Game of 2 halves

Wish I could shake off this cough that has followed on from last week's cold.

I have only been doing the minimum distance apart from a gentle 5K I did with Nicky on Sunday. I think that the October marathon is looking very unlikely right now, and yet the vision of an eventual ultra still remains strong. Who knows exactly what and when, but it doesn't feel like it matters right now.

I did some preparatory work on foot toughening on Monday, walking barefoot on the stony beach - really quite painful.

Today has been like the proverbial football (soccer) match, a game of two halves. I was struggling with a problem that needed to be resolved today and couldn't see a way through this morning. The result - reduced energy, feeling of me on my own against the world, inspiring vision evaporated, only able to see two to three feet in front of me.

By this afternoon, I had taken the problem apart piece by piece and addressed each small chunk individually and dealt with it. Result - energy supercharged, I'm back in alignment with the rest of the world, excited by the endless possibilities (and heard some positive news about a new business opportunity), and I'm now physically looking across the tops of the trees at the vast and amazing sky from my desk.

Talk about the power of the inner game being so much more critical than the external one. I think so!

Happy Birthday Cyd!!

"Mad Dog"

Today I have been conversing by email with "Mad Dog" Mike Schreiber, who, I believe, is based in Mexico and was Matt Beardshall's on-line coach for his coast to coast run described in "Life on the Run".

I think he is questioning my sanity of aiming to run a marathon in October when currently on a mile a day. I'm very interested to hear what he has to say.

I do know that he thinks that barefoot running is a current fad and makes no sense, but what do I know, I haven't actually tried it yet and I'm not particularly ready to leap into something that leads to an injury.

One of my main reasons for starting the mile a day challenge was to find something sustainable, that gets me moving, which in turn gets me flowing and helps to create possibility in my world.

Hopefully I'll be in touch with "Mad Dog" again in the next few days.

Barefoot ouch!

Left knee a little sore this morning but only a very minor niggle.

I may have to rethink my barefoot running ideas for a while, apart from maybe on grass. My 13-year-old daughter encouraged me to run with her down to the end of the road and back yesterday, while I was wearing flip-flops. I immediately saw it as an opportunity to kick off said foot apparel and test out my barefoot running skills.

My style was tentative at the best, and pretty much tiptoeing when it came to crossing the handful of driveways. I can certainly see why it's almost impossible to run with a heel strike when you're barefoot

I think my idealistic vision of the joy, freedom and fun of barefoot is much further off than I had imagined.

100 days, 173 miles, 33 hours

100 days, 173 miles and 33 hours is my tally following this morning's glorious sunny run.

Our first breakfast of the year sitting out in the sunshine in the back garden and also the first time my shorts have seen the light of day this year.

I enjoyed my day living in happy valley yesterday and being a beacon. Today's intention is to be kind wherever possible and to start really trying out positive affirmations.

Ordered 4 books on Amazon yesterday with some birthday vouchers, so I'm quite excited about receiving them in the next week or three, and yes, one of them is about running.

I've got a crazy hair-brained idea at the moment - I wonder if I could run the Beachy Head marathon barefoot? I might have to let that one simmer for a few days.

Brushing teeth and money

A couple more miles this morning, dodging the potholes and across the deserted golf course. Haven't seen the almost-barefoot runner in the Vibram Five Fingers again although I'm keeping my eyes open.

My five miles yesterday morning don't seem to have had any ill effects, even in my worn out running shoes with little to no cushioning or stability support.

It's funny but I would almost rather not brush my teeth now than forfeit my morning run.

Only three more days until my 100th consecutive day of running a mile, assuming I can negotiate any obstacle that may arise.

I started an enquiry this morning about my relationship with money. What I found interesting was that I realised it is very similar to some early relationships (about 40 years ago now) with rather unreliable girlfriends.

I wonder what the impact of that is?