The Walker With Heart

Back to Basics

2013-05-05T18:09:00.002+01:00

Ok,

it's time...

Time to get my lardy arse into action.

Yup, I've been doing a lot of walking. Yup, I've done a fair distance. Nope, I've not look after what's gone in as well as I have done in the recent past. Yup, I've used every excuse in the book.

Yup, I'm heavier than I should be and its affecting my climbing.

So, the solution is simple.

Go back to what work - a lighter diet, and switch back to running.

And not to beat myself up - this isn't scourging and purification, this is sensible eating and increasing the output.

Every little bit helps.

And I'm not beating myself up - this hasn't (yet) been a year of PBs - 2012 was remarkable for that. But I have run a 5 mile PB, and my second fastest half marathon.

And I have had fun in the Peak District, walking in full on winter conditions, walking in half on winter conditions, night hikes and boggy slogs. When I go back, it'll be to toughen up for the Peak Ultra I'll be doing in 9 weeks.

Before then, I've miles to go. May is traditionally the month I head to the hills for a week - so this year its Scotland, the Great Glen Way and a couple of days in and around Fort William.

So, a gentle 5km jogged today. A very gentle 10 miles tomorrow, and slowly the runner will be back.

TTFN

Paul

These are not the hills you are looking for...

2013-04-29T19:55:00.001+01:00

Well, that didn't go to plan...

We ballsed up. We went off a mountain the wrong way, did casual checks and ended up 2 hours off the back of the pack and chose to stop there.

So we did Ingleborough, dropped down, finally confirmed location, turned around walked back up Ingleborough and walked to Hill Inn checkpoint.

We didn't do the basics we normally do so well - check, verify & confirm.

We were nanas...

Ok, we mucked up on a mountain where it was blowing horizontal snow in our faces. We misjudged our route by about 300m and kept left instead of turn left.

We did do somethings right - as soon as we realised and could get a signal we called in to the events organisers and let them know we'd ballsed up.

We also couldn't let anyone sit on the hills just so we could carry on walking, so we called it at Hill Inn. And also agreed that we'd find someway of helping out to try and redeem our embarrassment.

Which is how we ended up in the kitchen of the Fellsman, on the night shift. Helping the usual overnight expert we served more baked spuds than we could count, at a rough guess poured out over 150l of tea, and smiled at those who hopefully dropped out in less embarrassing ways or had completed the course.

We prepped more bacon & sausage than I've ever seen before, invented a new method for cooking fried bread and basically did we could to help.

Then we went to Malham Cove to do a walk...

So we did get a lot tired - Saturday we were up at 5am for breakfast, bussed out to the start, walked Ingleborough (twice), and then grabbed a couple of hours kip before the kitchen shift from 22:30 until 9:30 on Sunday morning - a gentle walk around Malham followed by crashing at our hotel.

Yes we mucked up, but hopefully we redeemed ourselves enough that we'll be allowed back next year to try again... And if not more than one person asked that we got lost again - so we could help out:-)

A big thank you to the organisers, and we are ashamed enough of ourselves we bought each other mugs with maps of Ingleborough on so whenever we have tea we see the map we should've known.

TTFN

Paul

Undiscovered Country...

2013-04-21T20:28:00.000+01:00

The Fellsman... 60 miles...

That's a long way. Two and a bit marathons... Would be bad enough!

Then there's the hills...

11,000ft of them - roughly 3 Ben Nevis'

The kit list has been checked, and emails set to confirm bits of the that my befuddled brain couldn't work out - how many long sleeve tops do I need to take, including the waterproofs? Is it 5 or 6... How much insulation will I need for the night?

I've been event specific training, walking uses different combinations of muscles than running, carrying a specified kit list is always going to weight more than my more minimal set of kit for splashing and dashing.

And I'm scared.

Between my mate (whose made enough to sign up for this, in fact I think it was his idea) and me with a lot of hill experience, we've walk well as a pair and have strength in depth for something bits and bobs - we can both plan for England and also read a map on the fly.

But this is something more than the 26 milers with c5000ft that we've done in the past. This is one that'll go on through the night. All night... and through into the next day.

I just am going so beyond what I know I can do that it's almost unimaginable. This is double the distance of my longest one hit event...

Right, head shook and gave myself a gentle rap on the noggin! Stop the negative spiral of thinking!

This is something that all of my runs and walks for the last couple of years can be said to be leading to. I can run a marathon, I've done fell-run half marathons and ultra-marathons. I may not finish this event, but anyone can get injured on any event. On fell runs there are time cut-offs, if we don't make it then we know what to do next time - get fitter, get faster.

Next time won't be next year - I've an appointment to finish a run on The Mall - London 2014 I will be there. But that's next year, my focus is now on next Sunday - time to go and see what I can do.

TTFN

Paul

Rapture Postponed...

2013-03-24T19:38:00.001Z

No, not a post apocalyptic religious loon post...

