So what should I spend my student loan on?

So, most of our student loans have now arrived (for the students among us obviously), and that pay packet for all your christmas overtime is due to come in any day now. So the age old question of what to do with all that money that has appeared in your bank account arises, there are a number of possibilities.

Save it for a few big nights out after exams?
Buy five dresses from ASOS.com as they have free returns policy and you'll probably only like two?
A few new DVDs or games?
A mint condition polaroid camera?
Pay the rent and a big tesco shop to start the term?
A 24 carat gold macbook pro?
How about giving some of that money to a cause which will really make a difference?

Now i'm not suggesting that you all starve and get chucked out of halls/home for not paying your rent. However I know in the past I have used a chunk of that money just to splash out on some of the items which were on my christmas list but didn't quite manage to fit in Santa's sleigh. Please consider sponsoring me and giving to HOPEHIV, it really will make a world of difference to young people in Africa, the projects you will support don't just provide care and support for those affected by HIV/Aids, but also enable individuals to live out their potential, through training and education, transforming both their own lives and their communities! Changing communities for generations to come, making Africa's future one of HOPE, rather than despair.
My trainings gone very well this past week, I managed to run 15.6 miles on Wednesday which I was super pleased with! Its well over a half marathon and I was relatively happy with the time. My lycra shorts are so comfy and am having to stop myself wearing them all the time, they are strictly for running. I'm back in Loughborough now and my disciplined regime starts back again, early starts, eating better and regular running (and revising). My resolutions haven't gone well as I keep forgetting about them, I had 1 beer a few nights ago for a meal round at a friends house and accidentally ordered the fudge cake tonight at spoons. However I will not give up, I'll not just give in simply because I have failed once or twice, but will keep trying to be healthier. Hope you have a great week, and thanks for reading!

New Year, New Resolutions, New Gear

With 3 months and 7 days to go until the Marathon, i've still got tons of training I need to do and I quite look forward to being back in Loughborough where I seemed to be a more active and disciplined person (slightly) when it comes to early mornings and runs. I've completed three 10 km runs this week in a consistent time of 47 minutes, each of these runs have ended in a sprint finish as well which is always rather satisfying! I went on a run yesterday but tripped over a concealed root, then completely stacked it; I continued running for a bit but had hurt my hamstrings therefore decided to walk most of the way home, my leg will be fine given 1/2 days rest though so not to worry.
I visited Bluewater shopping centre on Thursday with Bex and Kirsty from uni, we even managed a bit of extra training by walking for over 30 minutes trying to find where we had parked! I don't like most of the clothes and fashion in the shops at the moment and therefore decided I was better off buying running gear, which I did. I have wondered about purchasing some lycra tights to keep me nice and warm on those cold morning runs for a while now; however I don't really like the thought of full length lycra tights. They would do nothing but make my legs look ridiculously long if I just wore the tights, much like one of the machines in War of the worlds, but with only 2 legs obviously. Or I could wear running shorts over full length tights, but this makes people look like they are wearing a skirt, which I equally do not wish to look like. But I found a reasonable compromise by purchasing some lycra shorts to go under my running shorts.  Along with a new running top which feels great. Below is a nice little representation of what my new gear looks like on me-ish, as I left my camera sd-cards up north. (there is definitely a career in art ahead)

I've always thought it a bit silly to set new years resolutions, many people only give in after a few days, or its something which you don't do anyway so its hardly a 'new' thing to stop doing it. But I thought one aspect of my training I'm neglecting is my diet, aside from my precision breakfasts I don't really eat well at all. So my decision is not eat chocolate (standard), no drinking alcohol (apart from on my birthday) and have only a little salad dressing with my salads, as opposed to the usual smothering of mayonnaise! I hope I can stick to them between now and race day.
The last week has seen some very generous donations from people which I am hugely grateful for, and I'm almost at the 20% mark for my total sponsorship which is a tremendous achievement considering I haven't started badgering people for sponsorship in person just yet! Student loans come in next week so it would be fantastic if you felt you were able to sponsor me, it really will make a huge difference to HOPEHIV and the work they do. Below is Tom's story, I thought I would share it as it really hit home that this is a young man, the same age as myself, and how his life has been transformed through one of HOPEHIV's projects, not just changing his life, but now also those around him.


