The Walker With Heart

The Liverpool half... My home half... Running through streets I've staggered through (we do go past the brewery), past 2 of my old flats (one still looks burned out - nothing to do with me!), around 2 parks I learnt to jog around, and then down to a front I've walked along countless times... I set out with no great intention to run a PB, despite an office joke bet, but I wanted a reasonable time (when did getting around stop being enough?) for me. At 5 miles a PB was on, the 1st couple of miles are a pig, a long slow incline followed by a short sharp hill, while I'm not warmed up so hitting 61 min was a woo hoo moment:-) 10k was 76min, again within 60s of a PB pace... then I trod on a discarded water bottle (with its lid on, so it didn't squish) and jarred my foot sideways. Couple of hundred metres later I felt a twinge in my Achilles . So became stop start, jog slowly until I got a twinge then walk a bit, then jog a bit... For the last 6k, slowly watching mini-me ...

There will be mud, and rock, and scree and grass and bog and everything that the great British countryside will throw at me... and a new pair of boots to test on them. A new pair of boots I've been given by Hi-Tec, to use on the coast to coast walk, as with any boots they'd be useless if they didn't fit my feet, and that's something that only time will tell for real. However, first impressions are good - they fit, and are comfortable for a day pounding around the office, the lacing system has made me an instant fan - mini-hinges on the eyes will allow me to lace in a huge range of options (and yes I do swap how I do my laces, and can bore for Britain on the different options!). And they look stunning! So, my job over the next couple of week will be to test them with my packed rucksack over as many hills as I can find. Will they work as well as they promise on the first look - lets hope so! What I do like about Hi-Tec, is they do give good advice - this is their leaflet...

A quote, from King Lear... Which springs to mind as I'm off to see it on Friday night and then 2 days later I'm running in the Liverpool Half Marathon.... A work colleague asked this week if my running was restricted by my heart, as he'd noted the training I do the care I ( occasionally ) show in my diet in the run up to events and wondered why I still relished my role as a "back of the pack" runner. The simple answer is yes, but that the training and confidence are helping... its slowly getting easier over the years, and my confidence in pushing myself is getting better. All of which points to me still coming in the last 1/3rd of most runs I do... And I'm happy to bring up the rear, I'm a firm believer that everyone could and should do what they can, and their successes should be celebrated as much as anyone coming in in the top 50. So from the back of the pack to the front, cheer on those looking good and those looking hot and flustered... I'll b...

Why do your runs go up on Facebook and Twitter? Started the conversation... You know what you're doing, why do you share? It keeps me honest, if its a good run I share knowing that it'll raise a smile and if its a bad run I'll get some support... It also deals with some less pleasant things... Those who don't believe that I do what I do (apparently I can't because of my heart) and those who think I exaggerate (never clear if this is exaggerate my heart condition or what I run, or the pace I run). I can provide PDFs of my operation notes... My phone uploads the rough distances and calorie burn from the cardiotrainer app and then I can upload the detail, inc heart rate, from the Garmin GPS watch... Which shows when I may have pushed it a bit too much... Like I may have done at the start of this... However, things soon settled down... So there it is an honest blog about a run I honestly did, honest TTFN Paul PS if you've seen the ad's don't worry, I wo...

This is probably going to be a post that appeals to the walking/hiking nerds out there... Ok , I know I'm one, anyone else want to join camping gear anonymous? My gear for the Coast to Coast is coming together nicely... and while walking yesterday I tried a rough comparison of the gear I used to do long distance paths... Tent now 1kg, then 2kg Camping Mat now 0.5kg, then 1kg Sleeping bag now 1kg, then 1kg Stove (with pans and fuel) now 0.75kg, then 2kg All of which adds together, with almost the worlds smallest wash kit, a lighter rucksack ect ect brings my baseweight (the weight of gear not including water and food) to 8kg, there'll be about 3l of water (that's 3 kg) and probably another kg of food... So rounded up that's 13kg or about 2 stone... on my back for 2 weeks... The good news my rough memory of the weight I used to carry was closer to 20kg or a third heavier... That should help a lot!!! The ultralight brigade would say I'm carrying 3kg too much, and I...

I'm Bond!!! Well almost, my race number for the Liverpool Half has come through as 1007... Which is close enough to 007 that it'll do for me... :-) However, despite many suggestions I won't be running in a DJ & bow tie, let alone carrying a Walther PPK... Ah well, delusions of being met on the finish line by a collection of stunning beauties with double entendre's for names might be useful to get through the difficult miles... That'll be miles 1 through 13... ;-) Another week and more things have been tried out for the coast-2-coast... My washkit... Trust me, keeping yourself clean, and then dry, on a trail isn't the easiest of things especially when you're trying to keep the weight down. So no GHDs, hairdriers or large bottles of conditioner for me... My "luxury" items is a bigger than required super-absorbent towel, with leaves of soap and shampoo, seemed to work and all fit in a bag no bigger than a large apple:-) 2 good runs this week, a 5...