Matt Gets Running

Just a quick update, today, as it’s late. It’s a Bank Hol­i­day here in the UK, and I used it for the tra­di­tional Brit­ish Bank Hol­i­day pas­time — DIY. So, I didn’t get out for my run until late: after I’d fin­ished wall­pa­per­ing. Now I’ve tidied up, it’s almost bed­time. I should sleep well, because I’m […]

Today I bought new run­ning shoes. I figured it was about time. I went into Moti on White­ladies Road, because they seemed quite friendly the last time I went in, and they were great. I basic­ally told them I was a begin­ner and threw myself on their mercy. Help­ful sales guy checked out my feet and my […]

I’m not very quick at this run­ning lark. To be fair, I’m not that quick at walk­ing; I think I’m just a gen­er­ally slow mover I just plot­ted yesterday’s run using the sweet little GMap Pedo­meter site. The run­ning bit of yesterday’s route turned out to be 1.6 miles, so at twenty minutes, that means […]

Well, I won’t pre­tend that was any­thing other than a long, damp slog. It’s rain­ing out there, my left hip is sore, and my energy levels weren’t fant­astic. But I feel quite a sense of accom­plish­ment now, I’ve got to say. Today was the final run of Week 5 in the C25K. It’s the first […]

It pays to reward your­self when you’ve accom­plished some­thing. My main prob­lem is that food is often a reward for me, which is a little coun­ter­pro­duct­ive when you’re try­ing to lose weight So, to mark the halfway point, I just dug into my sav­ings and ordered myself a micro­phone I’ve been uhm­ming and ahh­ing about […]

Today’s run was the second run of week five, the halfway point of the C25K. So, this is a slightly exten­ded edi­tion of the blog First off, I’d like to say a quick “thank you!” to all who’ve sup­por­ted me so far, espe­cially people who’ve com­men­ted on the blog here. I don’t always reply to […]

I’ve been at a wed­ding this week­end. The wed­ding was on Sat­urday, but I stayed overnight and came back yes­ter­day. And did noth­ing, noth­ing what­so­ever. This wasn’t for the tra­di­tional reason, either — I don’t drink, so there was no crip­pling hangover. It’s because as well as being a guest, I was the wed­ding photographer. […]

I’m glad I’ve noticed this: it’s the first few minutes that are often hard­est, not the last few. Today I barely had the energy to get star­ted drag­ging my lardy frame through the motions. I think it’s a ques­tion of momentum. Intel­lec­tual and emo­tional momentum. The same effect that means you can pro­cras­tin­ate for three […]

Wow! I didn’t real­ise until I just checked that today was the final run of week four! So, that’s 12 runs down, and 15 to go. Nearly halfway! Today wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t too hard, either. My new kit def­in­itely helped a bit. The nice new hole-through-the-middle water bottle was easier to carry, and […]

Today I took a quick trip to Moti, a run­ning shop on White­ladies Road, not too far away from me. It seemed like a nice place, full of help­ful people, and with a lot of cus­tom­ers, con­sid­er­ing it was a Sunday. They also seemed well geared-up for the run­ner, with a tread­mill in the middle […]