Keep Your Balls Well Separated

I broke my golden rule today. Just after 10 miles, as I decided to try and put in a fastest final lap, my balls kissed and one of them bounced off ahead. I managed to catch up with it and keep the dribble alive but I don't think Guinness would be happy on marathon day - I'd have to come back to the point where they touched.
Anyway, aside from that it was a pretty good run. I'll get the stats out of the way first this week and then I can blab on about everything else. Ten laps, 11.20 miles in 01:41:41 which is an average of 9:03 minutes per mile.
It was warm again today. I should've got out earlier. There were clouds about which brought welcome shade but when the sun comes out it's a bitch. I've learnt to speed up a little when the sun goes in and the wind picks up.
I was wearing my new hydration pack today (I bought myself the Inov-8 one I tested last week) and also the GoPro camera. I wanted to run in exactly the kit I'm going to run in on Friday when I do the Brands Hatch 10k. And that's another story. I contacted them via their website to ask if they'd let me run. I heard nothing so messaged again and then on 25 May the charity Events Manager replied: "My immediate response would be no... safety... stray ball..." blah, blah, blah "...but I am open to discussion." So I replied at length, sending him video links, answering his questions and explaining that I could almost literally to a 10k jaunt with my eyes closed. After a little nudge on Friday afternoon to see if he could let me know before the weekend he said: "Yes we are happy for you to take part" so I thank you Tom Abbott (www.hokh.org) for your willingness to listen.
I'm lucky enough to have a park behind my house so a couple of evenings this week I've gone out to practise some ball skills. It's something I'll be doing more of whilst the light and the weather hold. I'm getting much faster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Gyvh1MH_Bw
I didn't notice until after I got home today and washed the filth off my hands but the index finger on my right hand has split. It's a minor injury but it has reminded me of the importance of keeping my hands well moisturised even in the summer. It will heal before Friday.
Someone on Twitter called me an 'oddball' this week for what I am attempting. Someone else suggested 'evenball' which look me far longer that it should've to understand.
So the next update I'll do will be Friday night after Brands Hatch. I'm off for a shower now and then I'm going to scour YouTube for videos of the Brands Hatch race track to see just how hilly it is. It won't be a problem but it's best to be prepared.

Kitted out

Don't Garden on Race Day

Another decent training run in the bag, although it's been a rather busy day. First to Junior Parkrun with my son, then off to a friend's house to pick up a new hydration pack to try out. After that I spent the rest of the morning tackling the jungle our allotment has become - first with a heavy petrol strimmer and then with a lawn mower. My shoulders will ache from just this tomorrow without doing 10 miles with the basketballs. I then bought a sack of gravel and spent 40 minutes weeding and tidying up the front driveway.
It was quite warm this morning but I knew it was going to cloud over this afternoon with rain on the way, so I went out at 4pm to do 9 laps (just over 10 miles). I was trying out a new hydration pack today, the Inov-8 Race Pro Extreme 4 Litre Running Backpack SS15 which has an unnecessarily long name but is really rather good, having all the weight of the water sat on your hips rather than your back and handy mesh pockets on the hip fins for Jelly Babies and gels. As soon as I started running today I was worried that the pack was going to chafe and that perhaps it wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be but as I ran the first mile far too quick (7:40) I took a few moments to make some adjustments and it was much better after that.
A few comments today. Nothing really worth mentioning though. I did get hit by a football (an accident I think) and I nearly squashed one of those silly toy dogs that got under my feet. Then there were the usual scooters, bikes and pedestrians to avoid. Oh, and a crazy lady started jumping around in front of me at one point, although it turned out to be a crazy lady I know - Hello Sarah!
I am still stopping briefly every mile to check my pace and have a few sips of water and I realised today that over the course of a marathon if I stop for 15 seconds every mile that adds up to 6.5 minutes. I can't really see a way round this although I might try going two miles at a time next week to see how I cope with that. It might save valuable seconds.
So I did the 9 laps I was after as the rain began on the final lap, which was 10.12 miles. My total time was 01:30:07 which despite a 7:40 first mile makes an average pace per mile of 8:54. I admit I was tiring a little towards the end but then I won't be doing any gardening the morning of the London Marathon. Last weeks pace was very fast so I hope I can fall somewhere between the two next week when I do 10 laps - about 11.25 miles.

Here comes the rain!

A Great Day!

It's been a very good day. It started in the sunshine as I was a marshal at my running club's members' 10k. I managed to get some really nice pictures to share with them too. Oh, and there was lots of cake at the finish. Then in the last games of the Premiership, Arsenal beat Aston Villa 4-0 and Tottenham got spanked 5-1 by Newcastle meaning Arsenal beat Tottenham into second place.
Anyway, to the basketball.
I went out at 5pm today with the intention of doing the 8 laps it was too hot for last week. And it was easy. But I learnt (both last week and this) how power sapping the sun can be. It was much cooler but the sun was in and out during my run today and it's so much easier when it's in.
I had two comments from children on bikes today; one from a girl about 7 who said "You're really good!" and then a brief conversation with a lad of about 14:
"I can do that!"
"Can you? Can you do it for 9 miles?"
"Err, no."
I did 9.03 miles in 1:16:58 which is an average pace per mile of 8:31. This is nearly a whole minute per mile faster than last week when I did 2 miles less. My last mile was the fastest too at 8:07. Very happy with that. I had more to give. I might try 10 laps next week.

Too Damn Hot!

It's been a beautiful weekend. I knew it was going to be warm today but I still wanted to try 8 laps of Norman Park, having done six last week. It's started off well as it usually does. I wanted to run approximately 9 minute miles but did the first in 8:30. I deliberately slowed after that but the heat was nasty and I decided fairly quickly that 8 laps was going to be horrid. Besides, I had a BBQ to get home and prepare for. Pride wouldn't let me do less than last week though, so I did 6 laps again and topped it up slightly to 7 miles. Even so, having stopped twice in the last mile for water my pace had dropped to 9:59. It was far too hot. My average pace for the 7 miles was 9:27. This is still (just) within world record pace but I couldn't have kept it up for much longer today. When I got back to the car it was telling me the temperature was 28 degrees. It's highly unlikely to be that warm in April next year and I sincerely hope it isn't!
Somebody in the park asked me if I was a Petts Wood Runner training for the marathon. I'm assuming they too are a PWR but I'm afraid I'm not sure who it was. Hello to you if you're reading this and thanks for your 'good luck' message.
I've decided I won't bother blogging about not losing control of the balls any more. You can just assume I haven't. It's extremely rare that it happens now (but for one last time, it didn't happen today).
I booked my place in the Copenhagen half marathon this week and also my flights. REALLY looking forward to that!

Danes Rock!

I love Denmark! Copenhagen here I come. Sunday 18th September.

Thank you Lars!

Back in the Saddle

Following Silverstone and Brighton, today was my first trip out with the balls since 13th March. Not a great deal to say about it other than the sun was shining and it was really pleasant to be out. I did six laps (6.81 miles) in 58:50 which is an average of 8:39 per mile. Pretty comfortable. No big deal. No loss of control. Looking forward to more days like this as I increase the milage again.
I sent an email to the organisers of the Copenhagen half marathon yesterday asking if they'd let me run that in September. It'll be good practise as I understand about 22,000 people run it. I figure the Danes are a pretty friendly, relaxed bunch so I'm hopeful of a positive response.
I'm probably going to run the Ted Pepper 10k tomorrow (without balls).
I'll let you know what the Danes say.