Brighton Marathon 2013

It came, I ran and I conquered!!!
Two years ago when I finally decided I wanted to take my running more serious, I never thought I'd be able to run a marathon, I didn't even wanna try!
I used to run to keep fit for football and life in general but I would never run over 4 miles ( I didn't think I could ).
So after a little time I started getting up to 7+ miles and I thought that maybe if I push myself harder I could run longer distance's, so that's when I started signing up for events.
The logic in my head was if I've got something to aim for I'm gonna train harder as I don't wanna let myself down or look like a clown infront of a crowd.
So after signing up to the Brighton Marathon last October I've been running on average 3 times a week, between 6-10 miles on a week night, with a long run on the Sunday. Each Sunday I'd add an extra mile till I reached 21 miles, the week before the big day.
I was pretty nervous on the day and judging by the 3, half mile long queues for the toilets there, most other people were nervous too!
The race started at 9AM and with my predicted time of under 4 hours I was placed in the front section, which I was pleased about as I missed being in the congested area ( slightly behind ) which can add a good few minutes on your finish time. I did have a time in my head I wanted to complete the race in ( 3 hours 45 mins ) but to be honest, as it was my first marathon, I just wanted to finish.
The first 14 miles flew by, with me running my fastest long distance minutes per miles I've done, due to the massive help and energy given to me by the crowd, my 2 friends which came and the huge support of my loving wife. In total I saw them 5 times around the course cheering me on!!!
Things started to get dark between miles 18-22 though. The industrial area was free from crowds and stunk of fish and I really had to dig deep to keep going. Luckily after here the final 4 and a bit miles were along the coast, with it's nice sea breeze, cooling me down and the cheering crowds I got a second wind and made my way to the finish line. Opting to keep my pace and not over doing it like some fellow runners did, which was clearly a bad move for them as 6 people alone that I saw pulled up with muscle strains!!!
I ran across the finish line in a time of 3 hours and 41 mins ( which I was well pleased with ) and bowed my head to recieve my finishers medal very proudly.
I'm not gonna lie I was in alot of pain when I finished and the following 4 miles of walking to the train and from the train to our friends house felt awful, but to be fair I think it helped in the end as I didn't get stiff.
I did tell my wife after that I don't wanna do it again but after the aches went all I can think is, I gotta do it in 3 hrs 30 mins. So I can see me back there in 2015!
Congrats to everyone that finished and my condolences go out to the family of Sam the young lad who died during the race of heart complications, raising money for other people to give them a better life.



Keep running and show your support for the victims of Boston #runforboston

Ki(d)ngCudi

There was quite a buzz around rapper/singer KidCudi before he dropped his solo album "man on the moon" and after hearing some cuts of the tracks I brought it and was impressed.
As much as I love hiphop, I can't totally relate to much of it as it's not the lifestyle I live or have grown up with, but Cudi's style is. His indie, dark-moody story telling was a fresh sound in hiphop for me and I had the album on repeat for a long time!!

So when he dropped his 2nd LP I was straight on it but I'll be honest I was pretty let down. With only a handful of tracks I really liked I thought it was gonna be a case of another artist who's thrown their all into being heard, then rushing together their next album's while they've still got a buzz around them ( record label pressure maybe to blame ). Cudi's solo effort on Kanye's "Cruel Summer" wasn't much to my liking either, so with this weeks release of his 3rd LP "Indicud" what kinda album was it gonna be??
I listened to his "King Wizard" track on YouTube and that was more like the Cudi I loved, so my thoughts were positive. After listening to "Indicud" from start to finish 6 times already in 4 days, I think it's safe to say that in my opinion, he's back on top and I'd even go as far as saying I like it more than "Man on the Moon". This is very rare for me as not many artists now days make a better body of music than their 1st album. There is a few featured artists on the album including Kendrick Lemar, ASAP Rocky, Haim and the Rza, to name a few and they all add to the albums sound, rather than a bunch of names to just help sell a record. It seems Cudi has chosen to work with people who will work well with his tracks, which makes better for the listener.
It's definatly worth a listen, my album of the year so far!!!