I've been looking forward to Rivington, it was going to be hard, cold work and definitely more of a speed hike than a run (my kit sorted that out). It was cancelled for the best of reasons, safety... According to the excellent information the organisers couldn't get the car up to the start or the feed stations, so apart from no food, if any of us had come a cropper we'd have had problems getting out!

So the paths around home are in a more dangerous state than I care to run in - yes that sounds odd, but on flat pavements with ice in patches I'd be at more risk than on a hill... It's the patches that would get me... which leaves me grumpy, on a mild carbo-high and champing at the bit to do something!!!

I also have an essay due in on Thursday, so having to concentrate instead of just running is doing my head in... Oh well, there's plenty out there that does my head in (a mild rant - READ stuff, UNDERSTAND stuff, and then only if you are really sure you know what's going on comment!!!) and I can't control much of it.

So to assuage my ill humours a weekend of hard walking has been planned for a fortnights time, my last heavy training before the Fellsman. Which is a bit of joke, there hasn't been that much heavy training at all this year...

Grump Grump Grump

The good news is the organisers of Rivington should let us know soon of a rescheduled date, my talk to The Down's Heart Group went well (the parents laughed in the places I hoped they would and some kindly gave positive feedback), I've a day off tomorrow to write my essay, visit a museum or two and climb my arms off...

I also have the Fellsman to plan - for those who don't know, the Fellsman is 60 miles & 11,000ft of continuous walking - in c36 hours... Yes I am scared.

On which note...

TTFN

Paul

Between Fun & Rapture...

2013-03-17T19:30:00.001Z

The fun in the fens was freezing, a howling wind driving sleet and snow into our faces...

However, it was a damn good course and I ran very well for someone with as little training in as I have at the moment. My second fastest Half, in hostile conditions - I can live with that:-)

The rest of the week has been my usual mix of busyness with work and busyness with charity stuff... and a run...

The Midshires Way is a fairly big trail.. Though based on the conditions underfoot it isn't used much in winter, and I can see why. In trail shoes I should be able to keep moving forwards, rather than 3 forward and 1 sideways.... I felt a bit better when I saw a sheep goes sideways down a hill... So not fast, but tough.

A night at an excellent youth hostel and the rest of the Monsal Trail saw me into Bakewell in time for an early lunch, a mooch around the shops and then back to Liverpool for some cross-training - or Ceilidh dancing as its otherwise known.

All went well, my slightly dodgy ankle is slightly dodgy... The weather for next weekend is light flurries of snow, so Cambridge was good training for that...

My objective for next weekend is simple - make it through in under the 10h cut off... I know most of the course from previous walks and runs, and walking should bring me in under that time, so a bit of jogging will be to the good...

This week is about gentle carboloading, keeping myself functioning and loose...

Next weekend will hurt, but should be fun:-)

TTFN

Paul

High Speed Hopscotch...

2013-03-03T18:57:00.003Z

This was my fun run, a gentle 10 miles over and around some of my favourite countryside.

Nothing special.

And I smiled and I loved it.

Yes, my pack was overloaded (trying to do an overnight with a 20l running sack was a push). Yes, I was slower than I should be (must remember to focus).

However, up past North Lees Hall (home to the Eyres) and through some damn fine bouldering - I was amazed a climber was up and cranking as I went past (ok, they could drive up closer than me). Up through the cleft up onto the Edge itself, and then the hopscotch began... From rock, to rock, via bog and clumps of snow. It wasn't fast at all, just gentle plodding, faster than I'd walk; slower than I'd run.

Then across to Burbage Rocks, more hopscotch or the gentler path? For once I took the gentler path, half a mind on next weekends, and meandered down, along the road for a bit before the detour to Millstone Edge, a cut down through an industrial archaeologist's wet dream, and then into Hathersage along the Derwent.

10 and a quarter miles run, 1500ft up and down, in metric, 16.45km & 460m. That'll do, it'll have to do... I don't think Cambridge will be so hilly...

TTFN

Paul

ps the difference in height gain - I map on OS mapping, the US military doesn't include every lump and bump...

Time to focus

2013-03-01T21:10:00.002Z

Ok, The training's not been brilliant, in fact compared with most years it's pretty much non-existent...

But the next two biggies aren't the target for the year...

Focus...

The main target is 100 miles in 3 and a bit days in August.

Focus...

All of this is just training, just getting the kit right, just getting me right...

Focus...

Two good runs this week, a 10k and a 5 miler... Both after long days in the office, both on nights where the easiest thing would've been to stay in and do something else instead.

Focus...

This weekend is mainly fun, a 10 mile run up to and along the edges over Hathersage. Speed isn't the issue, getting the 10 miles in my legs is.

Focus...

I need to get my fuel and hydration back to how good it was - I'm not bad, but I can, and must, do better - mainly drink more when running and afterwards.

Focus...

So, on to Fun in the Fens - The Cambridge Half Marathon, followed 2 weeks later by Rapture at Rivington Montane Ultra Trail 26 - March is going to be fun:-)

Focus...

This is fun, this is good for me, and this is something that makes me smile... Last doesn't matter, slow never matters, trying and doing matters

TTFN

Paul

Running out of time...

