Turn off the GPS

Ah Friday. The weekend is here.

My GPS device clocked that I took 36 minutes to run 1.34 miles this morning. Actually, it thought I'd run 1.39 miles. I really must remember to turn it off after I've finished my run and before I water the plants in my back garden!

I'm loving the heat, I have to say.

It's been a good week with cheques in the bank, meeting a couple of new coaching prospects, catching up with several old colleagues and clients, school governor stuff, a potential gig for my new band and even England squeezed through in the World Cup to torture us again this weekend in the next round.

My older daughter will be here in about an hour for a belated Fathers' Day visit.

The weekend is looking exciting.

The spirit of the adventurer

It's day 79 today and Nicky and I ran just over 2 miles after our adopted cat woke us up early. Nicky has done brilliantly as today was day 31 of her 40 days running for Lent. That's the second time in the last week that we have extended our mile and a bit.

When I got my iPhone I downloaded a free application called Running Log, which I really like and its very simple. It allows me to enter my distance, which I get from my GPS device, the time I took and the time of day I ran. It takes seconds to enter.

I went back and entered all my runs since January 1st and it's great to see number of rest days zero, and also it's now saying total time running just over 24 hours, which feels quite a fun statistic. Although my little runs don't take that long, in total I have spent an entire day and night running. I like that.

We watched the last part of the Eddie Izzard documentary last night of his 43 marathons in 51 days. What a fantastic example of mind over matter and overcoming adversity he is in the way he dug so deep to finish that incredible challenge!

What made it even better last night was the bit where Rosie Swale Pope came out and ran a bit with him. I have almost finished reading her book "Just a Little Run Around the World" at the moment, which I can highly recommend.

Eddie and Rosie both really inspire me and are made from a similar mould. They both have a liberal sprinkling of grit, determination and an inability to accept the limitations that a "normal" person would. There's something of the historical British adventurer spirit going on there.

I wonder where that lies in me and how I access it?

Day 66 - another extra mile

Although I didn't post to my blog yesterday, I did still run my mile.

Today I ran a mile with Nicky and then did an extra couple myself, so I completed just over three and a half in total, my highest for a good couple of months.

Another absolutely gorgeous morning, cold but glorious. There was a bird in our back garden, just as I was waiting for my GPS device to find a signal, doing the most beautiful singing. It really did lift both our spirits even higher than they were.

Very pleased that we knuckled down yesterday morning and cleared most of the rubble from under our floor to allow it to dry. Three sorties to the tip then followed, and then a warm glow of satisfaction from a job well done.

My Rosie Swale Pope book arrived from Amazon yesterday and I've already read the first two chapters. What an amazing, inspiring and yet ordinary (I guess that's where extra- ordinary comes from) woman she is.

I'm dumbfounded as to how little publicity she received for such an incredible feat!

The natural born runner

Are all GPS devices inaccurate?

We're running exactly the same circular route every day at the moment, sometimes one way and sometimes the other. Why then does my Garmin Forerunner 101 vary in the distance it says we're covering by about 5%?

It's not that important, but when you're trying to encourage someone who is trying to get into running and you know they have run a bit faster today but your GPS device says it's slower, it's not that helpful.

On the running in old trainers without insoles front, my plantar fasciitis is definitely getting better. I have to concentrate to identify any remaining soreness. I tell you it's working!

Today's quote from "Born To Run" is "a Natural Born Runner - someone who ran for sheer joy, like an artist in the grip of inspiration".

Now that's something to aspire to.