Day 361

On 1st January 2015, I made four glorified New Years resolutions to act as targets for the year ahead. 

Just as a little reminder, this is what I set out to do this year:

1. End the year in Cape Town
2. Run 600 miles
3. Read 25 books
4. Get a new job

So, now it's time for the all important end of term report card:

1. End the Year in Cape Town

I fly out on TUESDAY! I've had it booked for quite a while now and it has definitely sprung up out of nowhere in the last few weeks. You spend forever looking forward to something and then BAM! It's here. So that's super exciting.

I'll be at all five days of the Test Match in Cape Town as well as seeing family and friends over the ten days or so of the trip. So that's going to be amazing. 

I need to go and buy one of those neck thingys so that I don't spent the entire flight (London > Istanbul > Cape Town = hourssss) bobbing my head all over the place like Churchill and his insurance ads or whatever they were selling. And I need suncream and a hat as it is going to be hot hot hot (don't hate me).

2. Run 600 Miles

Well this one has been fun.

I have now ran 114 times this year for a grand total of... 800 MILES!

In the last entry I essentially said 'Pah! Don't be silly, I can't be bothered to go for 800,' because it seemed a long way off. But then one thing led to another and I convinced myself 800 sounded way better than 782. So December has been a 75 mile month fuelled heavily by roast dinners and chocolate. 

The vast majority of the 800 have been pretty boring runs after work or at the weekend, but there have been some stand outs; the four half marathons (Reading, Great North, Nottingham and Tissington), getting quite quick (1hr 35 WORLD RECORD) and getting to run with some friends too. 

It's always nice to share the misery.

Some BREAKING NEWS for you... next year I will be running the BERLIN MARATHON on Sunday 25th September. Which is very, very scary but a little bit exciting too.

(Mainly exciting to eat my body weight in German sausages afterwards and get a shiny medal).

3. Read 25 Books

Now on the face of it, this one looks relatively easy. But I have a reading age of a 12-13 year old so this has been a real challenge for me. I have always enjoyed reading but bar Harry Potter, I don't think I read a book between 11 and 24... ha. I have read most days this year, usually just before going to bed and yesterday I finished my 25th book!

I got up to #22 last time, so...

Book #23 - 'The Man in the High Castle' is the book that Amazon have recently turned in to a series and I thought it was worth a read. It was originally published in 1962 so I must take that in to account, but I thought it was ok at best. I think at the time it was groundbreaking, in 2015... less so. Also, I think the Amazon thing is quite different from what I can gather.

Book #24 - 'Fatherland' is another book based in a reality where Germany won the war, but this one was great. A pretty straight forward conspiracy thriller, but the attention to detail and the environment the author has built around a Berlin where Hitler still reigns supreme was stunning. 

Book #25 - 'The Girl on the Train' has had so much praise and won a ton of awards for 'thriller of the year' and the like. But I was disappointed in it. I think it was badly written with unlikable characters and a padded out story. If it wasn't book 25 with only a few days left of December, I probably wouldn't have bothered with the last 150 pages or so... but alas, I did, and it was all a bit lame. 

4. Get a Job

Back in June, I finally managed to get a new job at Boots on the Christmas marketing team. I say finally because on more than one occasion getting a new job felt like something that was never going to happen. It was only a six month contract but it was a way in, a step up the ladder.

Six months later, and definitely the most challenging period of my working life, Christmas has come and gone and I needed a new job! Thankfully, I did a decent enough job to be offered another one at Boots, working on the in-store marketing for Opticians. So that's pretty good news and I'll be starting on 11th January when I am home.

So that's it! It's been a good year and I definitely would have taken it as an outcome if it was offered to me on 1st January. 

Thank you for reading, I hope it has been an alright read. And thank you for the kind words about Project 9626 too, it's made it all the more worthwhile.

Happy New Year!