On Repeat

Doing alot of driving (for work) and running, (over a hundred miles a month at the moment, due to training for a marathon) ive always got my earphones in listening to music.
Most of the time i got my whole playlist on shuffle but sometimes i get some albums that i love so much they're on repeat constantly.
Im sure you're all the same and when you love an album you go running your mouth to anyone that'll listen (after all word of mouth is the best form of advertising).
So this is me running my mouth off on what im loving right now, i hope you check these tunes out and go cop yourself a copy.
First off after waiting 7 years since his last album Justin Timberlake has finally dropped his 3rd solo album and as expected its awesome. I got mad love for JT and he's come up with the good's again, teaming up with Timberland on the beats which is a power house in the music biz (and to make me even happier he's bringing out another 10 tracks on 'The 20/20 Experience'Part 2 later on in the year).


My next album thats been on repeat is a mixtape from a couple of Westside playas, a Detroit duo called Faygos and Coney. Im a big fan of these since the member Kid Jinx and i started chatting on twitter and he sent me the link to their track 'Genesis' on You Tube, shortly followed by 'Smoke it over' featuring Lil David Ruffin. Go check out the videos on the link.
http://youtu.be/EU8YvlhzoBs Genesis.
http://youtu.be/BwOm9T7OmPk Smoke it over.
The mix tape is hot, with the duos wordplay and punchlines on their own and other peoples tracks, plus with it being a free download, why the hell wouldn't you get it??? Both Kid Jinx and Derrty D are on twitter so for more info follow them at @faygosandconey @BurgersandBooty and @DerrtyD.
Here's the link to their free downloadable mixtape 'Made In Detroit'.
http://t.co/I92n416xfL


























Even though this next albums been out a while now im still bumping it.
DMX's 'Undisputed'.
Ive always had alot of love for the Darkman but after a long absence, due to being in jail and the stories of him being on crack, i was wondering if he was ever gonna get back in the booth.
Then when he dropped his mixtape 'The Weigh In' i was worried about what this album was gonna be like. With its bad sound quality (it was a mixtape i suppose i cant be too fussy) and its awful content (it sounded like he'd lost his flow and did it all half asleep and fucked up).
But once i listened to this album, it was clear he's still got it. If you want ruff, real talk, street shit and heart felt gospel raps there isn't much better out there than the Dog.

With all the running i have been doing its always good having some dance tunes on the Ipod to keep you pumped and keeping pace. I have alot of singles that i have on a playlist but Calvin Harris' '18 Months' is a great album to exercise to. With great beats and a whole list of A star featured artists you can't go wrong.


Peace, enjoy.

I'm so lazy!!!! (At blogging)

As the title suggests, i have been extremely lazy with my blog posts and it's been along time since I've actually blogged which is really bad of me.
Since the new year I've hung up my footy boots and really put my all into taking running very seriously.
So it's only right my next blog will be all about my training, events done and that are lined up, plus what I've been doing to help me get in shape and ready to race.
So saying I'm lazy isn't totally true, it's just I've been too damn tired to write after a hard nights training.
Peace.

Survival Of The Fittest . . . .Done

Well after my very short time space between finishing being busy at work and competing in 'The Men's Health Survival Of The Fittest Race' I had about 2 weeks to fit in as much training as possible for an event I only knew the distance of.

I was we'll aware the race distance was going to be 10km and this is a distance that I run most evenings, as its not too long but perfect to keep my stamina and fitness levels up. The problem I had was, how do i train for 21 obstacles I didn't have a clue about? Well the only thing I could think to do was, jump over stuff, pull myself up even higher things and try to lift anything heavy, adding to my strength.

Like I've said before I do keep pretty fit but I've never competed before so this was totally new to me and I didn't know what to expect.

