The Walker With Heart

It was a bad start... My Garmin was still in walk mode, rather than run mode... It was a bad (for me) weather day... The scheduled rain didn't turn up until after I'd finished, and it was warm and sunny... Though unlike London there was a breeze, a nice gentle one blowing us along the promenade... I had no expectations of a time, I had no desire to break myself and in many ways had put this is in the "long training run" box for the Ultra next month.  I'd said to a mate that given the hills I'd treat it like a fell run on tarmac and that approach worked.  If it was hill and I was going slowly I walked up it.  Around that I tried to keep my 900m run / 100m walk approach going. The course... ahh the course... Through a World Heritage site, around the Cavern Quarter, past the cultural quarter as we worked our way up towards the Football Stadiums, around Goodison through the park and then up to Anfield - the locals were out in force, I was offe...

I've said before that I'm crap at being ill... But I'm recovering... And that solid core of who and what I am is still there.  Reinforced by what I helped happen at the weekend.  The CHF  team worked hard over the last 8 months to get the programme set up and ready to roll, sweet talking & strong arming companies to get the maximum bang for every penny that is raised for us.  The volunteers, that small army of people who cheerfully and freely give their time, are heroes one and all - the nurses who were there all weekend, both in case of problems (they've never been needed for anything cardiac) and also just to chat to parents & kids, the people who manned the stands, the bouncy castle and face painted for hours on the Quayside.  The parents and kids were there to enjoy themselves, and from what I saw and heard they did - these weekends are about creating a bit of space so families can be families, and chat to families who get the is...

I'm not good when I'm ill... I hate having a cold, I detest taking more lotions and potions than I have to do to keep the systems working. However, the cold I predicted before the run in to London has finally landed with avengeance, at the same time as I've been dealing with hayfever.  One masked the other and the 10k on Thursday was probably more of a warning sign than I picked up on. So, sudefed & lemsip capsules and more calories than you can imagine have been thrown down my neck - yesterday was awful, today just bad.  Tomorrow is back to work, so of course I'll be better by 10am... It was meant to be a 13 miler this weekend, so I'm switching to positive mental imaging... and hoping that'll get me around Liverpool. I did a 26.2 mile training run with a few (36,000) of my friends and took a stunning 12 min off my PB in London.  Since then I've run well within myself, walked a few miles with a few thousand feet of ascent, been injured, recovered...

I'm a lucky sod... In the space of four days I've been with some of the most inspirational people I know from the two parts of my life that people have the most problem reconciling... Starting up the BT Tower, I was part of a stunningly brilliant group of people.  A select group of disabled network leaders and organisations that get disability in the work place were at the launch of a very important book - for the first time someone has done some research into why people do, or more likely don't, tell their employer they have a long-term health condition or disability. That someone is Kate Nash, one of the few delightfully mad people I would cheerfully walk on fire for, she has a quiet determination born of fighting the good fight and knowing that sometimes that annoying as it is the quiet, long game wins... Leadership comes in many forms, hers is one I wish I could emulate more as I charge at the next windmill... So, if you have a minute have a look - this i...

We've learnt from last year, hell we even did a simulated kit check before we set off to Threshfield... Yes, we counted each others safety pins and plasters... We looked at last years marzipan with some sceptism, but its over the 300g and comes in a bag that moulds to the bottom of your rucksack. We started off in the rain, and headed quickly into the cloud... and more cloud, and horizontal rain.  My top gear, as it sometimes does, didn't want to play - but we were still at the top in good time for us - 1h 45 min. From the Trig we couldn't see the shelter, so we paused, caught a break in a swirl... Spotting a red blinker we moved to the checkpoint and got our tallies stamped. Last year, in similar visibility, we screwed up big time... and this time we checked the bearing from the shelter to the edge, got the GPS out at the top of the path, checked the bearing, kept going, checked the GPS and then... we saw the flags skirting out towards Hill Inn... So, d...

Diary congestion is a pig... London; done, dusted, photos bought... Gentle recovery done during the week - keep moving Mon & Tuesday; Wednesday use a work trip to Buxton to take a stroll over a hill... Only 5km stroll, but it felt good for three days after a marathon, Thursday and Friday more of the same, keep moving and keep loosening off the tight bits and testing for damage... No damage.  All good then, Saturday was a stroll with friends in the Clywdians, 8 miles, one short sharp nasty climb - this time fully loaded for next weeks challenge.  The Fellsman has a strict equipment list; five top layers, two bottom, first aid kit, emergency food, woolly hat etc... All sensible stuff, but even with my predilection for gear it all adds up.  Another cracking day on the hills - The legs worked again - I'm not sure why I'm so surprised, but I am... Sunday was a route recce for the Liverpool Rock n Roll Marathon - why?  Because it wen...

A challenge, and a small donation, has been set... A blog without the R word, nothing that involves harnesses, specialised shoes or body lube... So welcome to my reflections on almost three years of being an Open University Student. I'm a neophile, and specifically I like new stuff in new areas.  So its a good job I have the job I do, plenty of new things land on my desk at an alarmingly regular rate.  However, my desire for newness isn't totally satisfied by a random collection of requests from various parts of the Civil Service. So, where do I go, and what do I do... I've got the BSc, and the Post Grad in Occupational Health... I've gone back and done GCSE French.  A couple of friends was saying how good their OU course was so I had a look... I've always enjoyed arty farty stuff (despite being advised I wasn't good enough for GCSE Art), and often mooch around art galleries and museums. Combine that with the analytical part of...