Greetings to all six of my readers, or however many of you are out there.
I am updating my marathon blog again, which can surely mean only one thing. That's right, I have lost all sense of sanity and am running the London Marathon again in 2013. If I make it to the start line, and hopefully to the finish as well, this would be three consecutive marathons. A hat trick, if you will.
In 2011 I ran for the Royal National Institute for the Deaf and in 2012 I ran for Action on Hearing Loss. For 2013, I will be focusing on disability of a different nature. My charity of choice is Whizz-Kidz. They help disabled children by way of providing them with wheelchairs and other mobility or specialist equipment and support to allow them to have the best quality of life possible. Did you know that there are around 70,000 children in the UK that could benefit from the right mobility equipment but don't currently have access to it? In this day and age, that's just not acceptable. So hopefully by running these 26 miles again, I can raise more awareness of the cause, and plenty of money with it.
I will admit that my first choice of charity was in fact Breast Cancer Care as my mother is currently undergoing treatment for cancer and at the moment it's a cause that understandably means a lot to me. Unfortunately the charity had so many applicants for so few spaces that I was unable to represent them this time. Let me be clear though, this does not make Whizz-Kidz a second choice charity by any means - I am just as passionate about assisting this equally deserving cause and I encourage all those reading to help me in supporting them.
I may have completed the marathon twice before, but I am under no illusions as to how challenging it will be to run it yet again.
As I write this, I have a bag of frozen peas resting on my right foot. During my most recent run at the weekend, I picked up a pain in my foot, close to my big toe. As I was several miles from home, I had to continue running with the slight pain. The pain was much more pronounced after I had returned home and taken my shoe off. It was as if the shoes masked the pain somehow, which bodes well for the marathon, because if I were to hurt my foot halfway through, there's a good chance that I might be able to ride through the pain and finish the marathon, depending on how much I hurt myself. However, my main concern is recovering from this niggling foot injury and I don't know how long that will take. It could be a few days or it could be a few weeks. Rather now than in March or April though, but it is rather frustrating all the same.
Why am I running the marathon again, then? I raised lots of money in the last two, and in the previous race I ran like the proverbial clappers and finished with an amazingly quick (for me) time -- what more could I possibly want? It's not about beating my previous finishing time. To be absolutely frank (hold on, I thought I was Martin, not Frank) I'm unlikely to finish in a faster time than my 3hrs 38mins 58secs. I want to keep on raising money and awareness for deserving causes. I just know that if I don't run the marathon this year, I will miss the thrill of taking part, the atmosphere of the crowd and the event in general. Running for me is like an addiction and I've caught the running bug. If I had my way, I would keep on running the marathon until it's a physical impossibility for me to do so. I suppose there are worse things out there that one can be addicted to than running.
Monday 3 December 2012
Monday 14 May 2012
Question Time
It's been about three weeks since I completed the London Marathon and what a funny three weeks it's been. I've had congratulations from all sorts of people. Family, colleagues, friends (well, the friends that care anyway, the rest are decidedly indifferent), people in the local area, even complete strangers who just happened to read about my marathon exploits in the local papers.
I've had my dad tell me that the guys at work have seen me in the local newspaper, and my grandparents have been telling me that people have phoned them up to tell them that they'd seen their grandson in the news. Lots of messages from people telling me how proud they are of me. I'm very touched by all the nice messages.
The total amount that I have raised so far is creeping slowly towards the £3000 mark. Donations continued to pour in after the marathon, especially when I mentioned how I had decisively and comprehensively beaten last year's time.
Last night I hosted the quiz evening with a friend in order to raise some more money and the takings that night amounted to just over £500 - a very impressive and unexpected amount indeed. The evening went rather smoothly, I felt, except we arrived at the venue a little later than we ought to have done, and as a result, had not finished setting up the room by the time the first guests arrived. Furthermore, we had to keep a lot of people waiting before actually beginning, which might have frustrated a few of the more impatient participants. Also, in hindsight, we could have provided more to eat and drink, especially during the interval, so that is clearly something to learn for the future if I organise an event like this again. On the other hand, we got at least sixty people into the room, onto eleven different tables/teams, and they appeared to enjoy the questions. It seemed to be the right mix - easy questions, difficult questions, and extremely hard questions. Enough to satisfy everybody, yet also being able to separate the men from the boys. And presumably the women from the girls.
I got a lot of compliments about the quiz style and questions and also on the witty repartee between me and my friend, with whom I had written the questions. We went roughly halfway on the whole thing, writing 100 questions each, 10 for each round, and then choosing the best 5 of each of our questions for every round, so there was a good, healthy mix. We've both been to plenty of quizzes before so we knew what kind of questions to write and how to aim them at our audience.
The quiz comprised the following rounds: 1) Marathons and Deafness; 2) History; 3) Geography; 4) Art and Literature; 5) Music; 6) Science and Nature; 7) Sport; 8) Spellings; 9) TV; 10) Film. I wrote all of the questions for the first and eighth rounds but otherwise we wrote half of the questions between ourselves. There was also a raffle, for which I had worked very hard to try to get some decent prizes. Many companies were kind enough to donate a few, including my own company, the local cinema, a theatre in town, and a nearby restaurant. Hopefully the people that won on the raffle are satisfied with their prizes.
Overall, it was a success because the vast majority of people went away happy. Many of them were lovely people that I'd never met before but were pleased to have met me and taken part. They'd enjoyed their evening, they'd learned a few things, met a few people and had a good time. The evening overran by a fair bit, but in my defence, the guests got more for their money -- the quiz could have been over in two-and-a-half hours, but instead it took three hours. We gave the public what they wanted. 160 questions (100 quiz questions, plus 60 marathon round picture questions). That's 5p per question. Absolute bargain. Plus a raffle prize for a couple more quid if they got lucky. You'd be hard-pressed to get a better quiz deal, if I may say so myself.
Some people might want to know what the questions were. As this is a blog about the marathon, I'll stay on topic and just post the questions to the first round - the marathon (and deafness) round:
Answers on a postcard, please.
I've had my dad tell me that the guys at work have seen me in the local newspaper, and my grandparents have been telling me that people have phoned them up to tell them that they'd seen their grandson in the news. Lots of messages from people telling me how proud they are of me. I'm very touched by all the nice messages.
The total amount that I have raised so far is creeping slowly towards the £3000 mark. Donations continued to pour in after the marathon, especially when I mentioned how I had decisively and comprehensively beaten last year's time.
Last night I hosted the quiz evening with a friend in order to raise some more money and the takings that night amounted to just over £500 - a very impressive and unexpected amount indeed. The evening went rather smoothly, I felt, except we arrived at the venue a little later than we ought to have done, and as a result, had not finished setting up the room by the time the first guests arrived. Furthermore, we had to keep a lot of people waiting before actually beginning, which might have frustrated a few of the more impatient participants. Also, in hindsight, we could have provided more to eat and drink, especially during the interval, so that is clearly something to learn for the future if I organise an event like this again. On the other hand, we got at least sixty people into the room, onto eleven different tables/teams, and they appeared to enjoy the questions. It seemed to be the right mix - easy questions, difficult questions, and extremely hard questions. Enough to satisfy everybody, yet also being able to separate the men from the boys. And presumably the women from the girls.
I got a lot of compliments about the quiz style and questions and also on the witty repartee between me and my friend, with whom I had written the questions. We went roughly halfway on the whole thing, writing 100 questions each, 10 for each round, and then choosing the best 5 of each of our questions for every round, so there was a good, healthy mix. We've both been to plenty of quizzes before so we knew what kind of questions to write and how to aim them at our audience.
