Last year, during my time working in industry (a year out as part of my University degree to work with a company doing something computing related - it was worth 10% of my final degree), I started running quite a lot.
It seems like a bit of a resurgence of blogging at The Planet recently! It’s been a very long time since I last blogged, mainly because I hate the layout of this blog… I’ll get around to redesigning it after I finish my placement year… maybe! Super quick recap before more detail:
I’ve been very busy with work, lots of things happening at the company and i’ve been learning lots of new things.
I’ve also been having an amazing time outside of work. A group of us had a weekend trip to Bournemouth and there was also the Easter weekend. Random nights out have proved good fun and basically the year is coming to an end far too soon!
trying to think of some witty, thoughtful or meaningful title for this post - but i simply can’t! Bah, it’s been a funny couple of days and my head is fried…
What have I been up to recently? Well, since my last entry, i’ve only been on 4 runs (3 of which have occurred since Sunday) and it’s safe to say i’m struggling! Starting to get back my fitness, which is quite useful considering I have another half marathon in 24 days…
Yesterday I, along with two friends from work, competed in the Watford Half Marathon. For those of you not in the know, that works out to be 13 miles or just shy of 21 kilometers.
I did the event in 2 hours and 3 minutes. I was quite annoyed that I didn’t make it under 2 hours, and also that I had to walk twice (only for about 15-20 meters each time though).
I had a thouroughly enjoyable day, even though i’m really feeling it today! Roll on the next event!
Well, i’ve completed Hellrunner (took me and two of my friends 2 hours and 10 minutes to do). Next on the horizon is a half-marathon at the beginning of February and then the Terminator 10 towards the end of February.
I don’t know what it is with running at the moment, but i’ve had so much motivation (much love goes to my friends from work who i run with and take part in these races with) recently and it feels really good.
Other than running, work has been going really well, interesting projects (did a project in ASP last week which was good because i’d never done ASP before and had to have it done in less than 3 days - which i did!) and the social scene is still fantastic.
Off to Barcelona next weekend to visit a friend of mine from University. Going with another friend from uni, so i’m sure much fun will be had!
Christmas is coming up, so i guess i should start thinking about what to get people, and start making cards! Looks like this year is going to be a lot of fun!
Well, random blog i know, and i’m sure no-one reads this (well, by the lack of comments i get, i can only assume that fact!), but i’ll continue to post things now and then anyway.
Who knows, i may even get around to redesigning this place some time soon!
On Sunday 12th November, a team from Merck Sharp & Dohme will be taking on the challenge that is Hellrunner. A 12 mile run up hills, through rivers and bogs and finally up sand dunes!
Whilst you may think we are doing this for fun, we are also doing this to raise money for Diabetes UK as the 14th November is World Diabetes Day.
I know that most people who read this are poor students, but if anyone would like to sponsor us and help a good cause then any donations are more than welcome. You can find our sponsorship page here:
That is what i’ve just signed up for O_o
Basically, it’s a 10-12 mile run through woodland (uphill), marshland (mainly bogs and generally difficult water to run through) and then finally sand dunes. There are a group of us from work that are doing it as a team, and the company might sponser us (basically pay our entry fee’s etc.) which would be awesome.
However, it is in two months, and currently i can barely run 2.5miles without keeling over (although the weather is quite hot at the moment, which doesn’t help). Two months of prep should get me somewhat fit for the run, but i think it is going to be a struggle. Especially seeing as i still suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, albeit far less than I used to).
It should be a good laugh though, and we have a training blog set up here:
http://friday3pm.blogspot.com/ (The name is kind of a work joke, about not having a heart attack after 3pm on a friday because most doctors have gone home for the weekend by then!)
The blog (hosted at BlogSpot) has allowed me to use the nifty new feature on my mobile phone (Sony Ericsson K800i) which allows me to send pictures from my phone straight to the blog with a title and post entry. It resizes the image and everything, and just sends it through GPRS. Very cool feature.