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Week Nine

The week in numbers (so far)...

Miles ran: 46.29
Times I've been to the gym: 0
Alcohol drunk: 2 bottles
Chocolate eaten: 0
Diets maintained: 1, the Greek yoghurt diet

Weight: 12stone 4lb

Monday 25th August

It's a Bank Holiday and for once I actually remembered and took the day off work, I also managed to get a lie in and got up about 10am which is unheard of for me.

Sat outside on my bench with a cup of coffee and a huge full English and fried bread. Ha! You thought I had given up on the diet already didn't you? Well I haven't, I had Greek yoghurt and a satsuma.

Then a lazy day and a walk up to Cullercoats and back with Gail, this obviously finished at the Split Chimp and I had a pint. Now I know I said I wasn't drinking midweek anymore but I have various reasons for this:

1 - Gail wanted to go to the pub and as a good husband I will always support my wife.

2 - I had a voucher for Split Chimp so it was basically a free drink.

3 - A Bank Holiday is basically an extension of the weekend, so strictly speaking this doesn't count as mid week.

Tuesday 26th August

Back to work and then tonights it's the first Grand Prix up in Blyth.

Work all day, Greek yoghurt for breakfast and lentils and fried egg for lunch. The plan tonight is to get dropped off in Seaton Deleval and then run 2 miles to the start nice and easy, run the 10k at 7:45 pace which is about my limit at the moment and then 5 miles home nice and easy.

A nice easy couple of miles to warm up and then arrive for the start, position myself mid pack at the start and then we're off.

I'm managing a parkrun at 7:30 pace these days and that seems okay for my injury, anything faster and I really feel it. So I'm working on the basis that I can hold a 10k at 7:45, this is all theory and I haven't tried but I'm sure it'll be okay. Worse case scenario is I finish and I'm in pain and take a few days of rest to recover. I of course still need to get home tonight but we'll worry about that later.

Mile 1 in 7:41 and settle into a rhythm and feel okay, mile 2 in 7:46 and then a 7:41 and all good. I decide to pick it up a little at this point and mile 4 in 7:37 and I catch up with Nat and Natasha. They're pretty much bang on with the pace I'm holding so we run in together. Mile 5 is 7:46 and I'm starting to fade a little, leg feels okay but fitness just isn't there yet.

We head up past the carpark, around the top of the bandstand and then onto the prom and not far to go to the finish.

Get to the beach hits and then I absolutely smash the shit out of Nat and Natasha, I cruise away from them with ease. Natalie just stops running because of my athletic prowese and she needs to stop and just watch in awe. Natasha starts crying, she knows she can't maintain this pace, I pull away with ease and her her sobbing falling away into the distance.

I see Pete from A team up ahead, I fly past him and make him look like he's running with an injury, he can't believe I beasted him right on the line.

Yeah okay, there's a little poetic license there.

Pete was actually injured and pretty much walking and Natasha said she'd let me win if I wrote about her in the blog and as we all know I have no morals and a race win is a race win.

Head home for a final 5 miles and get home after 13.25 miles. The last couple were hard work and I feel pretty wrecked.

I plan for a rest day tomorrow but then see a photo of me at the GP and I look fat so I decide I should run tomorrow to burn some calories.

Have a shower and some tea.

Yes it was greek yoghurt.

Yes I'm getting a bit sick of Greek yoghurt.

Yes I'm having greek yogurt for breakfast tomorrow.

Wednesday 27th August

My legs are killing and so is my back.

Obviously the best way to fix this is go for an easy run to loosen them off.

Usually when I'm marathon training I do easy runs on Wednesday and Friday but I haven't yet managed that, this week will be a test to see how I feel.

Also, as mentioned earlier I looked fat in a photo from the GP so I need to run and keep losing weight, I'm still about half a stone overweight and that soar vest keeps laughing at me.

Working in the morning, then out for a coffee with my mum and then back to work. My mum also shows me an old photo of her and my dad that I've never seen before, my dad is giving the V's to the camera which just proves these things are in your genes and you can't fight nature.

Thursday 28th August

Club tonight and we've got lampposts, it's the traditional post GP session as a good leg turnover and everyone's loves a bit of old school.

I head out for a 4 mile warm up beforehand and the plan tonight is to move back into C team, maybe I'll see who's there before I commit.

