mountain

fitness

Snowdonia Marathon 2018

russellsays

I have struggled my whole adult life with what it means to be a man. I get so confused about my role. I want to be strong and protective over my wife and family, but I would never consider myself a chauvinist. I cannot hunt and fight the way men did for a hundred thousand years, yet I still get testosterone fueled urges to do similar stuff. I have stupid notions about how crying, or expressing emotion, is ‘unmanly’ and frowned upon. Yet I want to be caring and empathetic and emotionally engaged with my family and friends. 

 fitness

Snowdonia Marathon Is Happening

russellsays

We climb Tryfan on Thursday morning. There is no sun. Yesterday was sunny, tomorrow will be sunny, but today is wet, cold and windy. After 30 minutes of non-stop protesting, they both realise I am not listening, and they do not complain again. Tryfan is mine and Nina’s favourite mountain, it cannot be walked up. You have to scramble and climb. The rocks are wet, both Theo and Isaac get cold hands, but they don’t complain. The way down is even more difficult, jarring and slippery. They just get on with it. I don’t have to teach a single thing. The mountain explains it all. 

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Berlin Buildup week 3 of 11. No Van Man

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This week’s morning runs are made more exciting by the divebombing seagulls. They are little shits! Swooping me every time I turn my back. Humans are so low down in the pecking order in terms of fighting ability (unless armed with a weapon), that I refuse to be bullied by bloody seagulls. I stubbornly stick to my same morning route. 

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the Dentist & Van

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A very uneventful few weeks, dominated by toothache. A crown I had put in a few months ago is pushing another filling down onto the nerve and causing a lot of pain. One Tuesday I was at work and it was so bad that I remember cutting my thumb with a saw, and that pain being a relief, distracting me from the toothache. Exhausting level of pain, an scary. One morning my little girl was doing her cutest level best to cheer me up, and she couldn’t get so much as a smile out of me. It is sorted now. 

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It’s a little bit leave it

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Tuesday I am out in the hot sun all day with nothing to drink. I am getting pulled around by a wacker plate twice my size, and by the time it gets to home time I am feeling pretty wacked myself. On top of this, Nina’s car battery has died, so she has to take me to and from work with the kids. Although it’s only for a few days, I realise how much I rely on that quiet time inbetween home and work.

Anyway, I am sposed to be doing a fell race in the evening. But I am not feeling it at all. I could force myself to go, but I know I have another hard day at work tomorrow, and I will be totally ruined.  I hate having my life dictated by work, but sometimes that’s just the way it is. I am in bed by 8.30pm.

I am also supposed to be running at the Liverpool Rock n Roll Half Marathon this week, I am looking forward to it for a few reasons;

1) I can support the Bangor Uni students who will be there doing the full marathon. I have done some talks and training sessions with the class and have been reading all their blogs

2) I might win