Following my close encounters with the Lurgies I was deperate to stay on the badwagon that is Janathon. Can’t do a run, sick of gym cicuits so I did what comes naturally- walked up and down steps.
Not that this was a special mission. I work on the 2nd floor so up and down I go at least twice a day. There’s 40 steps so that up and down, plus lunch time equals 160 steps to glory, plus, according to Eddie Cochran and latterly Showaddywaddy 3 Steps to Heaven. This must count as I put full effort into each step, making it really count and whispering ‘Janathon, Janathon’. Frankly people think I’m a bit batty.
Then there’s the stairs at home but ok I won’t push it, they are extra curricular activities.
Hopefully I can revert to more legal activities tomorrow with the CVPs.
Janathon Day 21:
160 steps, and 3 to heaven.
Janathon to date:
58 miles running
1 twitter explosion
Gym circuits 30 mins: 15 bench, military,butterfly, front & back lats,abs,leg & tri exts, 30 mins x 6
160 steps
2 x car washes
Dad northern soul dancing (Now double points at least thanks to @Fairweatherrun )
Extreme cleaning
Possibility of lunch for Matt.
Yesterday afternoon I wasn’t feeling great which continued into the evening and got worse last night. So today laid up with a bug and frustratingly unable to run. Is Janathon under threat? Well later in the afternoon was just about able to do a few weak circuits on the gym to keep the record up but the 100 mile target is definitely now debatable. Hoping I can get a few miles done tomorrow and with a long run at the weekend maybe there’s a chance 🙂
Darts results up. Our 8-1 win keeps us 2 points off the top and I move up to 15th in the individual rankings. Not bad as I’m playing average at the moment. I blame the beer!
http://narberthpool.synthasite.com/darts-league-tables.php
My Blackburn Rovers flights, the postage was a fiver so I ordered loads, so many the club emailed me to check the order was correct.
Janathon Day 20:
Gym circuits 30 mins: 15 bench, military,butterfly, front & back lats,abs,leg & tri exts, 30 mins
Janathon to date:
58 miles running
1 twitter explosion
Gym circuits 30 mins: 15 bench, military,butterfly, front & back lats,abs,leg & tri exts, 30 mins x 6
2 x car washes
Dad northern soul dancing (Now double points at least thanks to @Fairweatherrun )
Extreme cleaning
Possibility of lunch for Matt.
After yesterday’s foray on to thin ice today dawned in a similar frozen scenario. ‘Never mind’, I thought, a run at lunch with the Changing Village People will put me right. But no one there….until I spied Dave sauntering in with maybe a kit bag slung over his shoulder. Maybe there would be a run, albeit a short one with meeting at 1.30.
Before that question mark was resolved there was the issue of pics from yesterday. So to show what a lovely morning it was, and the ice hazards lurking under shadows here we are….
Plus last night I got my first ever images of a comet, Lovejoy high in the southern sky, no tail just a glowing blobby thing.
Anyway Dave couldn’t run until after 1 so i decided to do the gym circuits today instead, power up the core!
Janathon Day 19:
Gym circuits 30 mins: 15 bench, military,butterfly, front & back lats,abs,leg & tri exts, 30 mins
Janathon to date:
58 miles running
1 twitter explosion
Gym circuits 30 mins: 15 bench, military,butterfly, front & back lats,abs,leg & tri exts, 30 mins x 5
2 x car washes
Dad northern soul dancing (Now double points at least thanks to @Fairweatherrun )
Extreme cleaning
Possibility of lunch for Matt.
An absolutely beautiful morning dawned, crisp blue skies above but danger lurked underfoot. I left starting out until after ten but still the roads were icy. The plan had been to do a 9 miler round the Redbirth lane circuit but realised this was a non starter. The reason for this was that those roads have high hedges, would still be in shadow and frozen over.
So the best plan was to carefully make my way up to the top road which is pretty open to solar warming. But even there a tree shadow preserved icy hazards beneath. Having just recuperated from a twisted knee I had no wish to risk a steady rehab. When you are not sure of your footing it transmits tension all the way up your legs to the body which prevents the run from flowing. Nevertheless managed 4.6 miles which is better than none. 🙂
Took some nice pics but struggling to send from the phone, will update when I can- also going to try and image Comet Lovejoy (I kid you not) tonight.
