Man Flu

3.0 Miles (499.8Total)



Despite it being mid August and way past halfway through the year LB is finally spluttering his way towards the halfway point.  In some ways this is very frustrating however when you consider I have had a couple of injuries that have cost me nearly 8 weeks of running I still live in hope that the 1,000 mile target is well in view still.


A touch of man-flu meant that I had to realign my targets a bit this morning so only a little trot round Chiswick instead of 6-7 miles.


I made the mistake of finishing my run 5 minutes before the end of Mrs LB's bootcamp session.  I therefore got asked to do the 5 minute 'abs' session.  Now I put 'abs' in speech marks because I don't really own any of those.  5 painful minutes later I jogged alongside Mrs LB cycling until I raced her home on our street.  The good news is I won, the bad news is that I nearly died!  The problem with getting old is that your brain makes you think you can do things that you can't.  Mistake.


No matter.


In other news (not mentioning the r word here, I deal with that on Twitter), Arsenal desperately in need of an experienced, defensive player(s) has signed a 17 year old winger for £12M.  Marvelous.


LBx

Looters & Loonies

7.5 Miles (496.8Total)



Morning all


After a weekend of drunkenness I thought that maybe a run was required this morning to shake out the cobwebs so to speak.  Last week I managed 3 runs totaling 15 miles.  After a month off it wasn't a bad effort I suppose but I need to be back up to 25 miles per week quickly to keep the 1,000 mile challenge in sight.


The other issue last week was an apparent lack of pace to my running.  Now, you don't get a nickname of Lardy Boy and be very quick in the first place however I was a little concerned that I couldn't pick the pace up when I wanted to last week.  This morning though was a little better when mid-run I picked the pace up and brought my speed up a little.  So happy.


Of course this weekend the news was filled with the news that chavs like to smash up JD Sports and loot it for shell suits.  Quite why that is news is beyond me.  Dressing up theft as some sort of social - racial uprising against government cuts and police brutality is laughable.  As my mate on Twitter (Nelson's Nose) said this morning, why don't you lot nick a suit and go and get a fucking job.  Sums up my thoughts exactly.


Anyway onto much more inspiring stuff, I have followed Mark Allison's (aka RunGeordieRun) amazing (and very insane) 100 day 3,100 mile run across the US.  Today is his last day, just a mere 55 miles today to finish in NYC.  What he is doing is epic, one day maybe LB should do something as insane as this......  might need to discuss with Mrs LB at some point.  Well done Mark, amazing achievement.


Have a great week all, next run on Wednesday....  Need to get up to 30 plus this week, a 7.5 mile start means that it is achievable!


LBX

Thank You Thank You Thank You...

5.8 Miles (489.3Total)



Morning all


Despite a significant drop in temperature this morning it was still bloody humid, even the addition of some rain made little difference.  At least I didn't go out at noon as I did on Tuesday which was a massive mistake.  As a result even with a days rest my legs felt bloody heavy this morning.  Still that is 3 runs in 4 days since the comeback so not all bad.


The main purpose of today's blog is to say a big thanks to all those who very kindly donated to my Just Giving site.  I promise that despite the month off injured I will do everything I can to reach the 1,000 mile target for the year.  The donation site closed down on 31st July, including gift aids we raised nearly £6,200  for the Cri du Chat Syndrome Support group.  The charity is a very small one so every penny raised really makes a huge difference so thank you all so very much for all your generosity.  Here is a link to the blog written by my friends who have a daughter affected by the illness.


If you haven't donated but would still like to contribute please contact the charity directly.


A trip to the coast with the kids has been postponed owing to the weather so swimming then work is the order of the day for LB.  Whatever you are up to have a cracker.


LBx

Hot and Slow

5.5 Miles (483.5Total)

I have decided to make this blog a little more generic.  This will therefore enable me to blather on about anything really.  The most likely topics will include:

• Running
• Other keep fit stuff
• Becoming less fat
• Falling off the week day wagon regularly
• My increasing leaning to left when it comes to politics ( I blame my Marxist wife)
• Arsenal
• Golf
• Cricket
• Cooking
• Gigs and Music
• Other 

I want to get more readers and page views so please do pass this on to all and sundry.  I realise that the topics above may not be everyone's cup of tea but bear with me, I will try my best honest.  The motivation is simple, rather than waste a portion of my day playing games on my iPhone or sitting on my arse watching the tele, I will waste it telling the world about the life of Lardy Boy.

I never understood why people blog, and I still don't to be honest but I hope to 'entertain' those who have donated so generously to the Cri du Chat Syndrome Support Group, and also those who just are interested in the life of an overweight self-employed 39 year old 'runner'...

