Such an honour

So the Pope will get to meet the McCanns on Wednesday.

I'm sure this must be the highest accolade in his career. I hear that Bono & Bill Gates are still waiting to be granted an audience with them.

It's terrible that a three year old girl has gone missing (she's since turned four) but this media frenzy is sick. It's Sarah Payne Part II.

A child is killed every month in the UK by a child sex offender. A child is killed every half an hour in the UK by a motor vehicle.

2:42:03

I suppose I should be thankful that I finished given all the trouble I've had with my knee and the fact I've been pretty much sedantry for the last week and a half.

However I didn't remotely enjoy the run. The crowd gave me an enormous boost but several of the other runners annoyed the hell out of me. There was one couple in particular that overtook me, started walking, got in my way as I overtook them (Is it really such a chore to walk in a straight line?) and then overtook me again at least 20 times. If I do run again next year I intend to run it faster just to get ahead of numpties like them.

The worst thing was the weather though. The BBC were insistant that it would be heavy rain - there was no element of doubt from them. The reality was that it was dry with long intervals of sunshine for pretty much the whole run. There was a bit of spitting between miles 11 & 12 but nowhere near enough to cool me down. Whatsmore I hadn't applied any sun-cream so I now have red arms.

Weather forecasts are nothing more than an informed guess but the presenters treat them as a matter of fact. Why can't they give you the probability of rain like the Big Breakfast used to?

I can barely walk today and the sense of accomplishment is marred by the lack of enjoyment. Of the 13.1 miles I did, I enjoyed less than a mile. In my training there would be stretches for several miles where I would genuinely be enjoying myself. I'm not sure whether it was the numpties or the lay-off that took that away from me yesterday.

No Kneed to Panic

Having seen a doctor today (Who happens to be a 6ft+ runner that specialises in sports injuries) it would seem that although my knee might hurt if I run the half marathon on Sunday, it won't make it any worse and so won't do any permanant damage.

I've got an appointment with a physio tomorrow (my first ever) and I've been given some anti-inflamatories.

Apparently you should only train to 75% of the distance you're going to run, so I overdid it. Plus I had the wrong trainers. Other than that my training regime was what it should be for a 'big guy'. People who're built for running (i.e. a streak of piss) can train for it every day but juggernauts like myself shouldn't do more than 3 runs in a week - and I thought I was just slacking.

It'll probably hurt a lot when I run on Sunday but I don't care, I'm not about to let six months of preparation go down the drain.

As far as long term goals go, I'll have to work on shedding some weight before my next organised run. I'm thinking lots of cycling & swimming as they're low impact. I've also been given the green light to use the cross-trainer / novelty coffee table in my lounge.

I've often whinged about the surgery I use palming me off to a nurse but the doctor I saw today was nothing short of first class. He even suggested which trainers I should get.

Wem-berr-lee

I'm not going to bother wasting any more space than I have to about the match but I thought I'd comment about the new stadium that got its first cup final today.

It was my understanding that the designers had contacted astronomers to work out the position of the sun at 3pm during May. And that the roof has a special parasol that can be extended or retracted to ensure that there are no shadows on the pitch like you get at the Stade de France.

So taking all of that into account, I was somewhat surprised to see an enormous L-Shaped shadow across half the pitch at kick off. £800 million well spent.

Missed the point

I was watching the news this evening after the dull-as-dishwater cup final and saw a story about a government white paper to change planning laws.

There was an interview with a spokeswoman for the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) whinging about how it would make it easier to build on greenfield sites.

I think they've somewhat missed the point of the white paper. The idea is that it'll be easier to expand buildings in existing developed areas by putting up extensions/conservatories or converting lofts etc. It doesn't say anything about making it easier to build in undeveloped areas.

This would in fact result in more development in urban & sub-urban areas thus protecting rural England.

So I guess the question I'm trying to get at is:

Does the CPRE really exist to protect rural England or is it just a cloak for a bunch of NIMBYs that want to stop housing development wherever they can?

After all, THEIR house in the countryside sprung from the ground. And it wouldn't be as nice if you built a new house within view of it.

Personally I praise the government for trying to reduce unneccesary beaurocracy for once rather than introducing more.

The final hurdle

My debut half marathon is supposedly a week tomorrow.

I say supposedly because I did a 13.1 + mile run last Saturday and my left knee has been sore ever since.

I did a light run on Wednesday and although it felt better running on it than it does just walking, it hurts even more today.

I've decided if there hasn't been any improvement by Wednesday (my last window for a training run before the big day) then I'll have to abstain.

It sucks that I've spent seven months building up to this only to perhaps have to pull out at the last minute. Now I know how Michael Vaughan must feel!

The only plus point I have is that by running more than the 13.1 miles last week, I don't feel like a complete failure. It would have been nice to get a first organised run under my belt though.

For anyone that hasn't tried distance running, when I first started out on this venture I didn't realise exactly how enjoyable it could be. I thoroughly encourage anyone/everyone to give it a try, it does wonders to your fitness/physique and the buzz you get when you finish is awesome. And a bit of advice... the first three miles are the hardest of every run you do. Once you get into the rhythm, 4 miles may as well be 14.

Fingers crossed I'll be blogging about successfully completing the Plymouth Half Marathon next Sunday.