Toms Story
Tom is 20. After his father died, his mum remarried and left, leaving him with his sister who had four children of her own to look after. Tom told us that he had to steal and work as a prostitute to survive, and that he used alcohol to help him cope. His life turned around when he was selected by Malawi Presbyterian Church Orphan Project (supported by HOPEHIV) to be trained as a carpenter. After training, he was given his own tools and is now running his own business. As well as supporting himself and helping his sister, Tom has taken on two apprentices who are orphans themselves. 


Thanks for reading, I hope you have had a great start to 2011, and that this year holds many exciting times ahead.

A Change of Scenery

So after a pleasant and eventful train journey, I was finally home for Christmas back in little old Cranleigh; all the worrying about trains not running and bad weather preventing travel were misplaced, and I was very glad. My training has been a bit hit and miss recently what with all the snow and ice which seems to have stayed beyond its welcome. I've tried my best to go running as much as I can, but after slipping in to a hedgerow and falling in to a gate I have decided to put my safety first if its looking a bit dodgey.
I've now run out and round beacon hill two times which is a run I really enjoy doing, not least for the fantastic view at the top which can be seen from the point below, although when I've ran to here it has been a bit more snow covered.

For Christmas, my wonderful brother and sister were kind enough to buy me some new headphones and running gloves, which have both been put to good use already. (I sold my old headphones to my mum for a very reasonable price!) It was even a toasty 7°C when I went for a run today so it was nice not to be shivering as I plodded on down the old railway line.
Its been really encouraging to hear a number of friends and family commit to sponsoring me in the new year, I know Christmas is always an expensive time. I've got a lot of fund raising to do between now and the big day on the 17th April as well as much training to be done! If you would like to sponsor me then please follow the link at the top of the page in the description, all money goes to HOPE HIV. Student loans comes in shortly, maybe the money you save from not going out one night during exam time could put be put to better use supporting young people in Africa, not to make you feel bad if you DO go out in January, but....just kidding. Any sponsorship would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading and I apologize sincerely for the delay in updating my blog.

ps. Now completed over 100 miles in training.

I need sponsorship, not conversation

Well this last week I have had the pleasure of being confined to treadmill running due to the snow. Running in the same spot for long amounts of time in front of a mirror, admittedly this is considerably more pleasant for me than most, having my handsome self looking back at me, cheeky bit of pouting if no ones watching. I managed 16km on the treadmills last Friday, I use the plural 'treadmills' correctly as I had to change machine after the one hour mark due to an unavoidable safety feature which stops the treadmill after 1 hour. Safe, if it warned you and didn't just allow you to run in to the dashboard thing. 

I was due to go for my first outside run this morning however I woke up with pains in both my left and right Peroneus Longus, which for those of you who haven't studied structural kinesiology or anatomy is the muscle on the lateral side of your lower leg, and is used in eversion and plantar flexion of the ankle joint...obviously. Heres a nice picture for you.

I think I strained them playing indoor football on Saturday where there is significantly more quick changes of direction than in 11-a-side which I usually play. Hopefully they should feel OK tomorrow after Jenny and Sarah (sports massage geeks) gave me some exercises to do.

The heading for the blog is not me being rude, I was chatting to a friend earlier and realized just how much time I now spend discussing training and the marathon, which is nice and I really like the fact so many people care about how I am getting on, or checking to see if I've given up yet. But I do really need sponsorship, I understand its Christmas time coming up (apparently) so its an expensive time of year, and obviously if you would rather sponsor me after the holidays then there is plenty of time and I would really appreciate that. It would be great if you could sponsor me now though if you are able to help me move closer to my target steadily (link at top of page) . Its so true that without sponsorship, from you all (my friends and family) then I am simply running as a hobby, it is you who is going to be making the difference to thousands of children lives through supporting HOPEHIV's fantastic work. My friend Ricardo suggested bucket collections at London tube stations which I will be looking in to, and maybe taking a few people to do it with me, but I really appreciate his suggestion, and any others people offer. Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a marvellous and snow free week.

