JogBlog running blog

I almost got up before eight this morning. I woke up at 07:55 and thought  if I get up now, I’ll be up before eight but I ignored myself and then at 07:58 I thought I can still get up before eight but ignored myself again and then it was 07:59 and I thought I’ve still got time to get up before eight but continued to ignore myself and then the clock was showing 08:00 and I turned over to look at the other clock in case it said 07:59 and I could still get up before eight but that clock said 08:00 too but I got up so I could at least say it hadn’t really gone past eight when I got up and I had a cup of tea and a banana smoothie and put my running gear on and emptied the dishwasher while my Garmin was outside getting a signal and I put on my ipod and went outside and my Garmin, although getting fully charged after each use, has for the last few weeks said it only has 9 hours of battery life, when it used to be 12, although I’m not actually planning on running for 9 hours at any point during my lifetime, so until it starts saying 15 minutes of battery left, I don’t really need to worry.

I start off down the road and it’s foggy and I think I’ve got to cycle into town later to get the train to London and I don’t know how to cycle in the fog, do I put my lights on or what and how will the car drivers see me? and then I think BUT I’M RUNNING NOW IN THE ROAD AND HOW WILL THE CAR DRIVERS SEE ME? I WILL GET SQUISHED IN THE FOG AND DIE! and a car comes round the bend in the fog and I can only just about see it but luckily it sees me and doesn’t squish me in the fog and I get to the safety of the closed off road where there aren’t any cars in the fog, only dogs, like the one attached to a lead held by a lady in a pink jacket and the dog is very small and I think you shouldn’t have small dogs, you should get a proper size dog like

an Irish Wolfhound as I did when I was younger as that’s a proper dog and I get a mile up the road and turn round and go back the way I came and there’s a woman with three dogs and they must be evil vicious devil dogs as she pulls them to her and stops while I go past and I’m feeling politer today and I say thank you and she pulls a kind of grimacey face and then through the fog I can see the houses at the end of the road and then I’m home and I get back on the internet and people are Tweeting that they’ve got their VLM magazines and I hear the postman put something heavy through the letterbox and I go and investigate and me and Shaun have matching magazines with some very pissed off looking people on the cover which means WE ARE REJECTS and I’m slightly disappointed but I don’t know why as it’s unlikely I’d have done any training or turned up to do it anyway.

Stats:
Distance: 2.03 miles
Time: 22:31
Pace: 11:07 m/m
Calories: 202
Fogs: 1
Cars squishing me in the fog: 0
Dogs in fog: 3
VLM rejection magazines: 2
Music:
Black Wire
David Hentschel
Avi Buffalo
Cardiacs

I’ve been slacking slightly less. Only slightly though, as I went to the gym on Saturday morning (which was empty. And I mean empty; I was the only person there. I’d been expecting it to be packed but nope, obviously all the people in Ashford were outside Greggs queuing for cakes) and today I did a short run. A very slow, short run.

It started off going up a hill, so of course, at 0.14 miles, I stopped to walk up the hill. I eventually start running again when it levels off at the village hall and go up the trail that goes through the field and Courtney Love starts singing She Walks Over Me and I can keep in time to this and I wonder why I can keep in time to this

and not to Audiofuel and then a woman with a dog on a lead pulls her dog to the side and stops to let me go past and I don’t say thank you as I don’t like the stupid countryside people with their stupid countryside dogs that they have to keep on leads because they are VICIOUS DEVIL DOGS and not the nice friendly dogs that used to be free to play over the marshes and not walked around the field tied to a lead. And then further on there’s another stupid countryside person with a stupid countryside vicious devil dog and she pulls her dog away too and stops to let me go past and I think aren’t any dogs round here allowed to run free? and I get to the top of the trail and I’ve done a mile and I only wanted to do two miles and so I need to turn round and go back the way I came but I don’t want to run past the vicious devil dogs again and so I go back down the road and on the other side of the road is a footpath and although I haven’t got my glasses on, it would appear the black and white things I can see the footpath is heading towards are COWS! I haven’t seen cows for ages and ages and I think shall I go and investigate the cow field? and then I think no, as I haven’t got a camera with me and I need cow based photographic evidence if I’m going to go and see cows and so I continue down the road and it’s quite busy and cars keep going past and as I get to a particularly sharp bend, I can see a van coming and I have to stop and let the van go past and I keep stopping to walk and I think how come, when I was just beginning to run, I’d never stop to walk, even if it meant slowing to a 13 minute mile shuffle but now whenever I get a bit tired, I just give up and walk?

