The Qwer Old Fella's Marathon Method

8:00 a.m. - 7 miles easy over undulating countryside. Beautiful morning. Sun shining. Babbling brooks. The Atalantic like a sheet of glass. Started out slow and worked the hills a little and then picked up the pace in the final 1.5 miles. Good stuff.

I'm all excited waiting to see how Jake and Andrea do in the Philadelphia marathon; in honour of Jake and Andrea I'm going to sit with a tub of ice cream and keep an eye on their times - I think I've sussed how to follow them. I might even have the odd spoon or two of ice cream, seeing as the weight is melting off me at the moment.

I'm looking forward to reading all the race reports from this weekend. I noticed allie had a cheeky little win yesterday - amazing as she only got her legs back last week.

I shouldn't tell anybody but I can't contain myself. Maybe I shouldn't. Oh what the ... This is a secret, so keep it quiet: aleph is running in a race - The Secret City Half. Shush. I shouldn't have let the cat out of the bag. Ho hum.

5:30 a.m. - 3.5 miles slow. Gentle lung opener - intend to do a progressive 3.5 this evening.

When I finished my run this morning and stretched and did all the rest of the usual palaver I logged in and read Jake's race report on the Philadelphia marathon. If you haven't read it, go read it now.

Oh, to have a smidgeon of that man's grace and talent. I watched Jake and Andrea's times on the live feed on his twitter thingamajig. Everything was bang on up until 30k. I was so so excited for both of them. Then when Jake's final time didn't come up when expected, I thought there may have been something wrong with the 'chip' or whatever it is - I haven't raced in years and chips etc are all new to me.

When the news came through I felt a deep sadness for both of them. But then I read how they felt about the whole show and I couldn't believe how much character they evinced. Their outlook on life is something to behold. One thing's for sure, both Jake and Andrea will make the breakthrough into the big time. Respect. 

6 p.m. - 3.5 progressive. Enjoyed this run. See that? 'Run'. I felt like I ran the whole 3.5 miles. Reckon I must have started off around 7:30 pace and ended up around 6:15 pace.

Think I'll be tired in the morning.

RHR 51

10:00 a.m. - 7 undulating miles, which included 2 hills - each 1 mile long. Run took 56:10 so AP 8:02(ish).  Beautiful fresh morning. A touch of Christmas in the air. I'm looking forward to all the presents 'you all' will be sending me - please, no coupons for McDonalds.

Something struck me when I was out running (it wasn't a car) - remember the picture Jake put up of all those lovely looking oatmeal cookies? Of course you do. You were all thinking, I'd love the recipe for those yummy looking cookies. Not a chance. Notice the way Jake and Andrea are always eating ice cream and then they tease us with those cookies. I think that's a step too far. We should all plague them with messages requesting the recipe.

 Now, I'm a big fan of the old Jake-meister, especially after he told me one of his friends said I was like an "Irish Emeril Lagasse".  So, here's me thinking they meant some kind of Ethiopian distance runner who's making waves etc. The old ego gets the better of me and I look up this Lagasse chappy and low and behold, I realise I'm the butt of some checky little joke - those rapscallions. Ho ho. They like a laugh up there in Utah - must be the lack of oxygen. I watched some clips of the Lagasse chappy and thought he was class. Although, he's a tad too svelte to look like your old dad.

RHR 51

5:30 a.m. - 3.5 miles slow. Nice jog in the rain. Legs a bit heavy after yesterday's 7 miles on the hills. Left hamstring's giving me a bit of gyp. Did a bit of positional release on it and it has eased. Looked like a contortionist bent round pressing my hamstring with my thumb. Couldn't get the elbow in there. I'll whack the ice on it after tonight's outing and maybe flush it with a bit of heat. That way, all those nutrients from my quinoa, buckwheat, sweet potato etc should fire in there and attack the badness. Here's hoping...

5:30 p.m. - 3.5 miles slow. First three miles, the old hamstring wasn't too bad. Final half mile, the old hamstring had me hamstrung. Defo a problem with the biceps  femoris. Iced the area and did some M.E.T. work. Reckon there could be a deep rooted problem with the somewhat weathered piriformis and quadratus femoris. I'll ice and M.E.T. and do some serious positional release. I'll have to skip tomorrow morning's outing and see how the day goes. One of the problems of being decrepit and a touch overweight and showing off (throwing in a 7 miler over hills when not ready - and knew wasn't ready). At least Arsenal are winning (soccer).

Might ice before going to bed. Ice, now there's a thought. Ice cream. Hmmmmm. Ben & Jerry's  Caramel Chew Chew. See y'all laters.

RHR 47

I'd like to thank ya'll (thanks allie for showing me how to spell 'ya'll' correctly) for your concerns about my hamstring. Haven't run in a few days. It's a grade 1 strain to the origin of the biceps femoris tendon. Short head or long head? ya'll (I'm a fan of ya'll) cry.

Treatment and rehab is simple, but the cause is more problematic. Will have to run some tests on my worm-baited body.

Aleph asked where I learned Positional Release (PR). So, for aleph, here goes. Many moons ago I trained as a physical therapist and actually wrote a book called, 'Complete Sports Massage Therapist' (ISBN-10: 0750654783) - check it out, the blurbs's at 'the vanguard of [blurbing] excellence'. Your old da was quite famous in his day (if I say so myself and I do) until I gave it all up for a quieter life away from the razzle-dazzle and rigmarole and pizzazz of the paparazzi, snapping me in my pyjamas leaving hotels with A class female celebrities. Wink wink. Truth is, I was a mediocre therapist - a dilettante; a quack.

Hope to get out for a jog/test on Sunday. Ya'll just have to sit tight and wait and see what happens to poor old little me. Penelope Pit-Stop?