Month: August 2013

Left with the kiddies!!

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 4 Comments

My sister headed off to church this morning. No, she's not a practising catholic, or a born again Christian, or into Scientology, or even a devil worshiper. The reason she has gone to church is simple. Stanley gets christened in a fortnight and she is trying to convince the vicar that she believes in God so that he will perform the ceremony.

I was left with the kiddies!

Stanley was having a nap when she left, leaving me and Grace to sit and draw in the garden….

We watched Derek on Cbeebies, I wasn't amazingly impressed with Derek, but Grace seems to think he is very cool, I just think he is a dick….

Stanley woke up after 40 mins, so we had a game of peek-a-boo…..

After that we got Stanley up on the sofa and Grace piled up 100s of toys in front of him….

…..so that we could play with the bricks…..

We somehow survived the morning in one piece. Cushty!

 

Tilgate Parkrun

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 4 Comments

I was a parkrun tourist today.

I'm visiting my sister in Kent and her closest parkrun is Tilgate Parkrun near Crawley. So we planned to set off at 8am to give it a go. When I say 'we', I was the only one planning to run it, but my sister and her two kids were coming for the ride. It's been a while since I've had little ones, so had forgotten just how crazy things can be when you're trying to get out the door, Grace is 22 mths and Stanley is 8 mths, so this morning was not a matter of get up and go.

A few things needed doing before we could leave: nappies changed; bottles drunk; breakfast eaten; changing bag prepared; pushchair sorted; clothes on; spare bibs in bag; snacks and drinks in bag; nappies changed; toys in bag; pushchair in car; kids in car seats; car seats in car; and we were ready to go, only a couple of minutes behind schedule.

Lovely setting for a run

Tilgate Park is about 15 miles away, despite having no idea where we were going we made it in good time, and after unloading all the stuff (and kids), walking in the direction of everyone else, we arrived at the start with ten minutes to spare. A quick warm-up and we were off.

As is usual with every other parkrun I have been to, it was well organised and well attended. The 5km course began near the boathouse and does a lap of Tilgate Lake before heading to Titmus Lake, up a short sharp incline (which is not particularly short, but definitely sharp), before turning back towards Tilgate Lake for a second lap, at which point I managed a high five with Grace as I sped whizzed ran past, before reaching the finish in 13th place in a time of 19.57.

After the run we headed to the fantastic looking playground at the top of the hill….

This playground may have looked fantastic, but the items in the playground had a dark side: they were slightly more tricky than they looked. Standard swings: no problems. Springy bouncy jeep thingy: fine, until a lad jumped on and began rocking the thing like it was traversing the moon. Slide one: no problems. Slide two: huge metal corkscrew slide, which was vey high, had one go but too scary to attempt again. Slide three: steeper than it looked, Grace even managed a bit of free fall at one stage whilst travelling down it. Scramble net bridge: tried but too difficult, one step on and feet fell through holes.

Grace loves the swings!
Me and Stanley

After the playground we settled on the grass for a little picnic, a little relax, and three 'little' trips to the bin.

Lovely morning! Cushty!

 

Running shoes….

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I have been thinking about getting some new running shoes for a while. My last pair of running shoes, Adidas Litestrike EVA, have done me well. Bought them over a year ago and in that time they have covered a fair few miles. I'm not entirely sure how often you should replace your running shoes…300 miles….500 miles? Then I remembered seeing this in Runner's World magazine asking how long your trainers usually last….

So a couple of weeks ago I began checking out new trainers. I looked online, browsed sports shops and generally faffed about. I am very good at faffing. The problem is I don't particularly like to spend a lot of money on trainers. I know trainers are the only real expense when it comes to running, but even so, over £100 for a pair??

Another thing about hunting for new running shoes are the names. It is amazing what the manufacturers are calling their shoes, a quick browse through the first dozen pages of a running magazine: New Balance 880v3; Mizuno U4ic; Brooks Ghost 6; and Nike Lunareclipse+ 3. I'm not fussed what they are called, although I would be very happy with a pair of trainers called Lunareclipse+ 3! How cool would that be?

So what was I looking for?

  • Price – around £40-45
  • Colour – wasn't particularly bothered, apart from black, I think black trainers look ridiculous
  • Weight – well I'd like a pair of the really cool very light trainers that cost £100s – but I knew I'd probably settle for something reasonably light, yet supportive.

