Blood, Sweat & Beers

Hello there! Yes it's long over due that I popped my head in to say hello and give you an update on my endeavours to tackle a challenge in EVERY Olympic sport before London 2012, brace yourselves - I warn you this isn't pretty...

Having tried to knock my own head off during Race Three in The BMX Challenge, and then attempted to avoid being fatally wounded while playing with swords for The Fencing Challenge, I took a mini break up in the Lake District with my missus and some wonderful friends from Doncaster (you may know Chris & Trish from The Tennis Challenge and The Badminton Challenge...oh and The Table Tennis Challenge!).

June and July are months where my ability to make time for sporting tasks is challenged to the maximum, due to long long days at work and the desire to maintain my relationship with the best lass a fat lad could ever hope to snare.

During this time I've been away to Berlin for a trade show for work and tagged on a weekend out there with some pals - this involved a lot of testing of the local restaurants and draining of the hotel bar, though I did push myself into the gym for a punishing run the morning after one particularly taxing night on my liver.

Managed just 3 miles and felt like death

Don't let this convince you I'm not trying or going back to my old ways mind, I have been busy working my way up to running the furthest distances of my rather mediocre sporting life. In an attempt to build stamina for challenges like Football and Triathlon that I have ahead, I've set myself the mission of running three 10k's a week - a feat I feel will enable me to chat freely with 'proper' runners whenever I bump into them.



In addition I've noticed that my selection of sporting attire is starting to look a little shabby and so to further motivate me I set the task of reaching the 5 mile distance before I could earn the right to buy some fresh clobber.

The last time I ran 5 miles was with my brother on the final leg of The Running Challenge back in Spring last year, and despite the cuts and bruises sustained through The BMX Challenge, and an aggravated back muscle from the second of the weekend up in the Lakes, this Thursday I managed to finally nail a 5 miler!

Here's a link to my route:

http://www.walkjogrun.net/routes/current_route.cfm?rid=B9219BF2-ABD9-B83B-5A6637710FA21804

Here's how I looked after this mini achievement - you can see why I need new clothes!

My brother has now challenged me to run 5 miles in under 55 minutes, a task you know I shall take seriously.

I'll be back sooner next time, though you can see how I get on with this latest mini mission on Twitter here.

The Everyman Olympian