The Queens Jubilee celebrations are upon us and being based in London it is clear to see that there is going to be one big party coming up. I have to say that its good to see people openly patriotic and celebrating what is a great country.
I've added my own twist to things by getting the bands surrounding the brackets on my braces coordinated in red, white and blue....like to mix it up a bit don't I!
For us four blokes this weekend we are most definitely running up a few his in the lake district. This will be my first trip to what has been described as a stunning place, I fully expect to be looking at the floor when im knackered!
The plan for the trip is along the same lines as Snowdonia in that will be on our feet for 7hrs give or take a few minutes in order for us to get it in our....actually my thick head that you just have to keep going!
Dave, JK and myself went for a cheeky 10 miler this past Sunday and guess what!?
I felt absolutely rubbish from 6 miles in which was as much a shock the system as the heat that we were running in.
Due to that I have no idea what this weekend is going to feel like......painfully interesting springs to mind!
on a non running theme I have a new toy to keep me more efficient with my blog posts.... introducing my Sony S Tablet (im writing this post using it)
As it allows an SD card to be used with it, I can link all the videos and photos from our training straight away. My main reason for having this Tablet is come the event I will be able to give updates stage by stage which I find quite exciting! It's the little things that count!
Here's to the weekend!
Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Sunday, 27 May 2012
FUNDRAISING!! British Heart Foundation
Hi all!
Most, if not all the people that we know have been calling us mad for entering into this years GORE-TEX Transalpine event, yet smiling when they say it thinking about the pain and discomfort that we'll be going through as we make our way through the Alps from September 1st-8th.
A common theme that we have all had when talking to people about what it is we're doing is 'what charity are you doing it for?'
Originally we weren't actually going to do it for a charity. Jamie sums up on our charity page why we entered really well.
'We all wanted something to test ourselves with, something for us to aim for and something that will bring out the best in us'
If you have read my posts you can already see the effect it is already having on me going through the training.
Through the generosity of yourselves we are wanting and hoping that our collective efforts can make a change for those people who are in great need of it.
With the ever so recent events involving Bolton's Fabrice Muamba and London Marathon runner Claire Squires it is key that Heart research and it's applications are things that affect a lot of people.
Our Donation page can be reached via this link;
www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/fourblokesandafewhills
If I can ever figure out how!, I will add a direct link on the blog.
All the best to you all.
Nick, JK, Dave & Staff
Friday, 18 May 2012
Snowdonia Weekend - Sunday 6th May (4 miles and 10 pints)
After our efforts on Day one and the long blog entry prior to this one that you will see, this entry is somewhat shorter!!
We had a little longer sleep this time round to recover from the running and beer combo from the previous day and all started out ok. We checked over are aches - in Dave's case it was cuts and bruises!
I think that you'll agree that in this picture it may well be the strangest looking leg you have ever seen!
I, much to my own surprise felt pretty good. Only niggle I had was in my left ankle where I landed funny and compressed the front of the joint.
We all got our gear ready and set out yet about thirty seconds into that Staff commented that his left knee was giving him some jip, which is not uncommon with us on our runs as I am sure most long distance runners have experienced - sometimes you just hurt but you get on with it anyway.
Having a sports therapy background helped me to realise pretty quickly that we could be in for a short days work. Staff's mobility was non existent and the pain getting increasingly worse for him, which did involve us mocking him slight for being a tart! If he ever writes on here he can give you the run down in more detail of what was going through his head at the time.
We had found our route.......
Random old house crushed by a tree....good photo opportunity!
As we gently warmed up it was clear on Staff's face that he was both struggling and feeling gutted that he was holding us back but as we said to him ' we're a team, injuries happen, we aren't leaving you'
Honourable aren't we ay!!
To be fair I think we were all secretly thinking that this could be a good reason to get to the pub earlier haha
We were going through a wooded area when it came time to strap Staff's leg to try help him out....the poor boy was hobbling around like Jake the peg!
For the record, I din't take this picture...shoddy work!!
What was funny when I was helping strap him up was the fact that he was stripped down to his pants, leaning over to only have a lady walk up behind him in some shock at the sight! "oooo wasn't expecting that" she said haha............I'm sure she loved it really.
We knew our day was coming to a brief conclusion yet it didn't stop us messing about somewhat...........
boys will be boys!!.........or is it just us??
Just so you know, we made it safely back to the pub and drank plenty of this...
In all we had a great weekend, next stop being the lake district 1st - 4th June.
Nick
No Regrets.
We had a little longer sleep this time round to recover from the running and beer combo from the previous day and all started out ok. We checked over are aches - in Dave's case it was cuts and bruises!
