Day 8 - Monday 9th January 2012

Distance - 7 Miles: Time - 56 Minutes: Conditions - Monday Blurgh; Weekly Total - 7miles

Monday morning is always a bit of a tricky one. Luckily for me I'm 'working from home'. However to a world class procrastinator and someone addicted to dubious websites, this is somewhat dangerous.

Body and legs felt a little stiff after yesterdays 'long one'. 14 miles was the furthest i have run since the Royal Parks Half Marathon in October, but on the whole i felt OK.

Usually in the past, i would have rewarded myself after a long run with an enormous food and sweet binge and 2 days off running/training. The binge would have consisted of pretty much everything humanly bad for you followed by a day of self flagellation and hatred before getting back on board.

Not this time, i ate pretty well, wrote my blog, buggered around and got an early night in (2am) - I'm a night owl see. I love late nights and early mornings, a mix that doesn't really work. A bit like salad and chips really. Again, something to improve on.

Seeing as i felt a little stiff, i decided against an hour of brutal track sprints and went on my usual 7 mile trot at mid morning. Getting going was a little like trying to start an old spitfire. I chugged,coughed and spluttered for the first few minutes trying to get my legs to stop working like stale baguettes. Finally after 10 minutes or so they loosened up and off i trotted. slow steady pace but pleased to be out running again.

Not much to report other than, again, i really enjoyed the run. I can say for the first time, maybe ever that 'I'm really into my running'. Seems strange after 8 years plodding and 7 years of marathons and endurance sports this is the 1st time i seem to have done it with a purpose and a plan. I have found it really makes a difference and gives a little clarity and thus enjoyment to what i am doing. It also helps to be writing about the experience.

Last night i set up my fundraising page. In the past i have done all the events for a charitable cause. some close to my heart, and some less so. This year i received a place for the marathon in the ballot, meaning i did not have to raise for charity if i didn't want too.

I've been aware in the past that if i kept doing the marathon every year, people would get a little ambivalent and jaded by my requests for sponsorship and fundraising. However , when i met Action on Addiction last year and saw all the work they do, i knew that i wanted to try and run for them and not only raise some funds but awareness too.

I shall discuss that more tomorrow, however as i stated my father died of alcoholism 2 years ago. Family members have the disease and i myself have it too. I have seen the destruction and fallout from it at close hand pretty much all my life. It's a silent killer that most people do not understand, see or want to know. But it is the 3rd biggest killer in the world. Action on Addiction is very close to my heart because of this.

However I get jaded by the constant charity requests, How do you choose them? How do you narrow it down without feeling guilty? How many times have i walked past the charity vendors on the street trying to stop you and get you to do a direct debit and been rude or just given them a friendly little shoulder barge.

I suppose you have to go with a personal experience. Either someone in your family has died or been affected by a disease or a condition and therefore it makes sense to give something back to that. It's all part of our human experience, and quite right and proper, Helps us to deal with it all i guess.

So for me, my two things that totally get me, make me cry and affect my heart are Alcoholism, what it does to people and families and Mental Illness. Having experienced psychiatric hospitals and people with mental illnesses, it breaks my heart. That's not to say that other things do not affect me, but those two things get me in the guts and make me feel like I've just watched Billy Elliot for 24 hours.

I have to say is was a bonus when i found out that Kate Middleton picked Action on Addiction as one of her charities to be a Patron. I can only think Pippa read my blog and had a word with her sister and told her to become a Patron so she could get an introduction to me. There is no other reason i can think of.

Oh yes, and did i mention Visions of Grandeur and Massive ego are classic signs of alcoholism? Good job I've got those in check!

Have great week. Up early doors tomorrow to grind out the early morning dark run before work. I am really looking forward to it. (Italics = Irony)

Nicholas Edward Evans