They think its all over....it is now!

So its done and was quite an experience.

What can I say beyond it is a most wonderful occasion. The people and communities that you run with and by and with. The sights, the thoughts, the land-marks, the mile-stones, the pleasure and eventually the pain.

The first 3 hours were generally a delight. The heat was a bit oppressive and draining but the atmosphere, training and buzz kept the legs moving nicely. From the 18 mile mark the legs do start to tire, but I tell you when I crossed 24 miles coming into the home straight I felt pretty good. Then....suddenly.....and out of left field to mind the Americanism.... my back went. I am still not sure what it was - probably chronic dehydration, but my back spasmed into acute pain. I tried to keep running - in fact a friend noticed me running past bent-double. I think I ran out for a good few hundred metres and then collapsed. It is all a bit fuzzy but I think someone helped me to the side of the road where the over-worked ambulance staff took-over (6,000 people had to be treated on what was the hottest London Marathon on record touching 24 degrees C in April). With a number of other people down along the road and me being compus mentus if in quite alot of agony the paramedics correctly dealt with those who were out of it first. A wonderful young medic sat with me while pretty much every muscle spasmed including my grimace. It is fascinating to see a part off your thigh the size of a mars bar bulge out and in of the leg in motion with our heart-beat - and a bit wrong!

I had fallen at 24.2 miles after approx 3 hours 30 mins. After another 40 minutes I tried to stand - I was convinced I had to finish - and failed by a way. Stupid idea. A short time after they very knidly got a wheelchair for me to take me to a treatment centre. On being hoisted up 10 minutes later to be put in the chair the bloody-mindedness had one more bloody go and to my surprise the legs just about stayed upright - if wobbling profusely. A minute like that, a signed disclaimer, a very helpful few arms and a push on to the course, a very very slow hobble entouraged by constant grimace and 40 minutes later the rest is history to me. I did try to break into a hobble-jog on the final straight but the legs gave in. I was happy to cross that beatuiful line.

So the long and the short of it. I loved it. Yup, I should not have run after having stomach problems before the race (a real real recommendation not to give it a go in such circumstances - learning by ones mistakes and all that - though how can you collect money for something you have not done), I should have gone for a slower time in the added heat and should have been even more careful about hydration. Lessons learned and Marathon run.

It has been a pleasure to train in such a beautiful city - with such great people and take part in such a humbling event. Amongst many memories running under Tower Bridge with thousands of others and droves of awesome support goes down as one of the memories of a life time - such a wonderful privelege and thanks to all who made it so!

Recommended to just about all - even to myself given 5 more years!!

AND...... THE MOST IMPORTANT PART:

US$ 3200 raised for the WONDERFUL PARIKRMA at latest count. Thanks to all and please anyone whoever reads this just check out the website (www.www.parikrmafoundation.org/) and if you are so compelled do what ever you can to help these great people do great things!!!

520km run

Finished... just about!

My word that was hard - for now just the brief version.

For 24 miles I ran and felt good (split time circa 3:33). The heat was getting to me to but I was coasting along. Then, suddenly, my back went, I ran for I don't know how long, 300m maybe, bent double and collapsed. I lay with half my muscles convulsing by the side of the road for 45 minutes while wonderful St John's Ambulance people treated me. After 4o mins I tried to get up - collapse - then after 50 mins I tried again. I just about got to my feet with the help of three people, signed a disclaimer, asked for a push and step by step walked/hobbled the remaining two miles in agony. You should not be able to see your thigh bulging in a pulse. I even tried to run at the death but all but collapsed again.

In short, some advice. If you have chronic stomach problems before the race, just don't run! No that I regret it - oh no it was largely a fantastic experience and I am so happy I finished and raised money for Parikrma (details of amounts to follow), but if you lose those vital sugars, salts and other minerals at some point your body is going to give in. Without record temperatures (23 degrees C) it probably would not have got me before the finish, but my God when it hits it HITS.

Within site - touch wood!

Yup, but only 7 days and few hours I will be setting off from Greenwich on the 42kn that will eventually (and I am positively gripping wood right now) end up with the final few punishing yards to the finishing line on the Mall.

The slightly worrying news is that the knee that has been bugging me for nearly 4 weeks does not seem to be getting better and if anything just slightly worse. One of those dull pains that while not impeding running puts that slight doubt in your mind that it may go any minute (still not letting go of that piece of wood).

The better news is that it survived another 5km run today. Just 3 more small runs and come what may I will be there at the start.

