Things I love about running Part 1

Hi Everyone,

While I was out running the other day I started to think about about all the things I love about running. The more I thought about it the more things came to me.

The first thing I thought about was that I get to run with my wife, Meredith That's one of things I love about running. We were out doing a 7.5 mile easy run during the only good hour or two of good weather sandwiched between rain and wind.

We have run together for the past 4 years and it really is good time that we spend. It could be an easy run where we get to talk or if there is too much talking (and Meredith likes to talk) I can step up the pace and that soon quietens things down!

Although we didn't run together we have both done the London and Stockholm marathons together (if that makes sense).

I think that I've managed to persuade my Meredith to do her first Ultra next year... She has been so understanding about me bombing off around the UK and the world and she totally understands why I love running that I thought if we could do an ultra together then that would be a great experience. So I think we are going to Iceland to do a single stage 35 mile run across ice, rivers, snow, rocks hills......loads of hills.

I have every faith that Meredith will do it and although she won't enjoy every step she will enjoy it.

So that's number one. That's part one.

Cheers

Johnny

A good week, here's the weekend

Hi All, hope you had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend.

Running wise its been a good week for me as I feel like my running is back on track now. Given that I ran 100 miles though the Himalayas 2 weeks ago i'm quite pleased with my recovery.

This is what I did this week.

• Mon 5.1 miles - 39 mins
• Wed 8 miles - 59 mins
• Thurs 4.7 miles - 35 mins

So this weekend, well its was my brothers birthday yesterday so we are all meeting up for a meal tomorrow so no running. Sunday however is a different day and I am currently planning a half marathon, nice and easy and off road most for most of it. There are loads of paths through the countryside that I haven't tried yet and I need to explore.

I'm looking forward to the Luton marathon now also but I'm still unsure as what time I will do. I am thinking 3.30-3.45 if it goes well. 3.30 might be pushing it but its worth a go. After completing this marathon I'll be up to 25, a quarter of the way to reaching the 100 Marathon club. That sounds ok but at 10 marathons a year I'll be 105 before I join so I need to get myself in gear and start running seriously!!!

Have a good weekend.

Johnny

Great 8 mile run

What a great run. I've just been out for a run and it was fantastic. It was the my first proper run since the himalayas and I really needed a solid run to get me back on track.

Here are the details of the run:

• Distance: 8 miles
• Time: 59 mins 19 seconds
• Calories: 1042

It felt good. Here is a link to my garmin page if you want to see the run.. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/19144756. very consistent mile times and a solid fast finish.

As I mentioned I really needed this run tonight as I have the Luton Marathon in just over 2 weeks and this has given me confidence that my body is back to normal after my 100 miles through the himalayas.

I think I'll do a 10 miler tomorrow and then a day off on Friday. I'll keep you posted..

Have fun, Johnny

An Amazing Week in the Himalayas

Hi All,

I am back from my 100 mile run in the Himalayas and I had a great time. I finished the run and thought you might enjoy my race report.

The days before the run.

We had a great introduction to India which involved going to Delhi's No.1 nightclub!! It wasn't planned. We arrived at our hotel and it was about 1am India time so about 8pm my time so Joe and I thought we'd find the hotel bar and have a beer. We walked into the Hotel bar and it was a full on club. The music was banging, they were setting fire to the bar, there were girls dancing on the bar, it was crazy. So we stayed for a few beers!

The next day we got a flight from Delhi to Bagdogra and then took a bus to Mirik which is where we stayed for the next two nights. The journey to Mirik was interesting. We were in an old bus driving along roads with cows and goats on the side and and weaving in and out of traffic. Driving in India is unique, there doesn't seem to be too many rules. The journey got more interesting as we weaved over 6500ft up into the tea hills of the Darjeeling region. The landscape got more and more impressive.

This is the view from the swiss style chalet we stayed in... Nice

Race Day one - 24 miles.