Day 1

I dread to think how many New Year's Resolution's get made in the wee hours of the first day of the New Year. I don't really bother - today is pretty much the same as yesterday so if you wanted to make a change in your life then it doesn't take a New Year to do that.

This starts today because it is the first day of the year.

I have four things that I want to do this year.

Some will be a culmination of many small things, whilst others will act as the first domino.

But the idea is to chart this throughout the next 12 months in as interesting and readable a way as possible! 

So, the four things.

9000. 600. 25. 1.

9626.

1. End the Year in Cape Town

I've got to go back and make a better go of this St. George's flag flying lark first and foremost. 

The second reason is for the 2nd Test Match between South Africa and England at Newlands from the 2nd - 6th January 2016. 

But... but that's in 2016 you say? Correct! But there are some amazing people I'd love to see again and bringing in the New Year in such a place would be pretty special. 

So the aim is to fly out after Christmas, about the 27th, and come back maybe the 10th? We'll see, but the gist is it's 9000 miles away (give or take, poetic licence, etc.).

So I need to save up the money (on it already), sort the flights (April?), make sure people are happy to look after me and get to the airport. Sorted!

2. (Urgh) Run 600 Miles

Bloody hell, this seems much more daunting on this side of the New Year than the other.

In 2014 I ran 540 miles. 

Even though that is about the distance between Devon and pissing Dundee, I've decided to whack another 10% on it. 

Yay!

So, what's the plan?

On Sunday 22nd March I am running the Reading Half Marathon.

At the minute, I'm running two 5-milers a week. I will keep ticking over till maybe the 3rd week in January and then begin to crank up the distance. 

I'll worry about that then. 

On Sunday 19th April I am running the Derby 10k.

I could do it now so not too worried about that, it would be nice to beat my time from last year (49.53), but with having the Half a month earlier, it might be tough to up the pace to sub 8 min miles. We'll see.

After that there are no set plans, but I expect a second Half Marathon in the latter half of the year - maybe the Robin Hood again? 

There is absolutely no chance on earth I will run a full marathon. Those freaks are a different breed. Not for BQ, no way. 

Over the year I might do the odd post reviewing some of the jarg that I will no doubt buy to keep myself interested (bright red and yellow Nikes? OK!) as I continue trying to convince anyone I speak to that they can and should run.

But anyway, that's the 600.

3. Read 25 Books

Now this one could quite easily be the hardest of the four.

I'm not a quick reader so this is a big challenge. But reading is what all the cool kids do and it makes you dead intelligent and stuff.

Over the second half of 2014 I read more books than I had in the previous ten years (probably), so I caught the bug again.

I've got a huge stack of books to read from Christmas so the next five or six are probably ready and waiting. After that, I'll be relying on the good folk at Goodreads to find the next one.

Book 1 is... 'Pep Confidential'. A review on Bayern Munich's season last year under Guardiola which is interesting for any losers who like to read about false attacking midfielders and the like.

Out of the 25, very few will be about football so worry not. Book 2 is going to be 'Gone Girl' I think. 

As a quick note, I read a book called 'The Martian' before Christmas. 

It was BLOODY AMAZING. I'm sad that it wont be part of the 25. Buy it, read it, pick it up at 7 and take it for dinner.

It's that good.

4. Get a New Job

Finally, this is probably the most important of the lot. Get a new job. Just one though, I can't be bothered with two.

I have been working for a Leadership Development company called Awbery Management Centre now for three years - my first "real" job as it seems endless hours over six years at River Island was all a figment of my imagination in the world of CV's and LinkedIn.

I do all the marketing and communication-y stuff at Awbery and we've had a pretty successful three years in revamping and reshaping the business, but the time has come to move on and probably specialise in a more focused area of marketing rather than the full shebang that I'm tasked with currently. 

The plan is to be in place in a new job in the first six months of 2015. 

Odds are it'll also mean moving out and away from Derby which will be an interesting spell too (IKEA! Yay!).

That is Project 9626.