The quiz comprised the following rounds: 1) Marathons and Deafness; 2) History; 3) Geography; 4) Art and Literature; 5) Music; 6) Science and Nature; 7) Sport; 8) Spellings; 9) TV; 10) Film. I wrote all of the questions for the first and eighth rounds but otherwise we wrote half of the questions between ourselves. There was also a raffle, for which I had worked very hard to try to get some decent prizes. Many companies were kind enough to donate a few, including my own company, the local cinema, a theatre in town, and a nearby restaurant. Hopefully the people that won on the raffle are satisfied with their prizes.
Overall, it was a success because the vast majority of people went away happy. Many of them were lovely people that I'd never met before but were pleased to have met me and taken part. They'd enjoyed their evening, they'd learned a few things, met a few people and had a good time. The evening overran by a fair bit, but in my defence, the guests got more for their money -- the quiz could have been over in two-and-a-half hours, but instead it took three hours. We gave the public what they wanted. 160 questions (100 quiz questions, plus 60 marathon round picture questions). That's 5p per question. Absolute bargain. Plus a raffle prize for a couple more quid if they got lucky. You'd be hard-pressed to get a better quiz deal, if I may say so myself.
Some people might want to know what the questions were. As this is a blog about the marathon, I'll stay on topic and just post the questions to the first round - the marathon (and deafness) round:
1
|
Until
1990, they were known as Marathon bars - what are they now called?
|
2
|
What
was the name of the Greek messenger who allegedly ran the first ever marathon
- from the Battle of Marathon to Athens in 490BC?
|
3
|
In
what year was the first London Marathon run?
|
4
|
Which
famous (clipper) ship do runners pass around 10km into the London Marathon?
|
5
|
In
which US state was the first wheelchair marathon held – Iowa, Ohio or Utah?
|
6
|
The
London Marathon is currently sponsored by Virgin, but who were the previous
sponsors?
|
7
|
After
which inventor is the unit of sound intensity, the decibel, named?
|
8
|
The
incus is the medical name for what tiny bone in the middle ear?
|
9
|
What
hearing condition’s symptoms include a ‘ringing’ in the ears?
|
10
|
“The
Sound Of Silence” gave which duo their first number one single in the USA?
|
Answers on a postcard, please.
Thursday 26 April 2012
London Marathon 2012
Hello everybody.
I completed the London Marathon 2012 in 3hours 38minutes 58seconds, beating my previous year's time (of 4hrs 47mins 47secs) by more than an hour.
I am absolutely thrilled with this, as all those months of training and torture have finally paid off. I began my training for this marathon with the aim of beating last year's finishing time, but I did not expect to beat it quite by that much. I would have been very happy to finish fifteen minutes or even half an hour faster, but nearly seventy minutes? I don't think anybody expected that, least of all me.
So, here is where I explain how the London Marathon went. I shall try to make it sound original, because in many ways it was similar to last year's marathon. Firstly, I got up very early (5am), had breakfast, met my uncle at my nearest Tube station (plus my cousin-in-law and a friend who were taking part in their first marathon) and we all travelled to Greenwich Park together. There, we went our separate ways. I made sure to get to the toilets early to perform my ablutions and relieve myself of any last-minute nerves, before the queues got too long, otherwise you would probably spend more time queuing for the loo than you would actually running the marathon.
I did a few stretches and psyched myself up. I tied my running chip to my shoe - this would calculate precisely what my finishing time would be, so it was imperative that I tied it properly so that it would not fall from my shoe mid-race!
The race began at around 9.45am, and this time, I was closer to the front than I was in last year's race. I crossed the start line roughly ten minutes after the first runners had set off (as opposed to 20 minutes last year). This meant that while I would initially still be surrounded on all sides and slowed down by slower runners during the first few miles, this would be much less of a problem than if I had started right at the back like last year.
I felt fitter than I did last year. I knew that I was faster and that I had more stamina, so it was not particularly difficult negotiating the first fifteen or so miles. Last year, they changed the route of the marathon slightly, so I was not able to run past the Cutty Sark. This year, it was back to the typical route, and I was able, for the first time, to see the famous clipper ship in all its splendour.
In terms of landmarks, other than the Cutty Sark, there wasn't a great deal to see until reaching Tower Bridge, about 12 miles in, but I was able to keep myself motivated by listening to the crowds and being buoyed by their cheering.
I reached the halfway point (13.1 miles -- yes, half of 26.2 miles is 13.1 miles) in 1 hour and 46 minutes. Already, things are looking positive because I recalled reaching the halfway mark in 2011 shortly after two hours had passed; this year, I was at least a quarter of an hour faster! At this relatively early stage, I was not going to get ahead of myself, because last year I suffered a bad case of fatigue and my second half was noticeably slower than my first half. Luckily, this year did not see a repeat of that situation, as I was still able to keep on running (as the Spencer Davis Group sang -- errr....ask your mothers). In fact, I ran a continuous 18 miles without stopping or walking, which, if I'm not mistaken, is the most I've ever run in one go without needing to walk. And even then, I did not need to walk for long - just long enough to take a few sips of water and Lucozade, and have a few energy sweets. I'm not sure what kept me going. Maybe it was from drinking all of that Lucozade and keeping well hydrated. Maybe it was the right sort of weather conditions that meant I was able to run comfortably. Maybe it was the determination to prove my doubters wrong in order to beat my previous finishing time. Maybe it was knowing what to expect, from having done the marathon last year. Maybe it was a combination of all of these. Everything seemed to fall into place really, so it was a very good run for me. I experienced very little pain or discomfort. My running vest was a little bit too big, so there was no rubbing or chafing of the nippular area. The temperature was neither too hot nor too cold. The rain that had been forecast did not arrive until long after I had finished the race. Overall, things went smoothly. I paced myself nicely, and looking at my race results afterwards, it's clear that I was very consistent; each 5km took me roughly 25 minutes. I'd also had my hair cut earlier that week. Perhaps that helped reduce wind resistance.
However, I did have to slow down and walk a couple of times, which there is absolutely no shame in doing. I believe I had a walk at mile 18, mile 20 and mile 22, but these were very short walks, for no more than 90seconds to two minutes, and then I was off and running again. I was also very lucky not to hit the dreaded wall. Tiredness did begin to set in, and my legs did indeed ache, but none of this prevented me from carrying on, and I was still able to run comfortably. While the last six miles of the 2011 marathon were sheer torture, the equivalent six miles this year were little more than a fairly difficult physical challenge.
On the Embankment, I saw various members of my family, which gave me such a huge physical and mental boost. My dad and brother cheering me on and taking photographs. To be told by my cousin, ecstatic, that I was "doing amazing!" was great. Further on down the Embankment, I saw another of my cousins, who was cheering on the runners for the Alzheimer's Society, who he works for. This year, the Embankment didn't seem quite as long. Birdcage Walk seemed much shorter than it did last year. Perhaps they seem longer when you're tired and struggling, but this time, I eased through them. Turning past Buckingham Palace and into the Mall, I got ready for my sprint finish and overtook seemingly dozens of other runners, literally roaring as I crossed the finish line. It's a roar of relief. Relief in knowing that all the training had paid off. It's also a roar of pain. Pain because by now my legs really were aching. It's also a roar of success. Success, because I can see that I have beaten my previous time, not by fifteen minutes, not by half an hour, but by more than an hour. 3:38:58 is the magic number.
Exhausted, I gulped down some water, collected my medal, and had a few photos taken of me by the official photographers, then made my way to Horse Guards Parade, to meet the representatives from the charity Action on Hearing Loss, for whom I ran the marathon. I had a banana and drank a little more, then made my way to the portable toilets. 26 miles of running can do funny things to one's digestive system, you know.
After that, I made my way to the charity's post-race reception, where I met some of the other runners, and had a massage. I was hoping for the masseuse to be a tall, blonde, Swedish woman (not sure why exactly, and she wasn't either), but the massage was very pleasant and the masseuse was gentle and eased my general soreness and stiffness.