That was not quite what I was expecting! It was really tough, possibly the hardest single day of running i have done. There was so much up hills. I would say about 20 of the 24 miles was uphill. To put it into perspective we ran/walked up 8500ft of hills today which is equivalent to running up Snowdon 3 times in one day!

The first 2 miles took 45mins!. At times we were walking up the hill and I could feel my heart beat in my chest and head. The rest was downhill which sounds fine but its down very uneven stony roads so it was hard to go fast. We reach an altitude of 12000ft which is where our hut and bed was for the night. A very tough but amazing day, loads of lovely friendly locals along the way.

The whole 24 miles took an amazing 7:20. Here are a couple of photos of the place we stayed at and the view from the top of day one's hill!

Race Day 2 - 20 miles: Day 2 was easier than day 1 although still hilly. We ran ten miles along a ridge then turned around and went back again. The view for the day was Everest and 3 of the other tallest mountains in the world, how amazing is that!

It is very rare to have such a clear day so we were very lucky. Top CD of the day was Above and Beyond Vol7 disc2. We had noodles and ginger tea at the restaurant in the tiny little place we were staying in which was very nice. Our time for the 20 mile run was 4:34. We were all in bed asleep by 8pm as it was so cold. I went to bed with 2 layers on my legs and 3 layers on top and i was in a sleeping bag and had two rugs on me!! We had to get up at 4.45am as we had a marathon to run the next day.

Heres a photo of everest - its the high peak in the middle!! This is also the ` best toilet in the world...

Race Day 3 - A marathon . Well this day turned out to be another tough day. The distances were measured all wrong and it was easily over 28miles in total but the variety in terrain made it interesting. We started off running back along the 10 miles we ran the day before. the course then took us another 6 miles along the ridge and there was a huge climb at the end of the 6 miles all the way to the halfway checkpoint.

The scenery was amazing as we started out at 12000ft with Everest and the other mountains in view. We then dropped 5500ft to were we are staying tonight. The tough uphills were matched with the tough downhills which just kept on coming. We ran through the fir trees to a more dense jungle where there were apparently red Pandas and Bengal Tigers; I didn't see either of them.

The down hill gave me an awkward pain the outside of my right knee which hurt when I took steps downhill!! Bugger. We took our time on this run and finished in 9hrs 40 mins.

Race Day 4 - Half Marathon

Today was a relatively easy one. We had a half marathon to complete which included 6 miles of down hill, 3 miles of flat and then 4 miles of uphill. Again the scenery was fantastic and different to the other days. We ran down the long downhill to a river and had a good relaxing run. This was the first day where you could actually just run and didn't have to look at every step.

We took 2:32 mins to complete the day. We headed back to the motel and had the afternoon to relax before the cultural evening!! Well, the cultural evening was entertaining. Each country had to do something that represented their country like sing a song! Like true brits we all politely refused except for one guy who got up and sang head, shoulders, knees and toes in dutch!! What?

My Po from Taiwan got my vote by doing his Michael Jackson impression, it was so funny. Shamown.....eee he!! Then it got to 8.30 and we left to have our tea. One more day to go and the last 17 miles.

Race Day 5 - 17 Miles

Well this was our final day and I was really looking forward to today's run. Todays run started at the point we finished at the day before so it was a bus ride from the place where we had been sleeping. The route today took us up hill for the first 7 miles and then gave us a lovely gentle downhill of the last 10 miles.

My calves were so tight at the start of the race and felt really heavy but as the run went on they started to loosen and by the time we had reached the top of the hill in around 1hr 25 mins they were all relaxed and I was ready to go.

Joe and I stuck our tunes on, had a power bar and half a viper and went for it. We were hammering it down the hill for quite a while and then thought that we should probably relax a bit. We weren't going to beat any records and this would be the last time we spend the day running around the himalayas.

The finish came around quickly and it was a great welcome. Children had come out to cheer us on and high-5 us as we ran past and there was a big welcome as we crossed the finish line.

Here are some photos from the end of the run.