2013-02-24T22:25:00.002Z

The cold has finally gone, I've managed two good runs and a couple of longish walks this week. No ill effects, I even managed to drink and run at the same time without choking:-)

So where am I in terms of my training?

I can readily run 10km, I can run at full pelt on up to about 5 miles. I've not gone further than 10km and I've not done much speed training.

Oh, and I'm two weeks away from a half-marathon and 4 weeks away from an off-road marathon.

My every rule in the book I should be a little worried, but this is where all of the run last year come into play. I know these runs are going to hurt, I know I can do them and stay hale and healthy and I know that thoughts of PB's and good times are will of the wisps. These runs are now probably what they should have been from when I booked them, staging posts on to the rest of the year and the madness that is yet to come.

At various points last year I was knocking off half marathons for fun, 2 in one weekend, one an evening after work. It is that confidence I need to channel over the next couple of weeks, paced and focused running - two runs in the week and then an offroad jolly next weekend. Then a gentle taper, one of the quirks of my running is that I've got my best times when I haven't tapered, my strength and confidence seem to be linked more than the normal carbohydrate and muscle tiredness regimes others use successfully.

So, miles to do (and an essay to finish)... This weeks run were fun, both while I was in London - the first makes a delightful walk...

The second one was a trip to a favourite place... and a trot around a fine old lady with a shiny bottom

So, gym in the morning...

TTFN

Paul

There's a me shaped indent in the beach...

2013-02-17T19:30:00.003Z

The nightrunner series on the face of it is a little bit mad....

Take a trail or fell run... Take some runners... Make sure they have headtorches... wait until after dark... and let them go!

The most local one of these to me was yesterday on Formby beach, part of the Sefton dune system. During the day I'd be (in warmer weather) looking out for Natterjack toads, a local speciality and a national rare species.

In February, any self-respecting toad is going to be hibernating and the local wildlife was best described as human (probably) and gobby (definitely) AKA scallies... Their dulcet tones greeted us during one stage of the run.

There were three distinct types of terrain I either ran on, jog/stumbled on or walked through slowly... That'll be trails, the beach and sand, deep sand! On the trails I was keeping up with the group of friendly runners I'd started with at the back of the pack, on the beach I was doing fine until I went flying... Splat... I tripped over a washed up brick... Dusting (sanding?) myself off and plodding along was the order of the day, until the next brick... Ho Hum!

The soft sand was a nightmare, I sank in it... often up to my ankles, adding to the fun, honest;-)

My vague target was something around 65 min - I was allowing 10min for the terrain and for the night running thing... 67:50 was the final scores on the Garmin's doors, so I'll live with that:-)

The cold and lurgy finally seem to have shifted, my evidence is my appetite is not longer on hyper-drive and I'm irritated that because tomorrow is complicated I won't be getting to the gym first thing! Hey ho, such is life...

TTFN

Paul

Progress... A tail of three Mad Dogs

2013-02-10T20:33:00.001Z

I love the Mad Dog 10k...

It's early enough in the year that I don't put myself under too much pressure... And at just the right point to give me an indication for the half, full and Ultra's to come.

It's also a crackingly well organised run, all for charity as well!!!

The Garmin does provide some simple analyticals - and when I look across the years I smile, and frown...

The smile, I'm quicker than I was last year.

The frown - if I'd run the last 2km of last year I'd have been knocking on the door of a PB... Bugger... However, by that point I'd had to stop to drink and eat... Running with a blocked nose may be possible, and up to 5km seemed good (hell a 30min 5km is good!)... Trying to drink, and run at the same time, is not such a good idea... I did wheeze, and I did try and breathe water, and I did go red!

Ho hum...

Positives - I was faster than last year... It was cold, I had a cold, I finished and I got a cracking t-shirt and stunning medal:

I also made youtube... linky to youtube - I'm at about 3:10...

Right enough navel gazing, I've a half marathon in Cambridge to get ready for, and an offroad marathon... Both in March... Hmmmm....

TTFN

Paul

Fitbit - gadget & customer service!

2013-02-09T22:07:00.001Z

I don't often write reviews... Occasionally my run writes ups are like reviews, occasionally a company does something nice for the cause and gets a thank you...

This is a bit of a review and a lot of a thank you!

The idea behind Fitbit is simple - a total activity monitor... How many steps a day, how many flights of stairs, how many calories... It's a pedometer with bells and whistles. It's not a GPS watch (got one of them) it is nice and small (think USB stick).

And so it clips on to your belt, or bra (their advice not mine!) and just monitors you day in day out and the real selling point for me monitors your sleep - simple stuff on how many times you wake up and how long for. But a data point I've not been able to access before, and as regular readers know I'm a data junkie as well as a run junkie...

Now what's clever, and addictive, is that Fitbit adds at least two layers of "gamefication" (I do jargon... ) the first is the flowers, the helicopter emails, the badges - you do something, you get a reward - a power up in gaming speak. The second is the competitive element... You can play against your friends - a little league table of steps taken...