I ran 5plus miles in the sun this morning, crap it was very tough.  Getting up to 1,000 miles by the end of the year is gonna be very tough.  Almost as tough as my weekday booze ban.  This will be broken no doubt as I am out with an old boss for dinner in town tonight.  Staying dry will not really happen.

Other bits and pieces for the day include:

People that write 'I am really sad', or 'I am really unhappy today' on Facebook without saying why.  Stop attention seeking and tell people what is wrong or just don't say anything at all!

On the subject of Facebook, I had a new 'friend' suggested to me this morning.  I share 3 mutual friends with her, but as far as I am aware none of the 3 know each other.  Is that a bit weird....? Anyway Chris Roddick meet Kathryn Caulfield meet Karen Claydon Hutton....

How can Harbajhan Singh not be able to bowl, but appears capable of smashing Swanny for a couple of Dorothy Dix's?  I really don't like him, as Athers said he could start an argument with the Dalai Lama!

Cheers

LBX

DONATE: www.justgiving.com/jamie-ross
FOLLOW LARDY BOY ON TWITTER: @LardyBoy2011.  Please follow me on Twitter for additional Lardy Boy updates

5 Months - Time for New Targets

8 Miles (487.8Total)



DONATE: www.justgiving.com/jamie-ross
FOLLOW LARDY BOY ON TWITTER: @Rooster1972.  Please follow me on Twitter for additional Lardy Boy updates


UPDATE
Over the last 6 weeks I have amassed a huge 20 miles!  On the face of it things have not been going well, so I am keen to realign my goals and get things started again.


July was almost an entire write off due to work and injury.  This morning though I got out for 4 miler to get August off to a good start.  Overall I need to run 500 miles in 5 months which I still believe is achievable but I need more than just a mileage target so have decided to set out on a total food, drink, and exercise overall in the spirit of endeavour and scientific discovery!!! 


As a result I will be starting a regime that I will track here and hopefully, with your support, abuse etc...  I can achieve the goals set out below


GOALS
By 31st December I will:


- run 1,000 miles for 2011
- lose 2 stone in weight


APPROACH
I will run 4/5 times a week with some other exercise on the off days to help shift the weight.  Also there will be no weekday booze, no weekday bread, or cheese and no carbs after lunch.  Lots of water and healthy stuff to turn myself from Lardy Boy to not-quite-so Lardy Boy.


In early October I will find out if I am in the London Marathon for 2012 then of course the mileage will look after itself as the training kicks off.  Over August and September though I need to bank at least 175 miles.


FUNDRAISING
I a delighted to say that I have reached the £5k target which I am very proud of.  I have kept the Just Giving site open for another month so if you want to chuck some more cash in then feel free!  The blog will carry on over the next few months, I know it is getting read quite a bit please forward on; the more people that read the blog then the more that Cri du Chat Syndrome will be promoted.


Cheers for now!


LBX

T-24 Weeks - The Final Fundraiser!

5 Miles (479.8Total)

DONATE: www.justgiving.com/jamie-ross
FOLLOW LARDY BOY ON TWITTER: @Rooster1972.  Please follow me on Twitter for additional Lardy Boy updates

The last 2 weeks have been a bit of a nightmare to be honest.  An ankle injury (a different one this time), my work commitments and other personal stuff has put things on the backfoot a little.  Well a lot actually.


I will be back out again this week with a further blog in the next week or so.  I am now behind schedule for the 1,000 miles this year, I am nothing if not determined to succeed though so I will continue to keep you all up to date.


Whilst the challenge continues the 'official' Just Giving site closes at the end of the week.  As a result I am going for one final push to reach my £5k target.  Thanks for all of you generosity in the past few months, I have been blown away by it. 


I wanted to re-post the blog that sums up why I am doing what I am doing.  Please read below and if you can spare some more pennies, please do.  It is a real difference you would be making.


Thanks
LB
XXX

“I have some very bad news for you”, the Consultant began.  That was Christmas Eve 2009, and so began our journey with the Cri du Chat syndrome (CDC).

It’s a rare chromosome disorder, and as such the doctors couldn’t give us very much information.  We were given a print out of a Wikipedia page and told to expect moderate to severe learning difficulties.  And that was that.

                

Enid was just 10 days old and suddenly the world we had imagined for our baby girl was shattered.  I don’t think you realise how much you unconsciously plan and think about the life for your child until it’s all taken away.  Concerns about getting her in to the ‘good school’, wondering if she’d be good at sport or English, thinking what career she might want to follow.  Suddenly everything fell in to a pit of irrelevance and we were left wondering whether she had any sort of future at all.

After leaving hospital, the support we have received from the NHS has been great.  The trouble we have is the lack of syndrome-specific support available.  When we were given the diagnosis only one nurse on the Special Care unit had ever come in to contact with a CDC child, and that was when she was training 25 years ago.

