Another dead hero.

Such sad news. One of my heroes and and inspirations, Howard Zinn, passed away yesterday. The world has lost, in an ocean of madness, one of its purest drops. It wont be the same without him, his wisdom and kindness changed the world for millions. For more please click here

Not much blogging but lots of jogging.

The title says it all. My lack of keyboard action has been down to the fact that the training has been upped and so too, it seems, has the ante of life in general. The snow finally bade us farewell about 2 week's ago and it has made pulling on my running shoes feel that little bit less treacherous these days. When you find yourself trudging through a few inches of snow at -5 degrees for a few weeks!!......you start praying for the big melt to arrive.

But all in all it pales in comparison to what the people of Haiti have had to endure. Such a catastrophe makes one grateful for having the ability to be able to run, to be able to inhale at the start of each day without breathing in rubble, to be able to wake up in your home knowing your family are OK. A magazine called Pairs-Match published some photos last week and, on seeing said images, the horror of this act of nature put my perspective very much in place. As terrible as it is I am, however, warmed by the actions of people the world over. I have followed this story and witnessed a spectacular out-pouring of kindness and generosity by my fellow man. I hope that you can all spare a thought and a prayer for the people who are much less fortunate than us.

Back to the blog....
Running..... right, sorry I went off on a tangent there. I am fitting in as many hours training as possible at the moment. Pearl spends a few hours a week in child care with "normal" kids and has adapted really well thus far. That gives me time to go out and gallop knowing that she is in good hands. The first few times I dropped her off I would waste at least fifteen minutes going home to get changed into my New Balance kit and heading out again. So I reckoned it was much easier to drop her off in full Lycra regalia than doing two wardrobe changes within twenty minutes. It turned out to be a worth my while, time-wise that is, but,the looks from the other parents and teachers was a mix between surprise and.....perplexity. You would think they had never seen a man in tights before and its not like I had walked into a K.K.K rally dressed as Boy George. But people are now asking me about the training and one or two seem interested in flexing the legs. Maybe a business as personal trainer beckons. Who knows what the future will bring. I, for one, do not. All I know is that every day of health is a gift.

See you round the bend.

Mally x

To help with Haiti click on here to purcahse a truly great song sung by Eddie Vedder.

Merry New Year.

Ello, ello,

How's it going people? Lots to cover so lets get stuck in. Reflecting back on Christmas and New Year I must admit that it was a great period for us. Pearl spent some time with her Nana and it left myself and Alicia with a week to spoil Dylan and reward him for being such a kind little boy. He has had to face the fact that his sister is not like other children and has been remarkably kind and loving towards her. So we took him to Disneyland in Paris, I still cant decide who was more excited, him or I. It was a world away from reality and we packed in as many rides and events as we could. He has a new found love for playing the drums after we watched four African drummers work their magic on various instruments of percussion. All in all a great day, even if I was still hobbling from the ice-skating session the day before. Ouch! I fell more times than I care to admit. Meanwhile, Mrs McLoughlin was gliding around the rink.... backwards, putting us all to shame. I'll stick to the running thanks.

Speaking of the running, I have upped the training and braved -7 degrees on New Years morning at 5.30 am. Yep 5.30 am. I was running near Versailles and all the revellers from the previous evening were falling around the streets clutching bottles of god-knows-what, not Evian let me tell you. Of course seeing yours truly jogging around like a mad man brought on either shouts of abuse or words of encouragement from these bewildered drunks. It was a novel way to bring in my New Year and I ended my gallop after clocking up about 30 kilometres, by the time I had showered back home at around 8.30 am, the rest of the crew were only rising from their slumber. From now until May the effort will be intensified greatly. The longest I have done so far is about 45 kilometres, I'm not sure what to expect from 100? The main factor towards the end of it will probably mental strength. I am confident however that I will break 10 hours. The excitement is rising and I relish the though of hitting the road at 5 in the morning with a bunch of kindred spirits.

Here is a brief summary of my statistics from last year, give or take a few kilometres.

2009.
Kms ran - 2,335
Calories burned - 182,000
Average speed - 12 km's p/h

See you round the bend my pedigree chums,.

Mally x

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCJDMA8LG8M&feature=player_embedded#

Above is my favourite Marathon grimace of the past year.