My Family

There can be no doubt that my family have worked extremely hard to support Myeloma UK and have all achieved a great deal. All seven finished the Manchester 10k and I am especially proud of my wife Carole who finished ahead of many other runners far younger than herself. I am also proud of all family for giving so much to make this a memorable day. The money raised by many supporters is now past the £3000 mark and this is a fantastic achievement. To all of you who supported my family I thank you most sincerely. Myeloma is a terrible form of cancer and the money raised will help towards finding an eventual cure. This cannot come too soon as from personal experience I can say that it is very unpleasant.

The Day After

Yesterday was fantastic, I surprised myself with the distance I could run and the time I completed it in - 1hr 14mins 39sec. I am now wondering what I could have done had I been able to continue training.... maybe do it again next year and see :-)

The rest of the family did brilliantly and should be proud of themselves as should Geoff having to put up with having his photo taken with us sweaty lot after the race.

Thank you all for your generous donations which have helped us beat our target

What a family

What a fantastic family we have.
They have all tremendously well and I cannot express how proud I am of them all;both Liz and Kath surpassed themselves,Liz did'nt really expect to be able to run at all yet she finished in under one hour fifteen minutes and Kath has some significant health problems which have hampered her training significantly nevertheless she also finished the race in a very commendable time.Ian surpassed himself as I always knew that he would,; Alan has just got on with his training programme and said very little however I always knew that he would do the family proud and he has never let us down.James was a safe bet from the outset he was totally focussed on his goal of 45 minutes this morning and achieved his personal best of 44.15,knowing James he will now focus on improving even further for next year.Last but not least is my darling daughter who completed the 10k for her dad;she has never pretended to look forward to today however she has always said that she would complete the course and she did so in heavy rain and a respectable one hour 42 minutes.
Geoff and I have family to be truly proud of they are always extremely supportive to us both and there are times I know where we forget that they need support too.It is comforting for me to know that they all have each other.
Today has been yet another extremely emotional day for me as I knew that it would be,Geoff has been extemely unwell this weekend and I can only hope that things will improve.
Before I sign off for the final time I would like to thank you all once again for your generosity in helping us to fight this dreadful disease.

We did it!!

Thank you everyone for your generosity. The amount that we have raised is overwhelming :o)

I walked the 10K as planned (I did have a few short jogging spurts but not many!). I finished in 1:42:07 which I am happy with. At first I expected to finish in 2 hours and then I decided on 1:45 so I was slightly ahead of my target. I ranked 26674 overall and 6643 for my age group and gender.

I didn't feel tired after it but my legs where achey so definately needed a stop! I was disappointed that it rained - I hate being out in the rain at the best of times - so my last 3Km was miserable but it was worth it.

Definately 1 that I can tick off my "things to do before I die list" but not one that I would willingly repeat!!

Congratulations to my family, everyone did fab and should be really proud of themselves xx

Home and dry

We're all back home now enjoying a post run chili and cakes.

Here's a photo of us all post run with Dad :-)

Done and done

Well that's it done, the weather's held up to now, it was a good run, went off a bit fast and had to dig deep for the last 3k but I think I hit my target.

Phones Dad for a quick chat, phoned Jess to wish her luck, managed to see the pink start now waiting for E.

Thank you for your generosity, it's even more amazing in tough economic times.

We'll upload our times later, as I write everyone else should be running!

The Big Day

James, Liz and Carole have left to travel to Manchester for the event. Lets hope the rain stays off until they have at least started and at best finished. Having looked at the Just Giving Donation page the target has been exceeded. 2600 raised on behalf of Myeloma UK. What can I say? A marvelous achievement which makes me proud of my family. I am sure that when the money is in the confers of Myeloma UK it will be put to very good use.

All that is left to say is good luck to James, Liz, Carole, Ian, Kathy, Jessica and Alan and let us hope that they all exceed their hopes for a good time.

Nervous

Well its nearly here and yes I am very nervous. All the plans for tomorrow are just about in place and all fingers crossed for it to stay dry (although its not looking too good)

All of us will be running our own race and all expected in at different times. I wish all the rest of the family the best of luck and see you at the finish line.

Nervously excited

Well, we're nearly there now and the anticipation is there, I'm quite excited now, so what if the forecast isn't great?

Running's done for this week, just waiting for the big day now.

Ran to work and back today for the the first time, I've got to sort the rucksack fitting it was like running with a fidgeting person on my back!  Got to fix that before next week.  Other than that it was quite good, gave the security guards a shock at work.

What a week!

The Office fundraising was phenomenal,we raised over £600 and staff wore orange to support myeloma.I felt extremely emotional and I was absolutely astounded by the generosity of staff -what a Team!
I ran my last 10k before the great day this morning.The run went well eventhough it was raining heavily;I intend to take it easy tomorrow in anticipation that I can live up to expectations on Sunday.
As I write this we are only £50 short of our financial target -no pressure then!

