Fixed and Strung

Yesterday evening I finally got around to registering for the Jane Tomlinson 'Run For All' York 10k, After witnessing Fruitfingers do the Hull 10k and then going and doing the Leeds 10k, my jealousy/envy/what ever you call it, got the better of me.
So £26 for a six mile run that I'm going to have to pay petrol money to get to, let's hope I can run it in a decent time (I hope to do it in around 45 minutes) which will please me to no end.
I'm not raising any sponsorship for it as Fruitfingers has already asked everyone we know and I don't think it would be fair on them!
I always loved running! From quite an early age of perhaps 12 years old, I used to go with my dad and run 3 miles 3 times a week and always found I was natural to it. However, since I injured my knee in the summer of 1996, due to basically overworking it from playing football for 2 hours every evening and on a Saturday and Sunday, as well as doing a power lifting weight training programme on my legs, It all took it's toll and when my knee got smacked during a game of football, it was never the same again! Ever since then, I have always had trouble with my knee and from time to time they have been so swollen I have been unable to walk on it, but usually it's just an aching soreness witch makes anything that involves me knees extra hard work!

My guitars are now strung with fresh, clean, bright sounding strings so I can finally get back into playing regularly and enjoying the guitar as I used to before I became disenchanted with it when I was playing in bands, I'm just gonna enjoy it and enjoy playing for myself!

Yesterday I flipped my rear wheel over to turn my bike from a plain old single gear, into an exciting "Fixie" which I need to get used to, I hope I enjoy being fixed and losing the comforting and sometimes enjoyable feeling of being able to coast along without peddling. It'll take a bit of getting used to but I did go to work and back on it today without incident!

So ends another week at work and although I'm very tired and looking forward to a lie in in the morning, I'm going to go out and do a cheeky 10k run before settling down with a few beers to relax. I've also decided to purchase the 'Game of Thrones' books as a set, it's £25 on Amazon and after finishing season 1 last night I'm hungry for more and a few people have told me they are a good read!

New Bike

So I was at work yesterday when I received a text from Fruitfingers saying she had a surprise waiting for me when I get home, of course I was excited, I love surprises, who doesn't? So when the end of my shift came, I jumped on to my Electra 'Hellbilly' Cruiser and slowly made my way home. I had been wondering and trying to guess what my surprise was since she had sent me the message earlier and had not had any ideas at all until I was riding past East Coast Bicycles on the way home. I had been into the shop a few weeks ago and spoken to Nick the owner about buying a new single speed and subsequently layed down a deposit on a particular bike that I liked.
As I passed the shop I noticed my soon to be new bike was gone from the window display, of course it hadn't been sold, there was only one explanation (it's a small shop and he had not put a new bike in it's place, therefore ruled out that he had just placed it further into the shop) Fruitfingers had obviously bought me my new bike and taken it home to surprise me. I was very excited at this point and increased my peddling rate, to arrive home even quicker!
As I came through the front door it was there in front of me, in all it's colourful glory, I put my other bike away, gave Fruity a big kiss and said thankyou and was just about to fly out the door to take it for a spin after a quick visit to the shop for a photo (Nick always takes a photo of his customers with their new bikes) when I received a call from my friend Alex who was on a flying visit to Hull with his wife Gina and was just outside my house and in need of a cuppa! So I sat there and chatted with Alex and Gina for about 45 minutes until they had to leave, then grabbed my new bike and off I went!!! All in all a very pleasant and lovely end to an awful week!

Started watching Game of Thrones last night, waited until the full series had been aired so I could watch it all at once (or at least over a few days) and I have to say I'm impressed so far, it's looking very promising although I have not read the books and have no idea where it's going!

Today I woke up still feeling lethargic and also restless at the same time so after the old folks had been over for a lunch time barbecue, Fruitfingers and I decided to go for a 4 mile run. Fruity was struggling from the start and I was struggling to keep at a slow enough pace to stay together as my natural running pace was trying it's hardest to pull me along faster! When we arrived home 40 min 24sec later, I decided as a cool down to take my new bike out for a 10 minute ride at a decent pace. I felt very good when I arrived back home!

Time now to get a shower and ready for a visit to Coopers house tonight for the boxing!!!