Nevertheless, it is great to have some time off with family here. More on reflections on the year later today or tomorrow.

The agent told me about the offer. It wasn’t what we wanted but it was close to good enough. With the current economic climate, potential public sector job losses in Wellington, and us down to one income on a 1-year contract, I was keen to reduce our exposure to risk and to downsize to something more sustainable. Don’t get me wrong the Northland house is a good house – 3 bedroom early 1900s villa, re-piled, insulation, DVS and central heating. It would just cost too much for us in terms of a mortgage, and wouldn’t give us any wiggle room if our costs started rising, as the mortgage costs alone would take up over 50% of our income, excluding rates, bills etc.

By 5pm, after some calls between Kate and I – she was in Waikanae Beach taking Liv to her first Creche visit there, and I was in Wellington – the house was sold. It turns out the sister of the person who we bought it from 2 years ago was the new buyer. I thought I recognised the name, so I asked the agent to check.

In the meantime, I had seen a smaller house that I liked and thought would suit our circumstances well. It would also enable me to walk to work and to rule out my currently very long commute. The problem was that I was leaving to work in Christchurch that night. So, Kate and I talked on the phone again, and she managed to squeeze in a look at the property during her trip to Wellington the following day. I had seen a fair few properties over the past month but had only asked Kate to view 3 that I thought worth making our short shortlist (we ended up putting in offers on two of them).

Kate liked it, so when I returned to Wellington from Christchurch on Friday, e started the process of making an offer for the new house. Long story short, we got news that we were successful – after some negotiating – at 7pm on Friday.

A very surreal, quite stressful three days. But the relief we felt anat having sold our place outweighs the joy of finding anew place, for now. The tenants at the Northland place were being slightly awkward about letting people through to view the house. I understand that they were planning to put in a low offer too. Interesting way to make friends and influence people. The house will be sold on 15 February, the day after their lease expires. And, if all goes well with builder reports etc, we take possession of the new place on 29 February.

What a weight off. I think I will now float through Xmas.

I’ve not been to the gym anywhere near as much as I would like, have barely been running – which I have really, really missed – and have had one completely rained off game of cricket.

On Saturday night, I watched a documentary on the Foo Fighters, and I was positively mesmerized. I loved it. It reminded me of times gone by, hanging out with friends in Cardiff. I remember the day Nevermind by Nirvana came out. It was the one and only time I not only had a reservation at the local record store for it, but I queued up to get it too. I was that excited by it. I had seen Kurt Cobain give a mind-blowing performance on The Word, after I came home from the pub on a Friday night. I didn’t realize it, but I had stopped talking to someone mid-word as soon as the guitar riff broke into the drum pattern hammered out by Dave Grohl. The riff itself was enough the get my attention. The drum pattern seized me by the balls and gave them a good squeeze. I DJ’d it out in a club that night. Similar reactions from the crowd. History changed. I went to ScoochPooch records in Seattle. Bought some more stuff. Loved it. DJ’d for 6 years, hung out with punks, completely widened my perspective.

I miss music. I miss what it brought out in me, what it connected me to, and continued to do in my early NZ years.

I love my work, and it does engage a creative side in me when I am looking at data and trying to think how to express it so that others will get it. It engages a creative side of me when I work clinically and respond dynamically to help people find solutions to their dilemmas, or at least to accept the feelings the dilemmas provoke, and to move on. But I haven’t worked clinically for a wee while. Conversations in China have inspired me to start again, even if in limited ways, once our living circumstances are sorted out.

Creative outlet. I crave it, as if I have only just become aware of my own need again. My rational self dominates at the moment. Except when I play with Liv. Then, I have permission to be stupid, to experiment with faces, to hold her upside down, to spin myself around. To see the world through her eyes.

I was kindly invited to sit in on parts of a workshop on resilience today. Some of the conversations on flow, engagement and coherence made me thing. I feel flow, I am engaged. But the field is narrow. I am wider than that. Work is good. Being a grown-up is good, but I want to play some more. And that is better than ok.

