Brighton seafront at low tide just before sunrise on 11th Jan 2012. Photo by Paul Zara

The cold mornings have been less of a problem this year but it still feels wrong to go running in the dark.  I need a distraction when doing the longer runs and so most of my routes incorporate Brighton seafront at some point or another. The last few weeks have been great for seeing the light change just before sunrise.  Most visitors to Brighton probably don’t realise that Brighton has a sandy beach when the tide has gone far enough out.  Last week, the beach was dotted with the torchlight of anglers digging for worms.

The tiny white building on the hill is the Chattri.

It’s now only three weeks to go to the Brighton half marathon on 19th Feb. I’m running this year and my number is 1286. If I finish in that position I think I’ll have done pretty well! The event has grown in size to over 10,000 runners so anywhere in the first 9999 would be fine

To break up training a bit, I’m hoping to run past the Chattri monument in a circular route of about 12 miles.  I can just make it out as a small white dot on the Downs if I look out from our loft window.

And finally, it appears that this blog has been instrumental in bringing Steve Ovett’s statue back to life, so to speak. Just days after my last post, The Argus ran a headline:Brighton Olympian’s statue to return. I suppose it could just be coincidence.

The start and finish of the Peace Mile in Preston Park is located near rose garden by the Rotunda cafe.

I’m starting to see a lot more of Preston Park as my training kicks in. It’s where the Brighton marathon will be starting in April.  The perimeter is about 2.2km so I’ve worked out that I only need to do 20 laps to equal a full marathon. That’s the sort of image I need to keep thinking of – only 20 laps! The collection of small white pyramid-shaped stones that once marked out the Peace Mile has all but vanished which is a bit of a shame although the start/finish stone is still there, commemorating  the International Year of Peace in 1986.

All that's left of Steve Ovett

With the 2012 Olympics just a few months away, you would think that Brighton would be making the most of its Olympic connections.  I remember the bronze statue of Steve Ovett before it was sawn off and stolen several years ago. All that’s left now is his right foot, launching the invisible middle distance runner to an Olympic gold medal.

To see something that has lasted a little longer than 20 years, you need to go to the other end of the park, near Preston Manor where you will find the two oldest English elms in Europe.

The Preston twins are over 400 years old.

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Château Plage on Brighton seafront

The first day of my new 18 week, 709km, medium intensity ASICS training plan began yesterday with a brisk walk along Brighton seafront.  Helen set a fierce pace which practically made it a jog and I reckon it was easily 5km.  So that’s 704km to go.

Getting back as it began to get dark, we then watched almost 7 hours of continuous TV,  which included Hamlet,  Great Expectations and The Royal Institution lecture “Meet you Brain”. Unfortunately you can drink quite a lot of wine in 7 hours so I was particularly unimpressed by the motivational email I received this morning from My ASICS telling me I had a 9km jog to do.

11:30am Just got back from Preston Park – beautiful weather and 9km didn’t seem that bad after all. Hardly anyone about in the park except for a few joggers and a group of super fit under 30s being put through their paces by British Military Fitness.

Rest day tomorrow

Anyway it’s done now and Ebay has been my saviour. I’ve managed to sell a lot of stuff and made use of Ebay’s charity policy of no fees if the sale price goes to charity.   It’s good to know that my old English Concertina, that tested the patience of the whole family, has now found a new life in Edinburgh.  Some are hoping I’ll do the same with the violin!

A big thanks to everyone who donated something. That £1000 has gone to a great charity and you’ve helped a lot of people with brain disorders.

The National Brain Appeal

I finally managed to get under 6 minutes for the mile: 5.55 actually! I’ve been trying to do that for over a year now. With any luck, it will help my Parkrun time but I’m not sure how 6mins for 1 mile translates up to 5km. I certainly couldn’t keep that pace up but think I might be able to beat my PB of 19:50.

St. George

Six days to go before the World Cup and I’m starting to get organised.