I love it, it would be very easy for me to focus solely on the running and forget I can do stuff during the day - the normal activity guidelines for anyone - walking a bit more, walking up a few more flights of stairs (yes even I get the lift from time to time)...

The Fitbit has been out on runs, on walks and even around the shops (Seriously, don't like exercise - hit the shops, plenty of things to distract as you wander around!!!!). And then I took it for a fell run... and somewhere on the banks of Derwent Water it fell off!

Which left me genuinely upset, odd that a small bit of electronics came to be so useful in less than a month... and being at heart a cheeky chappy I wrote to Fitbit and explained my predicament, offering to cough up if they had a refurbished one, or a returned one and explained that it was helping me towards Challenge 25 ... and they very, very kindly sent me a brand new one!

So a cracking bit of kit, and excellent customer service. You can find Fitbit here - I'm loving it and I'm only at the basic side of using it, there's groups and calories counters and everything else to try yet!

So a review and a thank you - neither of them asked for by Fitbit, as ever I'm a genuine soul... Now to double check my kit for the MadDog 10k in the morning, a cold but good race (it has a number, its a race) hopefully the cold in my nose is dead, the Fitbit will stay in my bumbag and all will be good in the world!

TTFN

Paul

Going loopy in The Lakes

2013-02-03T19:12:00.000Z

I booked this trip back in December...

Two night, 3 trips out...

I thought it would be a chance to practice my winter walking skills and if I was lucky get some endurance training in...

So much for the Great British Winter...

Friday night - cool and damp, wet for periods

Saturday - Glorious, dangerously glorious

Sunday - dank and overcast

My plans changed with the weather - Friday night became a 10 mile trot around Derwent Water - mostly offroad, rough trails and slippy boardwalks. Not fast, but it was a night run by the time I finished.

Saturday was all about control - the weather was stunning, the hills were almost empty. It would've been the easiest thing in the world to carry on walking, but I'd started to encounter ice on the trails around Catbells, and I was walking on my own... So I did the sensible thing and ducked down to see somewhere I never had before - Newlands Church, and very pretty it was too!

Sunday was a power walk to the top of Latrigg, a lovely little hill and then a jog down the over side and along the railway track back to Keswick.

Throw in decent food, a decent Youth Hostel, a gratuitous attempt to keep the Keswick shops open singlehandedly (most was stuff I knew I needed, some was a result of planning while running) and an excellent weekend. The only down (other than it ending) was losing my fitbit:-(

Totals = 45km along, 1342m up & down in 10h worth of doing stuff... For the imperials - 28 miles & 4400ft

Oh, and my diabetic eye test came back good:-) A rather good weekend then!

TTFN

Paul

How? It shouldn't be possible...

2013-01-29T21:42:00.001Z

A question I asked myself as I pushed for the last km at lunch time...

A question a mate (and far better athlete than me) said when I let her know how the first serious training run went...

A question I ruminated on as I dashed around this afternoon hating forms, despising ticketing machines and pondering the meaning of fate...

Basically, I set a new 5 mile PB, 50min and 17s. Not greatly fast by running standards, but 50s faster than my last 5mile PB.

Why "how?"?

I've not run a great deal for the last couple of months...

I've not run at all since my night run over Rivington, I've had a lurking cold that wiped me out...

This week I've felt better so as is my wont, and given my next visit to Rivington (a small matter of a trail marathon) is only 8 weeks away, I've been hammering the gym in the morning - hilly 3 milers in 15 min, followed straight away by 370ft on the stepper in 8min... Both Monday and Tuesday... Oh, I also climbed moderately hard on Monday night...

So tired, untrained, legs that felt heavy...

By the books I should have run a reasonable but not exceptional time - my target was sub-60min with a stretch target of 55min. Did that then...

So what's the outcome of my ruminations...

Hills... I may not have run a lot but I have got out into the hills a couple of times in the last couple of months. Although walking I'm increasingly walking "running style"... Light on my feet and light on my back.

Confidence... This time last year I didn't know I could run a sub-2:30 half, run an off road Half or even that I'd be able to finish an Ultramarathon.

Confidence... This time last year I didn't tend to run continually, I was still putting walk breaks into my runs of longer than 5km... Was it latent concern about the heart? Possibly... In fact, almost definitely.

Not deep thoughts, but probably good ones... So what next? For 5 miles - sub-50min... There were 3 canal bridges on the route, all damp and slippy... slippy enough that I walked them... 18s to cut off then;-)

TTFN

Paul

First race of the year....

2013-01-13T19:17:00.001Z

Race (noun) run where I run with a number on my front...

Night - after sunset

Hill - feature of the landscape that creates an upward protuberance

Off-road - not on smooth or flat running surface - broken cobbles, rough paths, tree routes AKA ankle eater

Cold snap - a period of time when the temperature drops. AKA a bit parky!

Combine all of them for my first event run of the year; some runs I do for training, races I tend to do for a variety of reasons (speed, views, enjoyment, challenge) and then there are the events - night time, off road running up a hill in a cold snap is an event run...

