The countdown is on.

That's the map for the 100km race, its 16km laps and I just realised about 10 seconds ago that the race starts at 05.00 am. Now that is news to me. Will be a good warm up for the Ireland run I guess.

I'll be back on Sunday to blog more, after a nice run that is. I'll have had plenty of time to ponder by then.

'Till then,

Mally x

Fair play and Karma.

Here I go again, back in this familiar little womb of blog land. I would have written over the weekend but, due to the Herculean rage built up inside of me I decided to avoid venting my spleen until the dust had settled. "Why so down dude?" I hear you hark. Well......

Thierry Henry, you are a cheat and a liar. Hard to know which is worse really. I am not getting on a soapbox here as I hate football. It bores me stupid, put me in front of a TV with a Marathon or a cycle race on and I'll sit there saucer-eyed for hours. The reason I bring it up is mostly because of Dylan. He has developed a healthy appetite for the game and is progressing well, being part of a team is good for young boy's and also teaches them discipline and respect. Now, my good mate Monsieur Henry on the other hand (pun very much intended) says that his handling of the ball was an "instinctive reaction". Lets try that with some other sports shall we eh?? OK, we will. When is the last time you saw a basketball player raise his leg to stop a ball going out of play? NEVER? Of course not my chums, because using your leg in a game of basketball is the last thing you would do. Your "instinctive reaction" is to NOT use your foot. Lets try another one. You are in the finals of the world snooker, its tied on the black ball and you have just struck the ball deftly only to see it roll slowly towards the pocket, there is an audible gasp from the audience, the black ball hangs on the lip of the pocket. ITS GAME OVER. Of course while we are talking "instinctive reaction" (its beginning to sound like a swear word) maybe the best thing here is to lift the end of the table so the black ball falls in. Viola, you are the winner and here is your cheque. I used to lift the pool table when I was five yrs old. I used to kick basketballs when I was five yrs old, I even accidently hand-balled the occasional football during a match when I was..... yep, five yrs old. So Thierry, thanks for being such a positive influence on MY five year old. You have shown in true and predictable form, that, once again money and fame are never enough. Next time you look in the mirror try and remember why YOU started playing 'the beautiful game' in the first place, was it for Gillette, Renault or any of the other sponsors? NO, you did it because you loved it. Don't take that love away from every kid who has ever looked up to you.

My point is this, play fair. If you lose you lose. Its about life really, the football story is just a metaphor. Karma does come back around you know.

My main bone of contention is the fact that I got fleeced by a so-called "respected" Autism professional recently, that was the real source of my rage over the weekend. She withered on about things I knew already, over and over again. I had two sessions with her and Pearl (usually its just the teacher and Pearl) the second rendevouz was a carbon copy of the first one. She was completely un-organised, dithering on and basically unworthy of the nice office with the big window which enabled her to see suckers like me coming from a mile away. How much did it cost for this aural lobotomy? 230 euros!! 115 euros an hour. OJ Simpson's lawyers didn't even charge that I bet. I have met a lot of people through Pearls handicap and they have been sensational. Pearls 3 therapists are the greatest, Julie, Gregory and Agnes do so much for her and its great to have a team like them. But there is always one who will let you down, I have chalked it down to experience and moved on. Like I said, fair play and karma, that should be applicable to every facet of life (and thats just my opinion)

That's my lot gang, I have added an email subscription box on the blog and if you enter your address its just a couple of easy steps to getting my updates as soon as I post them. We are working hard with Pearl as always and I want to say to Alicia "Happy Anniversary" for last Sunday. She is currently involved on a project which is sooooo suited to her talents, along with two of her great friends they hold the genesis to a really worthwhile offering.

On a running note, bought my new "New Balance 1063's" just the other day. Will be back soon with a road test report and another setlist that RAWK'S

See you round the bend,

Mally x

Rock n Roll

Yo, yo, yo,

Yesterday I promised to blog my 'Setlist' to pain, well here you go.....

1 Lakinis Juice - Live
2 Uprising - Muse
3 Vicarious - Tool
4 Renegades Of Funk - RATM
5 A Song For The Deaf - QOTSA
6 Alive - Pearl Jam
7 Read My Mind - The Killers
8 God's Gonna Cut You Down - Johnny Cash
9 Living For The Weekend - Hard-Fi
10 Oroborus - Gojira
11 Sinatra - Deftones
12 London Calling - The Clash
13 Light My Way - Audioslave
14 Pushit - Tool
15 Forest - SOAD
16 Asian Hooker - Steel Panther
17 Saltwater - Chicane
18 Bulls On Parade - RATM
19 Hail, Hail - Pearl Jam
20 Given To Fly - Pearl Jam

See ya round the bend.

Mally.

