Back in Training

I started a blog more than two years ago with the intentions of writing blogs on a frequent occasions.  However the combination of laziness and busy with other things has meant that my blog page to be sparse with posts.  Also the previous entry was almost two years ago and a lot has happened since then, including 3 months in the Yukon, NW Canada and considering a possible future in Australia.  Maybe I will write about my experiences in another blog post.  I also recently discovered that I have dyslexia and regular writing about my life should help me improve my ability to write coherent sentences.

This blog post is going to be about my fitness and weight loss targets.  Back in 2010, I managed to lose 4 stone in weight and go onto complete a half marathon in 1 hr 47 mins.  This continued into 2011 where I did a few fell races and finally completing the Snowdonia marathon in 4 hrs (probably my proudest sporting achievement).  In April 2012, I ran the Manchester in also 4 hrs in very harsh weather conditions.  Unfortunately this was my last major sporting achievement.  After this I devoted my time to working on my PhD thesis.  Post submission I worked ridiculous hours with 3 jobs before getting a post Exeter Uni and spending 3 months doing fieldwork.  I will also add that I did suffer with anxiety during this time period and the combination of eating crap food and drinking sugary energy drinks I have slowly put the weight back on.

Now I am currently unemployed, although my current priority is finding the next job.  I have started training again with the intentions of losing weight and getting back to a good level of fitness.  I have signed up for the Central Lancashire half marathon in early Jan which should allow me plenty of time to regain fitness.  After this I intend to do the Manchester marathon again.... as a good friend has challenged me.

Today I did the park run in Hanley, parkrun is a free 5 km race that takes in parks all over the world on Saturday morning.  This morning I did the race in an embarrassing 31 minutes which is a good 10 mins off by current 5 km PBs.  My aim is to get close to back to that time.

Also I am currently over weight, weighing in at 16 and half stone.  To achieve my running targets I need to lose 3 stone.  I am planning to achieve this through a combination of diet and exercise.  I have decided that I will blog various steps of my quest to fitness in hope that i might give inspiration to people who are currently my situation to get back into shape.