So I realised I have written lots about my running sessions, cardio workouts and light weight training; but I didn’t mention much about keeping the mental element balance in check as well…

I trotted off to my first ever free style Yoga session at CitySport yesterday … And what followed next was an enduring 45 minutes of stretching in such pretzel positions that I discovered muscles I never knew existed in my body!

We trained with Ash, a yoga instructor who has been practising for the last twenty years and performed a few warrior poses. My shoulder, back and thigh muscles were loosened and I felt GREAT! Unfortunately, I couldn’t take photos, but here’s a visual guide to the poses were stretched out on…

Ash explained to me later that once you learn these poses well enough, you can perform them from the comfort of your own home. Well, I must confess, I’ve spent my morning practising these, and hope to be back at his Yoga class again next week. Watch this space …. 🙂

No – this isn’t some awful chat up line!

Just thought I’d share some learning.

Anyone who runs as part of their fitness routine really ought to be aware that most of us have funny feet.  We don’t run like Paula Radcliffe – though I suspect most of us don’t wee in the gutter on National telly either!!

Fact is that most of need “special shoes” because, as an organism, we’ve forgotten what it is to run.  Our feet have become lazy – consequently when you start to exercise your feet don’t strike the floor the way that Mother Nature would like.

The result – pain in your legs, shin splints at least and herniation at worst.  This becomes really noticeable the further you run (not everyone is daft enough to do 26.2) but even short runs place you at risk!  This doesn’t make mention of the mechanical compensation that your body will try and make – resulting in knee, hip and back problems.

So – the lesson, if you exercise and use a treadmill or the road, head to a running shop with about £100 in your pocket.  Take your trainers (the ones you actually run in).  If they’re worth their weight they’ll put you on a treadmill, film your gait, analyse it and then put you in footwear that you should notice the difference in.

You (and more importantly your legs, pelvis and back) have been warned!!

Well, failed.  Failed 18 miles.  Failed to complete Uni work.  Failed to complete blog!

Where did that time go?  Or is that just another way of saying – I didn’t try hard enough!

That’s the point of endurance.  It’s often not about completing in a record time.

Its about completing.  Its about trying as hard as you can and when the little voices in your head (or is that just me?) start saying, sit down, take a break – there’s a short cut over there – then that’s the time to remind yourself why!

CANCER – more specifically LEUKEAMIA.  That’s why I need to try harder.  Not because I have it.  Because it took my Dad.  My rock.  My hero.

I’m not pounding the streets for fun – for the thrill (believe me, there is a bizarre thrill to completing 26.2mi).

I’m doing this distance for my Dad, and for Leukeamia and Lyphoma research – to raise cash to keep the research going into fighting these diseases.  Oddly – he died of a leukaemia that normally affects 35-55 year olds!  He was 72.  That in itself got me thinking – I’m of an age where I could develop this – bugger that – lets fight it!

Lets try harder!!