Running and stuff

Pic caption: Running the London Marathon in 2010 was a great day, post-race recovery, not so great.

For the first time since I hobbled home after completing my first London Marathon in 2010, I am feeling excited about training to do it all over again - this time in Edinburgh.
Running the marathon in 2010 was one of the most uplifting, life-affirming moments of my life, when I conquered not only 26.2 miles but several demons along the way.
Afterwards, it was shite.
I never wanted to think about running again, hated the thought of poncing around in lycra shorts and the idea of begging my friends and online acquaintances for hard-earned cash was unbearable.
It is a universal truth, according to me and Marc Cooper, that once you have achieved that impossible task, whether running a marathon, or cycling from Bristol to London, or fathoming a self-assessment tax form, doing it again is actually twice as hard.
Or as those multi-championship winning football managers will tell you, winning the league once is one thing, defending the title is a whole other challenge.
Anyway, for those reasons and many others, mainly involving cake, real ales and a general aversion to stretching anything other than my waistline, running anything more strenuous than a virus scan on my laptop has been out of the question.
But, rather like the memory of childbirth, (I'm told) the pain has receded far enough for me to forget what a particularly stupid and unnatural thing running 26 miles really is, and I'm back in the saddle/running shoes and looking forward to taking on Edinburgh next year.
I do quite enjoy the challenge, and I kind of wish I could say that I deliberately piled on four stone since the last marathon in order to make it all worth doing again, but really, that was mostly down to the aforementioned cake and beer.
Over the past few weeks I have been back into running and today managed just over 3.5 miles up and down the picturesque River Avon Trail. Only 23 or so to go.

So, aside from wanting to get back into a whole wardrobe of natty M&S shirts and suits that haven't seen the light since the last Labour government, I have also been personally motivated this year to raise money for cancer charities.
Both myself and Amy, my long-suffering other half, have lost family members down the years, and 2012 has seen good friends and loved ones also lost too young.
I am looking to raise £1000 to be split between Cancer Research UK and Bristol charity St Peter's Hospice.
I wish I could do more, I wish I was a brilliant research scientist or a gifted surgeon, but as those career paths (as well as any others half way useful) are closed, I can do something else, like run a marathon. And you can help me, by supporting my effort in any way you can.

I am fundraising through Virgin Money, as all the donation goes to the charity, and you can find the page here: www.virginmoneygiving.com/SimonPeevers

But, in addition to the usual tales of the tribulations of training, I will also hope to offer a bit more in terms of useful information about running, what to eat, how to fit your training around a busy working schedule and asking for any tips on how to achieve all of that.

If you are taking on a similar challenge, get in touch, would be great to hear about your experiences too.

Breaking news...breaking news....

Okay, so, I have now entered the Edinburgh Marathon, which takes place on May 26 next year.
This is a serious attempt to take on the greatest challenge in long distance running, following what I felt was a successful run in London two years ago.
But also, we have lost too many good people recently to cancer, and I am looking to raise as much as I can for the charities which work so hard to care for those living with the disease.

More updates to follow soon, as well as fundraising stuff, but also trying to think of ways to make this more interesting than every other running blog out there, suggestions welcome!

This is why I run

When I mention to some people that I am in training to run the London Marathon 2012, they often ask, 'why the hell would you want to do that?'. On the face of it, it's a fair question as for somebody of my athletic ability running a full length marathon takes in excess of five hours on the day and about six to 12 months training. On top of working full time, trying to organise a wedding and thinking impossible dreams like buying a house.
But every now and then there are some big obvious reminders as to why I am looking to spend my winter evenings plodding round Bristol on the training treadmill towards April 2012 for my Olympic year marathon.
Anyway, we were just on a holiday and I had to take the chance to get a picture outside Rye's favourite teashop, see pic below:

I thought it might serve as a timely reminder of what being called Simon and eating all the pies really does to a man. Which is why since returning from our Kent sojourn I have been running three times, including a three miler yesterday and lost five pounds, a good couple of pies in my book.

So, I'm posting this picture today to serve as a reminder, if any is needed, as to exactly why I need to run, and, more importantly, stop eating pies. Nothing too deep or philosophical about it, no need to strive to find inner-peace, or to reach a point of zen tranquility to immerse myself in complete understanding of humanity, more like wanting to fit into a pair of jeans that I last wore in March 2010 which cost £40 and that's a lot of bloody money in this day and age to be stuffed at the back of a wardrobe devoid of any practical use. Come to think of it, an entire rack of shirts is hanging like a row of Lib Dem principles in my cupboard, utterly forgotten and unlikely to see the light of day for a while to come.
So instead of spending what hard-earned money I have left after the monthly outgoings on clothes that get a couple of days out before somehow shrinking beyond all wearability, I am, to paraphrase RUN DMC, going to take Take The Fat Back, mother lover. And that means running, lots, and for long distances. Or until I collapse.