Stats:
Distance: 1.97 miles
Time: 23:03
Pace: 11:42 m/m
Calories: 196
People in gym: 0
Vicious devil dogs: 2
Vans on bends: 1
Stoppings to walk: a few
Music:
Hole

Last week I ran 1.95 miles.

My legs ached the next day.

On Wednesday I spent an hour at the gym.

My legs have been aching since.

This can only mean one thing.

I AM A SLACKER.

What I haven’t been slacking at, however, is preparations for Janathon. No, that’s not a typo, Janathon is Juneathon’s new baby brother.

I didn’t want a Janathon. My loyalties lie with Juneathon but after going up to London to interview Sean at Audiofuel (no, I haven’t transcribed it yet. It’s taking me about 30 minutes to transcribe 5 minutes and there’s 50 minutes to get through), he suggested having a Janathon.

I said na (I did, really. If you’ve heard my accent, you’ll know this is true).

But then he mentioned it on Facebook and everyone said ‘yay, Janathon, what a cool idea’ and so I said ok then, we’ll have a Janathon. And because I’d meant to organise Juneathon properly next year and get a website running and make the guidelines clearer and get t-shirts printed and stuff (after okaying it with Joggerblogger that it was ok for me to take Juneathon and do my own thing with it), I thought I’d better get a website going for Janathon and so Sean came down to discuss all things Janathon and now I need to make a website and get prices for t-shirts and things.

Oh, and I ran another 1.95 miles today. I started walking at about 1.3 miles and then I was reminded of this video

and thought they’ve got an excuse for running like that, they’re just about to complete an Ironman.

At my current fitness, I couldn’t even complete a Tinfoilman.

Stats:
Distance: 1.95 miles
Time: 22:06
Pace: 11:19
Calories: 194
Janathons: 1
Tinfoilmans: 1
Music:
Delorean
Audiofuel
Cardiacs

A long long time ago, I was sent an email asking me if I’d like to try out an armband for the iphone. Not having an iphone and not having the teeniest inclination of ever owning an iphone, I emailed back and said no ta.

Luckily, apart from being a hypocrite and now owning an iphone (baa), I’m also not very good at clearing out my email inbox and so I found the email, and said “hello, you offered me an armband a little while ago but I didn’t have an iphone but now I do, so can I have one now?” and luckily the nice lady didn’t say no, too late, bugger off, but she said of course you can and she sent me the Belkin DualFit Armband for iPhone 4 from her website full of iPhone 4 accessories.

The armband is nice and soft and feels like the velvety inside of a cat’s ear although the website says it’s made from a lightweight, breathable neoprene and not cat’s ears, so vegans: you’re ok.

There’s a little slit in the armband and I don’t know if this is the real use for it, but you could put a coin or a key inside there or just do what I did and stick your finger in it and wonder what it’s for.

It’s fucking huge. It takes up more room on my arm than my Garmin 301 does and I wonder if running around with an expensive phone on my arm in full view is a good idea. If I was still at home in Walthamstow, then I probably wouldn’t go out with it strapped to my arm but here in semi-ruralness, I decide to take my chances as most of the riff-raff round here are two miles away in the town centre queuing up outside Greggs.

I load up my phone with Audiofuel, Stornoway (who I discovered when XFM played ‘Watching Birds’ a couple of weeks ago and which is now my new favourite song) and Hole and go outside for the first run in about three weeks.

The phone’s easy to use through the armband and although looking at it upside down hurts my eyes, I can quickly put it on shuffle and adjust the volume and then I’m off.

I just do two miles today and considering how I haven’t run or been to the gym for ages, I don’t do too badly and although the Folkestone Half-Marathon at the end of the month is out, I still might make the Ashford 10k in October.

Stats:
Distance: 1.95 miles
Time: 22:08
Pace: 11:21 m/m
Calories: 194
New armbands: 1
Music:
Audiofuel
Stornoway
Hole

p.s. I’m having a giveaway on Planet Veggie. Go and enter my competition. Now. Please.