A quick update on some of the events in definitely doing, should be doing or might be doing this year.

Saturday 21st February
Badass Mucker
With Amanda and friends
Definitely Doing

Saturday/Sunday 1st/2nd August
Tough Mudder Yorkshire

Saturday/Sunday 12th/13th September
Tough Mudder North West

Friday 24th – Sunday 26th July
Coast to Coast and Back Again… Again
With friends of Ste Rothwell and Johnny Turnbull
Definitely Doing

Sunday 10th May
Manchester 10K
With Carole Mawby, spouse of C2C Stephen
Might be Doing

Sunday 5th July
Colour Run 5K
With Amanda and friends
Might be Doing

Saturday 31st October
Liverpool Blacklight Run
Amanda and Friends
Might be Doing

Well it’s been a while since I posted something but didn’t want to post boring stuff. So a quick update – well last night was only my third run of the year. Injuries, soreness and colds have put me out the last 6 weeks or so. Bit I’ve needed to get back out again as I was worried about my fitness levels, especially with a running event Badass Mucker coming up a week on Saturday.

However, last night’s run was really good, I mean better than I hoped. I played in a football game on Saturday and my fitness was pretty good so I was quite optimistic before last night’s run. I felt ok before and ate a lot of fruit during the day but no meal until afterwards.

I set off and my left calf started feeling tender, it’s been causing me problems lately including an injury sustained whilst doing a 10 minute Riverdance at Ang & Maria’s 30th last weekend that put me out for a week.

Quickly deviating from this post for a second, I’m doing the C2C in three days in July with some friends of Ste. One of them does marathons and half marathons for fun. He told me he warms up with a light run, then after half to a full mile he stops, does stretches and THEN starts his run. So this is what I did.

After half a mile at the Rivington School car park I did leg stretches, especially concentrating on the calves and it gave them a new lease of life. My energy levels, surprisingly were ‘puzzlingly’ also quite good. I’ve just started taking some herbal medication recently, one which is a Sea Kelp supplement which aids digestion, metabolism & energy and also taking some expensive anxiety herbal medication which also aids energy. I’m not sure if these were directly responsible but I felt like I’ve never been away.

After my run boom 6.8min/mile which is pretty good, fastest this year. The last time I was this quick was on a run in June last year. I’m hoping to do another run on Thursday depending on my ‘two day ache’ so we’ll see how it goes – but overall very happy.

^ On purpose I went off my normal path to experiment and lost and came across this obstacle ^

It’s a good job I didn’t cancel the physio which is this Friday. Still not running even though I’ve purchased a head torch fur the unlit roads and some new headphones. I’ve been swimming at least once a week which seems to be keeping extra weight off but still want to lose the 6lbs I’ve put on since the challenges finished. I’ve purchased an underwater mp3 player for swimming and Monday’s 150 lengths went by in a flash with good pace. There’s still some positives on my road to recovery and to fitness. Hope Friday’s physio fixes me

So on Sunday I took part in the Blackrod Remembrance Parade with my Cub Scout group and Margaret Broadfoot, ex-district commissioner for our district said she had some sponsor money for me. Amazing to see that sponsorship is STILL coming in. Yesterday I split this between the charities and emailed her to say thank you, including a few pics of Sebastian and Angela having a good time at Blackpool.

Then Margaret replied with this:

Hi Paul, it was good to see you and Sebastian as well, as you say he was really good. Love the blackpool photos, he’s obviously having a brilliant time (so’s Angela by the looks of it!).

It’s a privilege to sponsor you, I think what you have done is amazing and you should be proud of yourself for achieving what you said you would. Well done!

Regards
Margaret

This is one of the reasons why this is so addictive getting praise for doing something hard and being recognised for it. Absolutely want to do more in a few years we shall see.

My brother Pete has told me that there is a 5 daily marathon race in the Sahara Desert I could take part in that costs only £4,000 to take part….. I’ll add it to the list

Yep the run did absolute no good to my leg – the injury is still there. Been doing my hobble-runs at footy today. I’m just hoping that the injuries go away quicker than last time and perhaps this is how it is – recovery taking longer each time. I think I’ll still go to the physiotherapist to talk about injuries and recovery.

Still going on about since the GNR….. BUT my leg is actually starting to feel better!!!

I can run for a very short distance and it doesn’t hurt much. Got my flipping physiotherapy booked in 23 days and I might not need it. Definitely not cancelling it until I know I’m 100% ok.

There is some soreness still in my achillies tendon on my right leg after the 24 hour football game and still some slight soreness in my knees. But I think the 24 hour football actually cured me. Some strength training is all that I needed.

Will look to do a tiny run soon, maybe this weekend, probably a 3 miler and see how it is and assess it from there.

Woohoo going to be able to go running soon, hopefully!!!

This morning I had a chat with someone who said that I was selfish and in it for myself when doing these challenges. I had an absolute breakdown and started thinking that loads of people were thinking and saying this behind my back.

This irrational thinking was obviously not the case as it was my anxiety kicking into full flow. I put on Facebook that if anyone else thought this I’d disown them. Slightly over the top lol but I was so hurt at the time.

Luckily loads of people came back to me piling on praise and encouragement and it cheered me right up. It was lovely even though I didn’t want the praise as the challenges were never about any self gain.

I do need the support though and it’s nice to know that the majority of people would hopefully support me again if it came to future challenges.

I need understand that sometimes in life people will disagree and have counter-opinions with some things you do and even if it’s over some things that you are so proud of just DON’T have or STOP having the conversation with them. Easy! No potential negative vibes.

Booked in to see the physio on Friday 21st November – 36 days away. Probably because a lot of people get better after a month’s rest and so to save the NHS money. Well it’s been 39 days since the GNR and the injury hasn’t improved. Still going swimming like I did last night to keep the fitness up. I MISS RUNNING 😥

Going doctors tomorrow hoping to get referred to a physio for treatment. It’s a bit sore but manageable – but I miss my running and it’s hard keeping the weight off. I’m going swimming tonight which is great as the leg of weightless so no pain when I use it. The pain is in the left leg, through the shin, in the right part in my ankle, sometimes in my achillies tendon and sometimes in my knee. Good luck sorting that out! Lol