Janathon Day 18:
4.6 miles
Janathon to date:
58 miles running
1 twitter explosion
Gym circuits 30 mins: 15 bench, military,butterfly, front & back lats,abs,leg & tri exts, 30 mins x 4
2 x car washes
Dad northern soul dancing (Now double points at least thanks to @Fairweatherrun )
Extreme cleaning
Possibility of lunch for Matt.
After running for the last six days felt it was time to try an alternative exercise and rest those legs for the long run tomorrow. Plus the fact I rather had a shed full playing darts last night. We did win 8-1 to keep just two points off the top.
Before I went out I caught a photo of Venus with Mercury in the same shot just to the right (west)
So this afternoon I needed to replenish our log supplies so a logging I did go following my lumberjack tendencies. A solid hour and half of this is good exercise but just to make sure I followed this with gym circuits before tidying myself up for the footy results. Reckoned Blackburn would have a better chance of winning if I was clean, neat and tidy. Maybe I need to disinfect in addition as they only drew.
Younger son Andrew has entered the Wales Long Weekend Marathon on July 5th. He has made tremendous strides over the past year with pb’s at 5k, 10k and half marathon and this will be his first marathon on his birthday. Elder son Matt will also be doing the marathon as part of the full Ironman distance long weekend. I plan to do the half marathon (on the same course) after a 72 mile cycle on the Saturday. Plus son’s friends are staying over the weekend to take part so it’ll be quite a weekend! Here we are after a Cardiff Half…
Janathon Day 17:
Extreme logging
Gym circuits 30 mins: 15 bench, military,butterfly, front & back lats,abs,leg & tri exts, 30 mins
Janathon to date:
53 miles running
1 twitter explosion
Gym circuits 30 mins: 15 bench, military,butterfly, front & back lats,abs,leg & tri exts, 30 mins x 4
2 x car washes
Dad northern soul dancing (Now double points at least thanks to @Fairweatherrun )
Extreme cleaning
Possibility of lunch for Matt.
Following the fizz and resulting personal punishment that was ‘National Short Girl Appreciation Day’ yesterday, it was back to the bread and butter of Janathon running today. Brave Dave put his injury from 5 a side last night behind him, literally, to join me for a jog to the bridge and back, about 3.2 miles.
I was regaled in the blue ‘Sodbury Slog’- tech shirt….
…whilst Dave wore his resplendent red Cardiff Half shirt. Quite nice these days receiving technical shirts for races as they can be put to practical use.
Dave’s been having a daily tipple as part of his Janathon effort to the extent he can now balance said tipple on his six pack..
Dave reached the bridge in one piece…
.. on the way back the historical landmark was Haverfordwest Priory , down by the riverside…
Unfortunately you can’t really appreciate the magnificence of the priory because of the trees in the way. On our return we found that we had left without Anthea who thought we had gone on the loop when we hadn’t and so ran solo, shame on us.
That’s part 1 done for today, part 2 is the return of the darts league tonight.
Ah, I hear you say. The noble sport of Jocky Wilson and Eric Bristow. So is darts a sport, or a competitive pastime?
Well running of course requires physical fitness, training, determination, preparation, planning, thinking on your feet. Darts requires practice, a certain degree of determination, certainly nerve, focus and five pints of yer best- and like running sometimes a psychological dimension. However I would confess that physical fitness is not a prerequisite and therefore I wouldn’t class it as a sport. Nevertheless it can be competitive in the extreme and was very satisfying last year when the Jeff won the league, 1001 and the 100 league treble- here’s our table at presentation evening…
So that’s part 2 of the day and past half way now in Janathon 🙂
Janathon Day 16:
3.2 miles running
Janathon to date:
53 miles running
1 twitter explosion
Gym circuits 30 mins: 15 bench, military,butterfly, front & back lats,abs,leg & tri exts, 30 mins x 3
2 x car washes
Dad northern soul dancing (Now double points at least thanks to @Fairweatherrun )
Extreme cleaning
Possibility of lunch for Matt.
Apparently, according to a post I noticed on Facebook, today is ‘National Short Girl Appreciation Day’.
The first question this begs is ‘What constitutes ‘short’?
The second is ’How do I show my appreciation?’
The third is ‘does size really matter anyway?’
