6 Mile Personal Best

Last night I had six miles to do which I wasn't really looking forward to. I played football on Tuesday for the Gravytrain Limited team and we got beat 7-6, this tough game left me with a pulled hamstring and some pain in my ankle..

What did I do? Instead of resting and perhaps swapping my run with my Thursday rest day, I decided to take a few pain killers, have a good warm up and get out there running. The first couple of miles were a bit of a nightmare and I wondered if I would be able to make it round. I got my head down, stuck with it, and focused on reaching each the end which I did in record time completing 6.25 miles (10k) in just under an hour.

I'm feeling it this morning but at least today is a rest day - if you want to see my run and particularly where I pressed the 'power song' button on my ipod, take a look here.

http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/?l=runners,runs,1693117138,runID,1558436492

8 Miles High

Well, that's my first 8 miles done and I didnt find it too difficult. In fact, I reckon that I could have added a few more miles. I'm putting down the main reason for this, is the bowl of pasta that I ate 2 hours before. Having enough fuel in your body makes a serious difference and it's beginning to dawn on me that my diet is going to have a much bigger role in my training than I first thought.

Overall the run went really well and I was chuffed to complete it with no major problems. Debbie & Archie drove round to meet me along the route to give me a quick drink. It helped even though the container was abit of a nightmare to drink out of!!

See my run:
http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/?l=runners,runs,1693117138,runID,887227185

End of Week Five

I can't quite believe that I've reached the end of week five of my training schedule. Injury wise I have a couple of niggles but I'm looking forward to my 8 miles on Sunday. I've got some intervals tonight and as long as I warm up properly I should be OK.

Things are a bit quiet on the fund raising front, I'm hoping that it's because it's January and everybody is skint. I'll send everybody a reminder early next month, get you all dipping your hands in your pockets for some ££'s

Next weeks schedule? Here goes...

Sun - 8 miles
Mon - REST DAY
Tue - Gravytrain Football
Wed - 6 miles
Thu - REST DAY
Fri - 4 miles
Sat - REST

Only 18 miles in a week - what a breeze....errr, don't I have to do 26+ miles in one day?!

16 miles in 4 days....that's about 25km

I'm sitting at my desk at work feeling the aches and pains of running 16 miles in 4 days. Sunday was a 6 mile run, followed by 4 miles on Tuesday and a further 6.2 last night. I ran 6.25 last night, as it's 10km. So that means that I've done 25km in the last four days, does that sound better than 16 miles??

Anyway, I'm feeling pretty tired and not particularly looking forward to my big run on Sunday (8 miles) but with a couple of rest days in between I should be OK.

My shins seem to be OK, although this pain in my right calf won't go away and the greater the distance the worse it seems to get. I'm back to Physio on Monday and hope she can point me in the right direction.

So What is a Podiatrist?

According to my business partner, a podiatrist is somebody you go to when your iPod is broken...

My physio on the other hand thinks I need to see one to fix the problems with my shins. Don't get me wrong, things are definitely getting better but with every time I up the distance I seem to get more and more aches and pains.

Since my last post, I managed a reasonably swift 3 mile run on Friday, followed by a 6.1 mile run on Sunday with no major problems.

Anyway, it appears that I'm being booked in to see a Podiatrist at great expense - this guy aparently flys down from Scotland to see people, perhaps I'm paying his air fare?!?

Some stats....(Since I started the whole Nike+ iPod thing):

Distance Covered = 21.92 miles

Average times = 9.57 mins per mile

And for the record, my power song is 'Eye of the Tiger' by Survivor!!

My New Running Shoes

My new Nike Structure Triax +11 shoes appear to be doing the job. According to the physio, they are built for mild over-pronators who require a combination of cushioning and stability.

Basically, when I run my feet land on the outside and then roll inwards. This can cause pain and discomfort in my shins, which is exactly what has been happening to me!!

The are pretty comfy and don't look too bad either - more importantly they are Nike+ which means they work with my ipod.

On The Road to Recovery

Well after a couple of sessions with the Physio and some new running shoes, my shins appear to be on the mend. Here's what I've done since my last post...