And I enjoyed it. My predictions were - no longer than 90 min, and I'd probably be in the last 5... I was correct on both.

I learnt a few things - two torches; one on the head and one in the hand, does help get a 3D view of the world. The headtorch on its own is good, but a very flat view of the world.

I need to get fitter, I knew that taking a light couple of months is always going to have an effect. However, I did feel fine for most of it, and ran well when I was confident of the surface and wasn't going up a rather large hill.

My gear works - to the point where I forgot about it most of the time. If that sounds odd, off road running uses very different running shoes than road - it's not just the amount of grip, its the amount of flex and twist in the shoe... and whether it's designed to keep water out, or to get it out very fast...

First run done, and I'm happy...

So, job done - weekly total 35km

TTFN

P

Challenge 25...

2013-01-06T19:54:00.001Z

Ok, it's 2013...

It's an important year for The Children's Heart Federation as we're going to be 25 years old.

A quarter of a century...

So how should this be marked?

The CHF website will have the details of the big set piece events - the dragonboat racing, the biking across Jordan and so on... But I'll be doing my normal of plodding the miles out.

My first target is going to be one I should be able to do - basically duplicate this year - 25 miles a week, on average for 52 weeks. 2092km in a year, 1300 miles...

So, with a mile and a bit between friends, a marathon a week...

The stretch target, the if I get it all correct target, is 2500km in 2013 - see that magic number 25... Ok there's a change of units, but I'm some loose grip on my faculties! 2500km is 1553 miles, or a shade under 30 miles a week.

What will make the difference between the two targets, well keeping it going throughout the year, my 2 months "off" following the Ultra kept my mileage down.

Can I keep it going for an entire year, with only sensible rest and recovery periods... I honestly don't know.

And that's perhaps the best way to be, as with so much in the dickey ticker world I live in, the answer is we don't know. The oldest of us are living so far beyond expectation that it's the only answer, my generation (probably 3rd generation GUCH) are such a mixed bag that its the only answer and the generations coming behind us... well with the improvements in surgery, care and everything else...

Not knowing isn't nice, so we learn from the science, from others experience, try and assess against older ones or just different ones - which is why we get involved with groups like the CHF.

Which is why I'm off into the unknown - 2500km.

This year, so far - 30km - 15km run, 15km walked.

So anyone fancy joining me on a journey into the unknown - your Challenge 25 can be something completely different

TTFN

Paul

So that was 2012...

2012-12-30T18:33:00.002Z

As you'd expect there's going to be some running mentioned... But as ever its worth pointing out that like most of us who've ended up in this crazy congenital heart world I've been, at times worried sick about friends (and still worried about some of them... ), I've lost friends (and run with tears flowing down my face, and howled with rage at the night sky), and I've made new ones...

Meeting parents and especially the kids who've been through so much so recently always inspires me to keep trying, in my own way, to help. I can't do the surgical thing, or the medical thing but I can do the me thing. The me thing isn't just the running, that's just the easiest bit to share, and hopefully a lot more interesting (if only for the nice places I go!) than reporting back on meetings... and more meetings... and hours on the train!

One meeting I couldn't skip over in the Eurohearts conference in Copenhagen - every two years we gather, share knowledge, and love, and try and work out how we can work as a bunch of GUCHs better in the future. We don't always agree, but we do always have a cracking game of football - Bringing the World Together

If you are a running buff then link up with Kevin - he's a bit of a nutter, and is training for his first marathon in the Spring - https://twitter.com/Meinhardtoffice

So how do I sum up this year in running... The simplest way is this cut and paste from my Garmin uploads...

Garmin connect collects your "Personal Record" PBs in UK English for them, and puts them in a nice table. As I hope you can make out every date is 2012. From 5km to Ultra I've run a PB, and good PBs. It's been a 10% up to, and including, Half Marathon; 5% at marathon and just completing the Ultra was enough.

But, numbers are only a third of the story... The big two thirds was the fun I had and the awareness I raised... Each of the runs above were good fun, hard work but good fun. The runs, and walks in between, have been good fun too... The highlight was Running at the Speed of light - the second time a piece of performance art I've taken part in has been on the UK's main TV programme about the arts. Running up and down, and around in the dark on the side of Salisbury Crags will live long in the memory:-) As will my adventures in fell running - the mad descents on the Great Trail Half, the long boggy slogs across the Peak in the 12.2...

The best of the runs were with friends, often only seeing them at the start and the end... All of us running our own races, but keeping an eye out for each other.

The awareness you've seen on on here or facebook - the kind words said by parents (and the kids, especially the kids) makes much of the blood, sweat and tears disappear - so thank you!

