{"id":2415,"date":"2017-09-27T15:50:25","date_gmt":"2017-09-27T15:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/?p=2415"},"modified":"2022-04-13T16:14:22","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T16:14:22","slug":"the-running-diaries-teamcardiff-2017-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/2017\/09\/27\/the-running-diaries-teamcardiff-2017-3\/","title":{"rendered":"The running diaries – #TeamCardiff 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ahead of Race Day, here is another instalment from Alex Norton (BA 2015)<\/span> on his race day preparations ahead of the Cardiff University\/Cardiff Half Marathon.<\/p>\n

“It seemed like such a good idea at the time.<\/p>\n

“Manning the #TeamCardiff stall in the Runners\u2019 Village on Sunday, 2 October 2016, you couldn\u2019t help but be inspired by the steady stream of people raising funds for cancer or neuroscience research here at Cardiff University.<\/p>\n

“And as we brazenly asked exhausted finishers to register their interest in 2017, it was the obvious \u2013 the decent – thing to do.<\/p>\n

“355 days later, I can\u2019t quite fathom what I was thinking.<\/p>\n

“Having worked around #TeamCardiff for the last nine months, I am more convinced than ever that these incredible causes are worth running yourself into the ground for. I have met the researchers and the beneficiaries, and I cannot overstate the difference that we will make.<\/p>\n

“All the same, 21.1km (13.1miles) seems a long way. And as with most things I\u2019ve attempted in my life, I have decided that it is insurmountable. Brilliantly, therefore, I have devised a game plan based on the constant use of the various water, energy gel and, er, toilet points to attack the course in short bursts of 5km.<\/p>\n

“Still seems a bit ambitious, but I\u2019m much buoyed by meeting some of my fellow runners at the recent #TeamCardiff\u00a0Social Run (I stayed and looked after the bags) who reassured me that I might not be alone in taking on the streets of Cardiff at what I am now calling ‘sightseer speed’.<\/p>\n

“In terms of training, there have been setbacks. Terrified by the thought of being made to run in public, I ordered shoes online. They came with studs, which (and I\u2019ve verified this) are a potent combination of both unnecessary and dangerous on asphalt. So those are in the bin.<\/p>\n

“My discipline has also crumbled. I\u2019ve traded in 10km trudges around Roath Park for linguine and Muscat \u2013 I hope, with nine days to go at the time of writing, I have not chronically miscalculated. It is important to be well rested, after all.<\/p>\n

“I hope too that this blog has served to make you feel better about your own training exploits, and convinced you of the sheer nobility of the trial ahead \u2013 and I look forward to seeing you on the day, as those red shirts whizz past my supine form.<\/p>\n

“I may well write to update you in the aftermath \u2013 but that depends on my time\u2026<\/p>\n

“Pob lwc!”<\/p>\n

You can support Alex via his JustGiving page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ahead of Race Day, here is another instalment from Alex Norton (BA 2015) on his race day preparations ahead of the Cardiff University\/Cardiff Half Marathon. \"It seemed like such a […]","protected":false},"author":1080,"featured_media":1594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[142,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-donate","category-news"],"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1080"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2415"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2433,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415\/revisions\/2433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}