I arrived at the beautiful Battersea Power Station (where the race was held) 2 hours before my race time, I was to start my race at 1pm and I was in wave 17 of 27, each wave was a group of 300 people that all started together like sardines in a tin, barging our way through the start of the course. The race started with 3 hay bale stacks to hurdle over each one higher than the next followed by monkey bars,steps and walls to climb. After this we ran a wet and muddy track out of the Power Station grounds around 3km to Battersea Park to its athletics track, where we did a lap over some hurdles. After a further 3km running back into the Power Station grounds, (we did have to stop at a busy road and wait for the pedestrian crossing to signal us across, which was a little annoying when your trying to do a good race time) we were bombarded with climbing, hurdling with sand bags/cones and metal beer kegs, jumping through windowless cars, through skips full of mud/ice and mushy wood chips, diving through thick mud and water trenches all whilst being hosed by men with fireman hoses.

Once you'd completed all these energy sapping obstacles the finish line could only be crossed by leaping over a 8ft wall, which isn't easy when your nakered!! But like many others before and after me I made it over and was so relieved to have finished the race. My only concern now was how quick I did it. Before I had started I thought with the lack of training and what I'd seen a friend complete it in, I thought 1 hour and 30 minutes would be a good time for me. So to find my time I had to go to the official time tent and to my surprise I smashed it in 53 minutes and 15 seconds. With 40 minutes being the fastest time, I was we'll chuffed only being 13 minutes longer.

It was an excellent event which I will do again next year and with a free sports top to run in, a great goodie bag and my finishing medal I couldn't complain.

 

 

 

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A Dedication

I don't know about you but being a red blooded man, I can't help but appreciate the female form and find myself googling my favourite Hollywood stars, music artists, athletes and models, basically just hot girls!

It's normal right!? I don't hide it from my wife and I damn sure won't be dating any of them so what's it matter!!!!!

Even though like most couple's we always have a "what if" person! You know what that is right?! Its the green card you give your partner for them to be with one famous person of their choice if they ever happen in a million years to meet and have the opportunity to kiss/sleep with. My wife's happens to be (like many other women at the moment I'm sure) Harry Styles from One Direction. A little bit on the young side I think but he does like an older chick so I think it gives her hope ha!

But that got me thinking "who would my, what if girl be?". And after a lot of thought and more googling obviously (any excuse) I couldn't think of one that stands above the rest. So instead I'm just gonna share them all with you and just say that this is my dedication to the Hottest women in the world!! Maybe it'll help me decide cuz I'm sure that the day I get to use my green card will come up (yeah right)!!!!.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I still can't make up my mind 😉.

 

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Holy Water Shines Up Nice

If you love that west coast Hip-Hop you gotta check out The Game's new hot track 'Holy Water'!!! Seriously I love this track, the beat is serious and Game's deep vocals just make you wanna recline and sip something!!
If the rest of his new album 'Jesus Piece' (which is out in December) is as banging as this, the Rap game is in trouble!!!!!
Go check out the video.

Am I In The Village People? No It's For Charity!!!

It's that time of year again when us men become one with our inner manly side, our slightly camp side, our love for 80's style, basically we become Tom Selleck for the month of November and why do we do this? For a damn good cause that's what!!!

I'm sure you all know about Movember now but if you don't, it's a charity that raises awareness for men's health, specifically prostate and testicular cancer. To do this men around the world donate their top lips to grow a very dashing moustache and everyone else generously donates their cash to them for growing it . . . Simple!

I did it last year and believe me if your not an everyday Mo wearer, after a couple of weeks your counting down the days to shave it off but its all good fun and for a great cause. I'm not doing it this year as i did it last year but a few friends are and they'd love for you to sponsor them so please click on a link below search their name and donate on the excellent Movember site!!!

www.uk.movember.co.uk

 

 

 

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Back and on a Fitness Mission for Matchday!!!

Wow, it's really felt like forever since I've been away from here.
This years busy season at work just went on and on and I haven't even had time to text friends never mind write blog posts for strangers to read.
Finally I've got my life back and I've got a lot to catch up on, both writing and reading what you guys have been blogging too!!!!