                                                         

This is where the CDC Syndrome Support Group has been invaluable.  As a starting point we could read information on their website and try to build up an idea of what the syndrome would mean to us in real terms.  They also have a clinical advisory group from whom, for example, we received child growth charts that we could use to see how Enid was growing compared to the norm for the syndrome.  Up until that point Enid was being compared on the standard child growth charts, on which she falls way below even the lowest percentile, leading to pressure from many health professionals.  At 11 months old she is only now just going in to clothes for 3 month olds.  

The most valuable thing for us offered by the CDC Support Group is the annual family weekend.  Attending for the first time this year gave us a chance to actually meet other families affected by the syndrome, to talk to them about their experiences, and to see the range of disabilities Enid might face.  We also heard talks from health professionals experienced in treating CDC children.  If nothing else, for one weekend of the year we got to feel like a normal family.

Fundraising for the CDC Support Group is vital to its running. Being such a rare disorder there isn’t much awareness of the charity and its work, so funds each year are limited.  However unlike larger charities, all the funds raised for the charity go directly to the work of the group.  There are no big overheads, salaries and bonuses to pay, or TV advertising campaigns and such like.  The work of the charity and any funds raised go towards further research in to the syndrome, raising awareness of CDC with health professionals and the wider public, and supporting families affected by CDC. 

Enid is now coming on for a year old and I’d say we are still coming to terms with what it all means - for her, for us.  Seeing her peers advance further and further ahead is very difficult.   But equally when we compare her to many other children with difficulties we realise just how lucky we are.  She is able to use her hands, she smiles and laughs all the time, and is very gradually learning to sit up; things that many other parents of disabled children can only dream about.  We don’t know what the future holds, whether she’ll be able walk or to talk, will she ever achieve any degree of independence, so we try to focus on the now and making sure we give her every opportunity to be the best she can be, and we’ll worry about the what if’s and what might be’s tomorrow.

T-27 - Back to Square Lard

13.2 Miles 2011 - 474.8 miles
RunStreak: 1 day!

DONATE: www.justgiving.com/jamie-ross
FOLLOW LARDY BOY ON TWITTER: @LardyBoy2011.  Please follow me on Twitter for additional Lardy Boy updates

Morning all!
Well I have to admit that I was always dubious that the RunStreak would last over 200 days taking me to the end of the year.  I would have hoped to have at least made it to 1 month!  There are very good reasons why, see below...

Runs Completed - Week Ending 24th June
Saturday - 1.2 miles @ 7:54mm

A speedy little trot around Chiswick this morning. My son's school Summer Fete today so I was up at 6.30 to set up then was cycling around Chiswick collecting and delivering various detritus. As a result in the 30 mins I had to spare late morning I decided to save the streak. Quite quick although the legs remain rather tired

Sunday - 7.9 miles @ 9:05mm

A Father's Day special. After a very lardy but delicious breakfast in bed provided by the equally delicious Mrs LB. Pancakes, fruit, maple syrup, cream and coffee in tum, I set off for a 3 miler. After a couple of miles I felt pretty good so decided to extend it, I am pleased that I managed to reach 8 miles, near as damn it. Pleased with my effort, so will enjoy larding out for the rest of Father's Day....

Monday - Thursday 0 miles 

In a word.... Bollocks!  Well actually back.  On Monday morning just sitting at my desk I heard a couple of pops at the base of my spine and was immediately in agony.  I walked my little lady to nursery and then hobbled back.  The rest of the day and Tuesday were a blur of pain, Diazepam, Tramadol and Stella.  On Wednesday I went to my Osteopath who surprised me for 2 reasons:

1. He didn't give me a bollocking for doing loads of running, in fact he positively encouraged me to crack on.  Normally these guys are all doom and gloom, saying the 'larger' gentleman might consider low impact stuff instead.

2.  He also told me that all the work had meant I should recover quicker because I looked to be in 'great shape'...!  What the fuck?  Me.  In great shape?  I have never heard anything funnier.  I can only assume he had been on the gin (it was in the afternoon)

Anyway he weaved his magic (if you live in West London and need an Osteo let me know, he is ace) and I felt a little better although was still walking round looking like I had a marrow shoved up my bottom.

By yesterday I felt much better and so.....

Friday -  4.1 miles @ 9:20mm

It was time to get back out there and give my back (and legs) a little test drive.  The run itself was a little slow, but I didn't want to go nuts on my first run.  The immediate reaction is very positive, no pain and so I will just have to wait and see how I feel tomorrow morning.

So what next?  Simple.  I start the RunStreak again from 1 and take it from there.  If I have a good week I will be over 500 miles for the year at the half way point in the year so on target.....

Have a great weekend all

LBX