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Oh Manchester, So Much To Answer For
Week 10

Well, it's that time once again and it only feels like Amsterdam was 5 minutes ago, but here we go again ...

The week in numbers ...
Miles ran: 30.62
Gym visits: 0
Chocolate eaten: lost count
Alcohol drunk: 1 bottle of wine & some beers

Weight: 11st10lb

Monday 2nd March

Leg is feeling loads better.

There's one stretch I do when I feel it pull and every day I check it to see how far I can get before it hurts. Yesterday I managed to bend fully with no pain so I'm confident I can try and easy run this week.

Working all day and on my feet and keep stretching it whenever I can, spend Monday evening foam rolling and stretching.

Resist the temptation to have a glass of wine and watch Sinners instead.

And then have a glass of wine.

Can't watch a film without wine.

Tuesday 3rd March

It's GP day.

My leg feels good, I can fully bend and stretch pain free and no tightness in my hamstring. It's been 11 days since I ran so I'm thinking of a run tonight.

The plan is to head out about 6:30 and do some easy miles, if it feels fine I'll do Grand Prix slow and steady and if I feel and pain or tightness I'll turn and head home. Sensible Simon is in charge today.

I head out for a mile and bump into Graham and turn and run with him, no pain and no tightness so I'm feeling confident. We head to the GP start and I decide I'll do it but it's got to be super slow and super easy. I'm starting with Graham and Paddy and have to be sensible.

Sensible Simon time.

We start and I watch the group go and I settle into 8:30/9:00 min mile pace. Every group that starts after me comes flying past, I don't catch anyone.

Mile 1 done and I feel okay, mile 2 I slow up a bit and feel like I'm struggling, calfs are really tight but hamstring is okay.

Heading back towards the Sandcastles and all the fast lads have flown past me and I'm eyeing the bloke ahead in dark clothing, I reckon I'll catch him on the prom and then I've at least overtaken one person. Just before the Sandcastles Rory comes steaming past me.

I'm catching the guy ahead and then....

He turns off towards Spanish City, he's not even in the GP, just some bloke out on a run.

I drop down the ramp and onto the prom and Rory is out of sight and I can't see a single person ahead and nobody has gone past me for a while. I'm sure I'm in last place but there's no tail bike so I'm a bit confused. I'm running along the prom, it's pitch black and I don't have a head torch. I never bother with a torch and rely on people around me having one. This works great usually but the problem with this plan tonight is nobody is near me. Now my eyesight is bad at the best of times, my eyesight in the dark is awful. I can't see a bloody thing. I just run and head towards the torches in the distance.

I go past the Rendezvous and glance back to see who's behind me, there is nobody there, I'm on my own. I can't see anyone ahead either. I keep going, I thank the marshalls and then as I go up the final hill I see everyone heading home. I cross the line and I feel okay. I mean I'm pissed off but at least zero pain.

Jog home with Becci, have a shower, eat some tea and drink a glass of wine. The 'jog home' bit was with Becci, not any of the rest, just incase it didn't read that way

And then another glass of wine.

Wednesday 4th March

Had planned an easy run today but again my sensible side kicks in and I decide on a rest day to play it safe.

Working from 8am and then in what was my'run slot' I sit down on the settee with Murphy. I've got 2 hours until my next appointment.

The doorbell goes, who the hell's that? Glance at my watch, it's 2pm. I've been asleep for 2 hours and that's my next appointment.

I jump up and run to find my shoes, Murphy is on a deep sleep and won't move, he's snoring, I shake him to wake him up and he half opens his eyes but refuses to move. I have to leave him on the chair and go and answer the door. Off course as soon s he hears a new voice here comes out too see who it is, does a huge stretch and this weird yawning sound that he does. Then he walks in the kitchen and goes to bed.

Spend the rest of the afternoon working.

No wine this evening.

Thursday 5th March

A nice quiet day today.

Got a free afternoon so planning a 6 mile run, the idea is to build the miles steady over the next couple of weeks and hope for no reaction.

I run slow and steady up to Tynemouth and then turn to come back and lift the pace a bit on the way back to see how it feels. So far, so good.

Home and then my husbandly duties of cleaning, cooking, doing the dishes, doing some washing, tidying up after the dog, he's a messy bugger.

On the evening I plan a few easy miles warm up and then when the group are running I'll just go slow and steady. It's the Trail Run on Sunday so loads to do for that, I head to the club for 5:30 to check equipment, sort boxes out and tidy up the clubhouse. Then head out for 2 miles easy and back to the club.

We head out out to the sandcastles and sort the groups and send them off. The last group goes and time for me to do an easy 3 miles, I turn to Graham and say 'fancy going to the pub?'

He agrees. We head to split chimp and have a large glass of merlot.

The group finishes, we get spotted in the pub by Steve and then the whole of B team and then a walk home.

Friday 6th March

Sensible head is in charge today and another rest day.

I'm working all day from 8am til 7pm so don't really have time anyway.

