Gorilla Organization



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The Gorilla Organization, the international charity led by experienced African conservationists dedicated to saving the world’s last remaining gorillas from extinction. Our award-winning community-based approach to conservation promotes sustainable livelihoods, nurtures young conservationists of the future and empowers local people to tackle the main threats to the gorillas’ survival.

UK Reg Charity 1117131

Sunday 27 November 2011

From Satan to Santa ... what a year...

This time last year was HellRunner, the very cold muddy trail run at freezing temperatures. In fact I swear I have the mud ingrained in my soul after that race. With all the races I could do last year, I missed out on the SantaJog back in Basingstoke which is 5k in a santa suit - so in 2011 it's time to fix it.



Also, this week my car has been a bit sick so it's out with the bike for the commute to work; which is about 20k per day (with a train journey in the middle). I'm hoping that it'll be good training for the Coast-to-Coast next year (boy that's a lot of training), so actually getting back to running as kind of odd.


A 'Santarama' taken before the race.

The race was fun, and watching a couple of hundred Santas doing a warm-up must be a youtube classic.

I came in about 10th, with a new personal best of about 24mins for a 5k in costume; but I haven't been running for a while, and today I really felt it in my knees, even though the legs seemed strong - they had lost some of their bounce.

So, no more excuses, I need to get some more running miles in.

Thursday 17 November 2011

2012 ... The cunning plans commence ...

Breath in .... breath out ... and relax.

I just signed up for my biggest challenge yet the 'Coast to Coast challenge'. Its a two day event where you end up crossing Scotland by bike, foot and kayak (I get to row down Loch Ness - wow!). The course is just over 100 miles long (eek) which seemed so much smaller before I clicked 'Purchase' on the web-site...
This is going to involve a whole lot of running and bike training and I really must learn how to use a kayak - as I made a complete twit of myself in a RatRace a couple of years ago.

I found that training for the London Marathon this year was a great thing to focus on, and I was looking for another different challenge to look at. I suppose it's all part of the 'Can I do an IronMan (or that type of thing) before I'm 40?' challenge I though about a couple of years ago, and since I still swim like a lead-lined brick then the distance swimming is not really for me. I read about this race earlier in the year, and had my life not paused due to the death of my best friend I would have run it this year, and maybe in a weird way I'm celebrating Damon's Scottish roots by running this race, or maybe i'm reading too much into it.

Don't worry, I haven't sold out - I'm still running and taking part in various races, and it seems Scotland is the place to be in 2012, as I've also signed up for the Edinburgh Marathon too (as a human this time, no furry suit).  The gorilla suit is making a comeback though as i'm running the Reading Half as Gerald again and there is also a hope (please please please) to get into the New York marathon for 2012 - where I promise I will don the  gorilla suit again and run the whole race with a blonde Barbie doll - as it would seem right to run as King Kong in that city. But, I won't find out about it until next year anyway.

That's it for tonight - now to figure out where I left the tent ...