Last post before the race...

My apologies for not posting to this blog for over a week. As I mentioned in my last blog post: I’ve been in the Middle East since Thursday 16th and have subsequently not had a great deal of time for recreation.

That having been said, I did manage to get out for a 9.3km run on Tuesday 14th and Wednesday 15th morning, and also ran an agonising 5km in the hotel gym in Riyadh on Saturday 18th morning.

Links below to the runs on Wednesday and Thursday, and a photo of the gym in the Intercontinental Hotel Riyadh showing the exact running machine on which I suffered.

http://runkeeper.com/user/grahamtutt/activity/70724782

http://runkeeper.com/user/grahamtutt/activity/70849320

Since then, other than over-eating (and not drinking alcohol), as I’m in Saudi Arabia, I’ve not really had a chance to get in any training. This is causing me some worry as I’m now convinced I’m already completely unfit again and do not have the time to ramp up prior to the Half Marathon.

Also, even though there’s only a three hour time difference between the UK and Saudi Arabia, I had a whole day of travelling to Qatar last Thursday, a long day of work on Friday followed by a midnight flight to Riyadh, and some long working days after that, and I’m knackered. After flying back to the UK I had a golf tournament on Thursday so it’s possible I may collapse after the first 10kms of the race.

The only remaining training I have managed to do is a quick 5km run this morning. L

http://runkeeper.com/user/grahamtutt/activity/72266934

Moving back to the subject of golf: thanks to Glasgow Scott for accompanying me around the nine hole golf course in the grounds of the hotel in Riyadh, and in doing so attempting to break almost every course rule:-

• Do not use range balls on the course (rule broken)
• Do not wear jeans (rule broken)
•  Repair all pitch marks (rule broken – although I’m not sure the pitch mark was Scott’s)
•  Proper golf shoes must be worn (rule broken)

There were some rules to which Scott adhered by default as they only applied to ladies.

I paste below a photo of the golf course. Trust me: it looks nothing like this...

Anyway, tomorrow is the big day and like it or not I'm going out there to complete the race and bank the considerable amount of money that's been raised during the course of my training.

A MASSIVE THANK YOU to all who have supported me throughout the last eight weeks. It's been an interesting time to say the least.

Remember: you can follow live on-line tomorrow as I plod round the course. Any time less than 2 hours and I'll be pleased. I'm going to start behind the two hour pack to ensure I start nice and slowly before making my way through the crowds in order to come in somewhere under 2 hours.

A colleague of mine, Cross Country Ed is actually the 2:10 pace maker for the event, so I shall at least have someone to jog with at the start before breaking away and being with my own thoughts.

Finally: thank you to those of you taking the time to come and watch me during the race. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the support. You are all very special to me.

I will sign off now leaving only a big link to my Runkeeper page on which you can follow me LIVE tomorrow. Nanoo Nanoo.....

http://runkeeper.com/user/grahamtutt/

Just click on the link, and navigate to the Activities page. You should see me hobbling round...

Longest training run done: cashback!

Yesterday saw me undertake the longest run of my Half Marathon training. If you can cast your mind back to the schedule I posted a couple of weeks ago, it had me building up from 10km to 20km in 2km intervals over the course of six weeks. I had to modify this slightly due to my knee injury in week three but I am pleased to say that I casually jogged round 20kms of Kent countryside yesterday morning.

You can view all the technical details of the run by following the link below:-

http://runkeeper.com/user/grahamtutt/activity/70303150

I admit that the time is not the greatest, but it puts me on course for a sub 2 hour half marathon, and who knows: I may even come in under 1:55 - a mere 15 minutes slower than my previous best :-(

I'm pleased to report that my knees held up pretty well. I'm still running with a heavily strapped right knee, and the patella tendon injury to my left knee is a minor cause for concern, but all-in-all I'm really pleased with the way they're behaving. No dodgy tummy this time either (thankfully).

It's customary to "carb-up" on the day prior to a long run. I did this by having the kids' left-over pasta, a bottle of beer, and a very nice chicken and mushroom noodle thing from ASDA. That, together with an early night, put me in good stead for the 20km run. What it did not do was prepare me for just how cold it was at 07:30 yesterday morning...

According to my neighbour (Andre 3000) the temperature gauge on his car was showing -7.5 C at 08:00, and Barber Graham tells me it was -10 C when he left to open his shop at 07:00. So it's safe to say that when I stepped outside it was somewhere in the region of -8 C, and boy did I feel it!