London 2012, here I come

Came home to find the letter from British Heart Foundation I've been waiting for confirming my place in the London Marathon for next year. Amazing!

Now all I have to do is get marathon fit in eight months and three days. Easy!

Very excited and if I make it all the way to the finish line on April 22, I will be able to say that I took part in London 2012 and let people make up their own mind as to whether I was referring to the Olympics and wonder if that could possibly be true.

I did a run

And I sort of liked it.
My friend Marc has suggested we start running again, just once a week to get warmed up as he knows I want to get back in the right shape.
I tried to squeal out of our first outing this evening with a pile of work in front of me and the prospect of running in the rain looking less appealing. But he kicked my ass, in a texting kind of way, and I'm most glad he did as I felt much better for half an hour or so of flumping around the Downs. Flumping is the only word I think accurately describes the motion and style of movement adopted by the author.
It was only after I came away from the jogging experience that it dawned on me that there may have been some level of collusion with my betrothed in the sense that they both think I could do with getting out and stop moping around about how unfit I am and do something about it. I realise now they had ample opportunity to plot during a recent barbecue at our house where I spent most of the time eating and drinking myself into oblivion.
But as I say I'm glad they did as I rather appreciate the gesture and hope that it may spur me on to a healthier and less corpulent existence.
In other news, I'm still waiting to hear whether I have a place in the London Marathon for next year, and also hoping that will act as some kind of inspirational rocket up my ample backside if I do get one. Have decided that if I don't get a place for London that I'm going to try for Edinburgh in May. Need some kind of target to aim for so why not try for the highest peaks?

Fight the closure of baby heart units in Southern England

I'm going to go off half-cocked a little because I am not in possession of all the facts behind this seemingly insane idea to close down Southampton General Hospital's Baby Heart Unit.
See this link to Daily Echo story here for more.
As far as I am aware Southampton General is one of three baby heart units under review, one of the others is the Royal Brompton in London.
The official consultation period is underway and a decision is due at the end of the month and one of the units is going to close.
This is absolute madness in  my opinion. How can this government consider closing any baby heart unit, which save so many lives on a routine basis, in order to skim a little off the budget and make this bunch of asset strippers look like they're doing a good job with the economy.
A very long time ago in March 1975, I was born in the New Forest town of Lyndhurst, not very far from Southampton. Unluckily for me and family I was born with two small holes in my heart and an abnormal arotic valve, making life really quite difficult for me at the time.
Luckily for us the Southampton General Baby Heart unit was on our doorstep and thanks to the excellent work of that team of surgeons, doctors and nurses, I was operated on a year later and both holes were filled in, which is not too melodramatic to say gave me a lease of life I may not have been privileged enough to enjoy if the condition had gone undetected.
The valve was replaced, as planned, much later in 2007, by a team under the expert leadership of Marcus Haw, who is leading the campaign to keep the unit open.
I owe my life to that hospital, as well as a unfortunate lifetime allegiance to Southampton Football Club.
It makes no sense to me at all to close down any one of the units under review. If Southampton loses theirs parents will have to travel to London or even Bristol for treatment. As excellent as Bristol now is, it's not exactly down the road if you live in Southampton or further afield.
I don't understand why this proposal is even on the table and shows this government to be utterly out of touch with the reality of lives for many people in this country. What if a family with a sick child doesn't have a car, can't afford the travel, or the overnight accommodation that could be necessary. It already costs a fortune to park in a hospital, add to that a round trip of a couple of hundred miles in fuel alone and it becomes prohibitive.
It's simply all kinds of wrong and I hope there is enough pressure put on government to change this ludicrous and damaging kind of policy.

My vision for a fully-integrated, interactive soap opera

I have a dream, and it's a bit silly really, but why don't soap characters move around the soaps, it would be ace.
In real life people move around the country, indeed the world, so why not in the soaps?
Wouldn't it be great if Kevin Webster decided he'd had enough of life on the Street and headed down South for a new life and ended up working for Phil Mitchell in the Arches. Similarly, what if Alfie Moon turned up at the Rovers to get a couple of shifts while him and Kat looked for a house in Manchester, or nearby Cheshire like the rest of the BBC at the moment.
Even better if one of ridiculously good looking Aussies in Neighbours goes travelling in the UK on a gap year and ends up behind the bar in E20. Why aren't there any Aussies working in pubs in Eastenders by the way?
You could get people to vote on where characters go next, like John off of Corrie who's on the run with the baby, we could vote on whether he heads to Emerdale to work on a farm under another assumed name, or over to Chester to join the rest of misfits in Hollyoaks.
Maybe he could be found contemplating jumping off the Clifton Suspension Bridge on Casualty, then sent to see a specialist in Holby City.
This surely must be the way forward for entertainment in the 21st century. A bit like what Marx said about all businesses eventually becoming one big corporation under the capitalist model, all the soap operas of the world should merge into one big show, called The Story Of Life, or something similar...............
.................It's amazing the shite you think about while avoiding going out for a run.