I am sorry to have to inform you that I have a GRI that has prevented me from doing any running this week.

GRI = Glastonbury Related Injury.

Oh yes, hours of wading through ankle-deep mud with a 70kg rucksac on my back followed by lunatic dancing until the wee small hours has caused a previous running injury in the left thigh to get worse and I now resemble the wicked witch of the west with a highly attractive hobble.

It's such a good look... no really it is.

Race day is fast approaching and as I glance to that 'oh so optimistic' training schedule I printed out way back in April I notice that I should currently be effortlessly sprinting three and four mile runs during the week and a seven mile one a the weekend...
oh Lord.

Still no ideas on the charity - would it be wrong to run for my 2008 Glastonbury Ticket Fund?

Last Sunday I did my longest run yet.

Fed up with continuing with my walk-runs, I decided to go for the biggie and try 20mins straight. Pretty soon into the run I realised this was a tall order but I managed 10 minutes running, followed by 1 min fast walk, then another 12 minutes running.

Seriously - I almost died. However the only aches I had the following day were muscular - no joint aches, so I am pretty pleased with myself and I am going to try another this weeekend.

***

As race date approaches, my attantion has been drawn to which charity I should run for.
There are so many worthy causes out there, it's difficult to know who to pick. On the one hand, I could run for a cause that has affected me (various family members have been affected by epilepsy, heart disease, dementia and breast cancer) or on the other hand I could run for a local charity that does not get national exposure (Dorothy House or Wiltshire Air Ambulance). Then I started to think well, we have it pretty good in this country and there are millions of people in need around the world so perhaps I should run for an international charity (the Darfur Appeal or the African Children's Education Trust).

I am still no closer to deciding - any suggestions?

It is with great sadness that I announce the death of my gym membership.

My membership to Livingwell Premier, Bristol started out in July 2006 and despite an initial enthusiasm I found it harder and harder to make the time to visit.

At the end of 2006 it rebranded to Bannatyne's, stopped providing free towels, incresed my monthly fee by a whole £1 and started playing cheesy easy-listening music in the swimming pool.

That was the beginning of the end - I don't take nicely to easy-listening.

In a last-ditch attempt to re-kindle the love I once had for my gym, I visited a personal trainer there a few months ago to help me on my way to completing the Bristol Half Marathon in a vaguely respectable time in September.

But after just a couple of sessions following his programme of squats and lunges while lifting weights, my knees and ankles hurt so much I had to take almost a month off running.

So when a letter came through reminding me that my contract was up in a month's time I made the difficult decision to turn off the life-support machine for my gym membership that is my direct debit.

I'd like to thank my family and friends for the support they have shown me at this difficult time.

RIP Charley's Gym Membership 2006-2007

So the break did me good and I am back on the road running again.

I bought myself some serious knee supports which really help and did my first run in three weeks on Saturday, May 12.

I picked up from where I left off on the programme and did a 90 second jog, 90 second walk, 3 minute jog, 3 minute walk alternately for a total of about 25 minutes.

It went pretty well and my fitness (lack of) hasn't changed too much so hopefully it shouldn't take too long to catch up on the programme.

The Boy on the other hand, who also hasn't been for a run for three weeks, has given up running with me and now strides off into the distance, doing twice the distance I do without breaking a sweat. God men are infuriating sometimes.

Right, I’ve got a bone to pick with Attila. I did my workout at the weekend and ached like mad afterwards so I only went for my first run of the week last night (Thursday).

Suspicion should have been roused when my knee started to ache on the warm up walk.

When I eventually started running the pain set in. Within seconds both knees ached like I had skied the fall line on a mile-long mogul run in bad weather (for those of you that ski you’ll know that’s about the most pain your knees can stand).

Worryingly, my ankles also started to jar. I thought doing these workouts was meant to stop knee pain?

I have been religiously taking 1500mg of glucosamine sulphate a day since I started training, which had been working up until now.

My knees have ached at times but it seems to be getting worse. I don’t know whether to rest or persevere with the runs? I have two more runs to fit in before the end of this week!

Does anyone have any suggestions about how to get rid of the pain?

In the spirit of motivation that seems to have overcome me at the moment, I have been to see a personal trainer at my gym. Yes my gym – that place I joined months ago and have only been to six times. And that was only to drink coffee and catch-up on Lost and 24 on Sky in the bar. I only just made it there without having to ask for directions.

Anyway, turns out my personal trainer is called Attila. As in The Hun. Please God may that be because he’s Hungarian and not because of his training regime.

Attila used to be a runner, which is convenient. I proudly showed off the programme I downloaded from the t’interweb and he scoffed at it. Apparently all I need to worry about is whether I can run for about an hour non-stop by the time I do the half-marathon, then I’ll be fine.

However, he was infinitely more strict about doing weight training. Concentrating on running alone is apparently all-wrong. Attila had a client who did the Bath half-marathon a few weeks ago and despite being very fit and completing the race, he was in a world of pain afterwards and his knee swelled up. All this was down to him not having done any gym work, I was told.

So he set about preparing a programme for me to do once a week to supplement the running. Five or 10 minutes on a bike or something similar to raise the heartbeat then leg presses (in a variety of positions, one of which is distinctly un-ladylike), squats on a half-Swiss ball while holding weights (great one – want me to juggle at the same time?!), lunges while holding a bar bell behind my head and press ups while balancing on a Swiss ball. Oh and a few others added in. Just for fun.

Attila The Hun has arrived. All of a sudden I don’t feel quite so motivated.