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• 22Jul2011

  The Jim & Jack 1 in 6 run blog

  Posted by Jim Sells

  The Jim & Jack 1 in 6 run blog

  National Literacy Trust employees Jack Sallabank and Jim Sells have decided to run 160 miles, in October, to raise funds for the National Literacy Trust. Each week we will be writing a blog to let people know how our training, fundraising and organisation of the run, is going. This is our fourth blog.

  22 July 2011.

  Jim Sells

  So it was my turn to be on leave last week, and to tackle my first full week of training.

  I went to my parents’ house with my two children, Sylvie and Mabel, for a few days of country air and green surroundings. It is beautiful up in Shropshire, where they moved to a few years ago, but there are a fair few hills! I grew up in Kent, which I had thought was the countryside, but it’s not when compared with this area: pitch black at night and only the sounds of the animals – not a police siren in earshot! So, ideal for a completely different sort of run. I have started to take my iphone with me so that I can listen to music while I run, something which I normally avoid in my usual training, but my obsession with The Vaccines and the Foo Fighters is giving me a useful running partner. Interesting how it affects your pace! As I was nearing the end of a 3 mile run, because I had my phone with me, I was able to film a few seconds, so hopefully Jack and I will start doing that a bit more regularly, to give the blog a bit of extra energy.

  See the video here!

  So while Mum looked after the girls I took on my first reasonable length run (6.5 miles), which still sticks me firmly behind Jack in terms of progress. My foot injury is still plaguing me, and I have various appointments lined up to try to get some help, but to be honest I have to grin and bear it a little as it is important to start getting the miles down now. It’s related to my injury from a motorcycle crash, 10 years ago, where I nearly lost my left leg; what I have to run on is a left leg which is 2cm shorter and 12 degrees out of line! Still the right one’s good so I can always resort to hopping. A list to port will probably help on some of the sharper corners anyway.

  Jack has lent me the Haruki Murakami book, What I talk about when I talk about running and I am about half way through. Like Jack, I’m finding it a good, and inspiring, read; the same message of ‘pain is inevitable, suffering is optional’ message is getting through. Cheery stuff! In all seriousness, he is very positive, and it’s welcome to know that other runners sometimes struggle to be motivated.

  To be honest the London running this week has been quite hard, but I’m about to set off to the Brecon Beacons this weekend for a bit of training so I’m looking forward to that going well! Next week it’s going to be good, I can feel it. It’s one of the things about running, some times it can be brilliant, but the occasional ‘bad run’ can make you feel as if you are not progressing. But the more you do it, the more you realise that this is just a part of running; it’s all about the journey, don’t you know!

  And a bit more...

  It's Monday now, and Brecon went well. I managed to not do any damage to myself and kept the exercise going, in fact, only in the afternoon did I feel a bit stiff after resting; is the moral of the story no rest? Oh dear. This morning I went and saw the official 1 in 6 Osteopath Alan Coles, who treated my left leg and identified a high level of tightness, but his treatment made an instant difference and he has given me some exercises to reduce the tightness and to strengthen the muscles in my foot. Thanks Alan! I then did my first run of the week at lunch and was really heartened as this was my 'fast but short' run and I happily managed 3 miles in a little over 24 minutes. Not a world record but I'm happy considering last week's complaining! I think returning to using my Brooks shoes also helped. Here's hoping for some sponsorship from them! 

Tags: Business and corporate partners, Children, Fundraising and support, Libraries, Schools & teaching, Sports

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