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?

Not a lot to report

Day 77 and not a lot to report. Nicky and I extended our usual daily circuit today making it a 1.75 mile route.

Ticked off, or at least passed the baton on, 12 tasks from my to do list today, although I did scribble down a list of some 26 items this morning. I knew I would never complete all 26, so 12 is pretty good, I feel.

A trip to London tomorrow, which should be fun.

Cut the fat, cut cancer risk

Did three and a half miles this morning, for the first time in 10 days. I really enjoyed it.

It's also been great bombing round T Wells on my bicycle today going to coaching sessions, and a school governors' meeting this afternoon. It was so warm I only needed a shirt and a gilet, which was great.

Another "Born To Run" quote today is "one in seven cancer deaths is caused by by excess body fat" according to Dr. Robert Weinberg, a professor of cancer research at MIT and discoverer of the first tumor-suppressor gene. "The math is stark: cut the fat, and cut your cancer risk."

Now I know that this applies largely to diet, but exercise will also play a huge part in reducing body fat.

New Facebook page

After struggling a little working out how to do it, I eventually managed to get a new Facebook page up - "Run a mile each day".

Completed day 75 of a mile each day this morning.

When the weather's like this sometimes it seems a shame to go so early and miss the warmth of the sun, but it does work so well to get the day off to a great start. Running later would somehow be trickier in helping the rest of the day flow.

Another couple of quotes from "Born To Run" - "Nearly all runners do their slow runs too fast and their fast runs too slow... So they're just training their bodies to burn sugar, which is the last thing a distance runner wants."

The second quote is "The way to activate your fat-burning furnace is by staying below your aerobic threshold - your hard-breathing point..."

So that seems to confirm that my running with Nicky, below my aerobic threshold, is actually good for me. Not that I would consider myself a distance runner at this point in time!

Everyone is built for running

Great weekend with lots of great family connecting, a very early run (6.15 on Saturday morning), a beautiful sunny and pretty warm one (Sunday at 8.40), and a sunny and not quite as warm one this morning, but still gorgeous.

I believe I'm at day 74 now, and I can happily say that all is well.

2 great quotes from "Born To Run" today. "Everyone is built for running", and "You don't stop running because you get old... You get old because you stop running."

I agree with the philosophies expressed in both of these quotes but I also realise that some may not agree with me.

Just got to the bit in "A Little Run Around the World" where Rosie is leaving Siberia for Alaska after almost 2 years running and some incredible experiences.