I set myself the target this year of completing an Ultramarathon and doing 2012km in the year... I did the first in October and the second I passed with the company of damn good friends in November. I freely admit I've taken the foot off the peddle for the last month or so, but I needed to do that to let myself recover fully before the 2013 insanity begins. So I've added about 100km in a month - so my final figure for 2012 will be 2112km walked or run - just over 1300miles. 176km (109 miles) a month, just under a marathon a week, not bad for someone who wasn't allowed to do cross country at school:-D

I'll regale you with the plans for 2013 in 2013. So have a good New Year, stay safe and as healthy as you can be. Best case I'll see you on a run, worst case in the pub;-)

TTFN

Paul

That Awareness Thing

2012-12-09T20:12:00.000Z

I'm in a national magazine again... Talking about those of us born with heart condition and running. My running throughout the year and the target for next year.

In one article I'm never going to cover all of my experience of CHD, let alone everybodies. I get about 350 words, so what is my target...

1) To get word out there we exist

2) To provide a link for anyone affected who reads the article - I know that works, people have got in touch after articles about their siblings, sons & daughters, grandchildren, cousins and themselves.

3) To show what can be done; with luck, perspiration, stubbornness and a little bit of hope.

As I repeatedly have said I don't expect anyone of my friends, dickey ticker or not, to enjoy what I enjoy - I freely admit I'm bonkers, and most people agree with me. If I can use that enjoyment to help get some of the word out there about us then so be it.

So what am I am I in this time - Running Fitness Magazine, as this month's Inspiring Runner.

Job done:-) It's got a description of Fallots, links to the Children's Heart Federation and my justgiving page - that's 1) & 2) covered and 3) well the journalist has made me sound more coherent about my running than I normally do on my own so all good:-)

So, all I've got to do is get some inspiration myself and get my arse into gear and start the winter training... I've 33 weeks until the summer's insanity, I know what it took to get me through 50km, 100miles... Well, more of the same.

But for these evening, presents to wrap and an essay to write. Thank you to Running Fitness, I've never been a Christmas Centrefold before;-)

TTFN

Paul

New toy... :-)

2012-12-06T22:28:00.001Z

Sometimes a treat is needed, a luxury, something that you don't really need but want.

I could justify on my connected life being complicated, and instant access is useful. I could justify on the basis of the OU course... But really my new nexus 7 is a toy... A very useful toy, but still a toy:-)

Which is what I needed, something tangible to sit alongside 11 months of stunning running and walking as a celebratory toy, not another tool or bit of kit I'd use to destruction... Of course the first app I downloaded was a complete 1:50k set of OS maps... But you'd not really expect anything else... Would you? ;-)

I've been doing the non-running stuff for a couple of weeks, helping out at the CHF winter wonderland, meeting some lovely families and seeing Santa:-)

I've had my 1st, 2nd & 3rd festive dinners... Overcooked turkey is getting old already, and I like turkey!

The really good news, other than the toy, is my diabetes blood tests came back indicating good control :-) especially as it only measures the previous 3 months and they were the worst 3 months for mild overeating and lowest mileage of the year :-)

There should be some awareness raising on chd this week, just awaiting it land on the shelves (I could have been bumped, so as soon as I know you will)

Oh, and this has been typed on the toy:-)

TTFN

Paul

A pint of tea and an Eccles cake....

2012-11-26T22:06:00.001Z

Sometimes it is the simple things that are the best celebrations...

It was a good walk; we started in fog, moved up into a beautiful view of a cloud inversion snaking down the Derwent Valley...

We then walked up the millstone paved route up to Mam Tor, ducking and dodging the paragliders and hang-gliders whose pilots were enjoying the wind as much as we were thinking it was a bit chilly!

A drop off the other side of Mam Tor, a look at the battlements, and a pit-stop for soup and assorted lunching and then down Winnats Pass en route to Castleton.

Castleton for a midafternoon snack (occassionally a large snack) and then on into Hope. As some know I have a soft spot for Hope, it's a large village in the Peak District which has simple tea shops and a decent bakery, a couple of pubs and none of the Pennine Way induced razmatazz of Edale. It's also a nice metaphor when walks finish in Hope... Or for me, 2012 miles worth of walking and running... :-D

The immediate celebration was another KM worth of walking - it was raining and there was a teashop a-calling, and so the celebration was with tea and an eccles cake whilst merrily flicking through Edale Mountain Rescue's activities for 2011... A dash down to the station and back into Hathersage for a shower and a curry:-)

So how do you follow the miles that take you over a target point for a year... Simple really... You go for a walk the next day:-) Sunday was a 14km stroll down to Chatsworth, the Derwent was close to flooding and after sinking up to mid calf in the mud that used to be a path we opted for the sensible paved route.

Chatsworth was glorious in the sun, the Christmas Market christmasy...

So that was it 2012 km done, done with friends, in a place I love... Not a bad way of bringing up and passing a target...

TTFN

Paul

End Game?

2012-11-18T21:38:00.003Z

The miles they are beginning to flow... 5 miles yesterday, 10 miles today, add in the two fast-ish 5km's in the week and the bits and bobs and I'm getting close to my target for the year - 2012km in 12 months.

I've 45km to go - worst case I know I can do that in that in one go, probably just over 6h worth of effort...

That's it about 6h... I hate to think how many I've spent on my feet since 1st Jan to get to this point, and yet when I do I smile. I've been and done a range of new adventures... Which I'll round up when the year is up, as I may still have some more to add...