3kms into the run my thumbs were so painful it was distracting me from running. Despite putting my hands under my armpits and enclosing my thumbs in my fists it took until the 6km mark before they returned to somewhere near normal. My right thumb still feels slightly numb today!

When I got home and took off all the technology I carry with me, I ran my hand through my hair and realised that the sweat in my hair had turned to ice. I was literally running around with icicles in my hair! Don't get me wrong: I run hot, so prefer it to be a little on the cold side when running, but this was a little too chilly.

Anyway: it's done and I'm filled with confidence that I will complete the Half Marathon. My only worry it not being able to train whilst in Qatar and Saudi Arabia next week. I will also need to be disciplined regarding how much food I eat whilst out there. Due to the fact there's nothing to do in the evenings (and of course no bars) my experience is that the tendency is to over-eat to relieve the boredom.

I paste below a copy of the route I took yesterday and wish you all well. Nanoo Nanoo.

Just over two weeks to go!

Time is marching on and it seems that there's only 16 days left until the Half Marathon.

I have received my race pack (I think I'm runner number 276) and I have one more long run left to do as part of my training regime.

As with last week, I will not be running this evening but will be heading out for a 20.2km run tomorrow morning. This is in part due to the fact that my right knee is in a pretty poorly state after running on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, and also because it's England vs Italy in the Six Nations rugby tomorrow, and I'd like to sink a couple whilst watching it. Doing a 20K run on Sunday after a few pints would not be particularly enjoyable.

Wednesday evening's run was largely uneventful with the exception of two points of interest...

Whilst running past the sewage works on the mini-bypass (I'm making Tonbridge sound wonderful) a car pulled over next to me and a woman wound down the passenger window. On looking into the car I noticed that she was heavily pregnant and her partner, who was driving, appeared quite panicked. I also noticed a suit case on the back seat.

All of this made sense to me when she asked if I knew the way to Pembury hospital. I gave her the simple directions and jogged off as the car sped away.

On reflection, this couple are either the world's worst planners or in an unfortunate predicament. If it is the former then I must commend the chap on his bravery - good job!

The other slightly less humorous event occurred as the result of a reduced price king prawn salad I ate for lunch.

At around the 7.5km mark I started to get really very bad stomach cramps followed by the almost uncontrollable need to find a loo fast. Showing nerves of steel (and buttocks) I was able to just make it home before I became the unfortunate recipient of sea food related food poisoning; a condition which lasted with me for around 24 hours. A link to Wednesday's run is provided below for your pleasure:-

http://runkeeper.com/user/grahamtutt/activity/69979167

I'm happy to report that I'm in good shape and looking forward(ish) to tomorrow morning's run which I'll broadcast in the normal way. Kick-off will be at around 07:30 for those interested in following me on line.

Next week training will re-commence on Monday and Wednesday as normal. On Saturday / Sunday I'm due to do a gentle 10K run. My original plan was to run a 10K section of the Half Marathon course. Instead I will be running 10K on a treadmill in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. For once I won't need to brave the cold!

Due to the relative dullness of broadcasting a run from a stationary treadmill in a hotel in Riyadh, I will not broadcast this run, but you can rest assured that I will do it, and I will try to take some sort of photographic evidence to prove it. Note that photography and Riyadh are not good bedfellows so the photo may be somewhat of a dull one.

Finally, a quick note about fund raising. I'd like to offer you my heart-felt thanks for ensuring we have now reached the £750 mark. I feel that with two weeks left to go we could breach the £1000 mark which would be absolutely amazing! Please tell your friends and keep the sponsorship coming.

Snow and ice but the show's still going

It's been a couple of days since my last blog post: sorry about that.

If you're in the UK and follow the weather you will have noticed that the ground is covered in white stuff. Great for kids, sh*t for adults.

The plan I came up with last week worked brilliantly. I skipped my run on Friday and went for a 16.75km run on Saturday morning. I'm pleased to report that it went really well. I actually took a slightly longer route than I'd originally planned just to get a few hundred metres more distance in. You can see my diversion towards the end of the route (around 14km: red line deviating from blue) in the picture below:-

Full details of the run can be found by using the following link:-

http://runkeeper.com/user/grahamtutt/activity/69347924

Also due to snow I had to skip my Monday run as it was just too risky to be running on the roads or pavements. However, I pottered out in the cold last night for a quick 8.5km. For those wishing to follow me live, I do apologise but there was a technical error last night which prevented my run from posting to Facebook. I will endeavour to resolve this prior to my run tonight.

