Simon's 1,718km in 17/18

So this is it, 9 months down, only 3 months remaining While some of my colleagues have already reached the 1718 target, i'm still some way off.  In fact so far I've not actually hit the 'required average' of 4.7k per day.  As at midnight on 6th January I've done 1,260k, so about 35k short of the 'required average' year to date.   Don't write me off just yet though, in the last 2 weeks I've averaged 5.6k per day so if I keep this pace up or improve I should make it. I've also started evening running in the cold and dark.  I thought I would be able to get in plenty of evening runs in the summer months but things got the better of me so I've possibly made it harder for myself, but to be honest I don't really mind it too much.  In some respects it is easier to concentrate and just crack on with a run when its cold and dark, no countryside or sunsets to look at and distract me.

I won't say Merry Christmas because for some it has been, but maybe not for all. Perhaps you know someone close to you with dementia, perhaps this is is your last Christmas with them, or your first Christmas without them. That's to say nothing of those who suffer from dementia themselves, perhaps unable to engage in the festivities. For me, it's the first Christmas without Dad. Last Christmas he spent in hospital with a bout of pneumonia. Looking back, an eerie omen of the year to come even though it was a month before his formal diagnosis. We spent time with Dad in the hospital but he was noticeably absent from the table, the tree and the general goings on. This year (and I suspect for most Christmases going forward) his absence was less tangible. Maybe its too soon. Maybe its because (at least until our holiday in May) between us all we didn’t have enough conversations that this X could be the last X with Dad. All we could do last Christmas was to hope...

His journey has brought him Not too far, not too near From fifties big smoke To leafy Hertfordshire In Stevenage found him His Christine, his love dear In Ware they would wed Within the two year Children would bring him Pain, joy and cheer But the one thing he never showed Was one ounce of fear When Feb Seventeen brought him Bad news to hear It was time for those close to him To shed a tear Alackaday for him Had less than a year From fateful diagnosis And now we are here But fear not for him, Come raise a beer, Remember our Geoff, Friend, brother dad, and husband so dear Yes friends fear not for him, He'll always be near, Just look inside ourselves, For now he is here

As I began to come to terms with his passing, before going to sleep on the second day, it suddenly hit me that my "proper Dad" was gone.  Forever.   Since May we had been dealing with Dad in hospital and the last week was even more difficult.  Following 2 bouts of pneumonia (I read recently that up to 2/3 of patients with forms of dementia will ultimately die due to pneumonia) treatment was stopped and Dad held on for nearly a week. The first couple of days was about letting go of that Dad, the Dad who had struggled on and on in hospital for the last months, weeks and days.  However after that I remembered (obviously hadn't forgotten) than the old Dad, the "proper Dad" had passed. With the gradual, but unstoppable regression of recent months I had not stopped to try to draw a line where I can hand on heart remember him as a whole person.  Family members spoke of the last thing he said to them, but I think the last proper thing he said to me was ...

So the first half of the year has come and gone (6th October), and what a 6 months it has been! When I started this project back in April, Dad was still walking, talking and though he noticeably had dementia he was still to a large degree my dad (I know he has never, nor will never stop being my dad). Maybe it's natural, with time constraints seeing Dad in hospital, but my running distance had slipped in recent weeks/months, and it was only very recently (just before 6th October I think) that my total for the year so far hit the half way mark. I had planned to be averaging around 6k per day, not just the minimum average 4.7k per day to account for the summer months being lighter. Plus I had been on organised runs (like 10k and park runs) which are now less frequent, and with my wife back to work from maternity those occasions are also less frequent. Still, half way there in terms of distance and time, so I have to just remember the words of Bon Jovi: We've got to ho...

So Geoff, son of Laurence Lovick, passed on 3 October 2017 God bless you Dad

Dear reader, If a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, it ends too with a final step. Poor Dad's very close now to his final steps.

It's 21st September, which means World Alzheimer's Day, so it seems the perfect time to (try to at least) restart (again) my blog, and to some extent my running/walking as I'm starting to notice that my daily averages are slipping around or below 3k, much lower than the needed 5k Fortunately I finally have a donation page sorted, so can start to promote the cause both in terms of the charity itself and our challenge: https://fundraise.charitycheckout.co.uk/price-bailey/cf/The-1718km-Challenge Charity Checkout are an alternative to justgiving with more competitive fees, so more funds get to the charity itself.  Hopefully can continue to raise awareness and raise funds through this channel. As for me and my family, dad's journey continues but unfortunately he has continued to regress.  He has been in a hospital now since May, with the majority of the time in a community and more recently in a higher needs ward. Sure, he has days of lucidity and during visits i...

It seems that I am as bad a blogger as I am a regular runner.  In the last 5.5 weeks I've put in just 4 runs and only one of those was over 3k (according to my fitbit app - see moan below) Perhaps (quite likely) I'll never be a respected blogger, nor a marathon runner.  I probably knew this years ago, and also at the start of this journey. Still, I'm consciously taking more decisions to walk where possible and being more mindful of this encourages me to walk, not take the stairs or go for a walk at lunch rather than just sit at my desk. My fitbit app seems to show its disdain for my infrequent exercise by losing me on most of my runs these days: How does it think I get across these fields?!?  exhibit a:                                                                        ...

It's Friday. It's the weekend. Treat Yo Self. But how does one treat one's self? You could have that extra G&T: why not, it’s Friday. Kebab on the way home? Why not, you probably won't remember the bad taste. How about a bike ride, yoga in the field or an evening run instead? Isn't that really treating yourself? Remember we can't really change anyone else. We can advise, influence and guide, but we can't physically change how other people think or act: we can only change ourselves. So be honest when you say something is a treat: what would your body say? Do something nice to your body this weekend. Or don't. It's your body. All I have to do is be happy with my evening run, which I am.

