One week later...

Last Tuesday I wrote that update between tasks over at church. We were having a large clearout due to ongoing refurbishment work, and I was finishing off carrying chairs and tables to new locations. By the end of the day my back was beginning to feel funny, but thought nothing of it. Got home and got changed, warmed up and went out for my run as planned, however this well intentioned evening was about to take a turn for the worse, when the pain levels in my back began to skyrocket!

After running for a mile (and now being a mile from home) I was doubled over, and struggling to breathe. I jogged / walked / crawled my way home (1st mile took less than 10 minutes, same mile home took 20) and collapsed on to a sofa at home. Following a couple of days off work, a doctors visit, large quanities of painkillers, a sympathetic wife, and no heavy lifting, I'm feeling a lot better, and intending to hit the tarmac again for some knee punishment.

On another note, I'm hopefully going to have a Just Giving page set up within the next two weeks, so the donations can start coming in!

The Running Man

So it has been decided!

I will be running the FULL Belfast City marathon on Monday 3rd May, raising money for Oasis Village Trust.

You can read more about the charity here and see all of the good work that they are involved in.

I have chosen to run the full marathon as people have continually laughed at me every time I told them I was thinking about it, so I am setting out to prove the disbelievers wrong!

Am hitting the road tonight, and not stopping until I throw up. Then I'll know I've done enough.

I've also shelved my training theory, as I'm too late to put it into practice, but may embark upon it at another time!

A New Year

So it is indeed 2010, and what a start to the year it has been.

First off, a huge thank you to everyone who prayed for my wee sister following her illness over Christmas. God has answered those prayers and didn't take Kerry home to be with Himself, but has healed her of this illness. After a week of emotional turmoil, stress and no sleep, Kerry pulled through it and has made a miraculous recovery. Words fail to express how thankful we as a family are for your support. Kerry was well enought to come home on Christmas Day, which as you can imagine was the greatest Christmas present we've ever received! There is still some way to go, but we continue to ask for God's strength every day.

I am also just back from my friend Nicho's wedding in England. Sub-zero conditions and blizzards were the order of the day, but a fantastic time was had, and I only spent around 18 hours in the car, on a bus, on a plane or sitting in an airport! The guts of one full day!!!

Anyway, I'm going to try to get running this week again, and I may be about to commit to running for a specific charity. Last year my cycling was for two tearfund projects, but this year I've been looking at another charity that I want to support. more details to follow soon.

My wee sister...

So running has taken a back seat after my wee sister Kerry collapsed last Saturday (12th December) with a brain hemorrhage. She has just turned 17. She underwent emergency surgery on Monday in order to remove part of the clot, and is now in the intensive care unit of our local hospital.

If you are reading this, I would ask you just to say a simple prayer for my sister and our family. She has a strong belief in God and a personal relationship with Him, and though we know it's selfish, we don't want God to have her just yet.

Pray that she will make it through this illness and that we can have our wee sister back with us.

Thank you.

Distractions

So no running done for a week now. Not good. Too distracted by Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and put off by the miserable weather that I haven't been out for days.

However I did head out mountain biking on Saturday morning in the cold, the rain, and the mud, and it was fantastic. Haven't been for years, and raked around Belvoir Forest Park getting caked in muck, and whooping like a madman every time I came down a slope. I worry I may actually have been bitten by the MTB bug again, which means I could be rethinking my future bike purchase...