January 2025

     

        Hi there, I’m forcing myself to write something once a month whether something happens or not, and to be honest, not a lot happened in January for me.

I ran a leisurely marathon which I wrote about in my previous blogpost. I ate healthily for about a week… The Piriformis syndrome has been a hindrance and annoying the hell out of me. I also had a shock when I stepped on the scales at 84.6 kgs! It’s fair to say that I really don’t like these winter months. We have now arrived in February though and this does fill me with a little bit of excitement and hope.  

         I kind of started January out by smashing my toes into the bathtub and turning them black. It was an accident obviously. Sciatic pain on most of my runs too and carrying an extra 4-5 kgs. Something has to change right?

      I did manage a few climbing sessions this month including a solo effort at Boulder Shack. I went climbing at Golden Gecko with my lovely girlfriend Clare who never loses any strength or form despite not going for ages!

 I also made a long overdue visit to Red Spider in Fareham where I had to update my 3 year waiver. Then I decided to run home from Fareham. A route along the A27 that I hadn’t done for years. I actually enjoyed the rolling hills and they weren’t as bad as I had remembered. I am definitely a lot fitter than when I ran my previous efforts. I was exhausted at 16 miles for some reason and decided to quit at Cafe Thrive. The 90 minutes of climbing probably had something to do with it and the 5 mile walk to Red Spider too. I was so tired the following day at work as you can imagine.

      I am currently reading two books at the moment. “Granite Kingdom” by Tim Hannigan and “The ultimate ultra running book” by Claire Maxted.

Granite Kingdom is a book about Cornwall. It really had made me want to go back and revisit a lot of places and people I know from living there in 2009 and 2018. I will have to book a week off at some point and organise it. Hopefully Clare will come too :)

The Ultra book is full of great information on nutrition, training plans etc.. Not that I haven’t run ultras before, but it’s good to read something to inspire you and get your head in the right mindset for it. I just have to do some training and enter a race now.

        I only managed one parkrun in January and that was Bartley park. I ran there and it was a lovely surprise to see both Jax and Helen, two old friends. I ran and chatted to Helen and we did some extra miles afterwards. I managed 15 miles in the end.

 

     The next day, Clare and I went to Romsey and we bumped into our friend Darren. We walked a loop of Squabb wood which I hadn’t really done since the Testway ultra a few years back. It was still boggy but there were no cows to scare me out of the fields.

Clare and myself also did a lovely loop of Romsey canal path where we saw 2 or 3 kingfishers which was a nice treat.

 

       At work I had signed up to help out at the Run Show in Birmingham. I was kind of regretting it to be honest. Friday would be a very long day and Saturday would be hectic and I wouldn’t see Clare or get to do a parkrun. Why was I doing this again?

I did get free trainers, tracksuit, t-shirts and shorts, plus the hotel, food and travel were paid for.

 

At 5.30am I had to walk in a storm down to Millbrook roundabout with all my stuff to be picked up. There was an accident on the A34 near Oxford and they closed the road but we made it to the NEC just in time.

No time for breakfast or coffee though!

        We put on our hi-vis vests and flashed our passes. It was hectic already with all the erecting of the stalls. Metal framework everywhere. Trying to navigate pallets with a pump truck was challenging. It had been a while since I had done a lot of heavy shifting. I did removals about 30 years ago moving furniture in and out of schools. Lifting pianos up and downstairs. The bad memories of hard labour were coming back to haunt me..lol.

 

   I spent a lot of time organising the running shoes in order in the stockroom. Before we knew it, it was 6.45pm. It was back to the hotel for a quick sit down before our food. We were booked in at the “Gourmet Burger Bar” for 7.30.

Have you ever been to the NEC in Birmingham? It is huge! It was almost a two mile walk to our hotel which is still in the NEC grounds. They must have about 20 Starbucks outlets in that place too.

 

        The food was overpriced and kind of average but work were paying :) It was a nice surprise to see Paula Radcliffe and Chris Thompson come in and sit down on the table next to us. I tried not to stare too much.

Somehow their burgers arrived straight away while we still waited for ours..lol.  

 

       An early night ensued and it was up early and out. I wanted to run a 10 miler but didn’t get up early enough. 6am was early enough for me. Where would I run? Could just do laps around the lake at the NEC? After some research, I discovered that Ozzy Osbourne was born just up the road in a village called “Marston Green”. Also, lead singer of “The Wonderstuff” Miles Hunt grew up there.

       It was hard work trying to get out of the NEC. Google maps didn’t have a clue where to go, so neither did I. I got out eventually and then ran the wrong way again. I got to Marston Green eventually. No Ozzy statue that I could see sadly. It was still dark though. I headed back and made up a 10k and took advantage or the free breakfast buffet at the hotel.

       I had trouble getting to the location of the Run Show. I got lost with a few other people. Then I saw this massive queue to get in. Luckily my pass allowed me to bypass this and I made it just in time for our work briefing.

It sure was hectic after 9am. I was running backwards and forwards from stockroom to the show with apparel. The crowds were tough to navigate at times. Weaving in and out, trying to get stock to the customers.

       It was a good day though but I didn’t really get to see much of the Show. It looked a lot of fun. Maybe I’ll go next year and do a parkrun first and just help out on the Sunday? I did bump into Paula and Chris again who were doing a talk but I didn’t have time to listen sadly. I also saw Sophie Power on the treadmill who broke the world record for 48 hours on a treadmill. Incredible stuff.

        I decided to leave Saturday and get the train home. I wanted to have a bit of a weekend still and see Clare. The train was delayed due to football fans fighting. Pompey had lost 5-1 and I was on the train with all the fans travelling back. There were other football fans too, so it was all kicking off. Soon as I got on the train, someone threw a punch at someone. We were already crammed in like sar-deans. More delays and at the following stop (Coventry), another fight kicked off. It sure was a long journey back. I was so glad to be greeted by Clare at Southampton parkway.

Would I do it again? Maybe?

        Anyways, that’s about it. I did write my letter about working flexible hours so we’ll see the outcome of that this month hopefully. I bought some new trainers too. I was talked into it at the Run Show by a speedy runner I know called Richie. The Adidas Adistar BYD range. I’ll let you know about those too. The piriformis is getting stronger and the sciatic pain weaker. Hopefully on the mend.

Have a wonderful February and thanks for reading. x