Well hello there!

9 October 2014 | Richard

Welcome to “Richard the Runner”. This is my blog about running.

I hate running.

I have all the gear, but no idea. I’m 52, male, called Richard (obv!) and I’ve been advised by my consultant not to run but to swim and cycle instead as one of my knees has a fair degree of necrosis.

But my bucket list has “run a marathon” on it and I’ve so far managed to enter the Berlin Marathon twice, only to pull out due to injury {sigh} in 2013 and 2014 after my then girlfriend managed a PB around 3:45 (which gave her a “good for age” entry into the London Marathon).

So I’m told I have an automatic entry into the 2015 Berlin Marathon and this is my blog to record my experiences.

Did I mention I hate running?

Berlin Marathon Weekend

7 October 20137 October 2013 | Richard

I was supposed to have been running the 40th Berlin Marathon: having been with GT for the London, Paris and Venice Marathons, I’d decided if she was running Berlin and I’d be there anyway, maybe I should run it. How hard could it be? {cough}

So after a few false starts with pulled calf muscles, I started training a little more seriously back in the summer, running a couple of 5ks a week and upping it slightly to a 10k with no apparent problem … apart from a shooting pain in my right knee the moment I started off. Ah…

I’d tried to overcome this in the wrong way: taking Ibuprofen orally and directly to the knee, but I knew that was the wrong thing to do long-term so I got referred privately to a renowned expert on knee surgery/conditions who confirmed patellofemoral dysfunction and early arthropathy (which explained the confirmed crepitus I’d noticed in the knee as well). After several weeks physiotherapy and taking up cycling – 20 miles a week currently on Saturdays when I’m home – it’s improving but I can’t start training properly until the New Year.

Despite being sidelined, I took a long weekend with GT, booking a â‚¬400-a-night room at the excellent Hotel Adlon Kempinski right next to the Brandenburg Gate. Or, as I found out the week we were going, two rooms. Oops! Luckily, they were kind enough to cancel the room without charge after a couple of phone calls. Phew!

We flew out to Berlin and settled right in to the truly luxurious hotel, with a quick wander about around the Brandenburger Tor and an hour’s ride around Berlin in a horse-drawn carriage which was quite romantic (and extensively photographed),Â then back to an epic Thai meal in one of the many restaurants at the hotel: fabulous food but horrendously expensive!

Saturday and after the most opulent five course breakfast with champagne, it was off by underground to a disused airport to get running chips and numbers – very badly organised compared to Paris and particularly London – before wandering around to find a lovely restaurant where we ate oysters, mains and cheese with lots of wine before heading back for an early-ish night.

Up at 5.45am on the Sunday as the hotel had laid on a special breakfast just for the marathon guests, then back up for final prep before joining a group of other runners in the lobby and the short walk to the start. GT had previously got so close to breaking the four hour barrier she was hitting that everyone was saying this could be the one due to PBs on all her recent runs, but she was getting fed up with the pressure from friends and was just going to go for the run rather than the time. Saying she didn’t really like marathons, this would be her 11th and last, she said.

After GT started off I walked off to find the underground as I was heading off to the Spreepark to taken some urbex shots of the deserted theme park during the four hours I’d have to myself. Despite the 6km walk to and around the park, I couldn’t find any easy way in that didn’t have too many onlookers nearby. Ah well. I was joined by a little old biddy who followed me around chatting away in German. I speak very little German… Then back onto the train to get back for the finish. The official marathon app was only suggesting she’d started but on the train I logged into the full website and found that GT was on for a sub-four time so it was a rush to get back to the finish line in time. I managed – just – as she’d not just beaten 4:00:00 – she’d smashed it! 3:49:06!

So it turns out this means a GFA: “good for age” which means an automatic entry into the London Marathon in 2015. Oh and as I still intend to run Berlin next year, GT said it would be rude not to run that. Oh and she’s planning a girl’s weekend in New York with her mates so they can all run the New York Marathon. And on Tuesday after we’d got back and the post-marathon blues kicked in, she’s booked Edinburgh (as have I just for a practice…).

Back to the hotel for a bath and then off to get wine, walking past other finishers who all looked at GT relaxed, cleaned up and wearing her finishers’ medal just as they’d only just finished the event!Â A bit of a crap Italian meal before bed.

Monday saw us walking around down to the Topography of Terror, the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie before getting a taxi back to the airport and home.

The Trouble With Marathon Runners…

8 May 2013 | Richard

…is that they’re utterly barking mad!

