It's Official!

My Time & Position - According to the Fun Run website.

My Time was: 2:45:09

From 7000 entrants...

My Overall Position was: 5458

My Position amongst Male Entrants was: 3078

My Position amongst Senior Entrants was: 4672

So, as I thought, just over half an hour off last year's time - unexpected to me. Now collecting in sponsorship money - so far so good!

Done again!

It turned out to be a perfect day for the big event - bright and dry but not too hot.

This year's Fun Run was the biggest ever with 7,000 participants. Steve and I certainly felt more part of a crowd as we went round the course - it seemed that there were a great many going at the slower pace, so we didn't feel so much the "Also Walkeds" and we were less inclined to suspect that the spectators around the route, particularly in the later stages, offered their applause and shouts of encouragement from pity or sympathy; the citizens of the Royal Borough of Sutton Coldfield are a genuinely warm-hearted bunch.

Official timings are yet to be published, but to our surprise and delight, we completed the course in under three hours - we anticipate that it will be in the region of 2 hours 45 minutes; the runners on our team in support of Walsall Samaritans - our sister Diane and brother-in-law Paul are also pleased with their times.

Should you feel inclined to support our fundraising effort, please head over to http://www.everyclick.com/2012funrunners4walsallsamaritans/info

The Big Day Dawns

It's a sunny Fun-Runny Day. Just about to set off for Sutton Coldfield!

Only a few to go now!

There are only a few days left till "the big day"! I will be entering this years GMFR less prepared than either of the two previous times.


A holiday in Woodbridge (Suffolk) did provide quite a lot of "walking around", particularly on the firs Sunday, when we spent the whole day wandering around the town, getting to know the place - well worth it too, I'd say - and in fact we probably did clock up quite a few miles - some of it up and down hills; the tale told about Suffolk (and Norfolk too) that it is "very flat" is, in my experience, far from true. The rest of the holiday was just tourist sight seeing walking - around sites such as Sutton Hoo (very interesting!), Snape Maltings, Orford, Aldeburgh and Framlingham; no serious cross country walking or anything though. Our after dinner perambulations on the last Friday did attract the attention of the Town Pastors though - they must have been having a quiet night to take an interest in 4 middle aged blokes who had downed a quarter bottle of wine each with a meal. I wonder if they ever get an invasion of "girls" from neighbouring Essex who need help negotiating the streets with the legendary white stillies after an excess of alcopops, or whether that's not only stereotyping the populace of the Eastern Counties, but street pastors too!


Returning from the holiday with (despite the superb weather) a really heavy cold - the type that goes right through your body with every possible symptom you can think of, pretends to go away, then returns again...and again.... has not been very conducive to getting out and about over the bank holiday weekend (not to mention the appalling cold and wet Sunday!), but today, I did manage a two hour walk along the canal up to Wednesbury and back via the streets. The hard surface walking is good practice for next Sunday's walk, though the course in Sutton involves rather more gradients. Feet hurting from the first few steps didn't actually get any worse, but not much better either - I think its going to be tough this year! Felt done in by the end of today's walk and I'm evidently showing the effects in my movements around the house. The sponsorship is encouraging though, and I know the atmosphere and the people of Sutton will be too on the day!

Back to the Chase!

The walk around Milford, Great Haywood and Shugborough has become a favourite in the pre-GMFR prep walks for me and my brother. Its about three quarters the length of the Sutton route, so we know if we're okay on that one, we can manage a bit more on the day. Its also not all flat terrain, so better than some of the canalside walks (though it does have a canal towpath section) as a preparation for the Fun Run route, though the route for 10th of June has the harshness of being virtually all paved, compared to the Chase where you can at least some of the time walk on grass. I think we perhaps have a fondness for the area too as Milford (and other parts of the Chase) was a regular weekend destination for days out when we  were kids.


The weather today was great for walking - mild and dry - a chilly wind at times, but never really cold - and not too hot either!


We set out from the Seven Sisters car park which leads quite early on the the canal stretch before you cross the Shugborough estate with views of the hall and parklands and glimpses of some of the rare breed livestock from the Park Farm. Coming back out on to the road for a short stretch, we saw an Orange Tip butterfly in the roadside greenery - quite a few Ladybirds too - I've heard there are a lot about. Most of the non-human animals we saw though were dogs, and horses too.


I was accompanied by my walking poles (Pawel & Kamil, for those with long memories, but they were incognito on this occasion and I'm not sure whether they will be sporting their personae in this year's Fun Run) and fully kitted up in joint support - ankles, knees and hands with my lightweight Merrell walking shoes making their debut in an "official" Fun Run practice walk. Steve has abandoned pole-ish support saying he no longer needs to use them since losing three stone(!) through a healthy eating plan over the last year or so. I was glad of my sticks and stretchy supports though as this weeks walk was less painful than the shorter walk I did on Bank Holiday Monday - the left knee and foot got a bit painful, nothing too serious, and there was a moment when I had to get out of the car after the journey home that was a bit dodgy - but I did manage to stand up and walk into the house after a few seconds' concentration!


There was a donation via Everyclick waiting for me when I got home (Thanks, Helga) and a message from someone seeking advice on the process and I've had a couple of pledges too this weekend by email and phone, so that's encouraging. The walk is all about raising funds for charity after all!