So where will I finish, if all goes well this week, and I get to run while in London at the start of the week, and fit a run in around Panto practise (and the day job), then I'm hoping I can finish with a few good friends on the flanks of Mam Tor. If I can't fit it all in then it'll probably be at Chatsworth House (still with a few good friends).

I'm not back to full running, I've not run further than 5km for a while, and I know I need to be shortly - first race of 2013 isn't too far away... and I need to find a hill, and run up it and down it many times before then. Yup, I've got a hilly one, or two early in 2013...

So I'd better get back to the packing, two days in London, two in the office... and then the Peak District:-)

TTFN

Paul

If its too good to be true...

2012-11-16T21:01:00.001Z

then its probably not true...

An old adage, but a useful one.

Those of us with long term health conditions learn to manage them (or chose not to) in our own ways.

Most of the time this management is learnt behaviour, if we do X then Y hurts, of if I don't take tablet A then B goes potty and I end up in hospital.

Some is received knowledge - we're told that if we do something, or not do something, then something bad will happen. We mainly get this knowledge from our care teams, but also from the support charities, our peers with the same or similar conditions, cultural references etc etc etc

And then there's the scary people...

They've got magic woo woo beans.

A short cut.

An easy cure...

They don't answer the sort of questions you'd normally ask your Doctor... Does this work? How many others use it? What are the side effects?

They will misdirect and shy away from the detail, they will offer you insights that "others" won't have, they'll attempt to make anyone asking sensible questions look foolish, accuse them of ignorance, and even when all else has failed attempt to seduce the questioner with appeals to their ego or even their wallet.

Somewhere along the way they say that modern science won't fund their magic beans because there's no money in it, they'll quote impressive sounding things that a Google search doesn't quite pan out as being a impressive as billed.

If challenged too hard they'll hide behind "it was only a joke" and then go back to their main thrust, ignoring the requests for evidence, ignoring the "put up or shut up".

Now they may not be charlatans, they may genuinely believe what they are saying... That doesn't make it any safer, any more sensible.

Please if someone says they have a magic wand check with your team of medical professionals, the medical profession isn't perfect but it's better than someone who can't answer the questions....

And its not just me saying this - two links, one cancer related and one heart related, questions to ask...

http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Cancertreatment/Gettingtreatment/Questionstoask.aspx

http://www.chfed.org.uk/how-we-help/information-service/caring-for-heart-children/talking-to-doctors/

If you want to be able to spot the bean-sellers then there's a couple of really accessible books out there - Ben Goldacre's Bad Medicine and Stephen Law's Believing Bullshit. The second one in particular provides insights into all of the tricks of the "trade" in convincing someone of something irrational.

At the end of the day life is choice, but please make your choices best on the evidence you want to have - if you believe someone elses word then fine, if you want a bit more then ask, if you're like me you'll have your cardiologists, diabetic liaison nurses and GPs reaching for their books - before you've entered the room.

To finish a quote from own of my favourite films, I've used it before but it fits so often - Life is pain, anyone who tells you different is trying to sell you something...

Cynical, moi? Yes... But not inappropriately!

TTFN

Paul

It's coming back... Give us a quid...

2012-11-04T20:24:00.000Z

Slowly...

As if I'm awaking from a long deep sleep...

The desire to go further...

The need to go fast...

It's been a month, everything that was tweaked during the 50km should have recovered... The body anyway.

The mind takes a bit longer, at least mine does, I need to want to feel that strange mix of delight and pain of doing mile after mile. Part of it is seeing the objective, that target driven part of my soul that has kept me going these many months being able to reach out over the months to come and taste the goal.

It has been a busy month; the day job seems to have me shuttling to London most weeks and the weeks where it doesn't my representative or charitable roles do, an exam for the last OU course and an assignment to start on the new one, and various other stuff (you know the boring stuff that everyone has to do - yes even I have to do it).

However, I do enjoy most of it (the seats on Virgin Trains I don't, but not many people do) and the day job gives me the cash to support the rest of what I enjoy doing.

And today I went back to basics, back to one of the routes I've loved since I came to Liverpool the best part of 23 years ago.

I also owe you all an update on mileages, awareness raising and fundraising...

With today's 21 km I'm now at 1905km, so 107km to go, that's only 66 miles of the 1250 I set myself to go. I would dearly love to polish them off and finish at Chatsworth with the GUCH Walking Club - possible... just possible... hard work, but possible...

Awareness raising... well an interview has been sent off, a magazine will be doing a piece, hopefully before Christmas... I'm also chatting to some people about a speaking thing... There'll be more said if and when one gets printed or the other comes off... I am trying:-)

Fundraising - I'm officially at £850... I know there's at least another £51 to come along, and possibly a bit more from friends at work - so if you can please help me nudge up to the £1000 mark it would be really appreciated!

So back to the assignment, and possibly, just possibly looking at runs in 2013...