It was the first of two Bank Holiday weekends in May. Saturday morning saw me driving up to Norfolk to collect Jack and take him to Nando’s Riverside before the Norwich City match against Aston Villa … which we lost, helping Chris Hughton’s masterplan to dominate the Championship next season rather than staying up in the Premier League.

A tasty post-match Chinese and then on to my hotel in Norwich for a late night.

Sunday morning should have seen me running a medium distance – 6-8 miles around Norwich – but I’d managed to pull my calf muscle yet again earlier in the week. Damnit! Less than 150 days until the Berlin Marathon as well. So I had a little lie-in instead and a light breakfast before heading off in the glorious sunshine to fetch Jack to head back into Norwich for more shopping and eating (Wagamama) before I headed back down to London to change and grab my running gear before heading off to GT’s for the evening and a lovely veggie meal.

No doubt reeking of garlic, we headed off early on Bank Holiday Monday up to Milton Keynes for GT to run in the MK Marathon; her tenth.

Yes, after the Paris Marathon when GT had got so close – again! – to her 4:00:00 barrier, one of her running mates had suggested she should get paced around in a sub-4 hour run and he happened to know the guy who’d be doing just that at Milton Keynes. So the die was cast. I’d suggested that I would drive GT there and back as usual, but with nothing to do otherwise, I entered the Superhero Fun Run and bought a Batman costume from eBay.

And so it was that on a very warm, sunny day, GT lined up for the marathon in her running gear and I lined up for mine dressed as Batman and dosed up on Ibuprofen for the extremely painful calf muscle. They held us on the start line for a while in the sun so as you can imagine it was a tad sweaty inside a black rubberised hood, bodysuit and cape! Plus my Garmin kept switching out of training mode, so when we finally got away, it took me a while to be able to start logging the run.

There’s something wonderful about running along making bat signs and having crowds cheering you on as well as high-fiving other Batmen on the return loop! And so it was that I became first Superhero back despite the muscle going again. I was so pleased to cross the finish line that I forgot to switch the Garmin off until after I’d received my medal. Ah well.

So some photos, then…

Milton Keynes Superhero Fun Run

The Trouble With Paris…

10 April 2013 | Richard

…is that the wine is hideously expensive!

So Friday found GT and I in a cab heading to St. Pancras and the Eurostar to Paris. Arriving early Friday afternoon at the Radisson Blu Le Metropolitan Hotel, Paris EiffelÂ thanks to our pre-booked taxi, we dumped our bags in our large room and headed off on the Metro from Trocadero to the Expo where GT was picking up her race number and pack as yes, she was due to run the Paris Marathon on the Sunday. Oh and we picked up a new running outfit at the same time…

Back to the hotel where we got some advice about one of best Italian restaurants in Paris, so off we went. Luckily, despite not having a reservation – the hotel had warned us we’d probably need one – we managed to charm our way to getting a table and enjoyed a lovely meal with one of those horrendously expensive bottles of wine … good, though!

It was important that the Friday night would bring lots of sleep with the Saturday night’s sleep likely to be fitful so we headed back to the hotel at just after 10pm … to find the door to our room and its main window open! While I poked my head inside to see if there was still an unexpected visitor in there, GT hightailed it down to reception to report it and get the police. By the time I got downstairs, the police had been called and I’d summoned the Hotel Manager back from his evening out (at the Cirque du Soleil, as it transpired). I went back up to the room to do a thorough sweep to see what had been taken and was relieved to find that my iPad and iPhones, UK wallet and passport were all still safe and sound, as was GT’s running gadgets – phew!

It was very late by the time the Manager had got back and checked what was what, so they moved us to a suite as there was no way I’d stay in the same room with someone possibly knowing what they could go back there to collect. The designer bath had a broken plug that I’d be trying to get fixed the next morning as a bath is high on the priorities list after a marathon…

Saturday morning and off we went to do mainly death-related touristy things: Jim Morrison’s and Oscar Wilde’s graves up at PÃ¨re-Lachaise Cemetery in the morning followed by the incredible Catacombs in the afternoon. The latter holds the remains of roughly six million people. Yes. 6,000,000. Neatly stacked and arranged. It’s a bizarre thing to visit, running for 2km under Paris. We ate on our way back before celebrating my 51st birthday at the hotel.

