Good tech, bad tech

Once upon a time (oooh, about 20 years ago) folk just put on their trainers, maybe grabbed a drink and ran. Now there's all sorts of tech wizardry aiming to smooth your path to the finish. Some works brilliantly, others are sometimes obstacles to progress.

Good - Orthotics : I'm a convert of 3 weeks standing and what a difference they've made.

Bad - Garmin : my trusty Forerunner 305 let me down and was I cross. There I was, putting in the miles and it wasn't recording them. I have forgiven it, but I'm not sure I trust it to perform when I need it most ...

Good - Podcasts : I've discovered that music isn't enough to keep my mind off the running. But sermons by Mark Driscoll on Luke are fascinating, last about an hour and keep my attention away from what I'm doing. Thus they'd be a bit dangerous when I'm driving so it's a good thing my Puma won't talk to my iPod.

Bad - Forecasts : so far so good ... but I know that when the forecast is bad I'll believe it and probably not venture out. If I didn't know what was in the wind I'd just have to run through it when/if it came. Note to self : NO EXCUSES - you can always use the treadmill at the Gym.

Good - email alerts : 2 weeks ago Sweatshop and David Lloyd got together to give a 20% discount to members on gear. So I've now got new trainers/sox/tracksters/Goretex windproof jacket and a rather slimmer bank balance.

Current progress : I'm up to 6 miles on my long run and doing 2 other sessions a week of 3-4 miles. I've entered Silverstone Half Marathon in March, along with several of my friends and a neighbour has entered MK Marathon on April 29 so we'll be doing some training together.

Sponsorship : I'm running for Baby Basics, a project of MK Pregnancy Crisis Centre. Please sponsor me at my page on VirginMoney If you do so during December I'll be entered into a draw for £500 to be donated by Virgin to my charity. So don't delay ...

Blinkers needed, please

Got a bit distracted from the training over the last 2 weeks by being on holiday - not a problem, you would think, except this was a full-schedule trip around the Biblical sites/smells/tastes and coffee shops of Israel.

Lots of sitting on coaches, dawdling around ruins, posing for snaps to be uploaded to Facebook .... but also standing/walking all day around Jerusalem, exploring "water features", usually approached by enough steps for at least 5 mins on a stairclimber, climbing up 400m to Masada fortress, trekking around the source of the Jordan - let's call it cross-training.

Anyway, back in Blighty, I was very pleased to find that all those Middle East delicacies hadn't changed the scales at all. And my first run for 2 weeks wasn't too gruesome, although I was glad I'd already booked an appointment with Mark Booth at Body Limits for some orthotics - my feet hurt :( Only 1 week to wait and then I'll be springing around the lanes of Milton Keynes like a gazelle - or not ...

Thank you so much to those who have already sponsored me - it's a real incentive and encouragement to get out on rainy/sunny/windy/cold days and put those miles in. For those who haven't flexed the plastic yet, may I commend the charity to you and ask you to sponsor me now, rather than in 5 months time when I should be tapering.

PS I've posting my Israel pics and diary on Facebook. Here are the public links. Enjoy!

Day 1 Jerusalem Part1

Day 2 Around the Dead Sea

Day 3 Jerusalem Part2

Day 4 Mostly Bethlehem

Day 5 North up the Jordan

Day 6 Around Lake Galilee

Day 7 Galilee & Nazareth

Day 8 Northern borders

2 weeks in, 193 days to go

Quite a gamut of emotions this last fortnight, ranging from dread to excitement, via frustration and joy.

Dread - each year that I've entered the London Marathon application process I've been hoping/dreading that they'd give me a place. "Hoping" for the first few years - as I was fit, running with friends, I'd done several half-marathons and we could train together. "Dreading" more recently as I had "done" injury, friends had emigrated/got long commutes, I'd only really enjoyed 2 out of 6 halves and I'm not good at running on my own. Trevor has watched me open each rejection letter with glee and Clare roared with laughter when she heard I'd finally been accepted!

Excitement - so why did I keep entering? Mostly the promise that the organisers made that after 5 consecutive rejections they'd give you an entry. "Maybe", I thought, "I'll change my attitude if I actually get the chance to run London". And I was right - after the first few days of hoping that my old injuries would not allow me to run, I've completely turned around and will be very disappointed not to be on the starting line on April 22, 2012.

Frustration - with technology. I have an iPod which I've never used to listen to music and I'm now going through the learning curve of wearing it on the run, turning it up/down, skipping tracks (haven't mastered that yet), sorting out earpieces ... things any teenager/20- or 30-something can do in their sleep. Then there is Picasa (behind the photos on my Virgin Giving page). 5 pics to show and only 3 would display ... grrrrr. But trusty Google to the rescue and elimination of apostrophes on captions did the trick :)

Joy - I don't think I celebrated my 30th, 40th or 50th birthdays with such joy as my 60th. Everyone was so positive that I had no chance to feel "over-the-hill". And gradually building up the miles will allow me to listen to lots of old friends on the iPod from the 60's to the 00's - Dire Straits "Romeo & Juliet" is an excellent tempo for me!