Meanwhile, my dad and brother are still on the Embankment, waiting for other members of the family to pass by, before they come to find me. My uncle finished in 5hrs, 9minutes, and his son-in-law, my cousin-in-law, finishes in just over 7 hours, owing to a leg injury sustained about halfway into the race, so it is quite some time before I am reunited with the rest of my family, but I don't care. I'm just feeling incredibly proud of myself (which is something that I don't normally do, as modesty forbids). Plenty of people have congratulated me and told me how proud they are of me and the time in which I completed the race; their good wishes, support and sponsorship have touched me deeply, and I know that I could not have done it all without them.
I completed the London Marathon 2012 in 3hours 38minutes 58seconds, beating my previous year's time (of 4hrs 47mins 47secs) by more than an hour.
I am absolutely thrilled with this, as all those months of training and torture have finally paid off. I began my training for this marathon with the aim of beating last year's finishing time, but I did not expect to beat it quite by that much. I would have been very happy to finish fifteen minutes or even half an hour faster, but nearly seventy minutes? I don't think anybody expected that, least of all me.
So, here is where I explain how the London Marathon went. I shall try to make it sound original, because in many ways it was similar to last year's marathon. Firstly, I got up very early (5am), had breakfast, met my uncle at my nearest Tube station (plus my cousin-in-law and a friend who were taking part in their first marathon) and we all travelled to Greenwich Park together. There, we went our separate ways. I made sure to get to the toilets early to perform my ablutions and relieve myself of any last-minute nerves, before the queues got too long, otherwise you would probably spend more time queuing for the loo than you would actually running the marathon.
I did a few stretches and psyched myself up. I tied my running chip to my shoe - this would calculate precisely what my finishing time would be, so it was imperative that I tied it properly so that it would not fall from my shoe mid-race!
The race began at around 9.45am, and this time, I was closer to the front than I was in last year's race. I crossed the start line roughly ten minutes after the first runners had set off (as opposed to 20 minutes last year). This meant that while I would initially still be surrounded on all sides and slowed down by slower runners during the first few miles, this would be much less of a problem than if I had started right at the back like last year.
I felt fitter than I did last year. I knew that I was faster and that I had more stamina, so it was not particularly difficult negotiating the first fifteen or so miles. Last year, they changed the route of the marathon slightly, so I was not able to run past the Cutty Sark. This year, it was back to the typical route, and I was able, for the first time, to see the famous clipper ship in all its splendour.
In terms of landmarks, other than the Cutty Sark, there wasn't a great deal to see until reaching Tower Bridge, about 12 miles in, but I was able to keep myself motivated by listening to the crowds and being buoyed by their cheering.
 |
| Running on Tower Bridge (about 12 miles in). Compared to last year, I seem to be having less difficulty at this stage, if the look on my face is anything to go by. |
I reached the halfway point (13.1 miles -- yes, half of 26.2 miles is 13.1 miles) in 1 hour and 46 minutes. Already, things are looking positive because I recalled reaching the halfway mark in 2011 shortly after two hours had passed; this year, I was at least a quarter of an hour faster! At this relatively early stage, I was not going to get ahead of myself, because last year I suffered a bad case of fatigue and my second half was noticeably slower than my first half. Luckily, this year did not see a repeat of that situation, as I was still able to keep on running (as the Spencer Davis Group sang -- errr....ask your mothers). In fact, I ran a continuous 18 miles without stopping or walking, which, if I'm not mistaken, is the most I've ever run in one go without needing to walk. And even then, I did not need to walk for long - just long enough to take a few sips of water and Lucozade, and have a few energy sweets. I'm not sure what kept me going. Maybe it was from drinking all of that Lucozade and keeping well hydrated. Maybe it was the right sort of weather conditions that meant I was able to run comfortably. Maybe it was the determination to prove my doubters wrong in order to beat my previous finishing time. Maybe it was knowing what to expect, from having done the marathon last year. Maybe it was a combination of all of these. Everything seemed to fall into place really, so it was a very good run for me. I experienced very little pain or discomfort. My running vest was a little bit too big, so there was no rubbing or chafing of the nippular area. The temperature was neither too hot nor too cold. The rain that had been forecast did not arrive until long after I had finished the race. Overall, things went smoothly. I paced myself nicely, and looking at my race results afterwards, it's clear that I was very consistent; each 5km took me roughly 25 minutes. I'd also had my hair cut earlier that week. Perhaps that helped reduce wind resistance.
However, I did have to slow down and walk a couple of times, which there is absolutely no shame in doing. I believe I had a walk at mile 18, mile 20 and mile 22, but these were very short walks, for no more than 90seconds to two minutes, and then I was off and running again. I was also very lucky not to hit the dreaded wall. Tiredness did begin to set in, and my legs did indeed ache, but none of this prevented me from carrying on, and I was still able to run comfortably. While the last six miles of the 2011 marathon were sheer torture, the equivalent six miles this year were little more than a fairly difficult physical challenge.
On the Embankment, I saw various members of my family, which gave me such a huge physical and mental boost. My dad and brother cheering me on and taking photographs. To be told by my cousin, ecstatic, that I was "doing amazing!" was great. Further on down the Embankment, I saw another of my cousins, who was cheering on the runners for the Alzheimer's Society, who he works for. This year, the Embankment didn't seem quite as long. Birdcage Walk seemed much shorter than it did last year. Perhaps they seem longer when you're tired and struggling, but this time, I eased through them. Turning past Buckingham Palace and into the Mall, I got ready for my sprint finish and overtook seemingly dozens of other runners, literally roaring as I crossed the finish line. It's a roar of relief. Relief in knowing that all the training had paid off. It's also a roar of pain. Pain because by now my legs really were aching. It's also a roar of success. Success, because I can see that I have beaten my previous time, not by fifteen minutes, not by half an hour, but by more than an hour. 3:38:58 is the magic number.
 |
| Me with my medal, shortly after finishing the marathon. |
Exhausted, I gulped down some water, collected my medal, and had a few photos taken of me by the official photographers, then made my way to Horse Guards Parade, to meet the representatives from the charity Action on Hearing Loss, for whom I ran the marathon. I had a banana and drank a little more, then made my way to the portable toilets. 26 miles of running can do funny things to one's digestive system, you know.
After that, I made my way to the charity's post-race reception, where I met some of the other runners, and had a massage. I was hoping for the masseuse to be a tall, blonde, Swedish woman (not sure why exactly, and she wasn't either), but the massage was very pleasant and the masseuse was gentle and eased my general soreness and stiffness.
Meanwhile, my dad and brother are still on the Embankment, waiting for other members of the family to pass by, before they come to find me. My uncle finished in 5hrs, 9minutes, and his son-in-law, my cousin-in-law, finishes in just over 7 hours, owing to a leg injury sustained about halfway into the race, so it is quite some time before I am reunited with the rest of my family, but I don't care. I'm just feeling incredibly proud of myself (which is something that I don't normally do, as modesty forbids). Plenty of people have congratulated me and told me how proud they are of me and the time in which I completed the race; their good wishes, support and sponsorship have touched me deeply, and I know that I could not have done it all without them.
Friday 20 April 2012
Final Stretch
The London Marathon is getting dangerously close now. All my excitement is turning into nervousness. As the big day approaches, I am making sure that I am get plenty of relaxation, eating plenty of carbohydrates (I love my pasta) and getting plenty of sleep.
Yesterday I attended the London Marathon Expo at the ExCeL Centre (whoops, that's tautology, I think the "Ce" in "ExCeL" stands for "centre" but don't quote me on that) just as I did last year. It was much the same - I came to register my place in the race, collect my running number (this year it's 33743 for those who wish to follow my progress on their diePhones or Blackcurrants or whatever gadgets the cool kids are using these days), collect my kit bag, and collect the chip that records my official finishing time. I also had my name printed on my running vest, so again, spectators on Sunday can cheer or jeer when they see me, whatever they prefer.