I was honoured with time to present some of the preparatory psychosocial work I did in New Zealand, as well as Chairing the final session on the last day where the Chinese participants presented. This last session was a particular highIight for me. There is some really interesting and excellent work going on in China, and it was a real privilege to hear about it. I hope that as well as the obvious political drivers that emerged during the meeting, something comes from the symposium in terms of perhaps a special issue in a journal, or an edited collection of papers.

That the Chinese Goverment has decided to get involved in the disaster area, in terms of policy, research and practice is interesting. It is a relatively non-political issue in the region that the Chinese can bring great resources to bear upon the numerous disasters that occur. Diplomatically speaking, I think that this is an extension of the soft power that China is seeking to project, which conveniently takes space from other conversations that could be going on, eg issues in the South China Sea. Nevertheless, some interesting, thoughtful, sensitive and effective work is happening in China, for example in Chengdu and Yushu. I’m glad to have been able to take part in the symposium, and make new contacts there and across the region.

If anything, I would like to have seen more discussion time and chances to interact in a less didactic way with our Chinese hosts. For complex, mainly political reasons as I understand them, the presentations were quite formal and designed to fit a particular purpose. There weren’t enough for Chinese public health leads from the provinces to get simultaneous translation of the English presentations, and I know that I probably spoke too fast for those who were not quite proficient in English. I’d forgotten how tiring it can be to hear two languages all day long. Even if you are not required to understand it, because an English translation is to follow, seletively standing and then non-attending takes work, and after a few hours, can get quite exhausting. Still, a commendable achievement and a platform for current sharing. I hope it fulfils it’s potential and I will work to see that it does.

Even though Gold members of all Star Alliance member airlines are supposed to get uniform benefits, the individual airlines tend to throw a few extra benefits in for their own ilk. So, bmi have a great spending programme for all those miles I have accrued and it is relatively easy to qualify as a Gold tier member: you don’t have to fly as many miles as other airlines. Air New Zealand have a great programme but it is harder to qualify, and I would have to start from scratch.

The flight service managers suggested I give Air New Zealand a call and supply them with proof of my status and they might, just might, match my status for me so I can start to accrue points with them. It makes sense for Air New Zealand too, because they would rather see me as a loyal customer, locked into their programme and choosing to fly with them rather than their competitors. To my pleasant surprise, Air New Zealand got back in touch with me in 4 days and gave me an immediate tier match. Now the great thing is that Gold status in the Airpoints programme means two single class upgrades. Hence me in premium economy. Well, it was a busy plane, and I am traveling long haul on my own. Who knows when I will get the opportunity to use this?

I’m not exactly overwhelmed. The food has been ok so far, but I am in the middle seat in a row of three, with silent blokes on either side of me. We are elbow jockeying every now and again. The service has been warm and friendly though, and the usual high standard. Packed plane throughout though on a Saturday night, so I’m glad I used the upgrade. Not sure if I will on the way back though, as it is a midweek flight and the loads in economy may be lighter.

What was abundantly clear though was the massive haemorrhage that the Labour vote had suffered, losing numbers to both the Greens and NZ First. It really wasn’t pretty. And with David Cunliffe in a close race for his electorate seat with Tim Groser and Andrew Little getting spanked in New Plymouth, it isn’t all that clear what will happen in the wash-up when Goff inevitably goes. Personally, I’d give a serious look to Grant Robertson, but he doesn’t have a whole heap of front bench experience. To my mind, the Labour front bench looks dangerously thin right now. Maybe they could persuade Simon Power to change codes and come back in 3 years.

What will be strange and frustrating will be arriving in China this a few hours, where ubiquitous Internet is a dream, and news about New Zealand is as rare as an Ai WeiWei fan in the Chinese Communist Party. I hope to get some news when I get to the hotel and check into my room. But, knowing China, that might not be until the afternoon after the election, NZ time.

UPDATE: Found out what happened. Wondered why I bothered…

I wonder what that would mean for clinical practice? I know that he partner of one of the staff at the NZ embassy in Beijing is a clinical psychologist who practices in China. Next time I am there – at the end of this month – it would be interesting to have a conversation with him about it.

