Running for my Life - A blog by Jamie Hill
Ocelot editor Jamie Hill is planning to run the Birmingham Marathon on October 15 in aid of ICP Support. Every month he’s been chronicling his journey.
The clock is ticking now.
It’s like a doomsday clock in my head.
Every day, I’m closer and it’s getting a bit scary.
In my latest run I managed 16 miles.
It was tough going and the last three miles were especially hard. By the end I was a mess with every limb feeling like spaghetti.
And I’ve still got the knowledge that I’ve got to go 10.2 miles further to reach the marathon distance.
It doesn’t bear thinking about.
My last run took me three hours and 18 minutes. That’s a hell of a long time to be out there putting one foot in front of the other.
By the time you read this I should have run 17 miles. I’m dreading it.
Music is my constant companion. I tend to like the rockier end of the spectrum for these runs but dance music is also a bit of a Godsend especially as you end up running to the rhythm.
A lot of my runs now are on the cycle track which stretches before me for miles. I’m usually alone but you can guarantee that if I get into a good song and start dance running, which is something I’m wont to do, a rambler or a cyclist will suddenly show up from nowhere and give me a weird look.
The worst one of these was when I was especially getting into Lady Gaga’s Pokerface and doing all the moves with my arms as I ran. I must have looked like a complete idiot when a family of four came cycling up behind me. As they cycled past, I smiled at them and pretended that I was just stretching my limbs. I don’t think they believed me.
I’ve been told a number of times that audiobooks are good for long runs to keep you distracted. Unfortunately I haven’t got the technical know-how to get I Partridge read by Steve Coogan to work at the same time as my Nike + app so I’ve had to stick with the music.
Another distraction has been the views. I run through Coate Water which is absolutely stunning especially with the sun setting on it. Also some of the views of the Marlborough Downs once I’m up on the cycle track beyond Chiseldon are pretty awe-inspiring.
I don’t really know Birmingham at all where I’ll be carrying out this task so I don’t know what the views will be like at all. I’m expecting it to all be industrial and massive junctions of the spaghetti variety but it might surprise me.
Looking at the course map, which contains a ten mile loop which is bound to mess me up, it doesn’t look that long a distance but one thing that constantly surprises me is how long an actual mile is.
I reckon I’ll finish the marathon between five and a half and six hours which is a hell of a long time to be out there.
But this training is doing me a bloody lot of good as well.
At the start of the year I weighed 18 stone 4 pounds. At my last weigh-in on Sunday I weighed 16 stone 4 pounds - meaning I’ve lost two stone overall which is quite an achievement. It also means I’ve shaved my beard off as it is no longer needed to hide my multiple chins.
But my belly is still there. Like a stubborn bit of flab it’s not disappeared yet so I still know that I’m fat despite all of this effort.
My original target was to lose three stone during this ordeal so I’ve got one stone to go. Having lost 28 pounds already, another 14 pounds doesn’t seem like the biggest mountain to climb and I’ve still got eight weeks to go.
Let’s hope my belly finally gives up the ghost during this last bit of weight loss.
I’ve also managed to raise enough to pay for my entry but now need to raise more to really help the charity so please keep giving generously.
If you would like to sponsor me you can chuck money at:
www.justgiving.com/fundraising/james-hill36
