Leaden Boot Challenge Review.

Well it is now the day after the LBC which I ran yesterday in glorious sunshine. The first thing I was aware of on arrival was how friendly everyone was. All the organsiers and other runners. This is primarily a walking event which sees the them going off at 9am. There is then an hour before the runners go. About 80 runners entered with a few having completed another offroad marathon the day before!

The start was a relaxed affair and then we were off. This is not a part of the Peak that I have run in very much and with the weather it was stunning and well worth a trip back. There were numerous marshals, the route was well marked and people at the check points were supportive and helpful. Each one had numerous juices, biscuits, sweets and home baked cakes! Fantastic. The overall winner by a country mile was the check point with the rocky road. I almost didn't leave. On arriving back into Alstonefield a cheering, clapping welcome was provided followed by a cooked dinner of Pie and Peas followed by as much cake as could be eaten. All home baked.

Fantastic. I have to say this was one of the best races I've ever done made by the community spirit, organisation and rocky road. The best £16 I've spent.. Hopefully all being well I'll be back next year however with how rough I felt afterwards and today, I've a lot to think about with regards doubling up on some weekends. We'll see how I feel after the next few races.

I managed a 7k plod this evening with the main limiter being my ability to breath in my diaphragm  How on earth did the other chaps complete 2 on the trot! Hopefully I'll be able to answer that soon!

Time for the boots to feel like lead!

So the year of 2013 is about getting rid of any niggles that I encounter through upping my mileage, upping my mileage, completing a few more marathons and generally trying out a few races prior to 2014. Some of the weekends next year are going to be 2 marathon weekends. This coming weekend I plan to have as one of them.

In 2012 I did the White Peak Marathon having not run for about 3 months with working on our house. It went ok, apart from the body struggling from mile 15 onwards but I got round, helped by my cousin Sam. Its not the most exciting marathon being on the disused railway tracks of the Tissington Trail and the High Peak Trail but it makes up for this with a friendly atmosphere and great views of the White Peak. This race takes place on a Saturday and the Leaden Boot Challenge is on the Sunday.

Any way I didn't know anything about the LBC so I thought I would go up last weekend and run the first half on Saturday and the 2nd half on the Sunday. Mainly because the instructions were a bit wordy and I didn't want to get lost. The actual race is on this Sunday and its going to be tough due to the terrain but we'll see what sort of time I complete it with and whether its suitable to run the day after the WPM. I recovered well from both halfs and have done 5 short runs since then. Trouble is I've picked up a cold now from the kids so its going to be interesting!!

The challenge is on..

I've entered my first races for next year now so the challenge for all intense and purposes is going ahead. I got an entrance in to London Marathon ballot last month but I don't really count this as I'm not going to find out for ages as to whether I've got a place. So the first entrance proper is for the Bolton Hill Marathon which is on the 8th and 9th March 2014. I've only entered the 8th at the moment. We'll see how training and recovery goes as to whether it is sensible to start off the challenge with increased risk of injury.

Aaaaand we're off !!

Right the blog is set up and I feel like the Journey has started.

So lots of thoughts to get down in B&W.

Firstly: Why do a blog? I have no idea other than being aware that my mind flits around so much I can't remember what I was doing yesterday let alone last week etc.. I am therefore hoping that this will be a personal record of the Journey I'm embarking on over the next 18 or so months.

Secondly: Why now? Well, in the not too distance future it will soon be my 40th birthday. It's a destiny that is hard to avoid. When I was a child 40 was nearly dead, however now I'm nearing 40 that child remains unchanged other than it now hurts to do somersaults on the grass or swing on the monkey bars at the park. When did that happen? Someone told me once that a definition of 'middle age' is when you start groaning on simple movements. Sadly middle age was entered a while back.

Most people consider a mid-life crisis nearing middle age and if that is 40 or when the groaning starts then this is the right time. Few people go through with their mid-life crisis and the ones that do either buy a sports car or have an affair. Well I haven't got the spare cash or energy for either and marriage, home life and parenthood is far too rewarding to do anything too stupid. So another crisis is required:

I have always enjoyed exercise especially if it revolves around the outdoors and have always sort out competition in any sport or sports that I have done. However it has taken me a full 30 years to realise that the only competition that drives me is internal and not for any prize giving, trophy or congratulations. Maybe the adulation I seek the most I know I can never attain. What am I left with?

It is as a parent that I have finally felt staggering uncontrollable emotion. A real quantifiable wholeness or completeness created by things so small. This emotional bond has been felt most notably on 2 occasions. The moment of holding my first born in my arms, skin on skin for what seemed like an eternity, lost in time. Without any awareness of outside worries or concerns whilst feeling the most worried and concerned about the future. This ranks as the happiest moment of my life. However holding my second child of 11 months old in my arms in the burns unit, sedated, bandaged up with a nasal feeding tube and with swelling to the point where he was struggling to hold his head up or open his eyes ranks as the saddest moment of my life. We are now 6 months on and the memories are still vivid, evoking deep emotions.

One second we were enjoying a lazy Sunday morning breakfast, the next our world was turned up-side-down and the Burns Unit at Sheffield's Children's Hospital became our home from home. J and A stayed there for 10 days cared for excellently under the many teams of specialists. We have had one further stay and many subsequent visits. All of the staff have been and are amazing and testament to this is the fact that now 6 months later J continues to develop as a vibrant happy, cheeky little monkey with as few reminders as possible. Our penance is to manage his scars via special cream 4 x a day, dressing in a compression top and ensuring that he is never in sunlight without factor 50 at least for the next year.

We want to make sure that we say a formal thank you to Sheffield Children's Hospital, in particular the Burns unit and especially the Team that transform the ward into a specialist unit. The only way to do this is to hopefully raise a few pounds for the Charity and to help raise their profile in order to help facilitate them treating another little person to the same high standards of care.

How am I going to do this? Back to the mid-life crisis? Run a marathon? That sounds tough. But I have done a few races before and I really want to do something significant, a challenge that pushes me harder and hopefully will helping to raise a few more pounds.

Providing my arthritic body holds up I plan to complete 40 marathons in the first 40 weeks of my 40th Year. Yes this sounds like a 'suitable challenge'. Or is that a typo, should it be 'stupid challenge'.