There were hundreds of stands with different people selling different products, much of it all overpriced and rather unnecessary (certainly for the marathon as it's only a few days away and won't be of much use to me now) but each to their own, I guess.
Again, as I did last year, I helped myself to tons of freebies, and I made sure to wear a coat with deep pockets. I must have put dozens of sweets inside those pockets. They're not just any old sweets though - they are energy sweets, that help keep you going, and those will come in handy around 13 or 14 miles when fatigue begins to set in.
The fundraising has been going well. I've raised almost £1500 online so far (see http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/martinpampel) and the sweepstake that I did at work, in which my colleagues have to guess my finishing time, with £1 per guess, has raised about £110. Minus a prize of £26 from the kitty for the closest guess, that's roughly £80-£85, which is very impressive indeed, as there were about 80 participants, most of them making one guess. To be fair, a number of them had already sponsored me online, so I could not expect them to donate substantially more than they already had. Some colleagues decided to hedge their bets and make five guesses, which was great. Overall there's a lot of similar times there, obviously based on my previous finishing time of 4:47:47 and most of these guesses are roughly 1-30 minutes faster, which seems reasonable. A few have guessed completion times in the 3:30-3:50 region. I have to admire their confidence in me, but those times are somewhat unrealistic, though not exactly unattainable. I'm just grateful that they were good sports and happy to give a minute of their time and a pound of their money. A few colleagues (not so much colleagues, as I don't know their names but see them around) didn't want to participate and made a few poor excuses to try to get out of taking part, but they were very much in the minority. The rest of them were good sports.
The wheels are in motion for the charity quiz. I have got the hall booked, posters have been distributed, and the questions have been written by me and a friend. I wrote 100 questions, he wrote 100 questions, then we chose an equal number of the best ones that each of us had written for each round. It will be on the 13th May in a local hall in Manchester where I live when I'm not back in Essex to see the family, and I hope that the people that attend will have an enjoyable evening that is entertaining and informative. I have also planned a raffle. I've managed to get hold of some merchandise from work and a few complimentary tickets from businesses in town. I did try some bigger corporations in Manchester about the possibility of them being able to donate a prize that could be raffled off, but unfortunately they turned down my request. Still, if you don't ask, you don't get. I asked, and still didn't get. But hey, I tried.
Right, well, this is it. Time to consume some more pasta.
Yesterday I attended the London Marathon Expo at the ExCeL Centre (whoops, that's tautology, I think the "Ce" in "ExCeL" stands for "centre" but don't quote me on that) just as I did last year. It was much the same - I came to register my place in the race, collect my running number (this year it's 33743 for those who wish to follow my progress on their diePhones or Blackcurrants or whatever gadgets the cool kids are using these days), collect my kit bag, and collect the chip that records my official finishing time. I also had my name printed on my running vest, so again, spectators on Sunday can cheer or jeer when they see me, whatever they prefer.
 |
| Running vest with my name on it. |
There were hundreds of stands with different people selling different products, much of it all overpriced and rather unnecessary (certainly for the marathon as it's only a few days away and won't be of much use to me now) but each to their own, I guess.
Again, as I did last year, I helped myself to tons of freebies, and I made sure to wear a coat with deep pockets. I must have put dozens of sweets inside those pockets. They're not just any old sweets though - they are energy sweets, that help keep you going, and those will come in handy around 13 or 14 miles when fatigue begins to set in.
The fundraising has been going well. I've raised almost £1500 online so far (see http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/martinpampel) and the sweepstake that I did at work, in which my colleagues have to guess my finishing time, with £1 per guess, has raised about £110. Minus a prize of £26 from the kitty for the closest guess, that's roughly £80-£85, which is very impressive indeed, as there were about 80 participants, most of them making one guess. To be fair, a number of them had already sponsored me online, so I could not expect them to donate substantially more than they already had. Some colleagues decided to hedge their bets and make five guesses, which was great. Overall there's a lot of similar times there, obviously based on my previous finishing time of 4:47:47 and most of these guesses are roughly 1-30 minutes faster, which seems reasonable. A few have guessed completion times in the 3:30-3:50 region. I have to admire their confidence in me, but those times are somewhat unrealistic, though not exactly unattainable. I'm just grateful that they were good sports and happy to give a minute of their time and a pound of their money. A few colleagues (not so much colleagues, as I don't know their names but see them around) didn't want to participate and made a few poor excuses to try to get out of taking part, but they were very much in the minority. The rest of them were good sports.
The wheels are in motion for the charity quiz. I have got the hall booked, posters have been distributed, and the questions have been written by me and a friend. I wrote 100 questions, he wrote 100 questions, then we chose an equal number of the best ones that each of us had written for each round. It will be on the 13th May in a local hall in Manchester where I live when I'm not back in Essex to see the family, and I hope that the people that attend will have an enjoyable evening that is entertaining and informative. I have also planned a raffle. I've managed to get hold of some merchandise from work and a few complimentary tickets from businesses in town. I did try some bigger corporations in Manchester about the possibility of them being able to donate a prize that could be raffled off, but unfortunately they turned down my request. Still, if you don't ask, you don't get. I asked, and still didn't get. But hey, I tried.
Right, well, this is it. Time to consume some more pasta.
Wednesday 18 April 2012
Cold War
How bloody annoying. I appear to have caught acute viral nasopharyngitis. AKA: The common cold. How utterly, incredibly annoying, so close to the marathon. The worst part of this is that I have absolutely no idea how I got the cold in the first place. Was it from training out in the cold? Was it from being in close proximity to a cold sufferer?
I'm hoping that I'll recover by Sunday, but I'm taking no chances. I've taken every possible action to try to get rid of the cold. Blowing my nose, wearing as many clothes as possible to sweat it out, overdosing on Ibuprofen and antihistamines, steam treatments, bowls of hot soup, mugs of hot Ribena, I'm even drinking tea. And I don't even like tea. It's just tepid brown water. I'd probably fail a drugs test, the amount of substances I've consumed.
Whether I have recovered by Sunday or not, I hope that it does not affect my performance. One thing that may well hinder me is the weather. I hear that rain has been forecast. I'm fairly prepared for this because the bulk of my training has been done up in Manchester, where, since I moved up there last year, I've had more rainy days than hot dinners. However, when I trained in the rain, I wore a jacket with a hood over my shirt. On Sunday I will be wearing a rather skimpy vest. I can't wear a jacket because if it's zipped up, my running number will be obscured (this is not allowed) and if it isn't zipped up, it will flap around as I run, and it will be severely distracting for me, and will get in the way of my fellow runners.
And when the race is over, if it has been raining the whole race through, I will probably have caught an even worse cold.
Training news, and I have done my last training run, so that brings the months of backbreaking pain and agony to a close. Time to rest my body parts for Sunday, as I'm not going to get any fitter than I already am. This is it now, the hard work is over. I just have to cross the start line, run twenty-six miles and cross the finish line. The end is near.
So, in terms of training and fundraising, everything is going OK. Can't complain. Well, I can, but I won't. I may have a cold but at least I'm not injured.
I'm hoping that I'll recover by Sunday, but I'm taking no chances. I've taken every possible action to try to get rid of the cold. Blowing my nose, wearing as many clothes as possible to sweat it out, overdosing on Ibuprofen and antihistamines, steam treatments, bowls of hot soup, mugs of hot Ribena, I'm even drinking tea. And I don't even like tea. It's just tepid brown water. I'd probably fail a drugs test, the amount of substances I've consumed.
Whether I have recovered by Sunday or not, I hope that it does not affect my performance. One thing that may well hinder me is the weather. I hear that rain has been forecast. I'm fairly prepared for this because the bulk of my training has been done up in Manchester, where, since I moved up there last year, I've had more rainy days than hot dinners. However, when I trained in the rain, I wore a jacket with a hood over my shirt. On Sunday I will be wearing a rather skimpy vest. I can't wear a jacket because if it's zipped up, my running number will be obscured (this is not allowed) and if it isn't zipped up, it will flap around as I run, and it will be severely distracting for me, and will get in the way of my fellow runners.