I think that you'll agree that in this picture it may well be the strangest looking leg you have ever seen!
I, much to my own surprise felt pretty good. Only niggle I had was in my left ankle where I landed funny and compressed the front of the joint.
We all got our gear ready and set out yet about thirty seconds into that Staff commented that his left knee was giving him some jip, which is not uncommon with us on our runs as I am sure most long distance runners have experienced - sometimes you just hurt but you get on with it anyway.
Having a sports therapy background helped me to realise pretty quickly that we could be in for a short days work. Staff's mobility was non existent and the pain getting increasingly worse for him, which did involve us mocking him slight for being a tart! If he ever writes on here he can give you the run down in more detail of what was going through his head at the time.
We had found our route.......
As we gently warmed up it was clear on Staff's face that he was both struggling and feeling gutted that he was holding us back but as we said to him ' we're a team, injuries happen, we aren't leaving you'
Honourable aren't we ay!!
To be fair I think we were all secretly thinking that this could be a good reason to get to the pub earlier haha
We were going through a wooded area when it came time to strap Staff's leg to try help him out....the poor boy was hobbling around like Jake the peg!
What was funny when I was helping strap him up was the fact that he was stripped down to his pants, leaning over to only have a lady walk up behind him in some shock at the sight! "oooo wasn't expecting that" she said haha............I'm sure she loved it really.
We knew our day was coming to a brief conclusion yet it didn't stop us messing about somewhat...........
boys will be boys!!.........or is it just us??
Just so you know, we made it safely back to the pub and drank plenty of this...
In all we had a great weekend, next stop being the lake district 1st - 4th June.
Nick
No Regrets.
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Snowdonia Weekend. Saturday 5th May.
We have had our first weekend away running up some slightly steeper terrain in a vain attempt to try and replicate what the Transalpine will dish out to us.
We know that we will come up against some very tough inclines and declines come September but you just don't get the Alps in the UK!! We are trying though!!
We set off on the morning of 4th May to travel across to Wales to trek along the Snowdonia mountain range.
Fortunately for us the car we ended up going in was a top end autobiography Range Rover sport which we took great delight in cruising around in all weekend. So much so I think we pressed and adjusted every button in the thing to see what it done!
We started setting up camp in BeddGelert around 6pm and promptly took ourselves to the pub for some dinner and a few beers to prepare us for the next days adventures.
This was my tipple of choice...I do like to try Real beers I've not had before...got plenty of practice over the weekend :)
After a very cold and sleepless night had by myself due to my air bed being punctured - which meant that my not suitable for a cold night in Wales summer sleeping bag, didn't protect me from the cold hard floor.
I just had to listen to all the sounds (you all know the ones) of 3 other lads in a tent whilst being envious of how cosy and warm they all looked and with actually being asleep!!
Saturday 5th - The running day!
We got ourselves up nice and early to make breakfast with Dave's trusty camp gear...I swear the man has a piece of equipment for everything!
Once we had washed up and got our gear on it was decided that we were running up Mt.Snowdon via the Watkins path.
As we got a couple of miles into our route we recorded our first video via Jamie Stafford (Staff).
So we progressed up to the foot of Snowdon.........more videos followed.....
Added in a bit of Staff humour in the next one...... Ian Fleming would be proud!
Thankfully he didn't have any RogerMores with him.....feel for his missus!..... good for him though haha
As we were fleet footing up the Watkins path we caught up with a young lad taking a breather and would you know the kid was a whippet!! We were trying to keep up with him once he got started again...I'm sure he was only about 11. We did the only thing we could think of to get past him...we grabbed him, tied his laces together and rolled him down the hill with a packet of jelly beans and cheerio!!
OF COURSE WE DIDN'T DO THAT!....we had no jelly beans haha
As we approached the summit of Snowdon we left our little mate and climbed up the jagged rocks passing quite a few of the guys training for the 3 peaks challenge. Once up there we had a quick group photo and chipped it into the cafe for a coffee and a bite to eat....cue photos.....
DAMN we're cool!!
So after our brief stop we took it upon ourselves to become champion fell runners across the peaks across from Snowdon (I have forgotten them names).
JK then revealed his hidden talents of bounding and jumping across the terrain like a crazed Jack Russell on party pills....the boy flew across these things whilst I was busy trying not to fall off! I did miss judge a rock and had a gouch related incident.....there was a yelp.....followed by laughter and we carried on!
More pictures now....
