Well technically a bit over anyway.
Hey everyone, I know it's been a while since I last posted, but there are good reasons. I am now at the rest week in my series of half marathons! 3 done, 39 miles, in a total of 4:46. Thank you all for all your support!
The first one went pretty well, 1:35. I ran the first 5 miles in the pace I meant to do the whole thing (7:30 minute miling), and then ran a bit faster for the last part - I was feeling good and it was easier to go a little quicker than going faster and slower to try and stay at a constant pace.
The second one was a much tougher course, really very hilly! I managed to stay at the intended pace throughout, and putting in the higher effort compensated for the tougher terrain. Just a shame that due to my no alcohol no caffeine policy I was unable to enjoy the wine tasting stations around the course!
The third one was really flat. A lovely course starting and finishing in Kew Gardens, I ran reasonably hard for the first half and then raced the second half. Very happy with the final time as it was only a minute outside my best!
Now to enjoy a bit of rest, before heading to the last two. Wish me luck, and if you think the pain I'm putting myself is worth it I would be very grateful for any donations :-)
Until next time
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Monday, August 4, 2014
Inspiration
Hi All,
As I'm sure you're all aware, the Commonwealth Games have been going on in Glasgow recently, and draw to a close today. With that, and the incredible performances the athletes have given, I thought I would tie in and talk about inspiration.
For me this is rather close to home. I went up and watched quite a lot of the events, and I am fortunate enough to know one of the marathon runners. Even without this link, marathon runners are hugely impressive; the amount of punishment they put themselves through is crazy, the fact that they should only run two a year is testament to this. Steve Way's story is incredible, with an excellent article on him here. But I'm not going to talk about him, others have done so. I'm going to talk about Louise Damen.
Louise was the top English finisher in the women's marathon in 7th (also better than any of the English men), in a time of 2:32:59. This from someone who has never received government funding, who works full time as a teacher, while trying to run 100+ miles a week. And in the aftermath of the games I'd be surprised if you heard anyone talking about her performance despite how impressive it was. Even at about 40 kms in she's still looking strong.
Having seen what she's gone through to get there, the amount of time recovering from injury, the hours (well weeks probably, maybe months) training, the physio time and everything else done for the love of the sport you can't help but feel inspired. Running marathons is impressive enough, but doing them at that speed is something else.
While athletes are very inspirational in what they do, and events like the Commonwealth Games highlight them, you can find inspiration everywhere. It just depends what you're looking for.
I'm going to revisit a story I told you about during my second entry. The young boy who on his first trip to the play group I helped at was terrified, but a few months later had the sweetest smile you could wish to see. Knowing that you can make such a difference to a child so easily I find very inspirational in a very different way. It doesn't keep me going during a race, but it does add backbone to any fundraising efforts, because I know they will help people like him.
On a personal note, my training has been a bit of a mix recently, not had much consistent time with all the sport I've been to watch! I did a park run yesterday in under 20:30, so I'm not in bad shape which is nice. Last month before my races! Wish me luck
Until next time,
Phil
As I'm sure you're all aware, the Commonwealth Games have been going on in Glasgow recently, and draw to a close today. With that, and the incredible performances the athletes have given, I thought I would tie in and talk about inspiration.
For me this is rather close to home. I went up and watched quite a lot of the events, and I am fortunate enough to know one of the marathon runners. Even without this link, marathon runners are hugely impressive; the amount of punishment they put themselves through is crazy, the fact that they should only run two a year is testament to this. Steve Way's story is incredible, with an excellent article on him here. But I'm not going to talk about him, others have done so. I'm going to talk about Louise Damen.
Louise was the top English finisher in the women's marathon in 7th (also better than any of the English men), in a time of 2:32:59. This from someone who has never received government funding, who works full time as a teacher, while trying to run 100+ miles a week. And in the aftermath of the games I'd be surprised if you heard anyone talking about her performance despite how impressive it was. Even at about 40 kms in she's still looking strong.
Having seen what she's gone through to get there, the amount of time recovering from injury, the hours (well weeks probably, maybe months) training, the physio time and everything else done for the love of the sport you can't help but feel inspired. Running marathons is impressive enough, but doing them at that speed is something else.
While athletes are very inspirational in what they do, and events like the Commonwealth Games highlight them, you can find inspiration everywhere. It just depends what you're looking for.
I'm going to revisit a story I told you about during my second entry. The young boy who on his first trip to the play group I helped at was terrified, but a few months later had the sweetest smile you could wish to see. Knowing that you can make such a difference to a child so easily I find very inspirational in a very different way. It doesn't keep me going during a race, but it does add backbone to any fundraising efforts, because I know they will help people like him.
