The Highs and Lows of Lies and Hoes.

6 days to go

thesweatymess — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:49:14 +0000

Monday September 14th
6 Days until The Great North Run
Total Raised: £205 (Thank you Adam and Ellie and Emma!)
www.anthonynolanevents.org.uk/charleshogge
Distance run today: 9.6km. I am once again struck by how much smaller my world is than I realised (on a purely geographical scale of course). I went for a run tonight, and ran well beyond my normal sphere of existence down here: Out to New Maldon, back through Berrylands to the A3, over to Tolworth tower and back home again. Surely that had to be at least half the distance? But no, ‘twas only 6 miles. Less than two thirds of a mile short of half the distance, but still, not quite there.

Those of you who regularly read this blog will have already noticed that I’ve lost the taste for writing about the days on which I do nothing. I’ve either:

a) got a legitimate excuse, very few of which have been of any interest to you guys, or

b) I haven’t, in which case the blanket of shame lies heavy enough round my shoulders as it is; I don’t need to suffer further by soaking it in the pathetic excuses I would be forced to come up with, day after day.

So today, as I did go for a run, I am telling you about it. Tomorrow I won’t, so I won’t. We’ll see about Wednesday…

But yeah, my run was fine, there’s plenty more where that came from. But I am a little worried that my right foot is hurting. Nothing serious, just a kind of impact something or other. I’ll get myself some decent socks on Friday, when I’m back up in York. I’m sure they’ll be fine. Bring it on Tyneside, let’s see what you’ve got.

Touch of Madness
Progress today: None. I’ll explain later.

!!Emergency Announcement!!

thesweatymess — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:33:58 +0000

-NEWS FLASH- It’s just struck that me that in less than 10 days time I will be running 13 miles. Through Newcastle. That’s a little over 20kms. Now you’ll excuse me while I go clean myself up. Good night. -NEWS FLASH-

13 days to go

thesweatymess — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:52:03 +0000

Monday September 7th
13 Days until The Great North Run
Total Raised: £185 (Thank you Granny!)
www.anthonynolanevents.org.uk/charleshogge
Distance run today: 7km. I hate not having the little magical box that is the Garmin Forerunner I’d borrowed when I first began training. Knowing exactly how far I’d run at any given point was brilliant, and meant I could avoid the crushing disappointment I experienced tonight when I worked out how far I’d actually gone (once I’d arrived back and cooled down enough to touch my laptop without running the risk of fatal electrocution). I was hoping it would be somewhere around the 9k mark, but my overly optimistic sense of exhaustion had decided to call it a night rather earlier than expected, and the new route I’d taken meant that I had no previous evenings against which to compare.

Still, at least there was once again plenty more in the tank. I know you’re probably wondering why I don’t run until I puke at this late stage, surely every extra mile covered can only be advantageous? That’s probably true, but to be honest I think I’m pretty much ready for the big day now, and am itching to have a crack at the course itself. There’s something exciting about the fact that it will be the farthest I’ve ever run, and by a considerable distance. I know I’ll be able to cover it; the question now is how fast. Anything under 2 hours and I’ll be happy. Anything under 3 and I’ll be able to sleep on Sunday.

This is, basically, the last push now. I might fit in a couple of outings next week, but I’m heading back up North a week on Wednesday, and once I’m back in Yorkshire I’ll pretty much stop running and start carbo-loading: I can’t wait. It’ll have been worth doing the training just for the 4 day’s home cooking.

14 days to go

thesweatymess — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:47:13 +0000

Sunday September 6th
14 Days until The Great North Run
Total Raised: £85
www.anthonynolanevents.org.uk/charleshogge
Distance run today: 42km. Okay, it was never going to happen today. At least I had a healthy breakfast at the hotel and then didn’t get a Dominos once I was back, which under the circumstances was an act of will power equivalent to a full marathon. And that’s my final answer.

15 days to go

thesweatymess — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:45:14 +0000

Saturday September 5th
15 Days until The Great North Run
Total Raised: £85
www.anthonynolanevents.org.uk/charleshogge
Distance run today: 0km. I was supposed to be playing tennis this morning, but Mark (who to be fair to him was only ever 50% sure he was going to be able to make it) had to pull out because he was out with Pearl. It seemed reasonable, as they were going their separate ways in the evening. Mark was joining the convoy heading up to Towcester, one of a group of us invited to our friends Sam and Libby’s wedding.