I got to my seat today, and I found a set of noise reducing headphones waiting for me. Although I have my own, it is a nice touch for a Star Alliance Gold passenger. The flight service coordinator came to say hi and that they recognised me from a previous international flight. Not for the the first time, they suggested I may want to consider transferring from bmi to the Air New Zealand frequent flyer scheme, and they may try to investigate crediting my status so I don’t lose any of the frequent flyer benefits that I have already accrued through bmi. I’d certainly consider it, given the amount of flying I might be doing in my new job. Actually, though Air NZ Gold Elite passengers get pretty nice perks about their regular Gold level of status, I don’t think I’ll be flying quite that much. I’ll leave that to my Director.

I have met some very friendly Chinese people during my stay here, for example, strangers helping me with change for the subway ticket machine, even though I speak no Mandarin, and they no English, and also non-Chinese who have gone out of their way to help me out. Yet somehow, I was left with the distinct impression that I am a commodity – a westerner with money that should be spent. Of course, this is to be expected in markets etc, but I was surprised at how many times I got propositioned for sex – also a commodity for some – during this week long stay. On the street, on the subway, and even a call direct to my hotel room at 0030. I shudder to think how that happened – how they got my number, or randomly phoning hotel room – who knows?

Anyway – leaving for home soon – back later this month for what promises to be a very interesting meeting.

The guys at the shop tricked it out and changed the front tyre too. It was fun chatting to them through Google Translate on the net while we got everything serviced and sorted. I think I was there for a good two hours. I got a bag for the bike, pump, front light, lock and bottle cage thrown into the deal for 1500 yuan – which I think was pretty reasonable. I think it is a Dahon Vitesse D7. The gearing is sweet – granny-ish enough to get me up the hills I’ll need to negotiate in Wellington, and big enough to go at a reasonable lick on the flat. It sure was fun riding it back to the hotel through the Beijing traffic Feels much nippier and more responsive that my steely Brompton back in London, and a fun acceleration too. Felt much quicker and more stable too – must be the 20″ wheels.

I had a letter published in the NZ Journal of Medicine today on the Rena incident. I’ll post that and about the conference another time.

There’s a turn up. And a tip.

I am not running out there until it has rained good and heavy. Don’t want to breathe that stuff in too deeply at all.

I am flying in economy, but have a row of three to myself on a 13 hour night flight. I am watching a couple of movies to pass the time on the better than average movie on demand entertainment system. The flight service coordinator has come to say hi and given me some noise reducing headphones and acknowledged my Star Gold status – something I haven’t experienced with Air New Zealand too much of late, so that was a nice surprise. Mind you, when the staff on Air New Zealand go out of their way for you, they really go out of their way. One most excellent member of staff – Debby Lemon – has made my life far more pleasant on two occasions: once when I was pretty sick just before getting on a LA – Auckland, and another time by messaging staff before the flights that Kate, Liv and I took from London to Wellington.

So, three hours into the flight, and so far so good, with passable salmon for dinner too. Another movie and some reading of the Beijing Lonely Planet on my iPad awaits.

7 hours later: Got some good shut eye, but not before a good chat with Lisa, the Flight Service Coordinator for NZ287. Lovely woman, and a thorough credit to Air New Zealand having been with the organisation for 28 years, working in pretty much all areas of the business.

After sleeping for about 36 hours apart from short breaks to eat and play, Liv was something like her usual self, but it took a good 2-3 weeks for her eating to settle down. Her sleeping through the night still isn’t great though her daytime napping is more regular again. We are still struggling with a 1-2pm wake up, and I am having to go to another room at that point, as I have to work now and coy mute too, so it is important that I am pretty sharp. Starting a new job is always quite testing, and I need to stay on my toes.

We are staying out at Waikanae Beach at Kate’s family bach (read holiday home), which is a good hour’s drive from Wellington where I work, and that is after the peak time traffic has died down. I also try to do a bus-train-bust public transport commute, but it takes a good while longer. In fact, it has taken about 2.5 hours on some evenings, which isn’t what I want at all.

