Miles this week: 28
Still
to go: £973.00
Yay, more money came in this week! A big thank you to Cassie, Aaron and the girls for their kind donation. I am hoping this is going to lead to a snowballing of donations from now till… well, at least the end of March. I really need at least £1,000.00 in six weeks, so please dig deep guys!
I
also got around to sending my mail around work, asking for them to kindly
sponsor me. Before I sent it out I nipped in to the UK Finance Directors office
to see if the company would sponsor me as a whole, or match what the employees
did, even if it was a pound for every five of employees’ money. I was told that
the company has done in the past, and would sponsor me around the £100/£150
mark (which has not been added to my grand total just yet). A few sponsors came
in from sending this mail out with Nigel Howlett the companies International
President leading the way. So I would like to say a big thank you to my work colleagues
that found time to donate (Raj Sharma, Dan Macleod, Iris Moore and Nigel
Howlett).
I
did also receive two more donations this week from strangle they were both anonymous,
I would have like to thank them personally but sadly I can’t. So I hope you see
this……. “Thank you generous strangers!”
I have been back training now for four
weeks and have now managed to catch up with the schedule in the book. I’ve only
been getting sore legs after the long runs, which I guess is to be expected
after nine weeks out! My ankle still doesn’t feel perfect, but it’s
heading in the right direction. So I’m now on week eight of training… this can
only mean one thing: eight more weeks till judgment day! So with that
scary thought in mind, this week looked like this:
Day 1 = 4 miles
Day 2 = 6 miles
Day 3 = 4 miles
Day 4 = 14 miles
With this week’s training programme I
set a new record for myself - my longest EVER run to date! Before that it had
been a half marathon, so not much in the distance, but still I think a pat on
the back is well deserved. Plus this is only my fourth week back in training so
another pat for me.
I know me me me, right!
The
book has now reached the half way stage and this week it looks to complete the
whole learning experience. It provides details and recommendations about doing
some free weight exercises to help increase muscle strength. The idea is that
this will help the body to withstand the long miles, therefore also helping
with injury prevention.
So
the book set out to make me a better runner by overcoming the mental obstacles,
then the nutritional obstacles and, now, physical obstacles.
ARRRGGGHHH!
I’m not a fan of taking stuff back or trying stuff on in shops (guess it’s a
guy thing in general) and even more so when it’s the same shop again. Yep, I
have taken back another pair of running shoes! I really loved the style/feel of
the New Balance M980, but sadly my feet are just far too wide for them.
Consequently, I experienced some shoe rubbing and a nice blister after the
long run last week. So this week I made a mad dash BACK to Reading (in rush
hour traffic) to exchange them. Generally I don’t like to name drop, but I have
to say the Reading Branch of Sweatshop have been fantastic. I know it’s their
policy to exchange shoes within 30 days, but still, outstanding work. The girl
that served me this week was very knowledgeable and the poor girl went out the
back to get me a shoe she recommended and returned with 4 boxes of shoes.
Now that’s what I call
service!
I
tried the New Balance in a half size bigger which was better, but, again, fat
feet stopped me from getting them. I also tried on a pair of Brooks Ghost 6 as
they didn’t have my size in Brooks Glycerin 11. They felt good on, but I had
already tested out the Mizuno Wave Sayonara and thought these were the ones for
me.
So
there you have it, I have gone back to a Mizuno shoe! Or so I thought, sitting
in the rush hour traffic heading home I had a small inkling in the back of my
mind that the shoes were too big for me. With that in mind I decided to wear
them around the house for a bit, to make sure they fitted correctly rather than
getting them and running straight out the door to test them on my first run of
the week.
I
wasn’t sure why these felt big, seeing as I have Mizuno shoes and they fit
perfectly. I did try to persevere with them for the rest of the week. I even
took to twitter to ask if anyone else was running in them, but the only
response I got was from the Olympic athlete Eleonora Anna Giorgi who favoured
my tweet.
In
the end I did, however, take them back. I’m now in a pair of Nike Zoom
Structure+ 17 running shoes; these have a mild support for my weak ankle on the
recommendation of the shop manager. However I’m not entirely positive these
ones are right for me they appear to be hurting my arches (flatter feet problems),
if I do end up taking these ones but (god I hope not!!) I know which ones I will
be getting instead as I tested them at the same time and they’re exactly the
same shoe just with no support called Nike Pegasus 30. I will promise you know
that I won’t mention another pair of shoes until I have found the ones for me,
but in my defence I did say shoes are the most important piece of kit you need.
I
went back to running club this week, intending not to run as hard as I did
previously. How wrong I was! This this week was more of a speed and recover
session. I ran 650m at average pace, then sprinted for 150m, and finally
recovered for 400m before starting it all again. It felt like I had my own
personal battle with one girl as we kept overtaking each other at the same
place on the track each time. She would overtake me on the last corner before
the sprints and then I would overtake her through the sprints - this happened
all evening. The next day my legs were pretty stiff and I ended up walking
around like I had something up my butt. I thought it would be good to try and
interact with people there this time, as I was like a lone wolf last week, just
running around by myself! But sadly I was still a lone wolf this week.
Small
update on the ankle: I had my last physio session this week, but I think that’s
more to do with the fact she is unsure what else she can do. She has advised me
to see the doctor if it’s still causing problems.
Whether
you’re new to the blog or not, please help spread the word for me! If you can
spare any amount of money to sponsor me it would mean a lot. Everything helps
towards reaching my target, even if it’s £1!
Leigh
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