Notes

I did the Birmingham International Marathon and would really appreciate any donations for the Brum Childrens Hospital – https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/bad-man-ting

Today’s run left me feeling a lot more confident for the upcoming marathon than the previous Sunday’s. Last Sunday I attempted this route but ran on an empty stomach which, amongst other factors, caused me to stop at the 8.3 mile mark.

This time I made sure I had a good meal one hour before running as well as being hydrated. Also I took one of my new energy gels with me to have one hour into the race. I think it worked. I mean, I didn’t feel a boost of energy or anything like that, but I did stay at the same level of tiredness throughout the run.

Finishing this run left me feeling a lot more confident, but I still have no illusions about the marathon itself – it’s gonna be a killer. If I had kept to my original training regime I should be running a 22 mile distance today. I ran half that.

You can see my run results here if you want. I think next weekend I may go for a 15 mile distance but I think that’ll be the furthest I do before the actual day, for fear of injuring myself.

After last Sunday’s run that kept me feeling ill for the rest of the day, I began to doubt my chances of completing the marathon. However, although I am still in no way fully confident in my abilities, I have had a slight confidence boost with my latest run tonight.

Distance: 6.7 miles

Time: 1 hour 4 minutes.

I kept my pace, starting slower and maintaining that speed as best I could, as opposed to my starting quicker before. What resulted was a consistent-feeling run throughout; I didn’t really hit any “wall” as I made sure I just took it easy.

For my dinner earlier on I had a chicken curry with rice, then and hour before the run I ate a banana for the extra slow-release energy.

I will try and get another run in, albeit shorter, this week before Sunday. Then on Sunday I’m going to try and accomplish a 10 mile run, with the aid of one of my new energy gels I bought today.

I was talking with a new person at work today and he mentioned how he had completed a marathon in about 3 hours and 45 minutes (I forget the precise time). I seriously need to up my game.

Check out my run on Strava here.

More running tonight down the same canal route as Tuesday. I think I’m getting back into the swing of training again. Just need to start making a habit of getting back down the gym three evenings a week.

Been looking at productivity tools today too. I think i need to start organising my life in a structured way to actually get the things i want to get done, done.

Got to see the second episode of the new Prison Break series too. Some classic Scofield moments in there – it’s good to be back on the break train.

After my initial moan about being confronted with Elasticsearch yesterday, today i have actually been looking into it – learning it in order to get the job I’ve been tasked with finished.

I don’t know why, but i tend to get that gut reaction most times i am confronted by something foreign to me. I think it may stem from a frustration of not knowing something and then, within a work context, worrying about how long it’s going to take me.

No running tonight, which I’m thankful for. My thighs are aching slightly from yesterday’s 2.5 kilometre jog. Yes, I’m that unfit. It’s hard to think that I’m actually going to be doing a full Marathon in October – or at least attempting it.

At the time of writing this, I’ve just seen a guy wearing a gym training hoody that reads “Train Hard, Fight Easy”. I’m not sure it’s wise walking around Birmingham with that printed on your top. You’re just asking for trouble from those looking for a fight, surely?

One of the annoying things about web development, is having to learn completely new paradigms every now and again. I’m all for improving my skills and being more efficient in my work, but when i have to halt to have to learn a whole new separate thing, it grinds my gears a bit.

The idea I’m talking about today is something called Elasticsearch. Yet another data access methodology and one that I’ve never had to mess with before. Don’t get me wrong I’m not hating on the technology, I would simply rather not have to learn this whole new way of searching data.

I’m easily confused.

On a more positive note i have started taking steps towards actually building my first online product / service which i think could be very handy for a lot, if not all, bloggers. It’s something I built for myself and thought about how others could benefit from it too.

Stay tuned for more info as it develops.

Tonight I’ve been enrolled into a run up the canal by my lady. Although i felt a sudden drive for it this morning, that has since passed after my tiring over one of the most boring tutorial videos I’ve ever watched – about the aforementioned Elasticsearch. I’m sure she won’t let me shirk my running responsibilities and I’ll be jogging round the block in no time.

Finished the #GreatBirminghamRun half marathon in 2 hours 19mins. 2 minutes slower than last year. That’s gramps for ya.

On the 16th October this year I will be taking part in my second half-marathon. This will be the same route in Birmingham, UK.

The last time I did it, which was last year, I managed to strain my knee whilst training as I tried running too far, too fast, too soon.

This time I am going to be following an 8-week training guide, building myself up slowly and hopefully beating my previous time of 2 hours 16 minutes.

Slept in till 10:40.

In the early afternoon we went for a run around Kingsbury Water Park. A load of the water’s-edge trees have been cut down, not sure why though. When we got there it was nice to see that the car park was pretty empty – no masses of people to avoid when doing our laps.

Later on, after getting caught up with the new X Files series, Lizzie cleaned out and changed Moomin while I washed up and Cooked the tea.

I’m quite impressed with myself in keeping up this 100 days so far.

[](https://davidpeach.me/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Birmingham-Half-marathon-2015-—-2-hours-and-17-minutes-scaled-1.jpg)

Great Birmingham half-marathon completed in 2 hours and 17 minutes.