I’ll talk about my job another time, but it is busy, busy, busy. I was presenting at a conference in Brisbane some 72 hours after arriving back in New Zealand, and I am off to Beijing for a week tomorrow. There is a high likelihood that I will be back in Beijing back at the end of November too. After that, things should calm down a little but there is always travel in this job, especially to Christchurch. I have been there Once so far since I have got back. Again, this deserves it’s own post.

So, we are back. We will apply for Liv’s New Zealand citizenship when I am not traveling in December. Kate is glad to be back. We have a car. I am enjoying my new job, although it is rather precarious in terms of contract length at the moment : something to work on. But all in all, all is well..

1. I don’t feel too comfortable posting about political stuff so much now that I am a full-time civil servant. I know I am allowed to have a political life outside of work, so long as it doesn’t affect my work – the UK civil service is politically neutral but I suspect it is conservative with a small c in that like all great institutions it is resistant to change. Still have to figure out how to do this – lots to post about the Coalition and the upcoming elections on May 5th.
2. I post most of my running stuff on Garmin and Dailymile.com, which also serves as my running log. You can see those log entries on the right hand column of my blog page.
3. My use of twitter and facebook. I don’t have facebook integrated into this blog, but I might see if there is a way of harvesting my status updates to here. You can see my twitter tweets and retweets on the left hand column of this blog front page. I also have an audioboo account but haven’t quite got into that yet.
4. I am not traveling as much. Partly due to the type of work I am doing at the moment, but much more likely to the fact that we have a small baby, and this restricts things somewhat.

The way to fix this is to try to integrate my blog so I don’t end up double-posting. Still trying to figure this out. If anyone has any ideas, drop me a line. I’d hate to just let this blog fester as it is danger of doing.

This gives guidance and advice on how to understand some of the reactions you may be experiencing and how to help and protect yourself and others.

One challenge, of many, that I am trying to balance along with my other responsibilities at home and work is training for my first ultra-marathon on Feb 20 – the London Ultra. I’ve been successful at getting my weekly long runs up to 25km again and ran back-to-back half marathons earlier this week, but I am missing a good 20 miler. I’m trying to get that in the bag this weekend. After that, there’s not much more I can do in the way of preparations.

At work, I have left Private Office but have moved straight into another challenging post as Chief Editor of the new UK Pandemic Strategy, which has a very tight deadline attached to it. And writing a strategy document with a high level of technical content that needs cross-government clearance and across all 4 nations of the UK is the definition of herding cats.

Finally, I am off to NZ for a week T the beginning of March for some work there related to my role in Emergency Management and also as a researcher. Am looking forward to that but will also be thinking of Liv and Kate all the time.

So, I am going to enjoy the last day of my paternity leave. Men only get two weeks leave on the birth of a child in England. Seems positively ancient in terms of current thinking on equalities to my mind, but there we are.

The temperature got up to a whole 8c today, so we took a drive up to Richmond Park and took a little potter up there to get Kate a bit of fresh air and a stride around now it isn’t so icy. Parking was a nightmare back in Richmond town centre though, so we adjourned to Greedies in Isleworth for a late brunch. And we still wait…

I also had USB hard drive #2 fail tonight, which means I need to get another in the sales. I need 3 copies of my data I think, which is industry standard back up. This stuff is just too meaningful to lose.

Thanks Santa – Happy Xmas all, whatever you’re doing today.

Weight: 81kg v 76.8kg

Height: 183cm v 183cm

Systolic bp: 122 v 125

Diastolic bp: 74 v 73

Heart rate: 63 v 60

Body mass index (BMI): 24 v 22.3

Body fat percentage: 23 v 19

Some exciting news in that the company Skins have approached me to test some of their recovery tights. I’ve recently started using (after buying myself) their sports long tights and short sleeve sports top as I’d read that their products seemed to support joints and muscles to reduce risk of injury and also reduce delayed onset muscles soreness, or DOMS. I’ve worn these tights for three of these half-marathon runs and they do seem to reduce joint soreness, and definitely have curtailed DOMS  significantly, if not completely. I’m looking forward to receiving the recovery tights and trying them out during my training for London. I’ll post how I get on.

