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Manchester, the second coming ...
Week 13

The week in numbers ...

Miles ran: 50
Chocolate eaten: So, so much
Pizza eaten : none
Wine drank: unsure, at least 2 bottles
Beers drank: also unsure, quit a few

Weight: Monday 10st10lb
Sunday 10st11lb

Monday 31st March

Woke up.

Worked.

Gym.

Boring day.

Nothing exciting happened.

Tuesday 1st April

It's the final GP tonight, I really can't be bothered with it and have zero desire to run it, let alone race it. I spend the entire day telling every client that comes for a massage that I'm doing it tonight and really don't want to do it. The one good thing about tonight is it's a short course so the utter misery of it will be over sooner.

Finish work at 6 and head out for a few miles warm up, it's a headwind going South so I have yet another reason now for not wanting do the GP.

Anyway to cut a long story short, the race starts and I run with Matt W for a bit, then at the end of the prom I catch Graham and drop back to have a chat with him, then Quinny goes past so I go after him, then I catch Matt M and run with him and have a chat for a bit, then Natasha goes past so I go after her, I eventually have to speed up a fair bit to catch her so I can then flip her the bird and then I slow back down as I'm a bit knackered and my work for the day is now done.

Head to the pub for some food and a drink and win no prizes in the raffle.

Run home and have a glass of wine.

Wednesday 2nd April

I've got a massage booked today. I've had a problem with my calf for a couple of weeks and my knee and hip are also having a bit of a whinge at me on a daily basis. My fault for not keeping on top of my stretching and rehab stuff but as I've explained before, I'm a lazy bastard.

Out for an easy morning run and then home for a massage. Now as a masseur I'm well aware how painful deep tissue massage can be, I inflict it upon people all day so I know that this is gonna bloody hurt.

For the next hour I'm gritting my teeth and having a little cry, I would say it made me feel sorry for all the people I inflict this upon but I don't, I don't feel guilty in the slightest bit. I just have a bit of a cry instead.

I spend the rest of the day limping around in pain.

I end the day with a glass of wine.

Thursday 3rd April

It's threshold day and the sun is shining.

My knee, ankle, hip and back all hurt.

Warm up feels okay and at least it's not windy for once.

Start rep 1 and not feeling it, finish rep 1 and not feeling it, start rep 2 and still not feeling it, finish rep 2 and go home. I'm tired and everything hurts.

I decice to just class this day as a write off, somtimes things don't go to plan and that's fine. In hindsight I should have taken this as a rest day.

It's club tonight up at Foxhunters and I'm planning to run there and home and watch the session. I quickly discover it's bloody freezing and I don't want to stand still so jump in with C and D groups to do some rep and stretch my legs out. This feels pretty good to run a bit faster and whilst my knee hurts my hip and calf feel okay.

So as always I learn nothing from my myself and even after bailing on a session earlier and telling myself I should have had a rest day, I end up doing two sessions and running over 15 miles.

I'm an absolute twat.

Back home and decide to take a rest day tomorrow as I'm out on Saturday for a 20 mile run and you guessed it, I'm really not looking forward to doing it.

I end the day with a glass of wine.

Friday 4th April

Busy morning working back to back from 8am and I'm finished by 3 and knackered. Walk into Whitley Bay to get something for tea and also somehow pick up a large bar of Dairy Milk, a pack of Milky Bar mini eggs and a pack of Galaxy mini eggs.

I also pick up a bottle of wine for Gail and instantly decide I want wine tonight which means I'm definitely not doing a 20 mile run on Saturday, I'm also not doing it on Sunday as I'm out on Saturday night.

Whilst walking home from Whitley I eat the entire pack of Milky Bar eggs, get home and decide to have a bath with some epsom salts to try and ease off my knackered legs. Whilst in the bath I eat the entire large bar of Dairy Milk. Get out the bath and fall asleep on the bed for an hour. Up and cook tea and whilst doing this I eat the other bag of Galaxy eggs.

I am a massive greedy twat.

In the past 2 hours the only time I wasn't eating chocolate was when I was asleep.

I end the evening filling the gaps in my stomach that aren't filled with chocolate with wine.

Saturday 5th April

So as already mentioned, today I should be running 20 miles.

I decided earlier in the week that this wouldn't ba happening for various reasons, mostly related to the fact I just don't want to.

So instead I plan to do Whitley parkrun with a few miles beforehand but it's been cancelled so I guess I'm off to Blyth.

I'm slightly hungover and grind out the 5 miles to Blyth and arrive with a few minutes to spare, start parkrun and settle into a nice steady pace and finish in just under 22 mins, quick chat with Michelle at the end and start on the 5 miles back home.

It wasn't the 20 miles I was supposed to do and nor was it the 6 or 7 miles I was thinking of doing it, instead it was a decent 13 miles at a good pace and glad I did it.

Saturday night and it's party time round Natasha and Mike's.

I eat my entire bodyweight in cheese and drink the equivalent in red wine.

It was so, so much cheese.

It's a good night and it's highly unlikely I'll be running on Sunday, it's highly unlikely I'll even make it out of bed.

Sunday 6th April

I fall into a cheese induced coma and don't wake up until after 10am.

I get up and once again I'm hungover, I can still taste cheese, I smell of cheese.

Mmmmmmmmm, cheese.

I'm on 43 miles for the week.

I obviously need to run 50 miles.

I'm hungover.

I don't need to run, I don't need to hit 50 miles, I convince myself not to run today.

I go out for a run.

It's the afternoon and the sun is shining so it's rammed along the coast with bloody pedestrians, extendable dog lead walkers and those people that stop to have conversations in huge groups and block the pavements.

I run and weave my way through people, I may or may not have muttered a few obscenities at an old lady who forced me into the cycle lane and I definitely didn't tell a bloke with his dog on an extendable lead he was a fuckwit.

50 miles for the week done. I'm tired and my hip and knee still hurt but my calf feels okay.

Spend the evening watching a movie and drink my last glass of wine as I'm now off the booze for the next 3 weeks.