Post 4: ‘Come on Dickie, put your back in to it!’ - August 2011

Hi All,

Thanks, as always, for taking the time to visit my blog. If you’re new to it you can find the other entries below where it’ll give you more of a background to what I’m doing and the purpose of this blog.

Well, first confession, August hasn’t exactly been a particularly productive month in terms of training. Katie (my wife) and I went on holiday at the start of the month and although I took my trainers with me to do some running, this was only ever an optimistic gesture at best. I did do a bit of running, in Köln and Füssen, and as I was running around enjoying the views (especially in Füssen, where we started the Romantic Road Cycle Challenge) I thought to myself I am technically an international runner, with an American fitness coach, sponsored by Adidas and currently at my European training camp! However, due to my (still) worrying lack of fitness, that moment didn’t last very long and I was back to usual thoughts of ‘what have I got myself into’ and ‘I can’t do this’. Nice while it lasted though, albeit very briefly.

This time of year is always very poignant and emotional for everyone who was close to Jo. Yesterday (25^th August 2011) was the 3^rd anniversary of her accident and although she is always in our thoughts, especially with the success of The JB Trust, she is even more at this time of year. Personally I like to leave The JB Trust alone for a few days and just think about Jo as my sister and remember the great times we shared. Jo’s nickname for me was ‘Dickie’, an abbreviation of Richard I hated being called. However, it never bothered me when Jo sad it, she was the only person I allowed to call it me. It is things like that I like to remember and not think about how we can continue to develop The JB Trust.

Having said all that, The JB Trust continues to grow. In these past few days we’ve received two corporate donations from Severn Trent Water and WSP. Thanks to my good mates Jason Brewer (Severn Trent) and Jez Clarke (WSP) for nominating us. The thing I like about this is both Jason and Jez nominated The JB Trust. Then the management board, or employees, look at all the charities that have been nominated and decided which they’d like to support. For me this shows that The JB Trust is now recognised as a credible local charity, and not just a memorial fund.

Right from the outset of setting The JB Trust up I always felt it had somehow managed to capture the characteristics Jo was well know for – drive, passion, motivation and a desire to be the best she could possibly be. Jo was such an active person and never stopped for anything, she was always moving on to the next challenge or goal. The JB Trust has been such a wonderful thing to have been able to do in Jo’s memory and we are all incredibly grateful for the continued support and interested that is shown in it.

Anyway, back to the training. I can hear Jo now saying ‘Come on Dickie, put your back in to it!’

Cheers,

Rich

Post 3: Transforming the Fat Kid from Britian - July 2011

Hi,

Welcome to the 3rd installment of my training blog. For the past 3 months I've began the very long process of trying to get fit enough to run the New York Marathon in November 2012. It is all memory of my sister Jo, who was set to run it in 2008 and in aid of The Joanna Brown Trust, the charity I've founded in her memory.

The month has been good. I had an MOT health check at Nuffield Health which was really interesting. Unfortunately it did however confirm in writing what I've been trying to deny and avoid for many years now, that I am very unfit. It does however give you a real insight into your overall fitness / health and give you some goals to work towards.

A friend of mine, Liam Paddock (twitter name: @liampad5), is at Baltimore University on a football (soccer) scholarship. He very kindly put me in contact with his fitness coach called Pete Eibner (twitter name: @petefastforward) who I contacted and said he was more than happy to support my efforts and give me some training advice, or as he put it 'I'm right behind transforming the fat kid from Britian'.

Pete seems to be well known and respected in Baltimore and he is going to mention me on his website. He even said he might be able to get me on the local radio station in Baltimore! As I've always said, there are many reasons why I'm doing this challenge. One of them is to raise the awareness of The Joanna Brown Trust.

I'm off on holiday today (Tues 2nd Aug) for 10 days and am a bit worried that the small amount of progress I've made over the past month or so will all be gone when I return. Therefore, I've decided to take my running trainers with me and try and go some running whilst I'm away. Katie (my wife) and I are going to Germany to visit some of the places I cycled through last year when I did The Romantic Road Cycle Challenge in aid of The Joanna Brown Trust - for more details about that challenge click here -  http://www.youtube.com/user/TheJBTrust#p/u/3/gbmME_S-QWo.

I went on my first road run with my mate Hoops (twitter name: @hoops60230) last week and can safely say I hated every minute of it! However, I am really glad I've got out there and done my first road run as it give you a good idea about what it's like as it is some much different to running on a machine in a gym.

The only other thing to report this month is that about a week ago I got a really bad pain in my right foot. In the past I have suffered from weak arches in my feet so it's been a reminder to me how important it is to wear good, supportive footwear at all times, not just when doing exercise. Hopefully this 10 day holiday has come at the right time and a combination of rest and some light jogging will mean I'm back to full fitness when I get back.

That's all from me this month, until next time....


Rich