Tomorrow morning, I will start in the pandemic team in the Department of Health to assist in the writing of a new Pandemic Strategy in response to the review of the Swine Flu H1N1 pandemic, writing by Dame Dierdre Hine in July 2010. I expect that we’re going to be on a pretty tight deadline, but it won’t be as busy as Private Office. I don’t think I’ll ever have a job again as busy, or as fascinating and wide-ranging as Private Office. Less busy is good – I have another adventure awaiting me, just around the corner.

For now, thanks for the memories.

So, London Marathon on April 17 2011, here I come. Of course, we’ll have a 4-month old in the house by then, so will just have to see how the training goes. But I’m pleased anyway. It may be the only chance I’ll ever have to run it if we move back to NZ next year.

This was it. My target event for the last 6 months. I trained hard, tapered well – didn’t overtrain when I had a cold 3 weeks out. I had Vo2max assessments to design my training regime and measure my progression precisely. I got to Berlin in one piece, with my running kit packed in my hand luggage, just in case they lost my luggage. I had slept well, ate well. Just one thing remained – the course itself. Or so I thought.

What I hadn’t factored in was, well, two things I hadn’t factored in, actually. The sheer number of people. And the weather.

As I lined up on a very wet and pretty cold Sunday morning in Berlin, I idly contemplated that I hadn’t really run for more than 2 hours in rain. I stood out in the rain, getting wet and cold for a full 40 minutes before the elite runners started at 9.03am. By the time the starting wave got to me and carried me to the start line, it was a good 15 minutes later, meaning I had almost an hour standing in the rain. Not only was I quite cold, but I was probably a good 1-2kg heavier with all the water my leggings, jacket and running shoes had absorbed.

But I was off. And I felt calm. I didn’t feel nervous, I just knew I would get under 4 hours. I wasn’t sure if I would beat 3h50mins, because it was rapidly dawning on me that weaving in and out of this number of people, who were all also trying to avoid massive puddles of standing water, and trying to keep their footing in slippery conditions was going to be quite a task. The Berlin organisers later reported that these were the worst conditions that the marathon had been run in for 20 years. Such is life – so, I ran the race I was given to run.

And I enjoyed it. Bizarrely enough, I liked running it. I hit half-way in 1hr57m, and I knew I’d be able to get perhaps a little quicker, but not much – not with the people and the rain. But that was fine. I felt strong – my feeding plan was going well, my heart rate in in the mid-140s and not rising, and I was taking plenty of water on board without needing to pee. Things were going well.

I hit 30km and felt good, and took my final cereal bar – the same brand I had been training with. All was good. But at 32km, my legs started feeling heavier. Not, Oh My God, I Need To Stop NOW heavy, but noticeably heavier. I managed to keep my speed up, but it felt noticeably more difficult. It was also at this point I started to see more people walking. Some people had stopped. I saw one guy even stop, look around and just melt into the crowd. I think he’d had enough. It was a grueling run, really. Anybody who finished did well in my book – it was a hard grind out there in the rain.

But before I knew it, I hit Potsdamer Platz, and I knew there was only 4-5km to go, and I started to feel like I could step it up again. And the last strait, coming up to Brandenburg Gate, was magical – even with the rain. The crowd cheering gave me so much energy, that I managed a pretty good sprint finish, even feeling like I had a bit in the tank when I got across the finish line.

It took a while to get out of the finish chute, pick up my medal, get a bit more electrolyte drink in me and a plastic wrap to stop getting cold. I had a quick leg massge, got my kit off, dry clothes on and went to meet Kate. She had been waiting for me to see me at the Brandenburg gate, but was just overwhelmed by the sheer number of spectators and runners and missed me – not at all surprising. The first she knew that I was OK and finished was the automated SMS service that I had set up to deliver my finish time to her cellphone.

Here’s my split times:

5k 28:11 28.11
10k 56:47 28.36
15k 1:24:09 27.22
20k 1:51:48 27.39
25k 2:19:13 27.25
30k 2:47:24 28.11
35k 3:14:10 26.46
40k 3:41:43 27.33
42.2k 3:52:57 11.34

3 hours 52 minutes 57 seconds. I stopped my Garmin at 3 hours and 53 minutes. But that was after I had gone passed the line and stopped. Those three seconds are important to me. I worked damn hard for them.