Details of last night's run can be found here:-

http://runkeeper.com/user/grahamtutt/activity/69830089

Tonight I'll be heading out a little later than normal: some time around 19:30. If you want to follow me you can navigate to my RunKeeper page or keep a look out on Facebook (if you're a Facebook friend).

http://runkeeper.com/user/grahamtutt/

Things may begin to get interesting this week as new poor weather may be coming in, and I may have to travel rather further than a 21km half marathon!

Keep tuned. For now: Nanoo Nanoo

Run tonight cancelled. Sunday run brought forward to Saturday.

Just a quick blog post to let you know that due to the threat of snow on Saturday evening / Sunday morning I have decided to bring my Sunday 16.5km run forward to Saturday morning (if there's no ice on the road I'll be off out first thing).

If you are following my runs live on the Internet, there will be no run this evening as I'll be saving energy for the morning run on Saturday.

Fingers crossed there is no snow, but in case there is I'll be running on tread mills: so no fun to watch on line.

Nanoo Nanoo

Brass monkeys

It seems Siberia is now having an influence on the weather conditions in the South East (along with most of mainland Europe and the rest of the UK). This became apparent when I stepped out of my front door at about a quarter past seven yesterday evening and was immediately met with a strong blast of ice cold air causing me to have momentary second thoughts about going for a run. However, run I did and it went pretty well.

Covering 10.5km in a little shy of an hour (57 minutes) is slightly promising, and means I may complete the Half Marathon in under two hours.

My knees continue to be a problem: the right one is still heavily strapped when I run, and the left is getting steadily worse. I can only assume this is due to the additional stress I'm placing on my left knee as I attempt to protect my right. Despite this there are moments when it's a joy to be out and about running through Tonbridge and it's outlying industrial estate. Some things I don't like are listed below:-

• As a cyclist you should either ride on the road or on a cycle path if one is provided. Do NOT cycle at breakneck speeds on a pavement that's a pedestrian-only pavement and expect to have right of way.

• As a cyclist: make sure you have lights on your bike! When it's dark outside and you're riding a bike without lights you are breaking the law and being bloody dangerous. Referring back to the previous point: if you don't have lights, riding on the pavement does not make it better.

• Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council: Painting a white line down the middle of an existing stretch of pavement and drawing a picture of a bike on one side and a person on the other is not always the best way to establish a cycle path. When a pavement is barely wide enough for two people to pass in opposite directions without rubbing shoulders it certainly is not wide enough to make into a cycle path. I know it helps with your end of year statistics: "We've created more than 3 miles of cycle paths in TMBC this year.", but it's a fudge. Perhaps you should publish statistics concerning complaints about, or accidents caused by these most inappropriate of cycle paths?

• Drivers: please do not put your headlamps on full beam just for the fun of blinding a jogger. It's hard enough to see the pavement given the the dodgy street lighting in Tonbridge (see earlier blog post) without some twat blinding you with their halogen headlamps.

• Thanks to the grit lorry for gritting my leg as I ran alongside the mini-bypass: much appreciated.

• Boy racers: the speed limit on the industrial estate varies between 30 and 40 mph, and is 60 mph on a short stretch of the mini-bypass. That does not mean you have to try to reach the top speed your car is capable of between roundabouts along the route. It's dangerous and a waste of fuel.

While I'm having a slight whinge, it seems that the GPS on my phone went slightly haywire last night. One moment I was running along the mini-bypass, the next I was pretty much back on the High Street. It never quite recovered after that. I include an image of the route my GPS thinks I ran below:-

The split times were very curious (see image on the left). It seems I was ambling along at about 5 1/2 minute a km then took a turn of speed to around 1 1/2 minutes a km. With the 2012 Olympics coming up, someone should be calling me very soon to offer me a place on Team GB.

Anyway, I managed to remove the erroneous GPS positions from the map data and you can find the correct details of the run at the following link below:-

http://runkeeper.com/user/grahamtutt/activity/69041311

Finally, a word of thanks to Amish Steve for the tip regarding strengthening the muscles around my knees by isolating them with a towel. I know you won't be able to read this blog as you have no electricity, or a computer for that matter, but thanks anyway.

Until next time: Nanoo Nanoo