And when the race is over, if it has been raining the whole race through, I will probably have caught an even worse cold.
Training news, and I have done my last training run, so that brings the months of backbreaking pain and agony to a close. Time to rest my body parts for Sunday, as I'm not going to get any fitter than I already am. This is it now, the hard work is over. I just have to cross the start line, run twenty-six miles and cross the finish line. The end is near.
So, in terms of training and fundraising, everything is going OK. Can't complain. Well, I can, but I won't. I may have a cold but at least I'm not injured.
Tuesday 10 April 2012
Where There's Willpower, There's A Way
We're well into April now and the London Marathon is just 12 days away. I've continued toning down the training, having done 12 miles on Sunday and I've currently raised over £1200 so far. I see a pattern of twelves emerging, oddly.
My further plans for fundraising are also underway and I should quite easily raise the required funds for the charity -- although it still looks unlikely I'll beat last year's amount of £3500, barring some sort of last-minute sponsorship from a generous anonymous millionaire, or unless the quiz and other fundraising activities bring in more money than expected. At least I have a fairly decent chance of beating last year's finishing time. I've put in a lot of hard work over the last six months and racked up a quite impressive 600 miles of training. As long as I stay uninjured, everything will be fine.
The physical preparation is done, now for the mental preparation. It's all in the mind, as they say. If my legs start to give up at 20 miles, hopefully sheer willpower and determination will see me through. Even if my body screams at me to stop, I will fight the desire to stop for a bit (I accept a small amount of walking might be necessary, but it's better than coming to a complete stop), and instead just focus on my goal of getting to end and beating last year's time. If I use my mind to push on through when the going gets tough, who knows what I can achieve?
My further plans for fundraising are also underway and I should quite easily raise the required funds for the charity -- although it still looks unlikely I'll beat last year's amount of £3500, barring some sort of last-minute sponsorship from a generous anonymous millionaire, or unless the quiz and other fundraising activities bring in more money than expected. At least I have a fairly decent chance of beating last year's finishing time. I've put in a lot of hard work over the last six months and racked up a quite impressive 600 miles of training. As long as I stay uninjured, everything will be fine.
The physical preparation is done, now for the mental preparation. It's all in the mind, as they say. If my legs start to give up at 20 miles, hopefully sheer willpower and determination will see me through. Even if my body screams at me to stop, I will fight the desire to stop for a bit (I accept a small amount of walking might be necessary, but it's better than coming to a complete stop), and instead just focus on my goal of getting to end and beating last year's time. If I use my mind to push on through when the going gets tough, who knows what I can achieve?
Wednesday 28 March 2012
Fundamental Fundraising
25 days to go! It's getting nearer now.
I've done all of my very long runs and am now starting to taper down the exercise. As the physical exertion has gone down, the donations have gone up and I have now raised over £1000. I don't think I'm going to beat last year's total of £3500 but the challenge is still to beat last year's finishing time of 4 hours, 47 minutes, which I don't think is beyond me. If my training is anything to go by, I should quite easily beat that time, unless I'm injured or the weather or day's conditions somehow hinder my performance.
My fundraising alternatives to getting people to visit the following page http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/martinpampel
are coming to fruition. I'm in discussion with some local people about using a hall to host a quiz evening (a few weeks after the marathon - but that doesn't matter; as I will have hopefully completed the marathon, people might be more willing to part with their cash, knowing that I have already done what was needed to earn their money) and I have started a sweepstake at work, where my colleagues have to guess what my finishing time will be, and they are allowed as many guesses as they like, but it's £1 a guess, and whoever has the closest guess to my actual finishing time will win £26 - a pound a mile.
As for aches and pains - my feet are all right now, it's my knees that are currently sore. It seems that my body parts are, one by one, conspiring to stop me from running the marathon. Weirdly, I did my 20-mile run on Saturday afternoon, and I was fine when I finished, yet it was yesterday, Tuesday, when I started feeling an odd sensation in my knees, so it can't have been caused by the running, so maybe it'll go away as suddenly as it came about.
I've done all of my very long runs and am now starting to taper down the exercise. As the physical exertion has gone down, the donations have gone up and I have now raised over £1000. I don't think I'm going to beat last year's total of £3500 but the challenge is still to beat last year's finishing time of 4 hours, 47 minutes, which I don't think is beyond me. If my training is anything to go by, I should quite easily beat that time, unless I'm injured or the weather or day's conditions somehow hinder my performance.
My fundraising alternatives to getting people to visit the following page http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/martinpampel
are coming to fruition. I'm in discussion with some local people about using a hall to host a quiz evening (a few weeks after the marathon - but that doesn't matter; as I will have hopefully completed the marathon, people might be more willing to part with their cash, knowing that I have already done what was needed to earn their money) and I have started a sweepstake at work, where my colleagues have to guess what my finishing time will be, and they are allowed as many guesses as they like, but it's £1 a guess, and whoever has the closest guess to my actual finishing time will win £26 - a pound a mile.
As for aches and pains - my feet are all right now, it's my knees that are currently sore. It seems that my body parts are, one by one, conspiring to stop me from running the marathon. Weirdly, I did my 20-mile run on Saturday afternoon, and I was fine when I finished, yet it was yesterday, Tuesday, when I started feeling an odd sensation in my knees, so it can't have been caused by the running, so maybe it'll go away as suddenly as it came about.
Wednesday 21 March 2012
Pretty Taper
As of tomorrow, it will be thirty days and exactly one month to the London Marathon. So far, all is going well. I have had a few niggling little injury setbacks but have recovered from them, and am hoping that I remain injury-free for the rest of my training. At the weekend, I will do another long run of twenty miles, give or take, and from there, begin tapering - that is, running less and resting more. This is where I will be gradually winding down the training and doing fewer miles with each week, decreasing the total mileage by roughly 20% from the previous week. I will cut out any part of my training in which hills or major inclines are present, so as to avoid damaging my muscles.
I know it sounds ludicrous - why spend the last few weeks of marathon training by taking it easy? The idea is to let the body recover for the big race so that you (by which I mean I) will be in peak physical condition for the marathon and have plenty of energy and the muscles are able to repair themselves.
A lot of runners make the fatal (well, not literally fatal) mistake of not tapering. You need those last few weeks to give the body time to heal itself and store energy, and to recover physically and mentally from all the months of training. There's not much more you can do in the last few weeks if you have already spent the previous months training intensively. Why over-exert yourself, get injured and ruin everything?
So, once the weekend and the long run are over, I will be progressively slowing things down - not putting a stop to them altogether - just gradually easing up.
I know it sounds ludicrous - why spend the last few weeks of marathon training by taking it easy? The idea is to let the body recover for the big race so that you (by which I mean I) will be in peak physical condition for the marathon and have plenty of energy and the muscles are able to repair themselves.
A lot of runners make the fatal (well, not literally fatal) mistake of not tapering. You need those last few weeks to give the body time to heal itself and store energy, and to recover physically and mentally from all the months of training. There's not much more you can do in the last few weeks if you have already spent the previous months training intensively. Why over-exert yourself, get injured and ruin everything?
So, once the weekend and the long run are over, I will be progressively slowing things down - not putting a stop to them altogether - just gradually easing up.
Sunday 11 March 2012
On With The Shoe
As I mentioned in my previous blog entry, I was considering buying a new pair of running shoes to replace my current pair that were still in good condition but probably needed replacing, just to be on the safe side. Yesterday I bought a new pair of running shoes from the same shop that I had bought my old pair, some 18 months ago. I felt the shop had given me some useful advice in buying my shoes last time and felt comfortable going back there again.