3:52:57.

Android 2.2 should be available to HTC users via an over the air update over the week. As well as ability to install apps to the SD card and 720 video recording I’m looking forward to seeing what other features may be revealed.

I considered getting a 12-month contract iPhone4 from Tesco. Hell, I was even on the waiting list.  But the fiasco with Apple and the antennagate issue and the long-lead in times for production after the massive launch put me off.

I decided to look elsewhere.

I decided to go Android.

After a little research, I bought someone’s unwanted upgrade HTC Desire on eBay for £280. A bargain, give these are retailing for £380-£400. It was meant to be Orange branded and locked to that network, but it turns out that it was unbranded and unlocked – which saved me no end of hassle and about£20-£30.

I had a bit of a wrestle getting to grips with some of the crashes that a relatively young OS like Android can throw at you – which was frustrating, but that seems to have sorted itself out now. It isn’t as slick as the iOS, but Android is growing on me rapidly. And the HTC Desire is a nice bit of kit a better phone than the iPhone, but more like a mini-computer than a device specifically built to enable you to consume media like the iPhone.  I have no idea how it compares to an iPhone4 but it is lightning quick compared to my iPhone 3G.

As I have hinted, the HTC Desire isn’t anywhere near as slick a product in terms of its integration with iTunes, and the videoplayer is nowhere near as integrated. But, I have found a player that will play some DivX and .avi files, which is a bonus in being able to get under the hood a little more than an iPhone.

So far, I’m pleased with my decision to divorce. Let’s see how long the new relationship lasts.  And please, let me reassure you: I am just talking about the phone here.

I have bought a flat in London, bought a house in Wellington. Kate and I have got engaged and married, and we have a baby on the way. Kate has managed to find a locum job that has kept her going until she handed her notice in today – no mean feat in today’s employment environment – and I have worked three roles as a UK civil servant; swine flu vaccine policy coordinator, general health policy manager, and now as a private secretary for the Minister of State for Health.

By anyone’s reckoning, that is quite a lot to happen in just one year. I wish I’d seen my friends a little more – both here and in NZ – and worked a little less. But economic times being what they are, and family responsibilities creeping upon us means that we have to hunker down for now. Who knows what next year will bring, but I hope to be back in NZ before too long. Or at least, away from London. The commuting lifestyle is just unsustainable and we aren’t the sorts of people who can afford to live a Central London life.

But still, we are happy in our little flat and our routing little lives for now. Until the baby appears at the end of December. Then I suspect that nothing will feel routine ever again.

via idesignedthefjords.tumblr.com

And how did this young chap not get sent off?

Posted via email from Sarb’s sandpit

The big news is that the certificate of approval finally came through for Kate and I and we were married on July 2 in a quiet ceremony in Richmond. We have just come back from a lovely relaxing weekend in the New Forest, which together with Oxfordshire, is becoming our go-to-place for a quiet weekend away from London. I expect we’ll be trying to get a few more of those is.

The even bigger news is that Kate and I are to be parents. Kate is 15 weeks pregnant now and the baby is due just after Xmas. We, and our respective families, are very excited – and also trying to pack in as much as possible before the baby arrives. We’ll be off to NZ in August for small wedding celebration over there and to do something over here too I expect sometime later in the year before the baby arrives.

Life is busy right now – and about to get even more so. Being a Private Secretary is interesting, but I’ll have to give careful thought as to how sustainable possible late nights in Parliament will be with trying to be a good dad to an infant.

I’ll post pics and a report later on.

Tonight is our last night in Cape Cod before we spend a day and night in Boston. Our motel here was a sweet deal. We got let downcby original booking – noone was there to meet us when we arrived. We tried a few places before a pla e with indoor swimming pool and jacuzzi. They asked me for my email address when we registered. I cheekily asked what I would receive for that information and was stunned when he said that there was an email list offer that expired that night for a 3rd night’s stay for 1c. So, we got a good show-up rack room rate made even better – effectively 3 nights for the price of 2.

I’m damn glad I asked.