On a personal note, my training has been a bit of a mix recently, not had much consistent time with all the sport I've been to watch! I did a park run yesterday in under 20:30, so I'm not in bad shape which is nice. Last month before my races! Wish me luck
Until next time,
Phil
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Intermediate Steps
Hey Everyone,
In the build up to my series of half marathons (which are getting worryingly close!), I decided to test out what shape I am in, so last night I ran the second of the Yateley 10km Summer Series. I've done a couple of 10ks before, but not for a while and I thought I was in good shape.
I set myself an ambitious target of 40minutes. I hoped more than thought that I could do that, but should be somewhere between 40:30 and 41. This is quite a leap on my previous best of 42:15!
Unfortunately I had a bit of a bad race; I suffered from a nasty stitch from 3 to 7km and couldn't shake it. Even worse, I think I spent too much energy fighting the pain and didn't have enough left to push on.
I finished in a respectable (and new best!) time of 42:04. So it turns out I'm not in bad shape, but not that which I wanted. I still have time pick up, and I'm not looking to go fast for any of them. My main goal is to do a decent pace for each of them, and finish them all so I should be ok. Faster would be nicer, but its not the end of the world.
Until next time, when hopefully I'm feeling a bit faster!
Phil
In the build up to my series of half marathons (which are getting worryingly close!), I decided to test out what shape I am in, so last night I ran the second of the Yateley 10km Summer Series. I've done a couple of 10ks before, but not for a while and I thought I was in good shape.
I set myself an ambitious target of 40minutes. I hoped more than thought that I could do that, but should be somewhere between 40:30 and 41. This is quite a leap on my previous best of 42:15!
Unfortunately I had a bit of a bad race; I suffered from a nasty stitch from 3 to 7km and couldn't shake it. Even worse, I think I spent too much energy fighting the pain and didn't have enough left to push on.
I finished in a respectable (and new best!) time of 42:04. So it turns out I'm not in bad shape, but not that which I wanted. I still have time pick up, and I'm not looking to go fast for any of them. My main goal is to do a decent pace for each of them, and finish them all so I should be ok. Faster would be nicer, but its not the end of the world.
Until next time, when hopefully I'm feeling a bit faster!
Phil
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Media Coverage
Hi everyone,
Autism has been in the news for a couple of things recently so I thought I should address them. The two stories in question: a study suggesting autism begins a long time before birth, and a second comparing the relative amount of money spent on care and research.
You can find the first story here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27662080
As a scientist, I read through this and then immediately went to find the paper. If you have a spare bit of time it is worth reading too, its not a long article. My first thoughts were pretty sceptical; whenever you see a study like this you automatically look to the sample size. Fairly typically it was what I would class as quite small (I'm a particle physicist at heart, I think sample sizes should be up in the millions), but when you read it again the sample wasn't as bad as I thought. The base sample and control group were both large enough to reduce statistical errors, and the size of the measurement group is a fair representation from that base sample. When it is split into the various groups that compromise comes in the individual samples. However this is necessary for the study and the results are compelling. Hopefully this aids the removal of the rumours that persist about MMR and autism, but given the weight of evidence already existing against that it probably won't help.
The second story is here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27742716
The headline of £32bn is an astounding one, but the main issue is the ratio of care costs to cure costs. The quote "But right now we spend just £180 on research for every £1m we spend on care." sums it up quite well. Personally I am in favour of cure over care, but care is still definitely necessary. The other tell tale figure is that £6.60 is spent on cure per person, compared to £295 for cancer. I don't want to devalue cancer, I've raised money for cancer research in the past, but I think this underlines a change that needs to happen. The project I am going to be involved with is a care project, I've only been involved in care project, but hopefully some of the money raised will go towards research for a cure. Hopefully a cure, a treatment, is on the horizon and is sooner rather than later.
Autism has been in the news for a couple of things recently so I thought I should address them. The two stories in question: a study suggesting autism begins a long time before birth, and a second comparing the relative amount of money spent on care and research.
You can find the first story here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27662080
As a scientist, I read through this and then immediately went to find the paper. If you have a spare bit of time it is worth reading too, its not a long article. My first thoughts were pretty sceptical; whenever you see a study like this you automatically look to the sample size. Fairly typically it was what I would class as quite small (I'm a particle physicist at heart, I think sample sizes should be up in the millions), but when you read it again the sample wasn't as bad as I thought. The base sample and control group were both large enough to reduce statistical errors, and the size of the measurement group is a fair representation from that base sample. When it is split into the various groups that compromise comes in the individual samples. However this is necessary for the study and the results are compelling. Hopefully this aids the removal of the rumours that persist about MMR and autism, but given the weight of evidence already existing against that it probably won't help.
