With a new occupant in the whitehouse, a new era of world politics dawns. It’s been a long time coming, there’s a lot of hope on the shoulders of Barack Obama, I’m optomistic he’ll handle it well.
In the meantime, I’ll just keep on running. 
Gearing up for the marathon was a bit harder than I expected. I had been smoking after my runs and although I was increasing the distance/time I was still struggling with breathing. Pretty obvious really.
What happened last week? After my initial flurry of activity I managed another 2 runs, I managed a 7 mile run on Friday 9th, and a further 7 mile run on Monday 12th. My average pace for my January runs has been 8:51 min/mi, something that should come down as the year progresses. This was also my average pace in June/2008, so it’s not so bad considering I did my first 10k that month.
I then played 5-a-sides on Tuesday 13th, at lunchtime, then I got a call from my brother to play at night too. I thought I’d be exhausted but I gave it a go anyway. It turns out I was exhausted, also, my feet were like ice blocks for the first 10 minutes. I think my circulation is suffering, 90% sure that it’s related to my smoking. Remembering that 5-a-sides has been a no-contact sport for me for the past 8 years, I was rather surprised to be cracked in the ribs with my very first run with the ball. This sent me flying and was rather painful. 
I’m still feeling the effects of it a week later.
So, although I was in pain, on Thursday I decided to give football another go, but this was a shortlived idea. On my way downstairs (in the house) with my football gear in my arms, I tripped over my 1 year old daughter and flew down the stairs, almost taking my daughter with me. A nasty bruise now resides on my right buttock. Not impressed!! Daughter has a slight graze on her back, but otherwise unharmed. The thoughts going through my head as I took the tumble you would not want to know.
Up until today then, a week after my first painful incident, I haven’t done any exercise. This afternoon I played 5-a-sides, and apart from a twinge on my ribs when I saved a shot with my arms straight out, I felt reasonably ok and should be able to start running again tomorrow. I need to get my distance up before the 16 week marathon program kicks in, I want to increase to around the 10 mile mark if possible. Around the 8th February I believe.
My total running for January is sitting at 29 miles, with 11 days left in the month if I can get upwards of 45 miles I’ll be happy with that for the month.
I also stopped smoking today, coinciding perfectly with the end of an era in world politics. Looking forward to my next run already.
