than climbing Snowdon, swimming twice, climbing 3 times) and my legs are feeling a lot better. So its off to Cambridge to work out the routes for the GUCH PA awareness event in Feb - staying with good friends and seeing a town I've never seen before:-)

Why now, because to deliver a safe event for everyone we'll be checking out the locations for meeting up with each other, working out the routes of the walk, mapping these in such a way that we can clear them with the local council and police.

TTFN

Paul

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Something a little bit political...

Well the legs still don't want to run, walk and climb is fine, run makes them feel a bit leary ... Probably the two most contentious words in the congenital heart world (UK branch) are "safe and sustainable", a quick trawl of the support websites or facebook will show many a group being set up to save a hospital or a ward. I won't be joining any of them. Not because I don't care, but because I care too much. The origins of Safe and Sustainable go back to the Bristol Hospital Enquiry, and quite simply this is designed to ensure that the surgery that heart kids get is the the most appropriate, done by well trained and supported surgeons who are used to doing the operations and are in a surgical setting which are designed around the needs of the child going through the surgery and their family. Is that too much to ask? I don't think so. I want every heart kid to get the best surgery available to them, I want their parents to be given the best advice, support...
Read more

12% of a plan…

  It’s been a month.     A month since the new heart valve was inserted… the chaffing has died down, I’ve been sensible and built my walking up, restarted my apple fitness plus bits and bobs (boy has it been a long time since I bent like that, or cycled/spun like that) and I’ve been for two runs – a gentle 3k which worked as a prelude to my return to my local parkrun… I finished, my tally went up 1, and I remembered just how tough it is to run the first mile on so soft, dry sand… In hindsight I would’ve been better to walk the first third and conserve my energy (and pool of fitness) to the prom and the grass thirds…   Relive 'Return to Parkrun!' Yes, it does look the first bit is out to sea…  Monday was a random day off work to get out and do something, so with a bit of head scratch and some nifty plotting on the OS Mapping app I wandered along the canal, and then down the Transpennine Trail & “loop line”… Almost pancake flat, I know...
Read more

It’s a kind of magic (the science kind)…

  Well, operation done – I have a funky new valve and a bit of a sore groin.     I was in hospital for 28, sleepless, hot, hours and unconscious for about 4 of them.     While the insertion points for the three catheters I had in me in at the same time heal it’s a case of taking it easy, let my body get over the various manipulations (sore throat, the impact of the still there frozen shoulder) and the simple lack of sleep from stress and some noisy neighbours on the day ward I was on.  There’s really not a lot else to say… I went in, did the usual pre-op checks, had a chat with the interventionist, had a chat with the anaesthetist, signed the all-important consent forms (kids – that’s when you know you’re an adult; parents, that’s when you know your kid is in charge), was wheeled across to a hybrid cath lab… laid down, bit of banter with the team and the next thing I knew I was waking up, sore and not actually knowing whether the funky valve had fitted me…...
Read more