Anyone want a teenager?!

'Not the one from the Telly' is back:

After my absolutely pathetic attempt at running last Tuesday, I have had 6 days off from training. I found the 30 miles quite hard and my right knee was in pain for quite a bit of the last few miles. I therefore decided to lay off it for a while. By way of still training but reducing the impact on the knees I spent some time on my cross trainer. I’m not a fan of cross trainers; I find them intensely boring and a bit gimmicky. We bought it so members of the family could get fit. But it languished in the garage and was never used. So I set it up in our bedroom and it still doesn’t get used!!

To make the ‘journey’ more interesting I put on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade on the DVD. That broke the monotony! After nearly 2 hours I know I had a work out but it didn’t really feel like I have achieved anything. So, back to running. Last night I did 6 miles. Only a slight knee ache but nothing serious. Ten miles planned for tonight. I’ve been intensely stretching my hamstrings and it has worked a little. I must be the most unsupple person in the world, which doesn’t help the muscles.

I can sense the nervousness that Ed mentioned in his blog. I guess that must be the same for any endurance event. In my limited experience the training always pays off and everything goes well.

My youngest son Jake, (18 years old) is on a Public Service course at college in Bournemouth. He wants to be a policeman. At 6’4” he would certainly look the part. He is going sailing this week as part of his adventurous training. They will sail all around the Solent, Weymouth and maybe further a field. He was given a kit list of items to take.

When I was serving in the Army I did a lot of sailing all over the world. So I thought I would offer some words of encouragement and advice on what to take and what to do. I said “Do you want to sit down and talk about your sailing. Maybe I could give you some advice. I might have some things you could take that would make it easier or more interesting..." His reply was, "No you’re alright, I know exactly what I’m doing.” Anybody want to borrow a teenager for a few years!!

Best wishes to you all and stay fit!

Jonathon