T minus 5

The countdown is almost at an end.... In just over an hour I will be leaving to head towards Wembley Stadium to hook up with everyone else. TFL have conspired along with Mother Nature and the incompetence of Nike to make the situation as big a mission as possible...

The tube from Brixton is off today, meaning an epic bus ride towards Baker Street followed by a tube up to Wembley - what you don't ...

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An apology

Having reviewed my last post in the cold and slightly groggy light of day, i perhaps missed the inappropriate nature of getting all misty-eyed over gun-crime-inspired hip hop whilst stood at the epicentre of this city's gang warfare. Sorry.

Hits from the pod

Thanks to the power of the internet, i recently downloaded the mp3 version of my long-loved but never listened to cassette of Black Sunday by Cypress Hill. I'm stood, slightly drunk, at the bus stop in Brixton, awash with glock-inspired warm fuzzy teenage nostalgia.....

Management material

I'm currently looking for a new assistant at work, having proved somewhat incapable of hanging on to one for more than a few months at a time. During a meeting yesterday i was describing my ideal candidate, trying to be diplomatic before getting to the crux of the matter and passionately declaring, "i just want someone exactly like me, can that be so hard?!". In that one moment, i instantly ...

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The Human Race just got more interesting

Yes, a mere 5 days prior to the big day, I now have my first international competitor to run against; uber-hack Gav has signed up for the New York leg of the run. He's apparently been pounding the cinders in Central Park for a few months now, working towards an eventual tilt at the New York marathon, so I imagine it will be a walk in the park for him. I extend the laurel wreath of friendship ...

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5 days and counting

and my ankles still hurt when climbing stairs, despite not having run at all since last monday. Hardly ideal preparation. I'll give an 8k a stab today, followed by a 5k tomorrow and a cheeky 3k on friday, and we'll see how it goes. Not exactly brimming with confidence though, as may be apparent.

Picked up my race kit yesterday

The t-shirt is a very attractive fire engine red, with my number (933,000-something - the aim is to have 1 million competitors across all the participating cities) on the front, and the list of cities taking part on the back, a la a band tour t-shirt. Also got my ticket for wembley stadium, so i can sit and listen to a techno concert between 5.45 and 7 before setting off at around 7.45 in wave 3. It's all very odd in terms of set up, but it's wembley so i won't grumble. I almost said "shan't grumble" there. Is that a word? It sounds like it should be.

I think i have a stress fracture of my ankle

Ok, so it's blatantly not, but it hurts when i put any pressure on it. A combination of running too much recently (10k, 8k and 7k in the last 5 days), inappropriate footwear for my running style and a general weediness has given me a bit of an injury. The idea of the fracture came about based on the fact it's a weird sort of pain and that paula radcliffe had something similar before the ...

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Finally got a hair cut this evening

Which was just as well, as my girlfriend had started calling me Andy Murray....

Can't see it myself

The social event of the season

I'm off to the motherland again on Wednesday for the wedding of the year at Castle Leslie, previously only famous for being the site of the McCartney-Mills nuptials. An inauspicious start, but I have every faith that the events on Thursday will do more than enough to dispel that unpleasant heritage.

My friend Julie Anne is celebrating finally breaking in her Aussie boyfriend John by making an ...

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Gotta love the night bus

We have the ubiquitous guy playing his tunes through his phone on the way home this evening.... Only he's in his 30s and is playing gospel music. It's actually rather pleasant.

Rooney or Dallaglio?

A question not a million miles away from: "liver or marmite"

These two paragons of arrogant English ugliness have been selected by Nike, in their infinite wisdom, as the "team captains" for the Nike 10k - the idea being that you designate yourself as Northern or Southern English and get a bit of friendly rivalry in the London leg of the race.

This obviously presents me with a considerable ...

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I've finally run 10K

despite the fact I have already done one 10K this summer, my stupid waste-of-money Nikeplus gadget did not recognise the fact, as I ran the first 400m of the race with it turned off (unknown to me). So, following my crap efforts last Thursday and now that my groin no longer feels like it's Casanova's hand me down, I was determined to finally get through the magic 10K barrier this evening. And ...

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The countdown begins again

less than three weeks to go to the Nike 10k, my friends, and things aren't going particularly well... I've been trying to increase my speed in the interim between the British 10K and the upcoming corporate megathon. Unfortunately, it would appear that my body is incapable of pushing itself even a tiny bit to achieve the desired result. I've managed to run at a pace which would see me coming in ...

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My sleepy rural train station

With south london's eiffel tower rising lazily from the tree tops... Sometimes it's worth being up early on a saturday.

The Care Bear Papparazzi

The whole of the south of London was lit up this evening as an odd thunder storm did it's thing.... It was weird, it didn't rain at all (and as a result is still humid and sticky and making me all aggro) and there was virtually no thunder, but flashes of bright light filled the whole sky south of Crystal Palace when I was on my way home from the shops. Initially I thought it might be lightning hitting the TV transmitter but on closer inspection it was further away, and instead looked like a massive flashbulb in the clouds. Guess it must have been Tenderheart's birthday or something.

Spooked

Check out the new star of BBC3's spy spin off, Spooks Code 9. Admittedly, I found the website thanks to my mate Murray, who works in "media" and therefore gets wind of these things way ahead of most. The odd thing is, having seen his video on Facebook, we apparently look identical. Either that or the face mapping widget isn't that great. Still, I think I look more handsome in the clip than I do in real life, so I'm happy!

Report

Beware the urge to take training to the next level

For verily, it doth burn muchly.

Have broken my groin. and not in a good way.

Life moves pretty fast.....

As a now aging and paunchy Matthew Broderick once said. You ain't kidding, Ferris.

My annual leave whooshed past in two shakes of a lamb's tail and I returned to the office today, full of vim and vigour ready to take on the world. Had you going for a second there, didn't I? What actually happened was that I dragged my sorry depressed arse back out to East London and spent the entire day scowling ...

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