The Man in the Arena

I got an email from the race organisers yesterday, with training tips and the news that it will be televised. It's beginning to dawn on me what I'm actually taking on - 10 miles suddenly seems like a long way. I felt a mixture of excitement and worry, followed by determination to increase my training efforts.

Thats how I try to approach things, I always work best with a deadline to achieve and when I'm determined to do something, I will. I thought back to a speech that one of my previous american football coaches gave us before a big game. It was from a speech by Theodore Roosevelt and its one of the most inspirational things I've ever read. See what you think:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Thats why I will be lining up for the BUPA Great South Run on Sunday 26th October 2008.

Slow running week

Its been a slow week on the running front, very frustrating. I got a bit of a nasty cold last weekend that took a while to clear, and I was advised not to run with a cold so I missed a few runs. Plus my mum & dad have been visiting so it was easy to not find time to get out, a bit naughty of me. But I went back out running today on Hindhead Common, it really is beautiful out there, as I chugged along I saw wild ponies and Highland cattle grazing, all just a few minutes from home.

Because my parents were visiting I couldn't go out fishing on Thursday (sorry Paul & Jimbob) so I missed that, but I was able to take Mum to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden on Tuesday evening to see La Fancuilla Del West http://www.roh.org.uk/whatson/production.aspx?pid=6530 which was one of her life's ambitions, she was really chuffed so that was great.

Back to work tomorrow, next run is Sunday.

How do you kill a circus? Go for the juggler...

Took Erin to see the circus last night, Jay Miller's Circus are in Haslemere til Sunday. To my slight surprise, it was really good, the gymnasts were excellent and Erin lapped it up.

On Tuesday it was our fourth wedding anniversary so i took Lisa for dinner at Fat Olives in Emsworth http://www.fatolives.co.uk/ and it was a fab evening. Highly recommended!

The owners there are also doing the Great South Run, as are quite a few people I know. Hopefully one of them will save me a foil blanket and a mars bar.


Oh yeah, and the running....

Well its been raining so much that I couldnt face getting soaked again yesterday, so I wento the Kinetica gym at The Edge on Woolmer Hill, Haslemere and had a my best run yet. I did a 5K on the treadmill - is treadmill running easier than on the road? I think I prefer running outside as there's more to see. But I certainly couldn't have managed 5K three weeks ago, so I was encouraged.

Its getting a little easier...

I had a good run on Saturday, even though it was raining - again.

When you're out running you don't half keep a close eye on the weather forecast!

Sunday was a long day, my american football team were in the national semi final, with a chance to go to the Britbowl - the UK equivalent of the Super Bowl - but we travelled all the way up to Redditch only to lose 30-22, which was really gutting. So thats our season over now, Lisa will be glad as she'll actually see me on Sundays now!

Thanks again to all of you who have sponsored me. If you havent got round to it yet, please do so soon. Cheers, Neil

Thank you all!

Thanks very much to everyone who's sponsored me so far, you are very kind and I really appreciate it. I'm over  a third of the way to my total in one weekend, so now I'm really confident that I will get to my target, and beyond!

If you haven't been able to get round to it yet, please do so if you can. You can follow the link just to the right of this post.

Had a lovely few days off over the weekend, Erin went to her friend's birthday party on Saturday then we all went to Kevin & Veronica's in Weybridge for a barbecue. It was a really hot day and the pool looked really inviting - Erin loved it, she's a really little water baby.

Sunday was thunderstorms, typical as it was also my running day. Managed to dodge the showers so get a breather Monday!