Friday Janurary 23, 2009

THANKYOU, THANKYOU, THANKYOU.

Thank you so, so much ladies and gentleman, your cries of ENCORE! Echoing through the darkened corridors of the theatre of my life, the last morsel of adulation sucked from your being, the final standing ovation, and the final use of gravity as two hands come together and meet as one. Well everyone can now take their seats, replenish their energy sources in preparation for the clap effect to gather momentum.. The wait is now over, the time you have all been longing for is about to commence, MARK'S BLOG IS BACK!

Whoo with such an amazing opening I’ve either committed literary suicide or started a revolution, not sure which one yet.

February is lining up to be an important month for me. Firstly it will be the first Valentine’s Day for my girlfriend and I, we will be spending a wonderful day together, can't wait. Secondly there is the small matter of me making a purchase but not just any old purchase. NEW TRAINERS! yes Michael has informed me that the purchase of some new trainers are of great importance in order to sustain our training schedule. I’ve estimated that I must have completed approx 400 miles with my old trainers. Now that's a lot of hard strenuous work, spilling numerous amounts of blood, sweat and tears along the way.


How do you fancy a ride in my TIME MACHINE, you do? Oh, that's good, well jump right in and let me take you on a journey back to a past time. Here we go.

"BONJOUR, MONSIEURS ET MADAMES, WELCOME TO THE HEAVENLY OASIS BETTER KNOWN AS PARIS". We have arrived in this paradise city for this particular venture, our task includes running up the steps of the Sacre Coeur, running approx 7 miles from here along the Champs De Elysee to the Arc De Triomphe where we will we walk up the 300 odd steps to the observation point at the top. From there you can see the whole of Paris, a breathtaking sight. From that landmark we will make our way to the Divine Eiffel Tower. Members of the public are allowed to walk up its 700 odd steps to the second floor; from there a lift is available to take you to the top where you will be able to see Paris from up high in all its glory.

All the training and everything Michael had taught me and drummed into me (not literally drummed cos that sounds painful doesn't it?) came in fruition on that day. Such a challenging task would take a lot of endurance, technique and stamina. By this time I probably had a little of each.

Paris isn't straight, not many straight lines to follow, instead what you find is a maze of various terrains, smooth, tarred, cobbled, steps, all playing their part in an extremely topsy-turvy world. So many steep hills up and down, up and down, even Mr Topsy-Turvy would find it almost impossible to scale the heights or descend into oblivion. Don't get me wrong I used to love the Mr Men characters, in a way they were my childhood friends. But believe me even such a loveable character as the great Mr Topsy-Turvy would struggle.

The hard concrete steps that lead up to the Sacre Coeur were steep and narrow underfoot, well under my feet anyway. Assisting Michael and I on the day was Mark, it was his job to make a video account of the day, recording all of our triumphs and pitfalls. Mark rode around Paris on one of their bikes for hire. A tricky thing to do, cycling along the cobbled paths and encountering the steep hills that Paris has to offer. Don't forget he also had to put in some recording time too. Yes indeed a tricky, almost hazardous maneuver that only Mark could tackle and succeed. Well I don't know if only Mark could do such a thing, but neither Michael nor I wanted to do it. A good job done anyway, well appreciated.

Standing outside the Sacre Coeur we did make a temporary stop to take in the magnificent view of the city and take a few photographs. After all we were tourists! No time to stop now, we had more running to get under our belt (what does that saying mean? I don't know, answers on a postcard please), we were off again.

It's easy to get lost in Paris, lots of twists and turns all over the place. Michael had satellite watches, maps, anything he could get his hands on to orienteer us there in one piece and we still got a little lost, on the planet called Paris you really are LOST IN SPACE. I found the next 7 miles exciting as it took us through the city centre passing cafes, bistros, French fashion boutiques etc. We passed the famous MOULIN ROUGE nightclub with its renowned pink windmill. Oh my god, it's just hit me, I’m in Paris.