So when out shopping yesterday, in Ely of all places, I popped into Paul Day's Sports. It was only a small, independent shop so wasn't expecting too much. In fact, they only had half a dozen running shoes to choose from. I began the long process of looking, picking up, turning over, weighing up, trying on, etc. After a fruitless ten minutes, and as I was about to leave, I looked down on the bottom shelf. There in front of me was the most perfect looking pair of trainers: Nike Flex 2012 Run iD Men's Running Shoes in Red. I looked at the price: £40. I weighed them up: reasonably light. I tried them on: perfect.

I bought them!

This morning was an easy 4 mile run…..no issues with trainers….in fact I ran like the wind!

 

Tedious links….

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In my last blog post I decided that my mantra for my Half-marathon PB Challenge would simply be 'Get Better' and then posted the video from Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip of the track 'Get Better' (see what I'd done there?). Now I'm not normally a fan of electro hip-hop rap, but Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip have written some fabulous stuff, and lyrically they are very good.

It was listening to the lyrics of 'Get Better' that got me thinking and ultimately the reason why I am blogging today. The lyrics include these lines:

“Like Billy says, whether you have or you not have wealth, the system might fail you so don't fail yourself”

This is a reference to the mighty Billy Bragg and the track 'To Have And To Have Not' from the album Life's a Riot with Spy vs Spy. In the past this would have caused me to dig out the CD and whack it on the stereo, although nowadays a quick search on YouTube is all you need to do to. So here you have it, a classic track from the Bard of Barking circa 1985…..

As if that link wasn't tedious enough, I recalled another recent artist who mention the mighty Bragg: Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. The track is 'Hand Me Downs' from the album Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly and includes the lines:

“I'd learnt more from transit vans and Bragg, than I'd ever learnt in class, a lifelong education, from punk rock 101”

So, may I present the fabulous Sam Duckworth in the guise of GCWCF, although no video of 'Hand Me Downs' (sometimes it is possible that youtube can let you down), instead 'Find The Time'…..

To complete a trio of videos today, and a link so tedious it barely actually exists, we have Mumford & Sons. I came across this fantastic video today whilst reading some blogs, that is the link, I saw it on a blog! First time I've seen this video, not sure how I've missed it up to this point. 'Hopeless Wanderer'….absolutely brilliant…..

Cushty!

 

This is a ‘proper’ challenge….

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 3 Comments

Forget your project365, your monthly projects*, your Juneathon, your Janathon**, your 1SE***, and any other pathetic ‘little’ challenges.

This is the mother of all challenges. Run a half-marathon. Run a half-marathon I hear you say?!? Sounds rubbish I know, but let me fill you in with the details. No it’s not dressed as a donkey, a gorilla, a fairy, or any other ridiculous outfit. Nor is it running backwards, or juggling, or any other ridiculous combination of activities. It is simply to beat my PB. Simple.

My current PB stands at 1 hour 36 minutes 30 seconds. Which, even if I say so myself, is pretty quick. I ran this time four years ago when I was running and entering a lot more races than I have been lately. So this challenge is a proper challenge. It will require some actual training, something I have not done since 2006 when I completed the London Marathon. I have a training plan: a tweaked Runner’s World half-marathon training plan. The chosen event, Peterborough Great Eastern Run, the same race I ran current PB on. This is a good flat, and they say, fast course. Race takes place on Sunday 13th October, so I have plenty of time to build some speed into my legs.

I do have a couple of concerns:

  • Time. The next four weeks are ok, I’m on holiday, but finding the time at the start of a new school year maybe slightly more tricky.
  • Pace. To complete the 13.1 miles in a PB my target pace is 7.22 min/mile. It is very rare that I’m ever running at that pace, except maybe club training nights, but anyway never at such a long distance. Hence why I plan on actually doing some ‘proper’ training.

I was planning on running this half-marathon a while back, but since then the school where I work is now entering a team and raising money for Cancer Research UK, I think under the rather fetching name of ‘The CBEC Stars’. I’m sure there is an online site somewhere to donate, but I have absolutely no idea where. But don’t be despondent, I know you are all eager to sponsor such a worthwhile charity, so will post a link in the coming weeks.

So let me just clarify, the time to beat is:

1.36:30

So what about some sort of fantastic mantra for the challenge? An inspirational phrase that will see me through to completion? I thought long and hard about this….

“Fortune favours the brave.” Publius Terence

…..it’s hardly brave running a half-marathon….

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.” Vince Lombardi

….too long, I’ll never remember that whilst running…

“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never have tried to succeed.” Theodore Roosevelt

….sounds a bit negative…..so discounted them all in favour of…..

“Get Better” Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip

* Failed – the unicycle is REALLY hard to ride

** Failed – cba

*** Failed – updated app and it deleted all previous video clips!! Grrrr!