5 Challenge Update

I wrote a blog post a while ago about 5 challenges I had set myself, before moving on with the new things that I am doing now I wanted to update, the 5 challenges I said I was going to attempt were:


2nd July to Mid August = 10,000 Steps for Pancreatic Cancer UK

September = Chiltern 3 Peaks for Ian Rennie Hospice

7th October = Blenheim Half Marathon for British Heart Foundation

14th April 2013 = London or Brighton Marathon for Pancreatic Cancer UK

1 Other to be decided later.

I completed the 10,000 steps and the Blenheim Palace Half Marathon and in April completed the Brighton Marathon (in case you were wondering it is a really long way!!)

As it turns out I couldn't complete the Chiltern 3 Peaks but instead completed (With my darling wife along side) the Bucchus Half Marathon which although only 13.1 Miles was almost as hard as the full marathon due to being off road and largely uphill.

Anyway, I have so far managed to raise just over £1,000 and am now coming into the final challenge of the five challenge series which will be the London2Brighton Challenge. (Feel free to sponsor me at http://www.justgiving.com/Adam2Brighton ) This will be an 100k 24 Hour Run/Walk but hopefully can raise some money for Pancreatic Cancer UK

Also this year I took part in the Lottery Anniversary Run which was a 5 Mile run around the Olympic Village finishing in the Olympic Running Stadium with a 3/4 Lap of the stadium, Obviously being my first year of running any events like this it was really unlike anything I had ever done before and the moment you run out of the tunnel and onto the track in front of a Stadium full of spectators was a really unique experience.

So below is my collection of Medals from my first year of running, They are the medals for (Left to Right) The Bacchus Half Marathon, The Brighton Marathon, The National Lottery Anniversary Run and the Blenheim Half Marathon.

And hopefully this time next year I will have some more to add to them!

5 Challenges

As my last two posts have been very focused on jogging I thought it may be sensible to explain why this is as if any one actually reads this blog they may be surprised by the sudden change in focus.
As I have previously said my Mum passed away in December, my Mum was a massive inspiration to me and so, as I think is practically unavoidable, I started to think of what I could do to honour her, she was not a big one for sentiment for sentiments sake so I doubted that buying a plaque or other memorial would be worthwhile so instead I thought I should raise money for the pancreatic cancer trust - pancreatic cancer is the 5th most common cancer and people diagnosed are afforded just a 3% survival rate. - my plan therefore was to run the marathon for PCT, the only problem being that I doubted I could run down the road yet alone 26 Miles!

Last year however a very good friend of mine decided he was going to run the London Marathon, when he announced it in October I think most people found it hard to believe as he was not someone you would have thought of as a marathon runner.

After 6 and a bit hours however he crossed the finish line showing everyone who had doubted him that they were wrong and showing me that if you had the spirit and motivation that you could achieve your goals. So now I had decided next year I would be crossing that finish line either by jogging or pure determination, but I would be doing it.

But what to do and when? My first plan was to run the Windsor half marathon in October and then the London Marathon in April. However whilst working towards this (including a very sobering 1st Mile jog that really showed how much work I had to do.) I was asked through my work to join the 10,000 steps challenge.

This challenge involves walking 10,000 steps a day - as an office worker I was currently on about 4,000 so it is a substantial increase. - as it fit into my training schedule and the money I raised still went to, pancreatic cancer I  agreed and now had three challenges.

The next big change to the plan happened when I went online to book my place at Windsor only to find that they were full. As my training would take at least 20 weeks I couldn't really bring the half marathon forwards and I am going to Florida two weeks after so I did not have many options as to when I can run - to be honest the 7th October was my only free day, so I needed to find another half marathon on that day. As luck would have it there were several including the royal parks and one in Surrey, unfortunately as my luck would have it they were sold out too.

At this point I started to worry that I would not get selected for the London Marathon, as the public ballot isn't until October, and by that time everything else would be full so even if I didn't quit I may end up failing just through not being ready to commit in time. After a considerable period searching I found the Bleinham Palace half marathon on the right date, although not particularly near to home. The main problem however is that it is for the British Heart Foundation and I had intended to do both runs for Pancreatic Cancer but I am sure my Mum would have forgiven the deviation and it is still a worthy cause, and fits into my schedule. At the same time I decided I needed a back up plan in the likely event I am not selected in the London Ballot. Looking at other local marathons I saw that it was the last date to sign up for a guaranteed place for Brighton so I signed up there and then to at least make sure I had a half and full marathon booked, even if they wouldn't be my first choices.

So with three challenges set in place I started to like the idea of completing 5 challenges, if I am honest I picked 5 only as I think it sounds good. My 4th challenge is a family affair as I will be completing the Chiltern 3 peaks challenge with my Dad and my Sister to raise money for Ian Rennie Hospice at home (I know I had planned to raise all the money for PCT and this is in fact my third charity but Ian Rennie really helped my Mum so my Dad wants to give something back and again they are a great cause so I still think it is good.)

So that is my current plan.

2nd July to Mid August = 10,000 Steps for Pancreatic Cancer Trust

September = Chiltern 3 Peaks for Ian Rennie Hospice

7th October = Bleinham Half Marathon for British Heart Foundation

14th April 2013 = London or Brighton Marathon for Pancreatic Cancer Trust

As you may have noticed this leaves me short by one challenge and to be honest I have no idea what to do for it. But the way things have been so far I am pretty sure something will turn up.

Genghis Khan's BBQ - Brighton

Tonight we went to Genghis Khan's Mongolian barbecue in Brighton. I have been to a Mongolian barbecue once before when we found one in a shopping mall food court whilst travelling across America, that was good and a surprise to find something like that in a mall, between McDonald's and Taco Bell but the one in Brighton is great, it costs a very reasonable £10.95 (14.50 at weekends) and is great fun.
If you have never been to a Mongolian barbecue before it is a good concept, you take your bowl and fill it from the cold buffet, there is a choice of meat (lamb, beef, chicken, pork) or fish (prawns, white fish, mussels, calamari) and mix it with the plethora of sauces (satay, curry, BBQ to name just a few) and vegetables, spices etc...
You take these too a grill area where it is stir fried and returned ready for eating, after which you can start again.
Anyway, the only draw back I found was too much choice which made it hard to stop, the drinks were also good, if not a touch pricey, the rest of my party had a pitcher of cocktails - the Wrath of Khan which was a mind blower, as the designated driver I stuck to the non-alcholic ones, I also heartily recommend the Khan's Platter for the dessert.

The barbecue can be found at 15-17 Middle Street Brighton, 01273 323605 for booking.

Baby Expo Brighton

We went to the south east baby Expo this morning at the Brighton Race course.

We have been to the baby show at Excel and the NEC unlike these this one was free entry so I was not expecting too much.(I think we paid £15 each for the others.) However whilst this show was a lot smaller the range of stands was not that much less.

What was noticeable however was how badly organized this was in comparison, bare in mind that this was a baby show, the day started with a 45 minute queue outside in very hot sun, then when we made it inside the stands were so close together that it was virtually un-navigable with a push chair, they also had areas set aside for talks and demonstrations which were both not set up to fit buggies and spilled out into the walkway. In the end we decided to skip the 3rd hall as it was just too stressful.

All that said however I do think I would definitely go again, it would just be nice if they remembered their target audience.