I tried on a few pairs of size nine running shoes from a variety of different brands but in the end, went for the Saucony (I don't know if it's pronounced Sau-KOH-nee, Sau-son-NEE, or Sau-SOH-nee; I've only ever seen that name written down, and the lady in the shop didn't know what the pronunciation was either).
The new shoes were very comfortable and I noticed that they felt padded and were cushioning my feet more than my old ones, so clearly the padding had been significantly worn away in the older shoes. I ran for a few miles in the new shoes so as to wear into them. Haven't completely shaken off the slight foot injury that I picked up last week but it is improving. With only about forty days to go until the marathon, I am desperately trying to avoid getting injured this close to the race. So I need to compromise between doing my training and resting and taking it easy.
My shoes aren't the only piece of running gear that's new - I also received my running vest with my chosen charity's name on it. Here's a picture of me modelling it (excuse the hair, I've been meaning to get it cut - the hair on my head, that is):
I like the new vest. It has some nice, vibrant colours. A lovely blue, a pure white and a little bit of pink too. The pink is especially nice. Only a person as confident in his heterosexuality as I am can get away with wearing pink without people asking questions. Ahem. I liked the turquoise and yellow vest that I wore in last year's marathon. That was a lovely little number. I can't decide whether I prefer this year's vest or not, because they are both very nice vests. It's a size medium, which I thought was my size, but it appears to be a little bit big for me. Not a problem though. It will sag a little, and as a result, not touch my 'nippular area,' so I will be less likely to suffer from chafing and bleeding nipples during the marathon.
As the marathon draws nearer, the sponsorship money has been coming in. I have been telling anybody who'll listen about the marathon and reminding them about sponsorship, albeit with the subtlety of a brick through a plate-glass window. Most of them have kindly agreed to sponsor me. Indeed, some of them already have sponsored me now. I've raised over £700 - thanks to everybody for their kind donations. Other people are yet to sponsor me, including a few people I call close friends. One even emailed me to tell me that I had "a cheek" to ask him for sponsorship. I guess generosity has never been his strong point. I don't think he's opened his wallet since 1994. Didn't stop him from telling me that I should sponsor him for a 10k walk in May though.
I tried on a few pairs of size nine running shoes from a variety of different brands but in the end, went for the Saucony (I don't know if it's pronounced Sau-KOH-nee, Sau-son-NEE, or Sau-SOH-nee; I've only ever seen that name written down, and the lady in the shop didn't know what the pronunciation was either).
 |
| My old Mizuno |
 |
| My new Saucony |
The new shoes were very comfortable and I noticed that they felt padded and were cushioning my feet more than my old ones, so clearly the padding had been significantly worn away in the older shoes. I ran for a few miles in the new shoes so as to wear into them. Haven't completely shaken off the slight foot injury that I picked up last week but it is improving. With only about forty days to go until the marathon, I am desperately trying to avoid getting injured this close to the race. So I need to compromise between doing my training and resting and taking it easy.
My shoes aren't the only piece of running gear that's new - I also received my running vest with my chosen charity's name on it. Here's a picture of me modelling it (excuse the hair, I've been meaning to get it cut - the hair on my head, that is):
 |
| Me sporting my running vest for this year's marathon. |
I like the new vest. It has some nice, vibrant colours. A lovely blue, a pure white and a little bit of pink too. The pink is especially nice. Only a person as confident in his heterosexuality as I am can get away with wearing pink without people asking questions. Ahem. I liked the turquoise and yellow vest that I wore in last year's marathon. That was a lovely little number. I can't decide whether I prefer this year's vest or not, because they are both very nice vests. It's a size medium, which I thought was my size, but it appears to be a little bit big for me. Not a problem though. It will sag a little, and as a result, not touch my 'nippular area,' so I will be less likely to suffer from chafing and bleeding nipples during the marathon.
As the marathon draws nearer, the sponsorship money has been coming in. I have been telling anybody who'll listen about the marathon and reminding them about sponsorship, albeit with the subtlety of a brick through a plate-glass window. Most of them have kindly agreed to sponsor me. Indeed, some of them already have sponsored me now. I've raised over £700 - thanks to everybody for their kind donations. Other people are yet to sponsor me, including a few people I call close friends. One even emailed me to tell me that I had "a cheek" to ask him for sponsorship. I guess generosity has never been his strong point. I don't think he's opened his wallet since 1994. Didn't stop him from telling me that I should sponsor him for a 10k walk in May though.
Wednesday 7 March 2012
Martin's Big Feat
Another foot-related pun in the title (I swear the titles are better than the actual material in the posts that follow).
The time has gone by since the last blog update and we are now in the month of March. There has been a slight amelioration in the quality of the weather and the temperature. I say "slight," it's barely noticeable up here where rainy days are ten a penny. I went for a run on Sunday afternoon, observing that the sun had come out, and being of the impression that the weather was pleasant and that it would be a good day. Unfortunately, it was deceptively sunny because it was still rather cold, and about 25 minutes into the run, it began to rain. Ten minutes after this, the rain stopped, the sun emerged from wherever it had temporarily disappeared, and dried up the wetness caused by the rain, and a little that had been caused by excessive sweating. So far, so good, and I continued my run. Six miles in, I decided to take a little detour and venture further North. I ran past Bury and into a small town called Walmersley. Just as I had completed the eighth mile, it began to rain again. Not in the same way as before, though - this was torrential rain, an absolute downpour. It was like the heavens had opened and some giant creature from above had decided to urinate on me continuously for half an hour. At the end of this constant soaking, I was thoroughly drenched, looking like a drowned kitten. Eventually the sun reappeared and I carried on running. That's the thing with weather. It doesn't matter whether the weather is sunny or rainy or even snowy during the marathon - you have to run it, whatever the weather is like. You can't let a bit of inclement weather defeat you. I'm not that easily defeated anyway. In fact, I think I prefer rain to excessive sunshine, as too much heat makes me dehydrate and sweat even more profusely.
Anyway, the run continued and the rain stayed away for the rest of the duration that I was outside. At some point, about 17 or 18 miles in, I began to feel a slight pain in the back of my foot. I carried on running because I was only a short distance from home, but once I arrived at my flat, the pain was more pronounced and it did start to hurt a bit. I rested my foot and gave it some ice treatment and kept it elevated, saw a physiotherapist the next day, who rather optimistically told me that my leg and foot were fine and that I could go for a run the very next day. I chose not to take his advice and rest the foot a bit longer, and decided this morning to do a "short" run of 5 miles. The run was fine. I did feel a slight twinge as I'm still in recovery, but no pain, so hopefully I'm on the mend. My feet are still attached to the end of my legs, so as far as I'm concerned, I'm OK. It might be time to replace my running shoes as I have got a good 800 miles or so out of them, possibly even 1000 miles, and perhaps that is the reason why my feet are feeling a bit tender occasionally. I can't see any major signs of wear and tear and I'm not entirely certain how often one should change their running shoes, as surely that depends on the person's weight and gait and the frequency and distance of their running.
Then again, perhaps my shoes are absolutely fine and not at all worn out, in which case I'd be spending £100 for nothing, but £100 on a new pair of running shoes is a better price to pay than £200 for some physiotherapy sessions if I get injured again. I'm not a skinflint, it's not the money. I'm just very attached to my current pair of trainers. They've been with me every step of the way of this journey. Quite literally. It will be hard to replace them. But there's no room for sentimentality. Time to get a new pair. Better to be safe than sorry.
