White Rabbits, White Rabbits, White Rabbits – in case you don’t know what that means, it is an old English tradition to repeat this phrase on the first day of the month to bring good luck for the rest of that month. Although thinking about it, I have no idea what would be lucky about a white rabbit as it would seem to me that being white would make a rabbit more obvious to predators looking for a tasty meal.. hmmm, maybe better we stick to the good old favourite school ground “pinch, punch, first day of the month” in which the object is to be first to say the rhyme while simultaneously doing your best to leave  your victim bruised black and blue from all the pinching and punching.

Ok, here it goes, I am joining the modern world and doing something I promised myself I would never do… I am writing a blog, a blog about running, training and other sporty stuff!

I will get to what inspired the name “Get the Run Done” later, but to be clear, this first days entry is just me writing anything to get started,  so apologies for the mumbling and bumbling, but hopefully will get  better as we go along. I have actually been writing away like a trashy novelist, churning out all sorts of ideas over the last few weeks, but I am not satisfied with any, so just going to write “freehand” now and see where we end up.

My idea is to write about my continual journey as I lurch from challenge to challenge, from simply getting out the door on the days its too hot/cold/early/late to run or forcing myself to go to the track for intervals (and always feeling so good once it’s done), through to details of how I prepare and perform in races such as ekidens, marathons, triathlon and (hopefully) Utra marathon. I will be noting my training, my thoughts, my experiences and things I learn along the way, maybe inspiring one or two fellow athletes to do the same. However I will try not to make it too personal, so don’t expect a surfeit of selfies and me introducing people and places, or pictures of what I have been eating for mid-morning snack,  it will be more about the physical efforts and mental exercises I use to keep me on course. I don’t expect many readers, but if nothing else this blog will serve as a motivator for me to keep training and to keep to my mantra of “get the run done”. I intend to write a cover that will introduce myself later, although I am pretty sure anyone looking at this will already know me intimately, as they will be the unfortunate (ex) friends and relatives I have pressganged into reading!

My immediate challenge is an upcoming Half Ironman distance triathlon in Hever Castle next Saturday (oops already broken my rule about not naming places… well it’s my first day on the job so I hope you will let it slip!). I am not very ready as my training has been sporadic due to various issues (amongst other things I had a “Gilmore Groin” or “Sports Hernia” operation in mid March), and I am heavier going into this race than I have been for some time. Actually it will be my first race since a full Ironman last September, all my other entries having to be cancelled due to not being prepared/injured/other lame excuses. It was actually this lack of racing and a general slipping of training focus that inspired me to start the mantra “get the run done”, and I will be explaining more about that later.

Ok, enough already, I may pop back later to write about my training today ( apart from a month off for my operation I have run every day without fail for over five years) ,  and I have a thought to start logging what I do here, although not sure if that would be of any interests .. let’s see how we go. But for now, I will sign off and get back to pretending to look busy as I muse on whether being a white rabbit or a black and blue schoolboy would be preferable on this sunny Saturday morning on the first day of July!

Training Completed

Indoor Bike – 80 minutes, constant.

Run 8.01km/43.42 @ 5:27. Undulating Road run. Hot and sunny. Feeling good