Well what better thing to start on than whats gonna be happening to me in just a fortnights time.

Back in April I stumbled across an article in my Men's Health magazine about a race that they put together each year called the 'Survival Of The Fittest' and being a guy who loves keeping fit and testing myself I thought "I'll have abit of that"!! With the event I chose being held on the 17th of November, I thought that's plenty of time to train especially as I run most nights, play football and general take care of myself anyway.
But as I stated earlier my 'busy season' at work dragged on a little longer than expected this year, giving me about 3 weeks to work my arse off trying to get my fitness back and beyond ready for this physical test of endurance. . . Oh shit!!!
As much as I love abit of pain through hard work I personally find it hard doing this on my own and do like abit of help, help being in the form of sports nutrition products (protein, for feeding and aiding in my recovery after exercise and an isotonic energy drink for before and during to give me the extra boost I need).
There are so many on the market now days and without trying them all, (which would take an awfully long time and cost a damn fortune) I've always gone by word of mouth, who's doing good deals and my most popular way of choosing, which company has the best flavours!!
For a few years now I've always used Maximuscle as they have always provided great tasting products that work, my favourites being their Promax meal and Promax diet bars and the Promax protein tubs. www.maximuscle.com
I still use their products frequently especially the protein bars as they are a great quick fix of good protein after a footy match or workout but I have strayed away from the powdered protein and have started using what I would say are my new favourite mix shakes . . . JstJodie!!!
The Jodie Marsh line of sport nutrition products are awesome with by far the best flavours but the best product in her line is the fat burners that everyone seems to be using 'SEMTEX'.
It's hard not checking my Twitter timeline without someone mentioning they have joined the #SemtexArmy and are fastly noticing their weight loss!
And let's be honest it's no lie, I lost half a stone in 2weeks when I took the little pills nicknamed 'Gold Dust'! So if your looking for great tasting products that work then hit up this web link and start buying!!  www.jstjodie.com

When it comes to a isotonic sports drink I've never been to fussy, as the many different brands I've tried have all done their job in my opinion, but i'd rather have something with next to no sweeteners etc in as it defeats the object.
Recently my wife happened to mention my love for exercise/sports and my blog to one of her customers, who has a shared interest in sports and sports nutrition and has started his own company who sell powdered isotonic solutions called Matchday.
To my delight he very kindly gave me a tub to try out and see what I thought and hopefully gain himself another customer aswell as some word of mouth custom.
I've been using the product for 2 weeks now before exercise and during longer periods of exercise where extra energy is needed. I can say it is a great isotonic drink, it definatly has aided my energy levels, it has a great taste and is free of artificial sweetners (crap you don't need) which is great!!! So needless to say i shall be going back for more and at the low price of £19.99 a tub, why wouldn't I!!
To see more on this product and their recovery solutions too, visit www.thematchday.co.uk  or hit up @TheMatchDay and @WHUTheGoalMouth on twitter but please don't be put off by the fact he's a Westham fan he's still a good guy.

Well with the help of my sports nutritional products and my determination im sure i'll be back fit enough to take on the 'Survival Of The Fittest' course. I shall keep you all posted on how it goes.

www.mhsurvival.co.uk incase you wanna check out the event.

I'm busy but I'll be posting again soon!!!

I don't get much time to myself from July through to early October because it's the busy period at work, where I can be putting in upto 100+ hours a week.
So the things I love to do, do get pushed abit to the side, blogging being one of those things.
But I'll be back on it ASAP and when I do I'll be posting new blog's on tattooing, the new sports supplements I've been using from 'JST Jodie' and a trail batch of 'Matchday' isotonic I was kindly given to try out.
I'll be talking about my up and coming challenges including, 'Mens health survival of the fittest' and the 'Tough Mudder' courses aswell as the 'Brighton Marathon'.
Plus some new clothes purchases I shall be making and of course what great new music I've been listening too.
Hope you check them out, peace.