GNR 2 - The Revenge! by pickassoreborn

I suck! I am most definitely playing catch-up..! Here are those oh-so-lovingly-designed graphs of my last two runs courtesty of the Nike Plus site -

Can you get a pace as straight as that? I was pretty amazed by this as my long run took in a lot of sights (and some hills!) so to maintain a constant pace like that is something of a major achievement. I thought the dongle on the Nike Plus technology had freaked out somewhat, but nope. It was working fine. I also took a minor detour into lovely Saltwell Park and saw the beginnings of The Running Line - a huge 13.1 mile-long line made up of photos taken by participants (including me!) and spectators of last year's Great North Run as part of the GNR Cultural Programme. More on that in a min...

This was a bit more arduous... it was a night-time trek up the many hills towards home from where I work. I kind of thought that I could take it at a nice easy pace, though I was suffering near the end of it. The sweat was relentless - my eyelids were sweaty, for crying out loud! Blinking when they were in such a wonderously soaked state often meant stopping for a few seconds to curse and wipe the sweat away. Bizarrely, even though I felt like it was a terrible run, I did a better pace than the last run-up-the-hill-at-night run!

If that wasn't bad enough, my right leg was up to its old tricks again - a dull irritation of a pain under the outside of my right ankle wasn't helping at all. It wasn't like unbearable pain, but I knew it was there and it felt like it was dragging my leg - and pace - down. When I had finished, I had to sit down and take a breather inbetween cursing again. I openly cursed that night many times, so hopefully I didn't offend anyone..! I think it was mostly swearing at the sweat and legs, so nothing personal - only to myself..! Getting home was good though because not only did the bath feel heavenly, but Macmillan had sent my iron-on letters! Actually, the Macmillan mail-out did make me feel a lot better about the run. Thankfully next week will be the last ever rucksack/hill run I ever do. Can't wait!

Getting back to the Great North Run Cultural Programme - I've received an invite on behalf of two video artists for a possible interview in front of a camera for inclusion in a film about the GNR to be shown next year on BBC2. Now I'm in two minds about this - if I can promote Macmillan, then brilliant. What isn't brillant is knowing my mishapen face will be on television and maybe in (urk) HD! Well, it'll make my Mum happy to see me on her non-HD television. I'll consider it. What do you think?

So training is still going swimmingly even if it sometimes feels like my body is betraying me in doing what I want and need to do. It is frustrating at times, but soon after the GNR, I'll pack it in and consider becoming a boozehound and a couch potato - you know, catching up on lost time. Please help sponsor me this year and be in with a chance of winning a stack of Macmillan stuff! Please visit http://www.justgiving.com/stevenpick/ and give what you can. Every donation helps and Macmillan and me will love you forever.

Hope your training is going well!