A hat-trick of gym appearances opens Juneathon 2016.

Took it nice and easy tonight: 2.5 miles on treadmill and 2km on the rower. 

Done.

Juneathon totals:

• Running = 7.5 miles
• Cycling = 9.2 miles
• Cross-trainer = 6.2km
• Rower = 6000m

Interesting day today. I was gifted the job of going to the doctors to pick up Helen’s prescription of drugs for her ‘old lady’ hip. 

In the spirit of Juneathon I incorporated this job into a bike ride. Juneathon part 1.

No real route planned, just headed for the woods. I was tracking my ride using Strava (apparently cyclists choose Strava everytime) and thought it would be fun to ride very fast downhill to see how quick I could go. 

As it turns out my max speed was 31.8 mph. Also slightly scary heading at that speed into a blind corner. 

I carried on for a bit, and ended up doing a sort of big circuit of the town before getting to the doctors. 
Picked up prescription; all good. Took said prescription to the chemist. Now I can vaguely remember picking up a prescription for my mum 30 odd years ago. The price? I’m pretty sure it was less than £2, something tells me it was £1.75.

The price I paid today: £8.40. £8.40 for a box of tablets. The service I received today: poor. 

When I handed my prescription to the sour-faced woman behind the counter I was unaware that I had to fill out something on the back of the prescription (can I remind you it has been 30 odd years since I last did this). After rolling her eyes and doing lots of pointing and gesticulating I managed to work out what she wanted me to do. I didn’t have a pen with me, cue more eye-rolling, followed by huffing and arm folding. With prescription signed and filled in I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

I asked sour-face if there was any danger of my tablets being ready yet. She seemed surprised by my request, clearly I was new to the process, so I waited some more. 

And waited some more.

During the process, sour-face had refilled some shelves, chatted to a customer about her daughter’s recent wedding, dropped a pile of products that were destined for the shelves, chatted to a customer about her daughter’s recent wedding, shouted to ‘Dee’ for her to make her a cuppa, stood staring into thin air, chatted with a customer about her daughter’s recent wedding, moved stuff from its original position on the counter to a new position before moving it back to its original position, all whilst looking sour-faced.

Then it happened. 

My order was ready. They had made a fantastic job of putting box of tablets into bag and sealing with sticker. A first class job. 

Cycled home. 9.2 miles in total. Despite the prescription palaver I enjoyed the outing.

Also, saw this on the way back home on the back of a van… 

Now if that isn’t enough to convince you I don’t know what is. Idiots.

Helen is partaking in Juneathon this year, so when she got in from work I kept her company at the gym. Juneathon part 2.

No treadmill tonight; I’m going for a variety of exercise for Juneathon this year. So tonight it was 30 minutes on that strange contraption: the cross-trainer. What is this thing? How unnatural does it feel? Why does it leave me with a numb big toe? 

6.2km done.

This was followed by 2000m on the rower. I like the rower. For me I’m always rowing down The Thames, I start at the Thames Barrier and row into the city. Water was a bit choppy tonight. 

Day 2 done.

Juneathon totals:

• Running = 5 miles
• Cycling 9.2 miles
• Cross-trainer = 6.2km
• Rower = 4000m

It’s June. Which means only on thing: Juneathon.

Day 1 was a visit to the gym. With Endure 24 just around the corner it seems that everything is about the 5 miles. 

Therefore, tonight was a steady 5 miles on the treadmill followed by 10 minutes on the rower. 

This is us looking particularly pleased with ourselves…

Day one. Done. 

It is less than two weeks until my first Endure 24. I’m running as part of a four person team: Team Scrambled Legs.

I recently asked for some advice and tips for the weekend, so I thought I’d share:

• Be prepared for all weathers – it was very wet/muddy a couple of years ago
• Pack plenty of running gear – change of kit for each lap
• Mix with everyone – support the solos
• Start slow
• Ensure you have a good quality headtorch
• Bring plenty of snacks – any other food is available from the various catering stalls
• Porridge and pasta pots are a good idea – so bring a kettle
• Bring plenty of socks
• Try double laps during the night so you get a chance for a good kip
• Flip flops for the shower – also a plastic bag to put clothes in
• Take shower stuff to start to save a journey back to tent
• Take warm clothes – it can get pretty chilly during the night
• If having a shower, get changed into clean kit, then layer up – then all ready for next lap
• Beware the hills – walk up if you need to

And the best piece of advice, given by virtually everyone I have spoken to:

• Have fun and enjoy it!

Any other advice or tips that you’d like to share?

Endure 24 is only 12 days away.

For those of you unaware of what Endure 24 actually is, let me explain. It is a 24 hour team relay race. The idea is you complete as many 5 mile laps as you can; starting at noon on Saturday, finishing at noon on Sunday. There’s music, entertainment, showers, massages, catering and camping; it’s Glastonbury for runners.

In fact, it is a god damn 24 hour running party in the woods.

How cool is that?

We’ve entered in the small team category and are ready to conquer the course; 4 highly trained elite athletes….er…wait a minute…actually….4 undertrained plodding joggers.

May I present Team Scrambled Legs…

I must point out that we don’t normally look this angry. It was the outcome of a particularly bad pub quiz.

As for preparations for Endure we have the basic camping stuff, loads of running gear and even have the start of a list of things to get…

Any advice for the weekend would be greatly appreciated.

It has been 5 days since I completed the Milton Keynes Marathon. I have only just regained enough strength to type.

This is my second marathon, my first being London 10 years ago. They don’t get any easier. For anyone reading this who has never run a marathon, in fact even if you have, you’ll already know: 26.2 miles is a bloody long way.

I am not about to bore you with a mile by mile account; I’ll give you the edited highlights:

• At the start I met Ben, the fella running 401 consecutive marathons, lovely bloke. I thought people that did these ridiculous marathon after marathon things ran them really slow. It turns out they don’t. He finished in about 4.30. Every marathon he does he finishes around 4.30. That is incredible.
• I was slightly concerned that the route would take you along the various dual carriages and roundabouts (of which there are a lot) of Milton Keynes. Turns out the first 7 miles or so on the road, the rest through parks, skirting along canals, round lakes, a pleasant marathon all in all.
• A slightly weird day on the weather front. Bit cold and windy to start with. Very hot about two hours in, before making it to the finish before heavy rain.
• At around about mile 12 I did my good deed for the day. As I was jogging along, trying to think of anything else except how tired my legs were feeling, I saw a man keel over to the side and collapse on the grass, about 30 yards ahead of me. By the time I got up to where he was, a lovely couple of runners had already stopped and were in the process of putting him in the recovery position. I stopped to see if they needed help. Clearly they did. Then it dawned on me that I remembered running past a marshall a few hundred yards back. So off I went. Running the wrong way. Running the wrong way for about 300 yards. Told the marshall what had happened, waited a bit for a cyclist marshall to appear before showing him where the fella lay. I was in the middle of a marathon myself so didn’t hang about; hopefully all was well.

Completed all 26.2 miles in 4.42 – slightly slower than 10 years ago – found the last 4 or 5 miles very difficult. Probably was a bit short of training miles if I’m honest – been very busy this year. But overall really pleased. My reward: a nice bit of bling and a rather fetching cow t-shirt (Milton Keynes has a thing about cows – don’t ask).

I was also raising a few quid for Peterborough Branch of Samaritans. I’m thinking about £600 raised all in all. If you’re reading this and thinking ‘Damn it, I really wanted to sponsor him’ – you still can. Click here. Cheers.

One final point: never again.

Update: £583 raised.