TTFN

Paul

An Early Birthday Present

2012-10-28T18:13:00.001Z

The weather forecast was that a Nordic blast was heading in, snow in the north and icy cold in my neck of the woods... A quick check of where there were beds in the Peak District and I was booked in for the Friday night...

The new Losehill Youth Hostel is fab - all new and sparkly, plug sockets and chesterfield chairs throughout - comfy beds, and early breakfasts... My sort of place (and dirt cheap)!

The where and bed came before the where and what I was walking... I know that part of the Peak District very well, and love it dearly the Iron age fort on Mam Tor, the rock sculptures wind blown on the Kinder Plateau, the sweeping lines up to Win Hill.

I've walked them in the rain, the fog, the snow, the wind and very occasionally the sun. This was one of those occasional days...

The route was one of those one that I've tried more than once, I've come off the hills with an arm covered in ice, because I couldn't see further than my outstretched hand and even because I wasn't fit enough to carry on.

The Edale Skyline, basically walk up to the heights above Edale and walk around the valley... all the way around the valley. The fell run of the same name is even more insane as it deliberately sets out to maximise the height gain - I chose not to be quite that insane... One large up (well a series of ups and one short sharp down) will do me with 20 miles in between.

The up Lose Hill is a solid slog, the walk along the Great Ridge, over Back Tor, Mam Tor and on to Rushup's Edge is one of my favourite walks and with views like this:

Why wouldn't it?

Coming off Rushup's Edge it's the terror of bog squelching across Brown Knoll, this is one of the bleakest miles of walking in the country, you sink up to your knees, peat bog gripping your legs and boots not wanting to let go as your other legs starts sinking. Saturday wasn't too bad... If only because there was a thick crust of ice so I only sank through a couple of times.

Across the Knoll and I'm on the Kinder Plateau, rocky under foot, often more like a boulder field than a walk, the wind sculptures eerily shaped:

This is the Pagoda.

The Southern Edge of Kinder means navigating around and across deep streams, and their cloughs, cut by run off. Traversing the rock shelves along to crossing points, picking the points where I could step across avoiding the ice, taking a tumble wouldn't be good!

The stretch off the Plateau is just beautiful walking, views up to Win Hill:

The walking is easy, the pace was good, and for the first time in the day it warmed up enough for me to take my hat and gloves off... And to celebrate I paused and tried to show the views...

Not a bad view... Win Hill was busy, and why wouldn't it be? So this is a panorama from another trip up there

The its a simple drop down to the train station and home...

So why a Birthday Present? Because the last proper go I had at this walk was on my 40th, 50 weeks ago... Then I was beaten by the weather, today I wasn't. I hoped to get back in the year and do the walk - and I just made it in time:-)

Oh, and the new food diary has arrived, and the runs and walks for next year are beginning to be planned... so time to finish my 3 weeks of recovery and start building up for the next years worth of madness;-)

TTFN

Paul

Winter is coming:-) Me being me....

2012-10-21T19:39:00.000+01:00

The long range forecast has spoken...

There's snow heading to the hills...

Temperatures are going to drop by about 7degrees between Thursday and Friday...

Time to start getting the kit together...

Bulk insulation - yup & works, it was a bit breezy on the tops in the Lake District yesterday...

Thermos - still keeps soup warm:-)

Spiky things for the feet - all covered, checked for rust, and ready for the variable uses...

Which just leaves me...

Post-event blues isn't quite right... My body has needed a break, and has reacted to the flu jab, and the absence of the miles I've put in. The various aches and pains are fading, only reemerging when I walk up a medium sized hill... My hip on the way up, and the knee on the way down... Oh well, it'll come back, it always has in the past it will in the future.

All that said, nothing used yesterday aches today:-)

So slowly I'll start edging back into it... I'll try and get the work group out for a jog this week, a couple of climbing sessions and a walk or two in the evening.

So, just me being me then

TTFN

ps Wansfell Pike & Troutbeck

Distractions

2012-10-14T20:44:00.002+01:00

I should be revising (I've an OU exam on Wednesday)...

I should be ironing a shirt (don't faint people I'm interviewing tomorrow)...

I should be washing up...

And I'm not...

I'm distracted...

I've found my next challenge - 9 months of training begins soon...

100 miles in 3 and a half days - along the Cotswold Way... Combining the my loves of running, long distance walking and camping - for the organisers will carry my tent and non-running gear between "Runner's Villages".

And like all of my best insane challenges it scares even me - basically a trail half marathon, followed by 2 trail marathons and then a 33 mile Ultra... Might not be the fastest runs I've ever done <wibble>,

And hence my distraction... I know there's no point thinking of the training I will do until after the exam, until there's running back in my legs... But still I'm on the hunt for stuff to do...

The Derwent Heritage Trail - 55 miles in 2 days sounds good
More sections of the Transpennine - Bootle to Manchester on Day 1 and Manchester to ? on Day 2...

Ohhh... they sound good...

But now I must, must focus... I have an exam to pass on Wednesday... An interview to do tomorrow...

Oh sod it off to the runners world events listings I go...

TTFN

Paul