Rambling on....but not walking much!

Before I left Ware, I did actually get to do the other half of the aborted circular walk - well almost! We set off in the opposite direction and at one stage got to the other side of the field where we had encountered the cattle - and they weren't there! We did consider doing the complete circle, but remembering the claggy mud that lay in wait beyond the now cattle-free field, opted to continue further on towards Hertford, before turning back.

More urban tramping but mostly confined to retail parks! As Ikea and the B&Q Depot were included, the distances were not negligible!!

Bank Holiday Monday brought a more serious attempt with a canalside walk, elaborated into a large circular walk (a very waggly circle actually) starting and finsihing at home. At an hour and a half, this must be around half the distance of the Fun Run, so some ground to make up over the next month!

The lower limbs are making their objections felt...but help is at hand: ankle supports on sale at a bargain price at the local discount store and plant-based natural anti-inflammatory supplements from the natural supplement supplier. And at work, they've helpfully temporarily moved some of the seating for my team so that we are...well a few yards further apart....every little helps.

Now with four weeks to the big day, I've finally arranged a proper walk with brother Steve; the long up and down circuit around Shugborough that we've done before. If I survive that OK (I will...I must) then I know I'll be alright on the day!

Does this count?

Done more miles today, but is it really walking? 

Visited Hatfield House and its a big place; exploring the house and gardens has involved several hours of bipedal ambulatory action, but does the stroll/amble of the Long Gallery and the garden sculpture show count as walking practice? I'm sure purists would say no, but I can't help but think it must be useful - that's what I'm wishing, anyway!

Duck-break attempt, foiled by bull, comes to a sticky end!

At last, I thought, this weekend I will break my duck and start walking!

The reason - visiting some friends who are visiting a sister (in more than one sense!) at the Carmelite Monastery at Ware, Hertfordshire. Said friends are regular walkers - indeed paid-up Ramblers, so there were sure to be ambulatory opportunities.

Early evening we were indeed invited for a stroll up the lane. When the lane came to its end (ran into private land), we had the option of returning the way we came or taking the circular route via the signposted path. I don't think it was ever going to be a very long walk, but long enough (and with the advantage of rural-ish setting - country miles are longer, its a well known fact!), it could at least qualify as a proper "Walk". 

So off we set along the waymarked path which ran along the edge of a field of oilseed rape. We could see we were headed for a field with cattle, who were obviously aware of our approach and taking an interest - surely humans mean a tasty salt lick, or whatever it is that floats the bovine boat.

As we got nearer we could see there were two fields - one of heifers, and one with a couple of cows and a bull - guess which one the path went through - yes, right first time. We spent a few minutes debating whether the bull looked friendly, docile etc. even the differing characters of different breeds of cattle - is a black bull more or less placid than other breeds? In the end, we decided by weight and bulk that we stood no chance if he objected to our intrusion - so we chickened out (obvious livestock metaphor!) and retraced our steps across the bare earth.

Returning to the path, we discovered quite a lot of that earth had adhered to our shoes, and goose-stepping (another farmyard animal reference!) through the long grass did little or nothing to remove it, resulting in a far bit of scraping and scrubbing when we got back to the house.

There's still the opportunity, I'm told, of a walk into town via the river bank, so all is not lost!

Gotta get going

Mid April and I still haven't started my practice walks! I ought to be fitter as for a good many months now I've been: 

1. Using the upstairs loo at work - several stair climbs a day!
2. Parking in the extreme corners of the car parks when I go shopping!

Sadly this year has so far not been good for my joint and muscle pain; in fact someone who will remain nameless was just laughing at how I was shuffling around at home - I protested I couldn't do differently as my knees feet and ankles were all hurting!

I will start soon, and I will walk the complete Fun Run - its just hard to get motivated right now!

Get me going by trying this - Give As You Live - free money into my appeal if you do your online shopping through this charity app, and right now there's a bonus £5 donation when anyone signs up and spends £10 or more with any of the participating merchants - money for nothing!: Try Give as you Live.

A New Year, An Old Fool!

Here we are again....legs, feet, knees protesting loudly, and what do I do? Only sign up for the Great Midlands Fun Run again!

Good job its a walk, jog, run affair, and the emphasis of the event is very much on fun (I believe some people do take these events, and their timings and positions quite seriously!). There's no question of me running though, but I know I'll be one of many people walking the 8.5 mile course.

My reason for doing this is to raise money for the Walsall and District branch of Samaritans, the emotional support charity with a vision of fewer people dying by suicide.

Big brother Steve has signed up again too, so maybe we'll get out for a few practice walks together. I know the lovely Linda is forming part of the Samaritans squad this year too and has registered for the event. Hoping there will be a big gang of Samaritans fundraisers - the money's much needed and all the more so because money is so scarce for so many people these days - that increases the pressure for a lot of people, increasing the likelihood that they will need to talk to Samaritans - and the service is totally paid for by donations and fundraising, so, yes, I really do need to be doing this!

The Walsall Samaritans fun-runners have a web page http://www.everyclick.com/2012funrunners4walsallsamaritans/info

Because its an Everyclick page, there are ways to support the appeal even if you can't afford to donate - web searches and shopping can earn free donations too!