Great North Run 2012

Today I received word that I have a place in this years Great North Run!

This is the most iconic half-marathon in the country. Not a bad choice for my first.
So its off to Newcastle and South Shields for me come September. May God have mercy on my soul!!

Learning a New Language

Today I was invited into the Duolingo private beta. I can now crack on with a couple of the intellectual goals from The List. Today I start to learn German!

For more info, see the videos below:

The TED talk that brought Duolingo to my attention.

A more succinct description (for those short on time).

My First 10K (And My First Trail Race)

Me approaching a checkpoint. South Stack lighthouse visible in the background. The wind almost tore off my race number from my leg!

Today I completed my very first 10K race. It was also my very first trail race!

It involved dragging my backside up to the highest point of the island I grew up on. To say it was hard work would be an understatement! The climbs were steep, so steep even the serious fell-runners power-walked up them! The downhills were treacherous to say the least with loose rocks, mud, exposed roots, etc. And the wind. My God, the wind! I got properly sandblasted by the spray from the Irish Sea as well as nearly blown off my feet on occasion. To get a sense of it take a look at this screenshot from my RunKeeper page:

My actual time was 1:45:21 (I forgot to deactivate the auto pause feature!) 

The views though were spectacular! I lived on Anglesey for 18 years and never ventured up Holyhead Mountain before. It goes to show how little some of us know about our immediate surroundings. Certainly food for thought.

My finishing time was 1:45:21. I'm happy with that given that 2/3 of the course had me climbing from sea level to nearly 200m and that I had to seriously apply the brakes on many of the downhills! Not sure of my overall position, I'll learn that on Monday when all the results are collated. Do I care?...

Not especially, I'm just glad to have completed it!

My finishing time

All the commemorative paraphernalia, my race number, a red wristband, the slip with my time, a commemorative dog-tag and I even got the t-shirt!

My finisher's dog-tag

As arduous as I've made it sound, it was certainly good fun! Would I do it again?...

In a heartbeat!

Update 23/1/12 17:56:
The official results are in. I was 129th out of 146 runners.

Reviewing The List

I've spent the morning planning how I might make progress on achieving some of the goals on my list in 2012.

Some I will tackle in due time. For example, in under 2 weeks I'll be running a 10k trail race. I've also applied for a place in the Great North Run in September which, if I'm accepted, takes care of the half-marathon goal.

Others will take some plotting.

Money is a little tight at present so until I learn to travel hack, my global exploration will have to wait.

A simple one to get started on is my barefoot running goal. Chris McDougall makes a good case for it in his book 'Born to Run'. I've even invested in a pair of Vibram FiveFingers!

My VFF KSO'S

I hereby resolve to do one training run per week in my Vibram's. Eventually, once my feet have toughened-up, I'll do a parkrun in them then who knows?...

Imagine my surprise when, this very afternoon, I found an opportunity to complete one of my 'Beyond Insane' goals. When I was walking home from the coffee shop, I saw a van advertising a SCUBA diving school not 3 miles away from my home! I've looked at their website and found that they offer a taster session as well as a reasonably-priced certification course. I might make this a gift to myself after payday in a couple of weeks!!

Finally, I'll try to dig out the photographic & video proof of my two completed 'Beyond Insane' goals from my parents attic when I'm next there.

Update 23/1/12 18:57
Photographic and video proof of my skydive and bungy jump can be found on my 'Achievements' page.