What a difference 48 hours makes - 17 Nov 2009

My last 2 runs, I thought Id compare them;

Kenya
Temperature – 31 degrees at 9pm at night (I ran at 5pm!)
Ran with – Kenyan guys Martin and William
Running Gear – trainers (my size 11s are now owned by Martin who has size 7.5 feet!), socks (now owned by William….perhaps if Martin had these he could roll them up at the end of his/my trainers!) and shorts (no tshirt, too hot!). No watch or wedding ring either (as I did not want me arm chopped off running round the streets of Mombasa)
Sweating – Broke into a sweat in the air conditioned room thinking about running outside
Thoughts – Tusker Beer (very nice indeed), wine and lots of all inclusive food
Dogs – the 1 dog I saw was more scared of me than I was of him (yes I did say that!)
Heating situation after – air conditioning on, to keep the hotel room cool

UK
Temperature – 13 degrees with wind chill at 3pm (but I hear the weather is better now than last week!)
Ran with – Liam, Noel and Mr Williams
Running Gear – new trainers, new socks, shorts/t-shirt, sunglasses (it was sunny for the 2 minutes before I went out and then within 10 minutes all the cars had their lights on!) and GLOVES (it looked colder than my previous run!)
Sweating – No chance, I could have gone out for the evening without needing a shower
Thoughts – Work tomorrow morning and the 8.30 meeting that has been planned for me in the morning
Dogs – 4, all of which tried to jump up at me!
Heating situation after – Vicki had the heating on….not happy!

It is good to be home!

Kenyan Training - 12 Nov 2009

Jambo,

I am currently away on holiday in Kenya but just wanted to say thank you all for the continued sponsorship. It is doing really so well and I can not thank you enough.

So 2 parts of this has to be my about my fitness and the holiday, as the internet connection here is so slow I wont have time to put much down!

Firstly the holiday is great. Its baking hot, we had a great 4 days on safari (saw 4 of the big 5 in the first 2 hours but missed out on a rhino!) and now we are chilling (is it possible when its 32 degrees in the shade with no wind) at the hotel.

Fitness wise, I listened to my friend Matt (ex physio for Derbyshire Cricket Club) and I did not run for 3 weeks (which was really hard to do). I did a bit of swimming firstly here then decided to give running on the beach a go (getting hounded by people trying to sell cheap local goods or trying to sell you a dodgy safari), before heading off to safari. At one of the lodges on safari I went on the worst running machine however it had the best view of a watering hole but the machine kept slipping and the speed kept going down from the max of 16.1 km per hour to 12 – what use it that with fitness training!

Then when I got back to the hotel I thought Id try the beach again and after this a local guy said do I fancy going for a run around the streets of Mombasa instead! I said yes and I have now been out twice with 2 Kenyan guys, Matthew and William. It is a bit of fun (very very hot running for 40 minutes in this heat) and I guess they are just hoping for my running trainers or socks, which seem priceless to the locals here!

Anyway, Im off back sunbathing now before another 3 course meal and all inclusive drinks – hard life I know!

Yes, the year can get worse - Fri 30th Oct

Just when we thought the year could not get any worse, it did on Friday. Vicki was made redundant! Unsure how a company can legally make somebody, who is very good at their job, redundant when they are on maternity leave however when a company goes into administration I guess all the rules go out of the window. Its great the government bails out banks however couldnt they do similar for a beer and wine company as we all need alcohol to keep us going.

Anybody got any jobs going for a very good HR Administrator??????

Ankle wise, it feels and I am told by a physio its getting better which is really good. Still no running so going to marshall (and get bloomin soacked) watching the Stevenage Half Marathon. I know being "slightly competitive" if I still had my number for the race, I would actually do it...........but probably ruin it for the long term! Just think of me when you see the rain on Sunday morning!!!!