After several frustrating attempts, I finally managed to import the BBC fixture list into my Outlook calendar and then sync it to my phone. Every fixture is now at my fingertips. An IT triumph!

A family ‘discussion’ about the quality of our TV, which I lost, means that a flat screen HD ready LCD is now imminent. Should it be 26 or 32 inch?

I’ve yet to find my 1970 England team poster that I collected as an 8 year old but when I do, it will be going on the front window.  It was a great talking point with the neighbours at the last World Cup.

A friend has designed some alternative England Tees – designed to let you show your support for England whilst challenging a few myths. Think I like St. George best.

Parkrun was more sweatrun this morning – the hottest Saturday morning this year. I was a bit slower than last week but I missed training on Tuesday so it’s not so bad. One lad, James Oliver, who has Asthma and runs for Brighton & Hove AC , was raising money for Asthma UK – quite a few donations went into his collection bucket – hope he did well.

Well-spoken designs

BBC World Cup fixtures download

Signs of life - at last. One of my shallots!

The allotment is now bursting with life. Potatoes, shallots and beetroot all going well but I’m wary of Brighton slugs and snails. They have a fearsome reputation. Went down to the Harvest garden in Preston Park and saw that each raised bed is protected with netting so that’s what I’ll be doing this weekend!

I’ve now entered for next year’s Brighton marathon but the training for that won’t start until January so have given myself a few  challenges over the summer:

1) New PB at Parkrun. Reckon I can do that if I keep going to Sam and Tony’s training at Withdean. Went last night and the format had changed again:
2 x 200, 2×300,600, 2×200,2×300, 1km, 2×300,1mile.  Hard work but enjoy it.

2) Run a 10k. Quite a few coming up. Will have to pick one before footy starts again.

3) Reach my target of £1000 for the Brighton marathon. I was close (£720) but I still have a couple of months to reach it. £280 – it can’t be that difficult….hmmm……maybe I’ll make a lot of cakes!

4) Write the blog at least once a week.

5) Go to more events in the Brighton Festival.  Had a great experience last Friday going to see Before I Sleep at the old Co-op building on London Rd. It was so incredible that I might try to see it again. Everyone I know who’s been  has been amazed by it and it’s got so many taking points.

That’s it.

Green shoots appearing.

My poor allotment has progressed little over the last few weeks. Training for the marathon took priority of course and I didn’t want to do my back in like I did in January when I tried to be helpful and clear away ice on the pavement. Worryingly, my allotment neighbours have been planting with indecent haste, making my own efforts look less than spectacular.

On Saturday, I went to Rushfields plant centre, near Saddlecoombe. What a great place! I now have enough seeds to get started: courgettes, beetroot, shallots, potatoes and sweetcorn. Hopefully get everything planted by next weekend.

It’s only a week since the Brighton marathon but it seems ages ago now. I decided to do Parkrun on Saturday – great as usual – and managed a very gentle 37 mins! Sunday was the London marathon – really enjoyed the build up but felt a bit sorry for the runners when i started to rain heavily before the start. That would really have changed things at Brighton but we were lucky. My cousin Claire and good friend Lance were running so  it was fun tracking them on the 5km tracker that was provided. By the afternoon I was itching to get out and run so did an hour up to Patcham and up through the woods to the Windmill. Ended up running through a cow field near to the windmill near Mill Road (the same one that’s in the image at the top of my blog ) By the windmill, there are sheep grazing. Read something about them in B&HNews.

I’m in no hurry to start a new running challenge but I did read that the entry for Brighton marathon 2011 opens on 10th May. Definitely doing that again – the pain of last week is beginning to fade!

Right on cue, I went to bed with a sore throat last night. Great! Everyone else in the family has had it so I suppose it’s only fair. This morning I’m taking frequent sips of water but I feel fine so don’t think it will have any adverse effect for Sunday.

Early night tonight and then Parkrun tomorrow for marshalling.