Hello old friend...

Long time no blog post... Well lots has happened since the last time I posted - I have moved house (technically twice), changed jobs (and am about to do it again), and am about to have a 30th birthday. Yeah, I know - old timer. Actually I am looking forward to the 30's. I think that it will be an exciting time for me and those around me. Candice got me a fantastic gift (although I am not allowed to have it yet).

In other news, the running has fallen off the map. I am gutted that I have not been keeping up with it, but I am determined to do something about that. Starting today, I COMMIT to getting out of the house in the afternoon, and at least making it around the block (even if it is just in the complex!!!!). I NEED to get back into shape. Maybe I need some more motivation - I am going to say here that I will be competing in the Two Oceans Half next year. I have done it before, but this time I want to break the 2 hour mark. There - motivation enough...

Another thing that I have recently discovered is Instapaper (http://www.instapaper.com/). This is an awesome service that lets you save websites for reading later, and if you have the iPad/iPhone app, it will cache them when a connection is available, and let you read them in offline mode later.

That is all...

iPadding...

Well things are not going so well with the running thing... Since the last post I have not been out at all - Candice has been traveling all over the country and I have not felt the inclination to get off my fat lazy ass. Also I have had a new gadget to play with...

As you might have guessed I got myself an iPad - Candice really wanted one, so I headed out on the morning they became available, and got two. I have been playing with it ever since. Even though the second generation is due any day soon, I believe that the first gen device is still great. It does everything advertised (and I am sure that moving forward there will be software updates that make things work even better).

So the plan from here on out (in terms of the running), is to get back on the roads, and get some milage behind me.

So to tell the truth...

So a week and a day or so on, and I have not really been keeping up with the resolution. Candice and I have been out on a total of 3 "runs". I use the inverted commas because we have yet to break into a jog, let alone a run. But we are progressing: a rapid 10:59 min/km last time out, and a total of 7.51 km covered.

The first stat we are aiming to get down to around 6:30 min/km and want to do this over a 5km course (currently we are a smidgen under 4km - and yes, that means that one of our "runs" takes almost three quarters of an hour). We are also looking to cover at least 20km per week - so lots of work to be done on both fronts.

As mentioned in my last post I am using the Nike+ GPS app on my iPhone to track out progress (and hence the stats). This little app is a gem - you can check your exact route, pace at various points along your route and you even get encouragement while you are training. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to track their training, and especially for beginners as it is a great way to track stats that should help keep you motivated.

That is all...

Project 2011

Ok, so like many other people out there, the New Year brings with it a time to make resolutions. Everyone does it, and I (like you all) make resolutions. The tricky part is sticking to them. How many times have you (or someone you know) said something like: "This year I am going to lose weight..." or "This year I will get fit and complete my first half marathon..."? Sound familiar?

Well this year I am going to follow though. My girlfriend has decided that it is time to get into the fitness "thing" and we have targeted running a half marathon. I have already run a couple of half-marathons (none of them I prepared for - leading to soreness and general unhappiness for the 2 or 3 days after the event), but this year we are going to stick to a program, and I *will* break 2 hours in a half marathon.

Our first target was the Two Oceans half, but that is a little too soon and we already have plans for Easter weekend, so we will target something later in the year - if anyone out there reads this and has a suggestion for an easy half somewhere in South Africa, please leave a comment.

In the meantime, we will be sticking to a program where we run for a specified time (rather that a set distance). I think that this will be easier to manage, as there will be no guess work as to what distances we have covered (although I plan on using the Nike+ GPS App on my iPhone to track our progress). Maybe in time we will move over to distances, but for now - time is our friend.

First run is this afternoon (Monday Jan 3 2011), so I will be keeping a log of our progress here.

Later