Writing a post on this feel I could be venturing into slightly hazardous territory as it raises a long standing ‘discussion’ Mrs B and I have. This is to do with height measurement. Would 5 foot be a suitable cut off point between short and non short? Whereas I measured her height as 4ft 11 and ¾, Mrs B maintains it is 5ft and ¼. I kindly suggest this is due to her standing on tiptoes which Mrs B attributes to ‘high arches’. At which point I suggest a gait analysis might be a sound idea. This contribution is not appreciated and five minutes later my gait has been severely compromised, matched to some extent by the pain in Mrs B’s knee. Nevertheless the height difference is, we agree, is just over a foot which is just nice. Plus I pointed out that we didn’t need to get a convertible to give extra leg room.
To demonstrate this note the vertical difference in the evidence.
I toppled off the wagon slightly last night with left over Southern Comfort and red wine. It is an unusual combination with which to watch ‘Wolf of Wall Street’, although nowhere near as degenerate as the film itself. Meanwhile lucky old Dave was supping the finest Old Peculiar.
Today it was Rob and I to continue the Janathon run challenge in rather changeable weather with bitter wind. We chose to repeat yesterday’s Clay Lane route but missed out the bridge section making it about 3 miles, a very nice run which takes us past the river summer ‘Frolic ‘ run….
..and up a sharp hill back over the bypass…
..to bring my Janathon total to 50 miles, on schedule for the ‘ton’.
Following the run I found that the microwave at work was not ‘Chris proof’ after all and splattered porridge around it. So after a cleaning job it was a banana and pie combo.
On a positive note we’ve booked a London visit in February, we’ll be able see son Matt and also visit the Elvis Graceland exhibition at the 02, now that’s something to look forward to!
Janathon Day 15:
3 miles running
Janathon to date:
50 miles running
1 twitter explosion
Gym circuits 30 mins: 15 bench, military,butterfly, front & back lats,abs,leg & tri exts, 30 mins x 3
2 x car washes
Dad northern soul dancing (Now double points at least thanks to @Fairweatherrun )
Extreme cleaning
Possibility of lunch for Matt.
1. Second time I can’t be bothered writing a blog so here is last year’s reproduced.
2. I’ve changed some of the dates etc so no one will ever notice.
3. I’ve also added some pics supplied by Dave the royal photographer for today as I reverted to ‘Rock’ status in my bright green neon short sleeve top and matching gloves.
4.Recited the ‘Ballad of Piddlin’ Pete’ just about from memory whist running.
4. I’ve added so much now that I’ve virtually written the blog for today which was not the original point of the exercise…. anyway here’s some pics…nice mixture of town and country…and for more go to Dave’s blog at..
http://thegreatdave1971.wordpress.com/
5. Night night.
… and back to last year….
It’s gone ok so far. I’m still in one piece, maybe not as many miles in the bag as I had hoped. I blame the person who made the length of a mile so long. If it were half the length i would have done twice as many.
After yesterdays run my legs weren’t actually too bad, just a little clay leaden, just right for the Clay Lane 3.9 mile run which Rosie, Dave and I set off on. it’s largely flat but includes two good hills, one of which can be a bit of a gasper.
I haven’t actually got a clue where this photo is but there is a bit of a hill..
At least it hasn’t snowed although I suspect this couple would not mind…
But I’ve been taking my training seriously…
..in my drive for improvement.
So here we are finishing…
Another nut knocked the coconut shy that is janathon, only 17 days to top the ton and win the cuddly toy.
Janathon Day 14:
3.9 hot miles running
Janathon to date:
47 miles running
1 twitter explosion
Gym circuits 30 mins: 15 bench, military,butterfly, front & back lats,abs,leg & tri exts, 30 mins x 3
2 x car washes
Dad northern soul dancing (Now double points at least thanks to @Fairweatherrun )
Extreme cleaning
Possibility of lunch for Matt.
I was determined not to let Dave go down the slippery slope to running cosiness. After yesterday’s decent into wearing sleeves for the run I had envisaged him turning up for the run today dressed like…..
However true to form not only the famous legs but the arms as well, with Dave’s mighty calves on display, just have a deck at these…
… whilst I took refuge in tracksters, jacket and gloves. My excuse is that far from being the Northern ‘Talc’, the Rock was putting himself through a punishing sauna schedule by getting as hot as possible to the point of literally melting within. True grit. (Mind you talc is good to put on a dance floor to help those silky northern soul slides across the wood.)