The time has gone by since the last blog update and we are now in the month of March. There has been a slight amelioration in the quality of the weather and the temperature. I say "slight," it's barely noticeable up here where rainy days are ten a penny. I went for a run on Sunday afternoon, observing that the sun had come out, and being of the impression that the weather was pleasant and that it would be a good day. Unfortunately, it was deceptively sunny because it was still rather cold, and about 25 minutes into the run, it began to rain. Ten minutes after this, the rain stopped, the sun emerged from wherever it had temporarily disappeared, and dried up the wetness caused by the rain, and a little that had been caused by excessive sweating. So far, so good, and I continued my run. Six miles in, I decided to take a little detour and venture further North. I ran past Bury and into a small town called Walmersley. Just as I had completed the eighth mile, it began to rain again. Not in the same way as before, though - this was torrential rain, an absolute downpour. It was like the heavens had opened and some giant creature from above had decided to urinate on me continuously for half an hour. At the end of this constant soaking, I was thoroughly drenched, looking like a drowned kitten. Eventually the sun reappeared and I carried on running. That's the thing with weather. It doesn't matter whether the weather is sunny or rainy or even snowy during the marathon - you have to run it, whatever the weather is like. You can't let a bit of inclement weather defeat you. I'm not that easily defeated anyway. In fact, I think I prefer rain to excessive sunshine, as too much heat makes me dehydrate and sweat even more profusely.
Anyway, the run continued and the rain stayed away for the rest of the duration that I was outside. At some point, about 17 or 18 miles in, I began to feel a slight pain in the back of my foot. I carried on running because I was only a short distance from home, but once I arrived at my flat, the pain was more pronounced and it did start to hurt a bit. I rested my foot and gave it some ice treatment and kept it elevated, saw a physiotherapist the next day, who rather optimistically told me that my leg and foot were fine and that I could go for a run the very next day. I chose not to take his advice and rest the foot a bit longer, and decided this morning to do a "short" run of 5 miles. The run was fine. I did feel a slight twinge as I'm still in recovery, but no pain, so hopefully I'm on the mend. My feet are still attached to the end of my legs, so as far as I'm concerned, I'm OK. It might be time to replace my running shoes as I have got a good 800 miles or so out of them, possibly even 1000 miles, and perhaps that is the reason why my feet are feeling a bit tender occasionally. I can't see any major signs of wear and tear and I'm not entirely certain how often one should change their running shoes, as surely that depends on the person's weight and gait and the frequency and distance of their running.
Then again, perhaps my shoes are absolutely fine and not at all worn out, in which case I'd be spending £100 for nothing, but £100 on a new pair of running shoes is a better price to pay than £200 for some physiotherapy sessions if I get injured again. I'm not a skinflint, it's not the money. I'm just very attached to my current pair of trainers. They've been with me every step of the way of this journey. Quite literally. It will be hard to replace them. But there's no room for sentimentality. Time to get a new pair. Better to be safe than sorry.
Thursday 23 February 2012
No Train, No Pain
After a very cold last couple of weeks, the weather, and more importantly, the temperature, have slowly started to improve. The sun might even make an appearance soon. Perish the thought. In a few weeks' time, I might even be able to venture out on a run without having to wear gloves and a hat!
So far, the training is going well. I'm having to sacrifice more of my personal time to be able to fit in some of the running. I woke up at 6am on Tuesday morning to go for an eight-mile run. After that, I showered, dressed, and was straight out to work, and seemingly managed to stay on my feet and awake for the whole day. Now I have to find some time this weekend to fit in a 15-20 mile run. Quite frankly, after a hard week slaving away at the office, I could do with a rest at the weekend. At least I can find the motivation to get out of bed and do something, which is more than can be said for my flatmate who struggles to emerge from his pit before 3pm.
It is now just under two months to go until the London Marathon, and also just under 60 days, so the pressure is mounting. For most first-time runners, this is where the hard work really begins; the distances of the long runs get longer and longer. I already experienced this last year and have completed a few long runs over the last few weekends over the last couple of months. What concerns me most of all is that it is almost a year since I injured my achilles tendon and I am desperate not to get myself injured again this year. Each time I go out on a run, I wonder to myself "is this going to be the run where my knees give in and I finally lose the use of my legs?"
The sad fact is that after many weeks of rigorous training, there is every chance that I will end up carrying a slight niggling injury, but it's how I manage that slight injury that makes all the difference. As soon as I feel that something is wrong, I'll stop running and as soon as I feel the slightest of injuries, I'll rest. It's just difficult knowing what to do when a slight injury comes along because you want to rest it so that it gets better, but you also want to train, for fear that going too long without running will impede your progress. So I'll try and come to a good old-fashioned British compromise by not over-exerting myself, but still doing plenty of training. With the Marathon being less than two months away, it feels like it's coming ever closer, but yet still feels like a long way away - plenty of time in which to get myself injured. Sometimes I wish the Marathon could be taking place this weekend so that I can get the bloody thing over and done with. I feel ready enough to do the 26 miles (+ 385 yards) now if it were possible.
So far, the training is going well. I'm having to sacrifice more of my personal time to be able to fit in some of the running. I woke up at 6am on Tuesday morning to go for an eight-mile run. After that, I showered, dressed, and was straight out to work, and seemingly managed to stay on my feet and awake for the whole day. Now I have to find some time this weekend to fit in a 15-20 mile run. Quite frankly, after a hard week slaving away at the office, I could do with a rest at the weekend. At least I can find the motivation to get out of bed and do something, which is more than can be said for my flatmate who struggles to emerge from his pit before 3pm.
It is now just under two months to go until the London Marathon, and also just under 60 days, so the pressure is mounting. For most first-time runners, this is where the hard work really begins; the distances of the long runs get longer and longer. I already experienced this last year and have completed a few long runs over the last few weekends over the last couple of months. What concerns me most of all is that it is almost a year since I injured my achilles tendon and I am desperate not to get myself injured again this year. Each time I go out on a run, I wonder to myself "is this going to be the run where my knees give in and I finally lose the use of my legs?"
The sad fact is that after many weeks of rigorous training, there is every chance that I will end up carrying a slight niggling injury, but it's how I manage that slight injury that makes all the difference. As soon as I feel that something is wrong, I'll stop running and as soon as I feel the slightest of injuries, I'll rest. It's just difficult knowing what to do when a slight injury comes along because you want to rest it so that it gets better, but you also want to train, for fear that going too long without running will impede your progress. So I'll try and come to a good old-fashioned British compromise by not over-exerting myself, but still doing plenty of training. With the Marathon being less than two months away, it feels like it's coming ever closer, but yet still feels like a long way away - plenty of time in which to get myself injured. Sometimes I wish the Marathon could be taking place this weekend so that I can get the bloody thing over and done with. I feel ready enough to do the 26 miles (+ 385 yards) now if it were possible.
Wednesday 8 February 2012
The Ice Age Cometh
It is February and it is cold. The big freeze is tightening its grip on the country and here where I am, it is very cold indeed. It is -3°C tonight, and although I only really understand temperature on the Fahrenheit scale, I am reliably informed that -3°C is extremely cold. Not quite as bad as the extreme cold weather they've been getting on the continent, but still very cold.
I was in London at the weekend and did a 15-mile run on Saturday. A few hours later, it started snowing. A few hours after that, we had several inches of snow. It disrupted my journey home from Central London that night. The Central Line on the London Underground was suspended because of the snowy conditions and I had to take a bus home, a journey that took at least two and a half hours. Then, when I got off at the nearest bus stop to me (a mile-and-a-half away from where I live), I approached the taxi office to book a taxi for the rest of the journey home, only to be told that there wouldn't be any taxis available for 90 minutes. Frustrated, I walked home, trudging through the snow. So I'm exceptionally annoyed that my evening was disrupted by the snow. The snow also inconvenienced me on my journey back to Manchester the next day, which seemingly took forever and a day.
The snow has also hampered my running progress because a similar amount of snow fell up in Manchester too, and it still has not completely melted away. In fact, some parts of the pavement where I live up here are still icy and snow-covered. Even if there were no snow, the sub-zero temperatures alone are enough to discourage me from venturing out for a short run.