Fri 11th - 2 miles (fast, slow, walk)
Sat 12th - REST
Sun 13th - 6 miles (steady pace)
Mon 14th - REST
Tue 15th - Football - haven't a clue how far I ran but we won 5-3 (Come on Gravytrain)
Wed 16th - 5 miles (av. 10.03 per mile)
Thu 17th - REST

At the moment, I'm looking forward to my rest days allowing myself to recover. My shins seem to be holding up but I have physio session on Monday after my next 6 mile run, so fingers crossed.

No Pain, No Gain...

After an action packed Gravytrain football match, my shins were hurting somewhat...if I'm honest, my shins were hurting on Sunday after my 4 mile run but I figured my new Nikeplus running shoes would do the trick.

How wrong I was....off I went last night with my new running shoes and Nike's new little gadget wirelessly attached to my sons ipod nano. The new piece of kit is great, but my shins gave up after about 2 miles with me having to hobble home in the cold and wet. As you might imagine I wasn't happy and have promptly booked myself into Activ8 Rehab who looked after my knee when that went.

Fingers crossed, they will get me sorted and back running...in the meantime, I'm going to be working on my upper body strength with some work down the gym.

Gravytrain Football or a 3 Mile Run?

What a dilema, my schedule last night meant that I should doing a 3 mile run, on the same night as the Gravytrain football match. I'm keen not to give up on the footie and let my team mates down, but equally need to keep up my training programme. My solution? I've decided to replace my FARTLEK training on Fridays with a 3 mile run and play football on Tuesday as part of my FARTLEK training...does that sound like it makes sense?!?! I haven't got a clue but that's what I'm doing.

Anyway, that was last night and the Gravytrain Limited team got a right bashing losing 9-1 to My Little Pony FC. It was a real struggle for most of us including me as my shins were playing up from all the running I've been doing. Still, with my new running shoes and an adapted running stance the pain in my shins should improve...according to Wikipedia anyway!!

Finally, I'd like to thank the guys at Mortgageplus.ie who have very kindly agreed to sponsor me to the tune of around €300 - Mortgageplus are Ireland's leading online mortgage broker and also a customer of Gravytrain Limited

End of Week Two

Well, I'm two weeks into my sixteen week training schedule and desperately in need of some new running shoes. I popped into the SweatShop in Teddington on Saturday to see what I could find but it was so packed in there, myself and the family ended up going for lunch in Cafe Nero. Then we're off to Kingston to have a look at the new Nikeplus gear.

OK - so what is it? Well it's a tiny little device that sits inside your trainers and connects wirelessly with your Ipod nano...cool eh? Aparently it talks to you, plays you music and tracks your progress, distance, heart rate and pace etc. And it's only £20, providing you have an ipod nano (which I don't) and the required pair of Nike running shoes which I don't have either, well at least not yet anyway. So another week goes by and I finish off with a 4 mile run around Ashford which at 8.30am and with no breakfast inside me wasnt very funny. However, it had to be done really unless I was going to get up at 6am...which I wasnt!!!

Now starts a week with a rest day (today) and a trip back to the SweatShop for those sexy Nike running shoes. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, Bedford Insurance very kindly sponsored me today, to the tune of £500 - Thanks a million guys, that is very generous!!

The Weather Drops - Kev Gets Cold

I got home last night at around 6.30pm and noticed the temperature gauge in my car was showing 2 degrees, not exactly the weather I wanted for my run. Aparently we have snow on the way, thankfully I have a day off running today :) then back to training on Friday.

I checked out the fund raising website this morning, and my good friend Jim Edwards, he's a famous racing driver has made a generous donation. Thanks Jim and see you soon..

To sponsor me, fee free to visit

JustGiving.com/RunKevRun

See you soon

Welcome to RunKevRun

OK - here goes...

I'm running the London Marathon on 13th April 2008 and it's gradually starting to dawn on me how close that really is. I started training on 23rd December and have had Christmas and New Year to contend with since...too much food, too much booze and not enough training. That said, I have manged to run about 13 miles during Christmas and New Year with short 3 miler to do tonight. All in all, by the time the Marathon comes around, I will have run approximately 450 miles...blimey that sounds a lot, I think I'm gonna have to purchase some new trainers!!

By the way, I'm running for a charity called African Revival and trying to raise £2500 for them in the process.