We were gaining speed and gaining on the Champs De Elysee, a scenic tree strewn road that leads towards the city's most famous landmark the Eiffel Tower. However the next landmark we would encounter would be the Arc De Triomphe. A stone arch that has a lot to say for itself on the inside as well as the outside. Michael had planned for us to scale the 300 odd steps inside the walls of the Arc. These I found a little tricky and disorientating due to its winding, narrow, spiral metal staircase enveloped within its shadowy suffocating walls. Being visually impaired, I’ve got to be careful with steps in the general sense. I had to take my time with these particular steps, especially on my descent as every step looked the same and any attempt to rush it or speed ahead would most probably cause me to feel a bit dizzy, maybe slip, maybe fall and definitely face the consequences. Slowly but surely I made it to the bottom unscathed and as far as I know in one piece even though in some way I feel I left a piece of me I Paris. How profound was that hey? I even impressed myself for a bit there.

Photos taken, cheesy grins captured and regretted, staircases being defeated, it was time to gather speed and make haste, we were off again. Not far now, just another mile or so to go, the Eiffel Tower was looming upon us, the centre of the universe (well Paris) was in our sights. Standing underneath the towers base, four enormous sized steel structured legs encasing us miniscule dots with its presence. It was drizzly, windy and cold but in entirely a different way, a chill ran down my spine.

THE THREE AMIGOS joined the queue for the steps. A hell of a walk ahead, with tired legs from running and cycling the three of us embarked on our mission. Taking one step at a time (well what else could we do) we trudged up the tower, sucking up every drop of energy we had left we made it to the first observation point. Had to keep going, few more steps yet, this was hard work but doable at the same time. The final step onto the second observation point was the end of the line for us. We had to the lift from here. The final observation point, the top of the tower, the highest point in Paris, we had made it, we had succeeded with our French adventure, the view from the top of the tower was exhilarating and breathtaking, as I had already used up all of my 9 lives and run out of any surplus energy, this was quite a feat, someone out of breath experiencing something of sheer beauty which is breathtaking.

A 7 odd mile run, over a thousand steps climbed, our Paris adventure was over.

Ok that was Paris, now jump back in my TIME MACHINE, we have to do one more journey, one more trip of a lifetime, as MARTI MCFLY would say "IT'S TIME TO GO BACK TO THE FUTURE"

A Delorean in Hyde Park sounds unusual, not something people would see every day. Ok jump out; help me push it behind those bushes. Right now where we? I know where we are, just lost track of things a little, and took my foot off the gas you could say. Oh yea the blog, better carry on, let's go.

Since Paris, Michael and I have been training extensively. We have made Hyde Park our second home, our base of operations as we have completed more miles here than anywhere else. I know the routes we take pretty well now, I think it helps to pinpoint various parts along the route i.e. certain trees, benches, kiosks, water fountains, you know, park stuff to help plan the mileage e.g. 2 miles by that bench, 6 miles should be roughly where that kiosk is on the second lap.

Michael told me that my Achilles Heel, my nemesis is SPEED! He's right, as always. I'm not finding the distance too difficult at the moment but it's hard to sustain a certain speed rate for a prolonged duration. So to accomplish the training schedule has been modified in order to include work on SPEED. Our mileage has been at around the 10 mile mark even though I’ve been running alone during the week. We have completed numerous laps of the park and have recently begun to introduce SPEED into the equation.

My SPEED trials have been going quite well so far. With Michael's help and support I have worked up to an 8 and a half minute mile. It must be in me to do this; I can't always see it and sometimes beat myself up for feeling like a failure. However, Michael has always been able to see my potential as a runner and luckily for me has the instinctive ability to bring the best out of me.

They say a change of scenery can do you the world of good. They could be right you know (I don't know who THEY are but I’m sure I’ll meet them one day). Taking this into account Michael and I have began to dabble with the canal routes near his home. I believe we both found the experience refreshing and a nice change. The paths along the canal are as you can imagine a little narrow which some would find a little tricky but with care, attention, focus and having your wits about you, the route can be an exhilarating one.

The next few weeks will no doubt get tougher and more impossible but with new trainers on my feet, a hopeful outlook on the adventure ahead and a full embodied commitment to this NEVERENDING STORY, the marathon training and the mileage will soon be a wonderful memory.

TBC

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