The Boys at the Wedding

I won’t go into huge amounts of detail, because this is a blog about fitness and the lack of it – suffice to say it was a brilliant evening, filled with lots of alcohol, dancing and general good cheer. Just what everyone needed I think, and after an evening like that I don’t doubt that the Langridges will spend a long and happy life together (cos obviously that’s all it takes…).

The Girls at the Wedding

Oh, and we all ate quite a lot of cheese. I love cheese. There’s nothing better than cheese before, during and after alcohol, and when you don’t allow yourself to eat it very often, it’s all the better. I mean, there was even a house made out of cheese. I’m not sure whether it had any significance, but I hope it did.

The House of Cheese

Otherwise it was just a little bit random!

16 days to go

thesweatymess — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:34:32 +0000

Friday September 4th
16 Days until The Great North Run
Total Raised: £85
www.anthonynolanevents.org.uk/charleshogge
Distance run today: 0km. I know it’s not right, but I’ve pretty much written off Fridays as an evening for exercise. I’ve come to terms with that, and I hope that, someday, you will too.

18 days to go

thesweatymess — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 22:08:52 +0000

Wednesday September 2nd
18 Days until The Great North Run
Total Raised: £85
www.anthonynolanevents.org.uk/charleshogge
Distance run today: 4km. And then I went spinning. In retrospect, I’m not sure a ‘quick 4k warm up’ was the wisest of ideas. Actually, to be honest, it was supposed to be a ‘quick 5k warm up’ – but when I was still on the treadmill with 10 minutes to go before the spinning class began, I couldn’t help but remember all the stories I’d heard about how difficult this was going to be, so I sprinted the last few hundred metres and gave myself 10 minutes to cool down before jumping on the bike. Most definitely the right decision.

The spinning class itself was actually a lot of fun, with a surprising mix of people taking part. I even enjoyed the whole music and storytelling aspect to it (an exhilarating James Bond-themed pursuit through the mountains) – something that, if I’m honest, I thought I would just find a little irritating. The funny thing about the exercise was that it wasn’t my lungs that gave up, it was my legs. They just decided not to bother listening to me anymore, and while I’m confident I could have hopped off the bike, picked myself up off the floor and gone back to the treadmill, the cycling just wasn’t going to happen! I think I completed about half an hour of the 45 min routine before I had to sit down during one of the many hardcore hill climbs, and from that point on there was no coming back – I was done.

19 days to go

thesweatymess — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:57:20 +0000

Tuesday September 2nd
19 Days until The Great North Run
Total Raised: £175 (Thanks Granny!)
www.anthonynolanevents.org.uk/charleshogge
Distance run today this week. okm. It’s not been the most productive of weeks in terms of exercise, but I’ve had a fantastic time so it’s been worth it. I thought rather than try to explain each and every day, thinking up individual justifications for not having actually run anywhere, I’d just give you a brief overview of the last few days (remember, I work on Thursdays, and Friday nights are not made for running!).

A couple of years ago Mutti, my grandmother on my Dad’s side, passed away at the ripe old age of 93. She was an amazing woman who inspired incredible love in all those around her, and this weekend we were scattering her ashes into a Devonshire stream near where the whole family grew up. Rather than being a sad occassion, it was always going to be an uplifting family weekend, and so I was eager to get the 7 hour journey over and done with (so keen in fact that I missed the beautiful stretch of railwayline from Exeter through Teignmouth and onwards. Don’t ask).

I took my running kit down with me, and was actually really looking forward to pounding some coastline path somewhere. Needless to say, that never quite came off, mainly because on the two days I was down there we were up nice and early to make the most of the day.

On Sunday morning we all scattered Mutti’s ashes (having been ‘decanted into conveniant individual Christmas pudding dishes’), said some words and then retired back to my aunt’s house for a veritable feast. Most people had brought something, and it was one of those meals where eventually embarrassment is the only thing that limits how much food you commit to. Fortunately, when it comes to food I don’t really get embarrassed, and there was something architectural about the combination of quiche, curry, salad, chicken, beef, tartlette et al that I managed to construct on my plate. With much wobbling I got it back to my table and went to town. Glorious.