This is my favourite picture from the whole weekend. (above)
I wasn't quite in my power stance for this one......#prematurepicturetaken! ( I look more like a teapot! albeit a semi powerful one haha)
A quick look back at Dave, a mini MT.Doom and my ever receding crown....it's a cruel hair world
Sitting...contemplating a Wayne Rooney hair transplant...
Off the fells we came to our scheduled pit stop.
You may think that we weren't prepared for our run and that we were in desperate need of a cafe but fear not! I carried the gas cylinder, Staff the burner, JK the Spoons and our own individual........... POT NOODLE!!
Yes I am very nutrition conscious being in the fitness world but! when you have been on your feet in the elements and fancy a hot bit of grub.....who cares! mmmmm tasty refined foods.....well I say tasty, it was hot.
Oh yeah, JK carried extra water for the pot noodles.
Long blog post this isn't it! Not far from the end now.
So we packed up and made our way for the end phase of our day- If memory serves me right I believe we were around 5hr 30mins into our day by this point. We headed down hill and it a very short period it got quite funny.
With one turn of my head looking back I missed Staff fall flat onto his side....It was classic! It happened so fast that what made me look forward quicker was JK bursting out with laughter with Staff in the foetal position slightly groaning. This must of put me off as about 50 yards down the track I came up to a boggy patch, tried to get round it...failed and fell into it....cue more JK and group laughter!
The route home took us through a lovely stretch of woodland, coupled with the sun shining through the trees. Was a fitting end to what was a good honest days training.
As I was going through this nice wooded area I felt the need as I quite often do, to make a video.....
To round things off nicely I have a picture of our total length of time on our feet for the day....
7hrs followed by a few beers
Nick.
We know that we will come up against some very tough inclines and declines come September but you just don't get the Alps in the UK!! We are trying though!!
We set off on the morning of 4th May to travel across to Wales to trek along the Snowdonia mountain range.
We started setting up camp in BeddGelert around 6pm and promptly took ourselves to the pub for some dinner and a few beers to prepare us for the next days adventures.
This was my tipple of choice...I do like to try Real beers I've not had before...got plenty of practice over the weekend :)
After a very cold and sleepless night had by myself due to my air bed being punctured - which meant that my not suitable for a cold night in Wales summer sleeping bag, didn't protect me from the cold hard floor.
I just had to listen to all the sounds (you all know the ones) of 3 other lads in a tent whilst being envious of how cosy and warm they all looked and with actually being asleep!!
Saturday 5th - The running day!
Once we had washed up and got our gear on it was decided that we were running up Mt.Snowdon via the Watkins path.
As we got a couple of miles into our route we recorded our first video via Jamie Stafford (Staff).
So we progressed up to the foot of Snowdon.........more videos followed.....
Thankfully he didn't have any RogerMores with him.....feel for his missus!..... good for him though haha
As we were fleet footing up the Watkins path we caught up with a young lad taking a breather and would you know the kid was a whippet!! We were trying to keep up with him once he got started again...I'm sure he was only about 11. We did the only thing we could think of to get past him...we grabbed him, tied his laces together and rolled him down the hill with a packet of jelly beans and cheerio!!
OF COURSE WE DIDN'T DO THAT!....we had no jelly beans haha
As we approached the summit of Snowdon we left our little mate and climbed up the jagged rocks passing quite a few of the guys training for the 3 peaks challenge. Once up there we had a quick group photo and chipped it into the cafe for a coffee and a bite to eat....cue photos.....
DAMN we're cool!!
JK then revealed his hidden talents of bounding and jumping across the terrain like a crazed Jack Russell on party pills....the boy flew across these things whilst I was busy trying not to fall off! I did miss judge a rock and had a gouch related incident.....there was a yelp.....followed by laughter and we carried on!
More pictures now....
Off the fells we came to our scheduled pit stop.
You may think that we weren't prepared for our run and that we were in desperate need of a cafe but fear not! I carried the gas cylinder, Staff the burner, JK the Spoons and our own individual........... POT NOODLE!!
Long blog post this isn't it! Not far from the end now.
So we packed up and made our way for the end phase of our day- If memory serves me right I believe we were around 5hr 30mins into our day by this point. We headed down hill and it a very short period it got quite funny.
With one turn of my head looking back I missed Staff fall flat onto his side....It was classic! It happened so fast that what made me look forward quicker was JK bursting out with laughter with Staff in the foetal position slightly groaning. This must of put me off as about 50 yards down the track I came up to a boggy patch, tried to get round it...failed and fell into it....cue more JK and group laughter!
As I was going through this nice wooded area I felt the need as I quite often do, to make a video.....
Nick.
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