Posted via web from Sarb’s sandpit

I shall see what the next few months bring from a ringside seat. It should prove very interesting. In the meantime though, our holiday continues.

I got a message late last night that this work is going to be funded. Brilliant news. Especially as it also means that I will be on the HRC panel to assist with assessing future proposals. I’m proud to be working with such a great team. However, with changes that might be happening with my role at the Department of Health in the UK and my running commitments, and other personal arrangements (such as getting married with celebrations in both the UK and NZ), I think I am going to have to evolve rapidly: homo constantlyawakius

All is happening back there. I hope to FINALLY complete the purchase of a flat in Isleworth in mid-April. It has been a really long-time coming, with Kate and I living with others (which is very kind of my friend Rob and my folks) since July 2009. That’s a long time and we can’t wait to get our own space again.

There is also the very real possibility that I may be changing roles again at the Department of Health when I get back to London after this holiday. Circumstances are a little unusual so I can’t say too much right now, but will post when all is finally confirmed.

As if 1400 of the country’s finest cross-country runners wasn’t intimidating enough, I also had the course to contend with. I was wearing very inappropriate trail shoes with minimal grip when I should have been wearing lighter 15mm spiked shoes like everyone else. So not only was I relatively inexperienced having only run trail races, I also had bad equipment to deal with the monstrous cloying mud, downhills and cambers we had to deal with in two laps of the course. Not that I am blaming my tools – I really was out of my league. Even if I had better shoes, I’d still have only finished in the last quartile of this tough 12km race rather than the last 100. Others were kind and said that usually this race would be run over 8km, but I really did struggle. The most disappointing thing was that I finished with gas in the tank enough to run over to the rest of the team and felt like running some more. I was very under prepared and that cost me. Anyway, all good experience for this relative novice runner.

The second race in the series happened today, and went much better. This was a 10km run in Regent’s Park, London at 9am run by the Friends of MSF, and is the event that inspired to embark on this path in the first place. Today was a good day – I was well-rested,  well-fed and up for the challenge. I ended up running a great time for me in my first 10km tarmac race. I’ve run a few trail 10k races now, but only 5k races on tarmac / road. I ran today’s 10km in 45 minutes and 44 seconds – which is a pace of just over 7 minutes per mile. I’ve never sustained that pace over this distance before – not even in training runs, so I was very pleased with my result.

When I got home, there was even better geek fun to be had. I worked out my age-graded time. This involves taking my advancing years and into account and it compares my time with the standards that others at my time of life would run this distance after performing some kind of statistical corrections. When I first started running, my times put me at around the 48-50th percentile of equivalent aged male runners. Today’s race put me over the 60th percentile for the first time – 61st percentile means that I am now classed as a ‘locally competitive runner’ (70th percentile = regionally competitive, 80th percentile = national calls, 90th percentile = international class).

As well as being personally fulfilling through all the training and racing I’m doing, I’m of course looking to raise funds for MSF. Today, the racers and their supporters / sponsors raised over £20,000 for MSF – which is fantastic.

A big thank you to all of you that have sponsored me so far in my series of races. For those of you that have meant to sponsor me but haven’t got round to it yet, can I encourage you to follow the link and make a donation as soon as you can? Every bit helps, no matter how small – and encourages me a lot when I’m running for a good 100 minutes at a time covering 20km+ on cold London nights and mornings at the moment.

Here’s the link again: www.justgiving.com/sarbjohal

Please feel free to pass the link on to others or ask me questions if you feel like it. My workplace – the Department of Health – are publishing a ‘health & well-being’ feature on my in their staff publication next month, so hopefully that will bring a few more donations in too. If you know anyone who can help with publicity, or have any ideas, I’d love to hear them.

As a final sign-off, I’m now running half-marathon distance in my training runs in about 1 hour 50-55 minutes, and I’ve also added a new race to my schedule – the Oxon 40/20 (I’m doing the 20 mile version). I’m planning on running it in 5 mile chunks and treating it as a training run – it’s a bit of an orienteering mission, so I’ll take food etc. If you fancy joining me, give me a shout.

Will leave it there for now. Be great to hear from you and see your encouraging words on my Facebook and group wall and the donation site.