On Monday we were up nice and early to get to the beach and do some boogie boarding. We needed to make an early start to avoid the rain that was scheduled for lunch time, although as it turned out that never actually arrived. In fact, it was in glorious sun that we donned our wetsuits (alright, it wasn’t that warm) and headed out into the water.

Taking it old school

All misgivings about that sort of thing always fade as soon as your used to the temperature, which really didn’t take long, and a great day was had by all. And all rounded off with a barbecue’s worth of fat ribeye steaks when we got home.

Tuesday was basically spent getting back here, and although I was thinking about going for a run when I did finally make it, there’s something surprisingly tiring about sitting on 3 trains and reading an entire book (The Time Traveller’s Wife. So much better than I thought it was going to be. Brilliant in fact).

So here I am, once again putting my hands up to not having really done enough exercise, torn between thinking it’s more important now than ever and deciding that if I’m not ready yet I’ll never be. I do need to do a bit more, but I’m itching to have a crack at the race itself…

Touch of Madness
Progess today this week: None

25 days to go

thesweatymess — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:41:49 +0000

Wednesday August 26th
25 Days until The Great North Run
Total Raised: £75
www.anthonynolanevents.org.uk/charleshogge
Distance run today: 11km. I told you today would be different! I’ve suddenly realised that actually, 25 days isn’t a very long time. I’m really not going out running as often as I should be (I’m guessing as a reader of this you’ve probably known that for quite a long time), so that’s something that I’ll be desperately trying to sort out over the next 3(!) weeks. I took advantage of a free evening tonight to take my running stuff into work, change there and run home again. Technically, it’s only a mile from door to door and as, although I would dearly love it to be, that’s really not far enough to be of any value whatsoever, I decided to run home via the far side of the river.

So, duly kitted out in a raggedy old t-shirt, I headed out the door and into the rain. Okay, maybe not rain. Drizzle would probably be more accurate. You know, that typically English greyness that has, over the years, driven our entire nation to drink. After all, nothing beats a country pub in the rain. Except maybe one in the sun, obviously… anyway, enough talk of pubs. I’m making myself miserable!

2 miles after leaving the office, I reached Hampton Court bridge. A hop and a skip later and I was heading along the riverside path, passed the sign letting me know it was a mere 3.5 miles to Kingston Bridge. What really felt like no time later I was crossing back into Kingston and heading down the home side of the river, facing the usual internal struggle. I know I could run further. I know I probably should run further. I also know full well that I’m not going to. I have my route planned out in my head and I’ll be damned if I’m not going to stick to it. It’s a matter of idle principle. Or principally a matter of idleness.

Still, 11km with a lot more in the tank is an encouraging sign at this point. What I find frustrating is not the distance I can run, but the speed at which I can run it. Based on today’s effort, I’m looking at a finishing time of around about 2 hours. I’m hoping that, on the day, the sheer number of people and accompanying rush of adrenaline will put a spring in my step that a grey Wednesday evening just can’t.

Touch of Madness
Progress today: None. I’ve actually had a damn busy day today, which I always prefer to a quiet one; even if that does give me time for ToM. For someone who is so capable of enjoying doing nothing, I do like to be kept busy!

26 days to go

thesweatymess — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:05:32 +0000

Tuesday August 25th
26 Days until The Great North Run
Total Raised: £
www.anthonynolanevents.org.uk/charleshogge
Distance run today: 0km. But I did play squash tonight, so the lack of running was, in my own head at least, justifiable. Unfortunately, the game wasn’t quite as rigorous as I was hoping so it shouldn’t really have replaced 8 miles of running. Still, by the time I got home it was almost 9, and with the sun goes down my willpower. So here I am, once again feeling slightly disappointed with my own lack of achievement, but determined that tomorrow will be better.

Dammit, tomorrow will be better.

Touch of Madness
Progress today: Got another response. Haven’t had a chance to get back to the guy yet, but I’ll do that tomorrow.

As you can see, things always seem to end up waiting until tomorrow. And without sounding like a fortune cookie, isn’t it crazy the way tomorrow becomes yesterday in a little over 24 hrs? No wonder I never get anything done.