Run Forrest Run

An up and down weekend if ever there was one. It was tantrum city at our house on Saturday, population; Dylan and Pearl. There was all sorts of sulking and emotional melt downs, the likes of which I have not seen in a while and would rather not see again. Yeah... that's likely, alright!!!! Its just so hard to gauge Pearls behaviour these days, so that is why we are having our first ever session with all 3 of her therapists at our house tomorrow morning, with a bit of luck and some hardcore brainstorming we can collectively reach a consensus on how to take some steps forward (without having to take any steps back) More on that to follow.

Today was the semi marathon in Paris. I have run it before and know its winding course along the Seine quite well. What I didn't bank on was arising this morning at 6 am to have my honey and toast to the sound of the double glazing being pelted with rain. It was very windy too. I set off at 8 am to get the bus and after half an hour was at the gymnasium with all the other participants. Its exciting when you are around all those kindred spirits and the familiar aroma of deep heat and various other heat treating oils. I got my gear on and headed for the start line to do some warming up. It had stopped raining by this stage but the wind was ferociously strong and coming head first at the 4,000 strong pack. The gun went off at 10 am and the usual scramble for positions started, elbows flying, runners cutting across your path etc. Its always takes about 3-4 kilometres to find your rhythm and I found myself hammering into the wind at a pretty decent clip. I'd pay for it later though.

Hitting the last water stop at 15k's I was on target to break 1:35, that had been my goal for the day as my previous personal best was 1:41:17. But the wind was just relentless and as I passed under the final kilometre banner I was beginning to feel my legs go jelly-like. But I just pushed on as hard as I could for that last stretch. I had beaten my personal best by 4 minutes and felt like I had won the bloody thing given the level of my enthusiasm. It was so well organised and I love doing it each year, cant wait to hit the road again. This week is rest for a few days and I'll be back pounding the roads by Thursday with a bit of luck. Below I will post the stats from the day and hope to see you all round the bend soon.

Distance 21.1kms
Time 1:37:24
Av. speed 13.5 kms/ph
Steps taken 16,096
Cals burnt 1810

Tomorrow I'll post my soundtrack to pain ;)

Mally.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy!!!!

It's finished, the site has finally gone live. So happy and so very grateful to Kieran Egan from mill-yard computing. Gotta go and pick up my boy from school now......

It's exciting..

...as it looks like today will be the official launch of runningforpearl.com. It has been months in the making with every day dedicated to tweaking a few details here and there. I cant believe that such a spontaneous idea whilst out running has blossomed into something that myself and Alicia are very proud of. I hope that all of you will like it and that you can spread the news around via word of mouth, e-mail or text etc. This really is a grass roots site and is there to help and educate anyone who is interested. The more momentum it gains, the more it can aid people who feel they may be in the dark. If you happen to be a fan of running you will see my updates on the site, as well as here. I will not be letting my blog slide, no, no, no. In fact, just the opposite, I will have more time for ranting away right here. I want to send an enormous shout out to Alicia and Q, who really put the time into making my vision become what it has. Here's to you guys, and to my babies, Dylan and Pearl. You inspire me to keep going long after my body has told me to stop.

See you round the bend.

Mally.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Me Hearties,

How goes it out there? I have to say that I have not had time for much lately other than go to appointments with Pearl, bring Dylan to football practice/school and generally maintaining damage control on the wave of destruction they level at our flat on a daily basis. But I now have a spare 5 minutes to just breathe (and do a wee spot of updating on ye olde blog)

Things with Pearl are going OK, there has been lots of meetings with top drawer Autism folk, who funnily enough also charge top dollar too. But I have to say its all positive, as many of our specialists are of the same opinion and that is we caught it early. Kudos to Alicia for that, if she gets to know any more about the subject I think she will be going on a lecture tour soon. The thing is, its constant work. You can't rest on your laurels at all. Milestones are celebrated briefly and after that its forward moving my friends. Constant stimulation.

On the running front well........ On Sunday 15th is the Semi-Marathon in Boulogne, which is just beside the city. Its flat, fast and a lot of elites run it as its good ground for breaking records and recording 'personal bests' (PB's we call them in our world of runners). You can see the Eiffel Tower in the distance and you are beside the Seine for most of it. My PB is 1hr 41 min's which I am hoping to beat by at least 6 min's. 1:35 is the goal, if I dip under that it will be a great day. I have also officially registered for the "100km de Vende". Its been sent in the mail so there is no going back now. 15th May, 100 km, 1 Man/Lunatic (delete applicable)

I would also like to officially announce RIGHT HERE that at some stage in the summer of 2011 I will be running Mizen head to Malin head (the most southern point to the most northern tip of Ireland) its about 587 Kms in total. I will run this solo in a week, however I will be opening it up to anyone who would like to join me for a km or two, whether its on a bike or on foot. Lets get some exercise and spread the word about Autism too eh?! The dates will need to be finalised as it takes a lot of organising and sponsorship to pull of something this big. But I know it can be done. Myself and Pearl were planning the route yesterday as you can see from the photo.

Gotta go my pedigree chums, to quote Lenny Kravtiz "Cos I'm always on the run.

See you round the bend,

Mally x