The second story is here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27742716
The headline of £32bn is an astounding one, but the main issue is the ratio of care costs to cure costs. The quote "But right now we spend just £180 on research for every £1m we spend on care." sums it up quite well. Personally I am in favour of cure over care, but care is still definitely necessary. The other tell tale figure is that £6.60 is spent on cure per person, compared to £295 for cancer. I don't want to devalue cancer, I've raised money for cancer research in the past, but I think this underlines a change that needs to happen. The project I am going to be involved with is a care project, I've only been involved in care project, but hopefully some of the money raised will go towards research for a cure. Hopefully a cure, a treatment, is on the horizon and is sooner rather than later.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Running, and running and running
Hey guys,
For my fundraising I have signed up for a few things. I will be putting myself in pain for your enjoyment if it generates some cash.
This autumn I am going to do a series of 5 half marathons in 6 weeks. I've done halfs before but I think doing a series like this is a bit crazy and a bit different.
The events I will be running are Maidenhead, Bacchus, Richmond, Basingstoke and Oxford.
If I get enough interest I might do one in fancy dress, and set up some sweepstakes (fastest time, total time etc). If there's anything else, let me know and I'll see what I can do!
I will keep you updated on this, especially as it gets closer to the time!
Speak soon
Phil
Thursday, May 1, 2014
My connection
You should probably know my links to autism, why I want to support this charity. It started when I was 14.
When I was 14, I was just starting Explorer Scouts. One of my leaders ran a playgroup for children with autism and asked if anyone would mind helping set things up one morning a month. I said yes, turned up and set the different items up, then stayed on to help for the rest of the morning. I then went back every time it ran until I left to go to university. Even then I would come back and help out during holiday time.
I had no personal link to autism, it just seemed the right thing to do.
I think its the differences in the children that I saw that made it so worthwhile. One really springs to mind. A young boy, can't have been more than 4 or 5 when he first came, and looked really scared. But a few months later, he was completely different. He was so happy whenever he came, and he had a smile that would light up entire rooms.
I know that change wasn't down to me, but I like to think that I helped. And the change in that one young boy in itself made all the hours I spent more than worth it. Not counting the changes I saw in others.
I've since done a few events to raise money for NAS, including running a half marathon for them. I now know friends who have autistic relatives and it only spurs me on to try and raise more to help them.
What I'm planning on is something bigger than I've ever done before. I think it's a great cause and I will do what I can to help it.
When I was 14, I was just starting Explorer Scouts. One of my leaders ran a playgroup for children with autism and asked if anyone would mind helping set things up one morning a month. I said yes, turned up and set the different items up, then stayed on to help for the rest of the morning. I then went back every time it ran until I left to go to university. Even then I would come back and help out during holiday time.
I had no personal link to autism, it just seemed the right thing to do.
I think its the differences in the children that I saw that made it so worthwhile. One really springs to mind. A young boy, can't have been more than 4 or 5 when he first came, and looked really scared. But a few months later, he was completely different. He was so happy whenever he came, and he had a smile that would light up entire rooms.
I know that change wasn't down to me, but I like to think that I helped. And the change in that one young boy in itself made all the hours I spent more than worth it. Not counting the changes I saw in others.
I've since done a few events to raise money for NAS, including running a half marathon for them. I now know friends who have autistic relatives and it only spurs me on to try and raise more to help them.
What I'm planning on is something bigger than I've ever done before. I think it's a great cause and I will do what I can to help it.
Introduction
I've signed up for something a bit different. Something special. Next year I am going to go on a trek in India for the National Autistic Society to help with a project in Jaipur. This project helps local families deal with Autism, Cerebral Palsy and other disabilities. You can read more about it here:
http://www.autism.org.uk/get-involved/raise-money/get-active/treks-and-walks/himalayas-trek-and-autism-project.aspx
I know this says I need to raise a pretty sizable chunk of cash but I can't in all good conscience ask people to sponsor me for this directly. It would feel too much like asking people to pay for me to go on holiday. So I'm going to be doing a whole range of different events to try and raise money for NAS.
I have a few ideas, but if there is anything that you want to see me do then let me know! I will do as much as I can (within reason) but any ideas are welcome.
I will try to keep you updated with my progress, but more than that I will need your help.
Until next time,
Phil
http://www.autism.org.uk/get-involved/raise-money/get-active/treks-and-walks/himalayas-trek-and-autism-project.aspx
I know this says I need to raise a pretty sizable chunk of cash but I can't in all good conscience ask people to sponsor me for this directly. It would feel too much like asking people to pay for me to go on holiday. So I'm going to be doing a whole range of different events to try and raise money for NAS.
I have a few ideas, but if there is anything that you want to see me do then let me know! I will do as much as I can (within reason) but any ideas are welcome.
I will try to keep you updated with my progress, but more than that I will need your help.
Until next time,
Phil
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