The EXCELLENT NEWS is that thanks to the wonderful generosity of many friends and family the funds for Parikrma ( www.parikrmafoundation.org/ ) are now just shy of $1500 and creeping up!!!

Bring it on - dodgy knee and all!

Circa:

475km

US$1450

Home on the Heath - 10 Days to go!!!!!!

What a georgous weekend. The knee is feeling on the edge of doing something nasty so the training on the extended weekend was restircted to mainly running around squidgy Petersfield heath by my Mum's house. Lovely to just run around and around the lake, up past the quaint cricket ground, into the copse, past the old barrows and round the big dog leg corner to start another lap.

All in all probably 11 2km laps, a bit on a running machine and a couple of scrappy rounds of golf was not a bad return - AND THE KNEE HELD!!

Back to the grindstone that is work and tonight I managed a 10km. It is really weird. With so little time to the big day, a stark reduction in socialising to avoid the drink and the lass I spend my life with away, life seems to be on hold. Having to work this weekend, so all there is ahead is work and then the BIG DAY - it is clear what is the shining light in that scenario - I can not wait!!

The mall is within sight - metaphorically speaking!

From there 2 sets of progress. Firstly, presuming the knee holds, a target time of 3:45 (so to try and go under 4:00). Secondly, and far more importantly, major progress on the fundraising front. Thanks to some great friends the rough totals are as follows:

Circa:

460km

$1000

JUST 3 WEEKS TO GO!!!

Yup, only 3 weeks before the 26.2 miles!


The last 2 weeks a slight overload of work has knocked down the in-week training but two 20 mile runs have kept me in a place I am not all together unhappy with. Both last and this Sunday I set-off with Christina from Waterloo to Farringdon (dropped off Chis), ran up to Kings-cross, along to Euston, through Mornington Crescent, Camden, past the Church in Kentish Town, into Hampstead Heath, to the top of Parliament Hill and then onwards to the top end of the park and the Kenwood House, back-atop Parliament Hill (my word the views are astounding from the top - all of London spread out infront of you), to Primrose Hill, through Regents Park, accross to Paddington, down to Notting Hill, all the way back through Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Green Park, St James' Park (waived to the queen) and back past Westminster and to a fry up back round Waterloo - pheew!


It is nice to know you can get to the 20 mile point but it is the next 6 that will be interesting. When you run for over three hours you inevitably go through ups, downs, adrenaline highs and lows but overall it is just a great feeling. The only downer is that people start to assume you have been doing rather odd things when you walk into work on a Monday with a sincerely dodgy shuffle and limp.


From now on it is concentration on raising some more funds, staving off injury, getting ready for the big day!


The 2 big goals are within sight:


1. Delivering a cheque to the fantastic Parikrma organization - if I can get over the $1,500 mark then that will mean covering the entire education of a child from 5 to university!


2. Running down Pall Mall to the finish line.... and quite possibly collapsing!


























Circa:
$650
420km

1:46

1 hour 46 minutes for the Silverstone half-marathon - not too bad at all! Especially when you consider we took it relatively easy in the last quarter to stave off injury, ran through a full on hale storm and colossal icy winds AND started 18 minutes late and therefore had to overtake some 4,500 people on an often thin and windy course.

Great fun, though I think I can speak for both Jules and myself that the legs are feeling more than a weeny bit tight.

I'm going for a 20 mile LSJ (long-slow-jog) next week. If that goes ok you never know this marathon thing might just get run. In a very weird way I am really looking forward to it!

PAIN but PROGRESS

A few small runs, a good long one from Liverpool Street to Clapham, a nasty flu bug and a big nights dancing in Dusseldorf took me to this weekend in ok shape.

I forgot to add a very frustrating calf strain that knocked me out for a few days and my buddy Dave being knocked out for a while by a slipped knee type thing....urgggh!

A good 8km warm up yesterday for the longest run I have ever done. Fealt good this morning and set-off on my own with a positive aim - to add least run a half-marathon. Jules (Arnie if he reappears) and I are running the Silverstone half next week and I wanted to put myself in a position when I could run a decent race. Not setting out to risk injury, but a reaonsable race at a comfortable/reaching uncomfortable pace none-the-less.

Bi-weekly run passed speakers-corner





To cut things short, I ran approx 25km today. From Southwark to Vauxhall to Westminster through St James Park to Green Park to Hyde Park to Notting Hill all the way back to Westminster to London Bridge and all the way back on the South Bank to the Wellington by Waterloo to watch England crush French hopes of a Grand Slam.