Sunday saw us up bright and early to head to the start of the marathon up at the Champs-ElysÃ¨es. I’d chosen the hotel to be close to both the start and finish lines with the view of the Eiffel Tower an added bonus. It was cold, so GT was pleased to be able to wear much of her new, warmer, kit. The start corrals were sheer chaos as there was no apparent way to get in: many runners were climbing over the security fencing to get in and there were 50,000 running. So different to the efficiency of the London Marathon. After seeing GT off, I walked back to the hotel, stopping at what had become our favourite cafÃ© at the Trocadero, overlooking the Eiffel Tower for coffee and croissants and juice. Lovely!

I downloaded the official app and headed back to the hotel to track GT on her run. No sign of any plug for the bath: the one they brought didn’t fit so it was back to the drawing board, sadly.

Then off to meet GT at Exit A in the finish area. Or Exit B as they’d managed to cock that up too and had swapped the exit signs and flags over so they were wrong. The pandemonium that ensued with tired and confused runners all trying to get out of the wrong exits was something to see. I stayed looking for GT until she texted me from the hotel: she’d left from the incorrectly-signed exit and found her way back. I stuffed the plughole with a flannel and ran the bath. After she’d recovered sufficiently, we walked down to the Trocadero for Kir Royales, beer and food! Then back to the hotel to celebrate her time – a few seconds over that milestone 4:00:00 she wants to beat – meeting her friend who’d managed a 3:58:10. She was off for a massage; we settled on another lovely meal over the Place at another great Italian restaurant followed by more birthday celebrations for me…

Monday and we checked out: the first night’s (upgraded) accommodation was given free by the hotel, but another guest had signed for a 52â‚¬ breakfast and a 389â‚¬ dinner on our room! That was quickly resolved, so we left our bags and headed up to Montmartre for more touristy stuff including a little roadtrain ride down to Pigalle and back up to Montmartre.

Then off to the Eurostar Business Lounge for complimentary wines and our train back to London.

The hotel’s Manager rang me today: they’ve checked the door key logs and it appears on first checking that it was one of the maids who’d left the door and window open for some reason. They’re interviewing her and getting the hallway CCTV footage to check.

So then: Berlin Marathon … and I’m running that one!

Me at Jim Morrison’s Grave, PÃ¨re Lachaise Cemetery

Wilde? I was livid!

Trocadero

Marathon Day Dawns

One last comfort break

“How do we get in?”

Ready for the off

Eiffel Tower in the morning mist

Paris Marathon 2013 Medal

Preserved despite the water dripping through

Yes, they’re real

Not the usual backdrop

D-I-V-O-R-C-E

2 November 20123 November 2012 | Richard

Well it took long enough – nine months, in fact – for the lawyers to sort out our agreed settlement and the paperwork, but I’m now finally divorced, as of 17 October 2012 (a little over 22 years after being married). Young, free and single again! Well, maybe not that young…

And the best thing is that my ex-wife and I remain good friends.

So to celebrate, GT and I went off to Venice for the weekend.

OK, it wasnt the only reason we headed off: GT was taking part in the Venice Marathon, which is why I’d booked the Hotel Bucintoro as it was the nearest luxury hotel to the finish line!

And we weren’t disappointed with our suite there, including our own private rooftop balcony overlooking the lagoon:

Venice Panorama — Panoramic View from our Rooftop Balcony

We celebrated with a bottle of champagne chilled and ready for our arrival:

We had a quick explore and found a superb restaurant near the hotel: La Nuova Perla. So good, we went back there on the Sunday night too!

On Saturday, we headed off to sign on at the Expo on the mainland at San Giuliano Park. It had started raining the night before and we realised that morning that the water levels were rising and beginning to flood Venice, so after signing on, we bought wellies to keep us dry as we went off to do the touristy bit, including enjoying hideously expensive club sandwiches and drinks in a lovely cafÃ© in the Piazza San Marco and then dinner in a quaint restaurant down the alleys that weave through Venice.

Sunday morning dawned very cold, wet and very windy: not good conditions for anything, let alone 26.2 miles running (including a 3 mile bridge to really test the mind and body). Our water taxi arrived at 6.15am to take us to one of the collection points where the runners boarded buses to take them to the start point on the mainland. I then walked back to the Piazza Le Roma to get on one of the boats that was running – the high tides were closing many stops – and head back to the hotel for breakfast and to watch the marathon.

Despite the conditions, GT was only 45 seconds slower than her London Marathon time! I grabbed her at the finish line and walked her back to our suite and a hot, deep bath. We then ordered up some lunch before heading out later that evening for more pasta and wine.

Monday was a beautiful day, crisp and bright, so we made the most of it with a gondola ride before lunch and another water taxi back to the airport and home.