Nice warm up bit I'm feeling knackered after Tuesday run, decide to play it safe and go D team and see how I feel after the first half. Paul S sets a good pace and at the halfway point I'm warming up and naturally the silliness ensues.

We are doing a bit of back and forth with C team and then a small group of C's pull ahead and I take chase, I have Matt in my sights and the last 10 mins are fast and good fun.

I'm absolutely wrecked at the end and jog home very slowly and down 2 cans of Guinness Zero which makes me feel quite sick.

I have a shower and then down the final 2 cans.

Friday 29th August

Lots of work on today, hoping to get out for a run but not sure I'll have time.

Head out early to take Murphy for a walk, as we're coming back we pass the house on my street that's getting renovated and see all the builder standing in the street.

Murphy keeps pulling me across to the portaloo that's outside the house, it stinks and he likes the smell because he's a bit weird like that. I'm telling him what a fat knacker he is and having a full on conversation with him as I often do and then I feel everyone's staring at me and I turn and realise they're not builders.

It's actually a TV crew.

George Clarke is standing a few feet away from me filming a segment in the front garden and I'm in the background telling Murphy he's a fat toilet sniffing knacker.

Look forward to that being on telly soon.

Saturday 30th August

I'm planning 14 miles today, need to be out the door at 7:27am and run at 8:30 pace to do 11 miles before parkrun.

Alarm goes off at 7:15 and I'm up and dressed and making a coffee. I then spend the next 20 minutes fannying about trying to decide if I should have a slice of cheesecake for breakfast.

I'm a little hungover and decide I can't face it and head off 10 minutes late for my run. Start heading towards Seaton Deleval and I can't get my legs moving, I feel absolutely wrecked. I'm running 9 min miles and thinking I might sack this off and just do 4 or 5 miles and then have a nice sit down somewhere.

Get to Deleval, do my usual loop and then back to Whitley and the pace is now better still a little slow but nearer to what I want. I don't have time for the 11 miles I planned because I'm too slow and because of the whole fannying about and cheesecake incident.

At this point I do wish I had eaten the cheesecake before I went out but I decide I'll have it when I get home.

Get to parkrun start and I'm on about 9.5 miles, stand around chatting for a few mins and my hangover decides this is a good time to really, really kick in.

Parkrun is not pleasant.

Bottle of coke from co-op as I need sugar and home to sit in the sunshine and eat my cheesecake.

The cheesecake was shit.

Ruined my whole morning.

Sunday 31st August

Last night I treated Gail to a romantic night away, we went to the most romantic place within an hour's drive of Whitley Bay.

Yeah you guessed it, we went to Stockton.

Why Stockton you ask? Well we had a voucher for a hotel and it was basically the Hilton in Stockton or the Dundee Airport Novotel.

We went with Stockton.

A couple of good things about Stockton. The hotel as nice. They had a brilliant flea market where I picked up a load of brand new records for ridiculously cheap, a fiver for the Super Furry Animals and you can buy a pint of Guinness for £2.87

Then in the evening we went for a meal to an Indian restaurant down by the river and obviously we ordered a lot of food and I mean a lot of food, you know when you order so much food that it doesn't really fit on the table, yeah that kind of 'lot of food'.

Now as we've established more than once, I am a greedy bastard and that means if I order a lot of food, I'm eating all that food.

When we left the restaurant I couldn't move. I was so full I didn't even want to go to the pub, straight back to the hotel for a lie down.

Up early and I still feel full. Not full enough that I can't eat the complimentary breakfast though. Well actually I am still full enough but I still eat the breakfast.

Home early afternoon and I need to go for a run, I feel sick and head out towards Tynemouth. I manage a slow, heavy and painful 7 miles and clock 46.29 miles for the week. A tiny, tiny part of me thinks about doing another 4 to hit 50 for the week but I can't be arsed, so I don't.

Next week,next week I'll do 50.

London 2023

Want to read all about my London adventure in 2023.

It's mostly about Ben, my sausage dog nemesis and wine.

LONDON CALLING

Yorkshire 2024

Enjoyed reading about London?

Now its time for York and reading about Bilbo, mushrooms and wine.

And Ben.

YORKSHIRE PUDDINGS

Manchester 2025

Well you've read the last two so may as well carry on.

Manchester, so much to answer for. Yeah Ben gets a mention or two

MANCHESTER - THE SECOND COMING