Day 31 - Gorilla sightings in the wilds of a Hampshire shopping centre

So judgement day ... how's my training doing?

Sometimes you are grateful for hour changes, and today was one of those days ...  I am not a morning person, and an extra hour in bed (for free) was most helpful. So, a 9am start (with my body thinking its 10am) in my home town was a perfectly reasonable idea.

Yes, today was Festival Place 5k, and also my first outing this year as a gorilla.

The race allowed us all to run round a shopping centre (normally a pleasure reserved for small children). The only way they could do this was before all the shops opened.

So, before we start, lets do the pre-checks...

Warm-up, legs first ...

... then the arms ...

... check the running clock ...

...finally check for anyone famous in the crowd (Cllr. Keith Chapman)

Seconds to go ... 

A spectator caught sight of the gorilla loose in the wild (Many thanks John)

Back to Festival Place ...

... and celebrate

Tell, you what though ... you can get really peckish on these runs ...

The people of Basingstoke were really fantastic, and cheered us all on. I especially liked the wonderful reception by all the children calling 'Come on Gorilla Man!', they all seemed to love it.

Day 24 - Flapjack is a food-group (honest)

My!, that was a busy 24 hours....

• grew new feet
• become a lot hairier & climbed a sky-scraper (ish)
• ran for the love of flapjacks!

OK, in English ... what does that mean?

Well, my old Nike trainers (good friends for the last 18 months) have to go, I realized after last weeks Blacks 10k that apart from slipping on the mud a bit that the tips of the toes on my right foot were bruised (I decided not to upload a picture). This is not good (and rather sore), so after  pitch inspection I discovered that they were rather snug about my toes so unfortunately they have had to go :(

Since the weather is not going to improve (it's nearly winter dammit), and sliding on leaves is rather too close to sliding on mud (not to mention HellRunner next month) I decided I needed some help, so I went to Fast Forward to get their help. I had a chance to make use of their gait analysis tools too, very odd seeing how you run ... I finally bought a Salomon Trail shoes (you'll get to hear about those later).

We had to dash home afterwards to get ready for a friends Sci-fi wedding. It was a really well fantastic event, and very touching how they integrated all the elements into the ceremony. As part of the day they asked for attendees to wear some element of Sci-fi as part of the day ... how could I resist ... with the head of Geraldine, some gorilla gloves and a blonde wig my wife and I turned up to the reception as 'King King' and 'Fay Wray'.

Here's a picture of 'King Kong' dancing with the bride

Finally back to the flapjacks, another of those 'run to somewhere and get fed/watered' days. This time it was to see Petra and family and we were offered some of her fantastic flapjacks. So armed with my new trail shoes and the 'My Tracks' application on my phone I headed off for a run (with my ever supportive wife following on bike).

We got there, had a great chat (did I mention flapjacks?), they gave us a lift back to 'The Way Inn' for a smashing lunch (mmm Roast pork nom nom nom) and then rather fuller we made our way back home.

I had never used the My Tracks application before, but will in the future - it really is very good giving great feedback on how you are performing as well as mapping where you went.

So, according to the gadget today I ran 14km in about 1:20 (admittedly it was in two parts though) which makes me feel better for tracking progress this week.

I realize the next couple of weeks are going to be hectic with work and an amateur show; so training is going to be sporadic - but I hope a combination of Parkrun and Festival Place 5k (next Sunday) will help.

Day 18 1/2 - Time for bed said Zebedee

Just before I head to kip - I received the results from yesterdays Blacks Trail Run.

I came out of 223 out of a field of 488; not bad for my first 'official 10k'.

Night all...

Day 17 - Part 2

Ok finished in 56:10 - not too shabby (Peter my 5k was 27mins - so no PB today) - the last 3k I befriended another runner Michael who was slowing down and kept him going (never give up - never surrender) as its a team sport.  Ok the winner did it in 39 minutes (and it was a girlie that beat everyone else)  - wow!

The views are superb, but with every good view there has to be a hill and a valley - and trust me there was - I will never look at Lord of the Rings again the same as they climb the steps to Mordor (Monster killer steps).

Note to self - muddy tracks and running trainers equals slippage, oh and here are a picture of the two cheeky monkeys and a gorilla - cheers guys :)

Now to get back to learning lines ...

Day 17 - Monkeys its cold!

Today its the Blacks 10k, up near Luton. Boy its cold!

To help I brought Geraldine - not for running today just for companionship. While typing this I met Joe and Al (two cheeky monkeys) who stopped by on their bikes.

More later - I need to warm up...

Day 12 - Sickness sucks

So, all quiet for the last few days - what happened?

Well Sunday, was rather full. Went to the hospital again to see my friend (who is doing a whole lot better) so I missed out on the 'Calamity Jane' auditions - but I gather my friends had a great time and congratulations to all those got parts and commiserations to those that didn't.    

After that I went up to the 'Gorilla's Secret Dance Party' with Dave (he's going to keep me in-check with training so I don't do any to stupid - or at least be there to video me being stupid as the case may be).

While I was up there I caught up with Sam and grabbed a spare gorilla suit (from now it will be referred to as Geraldine). Finally while at the Dance Party I have to recommend one of the acts 'MC Xander' who created live audio loops including a live-mix of 'You can call me Al' - really amazing.

In the mean time my body was conspiring against me, I felt a little off in the afternoon but thought I would ride it out.

Yeah, Right! Monday morning - yukk, attack of lurgy and that takes me up to now. Hopefully get things together for the weekend as i'm running in the 'Blacks Single-Track 10K'.

Day 9 - Parklife AROO AROO

OK time for a Parkrun (well it is Saturday), which seems to be booming here in Basingstoke. Today there were 152 runners, I'm not sure if that includes someones Dad on a bike, or a baby being pushed the 5k? Actually, I'm not sure they may '10 runs' t-shirts that size ....

Today was a chance to wear my Spartan Race T-Shirt - I know it's sad, but I really enjoyed that race and the  Tee feels good (anyone know a good therapist?)

And no, I didn't race with my eyes shut - its just I always seem to blink when a photo is taken - if only I could use those powers for good.

Today was not a Personal Best (that's not a surprise), but took 30 seconds off last week which is not bad (Something must be working).

Once we all recovered from the run, that is the post run coffee in town or as I call it Breakfast! I finally snuck in to the Sports Centre for another quick bike ride. I set the profile to something out of an 80s bombing run arcade game and set off.

I managed 5Km in about 13 mins with the settings set to 9 (I have no idea how those rate), but it felt like a good work out (Ok well I was has hot and sweaty at least).

That's it for today's training, unless the car breaks down :)