Finish work and come spicy tofu noodles for tea and some egg fried rice, I'm being healthy this week.

Spend the evening as has now become a family tradition of eating tea and sitting round the kitchen table chatting and drinking some booze. My absolute favourite time of the entire week.

Music, food, booze and my family, bloody brilliant.

Saturday 7th March

So a few months back, probably in the summer Gail started planting the seed we needed a new kitchen.

She was right as the old one was old and I mean properly old but I have a real issue about spending money, it's all linked to a childhood of no money and council estates and it's one of those things I've never entirely got a grasp of. Basically I have a deep, deep fear of having no money and one day getting a knock at the door and someone telling me they've made a terrible mistake and it turns out I have to hand back the house and the car and probably the children and I owe tens of thousands of pounds. One day, I'm telling you it's gonna happen.

Anyway, it hasn't happened yet and back in the summer Gail convinced me we needed a new kitchen.

I resisted for ages, said it was too expensive, waste of money, the shit kitchen was fine and then she said "what about if you did it".

Now this appeals as it's cheaper and I also enjoy doing big DIY things, I'm actually quite competent and the whole bin bag kitchen ceiling thing was just me being lazy and not useless. So, I agreed on the understanding I could:

Design it.

Build it.

Do all the work.

Decorate it

Install it.

She agreed.

So I did tons of research, I designed the whole thing, I drew up the plans, I chose the company, I designed it, I ordered it, I ripped out the old kitchen, I built the new kitchen, I fitted the new kitchen, I did the plumbing, the electrics, the everything.

And just now while I write this I realise Gail absolutely played me right from the start, she had no Intention of having Wren kitchens doing it, she knew I would go off it at the price and say I would do it for cheaper and she knew I would think I was saving money but actually I was spending a bloody fortune I never wanted to spend !

Fuck me, she's been doing this for years hasnt she? It's just become obvious.

Anyway that was a massive tangent linked to the fact I love my family, I love my kids and I love my wife even though she plays me for a fool and I am a fool and I love the fact we have a new kitchen where we all sit together and talk and laugh and eat and drink and it's bloody brilliant.

Oh yeah, I also ran 16 miles today and my hamstring didn't hurt. Dont get me wrong, it was tight and ached like a bastard but it didn't pull or hurt badly.

I base all pain on a scale and all my clients know it.

Sharp stabbing pain = stop and rest

Dull ache = keep going

Dull ache worse than 7 out of 10 = stop and rest

Dull ache less than 6 out of 10 = keep going

I can't believe I've been married nearly 30 years and only just worked out how much my wife plays me, what a bloody idiot.

Oh I just remembered something else before I move onto Sunday. My diet is absolutely disgusting.

Today for breakfast I had a vanilla crown and a chocolate twist from co-op. And yes Ben when you joked that would I drink the 2 litre bottle of coke, yes, yes I did.

For lunch I had a McDonald's veggie burger and fries and coffee. After that I had a family sized bag of maple bacon twisty crisps, I felt sick eating these so stopped.

Then I went to M&S and got a large lemon curd donut and I don't even like donuts and ate it in the car. I also got a large raspberry meringue and Gail questioned my choice of two cakes and I scowled at her.

We got home and I had a bath and ate the rest of the crisps .

Then I got out the bath and ate the meringue.

Basically for the entire day I did not eat a single item of 'real food'. I am a disgusting fat greedy pig.

Bit I did get all the questions right on the 1% club so swings and roundabouts all that.

Sunday 8th March

Super busy today, it's the NT Trail Run so I need to be at the clubhouse from 7am to start setting up for the 600 people we have running today.

Up at 6:45, grab a coffee and a bag of stuff I need and head to the club. Arrive about 7 and start dragging out all the equipment, charging up the speakers, the generator and the megaphone.

Then the next 3 hours just flies by in a frenzy of people, gazebos, finishing arches, megaphones, questions, cups of coffee and hundreds of runners and their family and friends all over the place.

The event was bloody brilliant, the sight of all those people across the beach heading to be hoisted up the steps by Colin2 was amazing.

I love doing the events, they are a lot of work and can be a bit stressful at times but there's an amazing team of ladies that do so much work behind the scenes for me and everything just goes so smoothly.

I eat way too many cakes throughout the morning and feel pretty sick by lunchtime. I really need to sort my diet out. Final runner is done by just after 12 and by 1pm we've put away the arch, the gazebo, all the tables, cleaned the clubhouse and I've stolen a box of cakes.

Then it's off to Aldi for the big shop and then home, shower and fall asleep on the bed for an hour or so.

In the evening we head to the pub for an hour. We end up there for a lot more than an hour and I have no recollection of going home but I do know the bedroom ceiling seems to be spinning when I lie down.

Next week I plan to pick up the running, longer distances and slowly introduce some speed work.

Oh and I also plan to sort my diet. No more crisps, cakes, chocolate and sweets. Or at least no more of these things every single day.