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