Happy Father's Day dad Enough said

I won't go into the details of how it started (perhaps on another post), but on our return from the holiday we started the process of community care for dad and he had assessments and carers visits within a week. We could possibly debate (needlessly) for hours about whether we should have made the call earlier.  Truth is, the break in May brought to light two main things: 1 - the decline cannot be predicted and can often accelerate.  In the last 24, 12, 6, 3 months, dad's cognitive and social functions and mobility had decline to a point and while I did not expect them to improve or even stay still, being with him much closer that week showed me that even on a week by week basis the relentless decline is more and more obvious.  Whether it's his ability to move from wheelchair to sofa or ability to engage in conversation, its hard to know how things are going to progress in the coming weeks/months.  An easy comparison is looking at how he walked aroun...

I was never a good footballer. At the height of my 'career' I was an ok bowler on the cricket pitch. Otherwise I've not been very athletic in my life. One thing that I continued to draw on was watching sporty-types I know with exercise-induced injuries; not in some sadistic way, but it re-enforced my (probably ill-informed) belief that exercise makes you ill. Simply put, I justified not taking exercise too seriously lest I became injured and couldn't exercise. Obviously I knew I was wrong, but I didn't appreciate how wrong I was. I've now come to learn that once in an exercise routine, any injury can have an impact on both physical and mental health.  A day after returning from holiday I stubbed my toe on the highchair.  I didn't give it too much thought at the time as was feeding Harry, but later in the evening the bruising became apparent (if interested - why wouldn't' you be? - see proof at foot of page). Over the next week the ...

May has been holiday time for the last few years and 2017 was no exception.  Dad's condition earlier in the year made it difficult to know whether to go away separately or as one big family.  As it turned out, shortly after the diagnosis of mixed dementia in February, we booked a cottage in East Sussex for 10 of us, 4 generations of the family from great-grand parents down to the youngest, my son Harry who is just 8 months old. No one knows what the future will bring but most of us accepted that this could well be our last family holiday with all of us involved and could well be dad's last chance at a holiday. I write this now a few weeks after the holiday and I'm still happy that it was the right thing to do, to try to bring us all together.  Did every single person have their most amazing holiday ever? Probably not, but hopefully most of us brought something away that we can draw on in the coming months and years. Let's start at the beginning....

For several reasons, some genuine, others less so, I have not kept up the momentum on this blog: apologies. We were on holiday for a week from 5th May, with no wi-fi in the cottage.   I then returned only to injure a toe. My dad's condition has worsened recently which for a while made me doubt the importance of this blog, but I'd really like to push through and continue with renewed enthusiasm.

Nearly one month in and things are starting to gain momentum. Alzheimer's Research UK released the article about our run on 6 April in Cambridge check out the article here -  Team of 20 from Price Bailey will each run equivalent of 40 marathons in a year for charity | Alzheimer's Research UK . At work we have 26 people tracking their daily walking and running, with a total to track how we are doing compared to the required daily average: so far so good on that front. I've booked a place on the Vitality London 10k run on 29 May, I'm looking forward to that as my first 10k of the year and to get out with other runners and sport the ARUK vest around London. I shouldn't need this external awareness and scrutiny to motivate me.  I don't think I need it, but its a nice extra push, so I pushed myself out on two runs over the Bank Holiday Weekend, one West to All Saints Church, Little Canfield and the other around Hatfield Forest.

Drip, drip, drop, little April Shower Today is first day I'm putting off a run due to bad weather (view from my office along with symbolic red lights) - poor excuse I know I feel bad, especially as I expect this won't be the last time it rains before 5 April 18. Still it's not all bad as I fitted in a good walk before work, so have already covered my 4.7k needed for the day.

Ran my 3rd parkrun today at Hatfield Forest , and my first parkrun since June 2016. Ran with a friend of mine Luke Shepherd who has run 57 parkruns and also volunteers, while his normal times are around 25 minutes we ran together, aiming for 30 minutes as on my own runs I can manage an average of 6 minute kilometres.  Finished in 28.47, only 4 seconds above the course average. Looking forward to plenty more parkruns and seeing if I can get that time to around 26 minutes. Checked my total distance since 6 April: 95k, so only 5k to the first 100k! Good luck to all those running the London Marathon

Step on Step up, step up to the call Step up, get up after a fall; Step up And step on Step down, step aside from a fight that isn't yours Step down, down the stairs and get outdoors; Step down And step on Step out, out of your home, out of your door Step out to wood, field, beach or moor; Step out And step on Step in to your new ideal Step in, make it yours, make it real; Step in And step on Step on the road, step on the track Step on the fools holding you back; Step on And step on Step off the gas, off the nine-to-five Step off the beaten-track and feel alive; Step off And step on Step back, take a breath and ruminate Step back, have a walk and meditate; Step back And step on Step beyond, beyond limits, beyond the wall Step beyond, stand firm, stand tall; Step beyond And step on Step on, keep going, never cease Step on and find your inner peace; Step on And step on

It's not all doom and gloom; I'm conscious that I've been focusing on the seeming enormity of the challenge for the year ahead. In pushing myself beyond my comfort zone, I'm hoping to see more places close to home and far away that I might not have seen otherwise. Had a quick 3.5k run yesterday that ended up going unexpectedly cross-country near Great Canfield: perhaps its best to plan those ahead next time! As you can see from the photos, Spring has certainly sprung.  Looking forward to seeing the changes as the seasons change.