After waiting (im)patiently for a few days, I decided to brave the cold and the ice and go for a run after work. I did six-and-a-quarter miles, making sure to watch where I was going, so that I didn't slip on any icy patches on the pavement. Fortunately the conditions weren't as icy as I thought they would be. It was still freezing though, absolutely frostbite and pneumonia-inducing cold. Wearing two layers of clothing while out running made absolutely no difference whatsoever. I cannot wait until the month of March comes along and temperatures begin to rise again. Not too much, mind you. I can't run in sweltering hot weather. I just need a happy medium. Lukewarm temperatures. No rain, no snow, only a modicum of sun.
Thursday 2 February 2012
Writer's Blog
Hello again.
I meant to update sooner but had a few problems with this blog. About this time last week, I tried to visit the blog so that I could write another post, only to find that the entire blog had been deleted because of "unsuitable content." I have absolutely idea what was meant by that because I cannot for the life of me recall uploading anything to the site that wasn't a long ramble about my training activities. I suspect that somebody might have attempted to hack in and upload something pornographic, but I haven't seen any evidence of this. Very strange.
Anyway, to restore my blog to its former glory and get it back on the Interweb again, I had to follow a series of complex procedures and reset my password at least twice. Due to a complete and utter lack of imagination, I was going to choose "penis" as my password, but a message popped up saying "Sorry, your password isn't long enough." So I changed my password to something more suitable, but then just half an hour ago, when I was logging on to the blog, I couldn't remember what it was that I had changed my password to. As a result, I had to go through another elaborate and protracted process to change my password again and regain access to my blog. Now that I have got back into my blog, I've forgotten exactly what it was that I meant to write.
The main topics were along these lines:
1) I have begun touting for sponsorship and have raised nearly £300 now, with a little help from my friends, colleagues, cousins and an uncle. Thank you to everybody who has donated so far. If you would like to sponsor me, you may do so here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/martinpampel
Any donation will be gratefully accepted, no matter how small.
2) I haven't come up with an idea yet for a fundraising event to supplement the sponsorship forms/online sponsorship page. I have been meaning to organise some sort of quiz night but haven't made any real effort to get this off the ground. Quite frankly, it's hard enough finding the time and energy to run several miles, but I will get round to doing it. I just need some encouragement and a few friends to also give a couple of hours of their time to help me out with it.
3) My training is going very well so far (famous last words!) and I ran twenty miles at the weekend. I am being careful not to overdo the exercise.
4) I think that's it.
I meant to update sooner but had a few problems with this blog. About this time last week, I tried to visit the blog so that I could write another post, only to find that the entire blog had been deleted because of "unsuitable content." I have absolutely idea what was meant by that because I cannot for the life of me recall uploading anything to the site that wasn't a long ramble about my training activities. I suspect that somebody might have attempted to hack in and upload something pornographic, but I haven't seen any evidence of this. Very strange.
Anyway, to restore my blog to its former glory and get it back on the Interweb again, I had to follow a series of complex procedures and reset my password at least twice. Due to a complete and utter lack of imagination, I was going to choose "penis" as my password, but a message popped up saying "Sorry, your password isn't long enough." So I changed my password to something more suitable, but then just half an hour ago, when I was logging on to the blog, I couldn't remember what it was that I had changed my password to. As a result, I had to go through another elaborate and protracted process to change my password again and regain access to my blog. Now that I have got back into my blog, I've forgotten exactly what it was that I meant to write.
The main topics were along these lines:
1) I have begun touting for sponsorship and have raised nearly £300 now, with a little help from my friends, colleagues, cousins and an uncle. Thank you to everybody who has donated so far. If you would like to sponsor me, you may do so here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/martinpampel
Any donation will be gratefully accepted, no matter how small.
2) I haven't come up with an idea yet for a fundraising event to supplement the sponsorship forms/online sponsorship page. I have been meaning to organise some sort of quiz night but haven't made any real effort to get this off the ground. Quite frankly, it's hard enough finding the time and energy to run several miles, but I will get round to doing it. I just need some encouragement and a few friends to also give a couple of hours of their time to help me out with it.
3) My training is going very well so far (famous last words!) and I ran twenty miles at the weekend. I am being careful not to overdo the exercise.
4) I think that's it.
Thursday 12 January 2012
Running Out of Time
Happy new year everybody!
Not only is there now less than four months to go until this marathon, there are, in fact, precisely 100 days until the big day itself. What am I feeling? Other than the keys on my computer's keyboard? A bit apprehensive. 100 days seems so far away, and yet so close. You would think it would be easier to do the marathon the second time round but there is pressure to do it better this time and I'm quite confident that I can complete it faster and raise more money, but it won't be easy. Wouldn't be interesting if it were so simple. I'm also paranoid about injuring myself all over again. As you may recall, last year I hurt my achilles tendon just a month before the marathon, and this threatened to undo all my hard work. I'd hate for that to happen again. I want to put in all the training effort but I need to be careful not to overdo it or make any awkward movements. And definitely don't fall over again! Fortunately, the last two weeks of running have been trip-free and my bruises (see previous entry) have almost gone now.
With it being a mere hundred days until I torture myself once again in the name of charity, I have begun asking for sponsorship at work. It is probably still too early to ask, but really, it's never too early. Every little helps. From experience, the sponsorship money doesn't really start coming in until late February. In March and in April is when it all comes, when the marathon is starting to be talked about publicly and making the news.
I'm hoping now that I have made myself more known in the department that I work, there will be increased opportunities for sponsorship. I'll need to be quite persistent if I am to raise all the money that I need. I will have to be a bit cheeky; I need a bit of chutzpah. After all, it's for a good cause. Sometimes you have to badger and pester people a bit. Asking for donations alone may not be enough, so I have been thinking about holding an event of some sort - perhaps a quiz evening with a raffle. I can write the questions myself and charge a certain amount to people attending - with all the proceeds going towards my marathon fundraising. What else? Maybe I could bake a few cakes and charge my friends and colleagues for a slice - with all the proceeds going towards my marathon fundraising. Or perhaps I could do a sponsored kissogram. On second thoughts, I think people would pay me money NOT to kiss them. Anybody here have any better ideas for raising more money?
Not only is there now less than four months to go until this marathon, there are, in fact, precisely 100 days until the big day itself. What am I feeling? Other than the keys on my computer's keyboard? A bit apprehensive. 100 days seems so far away, and yet so close. You would think it would be easier to do the marathon the second time round but there is pressure to do it better this time and I'm quite confident that I can complete it faster and raise more money, but it won't be easy. Wouldn't be interesting if it were so simple. I'm also paranoid about injuring myself all over again. As you may recall, last year I hurt my achilles tendon just a month before the marathon, and this threatened to undo all my hard work. I'd hate for that to happen again. I want to put in all the training effort but I need to be careful not to overdo it or make any awkward movements. And definitely don't fall over again! Fortunately, the last two weeks of running have been trip-free and my bruises (see previous entry) have almost gone now.
With it being a mere hundred days until I torture myself once again in the name of charity, I have begun asking for sponsorship at work. It is probably still too early to ask, but really, it's never too early. Every little helps. From experience, the sponsorship money doesn't really start coming in until late February. In March and in April is when it all comes, when the marathon is starting to be talked about publicly and making the news.
I'm hoping now that I have made myself more known in the department that I work, there will be increased opportunities for sponsorship. I'll need to be quite persistent if I am to raise all the money that I need. I will have to be a bit cheeky; I need a bit of chutzpah. After all, it's for a good cause. Sometimes you have to badger and pester people a bit. Asking for donations alone may not be enough, so I have been thinking about holding an event of some sort - perhaps a quiz evening with a raffle. I can write the questions myself and charge a certain amount to people attending - with all the proceeds going towards my marathon fundraising. What else? Maybe I could bake a few cakes and charge my friends and colleagues for a slice - with all the proceeds going towards my marathon fundraising. Or perhaps I could do a sponsored kissogram. On second thoughts, I think people would pay me money NOT to kiss them. Anybody here have any better ideas for raising more money?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)