Meanwhile Rosie was running smoothly up Uzzy hill whist I took explosive gasps as we reached the summit and fell down the other side. On the plus my knee is holding up well so far and I’m running in pretty relaxed fashion apart from the hills. 43 miles done so far and my Runlog puts me on schedule for 101 miles this Janathon.
The runlog I have used for the past 10 years since starting running again was created by David Hays. It is brilliant and you can download it at:
http://davidhays.net/running/runlog/runlog.html
Each year I keep a runlog. In the past 10 years I’ve run 7740 miles and if you look at the log you’ll see that it keeps a breakdown of the run types, weekly, monthly, how far in your shoes, pace, weight and so on. You can also plan and map against a schedule. I keep it stored on Google drive so I can access it anywhere.
Big News! Living in West Wales I’m unable to attend the ‘End of Janathon’ lunch in Holborn, but I have come up with a solution. I will ‘send’ ( ie ‘ask’) a representative along in the shape of offspring Matt who works just round the corner. I will consult with the relevant Janathon authorities and all being well there will be a (son of) Birch presence for the very first time, albeit in a much younger, fitter and more handsome shape. Matt is also well qualified as he trains just about every day and is an Ironman. (I’m more of the bacofoil variety). Plus I’ll probably be eating porridge as usual…
Nearly halfway and deep into the challenge that is Janathon. But it’s a game of 2 halves…
Janathon Day 13:
3.7 hot hot miles running
Janathon to date:
43 miles running
1 twitter explosion
Gym circuits 30 mins: 15 bench, military,butterfly, front & back lats,abs,leg & tri exts, 30 mins x 3
2 x car washes
Dad northern soul dancing (Now double points at least thanks to @Fairweatherrun )
Extreme cleaning
Possibility of lunch for Matt.
Last night into today was a storm after the calm on two fronts.
Firstly my posting of the Common Linnets performance on Janathon yesterday was followed by my asking them via Twitter if they were touring the UK next year to which they replied recording an album now and then Tour Tour Tour! To which i asked them – and Emily Eavis of Glastonbury if they would like to do Glastonbury (as I have tickets). To which they replied ‘Thumbs up’ four times to me, Emily and 250,000 others. It went something like this…
Chris Birch@ChrisRuns 18022h 22 hours ago
Coolest Eurovision song ever! The Common Linnets …: http://youtu.be/4ggBPAm5XLA via @YouTube When will u be touring in the UK?@IlseDeLange
Ilse DeLange@IlseDeLange 22 hrs 22 hours ago
@ChrisRuns180 well for sure sometime later this year!!! First recording a new full album and then we want to TOUR TOUR TOUR! @CommonLinnets
Chris Birch@ChrisRuns 18021h 21 hours ago
@emilyeavis Book the @CommonLinnets for #Glastonbury2015 please! New album, they’ll be touring! @IlseDeLange @CommonLinnets
The Common Linnets Verified account@CommonLinnets 21h 21 hours ago
@ChrisRuns180 @emilyeavis @IlseDeLange Yes Yes Yes! Thumbs up four times!
My Twitter account then proceeded to explode with retweets, favs, messages of support, mainly from the Netherlands. If they do get to play Glasto I’m going to ask if I can go backstage for getting them the gig!
The second storm was that literally, winds and rain lashing down well into Monday and our lunch time run. This where the Great Dave finally wussed up. He turned up in a long sleeved shirt. There’s me in trousers, coat, gloves, the whole caboodle and Dave in his shorts and LONG SLEEVED TOP. What is the world coming to?
We splashed our way to 3 miles on the bridge run. Dave took some photos so I might nick some and post here later. In the meantime here’s a photo of a big telescope.
Just got the pics- Note the undeniable evidence that Dave is wearing sleeves above
Janathon Day 12:
3 miles running
Janathon to date:
40 miles running
1 twitter explosion
Gym circuits 30 mins: 15 bench, military,butterfly, front & back lats,abs,leg & tri exts, 30 mins x 3
2 x car washes
Dad northern soul dancing (Now double points at least thanks to @Fairweatherrun )
Extreme cleaning
Chris staggers into #Janathon 