Its even closer now

Well its Thursday and the race it getting closer, But after yesterdays trip to the physio I have been told I can take part (there was never any doubt that I wouldn't in my mind)but I have to take it easy and do part run and part walk, but at least it will get me the finish.

Lets hope for a dry day :-)

Hidden dangers exposed

Well, last week I chafed the top of my thighs, this week I ran in a new top and my nipples got the punishment! The dangers of long distance running are well and truly exposed.

Tuesday was wet and windy and that reflected in my tempo run time, what an effort that was. Still did it though and that's what matters.

Did the usual Thurs, Sat, long run Sunday this week, at least next week with the race it won't be a two and a half hour slog.

I've started checking my diet this week, I registered on livestrong.com and tracked my eating habits, straight away it showed I wasn't getting enough protein to support my exercise. Tuna and butter bean salad has been had twice this week, it's really tasty, honest. It's on the good food website if you're interested, I can heartily recommend it.

I can't say the diet change has made me feel any different but I need to shift a couple of kilos to get to a good racing weight so it's got to help in that department.

I think 3 10ks this week, Tempo, Interval and Easy. I'm tempted to run to work and back on Friday for the first time, I'm just off to look at running rucksacks online.....

Not long now

I ran 11k again this morning in the rain! I just stuck my cap on got out there after all it may be raining on the big day.Anyway I cant be seen to be a fair weather runner can I ?
I am much more inclined to run when the sun is shining though,I found it hard this morning there must be better things to do at 8am on a Sunday morning.
I hope to run 8k after the hospital on Tuesday and a further 11k next Friday;I intend to take it easy on Saturday so that I can be as fresh as possible for Sunday.Then it will all be over and the real test for me is to remain sufficiently motivated to continue to run on a regular basis.
I often think what life would be like without running and then I realise that it has really helped me to survive the past few months.Geoff,the family and I are now waiting with trepidation to see whether he is a suitable candidate for stem cell transplant,I am scared to think that he might not be.I have to assume that it will go ahead and that means that he will be in hospital for about 3 to 4 weeks,although life will continue to be hectic whilst I work and visit him as much as possible I know that running will be my 'me time'.

It's getting closer !!

I can't believe we are only just over a week away from the race, its come round quick considereing we first came up with the idea in October!

I have not been to the physio this week he gave me a week off from the torture known as treatment so I have been walking a bit to try and get the strength up in my leg and it seems to be working, thank goodness :-)Final physio session on Wednesday all being well, so fingers crossed to be able to run at least part of the race.

As you have seen I am in the same wave as James' mum so that will be nice a bit of moral support at the start although super woman will be finished well before me, I have no idea how she manages to do everything and run as well.

Lets all hope for good weather on the day.

Motivation

Had a great run on Tuesday, it was a tempo run as usual, all felt good even after a full day in work.  It was yet another confidence builder for the 45mins, all being well with a clear run it's possible, borderline but possible.

Oddly and for the first time in ages I had a niggle after Tuesday's run, it just felt like a bit of a pulled muscle, I didn't feel it whilst running.  So, I just did an easy one on Tuesday, it all felt fine.  I have noticed that my legs feel more tired whilst running when taking it easy than when running faster.  I've done a few searches on the Runners World forums and there're a lot of posts regarding the same thing but no explanations.  At least I'm not alone (or imagining it).

I couldn't get motivated on Friday so I ran on Saturday morning (the forecast was better for Saturday too).  I did a great route, up through Sunnyhurst woods then back through Tockholes.  At the top of Sunnyhurst woods the path was so steep I had to walk!  Looking at my GPS readout when I got home it appears to be a 25-40% incline.  The target is to be able to run that by the end of the year.

Then yesterday (Sunday) I really wasn't up for it.  I headed out planning to do 10 miles as that's a bit more palatable.  However, when I started off it dawned on me, it's times like this that make you a runner - when you don't want to do it but do it anyway.  So I did my full 26k, in a good time too.  There's no way I can train for a marathon without getting out there when I'd really rather not.  My reward was a pub lunch, a couple of pints and Liverpool winning 3-0.

17th May is only two weeks away

I slept in this morning so I did'nt run until after I had done my chores so I only did 7k.I do intend to run my usual 11k tomorrow though.
I have now received my pack for the run so it seems to be one step nearer.I am in the green group with Liz,all we need now is ideal weather conditions.
Geoff and I have agreed that he will stay at home on the day so as long as he is ok I will be able to totally focus on the race rather than worry as to whether he is safe.
The intention is that the family will come to see him after the race and give him a 'blow by blow' account over a well earned chilli followed by Liz' infamous cakes for dessert.
Thankyou all so much for your sponsorship,we promise not to let you down.