Cold Progress

I would assume most of you are aware of the current snow and sub-zero climate making its home in the UK at the moment. Snow and sub-zero temperatures are two things I did not put on my running wish list when I applied for the (London) marathon! And unfortunately good cold weather running gear is not something which companies are handing out for free, however I got paid on Friday by the clothes shop I work in so decided to invest this in some protection from the cold. I opted for a long sleeve running top, and having never bought a brand new running top before I wasn't entirely sure what I should go for. I knew Asics were a good company who know a thing or two about running, so I chose there top without trying it on as I had a 15 minute break from work to go purchase it. I tried it out for the first time properly this morning (after having used it as an extra layer to keep me warm at church last night) and it was so very good, I can't recommend it enough, it kept my arms and chest relatively cold free (at -3°C its hard to be genuinely warm) and definitely made the whole 8am run experience in the snow more pleasant. Heres a picture of the top:

So yer, for those who are interested, thats a pretty good LS running top in my opinion, and not too dear at £19.99.

The last couple of runs have felt really quite good on my legs as well, the first few weeks I would run in the morning and for the rest of the day be complaining about how my legs hurt. Thats not been the case this week, as I now have a stretching routine before and after exercise which has helped immensely. Not just in recovery but also my calves feel much more comfortable whilst out running, and I think this, along with the few weeks training have contributed to me running the furthest I ever have in one bout last Friday and this morning cutting 2 mins 30 secs off the same run from last week as well as my fastest 1km in training so far.So a good week on the training front. 

On the fund raising front I hope to send out letters to various friends and family this week, and I have set up a facebook group this week: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_173588062660809&ap=1 so feel free to join. Please do dig deep and sponsor me, I've tried to make it nice and easy using the link below:

SPONSOR ME HERE

Thanks for reading!

Please no Snow!

Half way through my 3rd week of training now, last week I only managed 3 runs due to having a job interview on the Friday but I still managed to run over 21km which I was happy with. Tomorrow I am hoping to run 13km which will be my longest ever run and would be a good step forward, my challenge is to run for 10 minutes longer each Thursday, so I started at 50 minutes, and will be running for 1hr 10mins. Not very much at the moment by most recreational runners standards but come January/February time I will hopefully be running 2-3hrs once a week on top of my other 3 training sessions, which is both exciting and scary!

The weather is forecast to snow in the North and some Eastern parts of the country this week, and as I'm yet to get my running tights or training top I am really hoping it doesn't!  Heres some stats for my total training so far:

I have burnt off more calories than there are in 9 Big Macs.
I have run for longer (time wise) than if you watched all 3 of the Bourne trilogy back to back.
I have run the distance from Loughborough to Coventry.

Not bad for 9 sessions I don't think. Please don't forget to sponsor me, it would be great if you could all dig deep and contribute what you can for HOPEHIV. They are a fantastic charity, please follow the link from the text at the top of the page!

Against the Elements

Week one of my training plan has been completed, and I don't think I've ever appreciated a Sunday as a day of rest quite as much as today! I went out running 4 mornings of the week, and have covered 27km which I am pleased with. I've never done any kind of regular endurance training before and this is easily the furthest I have ever ran in a week. Although this would be fairly standard for most recreational runners. I also played football yesterday, we lost 1-0 in what was a very close game. I was expecting to be walking round for most of the match unable to run, however I managed to keep a good pace going for the entire match which is something positive to take away from it, and hopefully my running will lead to improvements on the football pitch as well. Fingers crossed.

The morning runs have been cold, which I expected, but also very windy, which I hadn't! Tuesday morning being the worst, the first half of my run was almost all in to a head wind making it rather difficult. I should be receiving a bit of money this week after my Vauxhall Corsa was scrapped, so I am hoping to get some new kit (windproof jacket, running lycra tights and gloves) to battle the elements in the coming weeks.

I've also managed to come up with a breakfast plan before and after a run. I usually head to breakfast at 7.45 to eat a banana and a small bowl of yogurt, giving me a good balance of carbohydrates and water just before exercise, and prepare a bacon and egg sandwich to eat straight after I finish my run, to deliver protein and carbohydrates post-exercise. And all free as I am in catered halls. Just need to make sure I remember to throw away any uneaten food or it makes my room smell.

One thing I have learned from my first weeks training. Train hard, Rest easy. Making the most of R&R is very important to good quality training and performance. As promised, here is my fundraising page set up through Virgin Money Giving, so if you would like to sponsor me it would be greatly appreciated!

A good week, thanks for reading.