Glorious day and a really good run. For the first time a reached that state of pace by pace pain. After about 20km it began to hurt and I realisd for the first time just how hard the real thing is going to be in just 6 weeks from today. Pain... but it fealt good. Hard to explain it. In the glorious sunlight to beating music it just makes you feal alive!

Nex week the half, then going to try a 20 miler and then we will see where we arer. Hopefully Dave will be back so the running can be joined by some more debt strewn economic colapse talk though doubt is significant and the pace is perhaps a bit more significant without such mental puzzles.

To the even more important news. An email around my old department has raised about another $180. It is about right to approach some amtes, family friends, family and an outside chance of significant funds from a certain committee I am approaching and we're starting to get somewhere. I really hope a reaonsable sum will be raised for those awesom kids!!

Circa: 300km

$500 (neat numbers but they need to increase with JUST 6 WEEKS TO GO!!!)

Stepping It Up via the Holy Land and some Goulash

Ok, I admit it, I have been bad at keeping up with this blog over the last few weeks. On the bright side I have not been so bad at keeping up with the running. I started the New Year with a nasty flu bug but eventually clocked up a few good gym sessions and good weekend runs with Dave before a wee trip away.

During this cold start to the year I also had the great fortune to meet up with Shukla Bose, the Founder of the Parikrma Humanity Foundation (less you should forget the fantastic cause I am running for). She was over from Bangalore for a few days and we discussed plans to raise money and awareness for the charity. Apparently the kids are doing great. The main aim of the foundation right now is to get together enough funds to set up a college for the kids to higher part of their schooling before university. This institution would bring together kids from all the Parikrma schools in Bangalore and be a significant step towards achieving more of Parikrma's very ambitious aims!

Running. Well no, that was on a brief hold at the end of January as I took a trip to Israel (and Jordon for a day). That is a story for another forum but an relevant reference here would be just that. Lashings of hummus, constant walking through the twisting old city of Jerusalem, trekking up Masada and through the canyon defences into and around the wonders of Petra, some all night dancing at Kibbutz party and diving into the red sea were positive steps. On my final day though, I strapped on the shitty old trainers I had on me and just ran. My location was a peaceful and beautiful moshaf just outside of Modiiin and my word it is a place to run. A boulder encrusted landscape of hill and tree. The combination of rain, arduous ascents jumping from rock-to-rock, over thorn bush and into mud that caked so thoroughly that my shoes tripled in weight, gave a rocky'esque training collage feeling as you hit the top of the hill to stare out to the sea in the far distance - only difference being I am comparably tiny, not in that good a shape or rippling in any way and did not quite make it to the top of some of those hills without stopping. A cracking experience none the less, but painful!

So back from holy land and some pretty good training. Two to three runs in the week and a consistently good long run at the weekends. Since then Dave and myself (and Jules on occasion) have done Clapham common, Wandsworth common, the central parks and perhaps my favourite run so far - Greenwich.We managed a full half-marathon in not a completely shabby time (well ok a couple of hours) without killing ourselves. Was just one of those days when the sun in shining, the legs are bouncing and there is no real motivation to stop. From the millennium dome (sorry now the "O2" the hell they want to call it), up and over and around all the Greenwich parks an to the observatory. For anyone who ahs not been there, pick a clear day and go see what I believe to be the best outside view of London you can get - breath taking. Plus, for those of us who chose to spend most of our time not in East London it gives a great new view of the city - from Canary Wharf, over to the City, the West end and up to the hills. Then a whim, a bit of coercing of Dave and we ran all the way back to Waterloo. Good run, but not such pretty locations if anyone can work out the obvious route.

Add a weekend of careful dieting in Budapest (wild boar, stag, goulash and dumplings) and another great run last weekend from Waterloo to Notting Hill and back again and I am just about here and now.Just over two months to go and a lot of hard work to do. I have done a lot of talking to people about the cause I am running about without collecting cash so far. This will have to transist and I just hope I have some success. Then we have a stepped up training routine, the more than regular double figure days at work and another wee trip away to a mate's 30th in Deutschland and I think I might just have my work cut out!Double figure hours a day I am having to pull at work at present.


Circa:240 km run
$310 raised (now to start raising seriously)
and a desire to now write this blog on a weekly basis as all the interesting stuff is still to come!