I has a plan.......

But then, don't I always? And it usually goes arse up'rds.

I'll waffle more about that in a bit, but in the mean time I shall waffle about stuff what I have done previous.
London Marathon entered (I have just had to check emails to make sure I actually did!), only one Taekwondo grading taken - and passed thankfully, Reading Half Marathon completed in a P.B. yaaay, though I can't remember what that time is, it's on the back of the medal though so no biggy, I have recently taken up Archery at a fairly local club too which is ace as I've always wanted to do it. We somehow managed to avoid relegation to Division 2 in the Table Tennis too, which is doubley splendid.
Oh, and there was a tiny matter of walking 100km from London to Brighton in 24 hours with my dad too!
Stupidly I didn't do any blog posts for that last one there, though I wish I had done. Still, too late now really, though I suppose I could do something about it............nah, you'll just have to settle for the picture of me and pops there on my backround and trust me when I say we completed it in 23 hours and 20 mins and raised the best part of £2000 doing it, which properly staggered me I can tell you. Please read the guff there to your left about why I decided to do it, and if you want, clicky linky underneath said guff.

So, on to the aforementioned plan.
This is for next year BTW as there's not really much left of this year, aside from a TKD grading in November at which I hope to progress to Red Belt, which by the way will mean I will only have one more club grading before I can go for my Black Belt!

During a slightly beer fueled stagette night, me and father decided after much discussion:

"You want to do the walk again next year and get a better time?"
"Aye, go on then."

That we would again do the London to Brighton walk just to see if we can do it faster this time, and maybe be the first blind/guide pair to finish this time. (We were 2nd before!)
We will obvs be raising £ for Blind Vets again though we won't be pushing it down peoples throats quite so much as it is more for our own selfish reasons this time.

There is one other massive thing I have decided to do next year and that is to run the Thames Path Challenge - the 100km route - on my own. Again I will be raising £ for Blind Vets, safe to say any fund raising things I do in the future will be for Blind Vets UK
Where I will find the time to train for this I do not know as currently I can't seem to get myself out of bed in the mornings to even be on time for work let alone go for a training run too, but that's what these challengey things are all about aint they, doing something difficult?

I will hopefully pull my finger out and blog lots about the stuff above, as well as any other piffle I can think up. I am hoping to save some of mine own cash and invest in a shiny shiny drone so I can make some pretty films about it all too, I was all drooly over the GoPro Karma drone when it was announced until a week later DJI announced their new shiny, the Mavic Pro (so much want!). Whether I can save enough cash (£1000) in time to learn how to fly it and film pretty stuff before these events is a different matter. If I do manage it I will obviously try and review the thing and put it on here for you all.
There will be other stuff going on too, but those are the main focus points for me in 2017.

Thanks for reading, and good night.

Janathon, run, fail, repeat.

So yeah, my Janathon is a fail yet again. I might finish one one year. Maybe. 

It's all probs for the best though as I was getting pretty sore in the legs, which is never a good thing when you decide to enter a half marathon. 

Yep, I filled in the guff online and have entered Reading Half for this year. If I get through the training and actually complete the race, it'll be the first race I've finished for a good few years, and I hope I do. I quite enjoyed the Reading Half last time I did it, I think back in 2012. 

I have a target time but I'm not going to share it, you will have to settle for "I wants to get a new PB."

I'm not depressingly unfit so I'm fairly confident of hitting my target, providing I stick to and follow my training plan, which starts on Monday. The bugger will be dragging my arse up out of bed at 4am every morning and out the door. 

It is only a short 10 week training plan but there is plenty shoved in there considering there are only 4 sessions per week. I can always tuck another gentle run in there somewhere if necessary. 

Speak again soon bods. 👍🏻🏃🏻

Glasses or Contacts?....

I've worn glasses now since I was about 6 or 7, maybe before, I can't remember, so you'd think I'd be used to them wouldn't you? I've worn contact lenses since my 18th birthday (thanks mum, very memorable that was!) so you think I be used to them wouldn't you?

Turns out I am! 

The trouble starts when I want to wear one but have to wear the other instead. 

Because of the stupid hours I work, if I want wear contacts I have to put them in around 5am and if I'm playing TT then they poss won't come out much before midnight. This in itself isn't much of a bother, except they may start to dry up a little during a match and start going all foggy, the trouble comes the next day if the weather is shite! Wearing glasses in heavy wind and rain is an absolute swine as any specy's out there will already know, so I want to wear contacts again, but I can't as my eyes will simply not allow me to put them in as they have not recovered enough from the previous day's wear. Ouchy!!

The new pair I picked up the other weekend were supposed to stop this, but guess what? They have nae. 

I wore my lenses for just a few hours on Sunday, from around 3pm until 10pm that night then left the little effers in their pot until yesterday afternoon thinking that would be enough time. I did play one game in them at the match last night but I had to take them out after as my vision was shite, and ended up wearing my specs for the rest of the match, which actually improved my game a fair bit as my timing was better because I could see the ball better. It would seem I will have to stick to specs for ping pong. 

But from a safety PoV I will be sticking with contacts for outdoors stuff and Taekwondo. Not so much out of choice in TKD as you're not actually allowed to wear specs in a Dan grading!

Looks like I'll be forever stuck with having to carry my glasses with me, and not on my face either. Bah. 

Today's run was brought to you in dark and grim bespectacled vision. Just the little toddle back home via picking eldest Walker spawn from Cubs. 

https://www.strava.com/activities/469695149

Cheers. 👍🏻

Massage needed!

I'm Howdy doody. 

Yes, early run this morning for number 12. The legs are starting to feel it, especially after last night which was very slow - 9+ min miles. More time spent out running equals more foot strikes to the ground equals more stiffness. This morning was sore and tight and just not pleasant. Will try and keep them moving around a bit today to avoid seizing up completely and getting cramp at TT tonight. Still, nice long rest till the next run tomorrow evening (apart from the ping pong match of course), so plenty of time to get the little blighters loose and rating to go. 

https://www.strava.com/activities/468556355

Am starting to look at new running boots too, not sure my current pair will last the training for Reading Half as well as the race itself. Don't know whether to go back to Kinvara's or get another pair of Zealot's. Hmmmm, quandaries everywhere.