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!

Failures, Fights, Fitness and My Fender

So last night I went to my friend Coop Coopers house to watch the Haye v Klitschko boxing match, I had already been to the shop and bought myself 8 beers to take with me and when we arrived after getting a lift with friends Grant and James via a takeaway stop off, the first obvious thing to do was open a beer and talk about manly stuff such as Coopers latest DIY projects and general rubbish. When the other guys had arrived (Frosty, Edgy and Matt) we migrated to the living room beers in hand and Coops revealed that despite inviting us round to watch the fight a week ago, he hadn't actually ordered the fight. So for the next hour 5 of us repeatedly rang the sky box office lines trying to get through but failing miserably, all the while telling Coops that his organisational skills needed to be improved, and recounting tales of his other epic failures, much to our amusement.
At half nine we made the decision to ring up some pubs and watch it there. Darley's was the nearest choice and we set off beer in hand for the 15 minute walk. Once at the pub, Coops bought us all a round of beer or two, to make up for his failings.
The boxing itself was rubbish and I ached longingly for a return to the good era's of boxing, such as the 80's and the Marvelous Marvin Hagler's, the Sugar Ray Leonard's, the Tyson's etc.
After the match we had another beer then walked back to Coops house and James who wasn't drinking, drove us home!

I awoke today feeling a little rough after the many beers the night before and thought the best thing to do was get out for another 4 mile run, which we completed in 39min 50sec. I found it easier then yesterday, despite stopping a few times for Fruitfingers to stretch out and catch her breath and feeling a little hungover, the jog felt good and I felt better for doing it...after a shower that is! We even had some bonus entertainment as we ran past a group of people doing community service, removing graffiti under the supervision of a Police officer.

My agenda for today is to get back into playing my guitars, my lovely Fender 'Big Apple' Stratocaster and my acoustic Yamaha Compass. First job was to get onto Ebay and buy some new strings, then I picked up my acoustic and started reacquainting myself with the finer joys of playing music.

I also aim to watch a few more episodes of Game of Thrones before the days end.